The illustrated Australasian bee manual and complete guide to modern bee culture in the southern hemisphere

©l|p i. m. Bill SItbrarg

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THE ALTHOK.

THE ILLUSTRATED

Australasian Bee Manual

AND COMPLETE

\

CxUIDE TO MODERN BEE CULTURE

IN THE
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.

By ISAAC HOPKINS, Auckland, New Zealand.
(Late Chief Apiarist to the New Zealand Government.)

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE

" New Zealand Bee Manual "

REVISED AND MOSTLY RE-WRITTEN
BY THE AUTHOR.

FIFTH EDITION

82 ILLUSTRATIONS.

WELLINGTON, N.Z.
1911

GORDON 6 GOTCH

WELLINGTON. AUCKLAND, CHRISTCHURCH, DUNKDIN, MELBOURNI

SYDNEY, BRISBANE, PERTH, HOBART, LAUNCESTON,

LONDON.

PREFACE.

So rapid is the present progress of commercial bee-
keeping, necessarily accompanied by frequent changes
and modifications in apiary appliances and methods of
management, that much of the practical instructions
embodied in technical works on bee-culture published
from time to time, soon become antiquated, and out of
date. I realised this in the present case when com-
mencing to revise the text matter of the last — in
preparation for the new — Edition, and therefore I
decided to re-write, and re-construct, the whole of the
chapters specially dealing with the Manual work of
the apiary, and thereby to bring this Edition right up
to date. This has been done to the best of my ability,
and I trust that the alterations and new matter,
together with the additional illustrations, will meet
with the approval of those for whom the book is
published.

My recent position as Chief Government Apiarist in
New Zealand afforded me exceptional opportunities for
observing how commercial bee-keeping can be, and is,
conducted under different conditions, and by different
types of bee-keepers. It also enabled me in the course
of my duties to carry out experiments at the Govern-
ment Apiaries to determine matters of great importance
to the industry ; some of the results of which have
already been published in " Bulletin " No. i8 on Bee-
Culture, obtainable from the offices of the Department
of Agriculture. The results of the knowledge thus
gained are embodied in the present volume.

I would draw special attention to the remarkable
progress made in commercial bee-keeping in New
Zealand since the Government gave its support to the
industry. The passing of our Apiaries Act in 1907 was
the one thing needed to bring to the frontan industrial

vi PREFACE

occupation for which the country is so eminently
adapted, and which has already given proof of its
rapacity for great expansion.

The Apiaries Act (see Chapter X\'I.) has undoubtedly
provided the most effective provisions at present in
force in any country for dealing with, and controlling
bee diseases, the main feature of which is, making it
illegal to keep bees in any other receptacles than
movable comb hives.

The result of such legislation has been the clearing
of large districts from disease, that up to the passing
of the Act were " rotten " with foul brood.

I feel certain that little or no headway against disease
can be made in any country unless power is given by
legislation to abolish all fixed-comb receptacles as
domiciles for bees.

I. Hopkins.

Auckland, Xeiv Zealand.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER. PAGE

Preface

I. Introductory and Historical ... ... i

II. The Honey Bee and its Varieties ... 7

III. Inmates of the Hive : Their Natural

History ... ... ... ... 10

IV. What Bees Collect and What They

Produce ... ... ... ... 26

\'. The Apiary ... ... ... ... 39

A^I. Hives, Frames, and Section Boxes ... 47

VII. Comb Foundation ... ... ... 65

\TII. The Honey Extractor and Extracting

Appliances ... ... ... ... 71

IX. Handling Bees

X. Transferring Bees

XI Increase — Natural and Artificial
Swarming

83

05

94

1 1 1

127

134

XII. Queen Rearing

XIII. Surplus Honey

XIV. Autumn and Winter Management
XV. Diseases and Enemies of Bees

XVI. The New Zealand Apiaries Act ... 146

XVII. Bee Forage — Bees in Relation to

Horticulture and Agriculture ... 149

XVIII. Bees in Relation to Agriculture ... 153

XIX. Calendar and Bee-Keeper's Axioms ... 166
vii.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Frontispiece : The Author.

PAGE

Abdomen of Italian Worker 8

-3—4- Queen. Drone. Worker ii

Head of Worker Bee ... 14

Ovaries of Queen 16

From the Egg to the Bee ... 19

W. Larvae and Q. Cells ... 20
Queen Cells over Worker

Cells 21

The Sting 23

Wax Pockets of Worker Bee 29

Steam Wax Press 32

Hatch Wax Press 33

Solar Wax Extractor ... 35

Drone and Worker Cells ... 37

Government Apiary 41

Ground Plan Extracting

House 43

Hopkins' Langstroth Hive ... 47
Langstroth Hive for Comb

Honey ... ■■• ■•• ••• 48
End of Hive (Inside Vievi^) ... 50
End of Hive (Outside View) 50
Side of Hive (Inside View) ... 51
Putting Parts of Hive To-
gether 52

Bottom Board 53

Alighting Board 54

End of Cover 55

Side of Cover 55

Ridge Board of Cover ... 55

Roof Board of Cover 56

Cover Complete ... ... 56

Hopkins' Hive Cramp ... 58

Hoffman Brood Frames ... 60

Metal Spaced Frame 61

Shallow Hoffman Frame ... 62
Half-story Frame with Sec-
tions 62

One Piece Section Box . 64

Comb Foundation 65

Wax T-'be Fastener 68

Wiring Board 69

Spur Wire Embedder ... 70
Fixed Basket Extractor ... 71
Six-comb Reversible Ex-
tractor 72

Automatic Reversible Four-
comb Extractor 73

vi

no. PAGE

44. Bingham Uncapping Knife... 74

45. Dadant Uncapping Can ... 74

46. Root Cappings Melter ... 75

47. Bee Veils 78

48. Corneil Smoker ... ... ... 79

49. Vesuvius Smoker ... ... 79

50. Hive Tool 81

51. Comb Holder 82

52. Wood Cell Cups (cross

sections) 96

53 Wood Cell Cups Spiked to

Frame ... ... ... ... 96

54. Queen Cell Completed on

Wood Base ... ... ... 96

55. Showing How to Cut the

Comb 98

56. Frame for Raising Queen

Cells 99

57. Queen Cell Protector ... loi

58. Alley's Queen Nursery ... 102

59. Alley's Nursery Cage ... 103

60. Alley's Introducing Cage ... 104

61. Titoff Introducing Cage ... 104

62. Introducing Cage in Use ... 104

63. Drone and Queen Trap ... 105

64. Clipping Queen's Wings ... 106

65. Comb Prepared for Queen

Cells 109

66. Comb with Eighty Good

Queen Cells no

67. Division Board m

68. Division Boards in Use ... 112

69. Simplicity Feeder 114

70. Doolittle Feeder 114

71. Zinc Excluder ... ... ... 116

72. Wood and Wire Excluder ... 116

73. Comb Basket 118

74. Bee Brush 119

75. "Daisy" Wheelbarrow ... 119

76. Honey Tank 123

77. Alexander Strainer 124

78. Porter Bee Escape 128

79. Portion of Diseased Comb ... 136

80. Large Wax moth 144

81. Silken Tube of the Moth

Larvae 144

n.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY AND HISTORICAL.

In the whole range of created objects presented to our
contemplation in the study of what we familiarly call
Nature, from the inconceivably great systems of
inanimate matter rolling in infinite space to the
inconceivably small but animated forms revealed by
the microscope, there is probably no class more
calculated to excite our wonder and admiration than
that of Insects ; and of all the different kinds of
insects there is none more interesting as an object of
study, or that can be made more useful and profitable
to man, than the Honey-Bee. Its history is as old as
that of the human race; Its product, honey, was
recognised in the earliest ages as a most desirable,
almost an indispensable, addition to the food of man.

ORIGIN OF THE ART OF BEE-KEEPING.

Though we may never learn when bees were first
domesticated in Eastern countries, we do know that
amongst the Western nations the civilised Greeks had
unquestionably practised the art of bee-keeping at a
very early period. The laws of Solon, 600 years b.c,
contain regulations as to the distances apart at which
bee-hives may be kept; and both Greeks and Romans
\yrote and sang about bees and bee-keeping from the
times of Homer down to those of Aristotle, Virgil,
Palladius, Pliny, and Columella.

The true history of the rise and progress of the art
of bee-keeping amongst the Greeks and Romans, and
its extension over Europe during the middle ages, is as
yet unwritten, but there can be no doubt that amongst

D. H. HILL LIBRARY
North Carolina State College

2 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

the Northern nations the use of honey became with
time more and more a matter of necessity, much oF
their fermented liquors being prepared from it, and
the more northern the positions, and the more severe
the winter seasons, the more essential it became
to domesticate the bees, or use artificial means
for preserving them during the winter months.
Since the middle of the seventeenth century much
attention has been given to the natural history of the
bee, and among those who made it their special study
were \'on Swammerdam, Maraldi, Reaumur, Lepele-
tier and Latreille, Bonnet, Linnaeus, Dr. John Hunter
and Dr. Bevan ; but it is to the researches and dis-
coveries of Huber and Dzierzon that we are chiefly
indebted for that knowledge of the physiology of the
honey-bee which has led to those great practical
improvements in its management which may be said
to constitute the

MODERN' ART OF BEE-KEEPING.

This may be dated from early in the second half of
the nineteenth century, when the movable frame hive
in a practicable form was introduced by the Rev. L. L.
Langstroth, though it was nearly twenty years after
before the industry was thoroughly established on
commercial lines. Subsequent to the introduction of
the modern hive, the invention of the honey extractor,
of comb-foundation, and a number of ingenious imple-
ments and appliances, have led to a complete revolution
in the practice of bee-keeping, and helped to raise it
to the rank of an important national industry, and
which is now being fostered by the Governments of
nearly all civilised countries.

INTRODUCTION OF BEES INTO AUSTRALASIA.

None of the countries of the New World, of North
or South America, or of Australasia, were found, when
first discovered, to possess any variety of the true
honey-bee {Apis nicUifica) ; a necessary preliminary,

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 3

therefore, to the practice of bee-culture in any of those
regions was the introduction of bees from the Old
World, an operation which was attended with almost
insuperable difficulties sixty or seventy years ago.

I have already placed on record in previous editions
of this Manual all particulars with regard to the
landing of the first bees in Australia and New Zealand,
to which I must refer those who may be particularly
interested in the matter. I will now briefly give the
dates, and the names of those responsible for their
introduction into this part of the world.

The common, or black bee, was introduced into New-
South \\'ales from England in April, 1822, by Captain
Wallace, of the ship Isabella. It is pretty certain
that Italian bees were also mtroduced into that State in
1862, but I have not been able to obtain a sufficiently
reliable confirmation of this. So far as I have been
able to ascertain, \'ictoria, South Australia, and
Queensland were furnished with common bees from
the parent Colony — New South Wales. Dr. Wilson,
R.N., introduced the commion bee into Tasmania from
New South Wales in 183 1, and Mr. T. L. Hood, of
Hobart, has the credit of landing the first Italian bees
in Tasmania, which were brought from the same
colony.

Mr. Chas. Fullwood, then of Brisbane, brought
Italian bees with him from England in 1880, and this,
no doubt, was the first successful attempt made to
establish this variety in Australia.

New Zealand is indebted to the late Miss Bumby,
sister of one of the early Missionaries, for the first of
the common bees, which she brought with her from
England in the ship James. They were landed at
Mangunga, Hokianga, on March 13th, 1839. Others
were subsequently brought from England, and New
South Wales, in the year 1842. The first Italian bees
were landed in Auckland from California, to the order
of Mr. J. H. Harrison, then of Coromandel, and to
the Author in 1880. In 1883 I imported Italians
(direct from Italy), Swiss Alpine, Syrians, Holv-
landers, Cyprians, and Carniolan bees.

4 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

BEE-KEEPING IN AUSTRALASIA.

The Author had the honour, in the season of 1887-8,
of being the first to introduce the Langstroth frame-
hive, the improved honey extractor, and comb-
foundation into Australasia ; and by a series of
articles in the Press drew the attention of persons
interested in bee culture to the improved system of
bee management. Letters were received by me from
all parts of the Australasian Colonies, asking for
further information, which was subsequently supplied
in the first edition of this Manual. It is correct to say
then, that what is usually termed the " Modern
Svstem " of bee-keeping commenced in Australasia in

1878-

That the climate and flora of this part of the world
are eminently adapted for commercial bee-keeping has
been abundantly proved, and though we are not
entirely free from drawbacks, bee-keepers probably
encounter fewer here than those in other countries.
There have been difficulties in the past in disposing of
Australian honey in Europe at remunerative prices,
and I think the prejudice against it had its origin
through the want of discrimination on the part of some
bee-keepers in sending inferior grades to the Home
Markets. I have seen excellent Australian honey, and
with a thorough system of Government grading, I
have no doubt these diflficulties could be largely
removed.

Bee-keepers in New Zealand are more fortunate in
this respect, their product being in large demand in
Europe at good prices.

Great improvements, however, have come about in
late years. Much more care is taken in the ripening
and preparation of honey for market, the cost of
production has been cheapened, more sound knowledge
has been gained, and more honey is being used, all of
which has made for the betterment of the industry in
Australasia. Legislation against bee-diseases in New-
Zealand has done wonders for commercial bee-keeping
in this Dominion, and with prospective similar legisla-

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 5

tion in the Australian States, there is a better outlook
than ever before for bee-keeping in this part of the
world.

PROFITS OF BEE-KEEPING.

The question as to the average annual profit that
may be expected from each hive is very frequently
asked by those who contemplate going into bee-
keeping largely. It is easy to show what results are
attained in some cases, but it would be dangerous to
apply such results as a measure of success or failure
to every case. So much depends upon the skill and
perseverance of the apiarist, the location of the apiary,
and the commercial ability brought to bear in the
management, that it is necessary to be very guarded
in one's reply. Under favourable conditions with
regard to locality and bee forage, a reasonable sized
apiary, and a skilful and persevering man in charge,
an annual average net profit of from 17/- to £1 may be
expected per colony. This is the estimate I gave in
my Government Bulletin, and I consider it well within
the mark, and, also, applicable under similar con-
ditions to the bee-keeping centres of Australia.

It is a rule, without exception in bee-keeping, that
with larg/ely increased operations, and the establish-
ment of out-apiaries, the average profit per hive
diminishes. No doubt this may be accounted for by
the inability of the apiarist to give each individual
colony so large a share of attention.

ADVICE TO BEGINNERS.

Bee-keeping is suitable to either sex, and I would
strongly advise all young people contemplating taking
it up as a business to engage for a full season with a
successful bee-farmer, starting early in the season, and
remaining till the honey is prepared for market in the
following Autumn. The experience gained in that
time would enable the beginner to start intelligently
and avoid the mistakes one may readily fall into

6 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

without such experience. I offer this advice with a
knowledge of the good results from taking cadets at
the Government Apiaries.

If it is impossible to adopt this plan, then go
cautiously to work at first, and don't lay out too much
money. Three or four colonies your first season would
be ample to work with, and to gain experience by.
Some little increase the second season would be
advisable, by the end of which sufficient knowledge of
the w^ork and your adaptation to it should have been
gained to enable you to intelligently decide whether to
increase your apiary or not. If you decide to go in
on a large scale, then it is absolutely necessary for
your own benefit that you choose a good district — a
district where, in the first place, there is plenty of white
clover — a dairying district — and not too diflfiicult of
access to a shipping port. Start with black or com-
mon bees, which probably may be obtained near at
hand, but directly you decide to enlarge your apiary
Italianise your colonies at once (see chapter on
" Queen Rearing ").

Don't stint your outlay for good bee literature, for
the obtaining of one good " wrinkle " from the expe-
rience of a writer may be the means of adding largely
to the profits of your apiary.

AXIOM.

** The formation of new colonies should ordin-
arily BE CONFINED TO THE SEASON WHEN BEES ARE
ACCUMULATING HONEY; AND IF THIS, OR ANY OTHER
OPERATION, MUST BE PERFORMED WHEN FORAGE IS
SCARCE, THE GREATEST PRECAUTIONS SHOULD BE USED TO
PREVENT ROBBING." Latlgstroth.

CHAPTER II.

THE HONEY-BEE AND ITS VARIETIES.

There are many species of the genus Apis, or Bee, but
only one which stores honey in such a manner as to be
practically useful to man, and which Linnaeus dis-
tinguished by the name Apis niellifica. The particular
variety of this species known to Linnaeus was the Black,
or German bee. Since the beginning of the nineteenth
century, other varieties were observed and described by
Spinola and others, and were classed at first as distinct
species. In the year 1862, Dr. A. Gerstaecker, of
Berlin, first published the results of his investigations
upon the " Geographical Distribution of the Honey-Bee
and its X'arieties," which is very interesting and of
which I gave condensed extracts in my two previous
editions, but as the interest of commercial bee-keepers
is now chiefly centred in Italian bees, I shall only briefly
describe the other varieties.

The black, or common bee, is inferior to the Italian
as a honey gatherer, and as a defender of its hive from
robbers and the large w^ax moth, and it is prone to act
as a robber itself. Carniolans are good breeders, but
greatly given to swarming, and as honey-gatherers,
compared with Italians, I found them very poor.
Syrians and " Holy Land " bees are much alike with
regard to their qualities, which for profitable work are
much below Italians. Cyprian bees are splendid
workers, but outrageously vicious, so much so that
after two years' trial I was compelled to smother a
number of colonies, and it was simply impossible to
handle them without being tortured by their stings.
Smoke seemed to make them worse; therefore those who
have any regard for their feelings had better not venture
to keep Cyprian bees.

7

8 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

My Cyprians came direct from Cyprus, so that they
were pure, and when I had them I was no novice at
handling bees. Even worse in this respect was a cross
strain between Cyprians and Italians that I raised ; they
would tackle the hot tin part of the smoker; but they
were the best workers I ever had.

ITALIAN BEES.

Take them all in all, Italian bees are undoubtedly the
best, and I affirm this after an experience with all the
other varieties named, and a long acquaintance with the
favourite bee. They are readily improved by judicious
breeding, are good honey gatherers, excellent defenders
of their hives from robbers and the wax moth, and can
battle against disease better than the common bee.
That it is the most profitable bee to cultivate is almost
the universal opinion of advanced apiarists.

MARKINGS OF PURE ITALIANS.

It is well for the novice to be able to distinguish the
difference between pure Italians and their crosses
(Hybrids). Formerly, it was seldom that more than
three yellow bands across the abdomen were seen on
pure Italians, but of late years it has not been un-
common to see four and even five yellow bands.
There should not, however, be less
than three.

Referring to the illustration,
A B c, Fig. I, represent the three
yellow semi-transparent bands ; d e,
and the shaded parts of a b c, are
rows of greyish hairs. The three
yellow bands should be plainly
visible, though the band a, next the
thorax, is sometimes very narrow,
and may be overlooked at the first
glance. The surest test of a pure
colony, is that all the bees carry the
three yellow bands.
I. — ABDOMEN There are light golden, and
OF ITALIAN WORKER Icather-colourcd strains. Formerly it
BEE. was considered that the latter were

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 9

the hardiest bees, but of late it is claimed that there
are " Golden " bees equally hardy.

HYBRID BEES.

This is the name generally given to the cross between
the Italian and black or common bees. Much has been
said for and against hybrids, but from experience I feel
satisfied that bees of the first cross between the blacks
and Italians are in many cases equally as profitable as
pure Italians. With regard tO' docility in handling, it
is generally understood that hybrids are exceedingly
vicious. While this may be true in some cases, I must
say, after handling many thousands of hybrid colonies,
that I have found very few indeed worse than some of
the pure races I have had to do with. The worst bees
I have noticed in this respect were nearly pure blacks,
with a small dash of Italian blood in them. I advise,
however, the cultivation of the pure variety.

AXIOM.

** Bees gorged with honey never volunteer an
ATTACK." Langstroth.

CHAPTER III.

INMATES OF THE HIVE— THEIR NATURAL
HISTORY.

Every colony in a normal working condition, during
the swarming season, will be found to contain bees of
the three different kinds, the characteristics and relative
sizes of which are shown in the illustrations which
follow. First, one bee only of the peculiar form which
denotes the queen or mother bee (one queen to a
colony is the rule — see chapter on " Queen Rearing ") ;
secondly, a number of large bees, called drones ; and
thirdly, many thousands of the smaller kind, called
workers, which are the common bees to be seen on
blossoms, as neither the queen bee nor the drones
gather honey or work outside the hive.

The queen is indispensable to the prosperity of the
colony. She is the only perfectly developed female, and
lays all the eggs, of which she can, on occasions,
produce two to three thousand in twenty-four hours.
Without her the colony would soon dwindle down and
die out, or be attacked and killed for the sake of its
stores, as, after being deprived of their queen, the
workers generally (unless they are in a position to
rear a new one, as will be seen further on) lose the
disposition to defend themselves and their home. The
queen is not provided with the special organisation
which enables the workers to gather honey and pollen
and to secrete wax. She is furnished with a sting,
which, however, she very rarely uses, except in a
struggle with a rival queen. When she has been once
impregnated, and has taken her place in a hive, she
never leaves it except to accompany a swarm.* Her

* This has been disputed, but the claim that queens may
leave the hive to be impregnated a second time has not been
fully substantiated.

lO

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

II

term of life may extend to three or even four breeding
seasons, and during that time she may lay many scores
of thousands of eggs ; but she is considered to be in
her prime in the second season, and is seldom very
prolific after the third. She can be easily distinguished
from the other bees, and be recognised even by the
most inexperienced from the following description :—

Fig. 2. Fig. 3.

THE QUEEN. THE DRONE.

(Relative sizes, enlarged.)

Fig. 4.

THE WORKER.

Her body is not so bulky as that of a drone, though
longer ; it is considerably more tapering than that of
either drone or worker ; her wings are much shorter in
proportion than those of the other bees ; the under part
of her body is of a lighter and the upper of a darker
colour than the worker's ; her movements are generally
slow and matronly, and indeed she looks every inch a
queen.

The drones, or male bees, are much stouter than
either the queen or workers, although their bodies are
not so long as that of the queen. They are neither
furnished with a sting nor a suitable proboscis for
gathering honey, no baskets on their legs for carrying
pollen, and no pouches on their abdomens for secreting
wax, so that they are physically incapable of doing the
ordinary work of the hive. Their office is to impreg-
nate the young queens, but very few have the chance
of doing so; those that have, die immediately after-

12 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

wards, and the rest are usually destroyed by the
workers at the end of the swarming season, having by
this time become an incumbrance only.

The worker bees, the smallest in size, constitute the
bulk of the population of the hive. A fair-sized swarm
should contain at least from twenty to twenty-five
thousand,^ and a well-stocked hive, during the full
working season, will have twice, and sometimes nearly
three times, that number of Avorkers. They are all
females, but not fully developed as regards their sexual
organisation — they are incapable of being impregnated
by the drones ; but in some rare cases their ovaries
are suflficiently developed to admit of their laying eggs,
which, however, as will be shown later, are unfertilised,
and produce only drones. On the other hand, these
workers are specially provided with the means of
successfully prosecuting their useful labours. They
have a wonderfully constructed tongue, or proboscis,
which enables them to suck or lap up the liquid sweet
from the nectaries of blossoms, and to store it in a
" honey sac," which is, in fact, a first or extra
stomach, from which they can again disgorge it at will
into the cells of their combs. Their hinder legs are
provided with a hollow, or " basket," for carrying
pollen, which they are enabled, by the use of their
front legs and their proboscis, to work up into little
pellets, and pack in these receptacles. They have the
power of secreting wax in small scales under the folds
of the abdominal rings of their body, and they are
furnished with a sting to protect themselves and their
stores, and of which they make effective use w^hen
provoked. They perform all the work both inside and
outside the hive ; collect the materials for honey, bee-
bread, and propolis ; carry water, secrete the wax,
build the combs, nurse and feed the young brood,
ventilate the hive, and stand guard at the entrance
when it is necessary to keep out intruders. Although

* About 4,500 ordinary bees weigh one pound, so that a
5 lb. swarm contains about 22,500. Extra large swarms,
however, sometimes weigh 7 lb. to 8 lb.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 13

division of labour is beautifully exemplified in the
economy of the hive, still there are not separate classes
of worker bees (as was at one time supposed) to
perform the different sorts of work ; on the contrary,
every worker bee is capable of doing all these things,
and they take their turns accordingly. " One bee in
her time plays many parts." The young bees are
employed on " home duty " for the first week or two;
they then take their turn of outdoor work, and are
gradually worn out in the service. Their term of life
is short, varying from only six or seven weeks in the
busiest working season to several months after that
busy time is past.

STRUCTURAL ORGANISATION.

Under this heading it is my intention briefly to touch
upon two or three of the chief organs of the queen
and worker bees, but for a fuller treatise on the
anatomy and physiology of the honey-bee I must refer
my readers to the third edition of this work.

HEAD OF WORKER BEE.

Within the small limits of a bee's head there are
contained several important organs, some of them of
a very complex nature. These are — the compound
eyes ; the simple eyes, or stemmata ; the mouth and its
appendages ; and the antennae. The engraving. Fig.
5, shows a front view (on a greatly magnified scale) of
a worker bee's head.

The Compound Eyes are shown at b b, at right and
left on top, and the simple eyes between them. Each
compound eye is composed of something like 3,500
hexagonal convexities, or facets, which according to
Cheshire are about one-thousandth of an inch in
diameter, and are independent instruments of vision.
The compound eyes are believed to be used chiefly for
distant vision, and the simple eyes for objects near at
hand.

The Antennae (a) are wonderful structures under the

H

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

microscope. That they are organs of touch —
" feelers " — there can be no doubt, and that they also
perform the functions of hearing and smelling,
although an open question at present, is generally
beliexed bv naturalists.

Fig. 5. HEAD OF WORKER BEE.

a, Antennce ; b. Corn-pound eyes ; c, Jaws ; d. Maxilla^ ;
e. Lateral -palpi ; /, Ligula, or tongue ; g, Stemmata.

The Mouth Parts consist of several organs, as
shown in the figure, the chief of which is the tongue.
The end of this is covered with whorls of hair, and is
furnished with a spoon-shaped hollow on the under
side, opening into a capillary tube on the upper side,
into which the liquid passes when the bee is sipping.
Herman Miiller, in his work on ** The Fertilisation of

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 15

Flowers," beautifully describes the process of gather-
ing nectar. He says : —

" When the bee is sucking honey which is only just within
her reach, all the movable joints of its suction apparatus,
cardines, the chitinous retractors at the base of the mentum,
laminae (maxillae), labial palpi, and tongue, are fully
extended, except that the two proximal joints of the labial
palpi are closely applied to the tongue below, and the laminae
to the mentum and hinder part of the tongue above. But
as soon as the whorls of hair at the point of the tongue are
wet with honey, the bees, by rotating the retractors, draw
back the mentum, and with it the tongue, so far that the
laminae now reach as far forward as the labial palpi ; and
now labial palpi and laminae together, lying close upon the
tongue, and overlapping at their sides, form a tube, out of
which only a part of the tongue protrudes. But almost
simultaneously with these movements, the bee draws back
the basal part of its tongue into the hollow end of the
mentum, and so draws the tip of the tongue, moist with
honey, into the tube, where the honey is sucked in by an
enlargement of the foregut, known as the sucking stomach,
whose action is signified externally by a swelling of the
abdomen."

REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS OF THE QUEEN.

The most important organs of the queen bee — them-
selves forming perhaps one of the most wonderful
objects of nature, and of which the very accurate
knowledge which we now possess, owing to the patient
researches of many naturalists, has done more than
aught else for the progress of scientific bee-culture —
are her ovaries and the parts attached thereto, which
are illustrated in the following engraving (Fig. 6).

The two fig-shaped bodies are the ovaries, which
are multi-tubular, there being more than a hundred
tubes (called the ovigian tubes) in the two ovaries of a
queen bee. In these tubes the eggs grow and develop
until they are fit to be deposited. Each ovary has a
separate oviduct at bottom, through which the eggs
pass for some distance, until the two join in one com-
mon oviduct leading to the vulva, or vent, through
which the eggs are ultimately deposited. A little
below the junction of the passages from the two

i6

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

ovaries, and on the outside of the common oviduct, is a
small globular body, shown on the right hand side in
the engraving. This is a hollow^ vessel, called the
spermatheca, of which much has to be said. More

Fig. 6. OVARIES OF QUEEN.

than two hundred years ago Swammerdam published
an excellent illustration of the ovaries of a queen bee,
showing the spermatheca, but he conjectured that it
secreted a fluid for sticking the eggs to the bottom
of the cells in the comb. In his time but little was
known of what went on within the hive. It was no
doubt assumed by many that every single egg laid by
the queen required to be fertilised by a separate act
of the drone, while Swammerdam himself conceived
the idea that no copulation was necessary, but that
some gaseous emanations from the body of the drone
produced fecundation by penetrating the body of the
queen. About a hundred years later great advances

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 17

were made in the knowledge of the physiology of the
bee. It is said that Janscha, apiarist to the Empress
Maria Theresa of Austria, discovered the fact that
young queens have to leave the hive to meet the
drones; but it is to the labours of Huber, in 1787 and
following years, and communicated in his letters
addressed to Bonnet in the years 1789 to 1791, that
we owe the first knowledge of the following main
facts : — I. That the queen bee is truly oviparous; that
what she deposits is a true egg, which takes three days
to produce a living maggot or larva — (even the great
Bonnet was inclined up to that time to believe that a
minute worm, and not an egg, was produced by the
queen). 2. That the queen must be impregnated by
the drone in order to become fertile. 3. That copula-
tion is accomplished outside the hive and while on the
wing high in the air. 4. That one impregnation was
sufficient to fertilise all the eggs laid by the queen
subsequently for two years at least, perhaps for life.
5. But that if the act of impregnation was delayed
beyond the twenty-first day of the queen's life, her eggs
would afterwards produce only drones. Huber also
proved that queens could be reared from the larvae of
worker eggs, and also that in some rare cases workers
were able to lay eggs, which, however, could only
produce drones. He investigated other matters of the
greatest importance to the science of bee-culture, and
was gratefully designated The Prince of Apiculturists
by Langstroth. He failed, however, to discover the
secrets of the spermatheca, and remained under the
false impression that the fertilisation of the eggs took
place in the ovaries and that there were two kinds of
eggs, one sort to produce workers and queens, the
other to produce drones, and that they occupied
separate portions of the ovaries. His contemporary,
Schirach, who also contributed much to apiarian
science, supposed that one branch of the ovaries con-
tained the one kind and the second branch the other
kind of fertilised eggs. In this state the science
remained for some sixty years. Langstroth said it is
now ascertained that Posel, in a work published at

i8 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

Munich in 1784 — therefore previous to the experiments
of Huber — " describes the spermatheca and its contents
and the use of the latter in impregnating the passing
egg " ; and also that " years ago the celebrated surgeon
John Hunter and others supposed that there must be a
permanent receptacle for the male sperm opening into
the oviduct." Nothing certain was known, however,
until 1845, when the brilliant discoveries of Dzierzon
led to the promulgation of the theory which bears his
name, and especially to the doctrine of

PARTHENOGENESIS.

