98 



JOXJRNAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ August 4, U63. 



their canying mucli of theu- infected honey witli them, whilst 

 the combs themselves ai'e set di'aiiiing out of the bees' reach 

 and consigned as quickly as possible to the melting-pot. 

 After the lapse of thi-ee or fom- days the queen (still im- 

 prisoned), and bees are again transferred to another clean 

 hive furnished, if possible, with a few pure combs, and in 

 this they are suffered to remain, theu' queen being released 

 in the coui-se of a day or two, or as soon as they appear con- 

 tentedly settled. Let me again repeat, that all these 

 operations, in which tainted combs must perforce be erposed 

 to the attacks of robbers, should be perfonned as rapidly as 

 possible, and either at a distance fi-om other bees, or at least 

 late in the evening. 



Having now, as I hope, by these means restored my re- 

 maining colonies if not to a thoroughly healthy, at least to 

 a convalescent condition, I may be jiermitted to take a 

 retrospective glance at the amount of mischief which this 

 pestUeut disease has wi-ouglit in my apiary during the past 

 season. I commenced the bee yeai- with either sixteen or 

 seventeen stocks, to which must be added five received from 

 various fiiends for the pm-pose of being Ligurianised. 

 During the spring I sent out four Italian stocks with varying 

 iU-fortune. All the others are now merged, by divers unions 

 (with the particulars of which I have not deemed it neces- 

 sai-y to encumber my narrative), necessitated from time to 

 time by theu- dwincUing condition, into eight* stocks with 

 pure Ligurian queens, nearly all of them reduced to the 

 condition of recent swai'ms, and two queen-rearing colonies, 

 the entire black and hybrid elements having been eliminated 

 fi-om my apiary. It will thus be seen that by this visitation 

 Ihave sustained an actual loss of about a dozen stocks, 

 since I am, of course, accountable to my friends for those 

 with which they have intnisted me, besides losing the 

 entire honey haa-vest, and the whole of the natural or aa-ti- 

 ficial increase which would have resulted under ordinary 

 cu'cumstauces. 



StUl, if the narrative of my misfortunes should be the 

 means of directing attention to a disease not, I fear, so very 

 xmcommon among our little favourites, although almost 

 entirely overlooked by English authors, and if, at the same 

 time, it throw some light on the otherwise unaccountable 

 laUures related by Mr. Fau-brothcr and '■ Bar-hive," I 

 shall not remain altogether inconsolable under the losses 

 which have befallen me in my capacity of — A Devonshire 

 Bee-keepee. 



WEAK A^B imHEALTHY HIVES. 



I HAVE perused with feelings of sympathy — mingled, let 

 me say, also ivith sui-prise — the lamentable plaint which ap- 

 peai-ed in your Journal from its esteemed con-espondent 

 ' " A Devonshiee Bee-keepee," regarding the weak and un- 

 healthy condition of his apiary this season — sympathy on 

 account of the worries and ilisappointments incident to 

 such a state of matters: sm-prise, that one displaying 

 hitherto such a heroic and imdaimted spirit under the many 

 difficulties and perplexities with which he has often been 

 smTOunded, and whose fluent pen has been ever ready to 

 answer all the inquiiies, and to solve aU the doubts of the 

 numerous parties who appealed to him for advice and in- 

 formation, should write in such a desponding strain. This 

 appears to me even a greater mystery than the one which 

 has appai-ently for the present overwhelmed the spiiit and 

 prostrated the energies of oui- friend. 



You will permit me, therefore, to trespass a little on your 

 space whOe I consider a few of the causes which lead to the 

 state of matters here complained of — weakness and un- 

 healthiness in hives, and see whether the so-called mystery 

 may not receive an easy solution, and the evils in question 

 be satisfactorily accounted for. 



I have chosen the words " weak " and "unhealthy," which 

 are tei-ms pretty well understood among apiarians as denot- 

 ing a state or condition the reverse of prosperous, premising 

 only that the latter word " unhealthy," does not necessaiily 

 imply the presence of the disease, properly so-called, among 

 the bees ; but is only meant to indicate the existence of 

 some evil or defect in the hive which, as I have already said, 

 is adverse to prosperity. 



* I Bhould now say seven stocks, one baring been despatched to Renfrew- 

 8bire. 



In the cases before us (for Mr. Woodbury refers to Mr. E. 

