20 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEE KEEKERS’ JOURNAL. 
be supplied to all members of the Association 
at the rate of 5s. per annum instead of Gs., so 
that a country member’s subscription for the 
Association and Journal will be 7s. 6d. per 
annum, and a town member’s subscription for 
the same will be 15s. per annum. The 
Victorian Association hope that all colonial 
beekeepers’ associations will eventually com- 
bine to form one Australian Beekeepers’ 
Association, and arrange for interchange of 
publications and of apicultural news, and for 
such other co-operation as may be possible 
and mutually beneficial.” 
HINTS FOB THE MONTH. 
In case the advice given last month to ge*’ 
everything ready for the coming season has 
not already been taken, we again urge that no 
time should be lost ; for any beekeeper with more 
than half a dozen hives, who has other occupa- ; 
tion to attend to, will find he is never ready for 
contingencies if he leaves getting all the little 
requirements for spring feeding and early 
stimulation, and for subsequent swarming, 
until the busy time comes. Little need be 
done with bees now if the hives have been 
properly cared for and are dry, but as it has 
been an unusually wet and damp winter so 
far, damp hives and mildewed combs will not 
be uncommon. A little top ventilation will 
be necessary, and entrances should not be kept 
too small ; indeed, it is a question whether it 
is not i letter to have entrances open to their 
fullest extent in damp weather as well as in 
warm. 
If any stocks are suspected to be short of 
stores examine them on some fine warm day, 
unless, as some beekeepers advise, the hives 
have been weighed before the winter set in, 
and can be weighed again now, when the 
weight will at once inform us of the amount . 
of stores available without disturbing the 
bees. If hives are light, indicating shortness 
of provision, food should be at once given. 
And here care is required, the food must he | 
given in a large quantity rapidly ; slow feed- 
ing would probably encourage premature 
breeding and injure the stock. White sugar 
syrup, 2) lbs. of sugar to the pint, will be the 
best food, and either give from 10 lbs. to j 
15 lbs. of this to a full colony in one large 
feeder, or give it in a smaller feeder that will 
feed rapidly, and refill from day to day until 
the necessary quantity is taken. 
The plan of weighing stocks has certain 
advantages ; those that are sufficiently heavy 
need not be opened or disturbed in winter 
time (a proceeding that always does harm 
except on the warmest days). To those who 
desire to adopt it we would say that a hive of 
the style in use should be weighed as well as 
similar frames, division boards, &c., to those in 
the stocked hives. Pass a sling of cord under 
bottom board and hitch over the roof, weigh it 
witli any weighing apparatus of sufficient l 
capacity (a common steelyard or spring 
balances will be the best) and note the weight. 
A Langstrotli hive of pine wood with 10 
frames of empty combs will generally weigh 
from 24 lbs. to 30 lbs. Now, after weighing 
any stock, deduct the weight of the similar 
hive and frames as obtained and the remainder 
will give you the weight of the comb, bees, and 
honey. The weight of a Langstroth frame of 
empty comb may be taken as $ lb. ; of an 
average winter stock of bees covering four or 
five frames as about 3 lbs., so that if a stock 
and hive weighs 45 lbs. and a similar hive 
empty 24 lbs., we shall have 21 lbs. for bees, 
comb, honey, and frames ; as follows — 
Total weight ... 45 lbs. 
Weight of similar hive ... 24 lbs. 
Five frames of comb, empty 2J „ 
Two division boards ... II „ 
Bees ... 3 „ 
Deduct total ... 311 lbs. 
Leaves weight of stores ...131 lbs. 
which would bo a fair supply in July to carry 
the stock into breeding time in spring. 
A good plan to weigh stocks of bees at their 
stands is to use three light poles about 7 feet 
long, lash them together at the top, spread 
them out in a tripod form over the hive to be 
weighed; attach a spring balance that will 
weigh up to 80 lbs. or 100 lbs. to the lashing 
at top of poles. Put the sling above referred 
to under the hive, spreading the two parts 
under the bottom board so as to lift the hive 
fair, and hook the balance through the bight 
looped over the roof, then spread out the 
legs of the tripod till the hook of the spring 
balance is low enough to hook into the sling, 
then bring the legs together one by one, step 
by step, till the whole weight of the hive is 
on the balance and the weight obtained, when 
the hive can be lowered by reverse process. 
This can all be done so gently that no dis- 
turbance whatever is caused, and the bees 
will be flying in and out quietly during the 
whole process. 
SOLAR WAX EXTRACTORS. 
One of our subscribers asks for information 
about Solar Wax Extractors, and how to 
make and use them. We are glad to give 
him, and our other readers, what information 
we can upon the subject. 
In many countries where clear skies and a 
pretty high sun prevails in summer time, it is 
an easy matter, with a little ingenuity, to 
obtain enough heat from the direct rays of 
the sun to melt wax, or even to boil water and 
raise steam. 
In California, and the hotter parts of North 
America, it appears to have long been a 
common practice to use the sun’s heat for 
separating honey and wax, as well as for 
smelting wax alone. 
