118 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Ave., 1902. 
Apiculture. 
THE APTIARY. 
By H. R. STEPHENS. 
The work this month in the apiary will consist mainly in seeing that, in the 
colder districts, the bees are sufficiently condensed to conserve warmth and 
that the food stores are ample to carry them into the warm spring, the dry 
weather prevalent having affected the yield of honey as well as that of other 
products. Just now is the proper time to overhaul all hives and appliances and 
to make new boxes and frames ready for September. Frames, as they are 
extracted, should be put carefully away in hives with the covers put on. The 
frames should be examined occasionally to see that the bee moth is not 
attacking them. The entrance to hives should also be contracted, where 
necessary, by some sort of guard. A useful guard is here illustrated— 
pooanuued 
eras aaoes | 
sencusses | 
The materials required are a piece of tin 14 inches by 7 inches, a {piece of 
bee zine 14 inches by 7 inches, and a few pieces of { by =%; inch pine. This 
guard, which also serves as a queen excluder and drone catcher, is then put 
together as shown in the sketch. 
POISON IN THA. 
The following letter was lately addressed to the editor of a West Austra- 
lian journal, which, however, will probably not have the slightest deterrent effect 
on such inveterate teadrinkers as Australian bushmen and farmers :—‘“ At a 
recent lecture given by Dr. D. H. Kress, at the Seventh Day Adventist Camp, 
on Lord street, the doctor said: A cup of tea contained more poison than an 
equal quantity of beer ; the theine or poisonous principle found in tea was more 
injurious to the nerve and brain than alcohol. In proof of this, he said that 
one cup of tea, as ordinarily made, contained two and one-half grains of theine, 
or sufficient to kill twenty frogs. Two cups contained five grains, and five 
grains would destroy a rabbit. Seven grains of theine found in three cups of 
tea would kill a cat, in spite of the proverbial nine lives. He affirms that the 
stimulation produced by tea is intoxication, the same as by whisky or beer. If 
this is true, would it not be well to organise an anti-tea crusade? More tea is 
consumed in Australasia than in any other country in the world. I have deter- 
mined, after listening to the learned doctor, that as for me and my house we 
will drink no more tea.” 
