264 



JOUENAL OP HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAUDElfEE. [ September 29, isos. 



own body? Virgin queens appear especially liable to 

 these assaults, but in their case they seldom terminate 

 fatally. The period of then- retiu-n from a successful wedding 

 flight seems also to be fi-equently selected for tJiese attacks, 

 since more than once on releasing a young queen from im- 

 prisonment I have plainly distinguished the undoubted sign 

 of fecundation described by Huber. A matiu-e and prolific 

 queen may survive the first few attacks ; but, when once 

 commenced, they are generally repeated at uncertain in- 

 tervals until they terminate fatally. This sometimes takes 

 place with perfectly capable queens in the prime of life, and 

 even occasionally at a season when their loss entails the 

 certain desti-uction of the whole coramxtnity. As I said 

 before, I can fi-ame no theory which will account satisfactorily 

 for these apparently inexplicable facts. — A Devonshire Bee- 



KEEPEB.] 



HONEYDEW, &c. 



Colonel Newman has quite mistaken my meaning in 

 supposing that I doubted the existence of honeydew, so- 

 called ; I have never doubted it, having almost every summer 

 seen something of it in di-y hot weather. I have also had 

 ocular proof, once only, however, that bees will freqiient the 

 oak when covered with honeydew. What I doubt is if bees 

 often coBect it. Colonel Newman, I perceive, does not say 

 that he has seen hive bees collect it, or how often he has 

 seen them. My notion is that they collect it very rai-ely, 

 and only in bad seasons, just as they frequented our rasp- 

 berry bushes last summei-, when honey proper was scarce. 

 Can no one else of your numerous apiarian readers thi-ow 

 light upon the subject ? 



WTiat will Colonel Newman say if " B. & "W." with the 

 convivial «<»i!. de -plume be the same individual as "A Country 

 Curate " of former days — now in tru&h " a beneficed clergy- 

 man?" To help him to recover the shock I will at once put 

 in a disclaimer to the reading which attributes my assump- 

 tion of the initials "B. & W." to my presumed aclmii-ation 

 for or indulgence in that vulgar beverage, "brandy and 

 ■water." I can assure him that I neither smoke nor tipple, 

 and I hope he will believe me. lu a more charitable spirit 

 the excellent Editor-in-chief of this periodical interpreted 

 "B. &W." to mean "Back & Welcome," thus exjiressing 

 his own kindly feeling at hetu-ing of my safe retm-n home 

 from the antipodes. My own explanation remains to be 

 <riven. I assumed these initials in the joy of my heart at 

 finding myself promoted to a benefice in the advanced dio- 

 cese of " Bath and Wells." Here I am anchored after a 

 circumnavigation of the globe, and able to continue my 

 hobby of bee-keeping with little prospect of inteiTuption. 

 Colonel Newman wiU understand by tiiis confession that " A 

 CouNTKT CuEATE," who " was then an experimental bee- 

 keeper, and woiUd not aUow of many failures," stUl sru-vives 

 as an experimental bee-keeper, and does not allow of many 

 failures.— B. & W. 



DEIVING BEES INTO EMPTY HIVES. 



I AM exceedingly obliged to Col. Newman for his kind 

 wishes, and highly appreciate his good opinion, whilst I am 

 perfectly certain that his observations are never penned in 

 an unfriendly spirit. 



In reply to his question as to how often the experiment 

 has succeeded of depriving bees of the whole of their combs, 

 and di-iviug them into a new hive, I may state that I per- 

 formed it on two swarms of the current year, purchased in 

 the coimtry in the beginning of July. These I drove out of 

 their well-filled hives, as related in page 78, and placed 

 them in boxes furnished only with a few pieces of empty 

 guide-comb attached to the bars. On bringing these two 

 colonies home last week, I found both boxes filled with 

 combs and crowded with bees, the nett weight of each being 

 about 20 lbs. My only other experiment of this kind was 

 made on the 22nd of June, 18G1, with a purchased swarm 

 which had issued on the 9th of the previous month. This I 

 di-ove into a perfectly unfurnished straw hive ; and although 

 the season did not permit of its doing quite as well as in 

 the two more recent instances above related, it made combs 

 and partially stored them. A little food woiJd have enabled 

 these bees to stand the winter, had I not required then- 



combs and their personal services for the propagation of 

 Ligurians. 



Although the three instances above related are the only 

 ones in which I have tried the experiment during summer, I 

 am in the habit of forming many stocks every autumn, by 

 driving condemned bees for all the old-fashioned bee-keepers 

 I am acquainted with within a radius of four or five miles of 

 my residence. These I bring home and put into frame- 

 hives (generally two or three lots of bees in each hive), 

 furnished with such pieces of comb as I possess, supple- 

 mented, possibly, by a little brood-comb or nearly empty 

 comb cut out of their own hives, and purchased of their pro- 

 prietors. Liberal feeding sets these populous colonies comb- 

 buikling, and usually stimulates their queens to recommence 

 egg-laying, so that the result is a number of strong and 

 healthy stocks, which rarely faU to sm-vive the winter, and 

 by their pi'osperity in after years fully repay their cost and 

 the time and ti'ouble devoted to saving their lives by — 

 A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 



OTJE LETTEE BOX. 



