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JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ September U, 187S. 



Pigeon's brain before it adopted the clever method above 

 narrated, of BteaUng the horse's provender. Was not this, 

 indeed, something more than mere instinct ? — Eich-ikd H. 

 Napiek, Upton Cottage, Bursledon, SouthamjHon. — (Nature.) 



BEES AT MANCHESTEE SHOW. 



The bees and honey at this great Show were for four days 

 surrounded by an admiring and ever-changing crowd of people. 

 Indeed, the masses of visitors were so great during the last two 

 days of the Show that not one in six could come near the bees. 

 Perhaps the most meritorious thing produced in the whole 

 Exhibition, including fruit, vegetables, &o., was a Crystal Palace 

 of honeycomb weighing 87 lbs., belonging to Mr. Breen, of 

 Arwicb, Manchester. It took the first prize offered for the best 

 glass super. Mr. Pettigrew called it a Crystal Palace, and valued 

 it at iElO : and one of the Judges bought it on the spot at that 

 price. _ Several excellent glass supers were exhibited, one 

 weighing 40 lbs. took the second prize, it was owned by Mr. 

 Bethell. The wooden supers were not quite filled. Mr. 

 Withnell, of Burtou-on-Treut, came to the front here, and Mr. 

 Lee, of Bagshot, took the second place. 



For the heaviest and beat hive filled by a swarm of this year 

 Mr. Breen, of Manchester, took the first prize with a Pettigrew 

 hive weighing 84 lbs. and Mr. Withnell came second with a bar- 

 frame hive. For the most ornamental hive Mr. Cooke, of 

 Denton, near Manchester, took the first prize and Mr. Wrigley, of 

 Bochdale, came second ; and Mr. Young, of Burton, had the best 

 observatory or nnicomb hive. 



Two medals were offered for the best collections of empty bee 

 hives and supers and bee furniture. Mr. Lee, of Bagshot, with 

 a very neat and unique collection carried oft the highest medal ; 

 and Mr. Yates, of Manchester, took the second medal. Extra 

 prizes were awarded to Mr. Wood for a collection of bee pro- 

 duce and bee furniture, sent from Denmark ; and to Mr. Aston 

 for drone traps, &e., which he brought from Shropshire. 



Mr. Pettigrew, who did not compete, exhibited a hive weighing 

 108 lbs. and a glass super weighing 28 lbs., both filled by a swarm 

 obtained on the 21st of May ; also a Crystal Palace of honey- 

 comb 20 inches high, weighing 40 lbs. When Mr. Pettigrew sug- 

 gested this bee and honey Show, he hoped to be able to place on 

 the exhibition tables thirty or forty big supers with a view to 

 give a stimulus and impulse to bee-keeping, but this season has 

 been a most unfavourable one for honey-gathering in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Manchester, indeed it is the worst for bees that 

 has been there experienced for twelve years. 



MOVING STOCKS, UNITING BEES, &c. 



We have had many inquiries of late in the pages of this 

 Journal on the subjects indicated above, which leads me to 

 offer a few hints as to the best mode of carrying out the several 

 processes in question. 



Let me begin with the moving of stocks, which not unfre- 

 quently is a necessity at this time of year, as well as on or before 

 Lady-day. To move bees without due precautions to more or 

 less short distances is always a work of some peril, as the poor 

 insects when not made acquainted with the change rarely find 

 their way home again. They dart forth as nsual— at least, all 

 the older ones — without reconuoiteriug the new position of their 

 hive, and after a day's, or a few hours', foraging, without sus- 

 picion of danger, they fly naturally to the old well-known stance, 

 only to perish iu their weariness, after a few flights hither and 

 thither in the vain attempt to find their home again : therefore 

 all care should be taken to give the bees some warning of the 

 change before they leave the hive in the morning. This will 

 reduce the risk of loss of their valuable lives ; and the loss will 

 be diminished in proportion to the care and pains taken. We 

 think the following plan will be found to answer iu every 

 case and under all circumstances at whatever time of year the 

 removal of hives takes place, and whatever be the distance 

 to which they are carried. The principle can be adopted in 

 the case of all hives of wood or straw. Prepare a shallow box, 

 say 18 inches square and 2 or 3 inches deep. Let it have 

 a bottom board with roomy entrance-way, and alighting-step 

 in the usual place. Over it fix a large board if necessary, so 

 as to be suitable for all your hives of whatever shape. Cut 

 a sufiicient hole in it towards one side in such a manner 

 thatthe bees must pass down into the empty box below to 

 get into the open air. The hole had better be so cut iu the 

 board as for its outer edge to fit with the side of the box over 

 the passage into the outer air. In this way the bees will pass 

 in and out with the least difliculty, and yet be arrested by the 

 obvious change that has taken place in respect of their mode of 

 exit. We should recommend the removal of each hive separately 

 after an interval of a day or two. 



