October 6, 1863. ] 



JOTIRNAL OF HOETICTJLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GABDEN"EE. 



283 



will do the bees no injury ; but a moderate degree of ven- 

 tilation will probably be advantageous. It is a well-esta- 

 blished fact that the bees of three or four stocks when united 

 in one hive consume very little, if any, more food during 

 winter than each one would have done if left separate.] 



TWO QUEENS in a HIVE— QUEEN'S DUEATION 

 OF LIFE. 

 I FEAR I must apologise to Mr. Woodbury for my seeming 

 inattention in not sooner answering the queries he proposed 

 to me some weeks ago. The fact is, that like him I have 

 been pleasure-seeking, though not to the sea-side to en- 

 counter any such discomforts as he alludes to ; but away 

 among the everlasting cloud-capped hills — the placid lakes 

 and wooded vales of one of the sweetest spots in Britain's 

 isle. To the hills, too, my bees betook themselves — they 

 after their pleasures, I after mine — they to collect, as best 

 they could, in this our fickle climate, the nectared treasures 

 of the purpled heath ; and I to inhale its babny perfumes, 

 climb the alpine steeps, and amidst the quietudes and soli- 

 tary grandeur of nature, to enjoy for a short season the 

 calm delights of country Hfe. Having now returned, there- 

 fore, to home and to duty, I take up The Jotjenal op Hor- 

 TicuLTtTRE and re-read some of the more recent communica- 

 tions on apiarian matters. And first with respect to the 

 queries already referred to. 



The first problem I am asked to solve is the fact of two 

 queens being found in a hive at the same time. Before 

 giving an opinion of this case I could have wished to be in 

 possession of the particulars before promised by Mr. Wood- 

 bury. It is always dilEcult, in the absence of knowledge of 

 full particulars and circumstances, to do more than merely 

 g^ess a solution. I believe I may safely enunciate this 

 truth without fear of contradiction, that only one prolific 

 queen will be tolerated at a time in any hive ; and that, as 

 a general rule, more than one unprolific queen, or a prolific 

 and an improlific queen, can remain but for a short period 

 in the same hive. These are axioms which experience and 

 observation will homologate and confirm. The question 

 then is. Under what circumstances are two queens found in 

 a hive ? for it wiU be seen that I have assented to this as a 

 fact. My experience is to the following effect : — 



1st. More than one unprolific queen may be found in a 

 hive in certain contingencies, such as during unfavourable 

 weather, prior to after-swarming. 



2nd. A reigning prolific queen and a virgin queen may 

 eo-exist for a short time under similar circumstances before 

 first swarming. 



3rd. A superannuated queen may exist sunultaneously 

 with her successor for a brief period ; but I must guard my 

 belief by the confession, that in such cirovmistances my expe- 

 rience does not wai-rant me in asserting this as a fact ; as in 

 such a case I have found the reigning queen disappear from 

 the stage before her successor entered. I may here refer to 

 an ai-tiole by me inserted in No. 77, New Series, of this 

 Journal, showing the wonderful instinctive foresight mani- 

 fested by the bees imder such circumstances in thus provid- 

 ing against the impending loss of their infirm sovereign. 



The second query refers to the longevity of the queen bee. 

 The queens which I had the pleasure of transmitting to 

 Mr. Woodbury were somewhat above two years and three 

 years old respectively ; but this, as wiU be at once perceived, 

 can by no means settle the question as to the longevity of 

 the queen bee. On this subject I have much curious infor- 

 mation ; but it would require more space than I intend 

 occupying at present to enlarge upon it. 



The natural life and the real life of the queen bee have, if 

 I may so express myself, no congruity the one with the 

 other; for my experience shows that her existence may 

 extend sometimes, though rarely, to nearly five years, or it 

 may be cut short in less than as many months. Her condi- 

 tion, circumstances, and the ever-varying contingencies to 

 which she is exposed, often determine her fate long before 

 what may be termed her natural life. I never had a queen 

 imder the most favourable circumstances that lived much 

 beyond fovu: yeai-s, except one whose age was four years and 

 ten mouths. The queen of a peculiarly-coloured grey colony 

 of bees, to which I have had occasion more than once to 



refer in the columns of this Journal, and whose brUliant 

 golden appearance enabled me easily to follow her through- 

 out her whole career, lived, or I should rather say reigned, 

 for three years and four months ; at the end of which period, 

 being stricken with many infirmities, her subjects rose up in 

 revolt against her, and she was accordingly dethroned. 



