294, i QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Szpr., 1899. 
Bees—Vhere are two kinds of bees used in Queensland: the black, 
commonly called the English bee ; and the Italian bee. 
The Italian bee is reckoned by all the prominent beekeepers of America 
and Europe as the most useful one, the queen being very prolific, and the 
workers unsurpassable as honey-gatherers. They are easier managed, and less 
liable to diseases than other bees. They think nothing of killing the bee-moth, 
the only pest that Queensland beekeepers have to guard against. The diseases 
known as foulbrood and dysentery, which played such havoc in some American 
apiaries some years ago, are not found here. 
Although Queensland is so well adapted to the honey bee, the people, up to 
the present, haye not given apiculture the attention it deserves. The honey 
produced is second to none. 
FIRST STEPS IN BEE-KEEPING 
No. 1. 
By H. R. STEPHENS, 
Busy-Bee Apiary, Toowoomba. 
Ag a new season will soon be here, it behoves bee-men to be ready with sufficient 
hives, frames, &c., to provide for the increase of colonies which, where the bees 
have wintered well and have a prolific queen, soon results in early swarms. It 
is best to unite colonies that are weak at the end of the winter, keeping the 
better queen of the two—as bees should enter spring as strong as possible, to 
reap the advantages of early swarms and surplus honey. Those who contem- 
plate becoming bee-men, or women either, by keeping one or two hives for 
supplying their own households with honey, or as a business, should certainly 
make an early start in the spring. September is a good month to get a strong 
colony of bees in. A Langstroth hive, which has Ailes 8 or 10 frames—usually 
10—and a complete hive for extracted honey, consists of two exactly similar pine 
boxes, without either top or bottom, with a rebate at either end to hang the 
frames in. As some of my readers may wish to make the boxes for themselves, 
I will give the dimensions, which are—20% inches long, 16 inches wide, and 95 
inches deep, outside measurement; and the boards are $-inch thick, or Linch will 
do for making a hive or two, as the bees have no time to spend criticising the | 
house they occupy, and only require a simple construction for their welfare. A. 
flat or gable cover and _a bottom board, raised on cleats $-inch thick, to form an 
entrance, are also required. 
Between the two boxes, when in position, is placed a zine honey-board or 
queen excluder, the object of which is to prevent the queen going into the super 
and laying there, as also to keep the drones in the bottom hive, which is termed 
the brood nest, the upper one being the super or box in which surplus honey is 
stored. ‘The operation of examining bees in a frame hive with a super on is 
conducted as follows :—Lay the cover on the ground; then lift the super and 
lace on the cover, and, as the mat is on the top of the frames, the bees are kept 
pee troubling the operator whilst the lower hive is being examined. The next 
thing is to take off the excluder and put on one side; then lift out one of the centre 
frames, if it will come out easily. If not, a side frame, which usually contains 
honey, will have to be removed to make room. When you have a good frame 
of brood, look particularly for worker eggs, and generally note whether there is 
inuch drone brood, or at the proper time look for queen cells, as these imply 
swarms or loss of queen. It is not necessary to see the queen each time the 
hive is opened, as, if worker eggs are seen, a queen must have been present 
within the previous three days, as it takes that time for the egg to hatch. When 
examining your bees, it will save much trouble in lifting out the frames if the 
propolis and wax are cleaned off each time, and for this purpose a square- 
mouthed trowel, with about 2-inch sides, is very handy. 
