40 



JOUENAIi OP HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAIiDENEE. 



[ July 14, 1863. 



of bees from sheer want, and, of course, inattention. It had 

 been nearly incessant rain for twenty-six days. 



Many swarms perished, or became much reduced, by the 

 rains this month (Jvine). 



I am glad that tlie little useful publication " Bee-keeping 

 for the Many" is coming out with additions and improve- 

 ments. It would be well, as I have oilen said, that such a 

 book as ■' Hive-making for the Many " should issue also. It 

 would be pleasing to see cheap baj--hives and Payne's im- 

 proved cottage-hives with supers and glasses on sale at such 

 piices as would suit the poor cottager. Take the country 

 in general, how few of the farmers, leaving cottagers out of 

 the category, have adopted any of the novelties in hives so 

 often described in The Journal of Hoeticultuke ? In 

 the town of Cheltenham with 40,000 inhabitants, none ex- 

 cept the everlasting old-fasliioued straw liive is to be seen 

 for sale at any of the hive-shops. 



M. Dzierzon's remarks on feeding bees seemed very prac- 

 tical. The bees should only be fed when it is needed, and 

 to those who are watchful over bees, it will soon be dis- 

 covered when that happens. At the same tune, in feeding- 

 weak stocks in the autumn against winter, it should be 

 done plentifully, according to thefr wants and weight. 



June 22. — My thii-d swarm came off yesterday (after six 

 times issuing foi-th), and was hived at one o'clock. Weather 

 cloudy, drizzly, and vmsettled, but a warmer temperature, 

 and brood rising. — H. W. Newman, Hillside, Cheltenham. 



LIGURIAN BEES IN AUSTRALIA. 



I AM indebted to Mi-. Edward Wilson, President of the 

 Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, for the perusal of various 

 reports from the Australian Apiaa-ian Society, and jom-nals 

 kept by the gentlemen to whoso care the Ligurians were 

 enta^usted upon then- an-ivaJ in Australia, from which I 

 glean the following interesting particulars. 



Mr. Sayce, President of the Apiai-ian Society, v/i-iting 

 uuder date of the 23rd Mai-ch says, " It may now be faii-ly 

 stated that the Ligurian queen bee is a more prolific insect 

 than that with which we have been so long familiaa- ; and I 

 do not hesitate to say that the industry exhibited by these 

 bees is unapproachable by that — great as it is — which cha- 

 racterises the others ; or perhaps I should speak more 

 correctly were I to say that the Liguiian bee is a more 

 puissant insect, and that this, added to a most extraordinary 

 gift of scent, which enables it to discover the existence of 

 honey however remote or hidden its receptacle, gives it a 

 superiority in the collection of food. I have also observed 

 that its labom-s are less interfered mth by the weather ; for 

 during the recent rains, except when very stormy, the bees 

 went out and retiu-ned laden with their stores, apparently 

 quite unconscious or indifferent to the existence of anything 

 whidi could occasion them inconvenience or discomfort." 



Ml-. H. Templeton, of George Street, Fitzroy, gives most 

 interesting details in his diary respecting the management 

 of the Ligurian stock entrusted to his eai-e. The bees were 

 shut up by me on the 22nd of September, and underwent a 

 confinement of seventy-nine days, as appeai-s by Mr. Temple- 

 ton's diaxy commencing on the 10th December, when he 

 states he " received a hive of Ligurian bees, the propei-ty of 

 the Acclimatisation Society, which upon examination proved 

 to be in a most wretched contUtion, the inner sui-faee of 

 the hive beaj-ing testimony to the great distress which the 

 swarm had endm-ed on the voyage. Found about three 

 quarts of dead bees in the empty box placed under the hive 

 for the purpose of ventilation, which I at once removed. 

 On exajnining the comb I discovered a few living bees — not 

 more thaai a large tea-cup might contain, and many of these 

 in a sickly dying state. Left these to gain a little sti-ength 

 before fui-ther ta-oubling them." Two days afterwards Mr. 

