BEE-KEEPING.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 January 1917, Page 3

BEE-KEEPING.

THE WINTEII SHOW. (By '•Clematis"). The scheduias of honey classes of the Tarana.ki show are being distributed, and anvone interested can get one on application to. the secretary, Currie street, New Plymouth. .Sections, halfframe combs, full-frame combs, granulated honey, liquid honey in clear glass bottles, and a display of liquid and granulated honey, not less than IS'.bs. in glass bottles, and must have an equal proportion of lib and '2lb bottles. There is also a class for commercial becswa-i.

I have recently, through' "Tainui," seen two very flood samples of honey from the apiaries of Messrs C. F. McGregor, of Rahotu, and Moss, of Tn.taraimaka. These frentlemen will compete at the next show. I have seen some first-class combs and extracted honey from various quarters, and if beekeepers take the interest they should in tihe industry, and exhibit their hest at the shows, T am certain (lie honey class at the Witner Show would he a, credit to the Agricultural Society, also, to beekeepers, and Taranaki. Sections should be evenly filled, comb firmly attached to the four sides, free from propolis and other pronounced stains, cuppings and comb white and free from pop-holes In frame comb honey the frame should be square and evenly filled, capping? white and free of pop-holes, and should b.j selected from frames that had never contained brood. Frames should bo free from propolis or other pronounced stain.

Liquid honey should fill the bottle, color if possible light or medium amber, and showing plenty of density, and weigh about 12.1b? per gallon. Granulated honey should be of line grajn, the chief colors being white, liglht amber and amber, and sliould be well ripened.

As Taranaki gathers a fair amount oi dark honey, owing to native flora, I should probably advise the Agricultural Society to put a class on the schedule another year.

DRIPPING PANS. When extracting, people have more or less trouble with the floor of the honey house becoming soiled with honey tiha-t has leaked from the supers of honey brought from the apiaries and piled up for extracting. It is well known, to those who have had the experience that it is quite diso.grea.ble to work on a sticky floor. To keep this leakage from reaching the floor galvanised drip pans, about two inches deep, and large enough to allow two supers to be set in tJiem side by side, as the foundation of two staoKs of honey sujers. The first two supers are set on two strips about IVl> inches thick so as to have them raised up and out of the honey that may accumulate in the drip pans. Adopt) this plan and you will have a nice clean floor.

John Burlce, of Omata recently got a bad scalp wound in taking a swarm of bees from a tree. This reminds me of a •bee-keeper's experience. He went up a standing 1 ladder and shook a swarm into a basket. In starting to descend he slipped and fell head first. The basket of bees went with a slam to the proupnd, while the beekeeper in some way got his feet caught in the ladder and hung suspended 'by his legs nearly over tfhe swarm on the ground, a very undignified position for a. bee-keeper to be in, certainly. By quickly pulling himself up by his hands and releasing his feet he jumped to the ground without aay serious results, except a few stings. Moral: Better keep the queen's wings clipped when there are tall trees about an apiary.