September 29, 1863. ] JOTJENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



263 



WATEEFOKD FAEMING SOCIETT'S POULTEY 

 SHOW— September 17th. 



On this occasion the following were the awards :— 



Spanish.— Medal, W. Joyce. Commended, H. Jones. „,._,, 



Cochin-Chisa.— Medal, W. Joyce. Highly Commende], C. ^. Bolton. 

 Commended, H. Jones. 



DoRZiso.— Medal, J. Wall. Commended, W. Joyce. 



Hamevegbs.— Medal, C. N. Bolton. Commended, J. Vail. 



Docks (Aylesbury).— .Medal, C. N. Bolton. Commended, \\ . Joyce. 



Docus (Rouen).— Medal, W. .Jovce. Commended, C. N. Bolton. 



Fancy Chickens.- Modal, W. Joyce. Commended, H. Jones. 



Geese.— Med.il, I'. G. Bloomfield. 



Best Coll>:ctio.v of Poci.trv the Peopeett of one Exuibitos, hot 



XESS THAN FotE Lots.— Silver Jledal, W. Joyce. 



[This ought to he called "Joyce's Exhihition" we think.] 



■WHITCHUKCH AND MALPAS POULTEY 



SHOW. 

 This very successful Meeting took place on the 23rd iiist., 

 and some veiy good specimens of every class were exhibited. 



Spanish.— First and Second, W. Woolley, Bunbury. 



Dorkings.— First, E. Tudman, Ash Grove, Whitchurch. Second, T. Bur- 

 gess, Burlevdam. 



Game.— First and Second, T. BursesE, Burleydam. Highly Commended, 

 Miss Sadler, Heath Cotlaire, Whitchurch ; J. Plate, Newton. 



Ducks (White Aylesbury).— first, J. Ravenshaw, Ash, Whitchurch. 

 Second, J. Groucott, Haughion. Highlv Commended, T. Eavenshaw. 



Di'CKS (Rouen).- First, J. Thui>tield, Lighlwood Green. Second, T. 

 Burgess, Burlevdam. Highly Commended, T. Burgess. 



Geese.— First, T. Burgess, Burlcyd.im. Second, G. Richards, Ash, Whit- 

 church. 



Turkeys.— First, J. Lowe, Stockton Hall. Second, T. Burgess, Burley- 

 dam. 



The Judge was Mr. Heath, of Nantwioh. 



PEEFOEATED ZINC FEAMES— DEIVING BEES 

 IN BAE-HIVES. 



In reply to " A. B. C." I may state that I cannot see much 

 difference between his perforated zinc frames and Mi-. Wood- 

 biu-y's wooden ones. They would not facilitate his seeing 

 the work a whit better — from the side window I mean. 



With regard to driving bai--boxes, I must say that I often 

 resort to this practice as involving much less trouble than 

 any other mode of expelling bees from such hives — that is 

 to say, where the bees are in force. But then my hives ai-e 

 chiefly located in bee-houses, and not in the open ail-, as 

 Mr. Woodbm-y's are. This makes all the difference as to 

 the ease or difficulty of removing bai'-combs. It is most 

 troublesome work in a bee-house. For this reason I carry 

 my hives out and drive them, which I find the quickest 

 method. WUl JIi-. Woodbm-y pardon my questioning his 

 opinion as to bees been ■' driven upwtrds " by simply remov- 

 ing the top board of a bar-hive ? Certainly they will not be 

 ■easily driven thus. — B. & Vf. 



PAETHENOGENESIS— EECtICIDAL ATTACKS 

 ON QUEENS. 



Though familial- with the works of Bonner, Huish, Huber, 

 Bevan, and Dr. Dunbar-. &c., it is only a few weeks since I 

 knew anytliing respecting the doctrine propounded by 

 Dzierzon of unmated queens being able to lay fertile or 

 rather di-one eggs. I am anxious to possess Mr. Woodbui-y's 

 •evidence, being somewhat incredulous respecting the state- 

 ment. 



After hearing of parthenogenesis, I took the queen from a 

 hive in order to get a few artificial ones. I got several just 

 as they were about to leave their cells. Of two in particular, 

 one was hatched on August 21st, and the other on the 23rd, 

 two days after. The one born on the 21st was allowed free 

 egress, and on the 1st of this month was jjut into a newly- 

 made glass uuicomb ■with a goodly number of bees. They 

 were fed liberally, and on the 7th I found her laying in the 

 nevf-made comb. She proved very fertile, and at this mo- 

 ment eggs (workei-s'), and sealed-np brood are abundant. 

