SEPTEMBER 1, 1913 



615 



foraging of the bees. The loss of time 

 caused by many bees foraging over the same 

 ground near a large ajDiary, and others hav- 

 ing' to go a great distance from liome, mak- 

 ing honey-gathering- less profitable, does 

 not exist with my system. 



There is considerable doubt in my mind 

 about bees going any great distance, under 

 ordinary circumstances, to gather nectar. 

 The accompanjdng drawing of a number of 

 my former locations may be . of interest. 

 Apiaries marked A and C are located at the 

 edge of what we call the mountains or foot- 

 hills. The mountainous country is suited 

 for honey crops only in the most favorable 

 years, and these have been far between the 

 last few years. That made my observations 

 of so much more Aalue, and the evidence 

 was the more apparent. 



On the other hand, the apiaries marked 

 B and D, in the black land farming and 

 mesquite country, which is well suited to 

 beekeeping, have done very well year after 

 year, and produced good average crops. It 

 will be noticed that these yards are only 2^^ 

 miles from the other yards, even a little less 

 in one, and that the distance to the edge of 

 the foot-hills is only a little over two miles. 



The two yards last mentioned outstrip 

 the others every year, and the two yards 

 just on the divide do not do nearly as well. 

 It will be noticed that the distance is not 

 gi'eat enough, it would seem, to make any 

 material difference. Our own experience 

 teaches us differently. 





Mountainous' Country. 



verge of starvation if forage was scarce 

 nearer the apiary. We had to move this 

 yard into (he farming and mesquite land 

 country, and since then they have done well. 



If bees do go long distances to gather 

 nectar, the yards that were located in the 

 mountainous country should have done bet- 

 ter than they did, especially those at the 

 immediate edge, or on the divide. But those 

 located away from the above territory, al- 

 though only a few miles, did so much better 

 every year that we have moved nearly all 

 of our apiaries into this better territory, 

 and are contemplating moving the few oth- 

 ers also. This is pretty strong evidence, 

 and I can vouch for its truthfulness. 



New Braunfels, Tex. 



REPORT OF ANNUAL CONVENTION IN NEW 

 ZEALAND 



BY E. G. WARD 



\)>'Ah' 









R ich'' Black l^njfy^^- ^ ^^ 



Prairie ~ — 



S 



B 



The apiary marked E, located two miles 

 from the edge of the foot-hills, was in the 

 mountainous country where enough forage 

 plants for the bees abounded in this imme- 

 diate locality to enable the colonies to build 

 up to strong and even powerful colonies 

 during the spring; but when the houey-flow 

 «ame in the lower black-land country, only 

 a few miles away, they would be on the 



The third annual conference of the bee- 

 keepers of New Zealand was held in Well- 

 ington June 18, 19, 20, and was well at- 

 tended. A number of instructive papers 

 were read, which were contributed by lead- 

 ing men from all over New Zealand. The 

 conference was fully reported, and the pro- 

 ceedings will be printed in pamphlet form, 

 and will include the pajDers contributed. 

 This will form a permanent record, and be 

 of great service to absentees in that they 

 will be able to take advantage of the expe- 

 riences and instruc- 

 tions appearing. The 

 New Zealand govern- 

 ment has contributed 

 $50.00 toward the cost, 

 and representations 

 were made to several 

 of the cabinet minis- 

 ter which, it is confi- 

 dently hoped, will re- 

 sult in a number of 

 extremely useful re- 

 forms being provided 

 for by legislation at 

 next session of parlia- 

 ment. Among these 

 are compulsory regis- 

 tration of apiaries ; 

 compulsoi'y grading 

 of honey, and regailations dealing with car- 

 riage of bee material. 



The conference was opened by the Hon. 

 R. H. Rhodes in the absence of the prime 

 minister, who is minister for agriculture, 

 and who is a leading agriculturist himself. 

 Up till the present conference the industry 

 has been in a rather disorganized state ; but 

 a new constitution has been adopted, and it 



Di 



