100 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



a large extent, but from what cause 

 I have not been able to ascertain. 

 I think there is very little doubt 

 that there is, at this moment, more 

 honey in New Zealand than there 

 has ever been before. 



I mentioned in ni}' last the difR- 

 culty the N. Z. Beekeepers' Associ- 

 ation had experienced regarding the 

 prices of honey. Tlie retail dealers 

 resented any attempt to regulate 

 prices, and refused to buy. The 

 committee of the Association then 

 engaged hawkers and sent the hon- 

 ey to the people's doors, as an ex- 

 periment, and it has succeeded 

 very well. A good quantity has 

 been disposed of at fair rates and 

 the hawkers have made good wages. 

 Comb honey in 1-lb. sections has 

 found the readiest sale in this way. 



The first annual meeting of the 

 N. Z. B. A. takes place at 

 Auckland on the 20th inst. and the 

 first item on the programme for 

 discussion is marketing honey, 

 including the regulation of prices. 

 The object which should be aimed 

 at is to bring the amount paid by 

 the consumer and tliat received by 

 the producer closer together. I 

 do not know how it is in your coun- 

 try but here the middle-men get 

 the best of the business. I sold a 

 case of comb hone}' in sections to 

 a retailer at ten pence a pound and 

 he sold it for fifteen pence. Cases 

 are frequent where extracted honey 

 was sold by the producer at four 

 pence and afterward retailed at 

 eight pence to a shilling. This is 

 too big a margin, hence the hawking 

 expedient. 



Efforts are still being made to 

 introduce the humble bee into N.Z. 

 Twelve boxes containing queens 

 recently arrived from England, but 

 all were dead. Another lot is ex- 

 pected in a few days which, it is 

 hoped, will turn out better. Mr. J. 

 C. Firth, the gentleman who is pay- 

 ing the cost of these experiments, 

 has done YQiy much to assist the 



beekeeping industry in this part 

 of the world. He is anxious to 

 secure the fertilization of the red 

 clover, as up to the present this 

 has not been eff'ected to any extent 

 in N. Z. All red clover seed used 

 here has to be imported in conse- 

 quence. Tlie matter is really im- 

 portant and worth accomplishing if 

 it should cost a good sum of money 

 and trouble. 



New Zealand Correspondent. 



HARD VriNTER ON BEES. 



Dear Sir : 



The present is the hardest win- 

 ter on bees, of which I have any 

 recollection . The winter of 1 880-1 , 

 notorious as a cold winter in the 

 southern states, commenced early 

 and gave us steady cold weather 

 during December and January, 

 and began to break up in February. 

 But this season we have the hard- 

 est part of the winter in February, 

 and for this reason our bees are 

 suffering severely. 



It is true m^' bees have had as 

 many flights in the open air as is 

 necessary for their health, but the 

 sudden changes of weather have 

 wrought severe mischief with un- 

 protected colonies. The consump- 

 tion of stores has been very great, 

 and the weather is too cold to look 

 after their wants. This morning, 

 Feb. 19, the mercury went down 

 to zero for a few hours, and day 

 after day old hoary winter clasps 

 the " sunny south" in his icy era- 

 brace. If there is not a change 

 soon I am sure that starvation will 

 reduce the number of my colonies 

 very materially. 



My bees had stores enough to 

 carry them through an ordinary 

 winter, but this is not an ordinary 

 winter by considerable. Feed them, 

 you say ? Yes, that is good advice ; 

 but how am I to go through one 



