September IS, 1873, ] 



JOURNAL OP HOETICULTOKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



227 



history for some years, and the case described by me in the 

 Journal of the 2l3t ult. is the only case of the kind, as I have 

 indeed before said, which has come under my notice in any way 

 whatever. Thus far "Wiltshire Rector" and I are at one. 

 I also agree with " Wiltshire Rector " in the belief that 

 Pigeons will change over partners. Was the case mentioned by 

 me, it is asked, more than simply such an exchange ? I answer 

 that I am satisfied that it was more. Had it been simply an ex- 

 change of partners, one would have expected to find tiie Blue 

 cock paired with the Black hen, and the Black cock paired with 

 the Blue hen ; but this was not so. The Black cock was entirely 

 beaten off, and did not (I speak from a tolerably close observa- 

 tion) in any way consort with either hen. He certainly was not 

 admittted to the nest of the Black hen, nor did I ever find him 

 sitting upon or see him so much as approach the nest of the 

 Blue hen. I am glad to find that " Wiltshire Rector " does 

 " not for one moment impute the least atom of untruthful- 

 ness " to me, but, at the same time, I think he is a little hyper- 

 critical when he asks the meaning of the words " I believe " 

 in the sentence " I believe that the Blue cock regularly took his 

 turn on each nest." I am aware that Pigeons, as a rule, sit a 

 regular time and through certain hours ; and my meaning was, 

 that having constantly seen the Blue cock sitting at one time on 

 one nest and at another time on the other I believed, or, iu other 

 words, that I had good reason to infer, that he " regularly " — 

 that is, from day to day or as a habit, and not from mere caprice, 

 relieved each hen iu sitting. No doubt, as " Wiltshire Rector " 

 remarks, one cock was the master cock, and it will occasionally 

 happen that one cock bird among several is such, but that cir- 

 cumstance seems hardly to account altogether for the one cock 

 taking entirely to himself two paired hens, and otherwise acting 

 as I have stated. Now, to recur to the hatching, " Wiltshire 

 Rector " says " One pair of eggs were broken, and though eacli 

 contained a bird, the evidence as to variety is at an end." One 

 pair of eggs was, it is true, broken, but I cannot admit that 

 " the evidence as to variety was at an end," for the eggs broken 

 were those of the Blue hen, whUst those of the Black hen 

 produced Blue birds. No birds having been reared to feathering 

 from the Blue hen's eggs, positive evidence as to the variety of 

 the birds which they contained was, of course, at end, but there 

 was, especially under the circumstances of the case, presump- 

 tive evidence of it. 



The remark made by "Wiltshire Rector" that "many Blues 

 are very dark at first," does not appear to me to have any appli- 

 cation to the present question, the birds referred to being from 

 the Black hen's eggs. The opposite assertion, if well founded, 

 that many Blacks are very light (or even blue) at first, might 

 have had more force. " Wiltshire Rector " further says that 

 " of the second hatching I stated nothing as to colour." How 

 could I say anything upon the point'? the old birds, as I stated 

 in my former communication, having gone to nest for the second 

 time only, somewbat more than three weeks ago, so that at the 

 time of my writing the young birds could not have been more 

 than a very few days old. I am now, however, able to state that 

 of the second lot of young birds, one from the nest of each hen, 

 ■was a Blue bird, the other two young birds, one from each nest, 

 not having lived over the feathering. I may also state that the 

 two hens each laid a third pair of eggs, and that the conduct of 

 the Bine cock still continued the same. I do not by any means 

 desire to assert that Pigeons are by nature polygamous ; but I 

 have narrated the facts of this case precisely as they have been 

 observed by me, and strange and unaccountable as the case may 

 appear, I do not feel or perceive any ground for feeling that I have 

 been mistaken either in my observations or conclusions. — R. W. 



EXPERIENCE IN BEE-KEEPING. 



Actin'o on the advice given in books, I gave my bees additional 

 room early in the season to prevent swarming. I tried supers, 

 nadirs, and collateral boxes, in order to give each system fair 

 play. After all my trouble the bees swarmed in June and July. 

 Would it not be better to let them swarm early, and then give 

 them supers, as I do not find that giving them extra room 

 prevents swarming ? I find they work better in supers than in 

 any other kind of box. This season I tried three nadirs. At the 

 end of August I removed them in order to get the honey. Two 

 were perfectly empty, and the third was full of empty comb. 

 Another hive had a box at the side, of which the bees took not 

 the slightest notice. Two other hives had supers. I took both 

 off late in June, and after taking the honey replaced them. At 

 the end of August I took them off again. One was full of fine 

 pure honey, the other had only a few combs, which, however, 

 1 have carefully put by for next season. I use straw hives, and 

 one or two bonnet boxes. Having had unexpected swarms I was 

 forced to hive them in a hurry. For the same reason I never 

 was able to find out whioh hive swarmed, as I generally came 

 into the garden, and found all the bees in a turmoil, and a 

 swarm hanging to a bnsh near. In my neighbourhood I have 

 to work single-handed, for the few people who keep bees smother 

 them every year in the old-fashioned way, and shook their heads 



because I bought my first swarm as " A Clergtma.n's Wife " 

 did. I should state that the bee pasture is very good in my 

 garden, commencing early iu March, and continuing as long as 

 the heather is in bloom. Even now (September) fuchsias and 

 mignonette are in full blossom, and the bees are still busy. — 



TiMIiUCTOO. 



