ao Nov.. 1908.] Export Trade in Honey. 647 



Disabilities under which Victorian Apiarists suffer. 



A number of Victorian apiarists are well advanced and could per- 

 haps learn but little from those of their calling in other countries. There 

 is, however, some room for improvement in knowledge, methods and 

 enterprise in the case of a majority of the rank and file. This is 

 due not to unwillingness or want of effort but rather to the absence ot 

 means of acquiring knowledge and proficiency by other means than their 

 own experience. Even those foremost in beekeeping are handicapped 

 through encountexing difficulties peculiar to Australia and in the efforts 

 to overcome them they cannot look for aid to the literature and experi- 

 ence of other countries. They are struggling, unaided by science, to 

 solve problems not presenting themselves elsewhere. Knowing that our 

 natural honey resources are not excelled anywhere they have faith in the 

 future of the industrv. During certain years great losses of bees 

 •occur from causes other than diseases or famine, and a decline in the 

 production of honey in the succeeding years follows in consequence. 



The removal of these disabilities would increase aild cheapen produc- 

 tion which would give an impetus to the development of an export trade. 



With a view of gaining some further information on this subject 

 I visited two apiaries at Raven in Northern Germanx . Mr. F. Heddex 

 has a stand of 120 colonies in straw skeps right in the township of Raven. 

 The skeps are m.uch larger than those used in England. They stand in 

 two tiers under four sheds, forming the sides of a square with the bees 

 flying to the inside. Mr. Hedder stated that his stock number of colonies 

 is sixty, that is to say. he winters about that number every year. The 

 increase obtained by swarming is 60 to 100 stocks. When the honey 

 flow from the heather is over the bees in the skeps containing the new 

 swarms are killed by sulphuring and the honey sold in the comb. The 

 old skeps from which the swarms had issued are retained as stock for 

 the following season. This practice, although it mav appear cruel, has 

 the advantage of leaving a young queen, and summer gathered stores 

 in the stock colonies, while the heather honev in new combs obtained from 

 the sulphured swarms is more marketable. ^Ir. Hedder said that frame 

 hives had been tried but had not been a success. The heather honey 

 •cannot be removed from the combs by means of the extractor, being too 

 dense. Tiering up, as is done in frame hives, has the tendency to leave 

 the brood chamber practically empty of honev at the end of summer. 

 When the heather blooms the bees fill the brood chamber with heatheir 

 honey. This results in bad wintering of the colonies. The owner of 

 another apiary .some few miles out of Raven practises the same system as 

 Mr. Hedder, and stated that years of experience had proved it to be the 

 only practical method in that district. 



If experiments were undertaken in Victoria to determine whether our 

 winter and spring losses are due to the same causes, a means of avoiding 

 them may be found in the changing of stores at the end of the season. 

 This would prevent the loss of many stocks and the decrease in the yield 

 of honey in the following season. 



Instruction in Apiculture. 



In the United States the Department of Agriculture issues literature 

 on Practical Beekeeping, bee diseases, and the results of the investiga- 

 tions and experiments carried out under its direction. In states having 

 laws relating to bee diseases inspectors under these Acts give instruction 



