BEE-spoke-data/bees-v0 huggingface dataset:
For an apiary of, say, two hundred colonies, two such tanks as the double tank illustrated would in most cases answer the purpose. There is a great advantage in dividing the tanks into compartments, so that the honey from each day's extracting may be left undisturbed until it has matured and is ready to run into tins. It is unwise to run two or three days' extracting into the same tank, as the frequent disturbance is against the honey maturing properly.
Figure 1: Double Honey-RIENING Tank. (Not drawn to scale.) Fig. 1 represents a honey-ripening tank, 6 ft. long, 4 ft. wide, and 20 in. deep, outside measurements, capable of holding about 1,250 lb. of honey in each compartment. It should be made of 1 in. timber, and lined with good stout tin.
In Figs. 1 and 2 the letters refer to the same parts. A, A, iron strengthening-rod, with screw-nut; B, B, batens 24 in. wide by l in. thick, against which the boards of the tank are nailed; C, C, honey cut-off taps.
The illustrations, so far as the measurements are concerned, represent the tanks in use at the Government experimental apariaries, and, in whatever size may be considered desirable, something near the same proportions are advisable, and at most not more than 24 in. deep.
## Appendix E E. W. Alexander's Honey-Tane.
The following illustration represents one of Mr. Alexander's honey-tanks, which is portable, and holds something near 5,000 lb., but, as l said before, he considers its depth too great.
## Appendix H Heating the Extracting-House at Night.
It has been suggested by experienced beekeepers that as the temperature frequently falls very low at night during the extracting season, causing the honey to partially crystallize prematurely in the tank, it would be advisable to adopt some means of keeping up the temperature on such occasions by artificial heat until the honey is matured, a suggestion I agree with. One of the modern oil-stoves would answer the purpose well, providing it does not cause a smell that would taint the honey, and the cost of heating would be very small.
Figure 2: Sectional View of Same.
REMARKS.
The object of the foregoing chapter is to bring about a condition of things generally whereby we shall have a reliable system for preparing and placing on the market our honey in its best form, in place of the haphazard imperfect manner in vogue among many beekeepers at the present time. Our most careful apiarists give this matter their greatest attention, but' every beekeeper should adopt a proper system, and so bring credit to himself and to the industry.
With regard to the remarks on ripening honey outside the hive, ne doubt some beekeepers will differ from them; but they should remember that what I have said is based not upon theory, but upon actual practical experience. It remains, however, for each individual beekeeper to please himself as to whether he will ripen his honey outside or inside the hive; but the question is of such vast economical importance in the matter of profit and less that it will be well for all to give both systems a trial and decide for themselves.
III. DEALING WITH THICK HONEY.
One of the few serious drawbacks beekeepers in certain districts have to contend with occasionally is thick honey--that is, honey that is too dense to extract from the combs in the ordinary way. \_ay " occasionally," because fortunately it is not met with every season, except, it may be, in apiaries situated near heavy bush, or where little else than flax or tea-tree abounds, in which case it would be folly to attempt to raise extracted honey.
Now and again beekeepers in the Waikato districts suffer considerable less, and are put to extra trouble through the storage of thick honey, although in the midst of clever country. The same occurs in a few other districts in the colony. There are some parts--netably, nearly the whole of the country north of Auckland--where the honey is continuously of so dense a nature that the honey-extractor is of ne use whatever. Such country is not suitable for bee-farming, as only comb-heney can be raised there, and the demand for this is limited, while it is too fragile to be sent to distant markets with profit.
Flora from which thick Honey is gathered.
