File:British bee journal and bee-keepers adviser (1900) (20228064700).jpg

Title: British bee journal & bee-keepers adviser
Identifier: britishbeejourna1900lond (find matches)
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors:
Subjects: Bees
Publisher: London
Contributing Library: UMass Amherst Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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July 5, 1900.) THE BRITISH BEE JOURNAL. 265 HOMES OF THE HONEY BEE. THE APIARIES OF OUR READERS. The rather quaint-looking apiary -which forms our bee-garden picture this week is that of Mr. Tonking, a very old reader of the B.J.; and, beyond welcoming its appearance in our pages, we need add nothing to the full notes wriltea at our request, as follows :— " I commenced bee-keepiog early in the seventies, by purchasing a akep of the ordi- nary English black bees. After increasing stocks for a few years, and also improving my knowledge, both by practical experience from the bees and theory by reading the Bee Journal soon after its first issue in 1873, I adopted a more modern hive by using Messr.». " This district, although favoured with mild and early springs, doesn't produce early swarms. It may surprise you when I say that this year, on June 17, I hived the first swarm of the season. Sunday, toa, is the favourite day, even in Cornwall. I do all I can to prevent swarming, only having about a dozen in four years. All my stocks were iu good form after the past winter, and most of them began filling sections and tupers in May, but the principal source of surplus is from the clover and limes. Towards the end of the season, however, in August, a pleasant flavour is imparted to the honey then gathered from the wild thyme. My worst year was in 1879, when the continued wet prevented the bees from storing enough to feed themselves. How-
Text Appearing After Image:
MR. P. TOUKIN's APJARY, PADSTOW, north CORNWALL. Neighbour's well-known round straw hive with flat top fitted with slides for supering. Some of these I still use for bell-glasses, square boxes, &c., and from these supers I can get liquid honey of first quality. My first bar-frame hive was got after visiting one of our bee shows in connection with the Corn- wall Agricultural Society's Show, and now, you will observe, I have a fair number of them. " A few years afterwards I got a Ligurian queen and introduced her into one of the colonies, and although that was early in the eighties, one can often see well-marked bees of the Ligurian strain even now. I think the bees, since the introduction of new blood, have been more vigorous and umisaally quiet for handling. ever, in our good seasons we bee-keepers generally forget the bad, especially when a single stock yields as many as 134 1-lb. sec- tions of surplus, and yet retain enough to carry it through the winter. This was done by one of my hives in 1885. I work princi- pally fjr comb honey, and rarely extract, as it means too much labour. The Jubilee year of 1887 (although so good in general) was too dry for this neighbourhood, so the bees were only able to gather a small amount of surplus. The season of 1898 was above the average, and, strange to say, the honey here showed no sign of honey-dew. You will be pleased to hear that both honey- dew and foul brood are unknown in my apiary. The latter, no doubt, is often encouraged by

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