Sept. 1, 1911 



can do it as fast again as he can if the hon- 

 ey is allowed to cool. Therefore the only 

 advantage of a small gravity strainer would 

 be the handiness of hauling it about for out- 

 yard use. How plain it seems now, when I 

 stop and think of all the time and work I 

 have put in on gravity strainers! 



In conclusion let me outline our system 

 for the cleaning-up at an outyard, or at the 

 home yard either, for they are all the same 

 as to the way we work them. When we see 

 that there will not be enough honey to run 

 the tank over when it is about half full, the 

 canner draws it off down to the point where 

 the dregs begin to come, and quits. He can 

 then begin hauling home. The next morn- 

 ing, before the bees begin to fly, the tank is 

 skimmed and the rest of the honey is ready 

 to draw off. 



.Tust a Mord about skimmers. If any bee- 

 keeper is using a round vessel to skim hon- 

 ey he should get something scjuare. I use 

 about five inches of the bottom of a 60-lb. 

 honey-can. The skimmer should be wiped 

 practically clean of foam, etc., every time it 

 is taken up or the job will never end. 



Mesilla Park, N. M. 



HOW A MODEL DISEASE LAW MAY BE IN- 

 EFFECTIVE. 



Legislation in New Zealand Prohibiting Box Hives. 



BY STEPHEN ANTHONY. 



Mr. Hopkins deserves the highest respect 

 from all New Zealand bee-keepers, and it is 

 not too much to say that the bee-keeping 

 world generally owes him something on ac- 

 count of the most perfect foul-brood law yet 

 framed. In his article, Feb. 15, page 96, 

 please notice that what he says refers to the 

 law, and so he is quite correct. As (tlean- 

 INGS has a world-wide circulation, and is 

 read by all sorts and conditions of men, 

 some of those not acquainted with our ways 

 of doing things may easily conclude that 

 New Zealand is nothing short of a bee-man's 

 paradise. To those I would say that there 

 is a great difference between a good law and 

 its being carried out. In the first place, we 

 have only two inspectors for the whole 

 country, where twenty could find enough to 

 do in ridding the country of foul brood, in 

 which it has been soaking, as it were, for 

 many years. 



In this (C'oromandel) district, of which I 

 speak from personal experience, and in many 

 others, as I hear, no inspection has been at- 

 tempted, and so boxes and foul brood would 

 show up just as well as in any part of the 

 United States. Many who have transferred 

 their bees to movable frames, using starters 

 only, have the whole thing en bloc — so that 

 the arrangement differs little from a box; 

 and most of the hives about here are in that 

 state — just through ignorance, laziness, and 

 want of inspection. Then the bush — and 

 our bush is different from bushes in other 

 places, for we are a semi-tropical country — 



535 



is full of bees with plenty of foul brood 

 among them — a sort of perennial source. 



Then we have a most peculiar aristocracy 

 in this country, exempt from most laws, 

 such as those regarding noxious weeds, foul 

 brood, sanitary conditions, etc. These Ma- 

 oris, descendants of the old original con- 

 querors of these islands, whom the whites 

 displaced, are endowed with large tracts of 

 land, upon some small parts of which they 

 live in villages, not troubling much about 

 either hygienic or moral observances. Those 

 lands, as a r.ule, they do not work, because 

 they can not and they need not. They may 

 not sell them, and they pay neither rates 

 nor taxes on them. The idea is, that these 

 lands should be kept intact in order to pro- 

 vide a permanent income for their descend- 

 ants. I need not describe conditions any 

 further, as some might think I am trying to 

 rival Baron Miinchhausen. I myself am a 

 rack-rented tenant of the Maoris as to part 

 of my lands, and also a neighbor of theirs, 

 and, as a consequence, I know by exper - 

 enee; and the point I want to make is that 

 such a state of things can not but be a per- 

 ennial source of foul brood, both from the 

 neglected bush and from the semi-barbarous 

 man living just as he likes, practically, in 

 the midst of a civilized community. Last- 

 ly, we have only one variety of foul brood 

 as yet — the American. 



Waitete, Amodeo Bay, Auckland, N. Z. 



Pure Italians the Worst Robbers. 



Last night, July 27, I took six empty crates from 

 a eolouy of bees that had been cleaning them out; 

 and as there were lots of bees clinging to the sides 

 I left them on the ground until early this morning. 

 1 have 55 colonies in my home apiary, and in four 

 of them are pure queens put in last year. I found 

 these crates full of robbers, and I piled them up 

 and floured the bees, and then watched to see 

 where they went. No floured bees went in the col- 

 ony that had the crates removed. The black bees, 

 in almost the entire apiary, were very still, and in 

 just one did a floured bee enter; and one pure 

 swarm with an Italian queen was not robbing; but 

 the other Italian colony was piling in, white with 

 flour. One of two other Italians was robbing bad- 

 ly, and a half-hybrid colony had al.so been robbing. 

 The results are as follows: In 45 black colonies, one 

 bee in one swarm to prove robbing. In 6 hybrid 

 colonies, one colony was robbing. In 4 pure colo- 

 nies, two were robbing badly. The colonies that 

 were robbing built up in the spring. The yellow 

 bees are hunting every nook and corner, trying to 

 rob, and black bees ai'e noticeable. 



Marshall, Mich. G. F. Pease. 



Why the Bees Clustered Out. 



I had a large swarm of bees come out five weeks 

 ago. For the last two weeks or so they have clus- 

 tered on- the outside of the hive on a hot or cool 

 day. Is it because they have not enough ventila- 

 tion? The hive is full, and I have taken out about 

 10 lbs. of honey. What is the reason they hang on 

 the hive in large numbers? 



Dayton, Wash., July 8. W. G. Gietzen. 



[From all the conditions named, it is our opinion 

 that your bees do not have sufHcient ventilation. 

 A newly hived swarm needs more ventilation than 

 a colony that is busily at work building comb. 

 When the weather Is very warm, in the case of a 

 large swarm it is advisable to lift the hive oIT the 

 hive-body and place four one-inch blocks or seven- 

 eighths blocks under each corner. Let the hive 

 stand thus during the hot weather or during that 

 time of the year when bees seem disposed to clu.s- 

 ter outside. — Ed.] 



