80 



JOTIENAL OP HOETICULTTJEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 2S, 1B63. 



last year evidently impregnated one of the queens in Lord 

 Dartmouth's apiary at Patsliull, as she breeds a good many 

 cleai-ly-mai-ked Italian bees. Patsliull is about two miles in 

 a direct line from my house. — J. E. B. 



[This observation confii-ms the correctness of Hubei-, 

 whose relation of a sinulai- oceun-ence will be found in page 

 309 of the edition of 184-1. We have long suspected the 

 fact but have never succeeded in witnessing it. We should 

 be glad to know if this queen tm-ns out uniisuaUy prohfio, 

 even for a Ligurian, as M. Hermann declares such to be the 

 case.] 



ITALIAN BEES. 



Havino had more than three years' experience with these 

 bees, I send you some important facts respecting them 

 which have fallen under my obsei-vation, and wliich I believe 

 have not yet been given to the public. 



1. The queens are not only more prolific, as previous 

 wiiters have remarked, than those of the common kind, but 

 are much more disposed to keep theu' brood compactly in 

 the combs. An Italian colony will often have in two or 

 three combs as large a sui'face of brood as the black queens 

 will ordinai'ily have in foiu' or five. The habit of squaring 

 out their work is more particularly noticeable in the early 

 part of the season, and its importance will be readilj' appre- 

 ciated by every skilful bee-keeper. 



2. The Italian bees, when forage is abundant, are far- less 

 disposed to rob than the black bees. 



As this fact is not only liighly important, but (.lii-ectly con- 

 trary to the common opinion, the evidence of it will be given 

 somewhat in detail. 



Having piu'chased, last summer, a number of stocks of 

 black bees in moveable comb-hives, I examined them when 

 the fruit trees were in blossom, in order to learn the con- 

 dition of each colony. After a few hours spent in this work, 

 the bees would foUow in great numbers whenever they saw 

 me approach a hive to open it. I was very much siu-prised 

 to notice that nearly all the robbers were black bees. I 

 cannot be mistaken as to tliis fact, as both myself and my 

 son spent some hoiu's, for several days, in examining those 

 hives. Some drone-combs having honey in them were ex- 

 posed to the bees, so that when emptied they might be used 

 for breeding Italian di-ones ; and these combs were soon 

 covered with black bees, very few Italians alighting upon 

 them, although I had a large number of strong Italian 

 colonies. This year, having only a few black bees, and 

 more than eighty Italian colonies on my premises, nearly aU 

 the bees that attempt to rob hives when they are . opened, 

 or to light upon combs containing honey, are of the black 

 kind. 



I have pointed ovit these facts to many who have visited 

 my apiary, and the general opinion is, that when forage is 

 abundant, Italian bees are so eager to gather honey from 

 the blossoms, that they have very little inclination to secure 

 it from other soiu-ces. It would be difficult to over-estimate 

 the importance of this peculiarity in an apiary where moveable 

 comb-hives are used, and where artificial swarming, and 

 other manipulations which reqiiii-e the hives to be opened, 

 are practised. 



It is true that when forage is scarce the Italian bees are 

 as much disposed to rob as the black, if not more so ; but 

 the assertion that they cannot be kept near the stocks of 

 black bees without robbing them of their stores is errone- 

 ous. Mr. Quimby, who has had excellent opportunities for 

 testing this point, has said enough to convince any unpre- 

 judiced bee-keeper that they may be safely kept in close 

 proximity to common bees, and my own experience perfectly 

 agrees with his. 



3. The Italian bees will work upon the second crop of red 

 clover. 



Three years ago I had twelve swarms of black bees early 

 in June, to three of which I gave, when hiving them, Italian 

 queens. The hives were tolerably well filled with combs by 

 the black bees, but before the young Italians began to 

 gather stores, the honey -harvest was nearly over. In August 

 the state of my health prevented me from making any ob- 

 servations ; but a member of my family noticed that while 

 the three colonies with the Italian queens were working 



vigorousl}', the other nine were doing veiy little. In Sep- 

 tember I found that the Italians had then- winter's sujjply, 

 while the best of the others had only a few pounds of hon&y, 

 the season proving one of the worst that I ever knew. 

 The black colonies were broken up, and the bees added to 

 other stocks, while the Italians wintered in good condition. 

