160 



JOtTRNAL OF HOETICULTTJRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 2S, 1S63. 



ESPEETBIENTING OW BEES. 



We who commiserate the condition of the " Devonshike 

 Bee-kekpek," with reference to the losses in his apiary, 

 ought to be ciireful not to imitate the comforters of Job, 

 who attributed all the miseries and misfortunes of the 

 Patriarch to his own fault. 



Those who try experiments with bees will often, doubt- 

 less, experience lamentable failures ; but it is scarcely fail- 

 to attribute the complete and sudden break-do\vn of oui- 

 master in bee-oraft to general mismanagement on his pail. 



I know that I have heretofore whilst experimentalising 

 had many losses of valuable stocks, but I have at the same 

 time, or diu-ing the same period, lost many a luve for whose 

 decease I could attribute no satisfactory cause. 



One good will arise to bee-uiaeters from this loss to oui- 

 respected friend, in that their eyes will now be opened to a 

 fact to which many of them were formerly blind. I aRuded 

 in my last (page 100) to a hive which I thought would do 

 no more good, and which I doomed to the " fuming-ijot." 

 This hive I have since taken, and I found "foul brood" 

 therein and no mistake. Had I not read the account of such 

 a disease in the letter of the " Devonshike Bee-keepeb," I 

 should certainly have given some of the honey, and, perhaps, 

 comb, to others of my hives, and my loss next year might 

 have been as great as his ; as it is, I thank him for the 

 opening of my eyes, and wherever I suspect the disease to 

 lui-k for the future, there fire and brimstone shall do then- 

 puriiying work at once. I had observed throughout the 

 Bumnier that the hive in question gave foi-th a most un- 

 savoury odoiu', and for the futiu'e this will be a hint not to 

 be disregarded, and the suspected hive shall always be re- 

 moved out of the way of infecting others. 



"With reference to the fuming of bees with fungus, may I 

 add that I have tried it for yeai-s at all seasons of the year, 

 strong doses and slight, and that I never could perceive 

 that it injured those operated upon ? A few at times have 

 been killed, particularly when two or more swarms have 

 been joined, or when large portions of the comb containing 

 brood and honey have been removed from the stock ; but 

 this loss I have of late attributed, not to the effects of the 

 fumigation, but to weapons of certain of the bees them- 

 selves, which certainly kill oft' theu' brothers whenever they 

 wish for their removal, or think there is no more work for 

 them to do. If I take olf a super or middle-box, I do not 

 now, as formerly, retiun the inmates, for if I do I iuvaiiably 

 find slaughter to succeed. If, however, I "cruelly" slay 

 them myself, I cannot discover that the remaining bees give 

 any symptoms of a knowledge of the loss- of the good of which 

 they have been deprived. 



I shoidd be obliged by the Devonshire or Lanarkshire Bee- 

 keeper giving me a reason for the supposed longevity of a 

 queen bee. I am led to suppose that she does not see 

 two winters, or, if she does, that the hive in which she is 

 regnant will not be prosperous, and will shortly be destitute 

 of subjects. — The Hampshike Bee-keeper. 



AN APPEAL ON BEHALF OF THE IjSTFEEIOE 

 ANIMyiJLS. 



We have received the following from an esteemed cor- 

 respondent, and have great pleasiu'e in giving it every 

 pubUoity : — " It is a common observation that cases of 

 brutality to horses, asses, and other large quadrupeds, are 

 much less frequently witnessed now than they were some 

 time ago. This is no doubt owing to the general increase of 

 humanity, and to these animals being now under the protec- 

 tion of the law. 



" An EngUsh gentleman would not himself give a moment's 

 unnecessai-y pain to siny living creature, and would instinct- 

 ively exert himself to put an end to any suffering before his 

 eyes : yet it is a fact that every game-preserver in this 

 country sanctions a system which consigns thousands of 

 animals to acute agony, probably of eight or tea hours 

 duration, before it is ended by death. I allude to the setting 

 of steel traps for catching vermin. 



" The iron teeth shut together with so strong a spring that 

 a pencil which I inserted was cracked and deeply indented 

 by the violence of the blow. The grip must be close enough 



not to allow of the escape of a small animal, such as a stoat 

 or a magpie ; and therelbre when a cat or a rabbit is caught, 

 the hmb is cut to the bone and crushed. A humane game- 

 keeper said to me, " I know what they must feel, as I have 

 had my finger caught." The smaller animals are often ,so 

 fortunate as to be killed at once. If we attempt to realise 

 the sufferings of a cat or other animal when caught, we 

 must fancy what it would be to have a limb crushed during 

 a whole long night between the ii-on teeth of a trap, and 

 with the agony increased by constant attempts to escape. 