 Templeton says he " took out the frames containing the 

 combs one by one in order more fuUy to ascertain their true 

 state. Found on both sides of one comb and on one side of 

 the combs adjoining on each side of it, a number of fine- 

 looking bees, by this time much revived, each having an 

 orange belt round the upper pai-t of the abdomen, and 

 yellow rings distinctly marked back to the point. Disco- 

 vered the queen — a fine lai-ge yellow one — actively running 

 about on the centre comb occupied by the living bees, evi- 

 dently enjoying excellent health." In two days more fresh- 



laid eggs were discovered in three of the combs. From this 

 time all v,'ent well. Three stocks of common bees were at 

 different times united to the Liguiia,ns, and with such skiU 

 and good fortune were these junctions eilected that no 

 fighting took place. Copious feeding was also resorted to, 

 and under the influence of this stiiiuilus a number of drone 

 eggs were laid. Queen-rearing and the foi-mation of artifi- 

 cial swarms were next attempted with similai- success ; !ind 

 under date of March 23rd Mr. Templeton says, " The young 

 queens are come to maturity, and are out of the ceUs. 1 

 have supplied two common hives with Ligurians queens, 

 and have, therefore, fom- hives, two of which I know to be 

 all right, and the two others are hopeful." In a continua- 

 tion of the journal it is remarked that '• the quantity of 

 brood deposited by the two young queens is. most astonish- 

 ing ;" and under the date of -ipril 3rd Mr. Templeton gays, 

 " I examined a few frames, and fovmd the uld queen not 

 only lively and well, but cai-i-ying on the breeding as vigor- 

 ously as ever. Were I to state the number of eggs that 

 that queen has laid since the 10th December last — viz, 

 sixteen weeks, it wotdd appear- quite fabulous ; no bee- 

 keeper will believe it until he sees them — it is more than 

 double the number a common queen could produce in the 

 same time." 



The diary ends on the 11th April, before which time the 

 writer announces his possession of foui- royal cells, which 

 being from the brood of a young queen would produce 

 grand-daughters of the old queen that came from England. 

 He also states that he has twelve stocks in frame-hives, of 

 which fom- have yet to be supplied ivith Ligtuian queens. 



It may be remembered that the first venture was made 

 with four stocks. All reached Australia alive, although with 

 gi-eatly reduced numbers ; but one I believe afterwards 

 deserted its liive. Of the remaining two, the one under the 

 care of Mr. Sayce, the President, has wdl filled its hive with 

 honey, and the other under the care of Mi-. M'MUlan has 

 formed a strong stock. — A Devonshire Bbb-keepek. 



BEE SEASOiSr IN HAMPSHIRE. 



Thanks for your acknowledg-ment of my letter. I think 

 if there was a Ligurian hive within reasonable distance of 

 my abode I should have heaa-d of it. I will make more 

 diligent inquu-y — it may sei-ve to measure the flight of bees. 



Wo have between us made a mistake as to the number of 

 years I have been a bee-keeper. I began in 1838, a most 

 unfortunate time as regarded the north. I do not remember 

 that we had a good bee year tUl 1842, and as I ti-ied "no 

 end " of experiments my disasters would fill a book. As I 

 grew older I grew wiser ; and of late years few have had 

 more honey than I have taken. Torkshu-e is a very good 

 county for bees. They breed more, make a great deal more 

 comb ; and of course when a season is propitious three or 

 four stone is nothing to boast of; indeed, some of those 

 from the moors will weigh on then- return '- well on " to six 

 stone. The hives are so small in Hunts and the Isle of 

 Axhohne that you could not work with them in Yorkshii-e. 

 and vice versil. Having only been two seasons in Hampshire 

 I judge more from the size of the hives I see in the cottagers' 

 gaa-dens than from actual experience. 



This yeaa- the season is so good that few of my neighbours 

 can reap the harvest they ought ; and in trying remedies by 

 cutting the tops out of old hives to make " grafts " they are 

 making many " mulls :" and tliis would seem to show that 

 gr-.d'ts, or " ekes " as we called them in Yorkshire, are not 

 much in use here. 



I have not seen my striped beauty since I wrote. Her 

 subjects began drone-kiUing just then, and I expect her 

 guards may have kept her out of hai-m's way. Now the 

 back window is deserted. The bees aa-e very few in number, 

 but they have Trilled all theii- drones, are carrying pollen, 

 and are very pugnacious, fi-om which I gather that she 

 is alive and well. — A Hampshire Bee-keep sb. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



SnEFFiELO Pooi.TRT Snow.^lhe prizf birds single Ppanisli cock, Cariiei 

 Pi^'ioii cork, and vaiiely ligfons belong, we said, lo Mr. Smith ol ShefBeld. 

 but thut gmtU-nmn live- at VVJll^all. 



PjoEo^s {A Subscriber].— Write to Mr. Tegetmeier, Muswcll IliU, 

 LoDd^D, K., tttid a&k his advice. 



