100 



JOTJENAl OF HOETICULTTIRE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ Augnst 4, 1863. 



attention, and tlie most approved hives, will not suffice to 

 insure sxiecese. 



It is notorious that the bees of one proprietor will some- 

 times prosper, while no care on the jjai-t of another, living 

 possibly close by, will command an amount of success suffi- 

 cient to repay him for liis pains : hence it is a very common 

 idea among cottagers all over the country', that the pros- 

 perity of bees depends as much on what they call " luck," 

 as it does on anythijig. If, they would say, the " Devon- 

 SHiBE Bee-keepee " is going to have a run of ill-luck vrith 

 his bees — whatever may be the cause of it — do what he may, 

 they will not prospei-. My own belief is, that he will find 

 them dwindle to that extent that he will have scarcely a 

 bee remaining, and, therefore, I should advise him, little as 

 I am qualified to give advice on the scientific management 

 of bees, at once to get rid of his entire stock, and stai't 

 afresh. Let him bewai'e of offending the moral suscepti- 

 bilities of his bees, English or Italian, in any way, and then, 

 probably, he will succeed as in times past. 



Probably he wOl treat all that I have said as " bosh," but I 

 could not help suggesting it for his reflection. At any rate, 

 it is plain that he has a jiroblem to solve as difficult as any 

 that has hitherto engaged his attention in regfu'd to bee- 

 keeping. — Jonas Jackson. 



[Every apiarian must agi-ee with Jonas Jackson ; and to 

 his suggestions we will add a few more similarly sanctioned 

 by antiquity. As Mr. Woodbm-y will Hke to strengthen his 

 hives by the joining to them fresh swarms, thei-efore let 

 him kill a bullock as du-ected by Vu-gil in his fourth 

 Georgic, and let him add the bees engendered by its bowels 

 to his declining stocks. Let him hi frxture on the death 

 of any relative tie a piece of black craj^e roxind each 

 bee-hive, as they do, or used to do, in his own county, as 

 well as in Gloucestershu-e and Cornwall. When his hives 

 swarm in future, let hun by crying " Brownie ! Bro%vnie ! ! " 

 summon the tutelary fauy to his aid to prevent then" going 

 whither he would not. Never let him again part with a hive 

 of bees for money, and when he barters one away never let 

 him have it removed on any other day than Good Friday. — 

 Eds.] 



FAILUEES m BEE-EJ:EPI]S'G. 



"Whilst condohng, as in duty bound, with oiu- brother of 

 Devonshii-e, I would remind him of one of olden time (stead- 

 fast in his integiity when brought level with the dust fr-om 

 a lofty pinnacle of prosperity), of whom it is recorded that 

 he had given to him " twice as much as he had before." 

 So doubt your readers will all respond to the hope, and wish 

 that the "Devonshire Bee-keepee" may soon be himself 

 again, and his hives jirospering even beyond the success of 

 yore. 



I should rejoice could I point out the reason why such 

 failiu-es take jjlace in aijiaries as our leader is now in 

 mom-ning for. I know such deaths and losses are most 

 frequent ; witness the number of apiaiies on every plan, 

 once flom-ishing, but now exhibiting only " a beggarly 

 accovint of empty benches." But I cannot. I know that 

 certain families of the human race die out, why and where- 

 fore it is not possible to say, and strangers almost take the 

 name, titles, and properties of those who have been as 

 wishful to perpetuate their line and name as the " Devon- 

 shire Bee-keepek " was or can be to keep up the stocks 

 in which he prided. Equally pleased shoidd I be could I 

 point out the reason of the potato failiu-e. But I cannot : I 

 only know that worms wiU wither our gourds in a night. I 

 beheve all these losses and mishaps, if you wiU, ai-e ordered 

 and permitted by One who doeth all things well : therefore, 

 I faint not when I have my shai-e of the mischances, and 

 I tiy to follow the example set me by my favourites, which 

 always endeavour to rectify their "break-downs" as long 

 as there is any hope leit of building up again. 



