10 THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
greater desire for honey gathering. Four 
and five frames could be taken from the 
broodroom of my hives full of honey in 
October, and some had the lioneyrooms full 
also. I may here mention that one-half the 
number of my hives have the honeyroom 
half the size of the broodroom ; the other 
half have the honeyroom just the same size 
as the broodroom, where I can use 42 1-lb. 
sections, or 10 large frames, while the 2-lb. 
sections are used in the low lioneyrooms. 
The demand for stocks of Italian bees was 
nearly in accordance with the increase ; to 
make up for the others I made some artificial 
swarms Now we have again 240 stocks in 
good order and condition. 
It is not my custom to leave all the honey 
in the hives until the season is over ; never- 
theless the hives had to be cleaned and all 
examined before wintering, as well as some 
more surplus honey removed after the close 
of the honey flow. Here I found the greatest 
care must be taken to avoid robbing, and I 
was glad I had no more honey to take. I 
also found that the honey was tough and 
extracting difficult. It would be very accept- 
able if someone who takes all the honey after 
the season is over should state how he 
managed it. 
The New South Wales Beekeepers’ Associ- 
ation is now about a year old already, and I 
do not remember having read any reports 
thereof. Now, if there is no one else to let 
you know of such an occurrence, I do not 
see why I should not, although I consider 
myself the least fit for a reporter. 
Their objects are : The encouragement 
and advancement of beekeeping and the 
prevention of importation, manufacture and 
sale of adulterated honey. Of the first meet- 
ing I knew nothing at all. At the following 
meetings rules were drawn, presidents and 
committee men selected, and proceedings 
were to be taken against anyone who makes 
honey out of sugar, &e. Beemasters were 
to be appointed to instruct other members, 
&c. I undertook to read a paper on these 
subjects at the third meeting, thinking what 
a lot of good this may do. I pointed out 
how difficult it is to prove adulteration of 
honey, and of how little use a travelling bee- 
master would be (there being plenty), and 
how great the cost would be. 1 mentioned 
that we should first of all supply a better 
article than the adulterated was, and we 
should make it convenient for the con- 
sumer to get it. Well . The fourth 
meeting went as smooth as butter, and 
I noted that the good therefrom would at 
least do no harm. For the fifth meet- 
ing I promised to read another paper, 
this time, to protect my hive from disgrace, 
when it so happened that there was no 
quorum, only a few new members wished to 
join, and liked to hear what I had to say, as 
they use the same hive as mine. At the 
following meeting this paper was tabled 
again and read, not to everyone’s satisfaction 
I think ; but to be sure someone said that 
all hives were bad, whether hive or box, as 
long as they had frames inside ! It was also 
arranged to give prizes for twelve 1-lb. jars 
of extracted honey, for twelve 1-lb. sections, 
for six 1-lb. sections, for large frame of honey 
(any size), for small frame of honey (any 
size), for best Italian queen, with bees, in 
observation hive, for best black queen, and 
for honey bees at work, together with imple- 
ments. The money was to bo given by the 
Agricultural Association. Next time the 
Government Analyst gave a very interesting 
lecture on adulteration of honey. He 
analysed a lot of samples sent to him for this 
purpose, and found some pure, some adulter- 
ated ; hut, he said, adulteration with some 
kind of sugar is difficult to detect, while wax 
and pollen found in honey was a sure sign of 
its purity, as if these matters could not be 
mixed with almost anything sweet. It was, 
I think, decided not to take action just then, 
but the lecture should be printed, and as far 
as I understand about snch matters, it seems 
that the adulterator may learn as much as 
anyone from the lecture, provided he does 
not know all about it already. Nevertheless, 
it is as good an instruction as any how to 
feed bees with sugar, which is such a favorite 
method with many, and considered as good 
as boiled honey anyhow. I wonder if an 
aualyst would state the same ; if so, then 
beware, you gincase fanciers, who heat your 
honey to get it out of the wax before sending 
it to market. An action may be brought 
against you at any time. But the frame 
hive keepers heat their extracted honey too 
to keep it liquified. 
For a good many months I have heard no 
more, and no meetings have been held, so I 
could not give you any more report. I hope 
the little infant has not sickened, or if so, I 
wish speedy recovery. 
On the Hunter Biver another Beekeepers’ 
Association was formed soon after the other. 
I iiave read several reports, and judge there- 
from that they mean business. They are 
willing to assist one another, and to learn 
one from another. Their district is a 
splendid one, and I do not see why they 
should not make good progress. In fact, 
they have done well, as I judged from their 
exhibits at the H.R.A. Show. 
It would be a benefit to the members of 
such associations if they could have reports 
of their meetings, in which case the far away 