On this point Professor Cook says : —

" This strang-e anomaly — development of the eggs with-
out impregnation — was discovered and proved by Dzierzon
in 1845. Dr- Dzierzon, who as a student of practical and
scientific apiculture must rank with the great Huber, was a
Roman Catholic priest of Carlsmarkt, Germany. This
doctrine — called Parthenogenesis, which means produced
from a virgin — is still doubted by some quite able bee-
keepers, though the proofs are irrefragable."

Space will not admit of going into the details of
observations and experiments by which the case has
been proved, but they are fully discussed in an excellent
little work on the Dzierzon Theory by the Baron von
Berlepsch.

DEVELOPMENT FROM THE EGG TO THE BEE.

Having now come to understand the manner in which
the egg, whether male or female, is laid, we may
examine the egg itself, and the way in which the germ
it contains becomes developed into the full-grown
insect.

The egg, when laid in the cell, requires a tolerably
sharp sight to distinguish it as it lies at the bottom,
attached by one end to the comb by means of some
glutinous fluid with which it is coated. It is very small
and not round or oval like a bird's egg, but long, like
a small worm or maggot. It is, however, a true egg.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 19

It appears covered with a sort of delicate network,
which is, in fact, its shell, and it has a yolk and sur-
rounding white, or albumen, like all eggs of birds or
reptiles. When deposited in a worker cell, it remains
unchanged in outward appearance for three days, when
the larva first appears as a minute worm, and goes
through the stages of development shown in the fol-
lowing figure ; the numbers underneath denoting the
age, in days, from the laying of the egg.

Fie

-FROM THE EGG TO THE BEE.

The larva, when it emerges from the egg, is fed
by the workers, which act as nurses, with a mixture
of bee-bread, honey and water, the two first-mentioned
materials having undergone a partial digestion in the
stomach of the bees, and been converted into a species
of chyle. Whether the water is mixed with the food
so prepared, or is required for the process of digestion
to prepare it, certain it is that during the breeding time
great numbers of bees are to be seen imbibing water,
and bringing it to the hive. Ihis process of feeding
the larvae continues five days for the workers and six
and a half days for the drones, and the cells are then
capped with a mixture of wax and pollen, which forms
a safe covering for the cells, but is sufficiently porous
to admit the air necessary for the life of the larva and
pupa, or nymph, during its period of metamorphosis.
As soon as the cell is closed, the grub begins to spin a
web or cocoon round itself ; this spinning goes on for
thirty-six hours, when the cocoon is complete, and then
ensues a period of rest, or apparent rest, and subse-

20

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

quent metamorphosis, during which time a wonderful
transformation is going on from hour to hour. This
includes the pupa or nymph period, and lasts altogether
thirteen days for workers and fourteen and a half for
drones; and at length, on the twenty-second day from
the laying of the egg in the former, or on the twenty-
fifth day in the latter case, the fully formed bee cuts
through the capping of the cell with its mandibles, and
emerges complete in every respect, and ready, without
any previous trainings education or experience^ to fulfil
its functions, to execute all the delicate operations, and
to observe those rules of conduct which appear to us
(and justly) to be such marvels of intelligence,
ingenuity, dexterity and even foresight.

Figf. 8. WORKER EGG LARVAE AND QUEEN CELLS.

The cells in which queen, or perfect female eggs are
laid and developed differ widely from those of the
workers and drones ; in the natural state, they are
only built in the swarming season, or in cases where
the colony has become queenless ; in the former case
the cells are laid out for the purpose on the under side,
in a depression, or on the edges of the comb, as shown
in Fig. 8, which exhibits, on an enlarged scale, the top

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

21

view of a number of worker cells, with the egg and
larva in the different stages of development up to the
time of capping the cells (in the line marked a) ; a
section of a queen cell (b) showing the larva and a
supply of the royal jelly, and a similar one completed
and closed (at c). They somewhat resemble a peanut
in shape.

The material of which these cells are composed is
not pure wax ; there is much pollen mixed with it.
The outside surface is uneven and indented like the
sides of a thimble. The number built at one time
varies much, according to circumstances — sometimes
only two or three, but ordinarily not less than five or
more.

^'^S- 9- QUEEN CELLS BUILT OVER WORKER CELLS.

The transformations of the queen larva are com-
pleted in seven days from the closing of the cell, so
that on the sixteenth day from the laying of the egg
(six days shorter than the period for the worker, and
nine days shorter than that for the drone) the fully
developed queen emerges from the cell.

In the case of a colony becoming queenless in an
abnormal manner, queen cells may be built over worker
eggs or larvae in convenient places on the flat surface
of a comb as shown in Fig. 9. The ordinary worker
cells, with eggs in them, are shown at a ; b is a queen

22 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

cell partly built; and c one completed and closed.
D shows a case, which sometimes occurs, of a queen
cell built over drone brood. Such cells — which may
be known by the absence of indentations on their outer
surfaces — are of course useless, as the nature of the
drone ^^^ is not altered by the form of the cell or the
quality of the food given to the larva.

THE STING.

The sting of the worker bee is a very complicated
organ, as will be seen by a study of the following
engraving, taken from Root's "ABC and X Y Z of
Bee-Culture."

In the general view of the sting (i) is the double gland
in which the poison is collected from the glands, and
which secretes the poison; a, the cylindrical reservoir
from which it is transmitted through hollows in the
spears or lancets to the wound ; B, the two barbed
lancets ; and d, the third spear or awl, usually styled
the sheath, in which the other two partly slide when at
work. In the cross section (greatly enlarged) of the
lancets, at the point d, it will be seen how the two
hollow lancets, a and b, slide on ribs or guides in the
concave side of the so-called sheath, d. They have
tubes, F and g, through which, as well as through the
tube E, formed between the three parts of the sting,
the poisonous fluid is transmitted. There is a hollow,
c, in the awl or sheath, d, but it is only for strength
and lightness, and is not open either above or below.
In the barbed lancets, the end of one of which is shown,
greatly magnified, there are grooves, g, to fit on the
ribs of the sheath, and the poison, which is conveyed
down the hollow tube inside of each, finds vent by small
side openings to the barbs at h h. It appears that
when the wound is first pierced by the smooth and
highly polished point of the awl, d, a sliding motion is
communicated to the barbed lancets by the muscles
shown at j and k, and the poison is pumped, into the
wound through the centre cavity, e ; the barbed lancets
are then driven in by alternate motions, and at the

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

23

same time the centre cavity is closed by valves at the
root of the sting, and the poison is forced through the
tubes in the hollow lancets, and through the side
openings near the barbs. The barbs having once

Fig. 10. THE BEE STING.

i. Bee sting, magnified.
ii. One of the barbed lancets.
Hi. Cross section of lancets at D.
iv. Drof of the -poison, crystallised.

penetrated any tough material, such as the human
skin, cannot be withdrawn by a direct pull. The bee,
if left to itself, will gradually work round and round

24 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

in its endeavour to withdraw the sting, but if it be
abruptly shaken or brushed off, the whole sting is torn
out of its body and left behind. In that case the
muscles will continue to work and to force poison into
the wound for some time, if the sting be not carefully
extracted, which should be done without squeezing the
poison reservoirs at its base. The injury occasioned
to a bee by the tearing out of its sting must be very
severe, and it has been generally supposed that they
die immediately afterwards. Sir John Lubbock (Lord
Avebury), however, in his work on " Ants, Bees, and
Wasps," says : " Though bees that have stung and
lost their sting always perish, they do not die imme-
diately, and in the meantime they show little sign of
suffering from the terrible injury." He mentions
having seen a bee after losing its sting, remain twenty
minutes on the floor-board, enter the hive, return in an
hour, feed quietly on some honey, and again return to
the hive.

It is said :-^" i. The poison of the hymenoptera is always
acid. 2. It is composed of a mixture of two liquids, one
strongly acid, the other feebly alkaline, and acts only when
both liquids are present. 3. These are produced iDy two
special glands that may be called the acid gland and the
alkaline gland. 4. These two glands both expel their
contents at the base of the throat from which the sting darts
out."

LAYING OR FERTILE WORKERS.

The existence of egg-laying workers in a hive upon
certain rare occasions was noted by J. Riem even
before Ruber's time, and fully confirmed by the latter.
They are, of course, quite useless for keeping up the
stock of a hive, as their eggs can only produce drones.
They generally make their appearance after a colony
becomes queenless and minus of the wherewithal to
raise a queen.

The presence of a fertile worker may be known by
its eggs being scattered about promiscuously, some-
times on the sides and edges of the cells, and generally

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 25

more than one in each. I have seen as many as a
dozen in one cell. To get rid of them is sometimes a
difficult matter, for unless they were seen in the act of
laying one would not know them from the other
workers ; and usually the colony will not accept a
queen or queen cell when in this condition. If the hive
has become weak it will be best to unite it with
another ; and I believe in any case this is best, for I
have tried other means to get rid of them, but without
success. A sharp look-out should be kept to prevent a
colony getting into this condition, but it will happen
sometimes in spite of all our carefulness, as I have
found.

AXIOM.

" Bees, when frightened by smoke, or by drum-
ming ON THEIR HIVES, FILL THEMSELVES WITH HONEY,
AND LOSE ALL DISPOSITION TO STING, UNLESS THEY ARE

HURT." Langstroth.

CHAPIilR IV.

WHAT BEES COLLECT, AND WHAT THEY
PRODUCE.

Bees collect three different sorts of raw materials, all
of vegetable origin : (i) the sweet liquids secreted by
plants in the nectaries of their blossoms, or exuded on
parts of their leafy structure ; (2) the pollen, or fecundat-
ing dust of plants ; (3) resinous matter exuded on various
parts of some trees and plants. They produce, on the
other hand, honey, wax, bee-bread, and propolis. This
distinction must be borne in mind if we wish to be
precise both in our ideas and our mode of expression.

HONEY.

The raw material of the honey is entirely a vegetable
production ; it is excreted or thrown off by the plant,
from the superfluity of its saccharine juices, which,
when subjected to chemical analysis, are found to consist
of nearly the same constituents as all sugars, starch,
gum, and other non-nitrogenous vegetable secretions,
namely, of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, the two latter
in the proportions required to form water. This nectar,
therefore, does not contain any of the nitrogenous or of
the mineral substances furnished by the soil, and which
require to be returned to it, in some degree at least, by
the use of manures. Liebig and other chemists have
proved that all the elements of the non-nitrogenous
vegetable substances are derived from the atmosphere
and from rain-water; it is clear, therefore, that no
quantity of honey produced in any district can tend to
impoverish the soil from which the nectar is collected.*

* This matter was fully dealt with in the third edition of
this Manual, and also in Bulletin No. 18 on Bee Culture,
issued by the New Z'ealand Department of Agriculture,
third edition, March, 1909.

26

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 27

While lying in the nectaries of blossoms, and being
collected by the bee, or afterwards when being stored
in the honey-comb, it may by accident take up some
particles of pollen, which will account for the fact that
minute grains of that substance are generally discover-
able in honey when examined with the microscope. In
its passage through the honey-sac of the bee, and in
the act of being stored in the cells of the comb, the raw
juice goes through a process of ripening, which deprives
it of much of its superfluous watery particles (see
Chapter XIII.), and while in the honey-sac it is also
probably in some way chemically affected by the juices
from the salivary glands of the bee.

When, by evaporation, the proportion of moisture is
reduced tO' a certain extent, and the honey becomes
what we term " ripe," it is sealed in the cells by the
worker bees, just as the preserves of a careful house-
keeper are closed up so as to save them from the action
of the oxygen in the atmosphere. The honey in this
ripened state is nearly the same, in point of chemical
composition, as ordinary sugar; but it owes its perfume
and flavour apparently to the same volatile oils which
attracted the insects to the flowers from which it is
derived, and that it is indeed something very diff"erent
from common sugar is sufficiently clear to everyone.

HONEY DEW^

There is a saccharine matter sometimes gathered in
considerable quantities by bees in countries of the
Northern Hemisphere termed " honey dew." It is quite
distinct from, and much inferior to, ordinary honey.
Considerable difference of opinion has at various times
been expressed as to its origin, some holding that it is
entirely a vegetable product, while others claim that
the larger proportion is an excretion from certain
insects. Dr. E. F. Phillips, who has had special oppor-
tunities for studying the matter, says : —

'' Honey dew is a g-eneral term, including- sweet sub-
stances from several sources. There are many plants which
have nectaries outside the flower which secrete honev dew

28 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

which is gathered by bees. Among- these may be men-
tioned hau {Han'tiiiiii tiliaccnin), of Hawaii, cotton, some
of the acacias, and conifers. It is a mistake, however, to
assume that this is characteristic of the majority of plants
from which honey dew is gathered, for the greater part of
honey dew is not a plant secretion, but an insect product."

The United States Government has formulated an
official standard for honey, and any product not coming
up to the test, whether gathered and stored by bees,
or not, must not be sold as honey. Honey dew is below
the standard. Though large quantities are sometimes
gathered in the United States and other countries, I
have never heard of bee-keepers in this part of the world
being troubled with it. If they had, it could hardly
have escaped my knowledge.

ADULTERATIOX OF HOXEY.

Formerly there were large quantities of adulterated
honey foisted upon the markets of the world by certain
American houses, very largely composed of glucose.
It was carried out upon such a gigantic scale that
"American Honey" (?) became a by-word for fraud,
and an immense amount of harm was done to the bee-
keeping industry in that country. Thanks, however,
to their pure food laws, and the strictness with which
they are now enforced, I believe that there is little, if
any, of the fraudulent practice carried on there at
present'. Consumers of honey in Australasia who
patronise the locally raised honey need have little fear
of getting anything but the pure article, especially if
it is sold under a reputable brand.

BEESWAX.

Until Huber's time it was generally believed that
wax was gathered from certain flowers by the bees in
the same way as honey is procured, but there must
be very few people in the more enlightened nations
who do not now know that it is secreted by the bees,
so that there is no need to take up space to explain
how this was proved.

AUbTRALASlAN BEE MANUAL 29

It has been pointed out that, while honey and sugar
contain by weight about eight pounds of oxygen to
one of carbon and hydrogen, beeswax contains only
one pound of the first to more than sixteen of the two
latter ; and that, as the combustion of oxygen is the
great source of animal heat, the large quantity con-
sumed in the conversion of honey into wax " must aid

Fig. II. UNDER SIDE OF ABDOMEN OF WORKER BEE,

SHOWING WAX POCKETS AND WAX SCALES.

in generating the extraordinary heat which enables the
bees to mould the softened wax into such exquisitely
delicate and beautiful forms." The force of this
observation will be seen when we recollect that wax
requires a temperature of about 145° to melt it, though
it may be moulded, by pressure, at 100° or less. Is
it not probable that the way, in which it has been said
that " bee-bread assists the bee in producing the wax,"
as Langstroth expresses it, is that its nitrogenous
qualities serve to keep up the bodily strength of the
insect during the exhausting work of secreting the wax
and building the comb? This appears to be Professor
Cook's view. At all events, it is now well known that

30 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

the wax is exuded from the body of the worker bee,
and formed in thin flakes in what are termed the wax
pockets, of which four may be observed in the fore-
going engraving, on each side of the centre line on
the under-part of the abdomen, and which are, in fact,
the folds of the shell-like plates covering the abdominal
rings.

The wax can only be secreted when the temperature
of the hive is above a certain point, and during the
time of secretion the bees appear to hang in clusters
or festoons, in a state of absolute repose. In the
height of the honey season, or so long as new comb is
required, this secretion goes on night and day. Lang-
stroth says that "careful experiments prove that from
thirteen to twenty pounds of honey are required to
make a single pound of wax." This was for a long
time accepted as a well-ascertained fact ; but within the
last few years some American and English apiarists
have begun to doubt if quite so much honey is con-
sumed, and lately it has been stated, on the strength of
some isolated experiments, that the bees do not con-
sume more than eight pounds of honey in order to
secrete one pound of wax. Many more careful experi-
ments will be requisite before this can be satisfactorily
proved or disproved. In the meantime it may be
asserted that something between eight and twenty
pounds are required, but the exact quantity is still an
open question — the consensus of opinion points to
twelve pounds.

ADULTERATED BEESWAX, AND HOW TO DETECT IT.

With the growing scarcity of beeswax during the
past twenty years and the consequent increase in price,
came the opportunity for the adulterator. At first the
adulteration was carried on in a very clumsy style and
easily detected, tallow and resin being chiefly used.
But of late years the fraudulent imitation of the pure
article has been so cleverly m.ade that except by experts
or by direct tests it could not be detected.

The usual adulterants nowadays, and which are so

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 31

difficult to detect by the uninitiated, are the ordinary
commercial paraffins and ceresins, and for these the
simplest way of detecting them is by the alcohol test.
Too much reliance, however, must not be placed in it
as it is quite possible that something else might be
added to make the test unreliable.

Into a clear glass bottle pour a little clean water,
then drop in a small piece of beeswax of known purity ;
the wax being lighter than the water, will float. Now
pour in gradually pure alcohol till the wax slowly sinks
to and touches the bottom, but no more. Then drop
in a piece of the suspected article : if it does not sink
slowly like the wax there will be every reason for
believing it to be adulterated. When there is more
than 5 per cent, of either of the two adulterants present
the stuff will float, while the pure beeswax lies at the
bottom of the liquid.

WILL IT PAY TO RAISE BEESWAX?

I am certainly inclined to believe that at the present
price of beeswax, and with every prospect of its getting
dearer, it will pay to raise it instead of honey, where
the latter is of a low grade, such as in some bush
districts. I know of bee-keepers living near bush that
would like to extend their operations, but owing to the
difficulties of getting their honey into shape for market,
and the low price received for it, prevents them from
doing so. To such people the raising of wax might
prove of enormous benefit. It occurs to me that some
inexpensive form of large home-made hive, carrying
fifteen or sixteen frames, of say, twelve or fourteen
inches deep, which could also be made on the spot,
might be used. Small fillets of wood dipped in wax
tacked along the centre of the underside of the top
bars would induce the bees to build straight combs
within the frames in the first place, after which there
would be no trouble, as a small strip of comb could be
left in each time they were cut out. Most of the
combs could be removed as they were built, and in this
way the bees would be kept chiefly at comb building

32

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

through the season, and the greater part of the honey
gathered would be converted into wax, leaving
sufficient of both comb and honey to see them through
the winter.

I think it quite likely that if worked in this way
each colony started early in the season should yield
from four to five lbs. or more of clean marketable wax,
which at present prices, from 1/3 to 1/6 per lb., would
pay far better than raising low grade honey. I offer
the above as a suggestion worth considering. It was
one of the experiments I intended carrying out at the
Waerenga State Apiary, where a low grade honey is
frequently gathered, had I continued as Government
Apiarist.

RENDERING COMBS INTO COMMERCIAL WAX.

Of all the operations in connection with apiary work,
I think the rendering and cleaning of small quantities

of comb to convert
it into commercial wax,
has hitherto been the
most unsatisfactory.
Through the want of
some simple, inexpen-
sive, but efficient method,
a large quantity of
comb in the aggregate
is wasted annually, as it
does not pay to bother
with small lots. Hot
water and pressure,
steam and pressure, and
sun-heat, are the three
methods employed. In
apiaries of 40 colonies or
more it pays to get the
best appliance in use for
this work, as the gain in
the wax saved will soon
defray the cost, and give
an annual profit.

Fig. 12. GERMAN STEAM

WAX PRESS.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

33

WAX PRESSES.

The wax-press as shown in Fig. 12, usually known
as the *' Root-German Wax and Honey Press," is a
very popular one, and is largely in use also as an
uncapping can. h is the boiler, which should be two-
thirds filled with water, and then the can set on a fire
after removing the screw and the perforated can from
inside. A scrim bag about ten inches deep, and three-
fourths the diameter of the can, should be nearly filled
with comb, well pressed in, and the top of the bag
folded over, this is placed in the can. By providing an
extra follower or two of boards, two, or even three, such
bags of comb may be pressed at one time — a follower
over each bag. The steam from the boiler h will
ascend around the
false bottom g
through the comb,
and no pressure
must be put on
until the wax
ceases running
from the spout.
After pressing,
loosen the screw
and take it out
while the bags are
shaken up, then
put in the screw
again — and repeat
the process until
no more wax can
be got.

I have had
quite a number
of favourable re-
ports of the
" Hatch " Press,
Fig. 13. In fact.

Fig. 13. " HATCH " WAX PRESS.

34 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

it appears to be the one most favoured at present. It
differs from the German Steam Press, in that the comb
is first heated in a boiler with water which is kept over
a good fire. Paperhanger's scrim is laid in the press
basket, about one gallon at the time of the melted
combs and hot water is dipped from the boiler and put
into the scrim, the follower is placed on top, and the
whole screwed down. The wax and water runs from
the spout shown, into a tin or bucket placed to receive
them ; the cake of wax floats on top when cool.

Iron boilers should never be used for melting or
cleaning wax with hot water, as the iron and water
combined turns the wax a dull dark colour ; copper is
best.

THE SOLAR WAX EXTRACTOR.

My first experience with the Solar Wax Extractor,
some twenty-three years ago, and after, gave me a
very poor impression of them, and in the last edition
of this Manual I condemned them. Further experience,
however, with an improved pattern to those I first used
has entirely altered my opinion, and I can now speak of
them in the highest terms. My first extractors were
too deep as I afterwards discovered, the heat, or a good
part of it, was no doubt wasted instead of being con-
centrated on the combs.

In 1906 I had one constructed on the " Boardman "
pattern, Fig. 14, which worked splendidly. It was at
work at the International Exhibition Apiary at Christ-
church, New Zealand. It stood in the open without
any special shelter, and the inside temperature, as
tested frequently, went over 220° Fahr., and on one
occasion I found it reached 231!° Fahr., or 19^° above
boiling point. The refuse from old combs came out of
the extractor quite dry without a particle of wax in it,
while the wax was of a nice bright colour. I had two
others made for the Government Apiaries, and they
have given every satisfaction.

The following are the particulars of their construc-
tion : — The dimensions outside are — length, 5 ft. 3 in. ;

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

35

width, 2 ft. 8 in. ; depth of main part of body, 4^ in. ;
wax-receptacle at lower end of body, 9 in. wide by 8 in.
deep. The sash is furnished with two sheets of glass
with an air-space of i in. between them. The wheel on
which the extractor is mounted is 4 ft. 6 in. diameter,
and works on an axle about 2 ft. long, driven into a

Fig.

14.

SOLAR WAX EXTRACTOR.

block of wood in the ground. The body of the wax-
extractor is lined with black sheet iron turned up at
the sides, and fitting loosely in the extractor. A long
tin divided into three compartments fits in the lower
part for catching the wax as it runs from the combs.
The tin and the divisions should run smaller at bottom
than at the top, to facilitate turning out the cakes of
wax, and the tops of the two divisions should be f in.
below the top of the tin. The middle compartment will

36 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

then retain any dirt or foreign matter running; in with
the wax, while the clean wax will flow over into the
outside compartments.

The woodwork of the Extractor must be substantial
and well put together to stand the great heat, and it is
well to have the edge of the sash bound with i^ inch
angle iron. The depth inside from the lower sheet of
glass to the iron lining should not exceed from 2^ to 3
inches.

If in a warm corner of the apiary and well sheltered,
the Extractor will work at almost all times when the
sun is shining. Such an appliance will soon pay for
itself in a fair-sized apiary, for every particle of comb
can be put in at once and converted into good com-
mercial beeswax, instead of being wasted. Mounting
the Extractor on a wheel is for convenience of turning
it to the sun.

SULPHURIC ACID FOR CLEANSING DIRTY WAX.

Opinions differ as to whether it is advisable or not
to use sulphuric acid in cleansing wax; the A. I. Root
Company use it and recommend its use. On the other
hand, C. Dadant says " Don't use any acids as it takes
the smell of the bees out of the wax." The two firms
are the largest makers of comb-foundation in the world,
so should be good authorities — it seems to be a case of
"When doctors differ, etc." The Root Company say
there is no satisfactory way of cleansing dirty wax than
by treating it with acid.

A suitable boiler half filled with water is placed over
a fire ; when the water boils put in the cakes of dirty
wax. When all is melted, add the sulphuric acid, then
let the fire gradually die down. When the dirt has
time to settle the clean wax may be dipped off the top,
taking care not to disturb the dirty water underneath.
The proportion of acid to use is a half pint to 125 lbs.
of wax.

Doolittle recommends one pint of strong vinegar in
one quart of water to each 10 lbs of wax — the acid is
far cheaper.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 37

HONEY AND BROOD COMBS.

Wax, after being produced by the bees, is formed by
the workers into comb, which consists of hexagonal-
shaped cells of two sizes — one for the deposit by the
queen of the worker eggs, the other for the same
purpose, for drone eggs ; and these are known by the
names of "worker " and " drone " comb. — Fig. 15.

The worker cells measure about five to the lineal inch
and the drone cells about four. When used for breed-
ing purposes the former are slightly under half an inch
in depth, and the latter five-eighths of an inch, but
when used for the storage of honey they vary in depth
according to the space available.

Fig. 15. DRONE CELLS. WORKER CELLS.

(Natural Size.)

The bees when allowed to construct their own combs
entirely, usually build much drone comb, which is sub-
sequently utilised for breeding what appears to be an
unnecessary number of drones, but the use of worker
comb-foundation entirely obviates this evil. — See
chapter on " Comb-Foundation."

POLLEN AND BEE-BREAD.

Pollen is the dust-like particles of farinaceous matter
which constitutes the fecundating principle of the
stamens of flowers and blossoms of all kinds. The
manner in which it is collected by bees has been already
described in Chapter IIL It is of great importance in
the economy of the hive, as, after being mixed with a
little honey, and packed in the cells of the brood combs,

38 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

it forms the bee-bread, which is indispensable to the
nourishment of the young bees, and without which, as
has been proved, no brood can be raised. It is very
rich in nitrogenous substances, which are necessary for
the formation and maintenance of muscular tissue, and
therefore to the development of the young bees.

The grains of pollen, although so minute as to form
an almost impalpable dust, exhibit when viewed through
a powerful microscope very beautiful and distinctive
markings, according to the plants from which they
are obtained. Previous to Ruber's experiments, bee-
bread was supposed to be used in comb-building. He,
however, proved, as we have seen, that comb could
be built by the bees in confinement, by being fed with
honey or sugar syrup alone. He was not long in dis-
covering that pollen was used for the nourishment of
the young bees. Confining some bees to their hives
without pollen, he supplied them with larvae, honey,
and eggs. In a short time the young all died. A
fresh supply of brood being given them, with plenty of
pollen, the development of the larvae proceeded in the
natural way.

PROPOLIS.

This is a substance used by the bees for glueing
things together, and for stopping up all crevices in their
hives. In order to make it they gather the resinous
matter which exudes from some trees ; or when this is
scarce they will take varnish, or even tar. They carry
this substance home in their pollen baskets, and use it,
mixed with wax, wherever they want to fasten any
loose parts, or to fill up joints to exclude enemies or air.
They make a very liberal use of it at the end of the
honey season. It is a great nuisance in some districts.

AXIOM.

** The bee-keeper will ordinarily derive all his
profits from stocks strong and healthy in early
SPRING." Langstroth.

CHAPTER V.

THE APIARY.

LOCATION.

Taking into consideration the climate, the flora, both
indigenous and exotic, and the results which have here-
tofore followed the introduction of bee culture in all
parts of Australasia, I feel safe in saying that there is
no part of it which is at all fitted for European settle-
ment where the culture of bees may not be carried on to
a greater or less extent with advantage, but it does not
therefore follow that every district is adapted for the
working of extensive apiaries. No person should
attempt the establishment of a large apiary without
first making himself acquainted with the resources of
the neighbourhood, and to do this effectually he must
first have a knowledge of the flora which is best suited
to his purpose. Clover honey being in greatest demand
and the most profitable to raise, it is wise to select a
district where plenty of white clover is grown, a
dairying district for instance. Sheep farming or crop-
ping districts are not desirable. New Zealand offers
large stretches of clover country to choose from,
extending almost the length of the two islands. In the
chapter on " Bee Forage" I have dealt with the best of
the Native flora of Australia and New Zealand.

The instructions which follow are based on the
supposition that a fair sized apiary of from seventy-five
to a hundred colonies will be sooner or later established.

SHELTER.

Next to selecting a good locality, arranging for good
shelter is the most important matter. The conforma-

39

40 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

tion of the ground may afford some convenience in this
respect. When there is a choice, select a low-lying spot
so long as the drainage is good and the ground dry, so
that the bees when flying home laden will have easier
work. Such a situation can be more readily sheltered.
When shelter must be grown, select plants that make
a durable hedge, and that will bear cutting back well,
so that it can be kept, say, about eight feet high. This
is high enough to shelter a large apiary, and not too
high to take swarms from. Giant privet {Ligustrum
sinense) is the best plant I know for the purpose, and
can be thoroughly recommended. When planted in two
rows three feet apart and eighteen inches apart in the
rows, and the soil about them kept stirred now and
again, and clear of weeds for a couple of seasons, a
real good shelter fence may be obtained in about four
seasons. A temporary shelter fence may be erected in
the meantime of brushwood while the other is growing.
Tagasaste (Cytisus proliferous) grows very rapidly,
and will form decent shelter in two seasons, but in the
Auckland district it does not last more than from four
to five years when cut back. It is a good plant to grow,
as it affords excellent bee forage in winter and early
spring. The seeds are sown where the plants are to
grow, as they do not transplant well. The seeds
require steeping in hot water before sowing, and should
be sown immediately after, three feet apart. Do not
plant tall growing trees near the apiary to give swarms
an opportunity of settling out of reach. Both the above
hedges should be protected from cattle of all kinds.

WATER.

Good clean water near the apiary, easily accessible
to the bees, is a great boon where there are many
colonies. A great deal of water is required right
through the breeding season. A clear, running, shallow
stream affords the best watering place, but in the
absence of a natural supply, water should be provided
in shallow water-tight troughs filled with pebbles,
placed under shade near at hand, taking care to keep

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 41

them supplied with water, and that they are cleaned
out frequently. Bees often become a nuisance by con-
gregating around cattle troughs and domestic supplies,
hence the reason for having water in or close to the
apiary.

ARRANGEMENT OF THE APIARY.

In the first place, the hives should stand out in the
open clear of all trees, tall hedges, fences, and buildings.
If the hives are properly constructed, as explained in
the next chapter, and painted a light colour, they should
stand on the ground, and will not need any kind of

Fig. 16 GOVERNMENT APIARY.

shade. It is a mistake even to put them among fruit
trees; they should be clear of everything that will tend
to impede rapid work. Hives are sometimes placed
under ever-green trees, in dense shade, when, after a
time, the occupants become exceedingly vicious, and
are difficult to handle. Such hives are likely to become
damp inside in winter, and the combs mouldy.