It is still an open question with many of the Waikato beekeepers, as to the particular flora from which the thick honey is gathered, but I am inclined to the opinion of one of the oldest and most experienced apiarists in the district--Mr. Joseph Karl--that it is gathered from teatree blossoms. There are two varieties of this plant--one known as "red "' tea-tree, from the colour of the wood, and the other "white." They frequently grow together, and the blossoms are much alike in appearance, but a difference can be distinguished on close inspection. I have seen the hive-bee working on the "red " variety, but never on the white--the little native bee works on the latter. In warm, dryish seasons--what may be termed good clover seasons--there is no trouble with thick honey, but in wet, unfavourable seasons, like that of 1906-7 in the Waikato, the difficulty is very serious, owing, no doubt, to the clover yielding very little honey and the bees being forced to the tea-tree or other forage. Waikato beekeepers may console themselves with the fact that the tea-tree scrub is rapidly disappearing from the country, and clover pastures taking its place.
Making the best of the DIFFICULTY.
For the benefit of the many beekeepers who meet with the same drawback, I will describe the practice followed by Mr. G. S. Pearson, of Hamilton, Waikato, president of the Waikato beekeepers' Association, which is that generally followed in the district.
The storing of thick honey commences early in the season, but ceases as soon as the weather is favourable for gathering clover honey. Should this latter condition not come about, the first continues and gives trouble. Should there be a comparatively small quantity of thick honey stored, but more than is needed for immediate use as food, the combs when sealed are removed and stored away for the bees' future use, every particle of extractable honey is taken from the hives to the end of the season, and the thick honey returned for winter stores. Should, however, there be more of the latter than can be utilised in this way, as there frequently is, it is put through the honey-press.
H O N E Y P R E S S.
(See Plate VI.)
Mr. Pearson's press is similar to those in general use in the Waikato. It is, as can be seen, an ordinary single cheese-press of the latest design, with screw and compound lever, fitted up for the purpose required.
The "receiver," into which the honey runs as the combs are pressed (shown at bottom of Fig. 2), is 2012 in. square and 6 in. deep, outside
1V. DISEASES OF BESS AND THEIR TREATMENT.
The hive-bee (_Apis mellifera_), like all other animals, especially those under domestication, is subject to several diseases, some fortunately of minor importance. The most injurious are those which attack and destroy the brood, thus preventing the normal development of young bees, and of which, when allowed to run their course, the inevitable result is the rapid decline and ultimate extermination of the colonies affected.
FOUL-BROOD.
The most pernicious of bee-diseases is what we know as "' foil-brood " (_Bacillus alvei_), a germ disease of a very infectious nature, and only too familiar to the majority of beekeepers. It is, without doubt, the greatest drawback to successful bee-culture known at the present time, and seems to be prevalent in all countries where bee-culture is followed.
Historical.
Without delving into the history of foil-brood deeply, it may be mentioned that Aristotle mentions some bee-disorders in his works on husbandry, and it is quite likely that he was familiar with this disease. Schirach seems to have known it well, for in his "' History of Bees " (1769) he gave it the name of "' foil-brood " (" Bacteria of the Apiary "). It has occupied the attention of a number of investigators at different times, with the view of discovering its cause and cure, but hitherto with comparatively small results, though some headway has been made of late in checking and curing it by careful treatment. It is quite possible that the disease was not so troublesome in former times as now, as the facilities for its spreading were few compared with what they have been during the last thirty years. The trade in bees and queens that has accompanied the expansion of modern bee-culture, and their consequent transportation from district to district, and from country to country, is accountable, no doubt, for the universal extent of its ravages at the present time. When or where it first made its appearance in New Zealand is not known so far as I am aware, but I do know that foil-brood was very prevalent in some districts--notably in Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, and Poverty Bay--before 1880.
## Chapter 4 Current Investigations.
The Department of Agriculture of the United States of America is taking the lead and carrying out a great work just now in the investigation of bee-diseases. At the latter part of 1906 the Department issued a pamphlet of some forty - five pages, entitled "The Bacteria of the Apiary," in which some startling announcements were made, quite upsetting the results of many previous investigations. The statements were challenged by some able men, and this has put the American authorities on their mettle, with the good result that they are now prosecuting their investigations more thoroughly than ever, and, whatever may be the outcome of them, the bekeeping world must benefit more or less.
