20 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTimE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



July 7, 1S68. 



portionate to the number of entries we think very good. 

 Thus, if there are only five entries in a class, the first prize 

 will be only .£1, but if there are twenty entries that prize 

 will be £S, the second and third prizes being increased at 

 a similar rate. 



Cetstal Palace StnaMER Poultry Show.^ — A i-eport has 

 been circulated that this Show is to be discontinued. Our 

 readers will be pleased to hear that the Dii-ectors of the 

 Crystal Palace have the subject under consideration, and 

 it is most probable that next week we shall be able to 

 announce the days on which the Show will be held. 



PRONE-BEEEDING QUEENS. 



In reference to the hive mentioned at page 4nri, in which 

 drones appeared on the 24th of AprO, I may add that it had 

 not been fed either last autumn or this spiing : therefore, 

 might not be supposed to be in a more advanced state than 

 other vigorous hives at the same season. As youi' corre- 

 spondent " B. & W." had strong stocks in his apiary, it 

 cannot but be supjiosed that there were drones in some of 

 them earlier than he had obsei-ved, especially in such a 

 mild climati as Somersetshire ; for even so i'ar north as 

 Northumberland drones were down early in May. The 

 hive A, with a pure Ligurian queen, he reports as very 

 populous and active, and no doubt its drones were early : so 

 that even if the queen of b should prove all that could be 

 desired in point of the purity of her progeny, " B. & W." 

 can scarcely have a plea in favour of drone-breeders in spring : 

 rather, I imagine, the verdict of English bee-keepers will 

 accord with that of their Geiinan brethren, recorded at 

 page 2S5 of last volume, however painful its execution may 

 be to the tender-heai-ted apiarian. As "' A Devonshire 

 Bee-keepek ' ' proposed, at jsage 270 of last volume, to try 

 the same experiment with the family of a di'one-breeding 

 queen, and your readers have not been favoured with an 

 aeeouut of its success in impregnating young queens before 

 the natarral time for the appearance of the drones, I infer 

 that it has .liso failed. In short, it appears as necessary that 

 there should be a high temperature, as that there should be 

 drones in existence. 



, Can " B. & W." say what had been the maximum tempe- 

 rature about the end of May ? as it would be interesting to 

 ascertain the lowest temperatm'e in the shade at which 

 fecundation has been known to take place. 



The importance of having a i^rolific queen at the head of a 

 family in autumn cannot be overrated ; but perhaps this did 

 not occur to '• A. W. B." who writes under the heiwl of 

 "Swarming DilSculties," at page 42.5 of last volume, as it 

 appeai-s two families were united to Ms weak stock, while 

 no mention is made of the removal of the queen. It is a 

 good rule never to retam the queen of a hive which is weak 

 in numbers in autumn ; but in forming unions to select 

 that queen wliich has the largest population. I do not go 

 so far as to say that weakness is invariably to be laid to the 

 charge of the queen, as it is possible other contingencies 

 may have been the cause ; still, if there are two or thi-ee 

 queens to select from, the extra trouble of driving and re- 

 moving that which may be under suspicion would be more 

 than repaid by the futm-e prosperity of the hive. — Investi- 

 gator. 



[Premising that I have ah-eady fuUy indorsed the con- 

 clusion of Gei-man apiarians as to the general uselessness of 

 drone-breeding queens, I have pleasure in stating the result 

 of my own experiment. My virgin queen is stOl hving and 

 stiU lays the eggs of drones only, but her fecundity is not 

 nearly so great as I anticipated, whOst providing her with 

 workers to perform the ordinary duties of the hive is no 

 small tax on the resources of my apiary. On one occasion 

 only can I imagine that she, or rather one of her drones, has 

 done good service, and that is in the impregnation of a young 

 queen hatched on the 14th of May, which commenced egg- 

 laying on the 30th of the same month. In this case I had 

 no di-ones but those of her breeding, with the exception of a 

 very few in one of my other stocks, and these latter were 

 destroyed during the wet weather we had in Jvme. Whilst 

 agreeing with "Investigator," that a tolerably high tem- 



perature is necessai-y ia order to render the services of 

 drones available, and that, therefore, it would probably be 

 of little use to attempt queen-rearing much before the 

 natru-al time — in reliance upon the progeny of a drone- 

 breeder, I may yet point out that drones produced in this 

 abnormal manner are by no means so liable as others to be 

 destroyed on the occurrence of bad weather, and that this in 

 ba<l seasons is no small advantage where the presence of 

 drones is really of importance. — A Devonshire Bee-keeper.] 