I have no hesitation whatever in saying that the best
and most convenient arrangement of hives in an apiary
is singly, and in straight rows. Some bee-keepers, but

D

42 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

comparatively few, place them in clumps of two or more.
I can see no advantage, but several disadvantages in
this arrangement. Robbing is more likely to occur when
the hives are so close together; there is not the same
convenience for working them ; young queens are more
likely to miss their hives after their wedding flight; and
in most cases the bees of all the hives in the clump must
be quieted while working at either one. When the
hives are standing out singly there is nothing to impede
rapid manipulation, which is always desirable when
working large apiaries.

The hives should not be less than a clear six feet
apart, and the rows eight feet, or, if space will allow,
ten feet apart from centre to centre ; this would give
eight feet clear between the line of bottom boards. The
position of the hives in each row should alternate with
that of those in the rows in front and behind, as shown
in the illustration. This aifords a clear line of flight
to each hive, and the person working them is outside
that line. The front of the hives should face the North,
or from that to North-East, but never to the West of
North if it can be avoided.

BUILDINGS. EXTRACTING HOUSE.

The extracting house or room may be entirely separate
from all other buildings, but as a matter of economy,
and convenience, it is, as a rule, best to have all the
necessary tenements, such as extracting and honey store
rooms, w^orkshop and hive store room (the two latter
in one compartment), and a comb storage room under
one roof, and connecting with each other. I cannot
too urgently impress upon those bee-keepers who are,
or intend to be, in a sufficiently large way to need the
foregoing conveniences, to put up a roomy and sub-
stantial building in the first place, and not try to do
with anything of a makeshift nature. The building
need not be an elaborate one ; plain upright boarding
and battens needing no lining, partitioned off, and made
bee proof. Those at the Government Apiaries are built
in this plain manner, on my design, in order to show
how an efficient and cheap building may be erected by
anyone capable of using a hammer and saw.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

43

Fig 17 represents the ground plan of the first Govern-
ment Apiary building erected at the Ruakura experi-
mental farm, which only consisted of the extracting
and store rooms; in all, 26 ft. long by 14 ft. wide.
Subsequently a lean-to the full length of the house was
added, 12 ft. in width. 10 ft. was partitioned off
for a comb room, and the remaining 16 ft. serves as

£X T^ffC T'f^Q Roo/yf
(Cei/ed}

Cai-peiii-ei-'s Bench\

■-/GO

Fig. 17. GROUND PLAN OF EXTRACTING HOUSE AND

HONEY STORE ROOM.

a workshop and hive store room combined. Referring
to Fig. 17, No. I is the uncapping can; 2, the honey
extractor on the platform ; 3, the honey strainer; 4 4, 4 4,
two double honey maturing tanks; 5, a 56-lb. honey tin
under the tap of the tank.

The platform on which the extractor is worked is, as
shown, 6 ft. long by 4 ft. wide, and rises 4 ft. 9 in.
from the floor. This allows height enough for the
honey to run into the strainer over the honey tank, and
to fill bulk honey tins direct from the taps. The extract-
ing room is 16 ft. long, which affords space for a 4-foot
double honey tank on each side of the platform and to
get partly round them.

44 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

WINDOWS.

I have already referred to the house being made bee
proof, but at extracting time it is impossible to avoid
bees being taken into the extracting room with the
combs, when it becomes a question of adopting the best
means of getting them out again quickly. The bees
themselves, in trying to escape, fly to the windows,
attracted by the light, and in some bee books it is
recommended to fit up wire screens and small " Porter "
escapes to the windows, which in my experience are of
little or no use. In 1883 I adopted a plan of hanging
the windows centrally, so that they could be swung
half round, in which case, any bees clustering on the
windows inside can be ejected instantly by giving the
latter a half turn.

COMB ROOM.

A comb room for storage of spare combs is an abso-
lute necessity in a large apiary. It should be smoke
tight, so that the combs may be fumigated to kill any
wax moths that attack them. Upright studs of 3 in.
by 2 in., put up on each side of the centre so as to
leave a passage between, and battens running from
them to the sides of the room, will afford convenience
for the storage of some thousands of combs in a room
of the dimensions suggested.

I have found it best to have the building on the East
side of the apiary, about the middle of the rows — that
is, supposing there are to be ten rows ; then the centre
of the end of the building should be opposite the fifth
and sixth rows.

It should face the same way as the hives, and be as
near the latter as possible. The extracting room should
be in the end nearest the hives, and the honey store
room at the other end (having a wide door), so that a
horse and cart or waggon can be brought up to the
building without being too close to the bees in their
flight, ^

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 45

MOVING BEES.

The moving of established colonies in hives furnished
with the Hoffman self-spacing frames, so much in use
now, is a very easy matter compared with what it was
formerly with the loose-hanging frames ; the frames
can now be made secure in a moment by wedging them
off from one side of the hive. The chief consideration
after that is to obtain good ventilation.

When the bees are to be confined for two or three
days or more, the best plan is to make temporary tops
and bottoms for the hives out of 4 by i in. battens, just
the outside dimensions of the hives when nailed together.
The inner part between the battens to be covered
with the ordinary queen cage wire cloth. The hive is
set on one board, and another is placed on top, four
3 by f inch battens are screwed on to the boards con-
necting the upper with the lower one. This makes all
secure and gives ample ventilation through both, when
properly constructed.

Some provision must be made to give the bees water,
and the best I know is to fasten a small sponge on the
wire cloth on the upper board, and to keep it damp. The
winter months, when no breeding is going on, is the
best time to move bees. Brood when confined more
than twenty-four hours is likely to die and become
putrid, especially in warm weather. When travelling
by train the hives should be placed with their frames
parallel with the train, but when by waggon the frames
should be across the vehicle.

OUT-APIARIES.

When a person of some experience decides to become
a specialist in bee-keeping, and to give his whole atten-
tion to bee-farming, he must sooner or later establish
out-apiaries, that is apiaries apart, and at some distance
away from, his first or " home " apiary. The number
of colonies that can be profitably run in any one apiary
depends of course, on the amount of bee forage avail-
able, and whether the locality within bee flight is
occupied by other bee-keepers or not. If fairlv free in
this respect, and the pasturage good, from 100 to 150

46 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

would not be too many, taking many parts of New
Zealand as my guide. I have myself run 200 colonies
in one apiary with an average output of about 100 lbs.
of honey per colony, and with another apiary of nearly
100 colonies less than two miles distant. Experience,
however, is the best guide, and an observant man with
his heart in his work will have no difficulty in deciding
this question.

There is one point worth considering and that is, while
it is not wise to overstock any one apiary to a large
extent, it may pay better to do so a little rather than start
another. For instance, say the home apiary would be
fairly stocked with 100 colonies, it might be more
profitable to put down 150 and get a little less average
per colony, than to establish another several miles away,
with all the trouble and expense of attending to it.
It is quite possible to do better with larger and fewer
apiaries, than with a greater number of smaller ones.
It will also depend upon the amount of bee pasturage
in the surrounding district as to the distance the
apiaries should be apart. If plentiful, three to four
miles, or say four miles in every direction would be far
enough. Those I know^ who have several out-apiaries
make arrangements with owners of farming land for
renting a plot of ground large enough for an apiary,
and seemingly have no difficulty in getting the
convenience.

OVERSTOCKING A DISTRICT.

It is of course conceivable that this may occur, but
the chances of two or more large commercial bee farms
being established so close together as to materially
injure each other I think is rather remote. The last
comers would be as badly off as the first, and it is
hardly likely experienced men would act so foolishly
toward themselves and each other.

CHAPTER VI.

HIVES, FRAMES, AND SECTION BOXES.

HIVES.

The movable-comb hive has now become so familiar
to every person taking ever so slight an interest in
modern bee-culture that there is no necessity to describe
the difference between it and a common box. Hives
may be made of any size or pattern that may suit the
fancy of the individual, but he w411 be wise to adopt the
one in general use in the country he is residing in. In
Australasia we fortunately have the " Langstroth " as

Fig. l8. HOPKINS' LANGSTROTH HIVE.

(Two-story Hive, for raising Extracted Honey.)

practically the standard hive ; in fact, there is no other
kind in use in New Zealand. This is a very great
advantage, as the hives and frames are interchangeable

47

48 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

over the whole Dominion. I had the honour of intro-
ducing this hive into Australasia in the season of
1877-78, and without altering the original dimensions
I modified it a little in the direction I thought most
suitable. The Langstroth hive is used now in all parts
of the world with the exception of Great Britain, where
they use a smaller one, the " British Standard," and
tTie Langstroth in its simplest form is the one I now
recommend.

LANGSTROTH HIVE.

The Langstroth hive complete consists of several
movable parts — ^the floor and alighting boards (which
may be attached if desired), the brood chamber or lower

Fig. 19. — langstr6th hive with two

HALF-STORIES.

(For raising Comb-Honey in Sections.)

hive, the super (one or more), the frames and cover.
The outside dimensions of the brood chamber are
20^in. by i6in. by loin. in height, including the
rabbet. The super used for raising extracted honc\- is
exactly the same size, but the half-story supers that can
be used either for raising extracted or comb honey,

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 49

while of the same length and breadth, are only 5fin.
in height. The floor or bottom-board is the same width
as the brood chamber, but four inches longer, out of
which a V-shaped piece is gouged at the front end of
the board, three-eighths of an inch deep, for an entrance,
which allows more or less ventilation to be given accord-
ing as the body of the hive is pushed forwards or back-
wards on the board.

The brood chamber is intended to contain ten narrow
frames of comb ; the super, if worked for extracting,
has generally nine of the same frames, the intermediate
spaces being left a little wider than in the brood chamber.
The half-story supers are made to contain either shallow-
frames, with section boxes, or a section rack. An
inside covering mat is placed on top of the frames in the
hive or super just under the cover. The stands and the
bottom of the floor-board may be painted a dark colour ;
the hive itself is better if either white or a light tint;
the top of the roof should in any case be nearly white,
in order the better to cast off the hot rays of the sun in
summer.

These hives can be procured at very moderate prices,
and very complete in every respect, from the manufac-
turers. For the convenience of those who wish to put
their own hives together and to save expense in the
transport, they can be had in the flat, that is, all the
separate parts complete and ready to be nailed together,
and packed as close together as possible in crates or
packages containing several hives. Should a beginner
decide to purchase his hives in the flat, he should obtain
one made up as a pattern, so as to avoid mistakes in
putting the others together, though the following
instructions will help him in this respect.

INSTRITCTIONS FOR MAKING THE HIVES.

The first Important point to be observed is to use
none but thoroughly seasoned timber that will neither
shrink or twist after it is made up. Every corre-
sponding part in all hives, be they two or two thousand,

50

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

must be exactly alike to be interchangeable one with
the other. The thickness of the timber used principally
throughout the hive is seven-eighths of an inch ; and as
one-inch boards — the nearest size most easily obtained
— when well seasoned are a sixteenth less, there is just
sufficient substance left to allow of a smooth surface
being put on one side with a plane. The body of the

Fig. 20. END OF HIVE (iNSIDE VIEW).

hive, with which I will start, is loin. deep, and takes
exactly 5ft. 11 in. of board to form the two sides and
two ends; so that boards 12ft. by ift. will cut two
bodies, allowing two inches for saw cuts and waste. I
would advise getting ift. boards, as the exact loin. can

Fig. 21. END OF HIVE (OUTSIDE VIEw).

be cut after they are seasoned. Plane the 12 by ift.
board on one side, reducing the thickness to seven-
eighths of an inch, or buy the timber already planed,
and run a trying plane along one edge till the edge is

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 51

perfectly straight. Mark the depth (loin.) from the
straight edge, and rip off the strip ; now cut from your
12ft. board four pieces i6in. long for end pieces, and
four iQ^in. long, for sides, then set your gauge to mark
three-eighths, and take each of your end pieces, lay
them on the bench, planed side up, and run your gauge
along the rough edges, marking for the rabbet d shown

Fig. 22. SIDE OF HIVE (inside VIEW).

in Fig. 20. Next hold the pieces on their edges, and
mark with the same gauge in from the planed side.
This will show the piece to be taken out to form the
rabbet d. The pieces should now be turned the planed
edges up, and the same gauge run along the edges
from the planed side of the board to mark for the
rabbet e, shown in Fig. 20. Now lay the ends flat
(rough side up), and mark with same gauge in from
the edges for rabbet e, and also run the gauge down
the ends of the boards from the planed sides to mark
for rabbet c (Fig. 20). Before shifting the gauge, the
rabbets on the side pieces can be marked. The rabbets
D and E (Fig. 22) are marked exactly the same as the
rabbets d and e in Fig. 20. We have now the rabbets
D e and the edge of c marked. The gauge will then
require to be set at seven-eighths of an inch to mark
in from the ends of the end pieces on the inside for
rabbet c, Fig. 20, and also down from the top edges
for rabbet b, Fig. 20. All that is wanted now is to

52 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

reset the gauge to a quarter of an inch, and mark on
top edges from the inside for rabbet b, Fig. 20.

The rabbets, being all marked, will require cutting
out. The best tool for this purpose I have ever used
was an iron plough (American). With this tool, fitted
with a three-eighths iron and set to a three-eighths
gauge, it will scarcely require the marking gauge to
be used. By cutting out the rabbets d and e (Fig. 20)
first, some little labour will be saved when cutting c.
If a saw cut is put in across the latter it will expedite

Fig. 23. SHOWING HOW THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF

THE HIVE CO TOCxETHER.

the cutting. For c and b a seven-eighths iron will be
required, with the gauge of the plough set to the
proper depth. After the rabbets are cut, strips of tin,
i-Mn. wide by i4in. long, should be folded in the centre
to form the metal supports a (Fig. 20). These are
tacked on, as show^n, so as to allow the upper edges to
project above the lower part of rabbets about one-
eighth of an inch. Metal supports, or, as they are

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 55

commonly but incorrectly termed, '* tin rabbets," are
for supporting the frames, the projecting ends of which
rest on them ; but I shall have more to say respecting
these in another place.

The ends and sides being properly formed will have
the appearance of the figures and will themselves sug-
gest how they should be put together. Fig. 23 repre-
sents the two ends and one side nearly in place; the
ends of the side pieces dropping into the rabbets c
(Fig. 20) should fit nicely, and be firmly nailed with
three 2iin. wire nails at each end. These should not
be driven through the end pieces into the sides, but
through the sides into the ends, dovetail fashion.

BOTTOM BOARD.

For the platform of the bottom board a piece of
board 2ft. long, i6in. wide, by lin. thick, is required.
Although this may be made out of two or more pieces.

Fig. 24. BOTTOM BOARD.

it is much better to have it in one, as the joints give
facilities for moths and other insects to deposit their
eggs where it is difficult for the bees to get at them.
The entrance a (Fig. 24) is cut out of one end three-

54 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

eighths of an inch deep, starting i^in. from each side
and running back 5in. to a point, as shown. After
marking it out, a saw-cut can be run on each side to
save labour in chiselHng. The stands b b are 4in. wide,
i^in. thick, and i6in. long; nailed on edge, 3in. back
from each end. These pieces keep the hive a sufficient
height off the ground and prevent the bottom board
twisting.

Fig. 25. ALIGHTING BOARD.

This is a very necessary part of the hive. Placed in
front of the entrance, it makes a capital landing stage
for the bees, and thus saves many from falling to the
ground when heavily laden. The platform e (Fig. 25)
is i6in. long, g'm. wide, and five-eighths of an inch
thick. The upper edge should be slightly bevelled, to
fit snug against the bottom board. The pieces a are
Sin. long and 4in. wide at their widest part, tapering
down to i^in. at the outer end. The handiest way of
making these is to cut them out of a board 5|in. wide
and lin. thick. Every eight inches of the board will
make two without any waste and save a deal of
cutting.

COVER.

This is a part of the hive that requires to be very
carefully made. Leaky covers are an abomination.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

55

The ends (Fig. 26) are made in seven-eighths of an inch
timber, i6in. long, 4in. wide for ifin. in the centre,
then tapering down to ifin. wide at each end. A
rabbet, three-eighths of an inch wide by three-eighths
of an inch deep, is taken out of the lower edges on the

inner or rough side, to allow it to fit over the rabbet
on upper edge of the body of hive, and another rabbet
is cut in the ends, as shown, seven-eighths of an inch
by half an inch deep, for the sides to house into. An

^-^"^-^'•-^-^s-'^-.-^'Jp

Fig. 27. SIDE OF COVER (iNSIDE VIEW).

Inch hole for ventilation (shown in figure) should be
bored in the centre, and have a piece of perforated zinc
tacked over it. The side pieces (Fig. 27) are the same
thickness as the ends — ig^in. long, 2in. wide on the

Fig. 2S. RIDGE BOARD OF COVER.

insides, and ifin. wide on the outsides, the upper edges
being bevelled quarter of an inch to give them a similar
slope to the end pieces. The lower inside edges of

56 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

these are rabbeted the same as the ends. The ridge
board (Fig. 28) is 2 ft. long, 4in. wide and seven-eighths
of an inch thick. This should be rabbeted on the under
side in a sloping manner, similar to the rabbets shown
in the figure, tapering off from nothing at the edge to
five-eighths of an inch at the deepest part. The width
of each rabbet from the edge is ifin., leaving ifin. of
the full thickness in the centre, corresponding with the
top centre of end pieces. When making my hives by
hand I had an iron fitted to my plough made the shape
of these rabbets, which was the means of saving much
time and labour.

Fig. 29. ROOF BOARD OF COVER.

The roof boards (Fig. 29) are made of five-eighths
of an inch timber 2ft. long by Sin. wide, the lower edge
being slightly bevelled to suit the slope of the cover.

To put the cover together, the sides and ends are
nailed first ; then place the ridge piece on, allowing it
to project an equal distance at eajch end, but before
nailing it, put on one of the roof boards in its place —

Fig. 30. COVER COMPLETE.

the upper edge under the ridgf;, and nail through both
ridge and board to the end pieces. Now nail the other
board on in the same manner, and fasten both boards
securely round the sides. The engraving (Fig. 30)
shows the cover finished.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 57

We have now gone through the whole hive, with the
exception of the frames, and if every part is made
according to the foregoing instruction, they will fit
each other like a glove, and when two or three-story
hives are required, it is only a question of having extra
bodies- similar to the one already described.

HALF-STORY BODIES.

These are made in exactly the same way as the full
bodies, but only Sfin. deep, and, as already explained,
may be used for either extracted or comb honey.

NUCLEUS HIVES.

These are small hives generally used when queen
rearing, and made of different sizes and shapes to suit
the ideas of the queen breeder. By far the handiest
are those made to take the regular frames used in the
apiary and of a size that will take from two to four.
They may be made out of light material, and in a more
simple manner than the ordinary hive. The bottom
board can be nailed on, and the entrance cut out of one
end of hive ; the figure does not show the bottom board.
The width inside should be 4fin. or 5in. to take three
frames. A full explanation of the use of it is given in
the chapter on queen rearing.

OBSERVATORY HIVES.

An observatory hive stocked with bees during the
busy season is always attractive to non-bee-keeping
friends and visitors. They are now supplied by hive
manufacturers at very reasonable prices, and can be
readily stocked in the summer season from one's own
apiary by transferring a frame well stocked with bees
and the queen from one of the ordinary hives.

PAINTING HIVES.

It is always advisable when putting hives together
to give the joints a coat of paint and to paint the whole
of the hives three coats before using them. The paint

E

58

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

should be of a light colour, a very light slate colour
will stand better than dead white, and the last coat
should be zinc paint. The bodies will then stand for
two years but the covers should be painted every
autumn.

HIVE CRAMP.

A hive cramp of some kind is absolutely necessary
when putting hives together to get the parts firmly in
their places, and to hold them true while nailing them,

¥\ir. T,l. IIOPKIXS' HIVE CRAMP.

SO that they may stand a bit of rough handling after-
wards without getting out of the square. I don't know
of anything better for this purpose than the cramp
shown in Fig. 31, and where there are a good few hives
to put together it will pay to buy or make one. The
end pieces of the hives are placed against the jaws of
the cramp, and the side pieces top and bottom; they
are then screwed together and nailed. The platform
of the cramp forms a good solid base to nail on, while
the top is just high enough for nailing conveniently.
The author has had one in use since 1878, and there
is one in use at each of the New Zealand Government
Apiaries.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 59

A CHEAP FRAME HIVE.

There are no doubt many pioneers in the back blocks
who would like to keep a few colonies of bees to raise
honey for family use, but find it beyond their means to
obtain hives from the manufacturers owing to the
heavy cost of carriage. To such I would say that a
very good hive of the Langstroth pattern may be made
out of a sound kerosene-case, which is of the same
dimensions inside, and takes the same number of
frames as the regular Langstroth. The following
instructions are taken from my Bulletin No. 18 : —

" Secure a complete and sound kerosene-case, and carefully
knock off one of the broad sides ; nail on the original cover,
which will now form one of the sides. If the sides of the
case are not level all round, build them up level with fillets
of wood. The inside depth should be loin. Next nail on at
each end, half an inch below the inside upper edges of the
case, to suspend the frames from, a fillet of wood three-
eig-hths of an inch thick by three-quarters of an inch wide,
and the leng-th of the inside end of the case. The frames when
suspended from these should be a clear three-eighths of an
inch off the bottom of the hive. An entrance three-eighths
of an inch wide by 6in. long should be cut out of the lower
part of one end of the case, and a small alighting-board be
nailed on underneath, projecting from 2in. to 3in. in front.
A loose bottom board can be arranged if thought desirable.

Top or surplus honey-boxes can be made in the same way,
but will not require a bottom.

The cover can be made from the side knocked off, and
should have small fillets, lin. wide, nailed on right round
the edge, to overlap the body. Cover the top with ruberoid
or other waterproof material, and let it overlap the edges.
A capital waterproof covering can be made bv first giving
the wood a good coat of thick paint, and, while wet, laying
on open cheese-cloth (not butter-cloth), letting it overlap the
edges, and painting over it. The paint on the wood will
ooze through the cloth, and the covering will last for years
— no tacks are needed. Light-coloured paint is best, as
with this the hive will keep cooler when exposed to the sun
than if painted a dark colour."

Self-spacing frames can be either purchased or made
on the spot in the manner detailed further on.

6o

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

hive, allowing ^d. for
providing the person

The actual outlay for such a
the box, would be under is,,
makes his own frames.

There are a large number of these hives in use at the
present time in New Zealand.

When setting the hives out, keep them raised five or
six inches off the ground on bricks at each corner, so
that there may be good ventilation underneath.

SELF-SPACING FRAMES.

The " Hoffman " pattern of self-spacing frames,
Fig. 32, is now generally used, and they are no doubt

Fig. 32.— THE HOFF.MAX BROOD AND EXTRACTING
FRAMES.

the best of the kind yet invented. They can be easily
and rapidly handled, and the hives can be shifted about
at a moment's notice without having to pack the
frames, and without the risk of killing bees.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

6i

These frames being difficult to make by hand it is
advisable to purchase them from the manufacturers.

There is, however, a device made of strong tin,
termed a metal spacer, shown in Fig. 33, which folds
over the top bar and is tacked on edges of end bars.
They keep the frames the correct distance apart, and
may be purchased from the manufacturers of bee
appliances. With the use of these a person can readily
make his own self-spacing frames, but excepting in
cases where the cost of carriage is expensive it will be
cheaper, when time, trouble, and cost of timber is con-

Fig- 33- METAL-SPACED FRAME.

sidered, to purchase them ready made. The dimensions
are : — Top bar, igin. long, and seven-eighths of an
inch square; shoulders are cut out of the ends lin.
deep, leaving a thickness on ends of top bar of five-
sixteenths of an inch. End bars 8|in. long, seven-
eighths of an inch wide, and three-eighths of an inch
thick. Bottom bar, i7fin. long, three-quarters of an
inch wide, and quarter of an inch thick.

SHALLOW EXTRACTING FRAMES.

vShallow frames are of great advantage where the
honey is of a dense nature, requiring increased speed
in the revolutions of the Extractor to throw it out.

62

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

Full depth combs, even when wired, are liable to be
damaged when a high speed is necessary, but the half
depth combs, needing no wire, stand a much greater
strain without risk. The frames are made in the same

Fii

34-

-SHALLOW EXTRACTING FRAME.

way as the larger ones, except that the top bar need
be only half as thick, and the inside depth, 4jin,, it will
then fit an ordinary half-storv bodv.

BROAD SECTION-FRAMES.

These are made to hold four sections in one tier as
shown in Fig. i,^. The old scheme of having two tiers
in full depth frames has been entirely discarded by pro-
gressive iDee-keepers. The top and bottom bars are the
same lenq-th as the larq-e fram.es, but slicfhtlv over i^in.

Fig.

35. HALF-STORY FRAME WITH SECTIONS AND

TIN SEPARATOR.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 63

wide and three-eighths of an inch thick, while the end
bars are ifin. wide, and 4|in. long; so that the inside
of frame is the same as the section box — 4iin. deep.

SECTION HOLDERS.

In America, where very large quantities of section
honey are raised, all sorts of devices are used for
holding sections while on the hives. Frames without
top bars, except the projecting ends, which allow the
sections to be inserted and removed easier and quicker,
and section racks without frames are the two popular
methods.

NUMBER OF FRAMES TO A HIVE.

The original Langstroth Hive, as constructed by the
Rev. Langstroth himself, contained ten frames, and this
is the number generally used throughout Australasia.
There was an agitation some time back in favour of an
eight-frame hive, but it is now seen that the ten-frame
hive is the best size for all purposes. The half-stories
when used with the shallow extracting frames take the
same number — ten — but only seven of the section
frames.

MATS FOR COVERING FRAMES.

Mats answer two purposes — for keeping the bees
below the tops of the frames, and conserving the
warmth of the hive. They may be made of any thick,
coarse material, like light sacking stuff, and should fit
accuratelv over the frames.

64

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

SECTION BOXES.

For the raising of
people prefer, nothing

comb honey, which many
could be better than the
small one-pound section
box as now made.
Though boxes of various
dimensions are some-
times used, the most
popular one is the 4J by
4^ inch section, which
just weighs one pound
when full.

The American bass-
wood section is no doubt
the most popular, though
very good ones are now
manufactured in Austral-
asia. They are made in
one piece, so that they
can fold to form the box
as in Fig. 36. A saw
cut is made in one end,
so that when one-half the
end is folded the comb
foundation can be inserted, and the other half closed
down upon it. Section boxes and all other material
mentioned in this Manual can be obtained from hive
manufacturers.

SEPARATORS.

Fig. 36. ONE PIECE SECTION

BOX, PARTLY FOLDED.

To raise section honey in the best marketable form,
separators of some kind, as divisions between the
frames, are indispensable. Both tin (see Fig. 35), and
thin wood slats are used for the purpose. The latter,
being better non-conductors than tin separators, are on
that account preferable for use in spring, when warmth
is so essential to induce the bees to commence work in
the sections.

CHAPTER VII.

COMB-FOUNDATION.

I^^H^^^H

Comb-foundation is simply a thin sheet of beeswax
upon which the bases of the honey-comb cells, and a
very slight portion of the side walls have been im-
pressed ; upon this foundation the bees construct the
complete comb.
As a real prac-
tical aid to bee-
culture it first
came into use in
1877, though
several attempts
had been pre-
viously made to
make it commer-
cially useful, but
without success.
It would be im-
possible to esti-
mate its great value in the progress of commercial
bee-keeping.

It has been greatly improved in its manufacture
during late years, the old style of sheeting it from
molten wax has gone completely out of date. The
" Weed " foundation (named after the inventor), is
quite a superior article. Though soft, it is tough and
non-brittle. It is made direct from blocks of wax
under great pressure; the process is patented by the
A. I. Root Company, of America. Excepting in the

65

Fig- 37- COMB-FOUNDATION.

66 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

cases of a few private bee-keepers, who make up their
own wax, none of the old style foundation is now
made. The cost of the patent together with the
machinery puts it out of the question to set up the
plant in New Zealand, especially since wax has
advanced so much in price, and is so difficult to get.
It really pays better to sell the wax raised and pur-
chase " Weed " foundation, than to bother with the
making of the old style article, for in addition to its
other advantages the former will go at least one-third
further than the latter.

THE USE OF COMB-FOUNDATION.

Beginners are apt to undervalue the use of full
sheets of comb-foundation, and place strips in the
frames instead, leaving the bees to do the rest. As I
went fully into this matter in my " Bulletin No. i8, on
Bee-Culture," issued by the New Zealand Department
of Agriculture, I cannot do better than quote the
article : —

" The success of modern bee-culture hinges almost en-
tirely in the first place on securing complete control over the
breeding, and this can only be obtained by compelling the
bees to build whatever kind of comb is desired. Under
natural conditions, or when in hives and allowed freedom
to construct their combs, they invariably build a goodly
proportion of drone-comb, which is subsequently utilised for
breeding drones. This accounts for the large number of
drones to be seen in box hives, or where no attempt has been
made to control breeding. Drones, as most people are
aware, are non-producers — that is to say, they do not gather
honey, or even, so far as w^e know, do any work in the hives.
They are physically incapable, but they consume a large
quantity of food gathered by the workers, and where many
are present the yield of honey from that hive, and conse-
quently the profit, will be considerably curtailed. Some
drones are needed for the impregnation of young queens,
but it is found in practice that a sufficient number for this
purpose will be bred, even when the breeding of them is
restricted as much as possible, by making the fullest use
of worker-comb foundation.

The difference between worker and drone comb is in the
size of the cells, the former measuring slightly over five to
the inch, and the latter a little over four. The comb-founda-

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 67

tion obtained from manufacturers is invariably impressed
with the bases of worker-cells, so that it is impossible, unless
by accident some portion has stretched, for the bees to build
other than worker-comb on it.

Securing control over breeding is not the only advantage
gained by a free use of comb-foundation. For instance, a
fair swarm of, say, 5 lb. weight hived upon ten sheets of
comb-foundation in a Langstroth hive will have in twenty-
four hours, in an average season, several of the sheets
partially worked out and a goodly number of eggs deposited
in the cells, and in thirty-six hours the queen can hence-
forward lay to her full extent. In from a week to nine days
(depending upon the weather) the whole ten sheets will be
worked out into worker-combs, and a great deal occupied
with brood and honey, and the hive will then be ready for
the top or surplus honey super. In twenty-two or twenty-
three days young worker-bees will begin to emerge, and
from this on the colony will grow rapidly in strength from
day to day.