 But more of her immediately. The other queen, born on 

 23rd, was put into a box -with a little coml) and honey, and 

 ■with nearly the same quantity of bees, and in a place where 

 the temperature was about equal with the place where I 



had stationed the glass unicomb. Neither queen nor bees 

 were allowed egress beyond the bounds of a room in which 

 they could take an airing. Yesterday (September 21st), the 

 queen being now twenty -nine days old, I dislodged her and 

 the bees from the box ; but although a little comb was made, 

 and some food stored up, there was not a vestige of life in 

 the form of brood. If Huber be right, she is now destined 

 to be the mother of drones only. I have not learned how 

 long a time must elapse before she begins to lay in her un- 

 impregnated state. 



But -with the queen bom on the 21st, in the glass imicomb, 

 though so fertile, the bees acted strangely yesterday. Their 

 becoming unsettled, and buzzing a good deal, led me to 

 open the shutter, when I found a queen treated as a strange 

 queen, and zUsely matted over by a cluster of bees. I 

 thought, as there was no other queen in the hive, that a 

 stranger had by some strange mistake entered, and dis- 

 possessed the rightful sovereign. But, no: all my other 

 hives had theu- respective queens, and it was their own 

 rightful sovereign they were strangling. For several hours 

 I laboured to relieve her, but the persecution never abated, 

 and this morning she was lying almost suffocated on the 

 bottom of the hive, firmly enclosed in a cluster of bees. I 

 took her from them, fed and re-vived her, and after a lapse of 

 six hours have again presented her. But she has again 

 been seized and imprisoned as a stranger. I am confident 

 they will kill her. During the time I removed her the bees 

 were quite tranquil, andbusy emptying then- feeding-ti-ough. 



Queens evidently leave a scent behind them in their course, 

 which the bees can detect several hom-s afterwards. Her 

 track or trail, I apprehend, is the medium of making her 

 presence in the hive most generally known. Can her scent 

 or odour, then, have undergone some change in its character, 

 offensive or otherwise, that the bees no longer recognise 

 then- own mistress ? Or, when from any cause it is necessai-y 

 to have a new queen, does the instinct of the bees lead 

 them to dispatch the old whilst material for making the 

 new is to be had ? — R. S. 



P.S. — September 23rd, after ten hours' confinement the 

 queen has now in some measure regained her liberty. 



[Dzierzon's works have not been translated, but the evi- 

 dence in support of parthenogenesis is detailed in Siebold's 

 " True Parthenogenesis in Moths and Bees," translated by 

 Dallas, and published by Van Voorst. In Nos. 25 and 30 of 

 The Jottknai. of Hoeticultttbe are articles from my pen 

 on the subject. The first recapitulates the facts and reason- 

 ing in support of the doctrine, wliUst the second details my 

 own repetition and verification of Siebold's microscopic in- 

 vestigations, which reaUy place it beyond cavil. 



Huber was mistaken in limiting impregnation to a period 

 of twenty-one days. I have known a delay of thirty days 

 without any iU result. Your virgin queen reared and kept 

 from the drones so late in the season may not — nay, most 

 probably -niU not — lay eggs until the spring ; but lay fertile 

 eggs she most assuredly -will, if you can keep her alive 

 long enough — di-one eggs, if she remain a virgin — worker 

 eggs, if by any chance impregnation should have taken 

 place. Let no one fancy that I speak thus positively with- 

 out sufficient wan-ant. I have repeatedly reared queens too 

 late in the autumn for impregnation to be effected, and 

 these have invariably turned out drone-breeders the follow- 

 ing spring, after which a post mortem examination has de- 

 monstrated the fact of their vu-ginity. 



Regicidal attacks by workers on their o-mi queens are 

 much more fi-equent than is generally imagined. Many 

 instances of this kind have already been related by me in 

 the pages of The Jouknal of KoKTictrLTUEE, but I have 

 not yet been able to fr-ame any theory by which they may 

 be satisfactorily accounted for. 



There is no doubt that queens leave a track or trail 

 behind them which is noticed by bees some time after- 

 ■n-ai-ds ; but although bees recognise thefr own queen when 

 brought into contact with her, it is by no means certain 

 that they can identify the track or trail of any particular 

 queen after she has passed. Besides, what ground have 

 we for presuming a sudden change in the scent or odour of 

 a yonng and fertile queen that is apparently almost wor- 

 shipped by her subjects one hour, only to be rigorously 

 imprisoned the next, and ultimately put to death without 

 mercy by these same subjects, literally the children of her 