QUEENS CH.ANGING COLOUE. 



Till; heading of one of your last c jramunications from apiarian 

 friends— viz., "The Variation in Colour of the Honey Bee," 

 tempts me to annoance "a sport" which has taken place in one 

 of my hives. 



I have been a bee-keeper since 1848 — have kept them in three 

 counties — have been a close observer of their habits ; and although 

 I have generttUy gained a wrinkle every year of my bee-keeping 

 existence, I never observed any variety in the cnlour or appear- 

 ance of the qu'-ens tiU this year in the hive above alluded to, 

 after its swarming for the third time. There is in it a queen 

 striped round her body as if with yellow liands. I have had 

 little or no experience with Liguvians. I am not aware that 

 there is a Ligurian stock ■within raUes ci my present abode. 

 It is possible, but not probable, there may be throe or fom- miles 

 off. I took, however, my hive last autumn to some heather 

 near to Aldershott ; tbere my old queen might have got a cross. 

 Will one of our entertainers and instructors in bec-ivcep*ng be 

 kind enough to vouchsafe an attempt at a solution of this diffi- 

 culty respecting the colour of a queen ? I can satisfy a bee- 

 friend that I have heard piping in three instances where I am 

 certain no swai-m could have escaped without ray knowledge. 

 In those instances I imagine the old queen, instead of leading-off 

 the dance, touched a bucket with her toe. — A Hampshire Bee- 

 keeper. 



[We have no doubt that the old queen met a Lig^ian drone 

 somewhere, and that the yellow-banded queen is the progeny 

 residting.l 



QUE LETTER BOX. 



Dorking Fowls {L. V.B.). — White feathers are quite unimportant, tut 

 they are not desir..ble. A bent coanb 13 a great ilisadvintiig-e to ;i cock, and 

 vvfjuUl tt_41 ag.iinft him in competition. Dark spots on the breasts and 

 backs ol hens ai'e not in any way a defect- We have seen them in iiany of 

 the best bii-ds we uver had to do with. There is no better or hardier breed 

 than the hens tliLtt huve brown plumage, with dark spots and li^h' er breast. 



Cochin-China Fowls {Subscriber.. ~'lhsi best plates of poultrv that have 

 been published are those in the " Foultry-Book,'' edited by the Rev. 

 \V. W, Wingtield and G. W. Johnson. Esq. In some breeds, as in Spanish, 

 the comb, even at .sis weeks old, is sufficiently developed to mark tlie sex ; 

 but iT others, as in Cochins, it is uiuch longer before it is deve oped. In 

 Cochins ynu wi'l find the head of the cocks much coarser than the nuUets, 

 and the tail-feathers curled and light like those of the Ostrich. It is im- 

 possible to fix an exact time for pullets to lay, but wcll-feil May cliickens 

 ought certainly to lay in November. We have known them to do so in 

 October. Your last question is the most difficult. You should be satisfied 

 if you hatch hall". We do not consider ordinary travelling very injurious 

 to eggs for sitting. 



The WooDErity Straw Hive.— In the reply to '*A. B. C" which ap- 

 peared last week you state that the Woodbury ^traw hive "isusu-illy fitted 

 with a wooden cover." This is quite Cdi rect if it reft-rs to iheouercase 

 which protects the hive, but m.iy nii^le id many if it is taken to refer to 

 what ill wooden hives is termed the " vrown-board." 'Jhis latter is in 

 point of fact made of straw worked iu a square wooden frame. — .i Ukvon- 

 SHiaE Bee kekpek. 



Cki-andine for thr Tooth-achk (C'' I fill dine). — We are not aware of 

 this, Chelidoniinii niajus, being recently used for removing teeth, init Par- 

 kinson, two centuricft ago published as loilows ; — '■ The juice or the de- 

 co'?tion ol the herb gargled between the teeth that ache, taketh ;iw.iy tlie 

 pain, and the powder of the dried rt)o: laid upon an aching, hollow, or 

 loose tooth will, lis they say, cinse it quickly 10 fall out." 



LONDON MAEKETS.— JuLT 6. 



POULTRY. 



As tlie supply increases the price dir;iiiiishop, and the season of the year 

 pointing to a deciining trade is not wiUioiit its influence. 



s. rt. 9. d. 



Guinea Fowl to 



Lesviets ,, 



Kabblis 1 3 ., 1 4 



Wild do S „ 9 



r^gCOTs 7 ,, 8 



Lar!?e Fowls 3 



Smaller do 2 



Chickens 1 



Goslings 4 



) Duclilinis 2 



