70 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
the top surface of the Berlepsch hive (9j inches 
x 16 inches) contains 148 inches, and the Lang- 
stroth hive ( 14 J inches x 1 8| inches) 263 inches, 
only 33 inches from being double the size of 
the former. Calculating the comb capacity of 
the brood chamber in each hive, I find the 
Berlepsch gives for eleven frames, the full 
complement for the measurements given by 
Mr. Abram, each measuring 8£ inches x 131- 
inches inside, 1320 inches, and the Langstroth, 
for ten frames, inches x 17 inches, 1440 
inches, which makes a difference of 6000 cells. 
I have found the brood-chamber of the Lang- 
stroth hive plenty small enough, and I cer- 
tainly would not recommend the use of a 
smaller one, in our climates, at all events. It 
is, however, in the surplus parts of the hives 
that the greatest difference exists. I have 
already pointed out that the surplus part 
of the Berlepsch hive is a fixture, and 
cannot be enlarged under the system of 
management adopted by Mr. Abram. The 
frames of this measure inside 8f inches 
x 6| inches, which, multiplied by 11 (the 
number of frames,) gives 646 inches of space 
for combs, considerably less than a Lang- 
stroth half-storey, which gives 682 inches. 
What experienced beekeeper would care to 
work a Langstroth hive with only a single 
half-storey for a surplus box ? I find in the 
height of the season that I require three and 
four full stories over the brood-chamber — never 
less than three ; these give together 4320 
inches of comb capacity, as against 646 inches 
in the Berlepsch surplus box — over seven times 
the space. There is, as I have previously 
remarked, comparatively no limit to the amount 
of room that may be given to a Langstroth 
hive, while, at the same time, it can be con- 
tracted to the smallest space required for a 
small colony, by the use of division boards, and 
herein lies a principle intimately connected 
with the most advanced system of Apiculture. 
It is a great puzzle to me how such a hive as 
the Berlepsch can be worked for honey with 
profit. I am quite certain that a person in 
charge of, say, fifty hives in a good district 
would be employed more than half his time in 
the season running after and taking swarms, 
especially with the use of the close honey- 
boards over the brood-chamber recommended 
by Mr. Abram. 
1 have something further to say in connec- 
tion with the difference in the methods of 
manipulating the two hives, which 1 must 
leave till another time, as this letter has already 
far exceeded the limit I at first anticipated. — 
I am, &c., 
APIS. 
New Zealand, 10th May, 1886. 
Beekeeping in South Australia. 
The cold weather we are now experiencing 
has brought the honey season to a close in 
almost all districts. For my own part I am 
glad it has come to an end, because eight 
months’ continual work amongst the bees is 
quite enough in one year ; and, moreover, it 
is desirable to have a little time to devote to 
preparations for next season’s operations. 
The popular notion amongst those who have 
for years past kept bees in the old system is, 
that a good season comes only once in two or 
three years. And they explain this by saying 
that the gum trees do not flower every year. 
Now, while this may be true for certain parts 
of the Colony, where the gum trees are all of 
the same variety, it certainly is not for other 
places where many different kinds of these 
trees grow. For instance, Burnside, which is 
situated at the foot of the Mount Lofty 
ranges, has in its immediate neighbourhood 
four distinct varieties of gum trees, and during 
my experience in beekeeping some of these 
have flowered every year and yielded a good 
harvest of honey. Also, the trees on the 
plains come into hloom before those on the 
hills, so that the bees often continue to work 
on the latter for several weeks after the 
former. In what are called good seasons, the 
Cape marigold comes into flower at the end of 
August and keeps the bees busy until about 
the middle of October, when numerous garden 
plants offer good forage and enable the 
swarms to build up ready for the honey 
harvest. This commences in December, with 
the flowering of the redgums, and continues 
through January, February, and March, when 
the blue, peppermint, and Tasmanian gums 
flower in the order named. In this way a 
succession of bloom is kept up for seven or 
eight months, and bees of any kind in any 
sort of hive will give a good return no matter 
how they are managed. Now, let roe describe 
a “ bad ” season, such as the one just ended. 
As before, the Cape marigolds are in flower 
during all September, the weather is fine and 
dry, and bees swarm in a wonderful manner. 
Swarms are so plentiful and cheap that num- 
bers of persons are induced to make a start in 
beekeeping, and as long as the marigold flowers 
remain, everything goes on swimmingly. But, 
alas ! the redgums fail to bloom, and from the 
end of October to the end of January there is 
absolutely no honey to be gathered. Then 
commences a struggle for existence, and 
robbing goes on in all directions. Prime 
swarms, that have been hived in empty boxes, 
clear out bodily and fly stiaight to the hills, 
evidently preferring the chance of bettering 
themselves there to remaining to meet death 
by starvation. During such times the bees, in 