[Every year brings with it some peculiarity of weather which 

 compels the bees to vary their proceedings accordingly. So one 

 year being wet and deficient in honey-producing power, natu- 

 rally allows freer scope to the breeding powers of the queen ; 

 hence a tendency to swarming predominates. Another year, 

 abounding in honey and fine weather, is favourable to the 

 storing of the precious gift, and swarms are rare, or else from 

 some other cause the bees will multiply enormously, and fill 

 every super with comb, without either swarming or gathering 

 honey. Were we able to foresee the coming season we should 

 forearm ourselves accordingly, but if the peculiar experiences of 

 one unforeseen season are to guide us iu our preparations for 

 the next, we should be constantly trying experiments, and be 

 liable to endless disappointments. Therefore, our reply to your 

 inquiry is, that while, doubtless, your proposal might succeed, 

 given a suitable summer, ten to one it would disappoint you 

 equally when the time came, owing to a change in the season 

 totally the reverse of the present one. We should, therefore, 

 advise you to persevere in that system of management which is 

 most adapted to your requirements. If you want swarms, let 

 them swarm early. If you have stock enough, give abundant 

 super room as soon as possible, and thereby discourage swarm- 

 ing. We ourselves have entirely discarded the use of both 

 nadir and collateral boxes, and believe the super to be the only 

 profitable, and, indeed, natural method of enlarging the honey- 

 comb quarter of the hive. Tou seem to have been as lucky as 

 anybody this year. — Eds.] 



BEES AND HONEY AT MANCHESTER SHOW. 



The bees and honey were very interesting and attractive. The 

 corner in which they were shown was crowded with visitors 

 during the whole four days ; indeed, so numerous were the 

 visitors on the last day of the Show, and so great the crush to 

 see the bees and honey, that not one in ten could obtain a 

 satisfactory view of them. For hours a compact mass of people 

 ten or twelve deep were slowly moved or pushed past the stage 

 on which the honey and bees stood. No one fancied that the 

 bees would interest so many people, otherwise better arrange- 

 ments would have been made for the visitors to examine them. 

 The Uving bees in glass houses should be exhibited apart from 

 each other, and at some distance from the hives of honey and 

 honeycomb. Though only Jl25 and two medals were offered iu 

 prizes for bees and honey, we had more than forty entries, but 

 in some cases no appearance was put in, the cause being supers, 

 which on examination were found not quite finished. Two 

 heavy hives broke down (combs) on their way from the Derby- 

 shire hills. 



In Class A, for the heaviest and best hive filled by a swarm of 

 1873, Mr. Breen, of Manchester, came in first with a Pettigrew 

 hive weighing 8-1 lbs. ; and Mr. Withnell, of Burton-on-Trent, was 

 second with a bar-frame hive weighing GO lbs. 



B. For the most ornamental hive Mr. W. Cooke, of Denton, 

 came first; and Mr. J. Wrigley, of Rochdale, second. 



c. For the best observatory hive Mr. Young, of Burton-on- 

 Trent, carried the day. 



D. For the best glass super of honeycomb Mr. Breen again 

 came to the front with a magnificent " Crystal Palace " weigh- 

 ing 87 lbs. It was the queen of the Exhibition— grand beyond 

 description. I saw it before it was brought from the moors, 

 named it " a Crystal Palace," and valued it at £10. One of the 

 Judges bought it at that price as soon as he saw it. Mr. Bethell, 

 of High Leigh, Knutsford, was second with a tlat glass super 

 weighing 25 lbs. ; and Mr. Wakefield, of Kendal, took the third 

 prize with a smaller super. All were well filled. 



E. For the best wood or straw super Mr. Withnell, of Burton, 

 took the first prize; and Mr. J. Lee, of Windlesham, Bagshot, 

 came second. Under this head some syrup-comb was shown — 

 most beautiful to look upon. The Judges on tasting it pro- 

 nounced it to be sugar-and-water, and therefore disqualified it 

 for a prize. I saw it was made of sugar before it was tasted. 

 Sugar-and-water cannot be converted into honey, though making 

 excellent food for bees. i .» 



F. For best collection of hives, supers, and bee furniture, 

 Mr. J. Lee, of Windlesham, took the silver medal ; and Mr. S. 

 Yates, of Manchester, the bronze one. Mr. Lee's collection was 

 very neat and unique. His hives were chiefly made of straw 

 with bar-frames inside. His supers were of wood and glass. 

 Mr. Lee has, like most practical men, found that wood hives 

 condense the moisture of bees— which causes the combs to rot, 

 and therefore he makes his bar-frame hives like those of the late 

 Mr. Woodburj'— all of straw, neatly put together. Mr. Yates's 

 collection was larger in some respects, and more various too. 

 In it he had some of the best-mado straw hives I ever saw, 