As to uniting bees, one caution is of great importance. It is 

 of no use attempting to unite hives in the same garden, save 

 such as are side by side. You may very safely unite three or 



four such stocks together, taking care to place the united stock 

 in the centre of the lot. It is a good plan to approximate the 

 hives that are to be united as near to each other as possible 

 some days beforehand. The simplest method of union has been 

 already given in replies to correspondents. It consists merely 

 in driving the bees of two or more stocks into a common empty 

 hive towards the close of the day, and then dashing them out 

 on the ground in some open place close to and in front of the 

 stock which has been chosen for their permanent dwelling. It 

 must be borne in mind, however, that a valuable Italian queen 

 must be hunted for (should such a queen preside over one of the 

 stocks to be united), and given to the bees after their reunion. 

 It is safest to give her to the bees in a queen cage, introduced 

 from above among the combs. Of course the other queen or 

 queens must be caught and destroyed after they have been 

 driven into an empty hive. We are in the habit of dashing them 

 out again and again upon the ground till we have secured the 

 queen. We should not hesitate, however, to drive the hive 

 with the Italian queen first, without catching her, and then, 

 after driving and catching the other queens separately, unite 

 them all by a final dash-out upon the ground. Some recommend, 

 by way of further precaution, the sprinkling of scented syi-up 

 over the whole mass of united bees. This we think unnecessary, 

 and at this time of year even dangerous, owing to the proba- 

 bility of its confounding the whole apiary by attracting robber 

 bees from every quarter. All such operations should be done 

 in the full daylight, although towards evening care is important, 

 particularly when the bees are so poorly off for honey as they 

 are now, for their scent and appetite for syrup of all kinds is at 

 present unusually keen. 



Feeding on a liberal scale, but always at night, should follow 

 immediately after the union of hives has taken place ; for as 

 the consumption of honey is very rapid, at such times you might 

 find your hive in a starving state before many days are over. 

 But, indeed, no time is to be lost in feeding all weak hives that 

 are designed to remain tiU spring, whether they be united 

 stocks or otherwise. More than half the stock of bees in 

 England wiU perish this autumn without immediate attention. 

 Every effort should be made now to secure them effectually. 

 Let there be on discouragement allowed. A series of lucky 

 years may be drawing near, which will more than compensate 

 for all losses and disappointments. — B. & W. 



OUR FIRST "SWARMING." 

 Not to experienced apiarians do I relate the story. I would 

 humbly beseech rather that they please to not listen. But if 

 among lady bee-keepers there be one who knows as little prac- 

 tically of "natural" swarming as did I on the morning of 

 May 27th, 1873, 



" To her my tale I tell." 



The morniug was cold, cloudy, breezy, and I said to my sister 

 Nellie, as we rose from the breakfast table, 



" We shall not be able to divide the bees to-day, I fear." 



" Will it matter ? " she asked. 



" Oh no," I replied, serenely and confidently. " They will not 

 think of emigrating under a week ; their preparations are but 

 just begun, and in cool weather they are better off as they are." 



As the morning advanced the wind died away and the sky 

 cleared. At noon it was bright, warm, and still. I noticed at this 

 time that the bees at one hive were very quiet — scarcely a bee in 

 sight — while at the other they were humming merrily. The 

 first-mentioned being the strongest colony, I wondered a little 

 at their inactivity ; its real meaning was clearly apparent some 

 hours later, especially after re-reading a forgotten passage from 

 Langstroth — "If in the swarming season but few bees leave a. 

 strong hive when other colonies are busily at work, on a clear, 

 calm, warm day, we may look with great confidence for a swarm, 

 unless the weather proves unfavourable." 



An hour or so after noon, thinking that the bees were making 

 an unusual and unnecessary amount of noise, I stepped to the 

 door to see that at this but recently so silent a hive, there was 

 now quite a commotion. Many bees were wliirling about and 

 over the hive, while others were pouring forth in an unprece- 

 dented way as to numbers and hurry. Come forth iu a very 

 large stream they could not. The evening before having been 

 cold and stormy I had shut the fly-holes and somewhat con- 

 tracted the lower entrance ; and as the morning had been cloudy 

 and the bees quiet, no change had as yet been made. Now, as I 

 stood gazing on them, spell-bound at my first surprise, there 

 flashed across my mind the query, "Are they swarming ? " But 

 it was only to be at once dismissed. For didn't I Jaww that 

 they were not ready to swarm ? Htidn't I looked into the hive 

 but a day or two before, and found in the most advanced queen 

 cell only an egg ? 



My second and accepted thought was this, that the sudden 

 warm sunshine had given a general impetus to honey-gatherers 

 and young bees to go forth, and that the unusually narrow door- 

 way excited and troubled them. 