Contrast this favourable condition of things with what
takes place when only narrow strips of comb-foundation are
furnished. It will take under the same conditions a similar
swarm from four to five weeks to fill the hive with comb, and
then there will be a large proportion drone-comb, which is
the very thing to guard against. Consider what the differ-
ence in time alone will make in the profitable working of a
hive, especially in a short season. Then, again, with regard
to the difference in the initial expense betw^een using full
sheets and strips, which seems to influence many beginners
in favour of the latter system : Even in that there is a gain
in favour of the method I am advocating. For instance, the
cost of filling the ten frames with sheets of best comb-
foundation would be (including the expenses of getting
them) about 4s.; in small quantities and with strips — say,
two sheets — lod. : an apparent saving in the first instance
of 3s. 2d. We must then consider the matter from another
point of view.

The consensus of opinion among the most experienced
bee-keepers is that there is an expenditure of about 12 lbs. of
honey in making i lb. of wax — that is, the bees consume
that quantity of honey before secreting i lb. of w^ax. The
ten sheets of comb-foundation weigh I5 lbs. and cost 4s.
For this there would have to be an expenditure of 18 lbs. of
hone3', wdiich, at the average w^holesale price of 4d. per lb.,
is 6s., so that there is a saving of 2s. in favour of the full
sheets, to say nothing about all the other advantages gained.

This shows clearly enough, I think, the advantage of
making the fullest use possible of comb-foundation."

68 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

F\STi:\ING FOUNDATION IN FRAMES AND SECTIONS.

The " Hoffman Self-Spacing Frames," which I
recommend, have two grooves in the underside of the
top bar, one in the centre for the foundation, and the
other alongside for the wedge (which is furnished with
the frames) to secure the sheet. The wxdge, after the
edge of the sheet has been inserted in its groove, should
be pressed well down till its surface is level with the
frame.

The shallow or half frames have one groove only into
which the foundation is inserted, a little melted wax
must then be run along on each side the sheet to secure
it, taking care that the w^ax is not too hot or it will
melt the sheet instead of fastening it.

A very useful instrument for this purpose is shown
in Fig. 38. A brass tube half-an-inch in diameter and
six inches long, tapering, and at the apex there is a
small hole. On one side, in the handle, is bored
another small hole which may be opened or closed with

Fig. 38. VAN DEUSEN \VAX-TUBE FASTENER.

the thumb. When the tube is stood up in a cup of hot
wax the air will escape from the upper hole, and the
wax flow in at the other small hole at the bottom.
The thumb is closed over the upper one, the instrument
is drawn out of the wax, and the point is then slowly
drawn along. A glance at the split top section. Fig.
35, will of itself suggest the method of fastening the
foundation.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 69

WIRING FRAMES AND FOUNDATION.

To strengthen the combs thin wire can be first run
through the frames and then embedded in the founda-
tion, so that the combs when built may have several
wires running through them. This keeps them
straight within the frames, and from sagging or
bulging ; they can then bear the strain of the
extractor much better than unwired combs.

The end bars of the frames, as now sold, have the
holes already pierced for the wire, about two inches
apart, so that the wires run horizontally instead of
perpendicularly as before. Number 30 tinned wire is
used ; and if cut off into the required lengths when
there are a number of frames to do, it will be found
more convenient than cutting one at a time. Find the
length of wire required for one frame, allowing
sufficient to wind round a tack at each end, then cut
a thin batten about three inches wide, and just the
length that the ends of the pattern wire will meet round
it end ways. The wire from the spool can now be
wound around the batten and after sufficient is on the
batten the wires should be tied together In three or
four places, and be cut through at one end. Put a
large nail through the spool and drive it firmly into a
bench inclining the top from you, the wire can then be
unwound from the spool without trouble.

EMBEDDING THE WIRE IN FOUNDATION.

Cut an inch board (a in
Fig. 39) a little larger than
the size of the frame ; on this
screw another piece, b, three-
eighths of an inch thick, cut
slightly smaller than the in-
side of the frame, letting the
grain of each board cross that
of the other, which will pre- Fig. 39.— wiring board,

1

B

^

70 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

vent twisting. Lay a sheet of foundation on the
board b, and a wired frame over it, resting upon the
lower board a. One edge of the sheet should be close
against the top bar of the frame. The wires can now
be embedded by the use of the spur wire embedder
(shown in Fig. 40), which is provided with teeth set
something like the teeth of a saw, so as to straddle
the wire while in the process of embedding it. The
comb-foundation should of course, be warm enough
to be pliable, otherwise the wire will not embed itself.

Fig. 40. SPUR WIRE EMBEDDER IN USE.

AXIOM.

'* THE ESSENCE OF ALL PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING IS

CONTAINED IN OETTL's GOLDEN RULE KEEP YOUR STOCKS

STRONG. IF YOU CANNOT SUCCEED IN DOING THIS, THE
MORE MONEY YOU INVEST IN BEES THE HEAVIER WILL BE
YOUR LOSSES ; WHILE IF YOUR STOCKS ARE STRONG, YOU
WILL SHOW THAT YOU ARE A BEE-MASTER AS WELL AS A
BEE-KEEPER, AND MAY SAFELY CALCULATE ON A GENEROUS
RETURN FROM YOUR INDUSTRIOUS SUBJECTS."

Langstroth .

CHAPTER VIII.

THE HONEY EXTRACTOR AND EXTRACTING
APPLIANCES.

Vast improvements have been made in honey extrac-
tors since the first one came into use. The " Novice "
Extractor, with its fixed comb-baskets introduced at an
early date in modern bee-keeping, by A. I. Root, was

a great improvement on the
original one, but this is
rapidly being pushed aside
for the more useful reversible
basket extractor, which is far
and away the most profitable
from every point of view.

In the fixed basket extrac-
tors the combs after being
relieved of their honey on one
side must be lifted out to be
turned, and this, when the
combs are extra heavy with
honey, must be done two, or
perhaps three times, taking
up much time, and running
great risk of breaking them.

■■^mmm^iKMi

noNEY:!!!

Fig.

41. FIXED-BASKET

EXTRACTOR.

REVERSIBLE BASKET EXTRACTORS.

My first reversible basket extractor — Fig, 42 — was
very substantial and complete. It had six baskets, all
of which could be removed for cleaning. It was
subsequently furnished with side gearing, when it ran
splendidlv.

71

72

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

Fig. 42. REVERSIBLE SIX-COMB HONEY-EXTRACTOR

WITH ONE BASKET DETACHED.

As designed and used by the Author at the Matamata
Ai)iary, New Zealand, in 1883 and following years.

In the latest reversible extractors the extracting can
be done automatically by getting up a decent speed and
throwing the extractor out of gear. As the gearing
runs on ball bearings, the frame of baskets with their
combs will continue revolving and extracting the
honey for a long time. The baskets can be reversed
by pulling the lever working the break while they are
in motion, so that as labour-saving machines they seem
almost perfect. Automatic extractors are now made in
all sizes, two, four and eight combs, but the two and
four are mostly used. The principle is the same in all
extractors, whether they have fixed or reversible
baskets : the honey is thrown or extracted from the
combs by centrifugal force, first from one side and
then from the other. The combs, after leaving the
extractor, can be returned to the bees to be refilled.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

Fig. 43. " AUTOMATIC " FOUR=COMB REVERSIBLE

EXTRACTOR.

MOTOR POWER FOR EXTRACTING.

Small oil engines of one, or one and a-half horse
power are now being used in some of the large apiaries
— several are in use in New Zealand. They are not
only useful to run large extractors, but can also be used
for running machines for hive making and other
purposes. Some of New Zealand's bee farmers, who
have motor cars for running between their out-apiaries,
fix an extra wheel for carrying a belt on the front
gearing, and use the power for driving their extractors.

UNCAPPING KNIVES.

When preparing combs for the extractor the cappings

of all honey cells that are sealed must be removed.

Special knives differing somewhat in pattern, are used

for this purpose, but the one in most general favour and

F

74

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

the one I prefer is shown in Fig. 44. It is, as can be
seen, in the form of a trowel, but is thicker in the
blade, and has bevelled edges sharpened from the under

Fig. 44. BIXGHAM UNCAPPING KNIFE.

side. With the aid of one or more of these knives,
kept in first-class order, a person after a little practice

can, with up and
down strokes, shave
off the cappings
easily and cleanly
with little injury to
the cells themselves.

UNCAPPING CANS.

One cannot, how-
ever, avoid cutting
into the honey
sometimes, and

something in the
form of a can to
catch the cappings
is necessary. The
" Dadant " uncap-
ping can. Fig. 45,
is a very good one
and largely used.
It is in two parts,
upper and lower,
the former acts as a
strainer, and slides
a short distance
into the lower half.
A wood frame fits

DADANT UNCAPPING CAN.

Fig^ 45-

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

75

on top, upon which the comb rests while uncapping it.
The capping-s fall on to the wire cloth strainer through
which some of the honey drains, to be drawn off by the
tap at the bottom of can.

The " German Steam Wax Press " (see Chapter I\\,
Fig. 12) is also very useful as an uncapping can and
honey press, in addition to its use as a wax press. A
wood frame for uncapping purposes, similar to the one
shown on the " Dadant " can is furnished with each
press. When needed as an uncapping can, the screw
is taken out and the frame fixed on top. After the
draining of the honey ceases, the screw can be put in,
and considerable more honey may be obtained from the
cappings by pressure. It is rather small, and where
there is much uncapping to do more than one would
be needed.

CAPPINGS
MELTER.

There is no
gains aying
that the ordi-
nary method
o f dealing
with cappings
a s detailed
above is at
best a messy,
u n s at i s f ac-
t o r y, and
slow process,
and several
attempts
ha\'e been
made to
overcome the
d i fficu 1 ties.
The attempts
have been in
the direction

Fig. 46. ROOT CAPPINGS-MELTER.

76 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

of arranging some heating apparatus by which the
cappings shall be at once melted, and the honey and
wax separated as the work proceeds. Any apparatus
that can do this in a satisfactory manner will be a boon
to apiarists, for besides economy in time and labour,
it will also save a large quantity of honey that now
unavoidably goes to waste.

Several cappings-melters have been introduced, but
they have either been unsatisfactory or too complicated
and costly to come into general use. The A. L Root
Company, after much experimenting, brought out the
melter shown in Fig. 46, which is sold at a reasonable
price, and is claimed to be a very satisfactory machine.
It is a double-jacketed can, the space between the inner
and outer w^alls being filled with water, the can is then
set over an oil stove and kept at a steady temperature
a little above the melting point of wax. A wire screen
is fixed at the back of the tap to prevent any unmelted
cappings running through. The cappings, as they fall
from the comb, melt, and the Wax with the honey runs
through the tap (which must always remain open), into
any utensil placed to receive them. On cooling, the
wax cake floats on the honey, and is readily separated
from it. Too much heat spoils the flavour of honey,
but I shall have more to say on this point later on.

AXIOM.

** A MODERATE INCREASE OF COLONIES IN ANY ONE
SEASON AVILL, IN THE LONG RUN, PROVE THE EASIEST,
SAFEST, AND CHEAPEST MODE OF MANAGING BEES."

Langstroth.

CHAPTER IX.
HANDLING BEES.

The best that any writer can do on this subject is to
give a few hints, for in my opinion no amount of book
teaching will do as much to give confidence to the
novice as a few minutes in the presence of an expe-
rienced bee-master when going through his hives. 1
therefore advise all who contemplate keeping bees, who
cannot go for a season with some established bee
farmer, to go as often as possible and learn all they
can at a well established apiary.

There are certain rules to be observed to secure
tolerable freedom from stings : — (i), Avoid jarring the
hive or frames ; if anything is difficult to move, such as
the cover, or a frame, quietly prise it apart without
jarring; (2), Never stand in the line of flight to a hive,
and do all the manipulations from the sides, never in
front; (3), A novice should never handle bees on dull,
showery days, nor after sundown; (4), Never strike at
a bee, but if timid and unprotected by a veil, bow the
head slightly and walk away. After confidence has
been gained by experience, a person may take liberties,
but it is better to be cautious at the commencement.

m

BEE VEILS AND SMOKERS.

A good bee veil fixed over a stiff-brimmed hat of
some kind is a necessity, as it protects the face and
gives the wearer greater confidence. They can be
made of book muslin, with or without Brussels net in
front, tarlatan, or mosquito netting, but should be
large enough to stand out from the face, and come
well down the shoulders, where it can be tucked in

77

;8 AUSTRALASIAN RER MANUAL

under the waistcoat. Some veils have a piece of fine
wire netting sewn in front of the face.

Fi<

47

-BEE VEILS.

A good smoker is also a necessity, for smoke, as a
rule, is the handiest, least harmful, and one of the
most efficient bee quieters known. A few puffs of
dense smoke blown into the entrance of a hive is
sufficient to drive the bees to their honey, and to goro^e
themselves ready for flight to a new home, when in
this condition they may be handled safely. There is
no need to try to stupefy bees, for if too much smoke
is administered they will pour out of the hive, which
is not desirable.

I have used a number of different kinds of smokers,
but like the two herein illustrated the best, and of the
two I prefer the '* Vesuvius," because it is a breech-
loader, and in that respect the handiest. Some bee-
keepers prefer the other ; they are both good.

FUEL FOR SMOKERS.

Though dry rotten wood makes excellent fuel, giving
out dense smoke, it is not always readily obtainable,
but old sacking can, as a rule, be procured anywhere.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

Fig. 48. CORNEIL SMOKER.

Fig. 49. VESUVIUS BREECH-LOADING SMOKER.

8o AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

When dry, and cut into strips about five inches wide,
and rolled up loosely of a size to nicely fit into the
barrel of the smoker nothing could be better. If a
number of rolls are made and dipped at one end in a
solution of saltpetre and dried, they can be set alight
at a moment's notice, and are always ready.

GLOVES.

Rubber, and oiled cotton gloves, for protecting the
hands can be obtained, and are no doubt useful to those
only keeping a hive or two of bees as a hobby, and
who handle them but rarely. The best are those that
leave the ends of the fingers free, but any kind of
glove would be a nuisance to those who make a
business of bee-keeping.

CURE FOR BEE STINGS.

When a person takes up bee-keeping and intends
to carry it out properly, he or she must make up their
mind to put up with stings occasionally. It is impos-
sible to work among bees without being stung now and
again. Though very painful to beginners sometimes,
and the occasional cause of much inconvenience, they
are rarely dangerous. I have known of one or two
cases during my thirty-six years' experience with bees,
when there was a partial collapse after being stung,
but the administration of a fairly strong dose of
brandy brought them round, without any painful after
effects. I believe in such cases a strong stimulant is
the best remedy that can be applied.

Beginners who suffer at first may console them-
selves with the fact that the more they are stung the
less effect the poison will have on them ; that is to say,
the system becomes more immune to the poison as
time goes on. I am often asked for the best remedy to
allay the pain and swelling which with beginners almost
invariably follow a sting, but have always to plead

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 8i

ignorance, for I do not know of any good remedy.
I have tried everything that has been recommended,
with the hope that I might discover something to
benefit others, but without success. Bathing the
wound with very hot water is perhaps as good as
anything. The sting being barbed cannot readily be
withdrawn from any tenacious substance, like the
human flesh, but is, with the poison bag attached, left
in the wound, and the best way of removing it is to
scrape it out with the finger, or thumb nail, so as to
prevent pressing the poison bag.

HOW TO OPEN A HIVE.

Light the smoker and get it well going ; then don
the bee veil; blow a few puffs of smoke Into the en-
trance of the hive, and wait a short time; then blow
in another puff or two. The cover can now be re-
moved, and as one corner of the mat is lifted blow a
little smoke under it : by this time the bees are under
control, and the mat can be removed altogether. Keep
your smoker by you, and if bees get in the way, or
" boil " up over the frames, give a little more smoke.
The smoker will keep alight if stood on end, and to
put it out, plug up the nozzle with a piece of cork
or bunch of grass.

HANDLING THE FRAMES.

When the hives are made properly there is always a
little play on one side of the frames when they are
pressed together to allow the first one to be easily
removed. A " hive-tool " like that in Fig. 50 is handy
for lifting the first
frame, and it also i

answers as a tljr' ■^-:^'". -.,^,a^,„j -,,., "^
scraper. In fact, liP^' '""" ■..■ <t-8^,:ia:ii,:- ■ _^_^

something of the

kind is needed all Fig. 50. — ^hive tool.

the time one is at

an open hive. A small screw driver also makes a

82 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

good hive tool, a scraper is needed in addition ; and
for this I like a small three-cornered ship scraper, to
be obtained at most ironmongers.

CO.MB-HOLDER.

Something to answer as a comb-holder is needed to
place a frame in with the adhering bees temporarily,
when manipulating a hive. An empty hive will
answer, but is rather clumsy. One like that shown in
Fig. 51 is easily made, and need not be larger than
to hold at most three frames.

^ P^ig. 51.— COMB-HOLDER.

It is usually necessary to look at both sides of a comb
when one has a frame out of a hive. Beginners should
be careful when turning a new comb heavy with honey
on a warm day, or it might fall out of the frame. If,
when hcMing such a frame breast high, the left hand is
lowered and the frame swung round at same time, the
other side of the comb will be brought into view upside
down, without having put the slightest strain on it.
By reversing the process, the comb is brought back to
its original position.

AXIOM.

" Bees may always be made peaceable by inducing
them to accept of liquid sweets."

Langstroth.

CHAPTER X.

TRANSFERRING BEES FROM COMMON BOXES
TO FRAME HIVES.

Were it not that this Manual circulates in parts of
Australasia where common boxes are likely to be
allowed as hives for some time to come, there would
be no need for this chapter, as I feel proud in saying
that all domiciles for bees, save frame hives, are illegal
in New Zealand; and I look forward to the time, which
I hope will not be long, when a similar law will be in
force throughout the whole of Australasia.

Not very long since it was considered an advantage
to save all the brood possible by transferring the brood
combs as well as the bees, but it having been proved in
so many cases to be the means of spreading disease,
it has of late been deemed safest to transfer the bees
only. I am very strongly in favour of this method, for,
as I have proved, where colonies are not very badly
affected, putting the bees straight on to full sheets of
comb foundations will in most cases effect a cure ;
whereas if but slightly diseased combs are transferred,
it means the maintenance of disease, and the great risk
of spreading it. My plan of late years has been to drum
the bees out of the boxes, put them on to starters, then
in four days put them on to full sheets of comb found-
ation ; in fact, treated them on the McEvoy plan, with
successful results on every occasion. The old combs
have either been burned or melted into wax.

DRIVING BEES FROM COMMON BOXES.

The best time to transfer is on any fine day after the
honey season has set in, with warm settled weather,
and a fair flow of honev on. The frame hive should be

83

84 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

located in its permanent position, the frames furnished
with full sheets of foundation, or strips if the bees are
to be " McEvoy'd," and the front of the hive raised
off the bottom board a couple of inches or so, by stones
or wood, at each corner. A mat should cover the
frames and a sack be laid across the alighting board
to prevent the bees falling to the ground when dumped
down near the entrance. A box about the same size
as the one the bees are in should be ready and the
smoker going.

Blow a few puffs of dense smoke into the box, and put
on a bee veil. In about two minutes give the bees some
more smoke, then turn the box upside down, and put the
mouth of the empty box over the bees, and drum away
with two sticks on the lower box, on the sides running
nearest parallel with the combs. To prevent the top
box from shifting a long towel or sheet of some kind
can be tied around the junction of the two boxes. In a
short time the bees will begin to ascend, but the
drumming may have to be kept up for from fifteen to
twenty minutes before all the bees are in the top box.
Set the one the bees are in down near the permanent
hive, and carefully look among the old combs to see
whether the queen is still there. As a rule she is among
the very first to leave, but occasionally she is among the
verv last.

The bees clustered in the box are practically in the
same condition as a swarm, and may now be dumped
down on the sack in front of the new hive, close to the
entrance; after the bees are all in, lower the hive on to
the bottom board, and allow from six to eight inches
of entrance space. The box of old combs should be
taken away clear of all bees and be dealt with at once.
The honey can be made use of, and the brood combs
be burned with the box or be melted into wax. Should
the weather after transferring be against the bees
gathering nectar, feed them with sugar syrup (see Chap-
ter XIII.) Any time from lo a.m. till 3 p.m. is the best
for transferring.

CHAPTER XL

INCREASE— NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL
SWARMING.

The question of increase of colonies, how to promote
control, or to prevent it as far as possible, is one of very
great importance, and one which should be earnestly
studied, and be treated by each individual bee-keeper
according to the special object he has in view. The
experienced bee-keeper will have no trouble in deciding
on this point, but the beginner needs the advice of an
expert, and some beginners need it very urgently, to
prevent them in their ardent desire for rapid increase
from creating difficulties which in their inexperience
they will be unable to overcome. I have known many
such cases, and warn all beginners to "Go Slow,"
until sufficient experience has been gained to enable
them to form an intelligent judgment as to their best
course.

WHAT RATE OF INCREASE IS DESIRABLE?

Following up the advice just given to beginners, to " Go
Slow," two or three colonies is a sufficient number to
start with, to be increased the first season to four or
six. By that time some experience will have been
gained, and if the object be then to gradually work up
a large apiary, a larger increase may be undertaken
the second season. It is, however, well to bear in mind
the excellent maxim laid down by "Father" Langstroth,
viz : — " A moderate increase in any one season proves
the easiest, safest, and cheapest mode of managing
bees." A moderate annual increase is consistent with
securing a fair return in honey, and this should be the
aim of beginners.

Sb AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

INCREASE BY NATURAL SVVARMIXG.

In timt'S past it was largely the custom to depend for
increase ciiiefly upon natural swarming, but in modern
commercial bee-keeping, there are better and more
reliable methods in vogue which will be explained
further on. I shall, however, mention the conditions
which lead up to and cause natural swarming. The
natural instinct for swarming, with which bees are
endowed, is an admirable provision for the propagation
of their race and its spread over any country favourable
for their existence. When we recollect that it is only
by means of the queens and drones that the race can
be propagated , that these queens and drones cannot
exist by themselves, or without the workers of a colony ;
that the queens require to be renewed periodically in
order to keep up strong stocks, while the workers are
only for a short season, and the drones for a fev.^
months : and, finally, that only one queen can as a rule
be tolerated at a time in any colony, we cannot fail to
be struck with admiration at the beautiful manner in
which the swarming instinct is adapted to this state of
things.

CAUSE OF SWARMING.

The chief cause of swarming is an overcrowded hive,
but it may be greatly accelerated by insufhcient ventil-
ation. There is, however, a season when the swarming
instinct becomes energetic, and the desire to swarm
intense. At such times the bees will occasionally
contract what has been well named as the ** Swarming
Fever," and when in this condition they seem to get out
of control, and will swarm in spite of all that we may do
to prevent it.

In the ordinary course of things, the queen, with a
comparatively small colony of workers, comes out of
winter quarters, and under normal conditions starts
the great work of egg laying in early August or later
according to the latitude of the apiary. ^ Breeding
proceeds slowly, but steadily increases until the first
young bees begin to emerge, when it advances more
rapidly, and by October (early or late in the month

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL Sj

according to the season and situation) thie hive will be
getting overcrowded, and unless more room is given
by enlarging the hive, the bees prepare for swarming.

PREPARATION FOR SWARMING.

Several queen cells are built in which eggs are
deposited, and on the eighth or ninth day the cells are
sealed ; if the weather be favourable at this time the first
swarm of the season comes off headed by the old queen.
The bees having filled their honey-sacs with food, which
will last them over three days, are ready at once to start
comb building in their new home. The bees left behind
in the old hive have several young queens maturing,
lest one or more of them should fail, they have also
drones flying at this time, and an ample stock of workers,
maturing by degrees — therefore all the elements of their
future strength. If the old queen has left with her
swarm just when the first queen cells were closed then
the first young queen will emerge in eight or nine days,
and in the meantime the stock will have been recruited
by a large number of young bees. If they still feel themi-
selves over-strong, or are still actuated by a desire for
swarming, the first young queens may go off with one
or more after-swarms : if not, the first out will remain in
possession of the hive, and all the others will be
destroyed in their cells. In five or six days more the
young queen will probably be fertilised, and shortlv after
will begin tO' lay eggs. This is the natural course of
swarming, which provides for a multiplication of the
self-sustaining stocks or colonies, and at the same time
for a succession of young queens.

SIZE OF SWARMS.

The size of swarms varies according to the strength
of the colonies from which they issue. If swarming
has been delayed by enlarging the hive in time, the first
swarm will be very much larger through being kept back.

88 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

It may contain from 5,000 to 8,000 more bees than if it
had issued before the enlargement of the hive took place.
A pretty close approximate of the number of bees in a
swarm may be ascertained by weighing it. It has been
usually calculated that in round numbers 5,000 bees
weigh one poi^nd, but allowing for the weight of food
carried by the bees of a swarm, there is not likely to be
more than 4,500 to each pound. Now a five pound
swarm is a very fair one, but a sw^arm delayed in the
manner suggested, will probably weigh nearer seven
pounds. I have had them eight pounds.

If a swarm box be prepared and weighed, and the
weight marked on the box it will be easy to find the
weight of any swarm hived in it. Second sw-arms are
always much lighter than first swarms, and beginners
purchasing swarms, should always arrange to find their
own swarm box, and to be supplied with swarms weigh-
ing not less than five pounds ; they can then depend upon
getting first sw^arms, with a laying queen.

SYMPTOMS OF SWARMING.

A certain guide to the approach of the first of the
swarming season is the appearance of drones in Spring,
and a sure sign that a colony is making preparations to
swarm, is the building of queen cells.

SWARMING SEASON.

In the most northern parts of Australia the season
commences in August, and in the extreme northern
districts of New Zealand in September, but in most other
parts of Australasia it commences in October, and
continues frequently to the end of February.

PREPARING FOR SWARMS.

At the approach of the swarming period, everything
requisite to facilitate the hiving of swarms should be in
readiness, so that the bee-keeper can lay his hand on the
necessary appliances at a moment's notice. All the new

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 89

hives likely to be required for the season's increase
should be placed in position, according to the directions
given in Chapter V., attention being paid to the proper
bedding and levelling of the bottom boards.

ISSUE OF THE SWARM.

Swarms as a rule come off between 9 a.m. and noon,
but sometimes a little earlier or later in the day.

There is a great stampede from the hive, the bees
tumbling over each other in their excitement, as though
they were glad to leave their old home tO' form a new
colony elsewhere. The queen, as a rule, does not leave
the hive among the first of the bees, but usually among
the first third of them. After all the bees constituting
the swarm have been whirling in the air for a short time,
they usually settle on some convenient place close at
hand; if on the limb of a tree or shrub, the cluster when
all have settled will be in the form of a large bunch of
grapes. The reason generally accepted for the swarm
settling near at hand is, that the queen being laden with
eggs, she is not in a condition to fly far, and therefore
is obliged to settle to get rid of them in preparation for
a long flight. When a second swarm headed by a virgin
queen issues, the foregoing of course does not apply,
but it may settle close at hand all the same or it may fly
a long distance first.

DECAMPING SWARMS.

Sometimes, though rarely, the bees will have selected
their new home before swarming; in such cases after
circling in the air for a short time the bees will make
stra'ght for their chosen domicile, and unless that domi-
cile happens to be some receptacle close at hand such
swarms are usually lost.

TAKING AND HIVING SWARMS.

Swarms should always be taken as soon after the bees
have settled as possible, as they cannot always be de-

G

go AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

pended upon to remain long before rising again. Some-
times they may remain for days and build comb, and at
other times leave in less than one hour. A couple of
sacks, a box, and a couple of small stones or pieces of
wood will be needed. Spread one sack on the ground
under the cluster, then hold the box with one hand right
under the bees, as close as possible, and with the other
hand give the limb or bough on which they are hanging
a good jar, when most, if not all the bees, will drop into
the box. Turn the box with the bees underneath on to
the sack at once, and under the corners of one end place
the two small stones, or pieces of wood, to raise the box
so that the bees can go in and out.

Sometimes swarms settle in most awkward places for
taking; a little ingenuity must then be exercised, always
keeping in view that the best way is to get the bees down
on a sack, or some cloth with the box over them, or as
near to them as possible, and in this case brush the bees
towards the box.

For the beginner, the best plan is to leave the box with
the bees in till about 5 or 6 p.m. before hiving the bees,
shading the box in the meantime with the other sack.
When the bees are disturbed from the box soon after
they have settled in it, to hive them, they are very likely
to leave the hive and decamp, but when hived in the
evening they settle down to work before morning, and
are then, as a rule, safe.

HIVING.

The hive, as already suggested, having been placed in
its permanent position, with its frames filled with sheets
of comb foundation, the front should be propped up an
inch or so off the bottom board with small pieces of wood
to make a big entrance, and a sack should be laid across
the alighting board to prevent the bees falling to the
ground when dumped down. The bees can then be
shaken as near to the entrance as possible ; if one corner
of the box be smartly dumped on the ground first, the
jar will dislodge the bees from the cluster and they can

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 91

then be easily thrown out of the box. In a short time
the bees will be all in the hive, when it can be lowered on
to the bottom board, allowing an entrance of about eight
or nine inches. In hot weather the hive will be the better
of a temporary shade for a while, a folded sack across
the cover will do.

HIVING BY CATCHING THE QUEEN.

I have hived scores of swarms, or rather made the bees
hive themselves, by watching for, and catching the
queen, as she was leaving the hive and caging her.
When the swarm was circling in the air, I removed the
parent hive to a new stand and put the new one in its
place, the bees in a short time discover the queen is not
with them and back they come to the old stand and into
the new hive, when the queen can be liberated at the
entrance to run in with them, or can be put in under one
corner of the mat. The new hive may remain where it is,
or be removed when the bees are all in, and the old one
be brought back.

I shall refer to hiving with clipped queens in the
chapter on Queen Rearing. Patent swarm catchers
that are figured in some bee books, so far as my experi-
ence goes, are of little or no use, and not worth the
trouble of making or describing.

PREVENTION OF SWARMING.

The most effectual method for the prevention of
swarming is to give ample working room in the hives at
all times during the swarming season, and to see that
they are well ventilated. Extra working room is given
in the first place by adding one or more stories to the
hive, and later on by the use of the extractor, and in the
case of raising section honey, removing the sections
directly they are finished, and substituting empty ones.
Abundant ventilation may be secured in hot weather by
pushing the hive forward until the front overlaps the
alighting board a couple of inches, and if need be raising
the cover a little. It should be remembered that the extra

92 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

room and ventilatiori must be provided before prepara-
tions have been made for swarming by the building of
queen cells, otherwise the provision will be of little use
in this respect. The removal of queen cells alone only
temporarily delays swarming, for when the bees have got
that far towards it, in nine cases out of ten they will not
be content till they do swarm. In adding top boxes the
empty one should always be placed next above the brood
T'hamber and under any others already on.

PREVENTION OF AFTER-SWARMING.