### State Legislation.
The economic value of the beekeeping industry is being generally recognised in all countries, and the knowledge of the losses sustained through the disease has caused an energetic movement in the direction of stamping it out if possible, or, at all events, to bring it more under control. The good resulting from the action of the Canadian Government in this respect has given a great impetus to legislation on the same lines in other countries. The necessity for forcing careless beekeepers to either stamp out the disease from their apiaries or give up beekeeping is now recognised everywhere, including New Zealand, where foul-brood in the past has caused incalculable loss from one end of the colony to the other.
### 4.1 Stmptoms of Foul-brood.
As the treatment is the same in either case, we need not feel concerned as to any distinction of germs, or whether we have in New Zealand the European or the American foul-brood. Experienced beekeepers know our own disease when they see it, and that is sufficient at present. The following description of the symptoms is given for the benefit of beginners :--
Healthy brood in the larva stage--that is, before it is sealed or capped--presents a clear yearly whiteness, but when attacked by foul-brood it rapidly changes to light buff, then to brown, coffee-and-milk colour, and finally to black, at which stage nothing is to be seen in the oell but a flattish scale-like substance when examined closely. It is, however, when the brood has been attacked after it has advanced to the pupa period of its existence--that is, when it has been capped over--that the novice is better able to detect the presence of foul-brood.
In the early stage of an attack a capped cell here and there will appear somewhat different from the surrounding healthy brood. Instead of the cappings or seals being bright, full, and of convex form, characteristic of healthy brood, they will be of a dull blackish-brown colour, and flat or sunken (see Plate II), an indication that the cells contain dead pupe. The disease rapidly spreads to surrounding cells and combs, if allowed to take its course, till finally no brood can hatch, and the colony succumbs. On opening some of the cells a thin glue-like coffee-coloured mass will benotice.1, which on the insertion of a splinter of wood will adhere to the point, and can be drawn rope-like for some little distance out of the cells. This is one of the most distinctive features of foil-brood, and where present is generally considered conclusive of the disease. Later on this glue-like substance dries up into the before-mentioned black scale-like body.
Other symptoms are ''pin-holes'' and ragged perforations in the cappings of the cells, clearly shown in Plates III and IV, and a very disagreeable smell resembling that of heated glue or tainted meat, which can be sometimes detected at some yards away from a badly infected hive, especially in close weather. The characteristic odour cannot easily be detected in the earliest stages, even when an infected comb is placed close to the nose, but some slight difference can be noticed between that and healthy comb at all times.
Treatment of Foul-brood.
Treatment by drugs, so prominent at one time, has all but universally been abandoned as useless. Mr. S. Simmons, a well-known English bekeeper and the author of ''A Modern Bee-farm,'' still swears by the Izal treatment, but after giving it a thorough trial at the Ruakura Apiary in the season of 1906-7, my assistants reported that it utterly failed to cure, but, like other well-known drugs, it seemed to check it a little. Except for disinfecting hives and appliances, I do not recommend the use of drugs in the apiary.
The Starvation Cure.
The so-called ''starvation'' method for treatment of foil-brood or brood-diseases is now recognised as the most effective, and has been universally adopted by leading beekeepers. Where the disease is so far advanced as to have left few bees in the colony, then it will be safest to destroy everything that has been in contact with it by fire : '' tinkering '' with such a colony would be both useless and dangerous.
Treatment may be successfully undertaken at any time when honey is being freely stored. When going through the hives in spring make a note of those showing signs of diseased combs (which are readily detected at that time), for treatment later on, and be very careful that robbing is not started. When the honey season has set in, keeping the bees busy, treatment should begin. All operations in this connection should be carried out in the evening, when the bees are quiet.
Prepare a clean hive and bottom board with narrow starters of comb-foundation in the frames. Remove the infected hive and stand to one side, and put the prepared one in its place, prop up the front about an inch, lay a sack near the entrance, and shake and brush the bees as quietly as possible close to the entrance, and when finished remove every veatige of the infected hive away where bees cannot get at it. The combs, if not too badly infected, may be melted into wax, or, if insufficient in quantity for that purpose, they, with their frames, had better be burned right away and the ashes buried. The hive, bottom board, and cover,if sound and worth saving, should be cleaned and thoroughly disinfected with a strong solution of carbonic acid or izal.