 Few men could endui'e to watch for five minutes an animal 

 struggling in a trap with a crushed and torn Umb, yet on all 

 the well-preserved estates throughout the kingdom, animals 

 thus hnger every night; and where gamekeepers ai'e not 

 humane, or have gT0%vn callous to the suffering constantly 

 passing under theii' eyes, they have been known by an eye- 

 witness to leave tiie traps unvisited for twenty-four or even 

 thirty-six hours. Such neglect as this is, no doubt, rare ; 

 but traps ai-e often forgotten, and there are few gamekeepers 

 who will leave then- beds on a cold winter's morning one 

 hour earlier to put an end to the pain of an animal wliich is 

 safely in then- power. 



" I subjoin the account of the appearance of a rabbit 

 caught in a trap given by a gentleman who, last summer, 

 witnessed the painful sight many times : — ' I know of no 

 sight more sorrowful than that of these unoffending animals 

 as they are seen in the tortui-e-grip of these traps. They 

 sit di'awn up into a little heap as if collecting ;dl their force 

 of endurance to suppoi't the agony ; some sit in a half-torpid 

 state induced by intense suffering. Most young ones are 

 found dead after some houi's of it, but others as you approach 

 start up, struggle violently to escape, and shriek pitiably 

 from teiTor and the pangs occasioned by theii' struggles." 

 We natiu'ally feel more compassion for a timid and harmless 

 animal, such as a rabbit, than for vermin, but the actual 

 agony must be the same in all cases. It is scai'cely possible 

 to exaggerate the suffering thus endui-ed from fear, Irom 

 acute pain, maddened by thirst, and by vain attempts to 

 escape. 



" Bull-biiiting and cock-fighting have rightly been put 

 down by law. I hope it may never be said that the members 

 of the British Parliament Avill not make laws to jn'oteet 

 animals if such laws should in any way interfere with their 

 own sports. 



" Some who reflect upon this subject for the fii'st time will 

 wonder how such cruelty can have been permitted to con- 

 tinue in these days of civilisation ; and no doubt, if men of 

 education saw with then' own eyes what takes place under 

 their sanction, the system would have been put an end to 

 long ago. 



" We shall be told that setting steel traps is the only way 

 to preserve game ; but we cannot believe that Englishmen, 

 when their attention is once dra^vn to the case, will let even 

 this motive weigh against so fearful an amount of cruelty." 



OUE LETTEE BOX. 



Poultry Book {T. D. S.) — Perhaps '* Dixon's Ornamental and Domestic 

 Poultry," wiU answer your requirements. 



Loss OF Plumage {H. C). — Shabby plumage and comparative nakedness 

 are uaturjil to (owls at tins time of yeur. The leathers are worn out. The 

 siuart winter clothing of last October and November lus become seedy. 

 Nature i)eing busy preparing the new suit has nothing to spare lor the old. 

 It is become shabby and brittle. As they are in a cunflned sp.»ce, separate 

 the cock Irom the hens. Feed well, bat on cooling iO'»d, and it you will 

 hnve patience you will find t!ie plumage of your birds renewed to your 

 satist.iciion. 



Cochin-China Chickens {A Young £cginner)—yi\\iii sort of place do 

 your chickens roost in ? If it is at all damp that v>'\\\ account for their 

 being weak on their legs. The mere fact of chickens having to pet up four 

 ^tep8 into the garden in which they are allowL-d to run could never affect 

 them m iliio way. The Devizes Poultry Show was held un the 10th and 

 lUh of I'Vbruary last. We do not know if the lime i^ settled when the 

 next is to take place. The Secretaries are Mi. Long and Mr. Mulliusa. 



Pkesehving Eggs {A Constant Subscriber). — We have known epgs beep 

 pood Iruiii May to Christmas by dipping ihera in melted fat and storing 

 iheni in u dry cold place. 



Rabbits (i^rf^j/O.—Yuur Rabbits have what is called ear-gum, and it is 

 causeu by bf ing kept in a damp and close place where there is not a free 

 cnculaiiun of air. As soon as you discover it procure Irom a cbimist a 

 little lead tan:ment, with which dress the inside of the ear an low down as 

 you can reacu with a feather. Examine them every iiay and clean off with 

 a piece ot blunt stick all scab and secretion as it becomes loostned, and by 

 careiul aii^ntion you will soon overcome the disease. 



Unr(imu-hivks (An Isle of Axholmt- Bcf-kefpetj.—Thi; distance between 

 the two gia-8 surfaces in my unicomb-hive is an inch and two-thirds, as 

 recoinmeuded by Dr. Bcvan.— A Devonshire Bee-kekpkb. 