 I am now satisfied that the Italians obtained then- August 

 stores from the second crop of red clover. Last August I 

 noticed the ItiiKans working \'igorously on the red clover, 

 and saw very few black bees upon it. Mi-. C. W. Taylor, of 

 HulnievUle, Bucks Co., Pa., who had been so successful in 

 reai-ing these bees, wi'ote me last summer that his bees were 

 filling boxes and frames with honey gathered from red clo- 

 ver, while the black bees in liis vicinity were doing nothing. 

 Other persons have written to me to the same effect. 



In regions were buckwheat is not much cultivated, and 

 where fiiU forage is scarce, this pecvdiaa-ity of the Italian bees 

 will in some seasons make the difl'erence between a handsome 

 profit and a severe loss in bee-keeping. 



While it is true that some foreign writers have asserted 

 that these bees will work upon the red clover, I have not 

 met with any statement that they scarcely notice the first 

 crop, but confine then- operations almost wholly to the 

 second crop, or seed clover, which blossoms when the white 

 clover has passed oiit of bloom, or yields little if any honey. 



I wiU state, as a matter of interest to bee-keepers, that 

 the three Italian colonies before mentioned produced me the 

 second season 350 lbs. of honey, and one large swarm. — 

 (L. L. Langstkoth, in Ama-ican Conninj Gentleman.) 



OUE LETTER. BOX. 



Chickfns Dying Suddenly [A Subscriber). — It is al^ways diflBcuU to 

 arrive at the cause of sudden death in chickens, but it i> more particularly 

 80 wlien they are only three TPeeks old. The most natural conclufiion, 

 ■when death follows seizure within a few minutee, is that they pick up 

 something: poisonous, which acts immediately. Polish chickens are sup- 

 posed to be subject to attacks while the top knot is giowing. ^Ve know of 

 no malady so rapid in its effects provided ihe chickens when seized are in 

 health. We can only tell you the rt'gime ■we should udopt to keep them in 

 heallh. They ehould be on a dry spot, and the hen should be under a rip ; 

 they should have dust at hand to duet and bask in ; they should be fed on 

 ground oats as their principal food, and be well supplied with stale bread 

 soaU-d in strong ale. We do not think you would lose them if you follow 

 this treatment. 



]\loBTALiTT AMONG YouNO FouLTiiT (JE*. 50.— Both the Turkeys and the 

 chickens are suflFering from roup. It is probable your Turkey hens have 

 been allowed their liberty, and have dragged their poults about, as is their 

 wont, till they have been half perit-hed from damp and ilew. Let the hen 

 Turkey be confined— an empty china crate is a capital thing for the pur- 

 pose. Give the poults t'timulating food, barley and oatmeal mixed with 

 peppercorns and onion tops ; let them have plenty of bread and ale. Let 

 the rip in which the hen is cnntined be moved every day that there be nO' 

 collection of dirt. Give the Tuikeys Baily's pills. Asthe pullet.- are only 

 just attacked they will recover if they are removed from the infected spot, 

 and fed well on bread and ale. In both cases camphor in the water is an 

 excellent thing. 



CoEjcs IN A Cock's Foot ( W. C. B. 3. i). J.).— Sometimes the apparent 

 corn on the foot of a Dorking cock is the result of an injury, or a thorn, or 

 a small gravel stone driven through the skin when the bird flies from the 

 perch. If such be the case the cure ie easy, as the cause is plain; but if it 

 is the result of age and the weight of the body it has to carry, it is, we fear, 

 incuiable. The progress of the malady may be ai rested by keeiiing the 

 bird as* much as possible on the grass, and by having very low peichea. If 

 Ihe swelling arises from any tureign body in the foot an opening will, of 

 course, relieve it ; but it it does hot, it will only make bad worse. 



Red Cap.s (71'. JT').— The Red Caps are a breed of fowls peculiar to 

 Lancat-hire. They are akin to the Golden-spangltd Ilamburghs, but not 

 tubject to the same rules. We do not know them sufticiently to ' e justified 

 in giving their points, nor can we sptak of their laying properties, as we 

 have never kept them. 



TitANs FEU RING Bees (C. 3f(7/or).—Full instiuctions for transferring stocks 

 .into irame-hives were given in No. 75 of our third volume. The operation 

 may be performed at once. We do not know any profepsional apiarijn 

 from whom you could obtain the requii'ed assistance. 



LONDON MAEEETS.- 

 POTJLTEY. 



-July 27. 



The poason tells its tole. The supplj increases, and the demand falls otT. 

 Prices sijtfer in consequence. 



