JOURNAL OP HORTICtrLTUEE ANI> COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 6, 1SC3. 



case there is no doubt whatever. There are not more than 1 merous in. the autiuna tlian the orddnaiT-sized wasps • aad 



five hundred boas in the hive. We removed every bar and 

 comb into another hive. We did this thi-ee times, and there 

 were other two persons along with me at the time without 

 any covering on their faces, so that we ai-e perfectly certain 

 tha,t there was no bee in the hive which had the slightest 

 difi'erenee from a worker bee, as we examined every one 

 carefiiUy. Had we seen one I would have retained it and 

 sent it to Mr. Woodbury for microscopic investigation. In 

 some of the cells there were four and five eggs, apparently 

 just laid that day. 



I have here, then, a case of a queen which can lay di-one 

 eggs only — has she had any matrimonial engagement ? and 

 another case of bees with no apparent difference from 

 workers, laying drone eggs also— have they had any " ma- 

 trimonial engagement?" I am informed that natm-alists 

 maintain that to be impossible. If that be true, and worker 

 bees can lay drone eggs, what is to prevent an xmmated 

 queen fi-om doing the same ? 



I cannot say that I believe in the doctrine of pai-theno- 

 genesis. If it be true it must lead us to believe in many 

 strange cii-cumstances ; but to me these two cases whicli I 

 have attempted to describe go far to prove the truth oi' 

 parthenogenesis; and I would like vei-y well to heai- the 

 opinions of those who are opposed to and those who hold 

 that theory.— Alex. Sheaeer, Yester Garden. 



[Parthenogenesis is a subject more suited to a physio- 

 logical periodical than to our columns, and when touched 

 upon must be handled circumspectly, for oui- Journal is read 

 in the drawing-room as weU as the study. — Eds.] 



PAHTHEIfOGENESIS— AGE OF QTJEEjN^S— 

 HONEY SEASON. 



1 scAscELT know whether it is worth while to prolong a 

 discussion respecting parthenogenesis ; but I have read the 

 letters in Nos. 25 and 30 as dii-eeted, and still think it 

 possible that there may be yet found out some other way of 

 accounting for a live drone proceeding from a virgin queen 

 than has been dreamt of iu om- philosophy. It may be my 

 want of scientific knowledge that keeps me sceptical. I 

 agree, however, that parthenogenesis is nearly proved. I 

 believe that a virgin queen may lay eggs, and that somehow 

 or other those eggs may produce drones ; but I doubt if you 

 were to place her in fi-esh-made comb, or rather in a liive 

 without any, and with young workers, whether a sino-le co- 

 she lays would vivify. °° 



Alas ! I am not so near a convert to the opinion of 

 "A Lanabkshike Bee-keeper" as to the age of a queen. 

 Surely there ai-e many reasons why my opinion may be the 

 right one, and I have the chance in my favom- that "A 

 Lanakkshike Bee-keeper " may have mistaken one queen 

 _particulaa-ly if it can be proved that young 



this year again, though there are so few wasps, the lai-g« 

 ones ai-e beginning to appeal- in greater numbers than the 

 smaller ones. — B. P. 



[Drone or male wasps are both large and small, th« laitter 

 bemg probably bred in ceUs usuaUy appropriated to neuters. 

 I hey ai-e ai-med with stiugs ; and the large males, being bred 

 in similar cells to those in which queens are reared, are 

 much about the same size, but may be distinguished by the 

 greater length of their antenna. Unlike di-one bees they 

 take part m the labovu-s of the nest from which they are not 

 erpeUed, but survive imtil the autumnal frosts destroy the 

 whole community with the exception of the queens (of which 

 many exist m each nest), wliich alone survive the winter to 

 found fresli colonies in the spring. Including hornets, there 

 are seven varieties of wasps indigenous to this country. The 

 different species vary much in size.] 



for another. 



moors. I sent mine to a moor near Parnborough ; but they 

 have not done so well as last year. I have no heather to 

 speak of within many miles of my present abode. 



In reply to Col. Neivman. I may state that in 1857 one of 

 the best honey-gatheiings I ever knew took place in the latter 

 days of August or fii-st in September when I was hvino- in 

 the Isle of Axhohne. There were a few patches of heather 

 two mOes off, and heather honey was stored inasmuch as 

 you could "nose it" iu front of the hives; but the bulk of 

 the honey then gathered must have been fi-om other som-ces 

 as the moor the heather grew on was small in extent and 

 only pai-tiaUy covered -n-ith heath. Trees were not plentiful 

 m my part of the Isle, and the only flowers I knew of ex- 

 cepting on weeds, were those of the second crop of' red 

 clover. We all know, as a rale, bees do not like working on 

 red clover. They will at times, however, and did on that 

 occasion. — A Hampshire Bee-keepeb. 



WASPS. 



Are there drone wasps ? Are they veiy large, and driven 

 out oi the nests m the same way as drone bees? Last 

 yeai- what were supposed to be queen wasps were more nu- 



OTTR LETTEE BOX. 