This, as compared with the previous question, may be
considered an easy matter. In the ordinary course of
events a second or after-swarm may be expected in eight
or nine days after the first issues, and while there are
several embryo queens maturing in the hive. But should
unfavourable weather set in about the time for the first
leaving, it would be kept back, and may be prevented
from issuing till near the time for the young queens
coming to maturity. I have known cases where, owing
to the prevalence of bad weather, after all preparations
had been made for swarming, the young queens have
been destroyed, and swarming given up for the time.
At all events, we can reckon, as a rule, that the first
young queen will not emerge from her cell in less than
eight days from the time the first swarm Issues.
Now if we see that all but one of these embryo queens
are removed, that Is, all the queen cells but one, and only
allow this one to come to maturity, there cannot be any
after-swarm, as this queen will be required in the hive.
It would not, however, be correct to remove the cells
immediately after the first swarm leaves, as will be
presently shown. The old queen would be laying up to
within a verv short time of her leaving the hive ; con-
sequently there would be eggs in the cells at that time.
Supposing the queen •^ells to be cut out during the first
day or two after, the bees would be almost sure to build
others, and thus frustrate our plans ; but if we let them
remain for about five days before we remove them, the
larvae would be too old by that time, and there would be
little likelihood of other cells being started. Choice of

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 93

a good cell should be made for the one that is to remain
in the hive, and the others, if of an excellent strain,
may be utilized in forming- nuclei. (See Queen-Rearing.)

INCREASE BY ARTIFICIAL MEANS.

There are several methods by which increase of
colonies may be obtained other than by that of natural
swarming, and by which more control is assured, but
whichever method is adopted it should be combined with
Queen rearing, as this combination is undoubtedly the
best for the commercial bee-keeper. I have practised
dividing on different lines, all of which have been satis-
factory, but I believe the best is that described and
carried out by the late E. W. Alexander, the gist of
which is included in the following : —

When a colony is in a condition to swarm naturally,
remove it from its stand, and put in its place a hive
furnished with frames of comb, or foundation. Remove
one frame from the centre, and insert a frame of brood
and the queen from the hive removed in the place of
it, taking care there are no occupied queen cells on the
comb, if SO', destroy them. Place a queen excluder over
the frames, and set the original hive with its bees over
the excluder. In five days examine the old combs care-
fullv, and if queen cells have been started and are fur-
nished with larvae, destroy them, unless the strain of
bees is good and is worth breeding from, in which case
the cells may be retained and the box with the bees may
be moved to a new stand. If free of queen cells, or
the cells have been destroyed, the box may remain for
ten days or so, by which time all the brood will be
capped, and things will be well forward in the lower box.
The upper box with the bees may then be removed to a
new stand and be given in a few hours either a ripe
queen cell, or a laying queen, the latter being the best.
Bv this plan no time has been lost, there has been no
risk of losing swarms, 100 per cent, increase has been
made, and both colonies will be in a flourishing condition.

CHAPTER XII.

QUEEN REARING.

IMPORTAXCE OF REARING QUEENS.

There is no branch of commercial bee-keeping
deserving of more strict attention on the part of the
bee-keeper as a means of improving his bees, than that
of queen rearing. It is only in the judicious selection
of their breeding stock, season after season, that bee-
keepers can hope to make the continuous progress that
is possible, and which their interests demand. The
improvement of his bees should be the constant aim of
each bee-keeper, he should never be satisfied with those
he has, but be always striving after a better strain.
That it is possible to improve the hive-bee by breeding
out inferior characteristics, and breeding in more
desirable ones, and so to produce a strain of a higher
standard, has been proved over and over again, and
no commercial bee-keeper can afford to neglect this
part of his business.

choice of breeding queens.

The colonies chosen for breeding stock each season
should be those that have given the most surplus honey,
been the least inclined to swarm after the main honey
flow has started, the gentlest bees, and the best
defenders of their hives. Any of these qualities lack-
ing at the start should be gradually bred into them.
Remember that infinitely better work can be accom-
plished in the way of improving one's bees by the
judicious selection of breeding stock in one's own
apiary, than can be done by continually bringing in
unknown breeding stock from outside. Even when but

94

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 95

a few colonies are kept as a hobby, the rearing of a
few queens will be found a most interesting study.

RAISING QUEEN CELLS.

The raising of queen cells is the starting point in
queen rearing, and whether the bee-keeper assists the
bees in this work by supplying artificial " cell cups,"
and transferring selected larvae to them or not, he is
dependent upon the bees to bring the young queens to
maturity. To ensure this he takes advantage of the
natural instinct of the bee, which at once sets about
raising another queen when deprived of the reigning
one, and in this way he forces the colony by making
it queenless to start queen cells.

By supplying it with selected eggs or larvae, and
taking away all others, the bees are compelled to raise
queens from these, so that the bee-keeper has almost
complete control over their work, and by adopting
certain methods he can encourage the bees to build
more cells than would be built under natural conditions.

To describe in full the methods adopted by many
commercial queen breeders for cell raising, and graft-
ing of larvae into artificial cell cups, would require too
much space, and special books giving full details are
obtainable from those who cater for bee-keepers.
" Doolittle on Queen Raising," " The Swarthmore
Library," and the " A B C and X Y Z of Bee-Culture,"
being the best. I shall therefore only briefly touch on
these methods ; and then explain the one most suitable
for the average bee-keeper, iDy which he can be assured
of raising the best queens obtainable under any plan.

THE DOOLITTLE PLAN.

Mr. G. M. Doolittle, if not the first to make artificial
cell cups, was the first to perfect and make commercial
use of them. He uses a small, round, smooth stick,
pointed to the size and shape of the base of a queen
cell. This he dips into melted wax three or four times,
the first time about half an inch up the stick, and less

96

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

Fig- 52-

CROSS SECTIONS OF

WOOD BASE WITH

CELL-CUP.

each time, so that the base of the cup is thickest. The
cell cups are then placed in wood bases, Fig. 52 ; a

being a cross section of base,
and B, the same with cell cup
partly inserted.

A portion of " Royal Jelly "
from a newly-made natural
queen cell is first inserted in
each cell cup, and then the
selected newly hatched larvae
are transferred to them. The
cell-bases with their cups are
then spiked to the bars of a
frame, eee Fig. 53, and the
frame inserted
in a hive con-
taining a col-
ony prepared
to receive it,
when the work
of extending
the cells, and
caring for the
larvce, is left
to the bees.
The final
treatment o f
the cells till
young queens is
Swarthmore "

^3^^^^

Fig- 53. CELL-BASES SPIKED TO THE

BARS OF A FRAME.

Fig- 54-

A CELL
COMPLETED
ON WOOD-
BASE.

the emerging of the
explained further on. The
and other methods are exactly similar to
the above, slightly modified in the appli-
ances used.

THE ALLEY PLAN.

The late Mr. Henry Alley was one of
the oldest and most respected commercial
queen breeders in the world. His expe-
rience extended from about i860 till his
death a few years ago. He worked out
a system of queen rearing which is at once

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 97

simple, easy to follow, and closely in agreement with
the natural method. On his plan, which I strongly
advocate, I have raised thousands of far finer queens
than I have ever seen bred or been able to raise under
other methods.

SEASON FOR QUEEN RAISING.

Any time from the commencement of fine, settled
weather in the Spring, when drones begin to fly, until
the beginning of the Autumn, before the drones are
killed off, queens can be reared. In the Auckland
Province, and other parts of Australasia in the same
latitude, from early in October to beginning of March.
The greatest success is achieved just about the time
when the bees are ready to swarm in Spring, and early
Summer. The largest number of the finest cells will
be built at that time.

In order to have the colonies chosen for queen
rearing well forward in Spring, and the right drones
flying in time, they should be stimulated by slow
feeding, and if necessary strengthened by giving a
frame of brood occasionally from other colonies. I am,
of course, taking it for granted that Italian queens will
be bred. As soon as the colonies selected for rearing
drones are getting fairly strong, put in near the centre
of each of the brood chambers a frame of drone-comb.

SECURING DRONE-COMB.

When the bees are in full swing storing honey in the
surplus boxes, remove a couple of frames of comb from
the centre of the surplus box and insert in their places
frames containing a narrow strip of comb foundation.
The bees will at once build the frames full of drone-
comb, and may store honey in part, and breed in part.
They can be removed till the brood dies, and then be
given back to the bees to clean. Any quantity of
good drone-comb can be secured in this way for future
use.

98 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

SECURING SELECTED EGGS.

To return to the drone-combs in the brood chamber.
When the first drone brood is sealed over, insert a clean
worker-comb in the centre of the brood chamber of the
colony set apart for eggs. Combs of the previous
season's building that have not been bred in are best

for the purpose. On about

the fourth or fifth day there

K^Sa^^SgSSWggSS3 ^^'ill be eggs and probably

KSSSSRRRSISSSSI some tiny larvae in the

RK3^^.*..rfB5S«nsSk.^^^ comb. If so, remove it to

a warm room or workshop
and insert another comb in
its place. This work should
be done on a fine day to
Fig 55. — SHOwixci HOW avoid getting the eggs or
TO CUT THE co.MB. larvcB chilled.

[C€CCCC€CCCC<ISa

CUTTING THE COMB.

Lay the frame of comb flat on a table or bench, and
with a thin, sharp-bladed knife, cut as much of the
comb containing eggs or larva? in the cells as desired
into strips by running the knife (previously wetted with
honey diluted with water to keep it from sticking) along
every second row of cells, as shown by the white
lines in Fig. 55, taking care to leave the inter-
mediate row with the contents intact. The strips will
be about one inch deep, but the cells on the side to be
used for queen cells should be pared down one-half, and
two out of every three eggs or larvae should be killed,
so as to allow room between the queen cells, when
built, to cut them out without injury. A tiny splinter
of wood, w^ith its end dipped in melted wax, is the best
for killing the spare eggs in the cells.

The strips should now be fastened to the under-side
of the bars of a frame prepared as in Fig. 56, cells
pointing downwards, same as the cell bases in Fig. 53.
Or, better still, they may be fastened to the lower edge
of a comb, cut in the section of a circle from end bar

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 99

to end bar, about

one-third down from

the top bar. One

frame of eggs or

larvae will usually

afford strips for two

or more frames. The Fig. 56. — frame for fastening

wax used in fasten- the strips of comb to.

ing the strips must

not be too hot or it w^ill melt them and destroy the eggs.

PREPARING A COLONY FOR QUEEN CELL BUILDING.

Select a strong colony — a strong two-story colony
with plenty of nurse bees is best — and, first of all, make
a nucleus colony with the queen and the frame she is
on, and one additional frame of unsealed brood and
another of food, with their adhering bees (see instruc-
tions for making nuclei). Then remove all frames of
unsealed brood without the adhering bees. These, for
the time being, may be placed in the top story of
another hive containing a strong colony. The frame of
strips for queen cells may now be placed in the centre
of the brood nest ; or the hive may be prepared for them
a few hours beforehand. Being deprived of their queen,
and having no eggs or larvae in the hive except those
supplied, the bees must build the cells over them. The
date and age of the eggs or larvae should always be
marked on the frames, as it will then be known when
the young queens will come to maturity. If honey is
not coming in freely at this time, the bees should be fed
liberally with sugar syrup; there will be more and better
cells built by so doing.

RETURNING THE QUEEN AND BROOD.

The Alley system of queen rearing has been objected
to by some bee-keepers because they unreasonably sup-
posed that a strong colony must be' broken up for each
batch of queen cells. This is wrong, for as soon as the
queen cells have been sealed (or even before), the frame,

loo AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

or frames of cells, may be placed in the top box, the
queen and brood be returned to the brood chamber, a
queen excluder put on over it, and the upper box with
the queen cells placed over the excluder. So long as
the queen cannot get to the cells, they will be as safe,
as a rule, as though she were not in the hive ; so that
at the most the colony need not be queenless more than
four days.

NUCLEUS HIVES.

I have already in Chapter \l. on Hives, described the
small nucleus hives to be used in queen-rearing which
should take three or more of the regular Langstroth
frames, three are the usual number. Good sized
entrances should be made so as to afford ventilation to
the interior when wire cloth is tacked over them.

Additional ventilation, which is advisable, may be
provided by boring a two-inch hole through the bottom
and covering it with wire cloth.

There is a very great advantage in using the same
regular frame in the nucleus hives as is used throughout
the apiary, and I am satisfied from experience that the
economy of bees in caring for queen cells and the young
queens until they mate, and are laying, as advocated
by some writers at the present time, is entirely against
the production of good queens. So far back as 1887 in
conjunction with the late Mr. Obed Poole, the inventor
of queen excluders, I gave small nucleus boxes, similar to
those subsequentlv advocated by E. L. Pratt (''Swarth-
more"), a good trial. wSince then I have had experience
with small boxes of larger dimensions, but I unhesitat-
ingly advise the adootion of the larger nucleus hives
mentioned above, well furnished with bees, if the object
is to raise first-class queens.

FORMING NUCLEI.

Whatever number of queen cells are to be made use
of, the same number of nucleus hives will be reauired
— a piece of perforated zinc or wire cloth should be
tacked over each entrance, and there should be some

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

lOI

spare frames of empty combs or foundation at hand.
A strong two-story colony will make five nucleus
colonies, and leave sufficient bees with the old queen to
make another. When the embryo queens are 13 days
old from the egg the cells are ready to be given to
nuclei.

With the cells and some cell protectors (Fig. 57)
ready, select a colony to break up and find the queen,
placing her with the frame she is in in an empty hive
or comb holder for the time being. Now, put one frame
of brood (as much sealed brood as possible) with the
adhering bees into a nucleus hive, and another also with
adhering bees containing honey and some pollen if pos-
sible, and also an empty comb or frame of foundation.

Place a queen cell in
protector (Fig. 57)
and fasten it on to the
centre comb bv push-
ing its projecting end
through the comb.
Sometimes the bees
will tear down the
cell, hence the need for
protection. All being
finished out on the
cover and do the rest
in same way.

The bees are now
fastened in bv the
wire cloth over the

entrance, and the hives should at once be placed m a
cool, dark situation until sunset on the follow^ing day,
when they mav be put in their permanent position and
the entrances be ooened. Unless the bees are confined
for a time the majority would return, and the nucleus
hives be deserted. Nucleus hives are best set apart
from the main apiary, and from each other.

OUEEN CELL

PROTECTOR

THE EMERGING AND MATING OF YOUNG QUEENS.

The normal time for the young queen to emerge from
her cell is on the sixteenth day from the laying of the

102

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

egg, but the weather is often the cause for the time
varying. If warm and favourable for several davs,
she may emerge late on the fifteenth day, or through
cold weather, be delayed till late on the seventeenth
day. W^hen about five days old, if the weather be
favourable she takes her " wedding flight " to meet the
drone, usually about mid-day. If successful she com-
mences laying in a few days, and is then ready for use
in the apiary, but if the nucleus colony, which is now
established, is required for other cells later, the queen
before remo\al should be allowed time to stock the
combs with eggs.

QUEEN NURSERIES.

In queen rearing there are frequently more queen
cells coming to maturity than can be made use of at the
moment ; a nursery in which the spare ones can be placed
for the time is very useful in such cases. The Alley
Nursery (Fig. 58) is agi^ain coming into use, and from a
long experience with it I can speak very highly of its
usefulness. Similar nursery cages (Fig. 59) may be
used for the wood based cells, but the holding frame

il-li!

inniiSini

^i^

^

Fig. 58. ALLEY QUEEN M'RSERV.

must be made differently. The cages (Fig. 59) are
made out of a smooth batten seven-eighths of an inch
thick; 2j"j5- in. wide, and each cage, being 2 ^^ in. long,
they can be cut off the batten after all are bored. The

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

103

large central hole is i-| in. in diameter, and the two

smaller ones on the edge are i
meter and bored through to the
central hole; the latter is then
covered with wire cloth on each
side to make the cage complete.
The queen cell is placed in
the larger hole on the edge,
and candy food in the smaller
one. The frame with cells
should be suspended in the
centre of an upper story of a
hive till the cells are required
or the queens emerge. The
same cages can be used to
introduce the young queens.

1 1

and tin. in dia-

Fig-59-

-NURSERY CAGE.

INTRODUCING QUEENS.

As a rule it is not difficult to introduce an alien queen
to a colony, be she a virgin or laying, so long as certain
rules are observed. The ordinary conditions to ensure
safety are — that the colony must first be made queenless,
that is, the old queen must be removed. In the next
place the new one, when first placed in the hive, should
be protected in such a way that while the bees can see
and even feel her with their antennae, they are prevented
from stinging her, as they might do before becoming
used to her. And lastly, the colony should be fed if
there is no honey being gathered while the queen is
being introduced. There are exceptions to the second
clause. In the busy season, when honey is coming in
rapidly, if the queens can be changed without much
disturbance of the hive, the new one is likely to be
accepted just as readily if she is turned loose on the
frames as she would be were she protected for a day or
two. I have often introduced them in this manner with
success. On the other hand, I have had great difficulty
with some colonies when trying tO' get them to accent
a queen when introduced in the usual way.

I04

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

INTRODUCING CAGES.

There are several kinds of introducing cages, but I
think the two shown in Figs. 60 and 61 are about the
handiest of any.

Fig. 60. — alley's

INTRODUCING CAGE.

Fig. 61. TITOFF

INTRODUCING CAGE.

Place the queen to be
introduced with as lit-
tle handling as possible
and without any bees ;
and plug up the en-
trance to cage with
candy. After the

queen you are super-
seding, together with
queen cells (if any) have
been removed, hang the
cage from the top bars
between two of the
centre frames (as in
Fig. 62) and pressed
against some honey
Fig. 62. — SHOWING INTRODUCING SO the quccn can feed
CAGE IN USE. herself. Close down

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

to5

the hive and don't disturb it again for three or four days,
long before which she will probably have been released,
when the cage can be removed.

CANDY.

I have spoken of Candy for use in the queen nursery
and introducing cages ; the following is the best way of
making it. Crush up some loaf sugar very fine; if a
good deal of candy is needed, as when commercial queen
rearing, a good coffee mill is best for this work. The
sugar should be like flour; beware of buying ground
sugar, as there is frequently starch or some foreign
matter mixed with it that is death to bees. Warm some
honey, but be sure it comes from a clean hive, and mix
a little (it requires very little) with the ground sugar.
Knead it well and add more sugar until the ball becomes
firm but moist ; when the ball of candy is left on a board
for 24 hours it should only flatten out a little, it is then
right. It will do for nursery, introducing and shipping
cages.

DRONE TRAPS.

When queen rearing, if there be any undesirable
drones flying in the apiary they may be trapped and
destroyed by placing drone traps (Fig. 63) in front of
the hives containing them. Some also use them for

Fig. 63. DRONE AND QUEEN TRAP.

trapping queens at swarming time, I have never used
them for this purpose, so cannot speak of their useful-
ness or otherwise in this respect. No apiary should be
without a few of them.

io6

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

ITALIANISING AN APIARY.

I have already advised beginners for the sake of
economy to start with black bees, and as soon as the
apiary is lairiy established to Italianise all the colonies.
If you have decided to try your hand at queen rearing,
then purchase, say, three tested, or select tested, Italian
queens from a reliable breeder as early as you can get
them in the season, or at any time during the swarming
season will do. Introduce them to strong colonies and
follow the instructions herein given for rearing queens.
If, on the other hand, you prefer to purchase all the
queens at tirst to Italianise your stocks, then order, say,
two tested and the rest unte^sted queens, and after you
have Italian drones flying in fairly large numbers start
queen rearing with eggs from your tested queens, and
so gradually change the untested queens that turn out
to have been mismated to purely mated ones of your own
raising, unless you are not particular about having a
few hybrid colonies in your apiary.

CLIPPING queen's wrings.

The chief object in clipping the queen's wings is to
prevent swarms absconding. Much has been said for
and against the practice, but it has been largely adopted
of late.

HOW TO clip.

Fig. 64. CUPPING

WINGS.

When clipping, the queen
should be held as in Fig. 64, by
the abdomen, while the two
wings on one side only are clipped
off near the stumps.

On the other hand, if the bee-
keeper is not at hand when the
swarm issues, the queen, not
being able to fly, may get lost by
falling on the ground, and so
being unable to reach her hive
again. A tin fence, i-| in. wide,
tacked round the alighting board,
and having the upper half-

AUSTRALASIAN REE MANUAL 107

bent inward, would prevent the clipped queen from
falling to the ground, and so enable her to return to
her hive.

In every case when a queen is purchased the wing
should be clipped to prevent subsequent misunderstand-
ing. It sometimes happens that a short time after a
queen has been accepted the bees for some reason will
supersede her, raising another queen from her eggs,
the young one not being distinguishable from her
mother. If the new queen should get cross-mated her
bees will be hybrids, and the bee-keeper, not knowing
the queen he introduced has been superseded, naturally
accuses the bee-breeder of fraud in sending him a cross-
mated instead of a pure queen. Now, by clipping the
wing it can be seen at once if the original still reigns.

SUPERSEDING QUEENS.

The supersedure of queens after they are past their
prime or in some other way have become defective, may
be done by the bees, by installing another and younger
one in her place. It is now the practice however, among
the majority of experienced commercial bee-keepers,
to carry out a system of superseding them-
selves, and not trust to the bees to do it, as
they believe in the latter case that queens are
frequently kept till long after they have passed their
profitable age. The consensus of opinion is in favour
of supersedure at or near the close of a queen's second
season, and I feel certain that (with few exceptions),
owing to the genial winter temperature of Australasia,
and the prolonged breeding season, queens are at their
best in this part of the world in their second season, and
rapidly deteriorate after. I therefore recommend the
replacing of queens not later than Feburary of the
second season, excepting, of course, in very special
cases, where a queen may have exceptionally good
qualities, as reflected by her bees.

SWARMING CELLS.

Some bee-keepers object to making use of spare queen
cells from a colony that has just swarmed, on the

io8 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

grounds that they are likely to produce queens whose
bees would have an abnormal propensity to swarm.
This, in my opinion is poor reasoning; they apparently
overlook the fact that to swarm is natural in all strains
of hive bees. Their apprehension could only correctly
apply to strains which already are prone to swarm,
and from which no sensible apiarist would breed in any
case. There certainly can be no reasonable objection
to making use of spare swarm cells from a good strain
of bees, using the same discretion in choosing^ them
that one should do in queen rearing. Such cells from
a strong colony produce the very finest of queens.

WOOD BASES FOR QUEEN CELLS.

There is no doubt that the wood bases to cells as
described, are a very great convenience, and it has
occurred' to me that some such bases might be attached
to the queen cells built on the Alley plan. If shallow
holes were bored into similar pieces of wood as is used
in the Doolittle plan, the Alley cells when built might be
glued to them with melted wax ; at all events, it is
worth trying.

FEEDING IN QUEEN REARING.

Though I have already mentioned this matter, I wish
to impress upon all who undertake queen rearing for the
first time, the importance of feeding in all stages of
queen rearing when no honey is being gathered, and the
same applies especially when introducing queens. I
shall give the formula for making sugar syrup later on.

ANOTHER METHOD OF RAISING CELLS.

The method I am about to describe was, I believe,
first tried and described by an Austrian bee-keeper, but
so far as I am aware, I was the first to give it a trial in

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 109

this part of the world at the Government Apiary, and
with excellent results as Fig. 66 indicates.

A new bright (wired) comb of the previous season's
construction was put into the hive of one of our breeding
queens; when fairly full of eggs and newly hatched
larvae it was removed and laid flat on a bench. A thin-
bladed knife was run along each side of every fourth
row of cells, cutting down to the mid-rib only. The three
intermediate rows of cells were scooped out with the
blade of a broad bradawl, as shown in Fig. 65, an easy
matter, leaving every fourth row intact. Two out of

Fig. ()5. — C;OMR PREPARED FOR QUEEN CELLS.

every three eggs or larvae in the standing rows were
killed, as in the Alley plan, and also all eggs and larvae
between the rows. This is important. The cells on the
opposite side of the comb were not touched.

A strong two-story colony was in the meantime pre-
pared for cell building in the manner already described,
an empty half-story was placed immediately over the
brood chamber, an empty frame being laid flat on the
brood frames, and the prepared comb (prepared side
downwards) laid flat on the empty frame. The latter
was covered with a light mat, and the upper story
replaced.

no AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

In due course we obtained sixty good cells in our first
experiment, and over eighty as shown in Fig. 66 in our

Fig. 66. COMB OF 80 GOOD CELLS.

second trial. The above illustrations were made from
photos taken by myself, the cells being fore-shortened
in the view, look smaller than they really were. As soon
as the cells are well started a queen excluder mav be put
on and the queen returned in the manner previously
described.

CAUTION.

The comb lying flat over the brood chamber is sub-
ject to considerable heat, and we found in one case part
of the comb had sagged down owning to the softening
of the comb, and weight of the bees. We then w-ound
wire around the frames between the standing rows of
cells, which checked the sagging. Either wire or thin
splints of wood will do. We obtained some verv fine
queens by this method, and as a wholesale w^ay of
raising cells, I consider it immensely superior to raising
them on the swarm box plan with a small force of bees
from artificial cell cups and transferred larvae. Plenty
of ventilation should be provided w^hen raising queen
cells in this manner.

CHAPTER XIII.

SURPLUS HONEY.

SPRING MANAGEMENT.

In the latitude of Auckland, and for some distance
South, the breeding season starts about the last week
in July, and the hives should be overhauled in suitable
weather early in August. Colonies with good queens
will have patches of sealed brood in the centre combs
by the second week in that month. Any that are brood-
less, or nearly broodless, at this time should be marked,
to be examined again a little later, and be united with
others if there is no improvement.

TOP BOXES.

All top boxes that have been left on through the
winter should now be removed, and the bees be con-
fined to the brood chambers. In the event of the bees
having taken to the top box, remove the lower one,
and set the former down in its place, after scraping
the bottom board. See that there is sufficient food in
the hive, and cover the frames snugly with two or three
well-fitting mats.

CONTRACTING
HIVE SPACE.

It is necessary
to conserve the
natural warmth
of the bees at this
time in order that
breeding m a y
proceed uninter-
ruptedly, there-

Fig. 67. DIVISION BOARD.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

fore, when a colony does not cover more than three or
four frames the hive should be contracted to that space
with division boards (Fig. 67) in the manner shown in
Fig. 68. They can be purchased or be readily made
out of an inch board, 9 in. wide, cut into lengths that
will fit the hive lengthwise as in Fig. 67.

If the ends are
bevelled a little as
at A, A, in Fig. 66,
they can be made
to fit better, and be
more readily fixed
in place. As the
gradual enlarge-
ment of the colony
demands it, the
division boards
should be moved
from time to time
till they can be dis-
pensed with alto-
Fig. 68. gather.

SHOWING DIVISION BOARDS IN USE.

SPRING FEEDING.

The chief contributing factors to successful spring
management are warmth, and an ample supply of food
in the hive ; when these are present breeding will go on
satisfactorily, but without either one it cannot. The
former can readily be obtained in the manner described,
but the latter is frequently neglected, either through
oversight or carelessness. My position as Government
Apiarist gave me many opportunities of observing this,
and was the cause of my drawing attention to it in my
Government Bulletin, as follows : —

" Next in magnitude to the losses of bees which result
from inattention to disease are those which occur in the
spring- months through starvation. Few but experienced
bee-keepers and those who have suffered financially from
losses realise how readily the food-supply may become
exhausted after breeding- is in full swing in spring. In my

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 113

rounds hitherto I have found it a general complaint that
numbers of colonies have died off in the spring. The
owners did not know the cause, and when starvation was
suggested they were quite surprised, as they ' had left
plenty of food in the hive the previous season,' and it had
never occurred to them that the supply might run short.
All bee-keepers worthy of the name will take care that their
bees never run short of food, be it spring, summer, autumn,
or winter.

Given a fair supply of stores in late autumn, when fixing
the bees up for wmter, a colony will use comparatively little
during the winter months, but as soon as breeding begins
m the latter part of July or early August the stores are
largely drawn upon for feeding the brood, and unless nectar
can be gathered to help them out, the stores will rapidly
dimmish. As a rule willows and other spring forage afford
a good supply m fine weather, but the weather is frequently
tar from fine at that time— generally unsettled, and against
the bees securing nectar. Take a case, for example, where
the bees have come out of winter quarters with a fair supply
of food in the hive, the weather fine, and some nectar is
being brought in from the fields. Under these conditions
where there is a good queen, breeding will go ahead very
rapidly, and m a short time there will be a big lot of brood
to feed, and a large quantity of food needed. If at this
time bad weather should set in and last for several days,
preventing the bees gathering nectar, probably within a
week pretty nearly all the reserve stores within the hive
will be used up, and if the bees are not seen to before they
arrive at this stage they will probably die of starvation.
Ihis IS not a fancifully drawn case, but a real practical
one, and shows just how^ such large losses occur in spring."

STIMULATIVE FEEDING.

This is simply feeding- to force brood rearing, as in the
example already given in queen rearing v^here colonies
are to be forced on ahead of the others in the apiary,
and is quite independent of the quantity of food in the
hive. So long as the bees are storing a little more
food than they are using, no matter from what source
It comes, they will be stimulated into extra brood
rearing.

Sugar syrup made in the following manner is the
safest and best food. Mix half a pint of water with
each pound of sugar, stir well, and bring to the boil.
When cool, it is ready for use. Never feed honey

114

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

unless you are absolutely certain it came from a clean
hive, and use cane, not beet, sugar.

FEEDERS.

There are several kinds of feeders advertised by
those who cater for bee-keepers. Clean, empty combs
make excellent feeders, and they can be filled by placing
them on an inclined board in a large milk dish or other
similar vessel, and pouring the syrup through a fine
strainer held a foot or so above them. The force of the
falling syrup expels the air from the cells, and the
syrup takes its place. After filling, the combs should
be suspended over a vessel (to catch the drip) before
placing them in the hives.

Fig. 69. " SIMPLICITY " FEEDER.

DOOLITTLE FEEDER.

The " Simplicity " feeder is an excellent one to stand
on the frames under the cover. Then there is the
" Doolittle " division board feeder (Fig. 70) to suspend

AUSTRALASIAN BF:E MANUAL 115

in the hive. Also the large " Miller " and " Alexan-
der " feeders, all of which are to be obtained from hive
manufacturers. Always give food and replenish the
feeders in the evening.

UNITING.

All colonies making little or no headway in breeding,
denoting poor queens, and any that are found to be
queenless, should be united with others that are more
prosperous, as early in the spring as possible. There
will only be loss in trying to nurse colonies with poor
queens with the hope that they will improve later on ;
better to make use of the bees at once. I have of late
united colonies in the following manner with the
greatest success. Place a queen excluder over the
frames of the colony the other is to be united to, and
put the body of hive containing the latter as a top box
over the excluder after killing the queen. In no case
have I had trouble with fighting, but it is well to watch
the hive for a few hours, and if anything occurs give
a good dose or tw^o of smoke. In two days the
excluder can be removed.

surplus honey supers,
(extracted honey.)

When a colony is getting fairly strong, with plenty
of sealed brood in the hive, and honey coming in, a
top box or super should be put on. Care must be
taken that this is done before preparations for swarm-
ing are being made by building queen cells. On the
other hand, it should not be put on too soon, as the
extra space lor cold air would do harm.

