478 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I December 11, 1873. 



as the result of the honoarable labour of their bees, assisted, it 

 may be, by the skilled, but still equitable, aid of their scientific 

 masters. In future, I presume, we shall be all agreed that such 

 sharp practice should be most carefully guarded against, other- 

 wise what possible encouragement will be given to legitimate 

 improvement in bee keeping ? You will but offer prizes to the 

 artful, and. the rest will cease to trouble themselves with compe- 

 tition. We happen to know of a great deal of trickery at floral 

 exhibitions, where prizes are frequently won quite out of all desert. 

 The question, however, remains — What precautious can be 

 taken to secure that no super exhibited shall receive a prize, 

 which is not the bond-fide produce of a stock of bees, unassisted 

 at the cost of other stocks, although legitimately assisted by the 

 skill of the master ? And what are to be the limits of such 

 assistance ? And what is to be understood by legitimate assist- 

 ance ? I venture to suggest a few thoughts of my own, by way 

 of helping to frame some rules that may help on our craft with- 

 out affording premiums to the artful. 



1. The honey exhibited shall be tbat collected by the bees of 

 any given hive from flowers or honeydew during the actual 

 season, without assistance by feeding of any kind within eight 

 months of exhibition. 



2. The supers, quite empty of comb, shall have been put on the 

 hives not earlier than the Ist of May, nor shall any comb be 

 added to the stocks in ekes or otherwise, 



3. It shall be lawful to encourage the growth and development 

 of the stocks by additions to its population the autumn previous, 

 either by junction of condemned or weak hives, by careful feed- 

 ing at that time, or by renewal of old or unsuitable combs ; but 

 there must be no robbing or weakening of other stocks by re- 

 moval of brood or other addition to population in the year of 

 exhibition, other than the regular and natural increase of the 

 stock itself. 



4. No super shall receive a prize whose exhibitor cannot pro- 

 duce a certificate signed by two or three respectable bee-keepera 

 in his neighbourhood, testifying that he has to their knowledge 

 complied strictly with the conditions of competition. 



5. There shall be no restriction as to size or shape or material 

 of hive, or as to age of stock. 



I venture to throw out these suggestions for the consideration 

 of managers of flower or other shows where honey is included 

 in the schedule of prizes, so as to exclude in future all such 

 doubtful modes of dealing as have occurred this year. Perhaps 

 some of your correspondents may be able to suggest other rules, 

 or to improve on those I have suggested above. — B. & W. 



FOOD FOE BEES. 



It is an axiom in bee-keeping that sugar, not the crystallised 

 nor the coarse, but the best brown, should form the staple food 

 for the winter use of our little friends. Diilerent bee-keepers 

 have different opinions as to the quantity and mode of pre- 

 paration. Some give it dry, others boil it iuto a syrup with 

 beer, and others with water. The following method of making 

 food in my opinion surpasses either, and I find the bees like it 

 quite as well : — To 2 lbs. of sugar put 1 lb. of oatmeal and a 

 breakfast-cupful of skim milk, then boil it up into syrup to the 

 consistence of honey. I should very much like the opinion of 

 your correspondents on the above preparation. Perhaps " A 

 Renfrewshire Bee-kekper " could tell us something about the 

 admixture of oatmeal. — A. T. W., Kidivelly. 



bees to your neiglibour'B garden, three miles off, ■with perfect safety at any 

 time during the winter. We prefer doinfj it after a frost if possible, when 

 the weather becomes mild and sunny. Perhaps the best time is early in 

 February, but it may be done now. No such precautions are necessary in this- 

 case as in the other about which you consulted us. 



Size of Straw Hive (A Straiv Hivc}.~The size of your straw hives- 

 should depend on the character of your pasturage and the size of the swarm 

 put into it, also on the time of year when it is peopled. But for May swarms 

 in a good country, your hives (such as you ask for), may be dome-shaped, 

 three-fifths of a circle, tightly bound together, and '20 inches in diameter at 

 the centre everyway. It would thus stand V2 inches high. We should prefer 

 straight- sided hives with flat tops of wood. If you use supers the hive mnst 

 have a convenient hole at top, and should, therefore, be flat. Supers may be 

 smaller by one-third, but otherwise similar. On the whole we think you will 

 obtain a greater quantity of honey by the use of ekes if you add all they 

 require, but the quality in the supers will be far superior. 



Peice of Bees (O.).— A very good hive of bees at the present time is worth 

 from SOu. to 40*. Cottagers who keep the small old-faahioned hives sell them 

 at about 20«. each. By purchasing small hives you could in time put their 

 swarms iuto larger ones, and thus improve your stocks of bees. If you cannot 

 fmd thorn in your own neighbourhood, write to Mr. Pettigrew, Sale, Man- 

 chester. No one can be quite sure of finding a healthy hive without brood 

 later than the end of January. 



