> From: assam-requ...@assamnet.org
> Subject: assam Digest, Vol 73, Issue 27
> To: assam@assamnet.org
> Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:00:06 +0530
>
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> Today's Topics:
>
>1. Re: [assam] Beee-Keeping (bbar...@aol.com)
>2. Re: [assam] Beee-Keeping (Chan Mahanta)
>3. Philosophy as an Art of Dying - from the NYT (Ram Sarangapani)
>
>
> --
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 10:45:28 -0400 (EDT)
> From: bbar...@aol.com
> To: "chan mahanta Cc: friendsofassa...@yahoogroups.com, assam@assamnet.org
> Subject: Re: [Assam] [assam] Beee-Keeping
> Message-ID: <8ce32df19137384-1488-18...@webmail-m115.sysops.aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
> Dear Chandan
>
> Thank you for taking the trouble to write about your experience as a
> bee-keeper. I am pleasantly surprised. My late father managed to become
> the President of Sivasagar District Bee-Keepers association and I think
> he managed to obtain some grant as well from the government. Quite a
> few of the villagers started keeping bees but the tempo was lost after
> the death of my father. After his retirement my brother Umesh
> maintained a few hives but last time I went home, he had only one hive
> in good health.
>
> A couple of years back here in UK bees were not thriving but the
> environment seems to have improved since then. There is a sort of
> co-operative of bee-keepers at our next village, Sidcup, in the same
> borough
> but I have not contacted them. I don't simply have the energy now.
>
> Best regards
>
> -bhuban
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 10:35:41 -0500
> From: Chan Mahanta
> To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the
> world
> Cc: Friends
> Subject: Re: [Assam] [assam] Beee-Keeping
> Message-ID: <378ebc6f-a88d-4e29-a332-7e9e28db0...@gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Dear BK:
>
> I am sure your late father had influenced the beekeeping surge in our area in
> the early sities. I won't be surprised if our father had lessons from yours.
>
> Bees in Europe and North America have been devastated in recent years by the
> Varroa Mite. It is a tiny critter, a 'sikora' in Assamese, the size of a
> pinhead.
> They latch on to bee larvae and emerged adults, sucking their blood out.
> Although they don't kill the bee, they get deformed and unable to fly and
> forage. When the infestation becomes
> widespread, the whole colony collapses. Fortunately there are plant based
> chemicals available today, to treat bees against the Varroa mites, in
> addition to what is called IPM ( Integrated Pest Management) strategies. In
> fact I am treating my hives with Apiguard, a chemical manufactured in
> Britain, right now. This can be done only after the honey extraction season
> is over and no honey
> would be collected for human use during treatment.
>
> In addition to mites the other major bee maladies are European Foul Brood,
> American Foul Brood and Nosema spore infestations, all of which require
> antibiotic treatment.
>
> I too noticed the lost enthusiasm for beekeeping in our village and the
> surrounding areas. I suspect, it is a combination of the effort that goes
> into it, lack of adequate knowledge, resultant low yields
> and perhaps even low price fetched by the harvests. I understand a litre of
> honey in Assam these days cost around Rs. 200. That is fairly good for the
> villagers, but the buying power of Rs. 200 these days of essential goods not
> locally produced, is virtually negligible. Thus the incentive is not there.
>
> Incidentally, India is the largest exporter of honey to the USA. There is
> huge discontent among US beekeepers raging these days, because of Indian
> merchants laundering banned Chinese honey
> ( due to excessive use of prohibited antibiotics) and dumping in US markets
> at low prices, thereby driving down price of American beekeepers' produce.
>
> s
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Aug 27, 2011, at 9:45 AM, bbar...@aol.com wrote:
>
> > Dear Chandan
> >
> > Thank you for taking the trouble to write about your experience as a
> > bee-keeper. I am pleasantly surprised. My late father managed to become the
> > President of Sivasagar District Bee-Keepers association and I think he
> > managed to obtain some grant as well from the government. Quite a few of
> > the villagers s