When working for extracted honey, the two side
combs from the lower hive, with the adhering bees,
should be placed in the centre of the lower one. As
the season advances, there will be more and more bees
working in the super storing honey, and probably the
queen will lay in two or three of the upper combs.
This brings me to the use of queen excluders.

ii6

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

OUEEN EXCLUDER HONEY BOARDS.

" Queen Excluders," as they are usually called, are
made of perforated zinc, Fig. 71, and also slats of thin
wood and wire, Fig. 72. Both have spaces through
which worker bees can pass, but queens and drones
cannot. They are very useful in queen rearing, and
in uniting colonies ; but for the purpose they are
generallv used, viz., for confining the queen to the

U1

n

n

r^

r^

11 III

pr|r wifnarD'^ II |ij^ ¥7

Fig. 71.

ZINC EXCLUDER.

Fig. J2.
WOOD AND WIRE EXTENDER.

lower hive through the honey season, I have no hesita-
tion in condemning them. As I have gone into this
question fully on a previous occasion, I will quote my
remarks : —

"The most important point to observe during the honey
season in working- to secure a maximum crop of honey is to
keep down swarming, and the main factors to this end, as
I have previously stated, are ample ventilation of the hives,
and adequate working-room for the bees. When either or
both these conditions are absent, swarming is bound to take

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 117

place. The free ventilation of a hive containing- a strong
colony is not so easily secured in the heig-ht of the honey
season, even under the best conditions, that we can aflford
to take liberties with it; and when the ventilating--space
between the lower and upper boxes is more than half cut off
by a queen-excluder, the interior becomes almost unbear-
able on hot days. The results under such circumstances
are that a very larg-e force of bees that should be out work-
ing- are employed fanning-, both inside and out, and often a
considerable part of the colony will be hang-ing outside the
hive in enforced idleness until it is ready to swarm.

Another evil caused by queen-excluders, and tending to
the same end — swarming- — is that during- a brisk honey-flow
the bees will not readily travel through them to deposit
their loads of surplus honey in the supers, but do store
large quantities in the breeding-combs, and thus block the
breeding-space. This is bad enough at any time, but the
evil is accentuated when it occurs in the latter part of the
season. A good queen gets the credit of laying from two to
three thousand eggs per day: supposing she is blocked for
a few days, and loses the opportunity of laying, say, from
fifteen hundred to two thousand eggs each da^'', the colony
would quickly dwindle down, especially as the average life
of the bee in the honey season is only about six weeks.

For my part I care not where the queen lays — the more
bees the more honev. If she lays in some of the suner
combs it can be readily rectified now and again by putting
the brood below, and side combs of honey from the lower
box above ; some of the emerging brood also may be placed
at the side of the upper box to give plenty of room below.
I have seen excluders on in the latter part of the season,
the queens idle for want of room, and very little brood in
the hives, just at a time when it is of very great importance
that there should be plenty of young bees emerging."

ADDITIONAL TOP BOXES.

When the main honey flow has fairly set in and the
colonies are in g-ood condition, one surplus honey super,
as a rule, will not be sufficient to work the hives to the
best advantage. A second one should be put on before
the first becomes overcrowded, and before queen cells
are started. While doing this see that any frames of
brood or eggs above are shifted below, and all combs
devoid of brood below are placed above. When
putting on extra supers, alwavs set them immediately

it8

AUSTRALASIAN REE MANUAL

over the brood chamber, and under the others already
on. This tends towards keeping the former from
getting overheated, and the bees will always work
downwards when they will not work up. I think it
almost impossible to work a strong colony to the best
advantage with less than two top boxes, and I often
use three when there is a good flow of nectar on.

EXTRACTING.

When working on the system of allowing the honey
to be capped over before extracting it, or in other
words, letting it ripen in the hive, care must be taken
that plenty of working room is provided for, especially
during a strong flow of nectar, or swarming will result.
At such times honey will be stored faster than it can
ripen and be capped over, so that it is necessary to
increase the working-room by adding top boxes until
some of the combs are ready for the extractor, which
should be kept at work on every opportunity.

COMB BASKET AND BRUSH.

When removing surplus honey from the hives it is
necessary to have something to place the frames or

Fig. 73. COMB BASKET.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

19

sections in, both for convenience of carr3ing and to
keep the honey secure from the bees until it is safe in
the honey or extracting house. Tin comb-baskets,
similar to the one shown in Fig. "jt^^ answer the purpose
admirably. They are light, strong, clean, and handy.
They should be made so that the frames will hang in
them the same as in a hive, and should have a space
of at least two inches below the bottoms of the frames,
to hold any honey that may drip from the combs after
they have been uncapped. To hold six frames con-
veniently they should be at least Sin. wide inside.

Another indispen-
sable appliance is a
brush of some kind
for brushing the
bees off the combs
when removing
them from the
hives, and the kind
shown in Fig. 74 is
about the best for
the purpose.

This is a sort of whisk broom especially made
brushing bees. The strands are thinned out and
longer than ordinary hand brooms so as
soft, pliable, easy sweep of the combs.

Fig. 74. BEE BRUSH.

for
are
to afford a

THE DAISY BARROW.

A light running barrow of some kind is an absolute
necessity in
the apiary
for carry-
ing hives
a n d other
app liances
to and fro,
and to
serve as a
platform Figf. 7=;. — the " daisy " barrow.

I20 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

for placing surplus boxes on when manipulating a hive.
There are barrows of different desir;ns, but the one
illustrated I have found to be very useful and handy.
They are supplied by hive manufacturers.

NUMBERING THE FRAMES OF EACH HIVE.

In an apiary perfectly free from disease no heed need
be taken as to how the combs are changed about from
one hive to another, and at extracting time the combs
taken from one hive as soon as emptied may be given
in place of those taken from the next. Not so, how-
ever, where there is any taint of disease, as no surer
way otv spreading it could be adopted than to promiscu-
ously change the combs. In this case every frame
should bear the number of the hive it belongs to, and
be returned to it, ajid all the combs from suspected
hives should be the last extracted, when they can be
kept by themselves.

RIPENING EXTRACTED HONEY.

The thorough ripening of honey before placing it on
the market is a matter of the greatest importance, both
to the owner and to the industry generally. When first
gathered as nectar, it may contain an amount of water
ranging from i8 per cent., up to 25 per cent., or more.
Honey containing an excess of moisture is unripe, and
if it remain in that condition it is certain sooner or later
to ferment; it is then unfit for table use. But, if such
moisture be reduced below a certain percentage the
honey is said to be ripe, and it will then keep, with
ordinary care, for almost any length of time. At what
point the excess of moisture commences I have not
yet been able to ascertain, nor, so far as I am aware,
has it ever been decided by analysts or sugar experts.
It is beyond the accomplishment of the average bee-
keeper to determine by evaporation the amount of
moisture in a given sample of honey ; but by close
observation of the specific gravity of the class of honey
he raises, he will in a short time have a serviceable
guide as to its fitness for market at any time.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 121

During my term as Government Apiarist I tested
over 100 samples of different grades of honey (see
Bulletin No. 18 on Bee-Culture), by the hydrometer,
in order, if possible, to formulate a standard specfiic
gravity for ripe honey of different varieties. Though I
had not completed my investigations, the tests made
of clover honey, which constituted more than three-
fourths of them, lead me to believe that any of this
class showing a density of 1.420 or over is fit for
market. Though I cannot speak so positively of other
varieties, I have little doubt that a similar density would
denote a fair degree of ripeness. It must be under-
stood that in speaking of " clover honey," I mean that
the bulk of a given sample had been gathered from
white clover blossoms, of which fortunately we can
raise plenty in New Zealand.

RIPENING HONEY INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE HIVE.

Little need be said with regard to ripening honey
inside the hive, as the capping or sealing of the honey
cells is generally understood to indicate that the con-
tents are ripe. Some bee-keepers, however, consider it
necessary to leave the honey in the hive for some
little time after it is capped to be certain of it being
thoroughly ripened. I know a few who leave all the
surplus honey on the hives till the last of the season,
which, in my opinion, is unnecessary and a very waste-
ful way of working an apiary.

With regard to extracting honey from combs partly
capped and finishing the ripening outside the hive, I
maintain in the absence of chemical proof to the con-
trary, and so far as the palate can detect, that equally
as good honey for marketing purposes can be produced
m this manner as in the more costly method of ripening
within the hive.

RIPENING HONEY OUTSIDE THE HIVE.

My experience in this matter goes back to the season
of 1883-1884, when my first experiment was with ten
I

122 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

tons of clover honey, and it was so successful that I
have continued the method since, both as a private bee-
keeper and as Director of the New Zealand Govern-
ment Apiaries with equal success.

As I have already pointed out, during a heavy flow
of honey, when it is left in the hive to ripen it is
necessary to keep adding top boxes to take advantage
of the flow, as the honey w^ill be stored faster than it
can be ripened. This means the providing of a large
quantity of extra material and combs at considerable
cost. Each top box would be worth at least 2S. 6d.,
and the nine frames of comb at is. 3d. each, us. 3d.,
making a total of 13s. gd. ; and two of these extra
boxes may sometimes be needed for each hive if full
advantage is to be taken of the conditions mentioned.

RIPENING AND MATURING TANKS.

The most effective method of ripening and maturing
honey is to expose a large surface of comparatively
shallow mass to a warm, dry, atmosphere. Even when
the honey is allowed to ripen within the hive it is
necessary to have shallow tanks to mature or clarify
it, for, no matter how small in the mesh the strainer
may be or how carefully the honey is strained, it is
impossible to prevent very fine particles of wax and
pollen-grains running from the extractor into the tank
with the honey. If the body of the honey is deep these
particles cannot rise to the surface as they do in a
shallow tank, forming a scum, which, when skimmed
off, leaves the honey in the very best form for market.
Air-bubbles, which in themselves may contain moisture
(and it is absolutely certain that honey containing air-
bubbles quickly deteriorates), cannot rise or escape
through a deep mass of honey.

The tank shown in Fig. 76 is, as indicated, 6 ft.
long, 4 ft. wide in the two compartments, and 20
in. deep, outside measurements ; and calculated to
hold about 1,250 lbs. of honey in each compartment.
It represents those in use at the Government Apiaries,
which are made of i^ in. timber, and lined with stout

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 123

tin. Of course, each bee-keeper will decide for himself
as to the size of his tanks, but the depth should be
limited to from 20 to 24 in. at most.

BFf

Fig. 76. HONEY TANK.

(Not drawn to scale.)

For an apiary of, say, two hundred colonies, two such
tanks as the double tank illustrated would in most cases
answer the purpose. There is a great advantage in
dividing the tanks into compartments, so that the
honey from each day's extracting may be left undis-
turbed until it has matured and is ready to run into
tins. It is unwise to run two or three days' extracting
into the same tank, as the frequent disturbance is
against the honey maturing properly.

HONEY-STRAINERS.

The strainer in use at the State Apiaries consists of
a long shallow tin box without a cover, and with one-
half the bottom formed of fine wire gauze, and the
other half of tin. This box reaches right across the
double tank, and by turning it end for end the honev
can be run into either division. Inside the box two
other loose strainers slip, the upper one is a coarse

124

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

strainer to catch dead bees, large pieces of wax, &c.

and the under one finer,
cleaned when required.

Fig. ^-j.

ALEXANDER STRAINER.

These can be taken out and

A good plan, if the con-
tour of the ground will
allow of it, is to arrange
the honey-tank at a level
3 ft. or so below the
extractor and strainer, so
that the honey, after pas-
sing through very fine
meshes and thus being
split up into fine threads,
shall fall that distance
before reaching the tank.
The atmosphere, being
warm and dry, will ab-
sorb very much of the
moisture in the honey in
its descent.

The late E. W. Alexander introduced the strainer
shown in Fig. 77, which is in the form of a bucket,
the sides, and bottom, being made of fine wire gauze,
50 meshes to the inch. They are obtainable from hive
manufacturers.

LIQUEFYING GRANULATED HONEY.

I wish to caution bee-keepers against overheating
when liquefying granulated honey. The usual advice
given is that it may be heated up to 160° Fahr. without
doing harm to the honey. From close observation I
am satisfied that much of the fine aroma and flavour
characteristic of our best honey is lost when slowly
heated up to anything near that temperature. To avoid
injury the honey should not be heated many degrees
above the normal temperature of the hive in summer —
say, about 110°. I am fully aware that granulated
honey will take a long time to liquefy at that temper-
ature, but better that than injure it.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 125

WORKING FOR COMB HONEY.

The same method is pursued right up to the time of
putting on the top as when working for extracted honey,
but instead of using full depth supers, half-stories fur-
nished with one pound sections, as explained in a
previous chapter should be employed. Beginners
frequently complain of the difficulty in getting bees to
start work In the sections in the spring. This unwilling-
ness to enter the sections boxes in the early season on
the part of the bees, is readily explained. The bees
cannot build out comb until there is a fairly high
temperature to enable them tO' secrete and manipulate
the wax. About the time the top boxes are put on the
weather is frequently very changeable with cold nights,
and entirely against wax working, especially when the
bees are necessarily split up intO' small clusters as they
must be in section boxes. The weather must be settled
and fairly warm before the work can commence.

** BAIT " SECTIONS.

** Bait " sections are partly worked sections held over
from the previous season, and are very useful for
placing in the centre of the first boxes put on. No doubt
they afford some enticement to the bees to start work
In the sections a little earlier than they would otherwise ;
in any case the frames should be covered snugly with
mats to retain the heat of the hive.

After the bees get fairly started in the first top box,
place the second half-story underneath, and take care to
remove the sections as they are finished without waiting
for the whole of them to be ready for removal, and
replace them with empty sections. Remember that It Is
more difficult to keep down swarming when working
for comb, than when running the hives for extracted
honey. Give ample working room immediately above
the brood chamber, and plenty of ventilation from below.

See that the whole of the cells are capped over before
removing the sections, and when they have been
removed, scrape the boxes free from propolis, and allow

T26 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

them to remain in the store-room for a few days before
crating them for market. Use small crates holding not
more than two dozen. Excepting beginners, and those
located where the honey gathered is too dense to extract,
I would advis€ the raising of extracted in preference to
comb honey.

AXIOM.

" In districts where forage is abundant only
for a short period, the largest yield of honey
will be secured by a very moderate increase of
STOCKS " Langstroth.

CHAPTER XIV.

AUTU.MX AXD WINTER MANAGEMENT.

The closing of the surplus honey season varies as to
date according to latitude and the particular kind of
flora available. As bee-keeping is carried on in Austral-
asia over an extent of nearly 30 degrees of latitude, it is
next to impossible to give even an approximate date
suitable for all parts. In most parts of New Zealand,
and the Southern districts of Australia, the season as a
rule closes in the latter half of February, though in some
years it extends into March. So far as my observations
go, the earlier the season commences the earlier it ends,
and vice versa, this I have found to be the rule. The
Autumn flow of nectar in New Zealand is usually
sufficient to keep up breeding and to afford at least
some winter stores.

TAKIXG THE LAST SURPLUS HONEY.

The novice may readily gauge the near approach of
the end of the season by the killing off of the drones, and
the inactivity of the field bees in the afternoons. The
last of the surplus honey, whether comb or extracted,
should always, as far as possible, be taken before the
season has entirely closed to avoid trouble with robber
bees, which are very active at this time. I know this is
sometimes neglected with the result of loss to the owner.

With regard to section honey, it is important to know
how to avoid having a lot of partly finished unmarketable
sections at the end of the season. A month or so before
the usual time for the close of the season, collect all the
very backward sections, and give them to the strongest
colonies in the apiary, and put those nearly finished on
the others. By working them in this manner there will

127

128

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

be very few, if any, to hold over ; should there be a few
they will do for " bait " sections the following spring.

robbers are

BEE ESCAPES.

Those known as the " Porter " bee escapes, Fig. 78,
are most useful appliances at times, especially when
about, as by their aid supers may be
automatically emptied of bees with-
out any trouble whatever. They
are very useful at all times to those
keeping a few colonies as a hobby,
as the surplus honey may be re-
moved with little or no risk of being
stung.

If the removal of the last of the
surplus honey has been delayed,
robbers may be avoided by the use
of escapes. The escape shown is
made of tin, and this is let into a
board the size of the top of a hive;
when to be used, the super with
bees is raised up, and the escape
board with the round hole of the
escape uppermost, is placed under-
neath, using no more smoke during
the operation than is necessary.
If put on in the late afternoon,
and there is no brood or queen in the super, the bees
will be all cleared out by the morning — a few young wax
workers may remain but will give no trouble.

Care should be taken to see that the board fits well
so that the bees after passing through the escape cannot
return ; it is impossible for them to return through the
escape. If put on during the day, shade the hive from
the hot sun by laying a folded sack over the cover, and
give plenty of ventilation from below.

Fig. 78 PORTER

BEE ESCAPE.

AUTUMN BREEDING.

This is, as I have already intimated under " Spring
Management," a most important consideration in the

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 129

autumn management of the apiary. On having plenty
of young bees in the hives when fixing the colonies up
for the winter, depends the success of the apiary in
spring, and to ensure this breeding must be kept up
till late autumn. Young robust queens and plenty of
food are the two principal factors in this matter. Queens
past their prime cease breeding very soon after the end
of the honey season, independent of the quantity of food
in the hives. Where no attention has been paid to the
superseding of aged queens, some will be found in the
apiary that have ceased breeding in March, while others
keep on till well into May. Those that cease breeding
early almost invariably die during the winter, or early
the following spring, which, in either case, means the
loss of their colonies. February, as I have previously
stated, is, I consider, the best month for superseding
queens.

UNITING.

No attempt should be made to carry weak colonies
through the winter except by experienced apiarists, and
only then when there is some special object in view, as
they always constitute a danger by affording oppor-
tunities for robbers. It is best to unite them with others
in the manner given under '' Spring Management," and
the earlier in the autumn it is done the better.

ROBBING.

Immediately after the close of the main part of the
honey season when the bulk of the field bees are practi-
cally idle is the time to beware of robbing, and the less
the hives are opened then the better. If it is necessary
to open any, it should be done as early in the forenoon
as possible, as there are more robbers about after mid-
day. Robbers dart into a hive as soon as it is opened,
therefore the work should be got through as rapidly as
one can do it. They may be dodged a bit by quickly
changing from one part of the apiary to another the
farthest away, but they soon follow up. Robbing never
occurs while there is sufficient nectar to be gathered to

I30 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

keep the field bees busy ; it is only during a dearth, and
at the close of the season that it takes place if there is
the slightest opportunity afforded. It may of course
occur in winter or spring, but there is not so much risk
at these times. Ordinary precautions, however, should
be observed at all times.

Robber bees " on the prowl " may be seen examining
the joints of the bottom iDoards, supers, and covers, and
dodging about on the wing in front of the hives, every
now and again making a feint to alight near the
entrance, but quickly dodging back again on the
approach of a "sentinel." Hives containing small
colonies should have their entrances contracted a little
while robbers are about.

PRECAUTIONS.

The first six weeks after the end of the season is the
worst for robbing. No saccharine matter of any kind
should be left where bees can get at it, and the honey
house should be kept clear of bees at this time. The
advantage of having a bee-tight honey house will then
be appreciated. Robbing may easily be prevented, but
when once it gets in full swing it requires all one's
ingenuity to stop it, and an apiary may be ruined before
it can be mastered. The bees at such times become
demoralised, and will sting any animal that approaches
within a hundred yards of the apiary.

TO STOP ROBBING.

It is easy to detect open robbing, but there is some-
times a quiet tranquil kind of robbing going on without
the violence associated with the former, but which is
nevertheless quite as dangerous, and more difficult to
detect. It occurs chiefly in the colder weather of early
winter and early spring. At first there is nothing
abnormal about the hive to be seen, the bees seem to
be going in and out as usual, but an experienced apiarist
might notice that the bees are rather more active than
those in the other hives. Later on, minute portions of

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 131

wax will be seen at the entrance, which is really portions
of the cappings of the honey cells. By this time, the
condition of the robbed colony is hopeless ; it will be
queenless, the queen probably having been killed, and
all the honey robbed out, when the best that can be done
if there are a good few bees still in the hive is to put it
over a queen excluder on another hive.

At the beginning of the attack, a wet cloth, or bunch
of wet grass laid across the entrance, and a douch of
water from a watering pot through a fine rose held
breast high in front of the hive, so as to sprinkle the bees
flying near the entrance will usually stop a mild case.
The cloth or grass should be removed occasionally to
allow bees tO' come out but none to go in. A rag
sprinkled with kerosene, or carbolic acid, hung over the
entrance is said to be effective, but when a hive is
severely attacked it is best to remove it away altogether,
and to watch the adjoining hives closely for a while.
The robbed hive may also change places with an extra
strong colony, which will be effective.

PREPARING FOR WINTER.

It almost seems out of place to speak of preparing for
winter in connection with bee culture in Australasia,
where the average temperature and climate suggests
perpetual summer when compared with the severe
winters of some of the chief bee-keeping countries of the
Northern Hemisphere. There is, however, a short
period of about three months, when in the Southern parts
breeding ceases, and it is advisable during that time not
to meddle with the hives at all unless something unusual
occurs.

WINTER FOOD SUPPLY.

Early in May is the most suitable time for finally
fixing up the bees for winter. The bees should have
been breeding up to about this time to ensure a large
number of young bees going into winter quarters. Go
through each hive and note the food supply ; about 30 lbs.

132 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

is a tair quantity for winter and early spring stores.
The honey will be distributed through a number of
frames, but by calculating on the basis that a frame when
fairly full will contain about 61bs.; it will be easy to
estimate the total quantity. It is best to feed earlier in
the autumn if there is any risk of a shortage of a winter
supply.

SPARE TOP BOXES.

All top boxes not previously removed and that are not
at this time occupied by bees should be taken off. My
own experience has been that colonies in real good
condition are strong enough in May to need one deep
super on the brood chamber, and so long as the frames
are well covered with mats I have found them winter all
right in this way, until the bees are reduced in number
sufficiently to be all located in the brood chamber.

EXTRA MATS AND COVERS.

A good supply of extra mats should be on hand during
the winter to take the place of any that may get damp.
An occasional inspection of the mats should be made,
especially after a spell of wet weather. A few spare
coA^ers are always handy for taking the places of any
that may leak and need repairing. Sun-cracks are
liable to occur and cause leakage. For repairing these
I have found nothing better than giving them a thick
coat of paint, and immediately after laying on the wet
paint, a covering of cheese-cloth and painting over this ;
it will keep the cover rain-proof for many years.

WINTER VEXTILATIOX.

It is a serious mistake to greatly diminish the entrance
to the hives in winter under the supposition that the
natural warmth of the bees is quite conserved. After a
series of very exhaustive experiments extending over
some months, sometimes with seventeen thermometers
in the hive at one time, which I, in conjunction with

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 133

another, carried out some twenty-three years ago, it was
conclusively proved to our satisfaction that the ventila-
tion of the hives is carried on by the bees through the
entrances. The thermometers at the entrance under all
conditions proved that fresh air was drawn in at one side
while the expended air was driven out from the other
side. To avoid dampness within the hive and mouldy
combs, allow a good wide entrance in winter.

It is an indication of bad management to have combs
go mouldy in a hive, any such should be removed at
once; hang them in a warm room for a day or two, a
soft brush will then remove the mould.

SECURING COVERS IN WINTER.

Hives in an apiary inadequately sheltered are liable
to have their covers blown off during high winds,
especially in the winter months. If this takes place in
a heavy cold rain-storm the colonies may be ruined
before matters can be rectified. The covers may be
readily and cheaply secured by passing a piece of light
fencing wire under the bottom boards and letting the two
ends (which should be bent into long hooks) clasp each
other. They can be quickly unclasped if necessary to
open the hive.

AXIOM.

** Bees dislike any quick movements about theik
hives, especially any quick movement which jars
THEIR COMBS." LangstroL'h^

CHAPTER XV.

DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF BEES.

DISEASES.

The hive-bee {Apis niellifica), like all other animals,
especially those under domestication, is subject to
several diseases, some fortunately of minor importance.
The most injurious are those which attack and destroy
the brood, thus preventing the normal development of
young bees, and the inevitable result of which, when
allowed to run their course, is the rapid decline and
ultimate extermination of the colonies affected.

The most pernicious of bee-diseases is what we know
as " foul-brood," a germ disease of a very infectious
nature, and only too familiar to the majority of bee-
keepers. It is, without doubt, the greatest drawback
to successful bee-culture known at the present time,
and seems to be prevalent in all countries where bee-
culture is followed.

Recent investigations in America have led the
authorities there to distinguish two forms of this
disease, one they have named " American," and the
other " European," foul brood, but the latter is more
frequently spoken of among bee-keepers as " black
brood." Objection to the distinguishing names,
** American," and " European," has been frequently
expressed in England and America as misleading. Be
this as it may, however, there are undoubtedly two
distinct forms, accompanied chiefly by different bacilli.
Dr. G. F. White, bacteriologist, attached to the United
States Agricultural Department, who has been the
chief investigator there, named the micro-organism
associated with " American " foul brood, Bacillus

134

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 135

larvcB, which, according to Dr. Maassen, of the
Imperial Biological Institute, Dahlen, Prussia, is
synonymous with B. Branden hurgiensis, Mausen,
and B. Buyri, Burri. The distinctive bacillus he found
in " black brood," and which was constantly present,
was Bacillus alvei, of Cheshire.

FOUL BROOD IN AUSTRALASIA.

On August 2nd, 1907, I sent six typical specimens of
diseased comb, three from each end of New Zealand,
to Dr. E. F. Phillips, in charge of Agriculture, U.S.A.,
for examination, and on November the 23rd following
I received his report, which was subsequently published
in Bulletin No. 18. It will be sufficient for me to
observe that after a close investigation of the speci-
mens, making pure cultures from each, and feeding
them to healthy colonies, the same disease was pro-
duced that was present in the specimens, viz.,
" American " foul brood {Bacillus larvcE). Dr. Phillips
wound up his report by saying : '' You are then able
to say distinctly that American foul brood exists in New
Zealand, and that it is caused by Bacillus larvce.''

Subsequent experience has not shown that we havt
any other form of foul brood, nor do I believe any
different form exists throughout Australasia at the
present time, or I should certainly have heard of it.

SYMPTOMS OF FOUL BROOD (BacHlus larvce).

Healthy brood in the larva stage — that is, before it
is sealed or capped — presents a clear pearly whiteness,
but when attacked, which is usually, as Dr. Phillips
remarks, " about the time of capping," changes to a
light buff, then to brown. It is, how^ever, when the
brood has been capped that the novice is better able to
detect the presence of disease.

In the early stage of an attack a capped cell here
and there appears somewhat different from the sur-
rounding healthy brood. Instead of the cappings or

136 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

seals being bright, full, and of convex form, character-
istic of healthy brood, they are of a dull blackish
brown colour, and flat or sunken, an indication that the
cells contain dead pupae. The disease rapidly spreads
to surrounding cells and combs, if allowed to take its
course, till finally no brood can emerge, and the colony
succumbs. On opening some of the cells a thin glue-
like, pale coftee-coloured mass will be noticed, which
on the insertion of a splinter of wood adheres to the
point, and can be drawn rope-like for some little
distance out of the cells. This is one of the most
distinctive features of foul-brood prevalent in New
Zealand, and where present is considered conclusive
evidence of the disease. Later on this glue-like sub-
stance dries up into a black scale-like body.

Fig. 79. PORTION OF DISEASED COMB.

Other symptoms are " pin-holes " and ragged per-
forations in the cappings of the cells, and a very
disagreeable smell resembling that of heated glue or
tainted meat, which may be sometimes, though rarely,
detected at some yards away from a badly infected hive
in close weather. The characteristic odour cannot
easily be detected in the earliest stages, even when an
infected comb is placed close to the nose, but some
iilight difference can be noticed between that and
healthy comb at all times.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 137

SYMPTOMS OF " BLACK " BROOD {BacUlus alvei).

The following is the description given by Dr. E. F.
Phillips, in Circular No. 79, Bureau of Entomology,
Washington, D.C. :

" Adult bees in infected colonies are not very active, but
do succeed in cleaning out some of the dried scales. This
disease attacks larvae earlier than does American foul-brood
{Bacillus larviE), and a comparatively small percentage of
the diseased brood is ever capped; the diseased larvae which
are capped over have sunken and perforated cappings. The
larvae when first attacked show a small yellow spot on the
body near the head, and move uneasily in the cell; when
death occurs they turn yellow, then brown, and finally
almost black. Decaying larvae which have died of this
disease do not usually stretch out in a long thread when a
small stick is inserted and slowly removed; but occasionally
there is a very slight ' ropiness,' but this is never very
marked. The thoroughly dried larvae form irregular scales
which are not strongly adherent to the lower side wall of
the cell. There is very little odour from decaying larvae
which have died from this disease, and when an odour is
noticeable it is not the ' glue-pot ' odour of American foul-
brood, but more nearly resembles that of soured dead brood.
This disease attacks drone and queen larvae very soon after
the colony is infected. It is, as a rule, much more infec-
tious than American foul-brood and spreads more rapidly.
On the other hand, it sometimes occurs that the disease will
disappear of its own accord, a thing which the author never
knew to occur in a genuine case of American foul-brood.
European foul-brood is most destructive during the spring
and early summer, often almost disappearing in late sum-
mer and autumn."

TREATMENT OF FOUL BROOD (BacUluS larvce).

We have so abundantly proved the efficacy of the
McEvoy treatment of foul brood {Bacillus larvce), in
New Zealand, that I unhesitatingly recommend it to
every bee-keeper.

Where the disease is so far advanced as to have left
few bees in the colony, then it will be safest to destroy
everything that has been in contact with it by fire.
" Tinkering " with such a colony would be both useless
and dangerous.

K

138 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

Treatment may be successfully undertaken at any
time when honey is being freely stored. When going
through the hives in spring make a note of those
showing signs of diseased combs (which are readily
detected at that time), for treatment later on, and be
very careful that robbing is not started. When the honey
season has set in, keeping the bees busy, treatment
should begin. All operations in this connection should
be carried out in the evening, when the bees are quiet.

Prepare a clean hive and bottom board with narrow-
starters of comb-foundation in the frames. Remove
the infected hive and stand to one side, and put the
prepared one in its place, prop up the front about an
inch, lay a sack near the entrance, and shake and brush
the bees as quietly as possible close to the entrance,
and when finished remove every vestige of the infected
hive away where bees cannot get at it. The combs, if
not too badly infected, may be melted into wax, or, if
insufficient in quantity for that purpose, they, with their
frames, had better be burned right away and the ashes
buried.

On the evening of the fourth day following, the
necessary number of frames for the hive should be
furnished with full sheets of comb-foundation, to be
exchanged with those the bees have been working on.
This can be done by removing the frames one at a time,
shaking the bees back into the hive, and inserting the
others. The comb built on the starters during the four
days may be cut out and melted up, and the frames
disinfected.