When I brought my bees from the north of Lincolnshfre 

 (three hives) in the whiter of 1S61 and 1S62, I thought they 

 were all " good standai-ds." Two were swarms of 1S61, the 

 third an old stock that had not swarmed that year. They 

 all began the decidedly bad bee-season of 1862 vigorously 

 enough ; but the third soon began to d^vindle away, leaving 

 honey enough to have wintered two hives. Of the other two 



only one just " saved its bacon " by a trip to the moors. 

 The other swarmed twice, and I kept it at home, giving it 

 honey without measure all the time its j)artner was at the 

 heather ; and now mark the result. The hive I kept at home 

 followed suit exactly this spruig with the one which died in 

 tlie previous one, and the other so nearly dwintUed away, 

 that I was once on the point of " killing it to save its life." 

 I did not do so, however, and, strange to say, it has recruited ; 

 iUU-1 though it never has been fiiU of bees in any period of 

 this summer it has made plenty of honey, and is now one of 

 the heavy ones of my thriving stocks. I never observed one 

 cU-one issue from it all this season. I never saw one within 

 its windows ; but one nig'ht I found the front of it strewed 

 mth di-C'ues, some dead, some dying, some in all stages of 

 infantile hfe. I have my idea that this hive will do no more 

 good, and it is now doomed to the fuming-pot. In Tork- 

 shfre I had a siuulai- case exactly. The heaviest hive I 

 had I deprived of a portion of its honey, and the next 

 season it dwindled away. 



I could give instance after instance of the kind, both 

 under the depriving system and on the cottage plan — first 

 swarms, seconds, old stocks, all alike ; sometimes a hive 

 or two in an apiary, sometimes the whole lot. The simple 

 look on and wonder, the wise are ccinfounded, the super- 

 stitious say it betokens death, or is the consequence of it ; 

 but as I do not like to class myself with either of those 

 denominations exactly, I say with him of my neighbouring 

 county, we have not arrived at the solution of the mystery. 

 I should have been almost cleaned out again last year, as I 

 have been many a time before, had I not pui'chased two 

 first swarms. Of these, one was, to all appearance, doing 

 as well as bees could do last season, when one morning I 

 saw that something was amiss — the bees were showing every 

 symptom of having lost their queen, though fuU of brood- 

 comb iu every stage. Whilst the hubbub was at its height, 

 a neighboiu- had a " second cast." I was not long in looking 

 out for a supernumerary queen. I caught one, took her home 

 to my " distressed manufacturers," and in less than one 

 minute after this young virgin stranger entered the hive 

 they were working away as steadily and happily as I should 

 wish those of Lancashu'e to be working, were the cotton 

 famine at an end. 



One of yotu- correspondents asks respecting the length of - 

 time piping is heard before the issue of a swarm. I have 

 known them do it a day or two after the first trump of 

 defiance. This year they have piped for seven days or more. 

 More than a fortnight elapsed between the first and second 

 swarms in my garden. In a neighboiu-"s, some of his hives 

 swarmed for the third time on the seventh day. So much 

 for rides. It would almost appear as if bees did not adhere 

 very strictly to them. But here an ignorance of thefr habits 

 m.iy put us at fault. — The Hahpshiee Bee-keepee. 



A White Ousel. — A very interesting variety of the Ousel 

 (Blackbii-d) has been shot near here; it is evidently a male 

 bii'd, and is a jjure white — so much so that I coidd not dis- 

 cover a single feather varying in colour. Its yellow beak 

 added to its singularity of appearance. — W.Eaeley, Uigsivcll. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Lame Chickens (.4 Constant Iieadcr).~~You T\-iU fiiid remarks oa this 

 subject in anotlier eolumn. 



Stouino lloNET— Its Use {J. T., itockparf).—?itoTe your honey in 

 closely-covered jars, not in tins, which ■would communicate to it an un^ 

 pleasant flavour. Virgin honey in the comb is no mean adjunct to the 

 breakfast table, nor is it to he despised when newly drained Iroru clean 

 combs. 



KiLLiNo Drones [J. J'.l-— On no account kill them. The bees will 

 effect the slaughter when the drones are no longer required. 



LONDON IMAKKETS.— ArcrsT 3. 

 POULTKY. 



Loiidon is fast becoming empty. Demiind llags iind supply increasos. 

 Prices sufl'er accordingly. 



