180 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 1, 1863. 



old, and certainly shows no signs of decrepitude, but I have 

 a strong impression that " A Lanarkshike Bee-keeper " 

 has been deceived by an accidental resemblance between 

 two successive monarchs, and that he is, therefore, mistaken 

 in believing that a queen has survived and remained fertile 

 during seven years. 



Woidd Mi-. Lowe be kind enough to favour us with the 

 desu'ed information ? In the autumn of last year he for- 

 warded to me a couple of living queens for microscopic 

 examination. One of these he informed me had ceased 

 laying altogether, whDst the other, having retiu'ued to the 

 drone-laying condition of a virgin, afibi'ded the strongest 

 possible confhanation of the truth of parthenogenesis.* If 

 Ml'. Lowe will oblige us by stating the age of these queens 

 it will at once decide the question. 



My suspicions as to the injiurious effects upon bees of 

 stupefaction by means of fungus were first aroused by 

 finding that a reiietitiou of the operation a few days after- 

 wards was always fatal, proving that the bees must have 

 been in some way weakened by the fii-st fumigation, al- 

 though they appeared at the time to have perfectly re- 

 covered fi-om it. When I afterwards fmind that colonies of 

 bees expelled fi-om their hives in this mannor. and furnished 

 with combs and plenty of food, invariably dwindled away, 

 my impression became confirmed, and I spared no pains 

 until I had mastered the art of driving, which renders fumi- 

 gation unnecessary, and is free from all objection. 



I have never found bees slaughtered on their return fi'om 

 a removed super, and should suspect some eiTor in manage- 

 ment were such an occuiTence to take place. 



I have to thank " A Hampshire Bee-keeper " for his 

 kind sympathy. The good of others was the sole object I 

 had in view when I made my misfortune public, and " A 

 Hampshire Bee-keeper'' administers the best consolation 

 when he declai-es that he has already benefited by the warn- 

 ing given by — A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 



HONEYDEWS-FOUL BEOOD. 



Colonel Newman in his last communication spoke of 

 honeydews being abundant this year, leading us to infer 

 that his bees, or the bees generally in the neighbourhood of 

 Cheltenham, had profited by them to the fiUing of then' 

 honeycombs. May I ask the gallant Colonel if he actually 

 saw the bees collecting those dews in such numbers as to 

 wan'ant him in believing that any considerable quantity of 

 this exudation or excretion was actually stored up as honey 

 by the bees ? Also I should be glad to know what trees the 

 bees frequented in search of it. Only once in my Hfe have 

 I had ocular demonstration to the fact of bees sipping this 

 honeydew ; nor have I met with any apiarian or natm-alist 

 who had more experience than myself. Some ten or eleven 

 years ago I put the question in the pages of The Cottage 

 Gardener, aud, so far as I can remember, I myself was the 

 only person who had seen bees apijarently coUectiug the 

 honeydew, although more than one wi'iter stoutly asserted 

 the fact that they do collect it. I must profess myself to 

 be still incredulous with regard to these dews, so far at least 

 that bees make any use of them in ordinai-y years. In bad 

 seasons, when bees are stai-ving, they will feed upon any- 

 thing sweet which is not offensive to them; but I doubt 

 whether they will touch honeydew when anything else in 

 the shajje of food is to be had by them, and it remains a 

 question if they store it in their hives. If this be correct, 

 bee-wi-iters generally have copied from each other a mere 

 tradition, when they speak so bravely about the extraordi- 

 nary activity of bees during the ijrevalence of honeydew. 



As to the other question of fold brood now being discussed 

 in your pages, I feel strongly persuaded that Mr. Wood- 

 bury has fully made out his case as to this being a disease of 

 a distinct type. Here ;a'e no " mere siu-mises or conjectures " 

 — no mere " accepting for truths the dicta of others," but 

 facts very patent, and proofs, as they appeal- to me, very 

 satisfactory. Like Mi-. Edwards (who by the way %vi-ites 

 like a man who is thoroughly up to the scientific and pro- 

 fitable management of bees), " I have had more or less of 

 chilled brood under various cii-cumstauces," aud no check to 



* The result of my examination is related in page 54^, of the illiidTol. 

 of The Jolr.nal or Houticl-ltcee. 