\\'hen there are several colonies in an apiary affected
with disease, or one here and there in different parts of
it, it may be taken for granted that nothing less than
the treatment of the whole of the colonies at the same
time will be effective. To do otherwise, will be to
expend time and labour with no good results.

The theory of this treatment is that during their four
days' comb-building, the bees use up all the infected
honey contained in their honey-sacs when taken from
their old hive, so that when shifted again at the end of
the four days thev start clean.

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 139

FEEDING AND DISINFECTING.

In all cases when treatment is going on and honey
is not being stored freely, feed sugar-syrup liberally
after shifting the bees on the fourth day. Mix half a
pint of water with each pound of sugar used, stir well,
and bring it to the boil ; when cool it is ready. Always
feed within the hive and in the evening.

Notwithstanding that some authorities, among them
McEvoy himself, contend that there is no necessity for
disinfecting foul broody hives, I maintain that it is
unwise to neglect doing anything within reason that
may have a tendency to prevent a further outbreak of
disease.

Be sure to remove out of the way of the bees, and
disinfect or burn, everything used during the operations
of treatment ; and a solution of izal should be kept for
disinfecting the hands, knives, etc., after handling an
infected colony. Directions are given on the bottles,
and a weak solution will not harm the skin. Also dig
the ground over around the diseased hive-stand. The
hive, bottom board, and cover, if sound and worth
saving, should be cleaned and thoroughly disinfected
with a strong solution of carbolic acid or izal, or singed
inside by fire.

AFTER-INSPECTION.

In from three to four weeks, when the new brood
begins to emerge, keep a look-out for any suspicious-
looking brood-cells, and if any are seen, cut them out
at once, together with the adjoining cells. If suspicious
cells recur, treat again fully. '' Eternal vigilance "
should be the watchword of every bee-keeper who hopes
to keep down disease.

TO PREVENT SWARMING OUT.

On rare occasions colonies swarm out during treat-
ment, but this is not likely to occur when honey is being
gathered freely. It can be guarded against by caging

I40 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

the queen for a few days, or by giving a wide entrance
and placing queen-excluding zinc across.

SAVING HEALTHY BROOD.

When several colonies are to be treated and there is
a large quantity of healthy brood in the combs, put a
queen-excluding zinc honey-board over the frames of
one of the least-affected hives and put all the healthy
brood above this to emerge. When this has been
accomplished, remove everything and treat the colony
in the manner advised. The zinc prevents the queen
making use of the affected combs while the brood is
emerging.

AUTUMN TREATMENT.

When it is desired to treat colonies in the autumn
after brood-rearing has ceased, just put the bees into
clean hives provided with ample winter stores in the
shape of frames of honey from clean colonies. The
disease is not likely to reappear.

YOUNG QUEENS.

There can be little doubt that bees from young
vigorous queens can better cope with disease than those
bred from aged and weak mothers. It is therefore
advisable to change the queens at the time of or shortly
after treatment if those in the affected hives are not up
to the mark : in any case, it is profitable to do so if
young queens can be obtained.

TREATMENT OF " BLACK BROOD " {BacUluS alvei).

Authorities are still undecided as to the best method
of treatment of this disease, but a good number of those
who have tried it speak well of that recommended by
the late E. W. Alexander, which he had adopted himself
with great success. The following is his method put
briefly :—

Build up the diseased colonies by uniting them, or
giving brood until they are strong; then remove all the

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 141

queens, and in nine days go over them carefully and
destroy all queen cells ; or virgin queens, if hatched.
Then start queen rearing from newly hatched larva
from your choicest queen (which should be an Italian).
On the twentieth day after the old queen was removed,
and not one hour sooner, for upon this success depends,
a ripe queen should be given to each colony from those
you have raised. The young queen, in the ordinary
course of things, will commence to lay about the twenty-
seventh day, or three or four days after the last brood
has emerged. The bees in the meantime having cleaned
out all the infected cells, the disease is not likely to
reappear.

OTHER DISEASES.

So little is known concerning the cause and cure of
what we know as " Pickle Brood " and " Bee Para-
lysis," and which are now being investigated that it is
needless to dwell upon them here especially as they are
not very troublesome so far in this part of the world.

" MALIGNANT AND INFECTIOUS DYSENTERY."

Dr. Zander, of Erlangen, Bavaria, has recently been
investigating a disease which he refers to as '* Malig-
nant and Infectious Dysentery " ; it is also frequently
spoken of as the " New Disease." He says that it is
altogether different to ordinary dysentery, which is
harmless in comparison, and that it is the worst bee
disease known. It is caused by a parasite germ attack-
ing and destroying the intestinal wall of the bee, which
he has named Nosema apis. According to Dr. Zander,
it belongs to the same family and is closely related to
the germ which caused the direful disease among silk-
worms know^n as " Pebrine."

For the past few seasons Victoria (Australia) bee-
keepers have suffered from a disease among their bees,
the symptoms of which more or less coincide with those
described by Dr. Zander, and from scientific investiga-
tions carried out by two Government officers indepen-

142 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

dently of each other, they were led to the conchision
that the disease is due to the organism, Xosema apis.

SYMPTOMS AND REMEDY

Dr. Zander describes the Hte-history of the germ as
follows : — " Nosema apis is a parasite which Hycs in
the middle portion of the bees' intestines, dcYouring
and destroying the tissues. If a spore finds its way
ioto the bees' intestines, its shell bursts and the little
animal parasite comes forth. It fastens itself to the
wall of the intestine, liYing thereon, and multiplying
with astonishing rapidity, entirely consuming and
destroying said wall. In four days its work is accom-
plished, and it again enters into the spore state."

Bees attacked fall to the ground near the hive in large
numbers and quickly die ; the surrounding ground may
be thickly coYered with dying bees. The queen soon
becomes infected, when the ultimate fate of the infected
colony is complete destruction. Fortunately the disease
may be further diagnosed as follows : — " A healthy
bee's intestine is semi-transparent and flesh-coloured;
that of a diseased bee becomes and remains milky-white
and opaque. The discolouration or change is a sure
sign of the disease, and may be observed without the
assistance of a microscope."

Dr. Zander lays special stress upon the following
measures to counteract the spread of this disease : —

(i) " Colonies only slightly affected may recover if
the queen remains healthy, and a good natural result
takes place. (2) The combs contaminated by the excreta
of the affected bees are the main cause of the spread of
the disease. It is recommended to transfer infected
colonies into clean hives fitted w^ith comb foundation.
When opportunity occurs, give a sound, healthy queen
in place of the old one, as the queens of infected colonies
die the following winter. The renewal of the combs
forms the basis for successfully combating all bee
diseases. The infected hives must be thoroughly
cleansed with a solution of soda in hot water."

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 143

ENEMIES.

The list of enemies of the bee usually set down in bee
books published in the Northern Hemisphere includes
ants, bee moths, some kinds of birds, mice, toads, and
wasps.

ANTS.

New Zealand is singularly free from the larger kinds
of ants. In some parts of Australia they are trouble-
some more or less, but it is not difficult to deal with
them. The best plan is to seek out and destroy their
nests. Kerosene, or bisulphide of carbon, poured into
holes made in the nests with an iron rod or crowbar,
will destroy them. If the bisulphide is used, care must
be taken with it, as it is very explosive; kerosene is the
safest to use and I believe quite as effective as the other.

BIRDS.

Now and again some of our birds help themselves to
a dainty meal off hive-bees. I have occasionally seen
kingfishers at this work, and have frequently had to
drive sparrows away from near the entrances of hives
where they have been catching bees. I don't think
much damage is at present done by birds, and it is to
be hoped that it will not increase in the future.

With regard to the other animals mentioned, I am
not aw-are that they may be reckoned among the enemies
in this part of the world. Mice, and even rats, do
sometimes get into hives, but this can only occur where
there is a very careless bee-keeper, and nothing further
need be said about it.

THE BEE OR WAX MOTHS.

So far as I am aware, there are only two wax moths
in Australasia — the large one, Galleria melloneUa, and
the small one, AchycBa gris sella. The later we seem
to have always had with us, but the former, and the

144

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

most destructive one, was first seen in Australia, in
1880, introduced in a colony of Italian bees from Europe,
and in New Zealand in 1904, when it was brought under
my notice. It was in all probability introduced into
this country with bees from Australia. It is the larvae

Fig. 80. LARGE WAX MOTH.

(Galleria mellonella.)

or grubs of the moth which prove so destructive to
combs, burrowing through them under the protection
of strong silk-like galleries (Fig. 81), which they spin
around themselves as they advance in their work of
destruction. Eventually the combs are completely
destroyed, and fall, a mass of web and cocoons to the
floor of the hive. The late Mr. Sidney Oliff, Govern-
ment Entomologist for New South Wales, gave
an interesting account of the life-history of the
large moth and grubs under the climatic conditions

existing in that
State, and it is
of importance to
note that in his
opinion four

broods of the
moth occur in
the Sydney dis-
Fig. 81. — SILKEN TUBE OF BEE MOTH trict in onc sca-
LARVA. son. A tremen-

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 145

dous increase when the number of eggs laid by each
female moth is taken into consideration.

The average length of the grub is one inch, and
" when first hatched is pale yellow with a slightly
darker head, and of a greyish flesh colour with a
reddish brown head when full grown. The length of
the moth is about three-quarters of an inch, has reddish
brown-grey forewings, which are lighter in colour
towards the outer or hinder margins."

THE REMEDY.

That wax-moths, large and small, are only enemies
of careless bee-keepers and of those who have not
advanced beyond the common box-hive stage is a well-
known fact. Careful, up-to-date bee-keepers have
nothing to fear from these or any other insect enemies.
Follow the golden rule of bee-keeping — viz., " Keep all
colonies strong " — and insect enemies will never trouble.

FUMIGATING COMBS.

Not only the combs within the hives, but also any
which may happen to be unprotected, are liable to be
attacked by the moth. No combs or pieces of combs
should be allowed to lie about; when they are of no
further service they should be melted into wax at once.
Spare combs should always be stored in a place of safety
from the moth, and inspected frequently. On the first
sign of moths or grubs they should be fumigated, and
a few days afterwards they should undergo a second
fumigation. When there are not many to do they may
be suspended in empty hives about one inch apart, and
the latter piled one on the other, taking care that the
junctions of the boxes are made smoke-tight by pasting
a strip of paper round them. The top box of the pile
should contain no frames. Into this place an old iron
saucepan containing live wood-embers, and on to these
throw a couple of handfuls of sulphur, close the cover
securely, and keep closed for a couple of days. In a
large apiary it is best to have a small room fitted up
for the purpose. Two or three pounds of sulphur will
be suflScient for a large room.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE NEW ZEALAND APIARIES ACT.

The following is a digest of the Apiaries Act which
came into force on September 14th, 1907. It is the first
Act of the kind which prohibits the keeping of bees in
anything but movable frame hives. The result of this
provision in the diminution of foul brood throughout
the Dominion has exceeded all expectation.

INTERPRETATION.

2. In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context, —

" Apiary " means any place where bees are
kept :

" Bee-keeper " means any person who keeps
bees or allows the same to be kept upon any
land occupied by him :

"Disease" means foul-brood {Bacillus alvei
and Bacillus larvcB), bee-moths {Galleria
niellotiella and Achrcea grizella), and any
other diseases or pests from time to time
declared by the Governor in Council to be
diseases within the meaning of this Act :
Frame hive " means a hive containing movable
frames in which the combs are built, and
which may be readily removed from the hive
for examination :

" Inspector " means any person appointed by
the Governor as an Inspector under this Act.

3. Every bee-keeper in whose apiary any disease
appears shall, within seven days after first becoming
aware of its presence, send written notice thereof to the
Secretary for Agriculture, at Wellington, or to any
Inspector of Stock.

14.6

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 147

5. Any Inspector may enter upon any premises or
buildings for the purpose of examining any bees, hives,
or bee appHances, and if the same are found to be
infected with disease he shall direct the bee-keeper to
forthwith take such measures as may be necessary to
cure the disease ; or, if in the opinion of the Inspector
the disease is too fully d€ve'loped tO' be cured, he may
direct the bee-keeper within a specified time to destroy
by fire the bees, hives, and appliances so infected, or
such portions thereof as the Inspector deems necessary.

6. In any case in which it is found by an Inspector
that the bee-combs in any hive cannot, without cutting,
be separately and readily removed from the hive for
examination, he may direct the bee-keeper to transfer
the bees to a new frame hive within a specified time.

7. (i.) Every direction by an Inspector shall be in
writing under his hand, and shall be either delivered to
the bee-keeper personally or sent to him by registered
letter addressed to him at his last-known place of abode.

(2.) Every such direction shall be faithfully complied
with by the bee-keeper to whom it is addressed, and,
in default of compliance within the time specified, the
Inspector may within one month destroy or cause to be
destroyed by fire, at the expense of the bee-keeper, any
bees, hives, and appliances found to be infected with
disease.

8. No bee-keeper shall —

(a.) Keep or allow to be kept upon any land occu-
pied by him any bees, bee-combs, hives, or
appliances known by him to be infected
by disease without immediately taking the
proper steps to cure the disease; or

(b.) Sell, barter, or give away any bees or appli-
ances from an apiary known by him to be
infected by disease.

9. No bee-keeper shall, after the expiry of six months
from the passing of this Act, keep or knowingly allow
to be kept on any land occupied by him any bees except
in a properly constructed frame hive.

148 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

10. Every person is liable to a fine not exceeding five
pounds \vh(

[a.) Obstructs an Inspector in the exercise of his
duties under this Act, or refuses to destroy
or to permit the destruction of infected bees
or appliances :

(h.) Fails to comply with any direction given
under the provisions of this Act by an
Inspector :

(c.) Commits any other breach of this Act.

AXIOM.

" QUEENLESS COLONIES, UNLESS SUPPLIED WITH A
QUEEN, WILL INEVITABLY DWINDLE AWAY, OR HE
DESTROYED BY THE BEE-MOTH OR ROBBER-BEES."

Lans^stroth.

CHAPTER XVJI.

BEE FORAGE. BEES IN RELATION TO HORTICULTURE AND

AGRICULTURE.

The native bee forage of Australia and New Zealand
differ entirely from each other. In the former country
the various kinds of Eucalypti, and some of the
Acacias, form the chief honey-bearing flora from which
the greater part of the commercial honey marketed
is gathered. Most of the forest trees indigenous to
New Zealand, and there is a great variety, are honey-
bearing — some of them remarkably so. It is a fact,
however, that the bulk of the honey gathered from
the native flora in both countries does not hit the
public taste for table use, I have tasted, what I
considered, some very fine honey in Australia, gathered
from the Gums (Eucalypti) and it is undeniable that
we have equally as fine bush honey in New Zealand,
but the fact remains that the demand for it is small
as compared with that gathered from white clover.

For manufacturing purposes, nothing could be better,
as the stronger flavour of the native honey would be
more suitable for making up than the milder flavour of
clover honey. At present, unfortunately, we have no
extensive factories using honey, consequently there is
little demand for it for business undertakings of this
nature, and the cost of carriage to Europe for low
grade honey is too great to pay the sender.

WHITE CLOVER HONEY.

There is no room for question that honey gathered
from white clover blossoms is the best we know of, and
is in the greatest demand the world over. Tliere is no
part of Australasia where white clover flourishes
so luxuriantly as it does in most parts of New Zealand,

149

ISO AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

and in some districts clover honey is obtained in its
purest condition. The honey which fetches the highest
prices on the European markets is from clover, with a
proportion of what is termed " dandelion " honey in it,
the latter gives it a more pronounced flavour, and a
nearer approach to a bright amber colour, so much
desired. In Chapter V. I have already advised the
prospective commercial bee-keeper to choose a good
clover district for establishing his business, and this as
a rule, is associated with dairying.

BEES AXD HORTICULTURE.

My remarks in this connection are particularly relative
to fruit growing. Time was, and not long ago, when
many orchardists misunderstood the value of the hive-
bee as an agent in the production of fruit crops, and as
they had seen bees sucking the juices from ripe fruit
they concluded that bees were harmful to fruit growers.
Thanks, however, to a better knowledge of the subject,
it would, I think, be difficult to find an orchardist at the
present time who would not welcome the establishment
of an apiary in the vicinity of his orchard.

BEES DO NOT INJURE FRUIT.

It was 'commonly believed at one time that bees
punctured and destroyed grapes and other delicate fruits,
and, notwithstanding that the results of exhaustive
experiments conclusively proved the contrary, it took
a long time to correct this wrong impression. Bees
cannot puncture sound grapes, but during a dearth of
honey they will suck the juice from ripe grapes and
other fruits after they have been punctured by some
other animal,' or have burst through over-ripeness.
Sound grapes smeared with honey have been put into a
hive containing a starving colony of bees : the honey
has quickly vanished, but not a grape has been injured.
Bunches of sound grapes have been left in four or five
hives at a time, directly in contact with the bees, and
after three weeks every grape was perfectly intact, but

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 151

glued to the combs. (See "Langstroth on the Honey-
bee," page 507.)

I have always endeavoured by showing the mutual
benefits derived by each from the other's work, to
bring the horticulturist, agriculturist, and bee-keeper
in amicable relations with one another, and in my
Bulletin No. 18 (procurable free from the Department
of Agriculture, Wellington, N.Z.), I have gone into the
question fully. I will, however, make one quotation
from it.

Professor A. J. Cook, the well-known American
entomologist and apiarist, author of '* The Manual of
the Apiary," formerly of Michigan Agricultural College,
and now of Pomona College, California, who has paid
particular attention to this subject, extending over a
long period, wrote me a short time ago in reply to some
questions I sent him. He said —

" Bees never harm blossoms, but are always a help. Bees
are a tremendous aid through pollination. Many of our
best fruits must be cross pollinated to produce. Many
pears, apples, and plums, etc., are utterly sterile to their
own pollen. Bees are alone numerous enoug-h to effect this
valuable service. I am sure that it is an incontrovertible
fact that bees as the great agents in pollination are far
more valuable to the world than for the honey they produce.
The best orchardists (in California) now arrange with
apiarists to bring their bees to the orchards; they find they
must have the bees."

Coming from such an authority, this is eminent
testimony as to the value of the hive-bee to orchardists.

SHELTER.

Well-sheltered orchards with the bees close at hand
would receive the most benefit, especially in boisterous
weather. The bees could then utilise every hour of
sunshine in visiting the bloissoms that would be imposs-
ible in exposed situations or where the bees had far to
fly.

SPRAYING FRUIT TREES.

Every orchardist should understand that the spraying
of fruit trees with the usual poisonous mixtures while

152 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

in blossom is not only injurious to the blossoms them-
selves by destroying the pollen, with which the blossoms
are fertilised, but also poisons the bees which visit them,
and thus defeats the object every fruit grower should'
keep in view, the cross-fertilisation of the blossoms. In
a number of the American States there are laws against
doing so.

BEES AND AGRICULTURE.

Much of the foregoing concerning cross-fertilisation
will apply to agriculturists where pastures are con-
cerned, but the principal objection farmers have brought
forward to the establishment of apiaries near their farms
has been that in the honey gathered from their pastures
they lose so much fattening matter that would; have
benefited their stock. As I have already gone fully
into this matter, and shown the folly of this idea in my
Bulletin mentioned above, I would ask those interested
to apply for a copy. All I need say here is, that bees
while conferring great benefits on agriculture, do no
harm whatever, and that the presence of an apiary, on
or close to his land, can be nothing but an advantage to
the agriculturist.

FLIGHT OF BEES.

There is considerable difference of opinion as to the
distance bees will fly for food : some think thev will go
six miles or more if there is sufficient inducement.
What concerns bee-keepers most is not how far they will
fly, but how far can they go to gather honey with profit
to their owner : or, in other words, how near to their
forage should they be. The consensus of opinion is.
they should not have to fly beyond a radius of two miles
in any direction, and I am of the same opinion myself.

CHAPTER XVIII.

BEES IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE.*

The benefits derived by both agriculturists and horti-
culturists from the labours of the bee are now very
generally understood and acknowledged ; but still, cases
have sometimes occurred, though rarely, of farmers
objecting to the vicinity of an apiary, and complaining
of bees as " trespassers," instead of welcoming them
as benefactors.

ARE BEES TRESPASSERS?

It is not, perhaps, surprising that at first a man
should imagine he was being injured in consequence of
bees gathering honey on his land, to be stored up
elsewhere, and for the use of other parties; he might
argue that the honey belonged by right to him, and
even jump at the conclusion that there was so much of

* This paper, which constituted the nineteenth chapter of
the third edition of this Manual, was an attempt, and I have
reasons for believing- a successful attempt, to clear up
several misunderstandings that had arisen in the minds of
some farmers who had come to regard the working of our
neighbours' bees in their pasturage as detrimental to them-
selves, and to prove on the contrary that it is really to their
interests to encourage bee-keeping. Shortly after the paper
was first published the subject was brought prominently
forward in consequence of the action taken by a farmer in
the United States to claim damages from a neighbouring
bee-keeper for alleged injury done to his grazing sheep by
trespassing ( ?) bees. Needless to say, he lost his case.
The paper has been extensively quoted in several American
bee journals, and described as a " unique and valuable
addition to bee literature." I trust it may still serve a good
purpose in this country, where it first appeared. — I.H.

154 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

the substance of the soil taken away every year, and
that his land must therefore become impoverished. It
is true that if he possessed such an amount of knowledge
as might be expected to belong to an intelligent agri-
culturist, working upon rational principles, he should
be able, upon reflection, to see that such ideas were
entirely groundless. Nevertheless, the complaint is
sometimes made, in a more or less vague manner, by
persons w^ho ought to know better ; and even bee-keepers
appear to have occasionally adopted an apologetic tone,
arguing that " bees do more good than harm," instead
of having taken the much higher and only true stand
by asserting that bees, while conferring great benefits
on agriculture, do no harm whatever, and that the
presence of an apiary on or close to his land can be
nothing but an advantage to the agriculturist.

BENEFICIAL INFLUENCE OF BEES ON AGRICULTURE.

Ihe \alue of the intervention of bees in the cross-
fertilisation of plants is dw-elt upon in Chapter III.,
" Australasian Bee Manual," third edition, and the
reader is referred for further information to the w^orks
of Sir J. Lubbock (Lord Avebury) and of Darwin.
The latter, in his work on " Cross and Self Fertilisation
of Plants," gives the strongest evidence as to the
beneficial influence of bees upon clover-crops. At page
169, when speaking of the natural order of leguminous
plants, to which the clovers belong, he savs, " The
cross-seedlings have an enormous advantage over the
self-fertilised ones when grown together in dose com-
petition " : and in Chapter X., page 361, he gives the
following details of some experiments, which show
the importance of the part played by bees in the process
of cross-fertilisation : —

Trifolium repens (White Clover).— Several plants were
protected from insects, and the seeds from ten flower-heads
on these plants and from ten heads on other plants growing
outside the net (which I saw visited by bees) were counted,
and the seeds from the latter plants were verv^ nearly ten
times as numerous as those from the protected plants. The
experiment was repeated in the following year, and twenty
protected heads now vielded only a single abortive seed,
whilst twenty heads on the plants outside the net (which I

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 155

saw visited by bees) yielded 2,290 seeds, as calculated by
weighing- all the seeds and counting- the number in a weight
of two grains.

Trifoliumi)ratense [V\ir^\Q Clover). — One hundred flower-
heads on plants protected by a net did not produce a single
seed, whilst one hundred on plants growing outside (which
were visited by bees) yielded 68 grains' weight of seed ; and,
as eighty seeds weighed two grains, the hundred heads must
have yielded 2,720 seeds

Here we have satisfactory proof that the effect of
cross-fertilisation brought about by bees upon the
clovers and other plants growing in meadows and
pasture-lands is the certain production of a large number
of vigorous seeds, as compared with the chance only
of a few and weak seeds if self-fertilisation were tO' be
depended upon. In the case of meadow-cultivation, it
enables the farmer to raise seed for his own use or for
sale, instead of having to purchase it, while at the same
time the nutritious quality of the hay is, as we shall see
further on, improved during the process of ripening the
seed. In the case of pasture-lands, such of those
vigorous seeds as are allowed to come to maturity and
to fall in the field will send up plants of stronger growth
to take the place of others that may have died out, or
to fill up hitherto-unoccupied spaces, thus tending to
cause a constant renewal and strengthening of the
pasture. The agriculturist himself should be the best
judge of the value of such effects.

The beneficial effect of the bees' visits to fruit-trees
has been well illustrated by Mr. Cheshire in the pages
of the British Bee Journal and by Professor Cook in
his articles upon " Honey Bees and Horticulture" in
the American Apiculturist. In fact, even those who
complain of bees cannot deny the services they render ;
what they contest is the assertion that bees do no harm.

CAN BEES HARM THE SOIL OR THE CROPS?

is, then, the question to be considered. The agricul-
turist may say, " Granting- that the visits of bees may

[56 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

be serviceable to me in the fertilisation of my fruit or
my clover, how will you prove that I am not obliged to
pay too high a price for such services?" For the
answer to such a question one must fall back upon the
researches of the agricultural chemist, which will furnish
satisfactory evidence to establish the two following
facts : First, that saccharine matter, even when assimi-
lated and retained within the body of a plant, is not one
of the secretions of vegetable life which can in any way
tend to exhaust the soil, being made up of constituents
which are furnished everywhere in superabundance by
the atmosphere and rain-water, and not containing any
of the mineral or organic substances supplied by the
soil or by the manures used in agriculture; and, secondly,
that in the form in which it is appropriated by bees,
either from the nectaries of flowers or as honeydew from
the leaves, it no longer constitutes a part of the plant,
but is in fact an excrement, thrown off as superfluous,
which if not collected by the bee and by its means made
available for the use of man would either be devoured
by other insects which do not store honey, or be resolved
into its original elements and dissipated in the air.

The foregoing statements can be supported by
reference to authorities which can leave no doubt as to
their correctness — namely. Sir Humphrey Davy in his
" Elements of Agricultural Chemistry," written more
than seventy years ago, and Professor Liebig in his
** Chemistry in its Application to Agriculture and
Physiology," written some ten years later, and the
English version of which is edited by Dr. Lyon Playfair
and Professor Gregory. These works, which may be
said to form the foundation of a rational system of
agriculture, were written with that object alone in view,
and the passages about to be quoted were not intended
to support any theory in favour of bee-culture or other-
wise; they deal simply with scientific truths which the
layman can safely follow and accept as true upon such
undeniable authority, although he may be incapable
himself of following up the processes which have led
to their discovery or which prove their correctness,

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 157

SACCHARINE MATTER OF PLANTS NOT DERIVED FROM
THE SOIL.

Liebig, when describing the chemical processes con-
nected with the nutrition of plants, informs us (at
page 4*) that —

There are two great classes into which all vegetable pro-
ducts may be arranged. The first of these contains nitrogen ;
in the last this element is absent. The compounds destitute
of nitrogen may be divided into those in which oxygen forms
a constituent (starch, lignine, etc.) and those into which it
does not enter (oils of turpentine, lemon, etc.).

And, at page 141, that —

Sugar and starch do not contain nitrogen ; they exist in
the plants in a free state, and are never combined with salts
or with alkaline bases. They are compounds formed from
the carbon of the carbonic acid and the elements of water
(oxygen and hydrogen).

Sir Humphrey Davy had already stated that,
" according to the latest experiments of Gay Lussac
and Thenard, sugar consists of 42*47 per cent, of carbon
and 57'23 per cent, of water and its constituents."
Now, Liebig in several parts of his work shows that
the carbon in sugar and all vegetable products is
obtained from carbonic acid in the atmosphere ; and that
" plants do not exhaust the carbon of the soil in the
normal condition of their growth ; on the contrary, they
add to its quantity."

DERIVED FROM THE ATMOSPHERE AND RAIN-WATER.

The same authority shows that the oxygen and hydro-
gen in these products are derived from the atmosphere
and from rain-water ; and that it is only the products
containing nitrogen (such as gluten or albumen in the
seeds or grains), and those containing mineral matter

* The edition to which reference is made is the fourth,
published in 1847.

15S AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

(silex, lime, aluminium, etc.), which take away from
the soil those substances that are required to be returned
to it in the shape of manures. The saccharine matter,
once it is secreted by the plant and separated from it,
is even useless as a manure. Liebig says on this head,
page 21,—

The most important function in the life of plants, or, in
other words, in their assimilation of carbon, is the separation
— we might almost say the generation — of oxygen. No
matter can be considered as nutritious or as necessary to
the growth of plants which possesses a composition either
similar to or identical with theirs, because the assimilation
of such a substance could be effected without the exercise
of this function. The reverse is the case in the nutrition
of animals. Hence such substances as sugar, starch, and
gum, themselves the products of plants, cannot be adapted
for assimilation ; and this is rendered certain by the experi-
ments of vegetable physiologists, who have shown that
aciueous solutions of these bodies are imbibed by the roots
of plants and carried to all parts of their structure, but are
not assimilated; they cannot, therefore, be employed in
their nutrition.

NECTAK OF PLANTS IXTEXDED TO ATTRACT INSECTS.

The secretion of saccharine matter in the nectaries
of flowers is shown to be one of the normal functions
of the plant, taking place at the season when it is
desirable to attract the visits of insects for the purposes
of its fertilisation. It may, then, be fairly asserted that
the insect, when it carries off the honey from any
blossom it has visited, is merely taking with it the fee
or reward provided by nature for that special service.

SOMETIMES THROWN OFF AS Sl'PERFLUOrS.

There are, however, occasions when considerable
quantities of such matter are thrown off or exuded by
the leaves, which effect is taken to indicate an abnormal
or unhealthy condition of the plant. At pages 106 and
107 of Liebig's book (speaking of an experiment made
to induce the rising- sap of a maple-tree to dissolve raw

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 159

sugar applied through a hole cut in the bark) he shows
that,—

When a sufficient quantity of nitrogen is not present to aid
m the assimilation of the substances destitute of it, these
substances will be separated as excrements from the bark,
roots, leaves, and branches.

In a note to this last paragraph we are told that —

Langlois has lately observed, during the dry summer of
1842, that the leaves of the linden-tree became covered with
a thick and sweet liquid in such quantities that for several
hours of the day it ran off the leaves like drops of rain
Many kilograms might have been collected from a moderate-
sized linden-tree.

And further on, at page 141, he says, —

In a hot summer, when the deficiency of moisture prevents
the absorption of alkalies, we observe the leaves of the lime-
tree, and of other trees, covered with a thick liquid contain-
ing a large quantity of sugar ; the carbon of the sugar must
without doubt, be obtained from the carbonic acid of the air'
1 he generation of the sugar takes place in the leaves, and
all the constituents of the leaves, including the alkalies and
alkaline earths, must participate in effecting its formation
bugar does not exude from the leaves in moist seasons, and
this leads us to conjecture that the carbon which appeared
as sugar in the former case would have been applied in the
formation of other constituents of the tree in the event of
Its having had a free and unimpeded circulation.