Artificial Swarming (Idem). — In artificial swarming it is not necessary 

 to remove bees to a distance of a mile. By placing the swarm where the old 

 one stood, and the old one a few feet to the right or left of it, you will succeed, 

 admirably. By removing the old one 20 yards away, many of the bees would 

 go to the old place and unite vrith the swarm. 



Softening Skins (A. K.). — Soak the skins in a mixture of two quarts 

 bran and one gallon of waterfor three days, take them out and rub them with 

 a handful of salt ; if they have hnir or wool on, add powdered alum with the 

 salt, aud hang up to di'y. Some skins which are as soft as kid were done la 

 this manner. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Square, London, 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0° 8' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Points in White Cochins {A Brginner).—'White Cochins should have the 

 same points as the Buff. The only difference is one of colour. They should 

 be very large, have well-defined and serrated single comb^, sharp intelligent 

 faces, short le^'s well feathered to the toes, wings well clipped into the body, 

 lai'ge fluff behind, very little tail, no vulture hock. They should have yellow legs. 

 Kgus Diinri'ED FROM THE Perch (A. E.). — It is a very annoying, but not 

 a very uncommon, thing. If you can detect the culprit, confine her by herself. 

 If you cannot, remove all your perches for a few nights. Place some laying- 

 boxes, and put some straw in one comer of the house. She will take to 

 regular habits. You say the flooring of your house is an inch deep in saw- 

 dust. It is a very bad thing. They are sure to pick up part of it. It is in- 

 digestible; it swells in the crop and gizzard; it distends the latter without 

 answering any purpose. The gizzard is for the reception of stones, which 

 act a3 millstones and grind the food. Sawdust acts as a buffer. Discard it 

 and substitute gravel. 



BtRMirJGHVM Poultry Snow. — For White Call Bucks the first prize was 

 awarded to Mrs. H. J. Bailey. 



Wright's Illustrated Book of Poultry (Q. IF. fl".).— It is quite trne 

 that complete volumes of this excellent book were exhibited at the Birming- 

 ham Show. It is the ordinary custom of the publishiug trade, and whilst 

 the work is issued in parts to suit the convenience of subscribers, a publisher 

 always exerciser his right to issue the work complete at any time. In fact, 

 in many instances the work ia published in complete form first, and issued 

 in parts afterivards. Jlossrs. Cassell justly took advantage of one of the best 

 attended shows of the year to bring the volume to the notice of the visitors. 



Bees' Breeding Season (P. il.).— In ordinary seasons becR begin to breed 

 at the beginning of February. In the south of England bees generally begin 

 to breed early in February; in later parts not quite so soon. In Scotland 

 about the first week of March. As soon as bees begin to breed they may be 

 seen carrying water into their hivep. 

 Removing Hives {An Old Subscriber). — Yon can move your hives and 



REMARKS. 



3rd. — Dark morning; fair but dull all day. 



4th.— Dark at 9 a.m. ; a fine day for the time of year, but rather dull. 



5th.— Fair all day, but without sun ; fine night. 



6th. — Another fair but sunless day, and rather less light than yesterday. 



7th.— Fair all day, but occasionally looking likely for rain. 



8th.— Still fair, but rather foggy and dark all day. 



9th. — White frost, foggy at 9 a.m., very much so and very dark from 10 to 11 A.M., 

 then rather lighter, and between 1 and 2 p.m. brighter than at any time 

 during the past week, the sun shining, and the fog cleared, but immedi- 

 ately after the fog became as thick aa ever, and the day closed-in with 

 fog of unusual density. 

 A week without rain, and almost without sun. Temperature at 9 a.m. 5.^ 



below that of last week, but the max. in sun, 13^ and the mean night min. 2" 



above. The barometer unusually high and steady, the range being under » 



quarter of an inch, and the lowest pressure being 30.415. — G. J. Symons. 

 Wednesday morning. — The fog continues, with sharp frost. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— December 10. 



Supplies moderate and business rather dull, with no alteration in prices. 



FRUIT. 



8. d. 8. d. 



Apples i sieve 1 Oto 1 6 



Chestnuts bushel 10 2'1 



Grapes. hothouse lb. 2 7 



Filberts lb. 1 16 



Cobs lb. 1 6 



Lemons ^100 8 12 



Melons each 10 5 



Oranges ^100 6 



Quinces doz. 1 



Pears, kitchen doz. 1 



dessert doz. 2 



PineApples lb. 3 



Walnuts bushel 10 



ditto VlOO 2 



d. B. d. 



Otoia U 



S 6 



2 



8 



6 



16 



2 



Artichokes doz. 8 



Asparauua ^100 



French 25 



Beans, Kidney V 10^ 



Beet, Red doz 



Broccoli bundle 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums V 100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Colcworta. . doz. bunches 

 Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Entlive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish bundle 



Leeks bunch 



* Lettuce doz. 



VEGETABLES, 

 d. B. d. I 

 Oto 6 ' 



4 



1 























4 







1 6 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress. .punnet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley per doz. banches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Round do. 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Scorzonera bundle 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



. Vegetable Harrows 



a. d. B. d. 

 1 Oto 2 

 