the bees has resulted fi-om it, the bees quietly clearing out 



theu- cells, but generally I have had also such brood become 

 coiTupted in the hive, and the bees nevertheless, if sufficiently 

 populous, have tliiiveu in spite of it ; but nothing like the 

 disastrous experience of Mr. Woodbury has come under 

 my notice liitherto. Here is a case of hive after hive in 

 various conditions catcliing the infection till an entire apiary 

 is hastening to destruction. Not only so, new liives, fresh 

 and well peopled, are brought li-om a distance, and they, too, 

 ai-e attacked. The vii-idence of the disease is also remark- 

 able, and the rapidity with which the evO spreads. Mr. 

 Lowe seems to forget that Mr. Woodbui-y has been for 

 several, I may say for many, years an exijerimental apiarian 

 (all thanks to him for it), and repeating again and again the 

 very ingenious and admirable process to which B'Ir. Lowe 

 so strongly excepts ; but notliiug hke this disease has ever 

 come across him before. I must add tliat in the interests 

 of our favouiite pursuit, the tone and style of Mr. Lowe's 

 recent communication are in my poor opinion much to be 

 regretted. I asked myself directly I read it. What personal 

 disagreement can have arisen between the two gentlemen 

 to account for this philippic ? — B. & W. 



EEMOA'IXG BEES TO THE HEATHEE. 



Since you published my directions for removing bees to 

 the moors in The Journal of Horticulture of JiUy 21st, 

 I have had several letters, showing how carefully my in- 

 structions should be caiTied out to prevent the combs in 

 swarms breakmg down and di-owning the bees in their own 

 honey. And as my object is to preserve the lives of these 

 useful interesting little creatm-es, as well as to encoui-age 

 bee-keepers by showing them how to make a good profit 

 out of then bees, I think I cannot do better than give them 

 the correspondence I have had with a Lincolnshire bee- 

 keeper, which clearly shows how easy it is to remove swarms 

 even with combs only partly made, if my instructions are 

 strictly carried out. 



" Mr. Carr, *- Liucolnsliire, July 29tli. 



" Dear Sir, — Previous to seeing your instructions in the 

 paper, how to remove bees to the heather, I had removed 

 thu-tecn swarms to the moors, and the combs broke down in 

 several of them, and the bees were all di-owned in then- own 

 sweets, and were totally destroyed. The plan I pursued 

 was, to take the hives gently off the stands, and tie them up 

 in a thin piece of calico, and they were conveyed very steadily 

 to the moors. But you appear to prefer can-ying them 

 turned upside down. My bees are in flat-topped straw liives. 

 I should esteem it a gi-eat favour if you will drop me a hne 

 with some further instructions, as I want to take about 

 twenty more liives to the heather. " Yours, &Cv" 



In reply I said — 



" I am sorry you have had the misfortune to lose some of 

 your hives of bees, as it is very diseo< .raging. The new 

 combs, especiaUy in late swarms, are as brittle as glass, and 

 break down with the least shake when heated, and even faU 

 with theii' own vreight if they have any honey in them, as 

 the bees when made up with the finest calico grow excited, 

 a,nd the heat ascending to the top of the hive soon heats 

 the conilj and the}' give way. 



" But I think if you will follow my directions, you -will meet 

 with no fui-ther accidents, as I have taken my bees to the 

 moors for many years, part of the way by the railwaj', and 

 then six miles over a very rough country, mi and suspended 

 under a ciui-iage, and I took them again last Satm-day with- 

 out any accident. 



" Fasten your bees, esi)eeially your swarms, in a cover of 

 very open net (strong cap-net \vill do), with holes in it just 

 small enough to prevent the bees escaping, and when tied 

 secm-ety tm-n the hive gently up, but mind that the edges of 

 the combs ;u-e at the bottom part as you turn the hive over, 

 othei-wise the combs will probably either bend or break with 

 their own weight and that of the bees upon them. When 

 turned bottom upwards, the combs all rest upon theii- own 

 foundation, and the heat always ascends, and so escapes 

 tlu-ough the net, and the inside of the hive is kept cool. 

 Swarms always lide the best suspended. With old hives 

 the same amount of care is not necessary, as the bees varnish 

 their combs with a sort of glue, and when they have had brood 



