Page:Bee-Culture Hopkins 2nd ed revised Dec 1907.pdf/22



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 tea-tree 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.

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.

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 20½ in. square and 6 in. deep, outside