500 Journal of Agricultitre. [lo Aug., 1909. 



yield obtainable from maize will alwavs outweigh that from lucerne and 

 under fairly dry conditions there is no comparison. In this district two 

 crops of maize per year could easily be grown. Under irrigation, this 

 would mean 50 tons of green maize per acre per year, and no lucerne crop 

 can come near this as a fodder producer. The combination of these two 

 fodders on every farm would, however, be the most desirable, for, with the 

 bulk of the one and the high nutritive quality of the other, the dairyman 

 should be able to obtain maximum returns from his dairv herd. 



It is interesting to note that farmers, l-ww under the present crude 

 ivorking system, have begun to realise the value of this land. This is 

 shown by its buying value having increased from ^4 per acre in 1903 to 

 ^13 and over at the present time. When up-to-date methods are more 

 generally adopted throughout the district this price will probably be con- 

 siderably higher, for even the best farms in the district are as yet not 

 worked up to half their producing capacitv. 



SPRING LOSSES OF BEES. 



R. BeitJinc, President, Victorian Apiarists' Association. 



In apiaries in various parts of Victoria and New South Wales the 

 increase of production of honey and l>eeswax, as well as the number of 

 hives controlled by individual bee-keepers, has beem considerably checked 

 during recent years owing to heavy losses of bees in spring. These losses 

 are experienced at intervals of one or two years. Spring losses also occur 

 in the Northern hemisphere, where they appear to be due to dysentery. 

 Although we experience losses from the same cause, the " dwindle " or 

 disappearing of bees in Australia differs so much in symptoms and effects 

 from dysentery that it is looked upon as a distinct trouble. In dysentery, 

 the bees become bloated and die in or near the hive, with wings and legs 

 in normal position, or rather, closer to the body, as distinguished from 

 bee paralysis when the wings and legs are extended even before death. In 

 the dwindle, no dead bees, other than the few present even in the case 

 of normal colonies, are found in or near the hive. The bees apparently 

 leave the hive in quest of stores and fail to return. Their inability to do 

 so is due to exhaustion and chill — the consequence of impaired vitality. 

 The latter is the result of malnutrition in the larval stage, caused by a 

 deficiency of protein in the pollen used in the preparation of the larval 

 food. This was fully explained by Dr. Cherry in an address on " The 

 Growth of the Grub," at the 'Annual Conference of Apiarists some years 

 ago. Thus, a deficiency of nitrogen in the larval food causes the dis- 

 appearing trouble with the adult bfu, while the nitrogenous matter in the 

 honev consumed by the adult bee during winter, if present in maximum 

 qualities, is the cause of dysentery. Taking this as a fact, it should 

 follow that during active work and brood rearing there would be no 

 dvsenterv and no disappearing should take place in a spring succeeding 

 a season of normal pollen supply. 



Both these inferences are now well proved by the observations, experi- 

 ence, and experiments of apiarists, extending over a period of six years in 

 localities widely distributed over this State and New South Wales. It 

 is now generally recognised that certain honeys are totally unsuitable as 

 winter food for bees, excepting in the rare instances of a very mild 

 winter allowing continuous activity of the bees. Honey from ironbarks 

 trathered late in the season and from grey box, under certain conditions. 



