312 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



market, at a remunerative price. 

 Tliere is one tiling worthy of mention, 

 viz : Tlie honey produced at Mata- 

 mata is, without doubt, equal to the 

 best produced in any part of tlie 

 ■world. 



Connected with the management of 

 the apiaries, of which there are two 

 at present, there are two substantial 

 buildings— one containing a large 

 workshop, in which the hives, frames, 

 and other appliances are made, a 

 honey-room for storage of honey, a 

 fumigating room, and an office. The 

 first thing that attracted our atten- 

 tion on entering, was the large stacks 

 of 2-pound tins of honey— nearly 

 10,000. Theseiiad been brought from 

 the principal apiary, and were ready 

 for soldering, preparatory to being 

 labelled and cased for market. At 

 the time of our visit the season's crop 

 of honey was nearly all in, and this 

 will amount to about 10 tons- the pro- 

 duct of 200 hives— an average of 100 

 pounds per hive. In the fumigating 

 room, which for the nonce had been 

 turned into a wine room, we were 

 shown a number of casks containing 

 fruit wines, mead, cider, and vinegar 

 in a state of preparation. These had 

 been made principally with honey, 

 and gave promise of turning out 

 excellent in quality. The honey used 

 in their manufacture had all been 

 obtained by washing the cappings of 

 the combs; the portion shaved off 

 before extracting the honey from 

 them, and which is useless for market. 



Mr. Hopkins, the manager, is of the 

 opinion that were mead, honey and 

 fruit wines, honey-vinegar, and other 

 such-like products obtainable, an im- 

 mense demand would soon spring up 

 for them. We have no douLt that 

 this might be made a verv profltable 

 branch of bee-keeping if bee-keepers 

 would but turn their attention to it. 

 It would not only be the means of 

 utilizing a vast amount of surplus 

 honey, but a great benefit would be 

 conferred on humanity by placing 

 within reach some wholesome, health- 

 giving beverages in place of the vile 

 compounds now sometimes sold as 

 wines. There is no reason why we 

 should not again revive some of those 

 ancient beverages, such as mead, 

 uiethegliu, miodomel, so highly prized 

 when honey was considered as an 

 indispensable article of food for man, 

 before sugar took its place. 



The other building is used for 

 manufacturing comb fomidation. 

 Four of the latest and most improved 

 machines for making it are in use at 

 Matamata, and, in fact, everything 

 that can be devised for purifying the 

 wax and manufacturing a lirst-class 

 article. 



The home apiary, situated near to 

 the manager's house, is a .small one of 

 about 30 colonies, principally devoted 

 to queen rearing* Here we saw a 

 large number of miniature or nucleus 

 hives, in which the young queens are 

 reared and kept until they are re- 

 quired. Until quite lately none but 

 pure Italian bees were kept and bred 

 in this apiary, but in December last 

 pure Cyprian queens were imported. 

 These for the time were located here 

 for the purpose of having the young 



queens reared from them mated by 

 Italian drones, as the progeny from 

 this cross are now considered to be 

 the best working bees cultivated. 



The " Burwood Apiary," situated 

 some 2J^ miles from the " Home 

 Apiary," is devoted to honey produc- 

 tion. The hives— about 200 in num- 

 ber—are in long rows in an enclosure 

 of about an acre, surrounded by pine 

 trees, and are well sheltered. The 

 extracting house, where the honey is 

 extracted from the combs, stands 

 nearly in the centre of the apiary. At 

 the time of our visit extracting" was 

 going on. From the extractor— which 

 stands on a platform about 4 feet 

 above the floor— the honey runs into a 

 triple strainer and from there into the 

 honey-tank, capable of holding 3,000 

 pounds. Here it is allowed to remain 

 for a day or two to get thoroughly 

 ripe, when it is skimmed and run off 

 into tins for market. 



One peculiarity about the Matamata 

 honey is its rapid granulation and 

 very flue grain. In the hottest 

 weather it granulates in about three 

 days from the time it is extracted, 

 and in more than one instance this 

 season it would not run from the 

 tank 36 hours after being taken from 

 the comb. When placed in a dish on 

 the table its color and grain gives it 

 the appearance of butter, from which 

 it is sometimes difficult to distinguish 

 it. 



