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THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
stitution of pure honey. It almost seems that 
they have never seen or analysed pure honey, but 
have accepted some of the clever imitations as 
their standards of purity. It is manifest, there- 
fore, that beekeepers must not expect any protec- 
tion of their industry by law as against fraudulent 
imitations and adulteration when the law is 
administered in this clumsy and ignorant manner. 
Honey producers may, however, take some 
comfort ; for the publicity given to these prosecu- 
tions is awakening doubts in the minds of small 
shopkeepers and the honey consuming public, at 
the same time a plentiful pure honey supply this 
season has brought it within reach of most people, 
and it is to be hoped they will soon discover the 
difference between the mawkish and sickening 
glucose mixtures and the true nectar gathered by 
the bees, and reject the viscid nauseous imitations 
covered with gaudy lying labels. We are glad to 
find Mr. L. Chambers, the enterprising manager 
of the Bee-keepers’ Supply Company has suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a plentiful and continuous 
supply of both comb and extracted honey from 
all our best country apiaries. Every sample 
which we have seen would stand high in the 
honey shows of England, Europe and America. 
Shopkeepers are gradually finding a quicker and 
more satisfactory sale for these samples (which are 
all clean, pure, and gathered from the best nectar 
bearing sources) than has ever before been possible 
with the crude bush honey, and dirty crushed 
combs with which the Melbourne market has 
been for the most part previously supplied. Bee- 
keepers must bear in mind that the honey which 
will command the highest price will be that 
gathered from the best forage, such as clover, red 
gum, yellow box, sugar gums, some of the honey- 
suckles, the native holly, and from fruit trees, and 
thistles, not from Ti tree, horehound, manna, 
gum. Cape weed, &c. Next to the source of the 
nectar, the form in which the honey is offered will 
be the most important point. If it be comb 
honey it must, be as well filled, clean, and fresh 
as possible, not broken and smeared ; perfectly 
free from brood, pollen food, and empty or un- 
sealed cells as possible ; if extracted, it must be 
clear and bright, and well ripened. 
ENAMEL CLOTH COVERS. 
Those who have used enamel cloth to cover the 
frames of their hives this summer will probably 
have noticed how persistently the bees have built 
wax up about half an inch above the frames, 
so as to raise the enamel cloth a good bee space 
above them Time after time have we removed 
these walls of wax, and time after time have the 
bees built them up again, telling us as plainly as 
possible that they will have the space above che 
frames. We believe this fact points to the de- 
sirability of always having a little space between 
any cover we use and the tops of the frames, for 
we have observed that those stocks that have 
done best in the brood chamber have been the 
most persistant in this practice. It has not been 
noticed at all where enamel coverings are placed 
over sections in supers, but it has in cases when 
such covers are put over frames in a super. It 
would seem desirable, therefore, to so arrange our 
mats or frame covers that a clear bee space is left 
between the top bars of the frames and whatever 
we use as a mat or cover. In the Hcddon hive 
this space is provided for between each compart- 
ment, and our experience of this form of hive 
during the past season has been much more 
favourable than it was last year. 
We adopted the enamel cloth covers this past 
season in all our hives, and with good results. 
They are cleaner than Hessian or bagging can- 
vas, they don’t worry the bees with loose fibre, 
and although some stocks gnaw the edges of the 
enamel cloth, this can be prevented by making 
the cover a little larger than the inside of the 
hive, so as to allow the cover or edge of the super 
to rest on it all round. 
©riginal Contributions. 
ABOUT QUEENS. 
( Continued from Page 54.) 
In our last number we spoke of the best method 
of catching queen’s, and cautioned our readers 
against keeping her long in the tube used for 
catching her, even if she he accompanied by some 
of her own bees, for although the cork which 
closes the end of the tube has been notched to 
admit air, there will not be sufficient circulation of 
it in the tube to keep the queen and attendants in 
good order for any length of time. If it is desired 
to keep the queen out of the hive for more than 
an hour or two she will have to be transferred to 
some sort of a cage made either wholly or in part 
of fine wire netting, and containing food. Several 
of such cages are described in most of our Bee 
Manuals,and the construction of our favourite one — 
Alley's — was fully explained in a former number. 
Placed in a properly constructed cage, with about 
a dozen of her own young bees, and plenty of food 
a queen can, with a little care, he kept alive and 
in a healthy condition for weeks, and if placed in 
a miniature hive with combs containing honey and 
a hundred or two of bees, she can be safely sent on 
a sea voyage lasting many weeks (if she be not 
exposed to extreme heat or cold), although such 
an ordeal does not improve her fertility. 
Queens, accompanied by a few of her own bees, 
are often sent by post from one place to another 
in cages supplied with food, and in this way we 
get queen’s from Adelaide, New Zealand or 
Sydney, and our bee-keepers in the country obtain 
Italian or other queen’s from agricultural dealers 
in town. 
A very convenient cage for sending queen’s by 
post is known as Benton’s cage, and is made from 
a piece of pine or willow 3^ long, 1 inch thick 
and 1 x /z wide; 3 holes I diameter, and bored 
almost through with a centre bit Two holes, one 
at one end and the other the centre one, are bored 
so close together that no partition is left between 
them, while the other end one is bored so as to 
leave a thin partition ; this hole is for the food, 
and an opening about inch wide must be made 
