April 1, 1909 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
BEE =-CULTURE. 
Advice to Beginners. 
By Isaac Hopkins, Apiarian, in Bulletin 
18 of N.Z. Department of Agriculture, 
(Continued from last Issue.) 
1Jl. WHEN AND HOW TO START 
BEEKEEPING. 
The best time for a beginner to start is 
in spring er early summer; he should 
er commence in the autumn, except 
nev 
under the guidance of a practical 
man. The outlay in the first instance 
should not exceed, say, £7, and this 
amount should furnish an ample outfit of 
bees and hives for any beginner. The 
only exception to this would be where he 
or she had served a season as a cadet 
previously to commenci g. ‘Go slow’ 
should be a maxim for all Leginners. I 
have known of many (lisappointments and 
losses through acting contrary to this 
advice. The hives should be on hand in 
the early spring, and arrangements should 
have been made with seme neighbouring 
beekeeper for a couple of early swarms 
which should not weigh less than 5 lb 
each. ‘here are approximately five 
thousand bees to the pound, so that a 5 
contains about twenty-five 
Ib swarm 
thousand bees. 
against buying bees in box hives, as the 
novice cannot judge whether they are 
diseased or not. Go to a reliable bee- 
farmer, if possible, and arrange fir 
swarms; a good swarm is presumably free 
I must warn beginners 
from disease, otherwise the colony could 
not have thrown it off. Take the advise 
of the person you arrange with, and let 
him bring and hive the swarms for you, if 
possible, as it will give you a lesson in 
handling bees. 
—Start with Commen Bees.— 
Common bees being the least expensive 
it is advisable to start with them, and 
after experience has been gained it is easy 
enough at any time to italianise the 
_ part of every meal. 
apiary on economical lines by purchasing 
queens only. 
—Raising Seclion- Honey — 
The beginner should commence by 
raising comb honey in 1 1b. sections; no 
extractor will then be necessary. The 
manufacturers’ catalogue will guide you 
in selecting the hive, “Any of the standard 
works contains instructions for 
working the hives to the best advan- 
tage. 
— Beginner’s Outfit.— 
The following appliances (with their 
approximate prices) are all that are 
needed to coimmence with:—One hive 
with two half-stories fer raising comb- 
honey, made up and painted, £1/2/0; one 
case of 3 ditto in flat, £2/1/5; 6 lb. ot 
medium broad foundation comb 16/; 
2 1b. thin section foundation comb 6/ one 
bee-smoker, 4/6; one bee-veil, 2/; tct J, 
£4/11/0. 
The expenses of carriage and the cost 
of two swarms would swell the total 
amount to about the sum stated—viz > 
£7. 
Some Use for Honey. 
It is but rarely that we see honey on 
the table as regularly as jam; yet it is far 
healthier food than the latter. Take the 
following from the ‘British Beekeepers 
Review’ on ‘Honey as a Food and 
Medicine’: —The 
lived advised his son to eat of honey, be- 
cause it is good’; and Democritus, who 
wisest man that evr 
liv d to beacentenarian, aitributed his 
freedom from illness and his prolonged 
life to partaking of honey as a regular 
Just lately we heard 
of a young lady, whose hfe was despaired 
of by the doctors, being spared, and 
recovering by the regular use of honey as 
a food Scientists inform us that honey 
contains almost all the requirements of 
life-supporting food, added to which it 
requires little or no digestion. We are 
also informed that its use helps the 
intestines and the kidneys in performing 
their special functions. For growing 
children who crave for sweets, nothing 
better than honey could be given. Ma- 
al 
homet discovered this important truth 
before he wrote the Koran, where he 
speaks of honey as ‘this sweet who'esome 
substance, which sustains and strengthens 
the body, which cures all] maladies, a 
thousand times preferable to the poisons 
administered by the doctor to the human 
race.’ Recently a doctor declared that 
he cured several cases of 
constipation by the steady use of honey, 
prescribing no other medicine. 
of nervous disorders it has 
stubborn 
In cases 
been long 
recognised as a good ton’c. Cuts, scratches. 
sinall wounds, chips, scalds, burns, and. 
many similar small ills have beon cured by 
an application of honey, or a salve in 
which honey formed the chief ingredient. 
Colds, coughs, sors throats, asthmatic 
irritation are frequently treated with 
honey. Bronchitis has been, if not cured 
at least greatly relieved by its free. 
use. Many very palatable drinks can be. 
made from honey, and in hot summer 
weather no better use can be found for oa 
honey than converting some of it into a 
cooling and refreshing drink. Honey 
biscuits are pleasant eating, and should. 
find a place on every tea table. Honey 
sweets have an agreeable and appetising 
effect on the palate. Honey vinegar is 
the best and most pleasant form in which. 
this bitter relish can be found. 
The local Government has been asked 
to compel fruit-growers to clean their 
orange and lemon trees of red scale. 
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