4 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEKERS’ JOURNAL. 
in September in tbe warmer parts of Australia 
outside the tropics, and later in the same 
mouth, or early in October, for the southern 
parts of Australia and Tasmania. 
Although bees do not become torpid and con- 
fined to their hives in Australia, as in colder 
climates, but fly out for food and water on 
every fine day, it is nevertheless advisable to 
disturb them as little as possible during the 
colder months, and, except for feeding or in 
case of suspected mischief in the stock, no 
hives should lie opened at all in June, July, 
or August. If, however, necessity arises for ! 
opening, it should be done only at midday on 
the warmest and calmest days. Where feeding 
is necessary, preparations should be made in 
April or May at latest, so that food can be in- 
troduced without disturbance or loss of much 
beat from the cluster ; if a good thick mat or 
two thin ones have been supplied, with a hole 
in, or with one corner turned up to allow a 
passage for the bees to the food, the feeder 
can he introduced and filled from time to time 
by gently lifting the roof or cover board for 
a few seconds. Where box hives are used, it 
is necessary to insert the feeder under the hive, 
on the bottom board, and this can be done by 
ordinary care without loss of heat or dis- 
turbance of the bees. 
With frame hives thei'e should be no fear of 
wet and damp getting in, but where box hives 
are piled one above the other, or covered with 
bark, old boards, old hags, Ac., as they fre- 
quently ai - e, dampness to the extent of rotting 
often results. This, of course, is most mis- 
chievous aud should be always avoided. If 
such things have been used to shelter the 
boxes from rain or sun, they should be at once 
looked to and removed, or, if required, they 
should be laid on battens or strips of board 
laid across the tops of the boxes, so that air can 
pass between them and the tops of the hives. 
It is always desirable to examine stocks in 
April or early in May at latest, to see that all 
are fit for winter and possessing queens— those 
that arc queenless should be united to other 
stocks possessing queens, and in the case of 
weak colonies, two or three united together. No 
stock can be considered a strong one for 
wintering here, unless it have at least four or 
five frames well covered with bees. 
All frames should be looked over for traces 
of foul brood, and if any solitary unhatched 
cells are seen, open them, and if they contain 
the viscid brown matter, indicative of their 
disorder, cut them out and mark the hive for 
careful examination when breeding fairly re- 
commences in the spring. 
The chief matters to be looked to during tbe 
next two or three months will he: — Cleaning up 
all hive?, floor-hoards, supers, roofs and frames 
that have been in use, ready for next swarming 
season, This should he carefully done; all old 
bits of comb or propolis scraped off ; the inside 
should be scrubbed with sand, soap and water, 
and where there is any suspicion of foul brood 
having existed, the inside of all parts of the 
hive, and especially all crevices, should he 
washed over with a solution of salicylic acid 
by means of a clean paint brush. This solution 
can be made by dissolving l oz. salicylic acid 
and 1 oz. common borax in 4 pints of hot water. 
Some use cai bolic acid and water, but we have 
found this often leaves an odour which appears 
to be offensive to Vices, sometimes causing them 
to swarm out. The hives should be dried in 
the sun after scrubbing, before painting with 
the disinfectant solution. All ordinary painting 
of hives should be done in winter. The hives 
should be stowed away in a dry place, and the 
frames arc best kept inside them. If any 
frames of combs have been saved from last 
season, which are free from any suspicion of 
disease, they should be carefully put away in 
a box or in the empty hives, for they will come 
in very useful in spring. It will be a good 
thing to fix on the positions for placing new 
stocks or swarms in the approaching season 
and have everything ready for putting the 
hive in its place. A snpply of frames and 
foundation should also be secured, as bee- 
keepers, who postpone these matters, often 
find swarms flying out before they are ex- 
pected and before anything is ready. 
Those who use boxes should lay in a stock 
of clean, new ones; if old ones are used, we ad- 
vise that they be well scalded outor even boiled ; 
for the most common way in which moth and 
disease is brought into a box hive apiary is by 
using old boxes that are not thoroughly clean. 
A little trouble in this direction will amply 
repay the beekeeper. 
Honey that has been left in the hives till 
now wili be fully ripe and perhaps too thick to 
extract or get out of the combs easily, and 
will generally be found of a darker color than 
that taken earlier. It will be found best to 
take all surplus honey in April at latest, 
always hearing in mind that an ample store 
for the winter is left ; the quantity depending 
on the strength of the stock. Strong hives 
should have from 15 to 20 lbs. to provide 
against a long winter in this climate. 
Those who like to have bee flowers about 
their apiary should now sow seeds of pliacelia , 
coi n flower, borage for early flowering, limnan- 
thes Douglassii, cerinihe (another species of 
borage), and plant out plants of echium candi- 
cans and wallflowers, and if there is any 
spare or waste ground about, sow horehound 
or catnip, or alsike clover. 
QUEEN BEES. 
We have had numerous enquiries as to how 
and where to obtain Queen bees, especially 
Italian (or Ligurian) Queens, the cost thereof, 
the best place to get them from, the time to 
get them, and so on, we now give all the infor- 
mation we can on the subject. 
Tliei e are now many Beekeepers in 
Australia who make it a business to rear 