Toulouse Geese {A Great Coose).— They are much larger thnn any of 

 our common English birds. They form an excellent cross. That with the 

 Chinese is not judicioup, as, even if increase of weight were attained, it 

 would not be of choice quality. The mei its of Toulouse are large size, 

 great weight, and exquisite quality. We have seen thero 25 lbs. each, and 

 18 lbs. in running condition. 



Ear-lobf.8 op Black Bantams {Mrs. S. T.).— It is not essential for 

 Black Humburghs to have white deaf ears, because the lack of them is not 

 a di^qualitiL-ation. Instance : if all the competitors in a class had red ears 

 the prizes would be awarded. It out of twenty competitors only three had 

 white deaf ears, and in every other particular the pens were equal, the 

 white deaf ears would turn the scale certainly. 



PorLTRY Shows {An Exhibitor).~1\\ere is no Journal in which "all" 

 poultry shows are advertised. Committees make a great mistake in not 

 advertising, for there is no doubt many persons, like yourself, "would 

 send birds to many fihows which are nut advertised did they know that 

 those shows were to be held." It is not uncommon for a tJlack Spanish 

 fowl to acquire a white plumage by moulting. 



Growth of Fowls {A Poultry Fancier). —Th^ answer to all your ques- 

 tions must depend much on the condition in wliich birJy are kept: thus a 

 well-fed Dorking or Cochin will be full grown at eight monihs. but it will 

 not be at its heaviest. A Spanish fowl takes rather longer. If :n perfect 

 health, and the weather be favourable, a fowl will moult tliorouplily in two 

 months. The older they are the longer the process. If" a Cochin ir^ to weigh 

 10 lb3. at maturity, we should be content to find him weighing 5 lbs, at 

 four months, or even 4 lbs. A pound per month is good growth. 



Fekding Poultry for Exhibition (P. if.)-— Feed your Dorkings fre- 

 quently on ground oats mixed with milk. Do not shut them up. Wash 

 their legs and feet before they are sent. Feed the Aylesbury Ducks well on 

 oats and bran, and give them very clear spring water. Lei them out in the 

 meadows only when the frost is on the grass— this will help to keep their 

 bills pale, and if they are yellow they will not win. 



Vulture Hocks in Cochin-Chinas {White-Cochin-Breeder).— yMMxxre 

 hocks have never been deemed desirable in any breed of Cochms, and have 

 always been cinsidered a fiisadvant.ijje. amounting almost to disqualifica- 

 tion. Some Brahmas are shown with this appendage, but they are never 

 prizetakerr;. They belong only to the Sultans, rtarwngans, and Bome others. 

 Crest of thk Ckeve Ca:oE [Idem).— It is better that Creve CoGui-s 

 should have no white feather in the crest; but, like Polands, they get thtm 

 as they grow older. The crest of the Creve Coeur is totally different fiom 

 the I'oland, inasmuch as it falls back like a Lark crest, and is not required 

 to be more than that. We will describe them next week. 



Discharge from Fowl's Nostbils ( W. W. Cooke).— \t would have made 

 the question easier to answer if you had s-tated what the breed is which you 

 think have " the blacks," as some are not hable to the di^»eases others are 

 prone to. If they are suffering only from cold, bread steeped in strong 

 ale, and given three times per day, will cure them. If they are Spanish, 

 and have the black rot, which comes with discharge and ends in a positive 

 wasting, it ia incurable. 



Feeding Driven BtEs (5. I). ^<?.),— Driving bees into empty Lives is 

 dangerous work which should be attempted by none but an experienced 

 apiarian, and by such a one only when he bus an especial object in view. 

 You ■will fcce by an article in another column that Mr. Woodbury has done 

 it only on three occasions during summer when he was in urgent want of 

 broodcombF. The lormiition ot ttoctvs in autumn by driving condemned 

 bees is a different matter altugether, and is a very interesting experiment 

 if performed by those who do not mind the trouble and expense of the 

 copious feeding necespary to enable the bees to furnish thc-ir hives with 

 combs, and store these combs wiih fond before winter. Tou had better 

 permit your old stock to swarm next summer, and unite it to the swarm by 

 driving in the autumn, or drive and unite the bees to another stock if you 

 are desirous of breaking it up at once. 



Bees Attacked by Wasfs (ffardeHia).— Release the bees immediately, 

 and if iliey are not dead (confinement by means of putty biing very likely 

 to put the finishing stroke to the mischief which was in proRvess). ascer- 

 tain Their state by turning the hive up toMards evening. If it be still popu- 

 lous the bees will probably huld their own, by your simply connucting the 

 entrance so as to admit of the passage only of a single bee. If it be weak 

 the entrance should also be contracted, but the attack should be eluded by 

 removing the colonv to a new situation at a distance of not less than a mile 

 and a half. In a few weeks Ihe amiinr..al frosts will probably lid you of the 

 plague of wasps, and then the persecuted bees may be restored to then- 

 original position. 



