Cook Islands
p. 71 · Read in the full issue
Honey Possibilities In
From Our Mangala Correspondent DURING the war, some of US at Mangala Island, faced with a serious shortage of sugar, resorted to local honey as a substitute. The commercial potentialities of CI honey, either for local consumption or export, have not yet been extensively developed, and might be worth the attention of an experienced apiarist.
CI bees swarm in immense numbers, and are induced to remain in one selected place by means of rhythmical beating of meat-cans, etc., which music appears to soothe and attract them. After nightfall, the swarm is gathered into buckets or similar containers, and transported to the selected hive—often a soap-box. This transfer of bees is not the risky business one would suspect as island bees never sting after sunset.
Local beeswax, especially upon the island of Atiu, is of fine quality, and has been used, at times, for altar-candles.
Local honey is dark but of good flavour, and would, if it could be produced in quantity, command a good price on the market.