On the evening of the fourth day following, the necessary number of frames for the hive should be furnished with full sheets of comb-foundation, to be exchanged with those the bees have been working on. This can be done by removing the frames one at a time, shaking the bees back into the hive, and inserting the others. The comb built on the starters during the four days may be cut out and melted up, and the frames disinfected.
The theory of this treatment is that during their four days' comb-building the bees use up all the infected honey contained in their honey-sacs when taken from their old hive, so that when shifted again at the end of the four days they start clean.
After-Inspection.
In from three to four weeks, when the new brood begins to emerge, keep a look-out for any suspicious-looking brood-cells, and if any are seen cut them out at once, together with the adjoining cells. "Eternal vigilance" should be the watchword of every beekeeper'who hopes to keep down disease.
To prevent Swarming out.
On rare occasions colonies swarm out during treatment, but this is not likely to occur when honey is being gathered freely. It can be guarded against by eaging the queen for a few days, or by giving a wide entrance and placing queen-excluding zinc across.
Saving Healtht Broad.
When several colonies are to be treated and there is a large quantity of healthy brood in the combs, put a queen-excluding zinc honey-board over the frames of one of the least-affected hives, and put all the healthy brood above this to emerge. When this has been accomplished remove everything and treat the colony in the manner advised. The zinc prevents the queen making use of the affected combs while the brood is emerging
Autumn Treatment.
When it is desired to treat colonies in the autumn _after brood-rearing has ceased_, just put the bees into clean hives provided with ample winter stores in the shape of frames of honey from clean colonies. The disease is not likely to reappear.
Feeding and Disinfecting.
In all cases when treatment is going on and honey is not being stored freely, feed sugar-syrup liberally after shifting the bees on the fourth day. Mix half a pint of water with each pound of sugar used, stir well, and bring it to the boil; when cool it is ready. Always feed within the hive and in the evening.
Be sure to remove out of the way of the bees, and disinfect or burn, everything used during the operations of treatment; and a solution of izal should be kept for disinfecting the hands, knives, &c., after handling an infected colony. Directions are given on the bottles, and the solution will not harm the skin.
Young Queens.
There can be little doubt that bees from young vigorous queens can better cope with disease than those bred from aged and weak mothers. It is therefore advisable to change the queens at the time of or shortly after treatment if those in the affected hives are not up to the mark; in any case it is profitable to do so if young queens can be obtained.
The following interesting items bearing upon foul-brood are taken from the ''Summary'' of the author of ''The Bacteria of the Apiary'':--
1. There are a number of diseased conditions which affect the apiary. 2. The disease which seems to cause the most rapid loss to the apiarist is European*() foul-brood, in which is found _Bacillus alvei_--first isolated, studied, and named by Cheshire and Cheyne in 1885. 3. The distribution of _Bacillus alvei_ in the affected hive is as follows:--
(_a._) The greatest number of infecting germs are found in the bodies of dead larvae. (_b._) The pollen stored in the cells of the foul-brood combs contains many of these infecting organisms. (_c._) The honey stored in brood-combs infected with this disease has been found to contain a few bacilli of this species. (_d._) The surface of combs, frames, and hives may be contaminated. (_e._) The wings, head, legs, thorax, abdomen, and intestinal contents of adult bees were found contaminated with _Bacillus alvei_. (_f._) _Bacillus alvei_ may appear in cultures made from the ovary of queens from European() foul-brood colonies, but the presence of this species suggests contamination from the body of queen while cultures are being made, and has no special significance.
OTHER DISEASES.
The following description of symptoms of other diseases than foul-brood is taken partly from ''The Bacteria of the Apiary,'' published in 1906 by the United States Department of Agriculture, and partly from ''The Brood Diseases of Bees,'' by Dr. E. F. Phillips, of the same Department:--
''I have queried this word, because there is a good deal of doubt at present as to the correctness of differentiating the disease common in Europe from that found in America,--I.H.
