THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
S7 
readers of the Bee Journal how I have got on 
since. I should have written sooner, but when 
the bees had the swarming mania I could not find 
time to do so. On Monday, Sept, to, I pro- 
ceeded by train to Dunkeld, and from thence 
walked to the range on purpose to mark out the 
site for my future residence, and workshop. 
I remained there a day on purpose to get the 
ground ready for the hives. The following Fri- 
day, Sept, the 14th, I went there again with the 
first lot of stocks. 11 in number. It was a very 
warm day, and although I had the hives secured 
to the best of my knowledge, no sooner were the 
hives on the lorry, and the wheels were crossing 
some rough metal, than some of the joints in the 
oldest hives opened just wide enough to permit 
the escape of bees. They embraced such an 
opportunity, and let the driver and the horses 
know that they did not want to be served like 
that. The horses had to be taken out. the bees 
unloaded, better secured, and put into the railway 
truck. The Hamilton station-master, who al- 
ways was very kind, said to me before leaving, 
“ At Dunkeld this truck goes to the good shed, 
and then you may unload the bees at your leisure. ” 
But this did not come true, for when the train 
arrived there, the guard said to me “ I am going 
to take this truck on, so you better get your bees 
out as quick as you can.' 1 What could I do but 
to obey orders. As the hives were in the truck 
nearest to the tender, I had to take them out at 
the far end of the platform and set them down 
until the train was gone, and when the lorry 
arrived lift them again, and carry them by myself 
all the way to the gates. But with the next lot 
I managed things differently. This was on Sept. 
19th. I took fourteen hives, and sent a telegram to 
B.B. Agent at Dunkeld, so that the lorry was at 
the gates at the artival of the train ; so this time 
I only took the hives out of the truck on to the 
lorry. On the 27th I took the last eleven and all 
went well. Oct. the 10th I had the first swarm. 
Oct. the 1 1 I had a swarm given to me which I 
hived and took home to the Company's Apiary 
Tuesday, Oct 16th, I had the first Cyprian swarm 
from hive No. 27. Tuesday, the 1 8th, I com- 
menced burning up the scrub, to save ourselves 
from bush fires. Friday, burning still. When 
inspecting the bees I found the ants were very 
troublesome, and were tormenting the bees. The 
ground here is literally covered with large black 
ants. 1 was in great anxiety what was best to be 
done to get rid of them. I found that I had at 
once to dispense wi'h the alighting board, and to 
paint the projecting part of the floor board with 
tar on the lower edge ; indeed the ants took me 
almost more time than the bees. I made great 
fires on ihe ant hill, b t all to no purpose. At 
last I got hold of a good thing, and I destroyed 
millions of them in this wise. I got some lot*e 
bark from the messmate trees, and thoroughly 
saturated it with kerosene, then I put my big top 
boots on, and gave them a thick coat of Stock- 
holm tar. Now I went to the ant hill, and 
trampled on it to get them all out of their domicile 
until the ground was quite Mack with ants. 
This done I threw down the bark and put a 
match to it, and when they wanted to make their 
escape, wi h an iron rake I drew the flames over 
them. By this method I killed a great many, but 
still they remain very troublesome, and my firm 
conviction is that they will have to be extirpated 
altogether. Some of the natural swarms put me 
to a great deal of trouble ; for as the hill on 
which the apiary is is entirely denuded of timber, 
whenever a swarm issues it crosses the fence and 
moves in the direction of Mt. Sturgeon. At times 
they fly so high that I can only follow them by 
the s und. On October the 26th I had just hived 
a swarm, then went to dinner. I had only just 
sat down when I heard the noise like bees swarm- 
ing near the door. I looked out. and there they 
were whirling round and round, and as they 
could not find a tree or shrub suitable to cluster 
on, they after some deliberation settled on a big 
limb of a very tall giant messmate tree in the far 
corner of the fence, but so high that I could not 
reach them. Several efforts to break down the 
limb with a long hook I have got for that purpose 
were in vain. The only safe way to get at this 
swarm was to cut down the bough. So I set to 
work, but it was a very dangerous job, yet I 
succeeded in this way. Assoon as this part began 
to crack I descended quickly, and was quite safe 
on ‘‘terra firma ” when the actual crash took 
place. In several instances I had to cut down 
limbs and even whole trees to secure an abs- 
conding swarm. One day I had a beautiful 
swarm of cyprians take to the bush. I pursued it 
until it settled, but in too dangerous a position for 
a man of my age to climb. A neighb ur of mine 
happened to pass that way, and noticing in what a 
dilemma I was, he very obligingly said to me 
“ You get me an axe, I will get that swarm for 
you very quick.” I brought the axe, he climbed 
the tree, but had oidy put two cuts into the bark 
when a bee stung him on the nose. Down he 
threw the axe. and he also was very quick down 
on mother earth. We again employed the hook 
but on account of the sudden jerk the bees do not 
fall to the ground but into the air, and therefore 
remain on the wing still and settle in some other 
place. This one swarm engaged me ami my 
friend for several hours, and yet w ■ did not get it. 
At last another thought struck me, of something I 
read in a German bee journal sum- years ago. but 
had never Hied it. I went to a hive, got a frame 
with comb, tied it to a long pole, and held it just 
above the cluster, and in less than five minutes I 
ha I the whole swarm so securely settled that I 
could put it into a hive. I came in this locality 
during the middle o£ the month of September 
with 34 hives. I lost several from various causes, 
increased to 54, and have up to date extracted 
only about t6oo lb. I believe there would have 
been much more had l been able to put on supers 
in lime, but as the Company started too late there 
were no funds available to get the necessary 
supplies, as hives, etc. The pa.s'urage here is 
exceedingly good, and the honey very rich. The 
first honey in particular, which was gathered 
chiefly from the grevillia silicifolia and the 
Xanthorea, was of a very spicy flavour but of 
pinkish colour, but the honey we take now is 
amber colour, and almost too thick to be extracted. 
Eucalypti have been in flower since Oc'ober, 
