BEE = CULTURE. 
Advice to Beginners. 
ss 
By Isaac Hopkins, Apiarian, in Bulletin 
18 of N.Z Department of Agriculture. 
J. INTRODUCTORY. 
(Continued from previous issue). 
—Cadetship.— 
Where it can be managed, the very 
pest course for a young person intending 
to adopt beekeeping as a business is to go 
asa cadet for a season with some successful 
bee-farmer, beyinning the season in Sep- 
tember, when the bees are being prepared 
for the first of the honey-flow, and con- 
tinuing till the honey has been prepared 
for market in the following autumn. Any 
young person with intelligence and 
application should be able to gain such: a 
practical knowledge of the work as would. 
enable him or her to start, confident of 
avoiding the mistakes usual in all new 
undertakings. I cannot speak too 
- strongly of the value of such a course of 
‘aining. 1 have already been able to 
peaeticelly carry out’ this system with 
excellent results'to both parties, and I 
hope before long to bring'it largely into 
practice. ~ Eve’ : ba ne ati 
—The Honey to Raise.— 
We have different grades of honey in 
New Zealand, most of it of a superior 
quality; but undoubtedly the best from a 
consumer’s point of . view, and for 
marketing purposes, 18 that gathered from 
‘white clover, Much of our bush honey 
i and preferred by some for its 
roe gue bat what the bee-farmer 
must consider is the most saleable and 
profitabe to produce. The answer to that 
unquestionably is, * Clover honey.’ It is 
true that the output of an aplary i a 
purely clover district is likely to fall below 
that of one in a mixed flora or bush dis- 
trict, but the difference 1m’ quantity will 
be more than made up by the better 
prices obtained. I therefore recommend 
the raising of white-clover honey as being 
the best in every respect. 
—Profits in Beekeeping.— 
- It is but reasonable that the prospective 
bee-farmer should want to know the pro- 
pable profits attached to the business, 
consequently I am frequently asked the 
question. I realise that it is necessary to 
be very cautious in replying, and to guard 
against a wrong impression, which might 
easily lead to disappointment and loss. 
All industries require the combination 
of three elements—capital, labour, and 
skill—and, although beefarming cannot 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
be carried on without the aid of the first 
two, it mainly depends upon the skill of 
the apiarist what the profits will be. IJt 
would be easy for me to show some sur- 
prising results that have been reached in 
New Zealand, but it would be dangerous 
to quote these.as a measure of success or 
failure in all cases, As an estimate 
however, I may state that from a well- 
conducted apiary, in an average good 
district, the net profits per colony of bees 
should reach from 17s. to £1 per annum 
through a number of successive seasons, 
and this estimate I consider well within 
the mark. 
It is a rule, without exception, in bee- 
keeping that with largely increased 
operations, and the establishment of out- 
apiaries, the average profit per hive 
diminishes, though the aggregate profits 
may be very much larger. No doubt this 
may be accounted for by the inability of 
the apiarist to give each individual colony 
so large a shure of attention. 
—Beekeeping Combined with Other 
Pursuits — 
The old adage, which warns us against 
putting all our eggs into one basket is 
especially relevant to beekeeping. I al- 
ways recommend, when asked, the com- 
bining of somv other occupation with 
bee-culture for the first few years, so that 
there may be another source of income in 
the event of a bad season or two. If in 
after-years the beekeeper finds it more 
profitable to devote the whole of his time 
to bee-farming, well and good, but when 
in a comparatively small way the ‘slack 
time between the’ seasons affords ample 
time for doing other work, Fruit-growing 
or poultry-farmihg, or both, work well 
with beekeeping. ‘In my first taking. up 
bee-culture, over thirty years ago,’ | com- 
bined fruit-growing with it, and found 
them work together very well indeed. “I 
am frequently asked about dairying and 
beefarming; I cannot recommend ‘ this 
combination unless the dairying is on a 
very small scale indeed, for I think the 
wearing life of a dairyman is against his 
being able to pay close attention to any- 
thing else. 
(Lo be continuad ) 
Action of Bees upon Fruit 
Blossoms. 
Much interesting information as to the 
action of bees upon fruit blossoms has 
been collected in what has now become a 
standard work of reference for apiarists— 
Root’s‘A.B.C. of Beekeeping.’ According 
to evidence collected by a committee of the 
Canadian House of Assembly, the offices 
performed by bees in the fertilisation of 
friut bloom are indispensable. If the 
weather should be wet and cold so that 
they cannot perform this function, very 
little fruit is gathered later in the season, 
39 
It was noticed by one observer, in an 
apple orchard exposed to both north and 
south winds, that in a season when, for 
several days, strong southerly winds pre- 
vailed, so that the bees could not work on 
the exposed side of the rows, very little 
fruit was subsequently gathered from the 
branches on that side, while those on the 
other were well loaded In greenhouses, 
where early cucumbers are grown, it is 
always necessary to have one or two hives 
of bees to fertilise the flowers. Many 
experiments have been made to ascertain 
the result of preventing bees and other 
insects from having access to fruit trees 
when they are blooming, as by attempting 
to grow peaches under glass, and covering 
pears, apples, and plums with netting or 
cheesecloth in such a way that insects were 
excluded. In one instance, Professor 
Cook, of the Michigan Agricultural College 
found that of the covered blossoms of 
some apples only 2 per cent. developed 
fruit, while 20 per cent. of the uncovered 
blossoms matured, With pears none of 
the covered blossoms developed, and with. 
cherries 3 per cent of the covered blossoms 
and 40 per cent. of the uncovered 
developed, Many varieties of pears 
planted at a distance from others would 
be utterly barren but for the bees, while 
they cannot be profitably grown unless 
others from which they can be cross- 
fertilised are placed near them. Unfor- 
tunately, the spraying of trees when in 
blossom is very destructive of:bees. It is 
also injurious to the flowers themselves, 
the poison ordinarily used proving harmful 
to the pollen,’ and hurting the delicate 
organs of the flowers. Indeeds in a num- 
ber of the states’ of the American unign— 
whete the apiarists must be a much more 
important and self-assettive body of men 
than they are with us—it is a misdemean- 
our to spray during blooming time. But 
every well-informed orchardist is aware 
that to get the best'results spraying should 
be deferred until the petals have ‘com- 
menced to fall. : h 
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