These quotations will probably be considered sufficient
to justify the assertion that the gathering of the honey
from plants can In no possible way tend to exhaust the
soil or affect its fertility. There is no difference of
opinion among scientific men as to the sources from
which the saccharine matter of plants is derived. Since
Liebig first put forward his views on that subject, as
well as with regard to the sources from which the plants
derive their nitrogen, the principles of agricultural
chemistry have been studied by , the most eminent
chemists, some of whom combated the views of Liebig
on this latter point (the source of nitrogen and its
compounds), and Liebig himself seems to have modified

i6o AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

his views on that point; but there has been no difference
of opinion about the saccharine matter, as to which
Liebig's doctrine will be found given unaltered in the
latest colonial work on the subject, Maclvor's
" Chemistry of Agriculture," published at Melbourne
a few years ago.

SUPERFLUOUS NECTAR EVAPORATED IF NOT TAKEN BY
INSECTS.

That the nutritive quality of the plants in any growing
crop is not diminished by the abstraction of honey from
their blossoms w^ould appear to be evident from the
fact already referred to, that those plants have actually
thrown off the honey from the superfluity of their
saccharine juices as a matter which they could no longer
assimilate. There would appear, on the other hand, to
be good reason to believe that the plants themselves
become daily more nutritive during the period of their
giving off honey — that is, from the time of flowering to
that of ripening their seeds. This is a point upon
which, I believe, all agricultural chemists are not quite
agreed, but the testimony of Sir H. Davy is very strong
in favour of it. In the appendix to his work already
quoted, he gives the results of experiments made con-
jointly by himself and Mr. Sinclair, the gardener to the
Duke of Bedford, upon nearly a hundred different
varieties of grasses and clovers. These were grown
carefully in small plots of ground as nearly as possible
equal in size and quality; equal weights of the dried
produce of each, cut at different periods, especially at
the time of flowering and at that of ripened seeds, were
" acted upon by hot water till all their soluble parts
were dissolved; the solution was then evaporated to
dryness by a gentle heat in a proper stove, and the
matter obtained carefully weighed, and the dry extract,
supposed to contain the nutritive matter of the plants,
was sent for chemical analysis." Sir H. Davy adds
his opinion that his " mode of determining the nutritive
power of grasses is sufficiently accurate for all the pur-
poses of agricultural investigation." Further on he

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL i6i

reports, " In comparing the compositions of the soluble
products afforded by different crops from the same
grass, I found, in all the trials I made, the largest
quantity of truly nutritive matter in the crop cut when
the seed was ripe, and the least bitter extract and saline
matter and the most saccharine matter, in proportion
to the other ingredients, in the crop cut at the time of
flowering." In the instance which he then gives, as
an example, the crop cut when the seed had ripened
showed 9 per cent, less of sugar, but i8 per cent, more
of mucilage and what he terms " truly nutritive matter,"
than the crop cut at the time of flowering. From this
it would follow that during the time a plant is in blossom
and throwing off a superfluity of saccharine matter in
the shape of honey, the assimilation of true nutritive
matter in the plant itself is progressing most favourably.
In any case it is clear that the honey, being once exuded,
may be taken away by the bees or any other insects (as it
is evidently intended tO' be taken) without any injury to
the plant, by which it certainly cannot be again taken
up, but must be evaporated if left exposed to the sun's
heat.

QUESTION AS TO GRAZING STOCK.

There is, however, a plea put in by the agriculturist
on behalf of his grazing stock, and one which he
generally seems to consider unanswerable. He says,
" Even if it be admitted that the removal of the honey
from my farm is neither exhausting to the soil nor injur-
ious to the plants of the .standing crop, still it is so much
fattening-matter which might be consumed by my stock
if it had not been pilfered by the bees."

Now, it may at once be admitted that honey consists
to a great extent of fattening matter, though it may
be allowable to doubt whether in that particular form
it is exactly suitable as food for grazing cattle.
Although it is quite true that the saccharine matter
assimilated in the body of a plant tends to the form-
ation of fat in the animal which eats and digests that
plant, still one may question the propriety of feeding

i62 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

the same animal on pure honey or sugar. We may,
however, \\aive that view of the subject, as we shall
shortly see that it is only a question of such homoeo-
pathically small doses as would not be likely to interfere
with the digestion of the most delicate grazing animal, any
more than they would considerably increase its weight.
Admitting, therefore, that every pound of honey of
which the grazing stock are deprived bv bees is a loss
to the farmer, and therefore to be looked upon as a
set-off to that extent against the benefit conferred by
the bees in other ways, it will be necessary to consider
to what ( xtent it is possible that such loss may be
occasioned.

QUANTITY OF HONEY FURNISHED BY PASTURE-LAND.

In the first place, it must be recollected that a large
proportion — in some cases the great bulk — of the honey
gathered by bees is obtained from trees, as, for instance,
the linden in Europe, the bass-wood and maple in
America, and in this country the forest-trees, nearly all
of which supply rich forage for the bee, and everywhere
from fruit trees in orchards. A large quantity is
gathered from flowers and flowering shrubs reared in
gardens : from clover and other plants grown for hay,
and not for pasture ; and even in the field there are
many shrubs and flowering plants which yield honev,
but which are never eaten by cattle. Pastures, there-
fore, form but a small part of the sources from which
honey is obtained : and in dealing with this grazing
question we have to confine our enquiries to clovers and
other flowering-plants grown in open pastures, and such
as constitute the ordinary food of grazing stock. In
order to meet the question in the most direct manner,
however, let us assume the extreme case of a larq-e
apiary being placed in a district where there is nothing:
else but such open pastures, and growing only such
flowering-plants as are generallv eaten by stock. Now,
the ordinary working-range of the bee mav be taken at a
mile and a half from the apiary on all sides, which gives

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 163

an area of about 4,500 acres for the supply of the apiary ;
and if the latter consists of a hundred hives, producing
an average of 100 lb. of honey, there would be a little
more than 2 lb. of honey collected off each acre in the
year; or, if we suppose so many as two hundred hives
to be kept at one place, and to produce so much as 10
tons of honey in the season, the quantity collected from
each acre would be 4 lb. to 5 lb.

PROPORTION POSSIBLY CONSUMED BY STOCK.

Let us next consider what proportion of those few
pounds of honey could have found its way into the
stomachs of the grazing stock if it had not been for the
bees. It is known that during the whole time the clover
or other plants remain in blossom, if the weather be
favourable, there is a daily secretion of fresh honey,
which, if not taken at the proper time by bees or other
insects, is evaporated during the mid-day heat of the sun.
It has been calculated that a head of clover consists
of fifty or sixty separate flowers, each of which contains
a quantity not exceeding one five-^hundreth part of a
grain in weight, so that the w^hole head may be taken to
contain one-tenth of a grain of honey at any one time.
If this head of clover is allowed to stand until the seeds
are ripened it may be visited on ten or even twenty
different days by bees, and they may gather on the
whole, one, or even two, grains of honey from the same
head, whereas it is plain that the grazing animal can
only eat the head once, and consequently can only eat
one-tenth of a grain of honev with it. Whether he gets
that one-tenth grain or not depends simply on the fact
whether or not the bees have exhausted that particular
head on the same day just before it was eaten. Now,
cattle and sheep graze during the night and early
morning, long before the bees make their appearance
some time after sunrise ; all the flowering plants they
happen to eat during that time will contain the honey
secreted in the evening and night-time ; during some
hours of the afternoon the flowers will contain no honey,

i64 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

whether they have been visited by bees or not ; and even
during the forenoon, when the bees are not busy, it is by
no means certain that they will forestall the stock in visit-
ing" any particular flower. If a field were so overstocked
that every head of clover should be devoured as soon
as it blossomed, then, of course, there would be nothing
left for the bees ; but if, on the other hand, as is generally
the case, there are always blossoms left standing in the
pasture, some of them even till they wither and shed
their seeds, then it must often happen that after bees
shall have visited such blossoms ten or even twentv
times, and thus collected one or even two grains of
honey from one head, the grazing animal may, after all,
eat that particular plant and enjoy his one-tenth of a
grain of honey just as well as if there had never been
any bees in the field. If all these chances be taken into
account it will be evident that out of the 4 lb. or 5 lb.
of honey assumed to be collected by bees from one acre
of pasturage, probably not one-tenth, and possibly not
one-twentieth, part could under anv circumstances have
been consumed by the grazing animals — so that it be-
comes a question of a few ounces of fattening-matter,
more or less, for all. the stock fed upon an acre during
the whole season ; a matter so ridiculorslv t'-ivial in
itself, and so out of all proportion to the services ren-
dered to the pasture by the bees, that it mav be safely
left out of consideration altogether.

BEE-KEEPING AS A BRANCH OF FARMING.

There is still one Doint which may possibly be raised
by the agriculturist or landowner : " If the working of
bees is so beneficial to my crops, and if such a largo
quantity of valuable matter may be taken, in addition
to the ordinary crops, without impoverishing my land,
why should I not take it instead of another person who
has by right no interest in my crop or mv land? " The
answer to this is obvious. It is, of course, quite open
to the agriculturist to keep any number of bees he mav
think fit; only, he must consider well in how far it will
pav him to add the care of an apiary to his other duties,

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 165

No doubt every one farming land may with advantage
keep a few stands of hives to supply his own wants in
honey — the care of them will not take up too much of
his time, or interfere much with his other labours ; but
if he starts a large apiary with the expectation that it
shall pay for itself, he must either give up the greater
portion of his own time to it or employ skilled labour
for that special purpose ; and he must recollect that the
profits of bee-keeping are not generally so large as to
afford more than a fair remuneration for the capital,
skill, and time required to be devoted to the pursuit.
In any case, he cannot confine the bees to work exclu-
sively on his own property, unless the latter is very
extensive. When such is the case he may find it greatly
to his advantage to establish one or more apiaries to be
worked under proper management, as a separate branch
of his undertaking ; but in every case, whether he may
incur or share the risks of profit and loss in working
an apiary or not, the thing itself can only be a source
of unmixed advantage to his agricultural operations,
and consequently if he does not occupy the ground in
that way himself he should be glad to see it done by
any other person.

AXIOM.

" Bees dislike the offensive odouf of sweaty
animals, and will not endure impure air from human
I'UNGs" Langstroth'.

CHAPTER XIX.

CALENDAR AND BEE-KEEPER'S AXIOMS.

VARIABILITY OF SEASONS.

No invariable rules can be laid down for the work to be
done in an apiary each month, which can be strictly followed
in every place, nor even in the same place in every year.
The whole plan of operations must be suited in the first
place to the normal climate of the district in which the
apiary is situated, the nature of the bee forage available
both in the spring and the honey season, and to the natural
habits of the bees as influenced by their local peculiarities.
If these circumstances be properly taken into account, a set
of general rules may be established suitable to the average
of seasons; but even these must be liable to modifications at
the judgment of the apiarist, according to the variations, or
the more or less abnormal features, of different seasons.

In the arrangement of apiary work for the different months
throughout the year, as a handy guide to the novice, I have
chosen the dates of the average bee seasons for the latitude
of Auckland, New Zealand, as a basis to calculate from. In
many parts of Australia the seasons are earlier, while those
in Tasmania approximate closely to those in New Zealand
to the South of Auckland.

January. — In average seasons a goodly proportion of the
crop of honey is secured this month in districts South of
Auckland, and in some parts of the extreme South the main
portion is taken. Swarming still continues, but every effort
should be made to keep it down, otherwise it will seriously
interfere with the honey yield. Remove sections from the
hives as soon as completely sealed, and place them in the
honey house for a few days to ripen before packing them
for market; take care that there are no bee moths in the
house. Extract as often as necessary the rurplus honey in
frames. Supersede old queens.

l6a

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 167

February. — Unless the weather is hot and dry. as it
occasionally is this month, a considerable quantity of honey
is gathered during the first half, but care should be taken
not to deprive the hives too closely in case the honey season
suddenly closes, when the bees would be left short of food.
Beware of robber bees as soon as the honey flow ceases, and
don't give them an opportunity to pillage, otherwise there
will be trouble. Return any swarms that issue. Supersede
old and defective queens.

March. — Robbers will still be troublesome where they
have the least chance to carry on their work of plundering.
Keep a good look-out for them. See that each colonv has a
plentiful supply of food, so that brood-rearing may be kept
up. The honey-season practically closes at the early part
of this month. All hives, etc., as they drop out of use
should be disinfected with a solution of carbolic acid, or
other good disinfectant, before being stored away for the
winter. Now is a good time to paint hives and repair
covers.

April. — It is important that brood-rearing should be kept
up all through the autumn, so that there may be plenty of
young bees to go into winter quarters; to this end there
should be plenty of food in the hives. AH weak and queen-
less colonies should now be united with others. Symptoms
of foul-brood are more distinct at this time and in the spring
of the year, and should be dealt with accordingly.

May. — All colonies should be overhauled and be prepared
for winter as early as possible this month. Unite weak and
queenless colonies overlooked last month, see that there is
plenty of food in each hive, and that there are no leaky
covers.

June. — This should be a quiet month in the apiary if the
previous instructions have been carried out. The less bees
are meddled with during winter the better.

July. — Look out for leaky covers and damp mats, remove
and repair defective covers, and give dry mats where re-
quired. Remove all surplus boxes that are now on the
hives, and put on one or two extra mats, as breeding will
commence towards the end of the month.

August. — All hives should be well overhauled on the first
fine days of this month and the condition of each noted.
See to the food supply, and feed where short, as a larger
quantity will now be required for feeding the brood. Clean

i68 AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL

the bottom boards, and put in division boards where re-
quired. As breeding- will have commenced, care should be
taken to keep the interior of the hives warm. Remove any
combs that are mouldy. Place the hive on a stand along-
side while cleaning the bottom board. Unite weak and
queenless colonies, and stimulate those required for queen-
rearing purposes. Make up hives, frames, etc., and send
orders to the manufacturers for material required for the
coming season. Willows and early-flowering peach-trees
blossom at the end of the month.

Sei^temher. — The food supply should be attended to as
advised last month. Brood-rearing should now go on
steadily. Should the weather be against the bees see that
they don't run short of food. Look out for symptoms of
foul-brood and deal with it at once. Queen-rearing may be
started at end of month if weather suitable. Swarming
commences to the North of Auckland, and also in many of
the warmer parts of Australia this month.

October. — The honey season in districts North of Auck-
land and in Australia begins this month. Swarming be-
comes pretty general throughout New Zealand sooner or
later this month, according to the season. Put on top box( s
where swarms are not required. See to the ventilation as
the weather gets warmer. Unite small colonies. Trans-
ferring may be done.

Noveviher. — The first batch of queens should be ready
this month, though in the warmer parts of Australasia they
would have been ready for distribution more than a month
ago. This is the best month for Italianising the apiarv.
Give plenty of working room for the bees, and remove
surplus honey as soon as it is ready. Look out for swarms.

December. — Supersede all worthless queens, and keep
down swarming by affording sufficient working room. The
first of the clover honey is usually secured this month, and
everything should be done to assist in securing the largest
crop while the clover lasts.

BEE-KEEPER'S AXIOMS.

Mr. Langstroth, in his invaluable work so often
alluded to in these pages, has given the following
axioms as "a few of the first principles in bee-keeping,"
which ought to be as familiar to the apiarian " as the
letters of his alphabet." They are so true, that they

AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 169

are still, and must continue to be, as important to all
bee-keepers, whether novices or experts, as they were
when first penned. I have already given each a promi-
nent position at the close of some of the preceding
chapters, in order the better to impress them on the
mind of the reader : —

T. Bees gorged with honey never volunteer an attack.

2. Bees may always be made peaceable by uiducing them
to accept of liquid sweets.

3. Bees, when frightened by smoke or by drumming on

their hives, fill themselves with honey, and lose all disposi-
tion to sting, unless they are hurt.

4. Bees dislike any quick movements about their hives,
especially any quick movement which jars their combs.

5. Bees dislike the offensive odour of sweaty animals, and
will not endure impure air from human lungs.

6. The bee-keeper will ordinarily derive all his profits from
stocks strong and healthy in early spring.

7. In districts where forage is abundant only for a short
period, the largest yield of honey will be secured by a very
moderate increase of stocks.

8. A moderate increase of colonies in any one season will,
in the long run, prove the easiest, safest, and cheapest mode
of managing bees.

9. Queenless colonies, unless supplied with a queen, will
inevitably dwindle away, or be destroyed by the bee moth,
or by robber bees.

10. The formation of new colonies should ordinarily be
confined to the season when bees are accumulating honey ;
and if this, or any other operation, must be performed when
forage is scarce, the greatest precautions should be used to
prevent robbing.

The essence of all profitable bee-keeping is contained in
Oettrs golden rule — Kee^) your stocks strong. If you cannot
succeed in doing this, the more money you invest in bees
the heavier will be your losses ; while if your stocks are
strong, you will show that you are a bee-master as well as a
bee-keeper, and may safely calculate on a generous return
from your industrious subjects.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Directors. —
L. J. BAGNALL, Managing Director. J. A. POND.

H. C. BAGNALL, Auckland Manager. R. W. BAGNALL.

BAGNALL BROS. & CO,

LIMITED.

(ESTABLISHED 1874.) (AUCKLAND BRANCH.)

Successors to I. HOPKINS & Co. as

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INDEX.

PAGE

PAGE

Additional Top Boxes

117

Bee-keepers' A.xinms

1 68

Advice to Beginners

5

Bee-keeping, as a Branch of

After-Inspection

139

Farming

164

Alley Plan

96

in Australasia

4

Ants

143

Modern Art of ...

Apiary, The

39

Origin of the Art of

I

Arrangement of

41

Profits of

5

Location of

39

Beeswax

28

Apiaries, Out

45

Beginners, Advice to

Autumn and Winter Manage-

Birds

143

ment

127

Black Brood, Symptoms of

137

Breeding

128

Treatment of

140

Treatment

140

Buildings

43

Axioms, Bee-keepers'

168

" Bait " Sections

125

Cages, Introducing

104

Bee, Black or Common ...

7

Calendar

166

Cyprian, Syrian, Holy Land

7

Candy

105

Escapes

128

Cappings Melter

75

Forage : Bees in Relation to

Caution

no

Horticulture and Agricul-

Cells, Swarming

107

ture

149

Cleaning Wax, Sulphuric .Acid for

3^'

Head of the Worker

13

Clipping Queen's Wings

106

or Wax Moths

143

Comb, Baskets and Brush

118

Stings, Cure for

80

Cutting the

98

Veils and Smokers

77

Holder ...

82

B«es, and Agriculture

152

Honey, Working for ...

125

and Horticulture

150

Room

44

Are they Trespassers?

153

Combs, Fumigating

145

Beneficial Influence of, on

Honey and Brood

37

Agriculture

»54

Rendering into Commercial

Can they harm Soil or Crops ?

155

Wax

32

Carniolan

7

134
150

Comb Foundation

65

Diseases of

Embedding Wire in

69

Do not injure Fruit

Fastening in Frames

68

Driving

83
143

Use of

66

Enemies of

Contracting Hive Space

III

Flight of

152

Handling

77

" Daisy " Barrow

119

Hybrid

9

Development from Egg to Bee

18

in Relation to Agriculture ...

153

Diseases of Bees

134

Introduction into Australasia

2

After-Inspection

139

Italian

8

.Autumn Treatment

140

Moving

45

Black Brood, Symptoms of

137

Relative Sizes of

II

Treatment of

140

Structural Organization

13

Feeding and Disinfecting ...

139

Transferring

83

Foul Brood in Australasia ...

135

What They Collect and What

Symptoms of

135

They Produce

26

Treatment of

137

171

172

INDEX

Diseases of Bees — con.

" Malignant and Infectious

Dysentery " 141

Symptoms and Remedy 14J

Other Diseases 141

Saving Healthy Brood ... 140

To Prevent Swarming Out 139
Young Queens ... ... ... 140

Doolittle Plan

Drone Trap ...
Dysentery, Malignant and
fectious
Symptoms and Remedy

Embedding Wire in Foundation
Enemies of Bees

Ants

Bee or Wax Moths

Remedy

Birds

Extracting

Extracting House ...

Windows ...

Fastening Foundation in Frames

Feeders

Feeding and Disinfecting

in Queen Rearing

Spring

Stimulative

Forming Nuclei

Foul Brood in Australasia

Symptoms of

Treatment of
Frames, Broad Section

Handling ...

Mats for Covering

Number of to Hive

Numbering the

Self-Spacing

Shallow Extracting

Fuel for Smokers ...
Fumigating Combs

Gloves 80

Grazing Stock, Question as to 161

Hive, A Cheap Frame 59

Cramp 58

How to Open a 81

Langstroth 48

Number of Frames to ... 63

Space, Contracting iii

Hives ... ... ... ... ... 47

Frames and Section Boxes 47

Instructions for Making ... 49

Nucleus 57

Nucleus 100

Observatory ... 57

Painting ... ... ... ... 57

Hiving 90

Hiving by Catching Queen ... 91

Honey 26

Adulteration of 28

Honey— cow.

Bee and its Varieties

Dew

Liquefying Granulated

Motor Power for Extracting

Proportion Possibly Con-
sumed by Stock

Quantity of, Furnished by
Pasture Land

Ripening Extracted

Strainers

Supers, Surplus (Extracted
Honey) ...

Surplus ...

Taking the Last Surplus ...

White Clover

Honey Extractor - Extracting

Appliances ... ... ... 7

149

Increase by Artificial Means ... 93

Natural Swarming 86

Increasing, Natural and Artificial 85
Inmates of the Hive : Their

Natural History 10

Introductory and Historical ... i

Italianising 106

Liquefying Granulated Honey ... 124
Location ... ... ... ... 39

Markings of Pure Italians ... 8

Mats for Covering Frames ... 63

and Covers, Extra 132

Natural Swarming, Increase by 86

Nectar of Plants 158

Superfluous 160

" New Zealand Apiaries Act " 146

Overstocking a District 46

Parthenogenesis 18

Pollen and Bee-bread 37

Precautions 130

Preparation for Swarms 87

Preparing Colony for Cell Build-
ing 99

Prevention of After-swarms ... 92

Propolis 38

Queen and Brood, Returning ... 99
Nurseries ... ... ... 102

Reproductive Organs of ... 15

Queens, Choice of Breeding ... 94
Emerging and Mating of ... loi

Introducing ... 103

Superseding 107

Young 140

Queen Cells, Raising 95

Wood Bases for 108

Queen-excluding Honey Boards 116

Queen Rearing 94

Feeding in 108

Importance of 94

Season for 97

INDEX.

173

Raising Cells, Another Method of

Raising Queen Cells

Rate of Increase Desirable
Returning Queen and Brood ...
Reversible Basket Extractors ...
Ripening and Maturing Tanks...

Extracted Honey

Inside and Outside Hive ...
Robbing ...

If) Stop ...

Saccharine Matter of Plants n ot
Derived from the Soil

From Atmosphere and Rain

Water

Saving Healthy Brood

Seasons, Variability of

Section Boxes

Holders ...

Securing Covers in Winter

Drone Comb

Selected Eggs

Separators

Shelter

Smokers, Fuel for

Solar Wax Extractor

Spraying Fruit Trees

Spring Feeding

Management

Stimulative Feeding

Sting, The

Stings, Cure for

Structural Organisation

Sulphuric Acid for Cleaning

Wax r.

Surplus Honey, Taking the Last 127

Supers (Extracted Honey)... 115
Swarms, Decamping

Issue of the

Preparation for

Prevention of After

Size of

Taking and Hiving

Swarming, Cause of

Cells

Prevention of

Symptoms of

Swarming-Out, To Prevent

Top Boxes

Additional

Spare

Uncapping Cans

Knives

Uniting

Uniting

Water

Wax, Adulteration of : How to
Detect

Presses

White Clover Hoiicy

Will it Pay to Raise Beeswax?
Winter Food Supply

Preparing for ...

Securing Covers in

Ventilation

Wiring Frames and Foundation
Wood Bases for Queen Cells ...
Work for the Different Months
Workers, Laying or Fertile

.^9

,^9

9-^

S7

89

86

107

91

88

1.39

III

117

74

74
"5
1-9

30

33
149

31
131
131
133
13-

69
108
166

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Queen Street, AUCKLAND.

ADVERTISEMENTS,

Headquarters for Bee- Keeping Supplies of the most approved,
reliable, and up-to-date description.

THE ALLIANCE
BOX GO.^ LTD.^

Castle street^ Dunedin.

Manufacturers of the Famous "AlHance" Bee Hives, Frames, etc.,
and Importers of all Apiarian requisites and appliances.
AGENTS THROUGHOUT THE DOMINION.

Illustrated catalogue post free on application.

SPECIALITE. The New Dove-Tailed Hive with Hoffman
Frames. The most perfect and economical Hive in the World
to-day ! Thousands in use throughout the United States.
Send for particulars.

N.Z. AGENTS FOR THE A. I. ROOT CO.

Queens. Queens.

Leather Colour and Cypro-Italians (Golden).

Untested Queens
Select Untested Queens
Warranted Queens

Tested Queens

Select Tested Queens ...

The Leather Colour, or 3-banded, are bred at my Federal
Apiary, and the Cypro-Italian are bred at my Rosaville
Apiary. These apiaries are of sufficient distance apart to
prevent the mingling of the drones of the different strains.

one

three

five

ten

... 5/-

13/-

20/-

39/-

... 6/-

16/-

25/-

49/-

... 6/-

16/-

25/-

49/-

... 8/-

22/-

35/-

65/-

... 15/-

42/-

65/-

M. ARMSTRONG,

Rosaville Apiary. Post address, P.O. West Maitland.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Mackay's

/. SEEDS, PLANT5, /.
BULBS AND FLOWERS

ARE ALWAYS RELIABLE.

NEW VEGETABLE SEEDS. NEW
FLOWER SEEDS. SEED POTATOES.
NEW FARM SEEDS. MANURES.
^ NURSERY STOCK OF EVERY ^

: : DESCRIPTION. : :

. . . AGENT FOR . . .

LIPPIATT'S ROSES,

PRATT'S POULTRY FOOD. PRATT'S

ANIMAL REGULATOR. SPECIAL PARROT

FOOD. BIRD SEEDS.

0 a 0

Everything for the Garden and Farm,

At GILBERT J. MACKAY'S,

SEEDSMAN AND FLORIST,

106, QUEEN STREET, AUCKLAND.

Opposite Bank N.Z. new premises.

New Catalogue just issued, post free on application.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

If you have

BEES WAX

TO SELL,

. . Write to . .

Sharland & Co., Ltd.,

Lome Street, Auckland. (

WE ARE CASH BUYERS OF

BEESWAX

IN ANY QUANTITIES.

KENDERDINE & KIRKUP,

SALE STREET, AUCKLAND.

JOHN REID & CO.

EXPORTERS OF . . .
NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE,

43 & 45, Fort Street, Auckland.

We Export BEESWAX. Wool. Timber. Gum. Fungus. Maize. OiU.
Limejuice, Whalebone. Bark, &c.

ESTABLISHED 41 YEARS.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

HONEY TINS.

Having installed a most up-to-date Automatic Can-making
Plant, we can supply the above m any sizes at Bedrock Prices.
We now make the 2-lb. Honey Tins with Double Seamed
ends and no Solder is used in the making up of these. This
ensures the tin keepmg bright and clean.

WRITE FOR PRICES.

Alexander Harvey & Sons,

Manufacturers of PLAIN and DECORATED TINS of
every description for Fruit, Honey, Jam, Fish, Butter,
T# Spice, Tea, Coffee, Baking Powder, &c. ^

ALBERT STREET, AUCKLAND.

A. J. ENTRICAN ^ CO.,

LIMITED,

Custom and Gore AUCKLAND,

Streets,

Wholesale Grocers
and Confectioners . .

Importers and General Merchants.

Agents for Trapp's Honey. Sole Agents for Hutchison's and Hobb's
White Clover Honey.

N.B. — We are Cash Buyers of Honey and Beeswax in any
quantity. Correspondence invited. Submit Sample when writing.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

A WORD TO -BEEKEEPERS !

Do you want to double the output from your
Apiary ? If so, you must have

GOOD ITALIAN QUEENS

I supply none but the VERY BEST,
and the Prices are right,

Untested, 4/- each. Ten for 35/-. Twenty for 60/-.
Tested, 7/6 each. Three for 20/-. Select Tested, 12/ 6 each.

Write for Catalogue and further particulars.

-•se A. J. D'ARCY, ^^

20. LINTON ST., PALMERSTON NORTH.

W. ABRAM & SON.

The First Italian Bee Farm in Australia.

ESTABLISHED 1881.

Breeders of Italian Queens of various Strains their Speciality. Foundation
and all other Bee goods supplied. Price List on Application, free.

W. ABRAM & SON,

The Italian Bee Farm, BEE CROFT, Near Sydney,
New South Wales.

KEEP BEES

THAT WILL KEEP YOU ! ! !
I CAN HELP YOU TO GET
THEM.

Send for my price list of Queens by post ; it's
mailed to you free, on receipt of your address.

R. STEWART, Crookston, Otago,
NEW ZEALAND.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

The

New Zealand
Express Co.,

CORRESPONDENCE INVITED.

ESTABLISHED 1867.

Have you Bees you want forwarded ?

If you have hives of bees yuu want forwarded you canned do better
than employ us. We'll collect them, or, if more convenient, they
may be consigned to us. Every care will be given to them while in
our hands, and we'll see to their getting to their destination in the
safest and speediest manner. Read what a constant client says.
We can satisfy you equally well.

Epsom.
Tothe Manager N.Z. Express Co., Auckland.— Dear Sir,— I have great
pleasure in informing you that out of the large number of colonies of bees,
and coops of Homing Pigeons sent bj' me through your Company to all
parts of New Zealand during the past number of years, not one mishap has
occurred, which speaks well for the care taken by yourself and your agents-

Yours truly, I. Hopkins.

Write for particulars of our service.

THE N.Z. EXPRESS COMPANY, LIMITED,

Carriers. Customs, and Express Forwarding Agents.
Offices :— Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Inver-
cargill, Gore, Oamaru, Timaru, Lyttelton, Palmerston North, New
Plymouth, and Wanganui. And lOO Agencies in other Towns.

Instructions for packing & forwarding Bees, by Government Expert.

In packing hives of Bees for transit, first of all see that the frames
of combs are well secured and the proper distance apart. Hoffman
Self Spacing Frames, and old tough combs are the most suitable.
Next see that the hive is well ventilated both at top and bottom —
spaces of at least six inches square covered with wire gauze i6
meshes to the lineal inch — should be provided in ihe temporary
bottom board and cover. Tie a piece of sponge to the lop wire
gauze and paste instructions on the hive to wet the sponge once a
day with clean water. Don't put in any brood, or overcrowd with
bees, put on a good readable address, and communicate with your
nearest N.Z. Express Co. Office.