March 21, 1S72. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDEXEE. 



265 



sjcts, and when cold or tired can get under the hen. As the 

 day advances and becomes warmer and the dew is off the grass 

 the coops are removed, and away goes the hen and her young 

 hrood for an hoiu or two's ramble. 



The houses used for sitting hens have large wooden troughs 

 running round the sides, which are put on the ground, and 

 divided into compartments only large enough to admit of a 

 single hen. In one of these places to give room for more hens 

 we noticed a trough fixed against the wall about 3 feet from the 

 ground, and the manager told us he found the eggs hatch as 

 well there as in those on the ground. Acconrmodation is pro- 

 Tided at one time for between forty and fifty hens while sitting. 

 As the eggs hatch, the young chicks are taken away unril all are 

 out, when they are given to the hen, who is kept a "day or two in 

 .a place near at hand ; after this they are sent (weather permitting) 

 to one of the above-mentioned tin-roofed houses, where they are 

 regularly fed at certain hours during the day, not too frequently, 

 but at such times as they become hungry. Their first meal con- 

 sists of ground oats, barleymeal, and middlings mixed together 

 with boiled water, corn is given to them the rest of the day. At 

 night they are all housed, and between nine and ten they get 

 another meal before finally going to rest. 



The egg-room, of the interior of which we give a view, is a 

 yei-y curious sight. A counter is fixed round two sides of it, which 

 is divided into compartments, each labelled, as may be seen, for 

 the eggs of as many different varieties of fowls as are kept. 

 When the eggs are coUected and brought into this room they 

 are placed in their proper division in sand, the thin end down- 

 wards, just deep enough to keep them erect, and very odd it 

 looks to see several hundreds of eggs of various shades of colour 

 and sizes, each distinctly described as coming from such and 

 such a yard, and all systematically arranged. Models of birds 

 are seen in different places, while on the walls are nailed some 

 of the prize cards, stating the honours won by birds at exhibi- 

 tions where they have competed, and, as may be supposed, these 

 are very numerous, and show what can be done by any well 

 regulated and appointed estabUshment. The floor "is made of 

 tessellated tiles, and the exterior of the windows is protected 

 irom the sun by perforated zinc shades, which keep the inside 

 very cool and well ventilated. Under the oval window is the 

 ■basket used in eoOecting the eggs, and this is hkemse made in 

 several divisions, so as to keej) each variety or those from any 

 j)articular birds distinct. 



It is very pleasing to notice the complete method and order 

 adopted in every compartment, and unless such was the case, in 

 a large establishment like this the confusion which would pre- 

 vail would prove entirely ruinous to all attempts at breeding, 

 exhibiting, and often disappointment to the purchasers of eggs. 



"WHAT DRONES DO. 

 It has been almost universally beUeved by apiarians of 

 modem times, that the uses and functions of drones were 

 entirely confined to the purpose of the propagation of the race, 

 and that they were of little or no other value in the internal 

 economy of the hive. The cause of so many hundreds or 

 thousands of drones being present in every strong colony, has 

 usually been supposed to be owing to the importance or neces- 

 sity of young queens on their wedding flight having little dif- 

 iculty iu meeting the object of their desires. The fact that 

 ihe drones are ruthlessly exterminated when the inmates of a 

 hive have given up all idea of swarming, and appear to have 

 arrived at the conclusion that the services of the drones will 

 be no longer required, as no young queens will be hatched out, 

 has certainly conduced to establish the belief that they are of 

 no value in the community, except for the impregnation of the 

 mother bees. But it appears that we have all been wrong. 

 Mr. H. Head, writing in the Rural New-Yorker, announces that 

 lie has made the discovery that, without the presence of drones 

 within the hive, good honey cannot be stored. It is certainly 

 amusing how some persons jamp at a conclusion, and then 

 endeavour to find or twist evidence to prove its truth. If Jlr. 

 Head's logic were sound, how must we account for so much 

 good and well-keeping honey being collected late iu the season, 

 after the destruction of the drones? He may, to bear out the 

 conclusions at which he has arrived, deny that any sound 

 honey can be stored in the autumn after the destruction of the 

 male portion of the community. We fearlessly assert that the 

 contrary is the fact. How often do we find the bees, in the 

 3niddle of a cold wet summer, eagerly slaughtering all their 

 drones, after which a genial change in the weather takes 

 place, the secretion of honey becomes abundant, and the apia- 

 rian is enabled to appropriate a portion of the stores admirable 

 in every respect as to quality. We do not think the opinion 

 advanced by Mr. Head worth much effort in order to obtain 



its refutation, but, as the arguments he has adduced may 

 amuse our readers, we append almost the entire article. He 

 commences by stating that the question is often asked. 