PickLE-BROOD.
"There is a diseased condition of the brood called by beekeepers'pickle-brood,' but practically nothing is known of its cause. It is characterized by a swollen watery appearance of the larvae, usually accompanied by black colour of the head. The larvae usually lie on their backs in the cell, and the head points upward. The colour gradually changes from light yellow to brown after the larva dies. There is no ropiess, and the only odour is that of sour decaying matter, not at all like that of American foul-brood. In case the larvae are capped over, the cappings do not become dark, as in the case of the contagicus diseases, but they may be punctured. So far no cause can be given for this disease, and whether or not it is contagious is a disputed point. Usually no treatment is necessary beyond feeding during a dearth of honey, but in very rare cases when the majority of larvae in a comb are dead from this cause the frame should be removed and a clean comb put in its place to make it unnecessary for the bees to clean out so much dead brood."
CHILLED, Overheated, and Starved Brood.
"Many different external factors may cause brood to die. Such dead brood is frequently mistaken, by persons unfamiliar with the brood diseases, for one or the other of them. Careful examination will soon determine whether dead brood is the result of disease or merely some outside change. If brood dies from chilling or some other such cause, it is usually soon carried out by the workers, and the trouble disappears. No treatment is necessary. Brood which dies from external causes often produces a strong odour in the colony, but wholly unlike that of American foul-brood--merely that of decaying matter. The colour of such brood varies, but the characteristic colours of the infectious diseases are usually absent, the ordinary colour of dead brood being more nearly grey."
PALST or PARALYSIS.
"The disease known to apiarists as palsy or paralysis attacks adult bees. The name is suggestive of the symptoms manifested by the diseased bees. A number of bees affected were received from apiaries in New York State in 1903; bacteriological examinations were made, and several species of bacteria were isolated and some experimental inoculations made, but no conclusions as to the cause of this disorder could be drawn from the results obtained.
"From a study of the normal flora of the bee it was soon found that there were quite a number of species of bacteria present. This fact stimulated a study of the normal flora... From this point the work can be carried on with the hope that if the disease has a bacterium as an etiological factor it may be found."V. THE LARGE BE OR WAX MOTH (_Galleria mellonella,_ Linn).
The first intimation of this moth's presence in New Zealand was when Messrs. H. Betts and Son, of Okaiawa, near Mount Egmont, in the early part of 1904, sent me some larvae or grubs found in their hives, and which were strange to them. I had no difficulty in recognising them as the grubs of the large wax-moth, having seen them previously in boxes of bees imported from Italy. It is quite likely the eggs or grubs of the moth may have reached here from Australia with bees, as it is known that the moth has been plentiful there for more than a quarter of a century.
When going through the Egmont district in March, 1905, I discovered the moths in three different apiaries a considerable distance apart, showing that they were spreading. A beekeeper in the district, who had trouble with the moth when he commenced bekeeping and has since taken great interest in the matter, recently informed me that he had seen it in a good number of apiaries, but that it only causes trouble " in the cases of careless beekeepers, and where bees are kept in old box hives." He remarks, " Personally, I consider they can easily be kept under, but as long as we have careless beekeepers we shall have the large moth in Taranaki."
Where the Grubs may be found.
A favourite haunt of the grubs is on the top of the frames under the mat, or where there are two mats they will get in between them. In the daytime they apparently hide from the bees, and at night attack the combs; but when the colony becomes very weak the grubs show no such fear, and attack the combs at all times.
It is the larvae or grubs of the moth which prove so destructive to the combs, burrowing through them under the protection of strong silica galleries which they spin round themselves, secure from the bees as they advance in their work of destruction. Eventually the combs are completely destroyed, and fall, a mass of web and cocoons, to the bottom of the hive (see Plate V).
HABITS AND NATURAL HISTORY.