Bill of Eobkn Dkakz Ut.M. S.).—The bill of a Rouen dnike should be 

 yellow with ;i creen shade on it. Any other colour is a disqualiflcation 

 It should be exactly the colour of the Wild Mallard's bill, and that is never 

 black. 



JIiDDLEWicH PouLTBT Show.— Mr. Jessop, we are informed, had the 

 second prize for Black Ducks, and Mr. Dixon had the first prize 



Destroti.ng VrriLiT-.- in Eggs {/. 7r.).— The eggs of your prize fowls 

 which you wish to send to maikct, can be prevented hatching hv havine a 

 needle thrust through the shell at either end. You ought to explain that 

 they are so treated to prevent a purchaser being disappointed. 



Aphhian Mismanagement (4. A. Kl.-Your bees will not long survive 

 stupelaction by tobacco smoke and the plunder of theii- storc=. "The best 

 and most merciful plan will now be to kill them outright by means of 

 brimstone, and appropriate any honey that may remain. Those combs 

 which are of a dark brown colour have been used for rearing voung bees 

 and their cells are empty owing to the breeding and honey-gathering 

 season being over. Had you intended to adopt the depriving system you 

 should have placed a small super ou the hive soon after it was stocked, 

 winch might possibly have been filled by the autumn and removed withont 

 injury to the bees. On the ordinary swarming system the colony should 

 have remamed undisturbed to swavm next year, in the autumn of which 

 yen might probably have been able to have appropriated the contents of one 

 or more hives without destroying your stock. Before again commencing bee- 

 keeping get some cottager to teach you the rudiments of ordinary manage- 

 ment. Buy "Bee-keeping for the Many," which will tell you how to 

 convert empty combs into wax, and give ail the information you are likely 

 to require. When you have in some degree mastered the subject yoa will 

 yourself be able to instruct your unlettered subordinate, whose brains, as 

 you very justly surmise, are only likely to become more addled by loD- 

 articles being read to liim on the abstruse branches of apiarian science'. 

 He was, however, quite right in giving the stock a waterproof covering. 

 Bees in ordinary straw-hives require no ventilation beyond the eatrance 



Glass of Honey iA'., iVcuarA).— Write to jMessrs. Neighbour & Son 

 127, High Holborn, and ask what they will give for it. 



DiscoLODEED Bees (J/oorsirff).— We believe the discoloured bees are 

 simply covered with white pollen, which is no inconvenience or injury to 

 them ; but, on the contrary, a sign of the prosperity of the stock whose 

 Ligurian queen is probably •' multiplying the species " with the wonderful 

 ra.,:dity peculiar to her race. If you still entertain the idea that the dis- 

 10. oration may arise from a fungoid growth, and will forward to us a few of 

 the bees thus affected, we will endeavour to decide the point by the aid of 

 the microscope. 



Gket Linnet (C. B^.).— Bathe the bird's eyes and feet with warm water 

 and give it milk and bread. It should also be kept very warm ; but we 

 fear that it is past recovery. 



Dog with SWOLEE.N Ears (A Subscriber nf Loiio Standing). — \om 

 Labrador dug has cankered ears. The following is the treatment recom- 

 menaed by Mr. Meyriek ;— •' Feed the dog on a vegetable diet only, give a 

 dose of castor oil, and three times a-day use a lotion composed of one pait 

 goulard water and four parts water. Two persons are rf quired to apply 

 the lotion properly; one to hold the ear and keep the dog steady, and the 

 other to pour in the lotion, which should be allowed to sink well into the 

 passage of the ear. After this let a cap be placed ou the dog's head, which 

 may be made thus : Take a piece of thin calico of an oblong square shape 

 and large enough to cover the whole of both ears ; along each of the two 

 longest sides sew a piece of tape, having ends about 4 inches in length, with 

 which the cap can be securely tied on below the dog's head. The object of 

 this cap is to prevent the flapping of the ears. If made of sufficieutiv thin 

 m,aterial, and if it does not press on the ears, it will not increase the in'fiain- 

 mation, as it has been said to do. Abscesses must be lanced, and care ta'icn 

 that no matter is lelt in them. After the operation, lint snaked in the lotion 

 may be put for a day or two iu the seat of the abscess, and the ear may 

 then be left to heal of itself." ' 



LONDON MAEKETS.— OcTOBEE 5. 



POULTEY. 



Little or no demand for poultry, and a 



Trade is still lamentably bad. 

 large supply. 



s. d, 8. 



Large Fowls 2 to 3 



Sinaller do 2 „ 2 



Chickens 1 6 ,, 1 



Geese 6 ,, 7 



Ducks 2 „ 2 



Pheasants „ 



d. s. 



I Partridges 1 



3 I Grouse ,. 2 



"J I Hares 2 



I Rabbits 1 



3 Wild do 



t Pigeons 