How is the thin watery honey, as gathered by the bee, reduced 

 to good solid honey ? which, as far as my reading extends, still 

 remains unanswered. I purpose, therefore, very briefly to say 

 just how this is done. 



It is, strange as it may seem, done by that lady's man, that 

 reputed gentleman loafer, the drone bee. I had kept bees a 

 long time before I found this out, and had been quite at a loss to 

 see in this industrious family how such laziness was tolerated iu 

 a portion of its members. But I now see that this portion of the 

 colony is as important in the general economy of the bee as any 

 otherportion of the household, and will venture to lay down this 

 general proposition ; — That in the absence of the drone bee a 

 good soUd article of honey cannot be made. Although it may seem 

 to detract something from this gentleman bee's credit when I tell 

 you he does it simply to gratify his appetite, still for truth's 

 sake it mu be said that he cannot live and prosper on a good 

 finished article of honey, but that his nature is such as to require 

 that thin portion of the honey always at the surface when the 

 cells are filling. He seems never to touch the patton or bee- 

 bread. 



Having thus stated my position, you will of course ask my 

 evidence. I shall in the first place introduce the economy of the 

 honey bee. In this locality, from the 1st to the middle of June 

 may be reckoned the commencement of the season for laying-in 

 honey by the colony for anything more than immediate use ; 

 and right in here the drone brood is matured and brought out. 

 From about the middle of August to the middle of September, 

 the honey-gathering season being over, the drones are brought 

 out and executed by the worker bees, the business of the drone 

 for the season being accompUshed. It is also frequently the 

 case when you have a cold wet June, and no honey is being col- 

 lected, that the drones that are hatched at that time are aU 

 killed, there being no use for them. 



As a second witness I will introduce the drone himself in his 

 ofiicial capacity— not that single rowdy off high in air with his 

 queen in a capacity not to be mentioned, but the honest stay-at- 

 home drone, as a refiner and purifier of honey for the use of 

 man. Go with me to a hive, say in July, that has swarmed out 

 rather too clear for its own good, but is fiiU of honey, and the 

 bees are fiUing the glass boxes. Lift off the cover sufficiently 

 to see the full side of a box not yet capped. Wait until 

 the first disturbance of the Ught is over, and you wiU find a 

 large part of the bees there are drones, and wUl readily see one 

 lapping his long tongue over the top of one cell after another of 

 the uncapped cells, until he -n-ill dip into a dozen in as many 

 minutes. Every fine day in the flush of the honey season, from 

 11 o'clock A.M. untU 2 o'clock p.m., you wiU find the air alive 

 with drones. Watch one as he leaves the hive. By the tirne 

 he is a few rods from the hive in the air you wUl see hiin dis- 

 charge the accumulated waste of the rectifier. Go where_ it feU 

 on a clean board, or on cloths hung out to di-y. and you wiU find 

 onlv an almost colourless watery substance. Go now and stand 

 by the hive as one comes out, and crush him ; nothing but the 

 same watery substance appears. Crush one as he returns to the 

 hive, and he seems nothing but an empty sack. When outside 

 of the hive, except at swarming, he never aUghts ; his business 

 is all in the hive, and carrying out and scattering the water that 

 would, in his absence, spoil the honey. ■„ . , 



One more witness, and I shall sum up this case. I wiU take 

 a small second or third swarm, that will make only 12 or 14 lbs. 

 of honey. Such a swarm when it comes on wiU often be "i toe 

 air, before aUghting, twice or three times as long as a good first 

 swarm (all swarming except first swarms, being rather forced 

 transactions), and if there were any drones left m the old hive 

 with the swarm tliey wiU have returned to the old hive before 

 the swarm has lit. I have taken up such a hive, and on a 

 thorough examination of the dead have failed to find a smgle 

 drone bee. Such a hive will cap very little if any of their honey- 

 cells ; and if vou set such honey in the open air in a moderately 

 warm room, it will sour in two weeks, so as to be nearly value- 

 less. The rectifier was not in operation in such a hive. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Fake^tham Pottltev Show.— I wa3 gurprised to see it stated in yoar last 

 Journal that I claimed the cnp Brown Bed pen of Game fowls at the above 

 Show. This statement being incorrect, I shaU be obUged by your contradict- 

 ing it. — Samuel Matthew, Stoicmarket. 



Black Bastajis' Eggs ^A Comtant R-aA'D.-We cannot recommend 

 vendors. VTe should write to some who have taien prizes, and asi if they 

 would sell a sitting. 



Scurfy Legs (TT. T.).— Scurflncss is not infectious, nor is it peculiar to 

 Brahmas. Eub the legs with sulphur ointment. 



Egg-peoducees (if. J.).— Golden-spangled Hamburgh and Spanish pallets 

 will soit yon. No male bird will be needed. They rarely sit. 



