AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



657 



trees, almost all of which bear flowers 

 well supplied with honey in favorable 

 seasons, giving a continuous supply of 

 honey. On account of the hot country, 

 and difiSculty in transporting, we pro- 

 duce mostly extracted honey. Our honey 

 is of good quality. We attempt to grade 

 it. We get an average of 224 pounds 

 to the colony, spring count, during a 

 favorable season. To give a few in- 

 stances of yields, 17 colonies (Mr. M. 

 Scobie's at Bishop's Bridge), increased 

 to 90, producing 7,000 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey in 12 months. Most of 

 the honey is taken in May and June. 



" The apiary of Patten Binni took 

 7,000 pounds from 30 colonies, that is, 

 from the old colonies besides the in- 

 crease and the honey they produced. 

 My own, Drumfin, apiary of 40 colonies, 

 which I sent to an out-apiary shortly 

 before leaving Australia, yielded in 14 

 days 16 60-pound tin cans of honey. A 

 letter received from my son later stated 

 that they had produced since 3,700 

 pounds, and in another two weeks he 

 expects to take 2,000 pounds more. 



"The wholesale price of our honey is 

 8 cents per pound. We have been trying 

 to find a market in London, England. 

 What they want there is a honey with 

 no pronounced flavor, as the bulk of 

 ours has. 



" In New South Wales we have a 

 meeting of bee-keepers every four weeks 

 at night. Bee-keepers ride in from long 

 distances to attend these gatherings. I 

 think the American system of bee-keep- 

 ing best for our country." 



J. W. Pender. 



At the close of his remarks, on motion 

 of Dr. Mason, Mr. Pender was elected 

 an honorary member of the association, 

 and received a badge. 



Fixed Spacing — Brace and Burr Combs 



Fixed spacing, and the building of 

 brace and combs, was then taken up for 

 discussion. 



R. L. Tayloi' thought he would not 

 care if he had a few burr-combs. 



The question being asked, nine agreed 

 with Mr. Taylor in his views. 



A large number objected to these 

 combs, the opinion being that they could 

 be largely avoided by means of thick 

 top-bars. 



Mr. Taylor asked if it was desirable 

 at the expense of distance — by putting 

 in a heavy top-bar — to do away with a 

 heavy top-bar ; 33 voted to so do away 

 with these combs. 



E. R. Root thought the added labor, 



owing to brace and burr combs, was too 

 expensive. 



R. L. Taylor thought it depended 

 upon whether one handled hives or 

 frames ; if frames were handled much, 

 they should be free from these combs. 

 Queen-breeders would object to them, as 

 they were given to handling combs in 

 the brood-chamber. 



A discussion at some length followed 

 on V-shaped top-bars, and some claimed 

 that such top-bars lead the bees to build- 

 ing comb over the top-bar. 



Old Mr. Blobbs' Interesting 

 Experiment. 



(In 6 chapters, complete in this issue.) 



No. 1. — Old Mr. Blobbs — " So the stings 

 of bees will cure rheumatism, will they ? 

 I'll have to try that." 



(See No. 2 on next page.) 



E. J. Baxter favored frequent hand- 

 ling of combs ; he could by that method 

 obtain better results. 



In reply to a question, Mr. Taylor 

 said he had used thick and thin top- 

 bars ; with the former there were less 

 burr and brace combs. He, however, 

 objected to the loss of space. 



This question was then asked by 

 Pres. Miller; "How many think that 

 any kind of honey-board is necessary be- 

 tween top-bars and sections?" Thirty- 

 nine thought one necessary, and 57 

 thought otherwise. 



Mr. Pringle — A good many bee-keep- 

 ers use a sheet of perforated metal for 

 an excluder. 