Mr. Hopkins informed us that the 

 past season has been a fair one 

 throughout New Zealand for bee- 

 keepers, and that he estimates the 

 season's crop at over 300 tons for this 

 colony. He thinks the Auckland 

 province alone will have produced 

 nearly one-half of that quantity. 

 Altogether, we look upon the industry 

 of apiculture as one of much impor- 

 tance to the State, and well worthy of 

 any indirect encouragement the State 

 can give it. We congratulate Mr. 

 Firth on his enterprise and the ex- 

 ample he has set to other colonists to 

 • go and do likewise." 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



"AYear AmoiiEtlieBees," 



N. w. m'lain. 



This is the title of a new book on 

 bee-keeping, by Dr. C. C. Miller, of 

 Marengo, Ills., published at the office 

 of the American 13ee Journal. In 

 his introduction the author explains 

 that he has no expectation or desire 

 to write a complete treatise on bee- 

 keeping, but rather to speak of such 

 things in detail as would come within 

 the experience of one w ho, being in- 

 terested in the industry of bee-keep- 

 ing, should remain with him during a 

 whole year. 



The design of the author is that the 

 book shall consist of " A talk about 

 some of the implements, plans and 

 practices of a bee-keeper of 25 years' 

 experience, who has for 8 years made 

 the production of honey his exclusive 

 business." Among other excellencies 

 this book possesses the rare merit of 

 being just what it professes to be— 



simply a plain '-bee-talk, wherein I 

 shall try to tell honestly just how I 

 do, talking in a familiar manner about 

 such things as have come within my 

 own experience." 



The talk begins with the spring of 

 the year, when " the liees can get out 

 on the tirst good day," when the red 

 of the blossom on the soft maple 

 actually begins to push forth, and 

 progresses by seasonable stages 

 throughout the year, telling all about 

 spring management and preparation 

 for the honey harvest ; the methods 

 practiced and devices used during the 

 working season ; the care of the pro- 

 duct and its preparation for market ; 

 the prepartion for winter ; the winter 

 repository ; placing the bees in winter 

 quarters, and the attention given 

 them during winter; not neglecting 

 to speak of the work which should be 

 done during the winter preparatory 

 to the coming year. 



Moreover, during the narrative the 

 dramatis personce are naturally in- 

 troduced, and we are told of the 

 division of labor, so that each of the 

 assistants may become proficient in the 

 parts to which they are assigned, or 

 for which they have a preference ; 

 and both scene and incident are so 

 clearly and faithfully presented that 

 one may almost imagine himself 

 seated under a tree near the apiary 

 and shop, the long rows of hives 

 standing in pairs to the right, the 

 comfortable dwelling and the orchards 

 to the left, and the genial Doctor in 

 the foreground narrating his mono- 

 logue, " A Year Among the Bees." 

 (The writer has had the pleasure of a 

 day among the bees, with Dr. Miller 

 at his home.) 



lu bee-keeping frequent emergen- 

 cies arise. There is " a world of com- 

 fort " in being equal to an emergency. 

 If one does not feel entirely equal to 

 an emergency, there is a feeling of 

 satisfaction and security in knowing 

 that you have an adviser at hand 

 upon whose experience and counsel 

 you can rely. The author of this book 

 is a progressive bee-keeper whose 

 methods and practice are safe and 

 conservative. When a progressive 

 bee-keeper of 2-5 years' experience,and 

 one who makes bee-keeping his ex- 

 clusive business, gives to the public 

 his methods and practice, the service 

 cannot fail of appreciation from all 

 those engaged in the industry. 



The bee-keeper of experience will 

 find many valuable hints in this book, 

 and it is noticeable that most of the 

 devices recommended and used. are 

 simple and cheap, and mostly home- 

 made, and well adapted for the pur- 

 poses for which they are recommended. 

 Beginners in bee-keeping will find 

 that the adoption of the methods, 

 devices and practices here recom- 

 mended will save them from investing 

 in much costly experience. Experi- 

 ence is frequently worth what it costs, 

 but more frequehtly the amount in- 

 vested by original explorers in the 

 field of bee-keeping fails to declare 

 satisfactory dividends. 



Bee-keepers of experience do not 

 need to be told that it is prudent and 

 wise to glean from the experience of 

 others, and incorporate into their own 



