THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
150 
feeding every other spring (from October to Janu- | 
ary), liees in boxes will suffer in the coming 
spring if not fed and well cared for, for I am con- 
fident one half the bees are lost in this district, 
that is, they die or desert their hives after being 
deprived of their comb, through the neglect of 
their master. 
Donald Campbell, 
Black Ranges, 
Stawell, July 8, 1889. 
STEWART'S RANGE APIARY. 
My last report was dated July, 188S, and stated 
that the bees were busy on the head-flowering gums 
This tree continued in bloom till December and 
yielded a large supply of honey. I had brought 
out here 32 colonies in splendid order, and these 
increased to 70 by the end of the swarming, which 
kept in full swing from 21st October to end of 
November. The reason they were so late starting 
to swarm was because I started extracting on 
October 1st and did so every week till end of 
December, up to which date I had extracted two 
tons of honey, The reaction set in then, and there 
was no honey coming in at all. January, February. 
March, and April were all famine months, and 
although I fed liberally stocks began to dwindle, 
and I found that in order to get the usual May 
honey — that of the honeysuckle — I should have to 
unite. This I did. uniting down to 32 colonies — 
the original number. I moved all these up into 
the range right in the midst of the Banksias, but 
despite my trouble May proved no better than the 
four preceding months, and I had to cover up the 
bees warm for the winter. I notice that the bees 
are working well this month, and as flowers are 
very abundant next spring may prove better. Last 
season I got 4 tons from 12 to 32 colonies, this 
season only 2 tons from 32 to 70 colonies. 
F. Price, 
Proprietor. 
people who are already in are anxious to get out 
again. Two of the fraternity have recently 
offered me their farms at a low price. In 1887-8 
we got a first-rate season — everyone had a crop — 
but there was no market, or lather the market 
was glutted. Good strained honey was hard to 
sell at a penny per lb., and extracted only brought 
two pence. The season just gone there was pre- 
cious little honey at all, and as there was a very 
large quantity being held from previous seasons, 
prices did not rise sufficiently to recompense the 
producers. My own crop for 1887-8 was seven- 
teen tons extracted and twenty-two thousand sec- 
tions, probably the largest that has been harvested 
in Australia; in 1888-9 I got eleven tons extracted 
honey and no sections — one farm of 200 hives 
not giving half-a-ton. Suppose that this farm 
had belonged to a beginner, it would probably 
have “ shut him up.” This is not a particularly 
bright picture, and I am sure that many bee- 
keepers could show a worse one if they felt 
inclined, so that, as I said before, I do not see 
any justification for putting such glowing accounts 
before the public. I have no axe to grind in this 
matter as I am both a supply and honey dealer 
myself. 
MAJOR SHALLARD. 
Blue Mountain Bee Farm. 
Glenbrook, N.S. W. 
®0rr£5p0!ti!£ttCf. 
MISLEADING REPORTS. 
To the Editor of the Australian Bee-keepers' 
Journal. 
I notice in your last number, page 132. that 
someone wants cost of setting up a 200-hive farm. 
The query naturally arises — Why ? Surely if he 
is so inexperienced as not to be able to figure it 
out for himself, he does not purpose starting one 
of that capacity ; but perhaps he wants to decide 
a wager, or get at what his own farm should fetch 
or — but never mind, he'll find it all out in good 
time. I notice Mr. Dickens says on p. 142 that 
from 300 to 400 lbs. per hive can be obtained in 
Victoria. I would much like to know where, I 
guess I would go there. I have seen three or 
four reports of the same nature in Victorian 
papers, and cannot see how they can lead to any 
good, except to supply dealers, whose object 
naturally would be to coax people into the busi- 
ness. On the other hand, from what I hear, 
WINTERING AND FEEDING. 
As I am just writing, I may as well point out a 
matter or two which appeared repeatedly in this 
journal, and may do more harm than good, to the 
effect that poor stocks should be examined and 
fed on syrup or candy in winter, &c. , if necessary. 
In not approving of these matters, I do not mean 
, to say that I would let the poor creatures die sooner 
than examine them in winter, but what I desire is 
this : — That every beekeeper should make it his 
rule to leave his stocks such quantity of honey, 
and prepare them in such conditions in the autumn 
that they need no examination nor feeding with 
syrup or candy during their winter’s rest. And 
that they shall not be suffered to swallow a syrup 
which may cause them stomach ache, while their 
keeper enjoys at his table then delicious nectar 
which he robbed from them ; let him eat the so 
well prepared and highly prized syrup or candy 
himself, he can stand such stuff much better than 
his bees, and if he suffers as his bees might, it 
serves him right. Above all: The inexperienced 
beekeeper, although knowing that his bees had a 
good store of honey in autumn, reading of the 
possibility of the bees stores falling short and too 
anxious for their wellfare, proceeds at once to 
make sure. He disturbes them unnecessarily, the 
heat escapes, more honey has to be consumed to 
replace it, and they feel as one does after being dis- 
turbed in his night’s sleep by a friend asking what 
time it is. Another again, without ascertain- 
ing whether his bees want feeding or not, not for 
fear of disturbing them, but for fear of being stung, 
and as anxious for the well-being of his bees as 
the former, mixes up some stuff, too thin to 
eat and too thick to drink, and shoves it into the 
hive, carrying with him the satisfaction that he 