In regard to the foul-brood question I may have to say 

 something by-and-by. Meantime I must cordially concur 

 with Mr. Woodbury in not being contented with the mere 

 "ipse dixit" of anyone on the subject, even though that 

 proceeds from what he calls " the great centre of bee know- 

 ledge." A verdict without assigning reasons in such a case 

 I look upon as valueless. We have all heard of the old 

 sayings, " Least said is soonest mended," " Vir sapit qui pauca 

 loquifur." 



" A Stewaeton Apiarian " must be told, however, that 

 it is he that is " quite at sea " in supposing that I treated 

 the subject of foul brood at aU upon the principles he asserts. 

 I think my language is so plain, that " he who runs may 

 read." I shall, perhaps, have a few words on " an experi- 

 mental apiary " in the next or following Number. — J. Lowe. 



TWO QUEENS IN ONE HIVE— MISHAPS IN 

 UNITING ENGLISH AND ITALIAN BEES. 

 I regret to have to announce the death of the junior of 

 the two queens whose inexplicable presence in one hive 

 during autumn was described by me in page 157. I pre- 

 sented her at the time to my friend Mr. S. Bevan Fox, by 

 whom she was placed at the head of a small colony, in which 

 she commenced egg-laying, and proved herself amazingly 

 prolific, thus completely negativing Colonel Newman's hypo- 

 thesis as to her being either diseased or barren. Unfortu- 

 nately Mr. Fox found it necessary to add to the number of her 

 subjects, and although the operation was performed with the 

 utmost precaution, a terrible fight was the consequence, 

 which also resulted in the death of the poor queen herself. 

 Being a pure Ligurian her demise is much to be regretted ; 

 and, curiously enough, I met with a similar misfortune 

 brought about in exactly the same manner almost on the 

 same day. These fatal occurrences prove the danger of 

 uniting bees of different species even when the operation is 

 attended with every precaution that has been suggested by 

 the experience of others as well as by that of — A Devon- 

 shire Bee-keeper. 



VLRGIN QUEENS. 



I SHALL feel obliged by having the opinions of the writers 

 on bee-keeping in The Journal of Horticultube on the 

 following cases which have occurred in my apiary. 



I made an artificial Ligurian-hive on the 23rd of July by 

 taking two bar-frames of brood out of my Ligurian-hive, 

 and putting in a swarm of common bees with the combs, 

 depriving them of their own queen. I examined it on the 

 28th of July, and found seven queen-cells in process of con- 

 struction ; looked again on the 7th of August, and saw only 

 two queen-cells sealed up ; and again on the 12th of August, 

 and saw a beautifuUy-marked Ligurian queen. On the 25th 

 of August she was laying eggs in worker-ceUs, also in drone- 

 cells. I examined her again on the 8th of September, and 

 found what I partly expected from the former examination. 

 — that they were all drones ; and on the 14th the first-laid 

 drones were just coming out of the cells, and drone-brood 

 was stiU in all stages. Can any one inform me if there is 

 any chance of this queen laying worker eggs ? 



Another case is the following. When the old Ligurian 

 lost its second swarm on July 16th I took out two combs 

 of brood having five queen-cells sealed up, and gave it 

 a swarm of common bees to hatch the queen. This hive 

 was taken to the heather on the 7th of August ; and we 

 examined it on the 29th of August, and found there were 

 only di-one eggs but no queen. It wiU be remembered by 

 those who take an interest in bees that I noticed a similar 

 case last year in one of my artificial swai-ms ; but I would 

 not assert positively that there was no queen present, as 

 the hive was always strong in bees, having supplied it fre- 

 quently with combs of young brood, and therefore might 

 not have seen the queen in my examination. But in this 