 Fairbrother's case as one siniilar to his own), it is, of course, 

 not easy in the absence of full particidars, and ol' a personal 

 knowledge of all the circumstances, to speak decisively as 

 to the cause of the deterioration and decadence of the luves 

 in question ; but judging from the facts communicated, it 

 does not appear to me that either of the cases mentioned 

 is beyond the reach of a true solution. I may here premise, 

 however, that Mr. E. Fairbrother's case and Mr. Woodbury's 

 seem to me entirely dissimUai- in their origin and character. 

 Mr. Fah-brother no doubt complained of his bees deserting 

 and his hives gradually degenerating and d\vindling away 

 without any apparent reason; but it does not follow that 

 because the results were somewhat similar the evils them- 

 selves were the same, or that these results were brought 

 about by the same causes. Wlien I read Mr. E. Pair- 

 brother's communication I was not the least sm-piised at 

 it. I did not consider it a wonderful thing that hives 

 in certain cii-cumstances and in certain localities should 

 not sometimes prosper. Pray let me ask. What are the 

 elements of prosperity? Mr. Fairbrother himself in a sub- 

 sequent communication answered this question, and there- 

 fore his own case, completely when he said — Fii-st, fertility 

 in the queen ; second, good pasturage within reach ; third, 

 lavom-able weather. The further question then arises. Were 

 any of these elements wanting in his case so as to account 

 for failure ? In the absence of a knowledge of ch-cumstances 

 I cannot of course pronounce decidedly as to the reiU cause 

 or causes ; but if there existed no radical defects in the hives 

 themselves, no lui-king evils witliin — if the hives when put 

 down in his apiary were strong, vigorous, and healthy, and 

 if a gradual dn-indling away took place — and if on repeated 

 trials with different stocks under like eu-cumstances the 

 same results ensued, then I should have no doubt in 

 ascribing the cause of faOure to locality alone. Let me tell 

 Mr. Fairbrother, and aU whom it may concern, that there 

 are certain localities in which bees do not and cannot thrive. 

 Woolwich may be one of these : I should fancy it is. But 

 independently of the smoke and other nuisances incident to 

 a town like Woolwich, bees do not like a town life. They 

 lose themselves and are trampled upon by hundi-eds amid 

 the streets and lanes of a lai'ge tow^l. They have to travel 

 far for food ; and even when the apiary is situated in the 

 outskirts, the bees have only access to the fields on one side 

 of them. Within the radius of a mUe they can only resort 

 to a mere segment of a cu-cle for suppHes, while the re- 

 mainder may be to them worse than barren. True, all towns 

 are not alike, but as a general rule I shoidd pronounce a 

 large town locality for an apiary to be most ineligible in 

 every sense. Should the amateiu- cidtivator prosecute his 

 stutUes in such locaUties, he must do so under gi-eat dis- 

 lulvantages and be prepai-ed for considerable sacrifices while 

 enjoying his pleasures. It is of little consequence for Mr-. 

 Fairbrother to inquire " How far will bees fly for food ?" 

 The real question is, " How far can bees profitably and with 

 advantage afford to fly for food?" The nearer and more 

 abundant the pastui-age, the better will they prosper ; the 

 more distant and scarce, the reverse. 



I know weU experimeutaUy what it is to combat with the 

 disadvantages and evils of a town locality. With every 

 fostering care and attention, the poi^ulation of any of my 

 hives is never nearly equal to such as are situated in the 

 open country, nor do they ever approach theii- prosperity. 

 If I were to choose a site for an apiary it would neither be 

 in towns nor in the neighbom-hood of towns, but in some 

 spot far removed from the busy haunts of busy men. 



Mr. Woodbury's case assumes to my mind a different 

 aspect altogether. He has tested his locality with ilifferent 

 results, and therefore, the same objections cannot apply 

 here. The evils of which he complains I attribute to his 

 own creating — they have in my opinion been brought about 

 solely by himself. And here let me state the broad truth 

 at once, which I challenge all to gainsay — namely, an ex- 

 perimental apiary can never be a thoroughly prosperous one. 

 Let me impress this truth upon the nunds of all the apiarian, 

 readers of this Journal. 



I have operated more than most apiarians in my day, and 

 know fuU well the general results and effects produced by 

 the various operations in which I have engaged ; and I will 

 make this remai-k as generally applicable to all these, that 



