884 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTtlEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ November 10, ISfia 



on the 11th a beautiful young queen in B, but nothing 

 came of them. Italian drones were seen playinij in and out 

 of both hives on the 21st and 22nd of August, a sure sign 

 that matters were unprosperous with them. Determined 

 not to be beaten, I once more, August 24th, repeated the 

 operation before detailed, by which the Italian queen and 

 bees of C were driven out of their hive, and deprived of aU 

 theii' brood, another box full of honey and English brood 

 being given to them. As before, the Italian brood was 

 divided between A and B. At first I doubted if anything 

 would come of it, for it was not till the 29th that the bees 

 of A attempted to repair- their loss ; on that day, however, I 

 saw a royal cell founded, out of which issued a young queen 

 (not very well marked) on the 7th of September. And on 

 the 12th of Oetober, but not till then, I had the pleasiu-e of 

 seeing drone-kUluig going on vigorously in A, while a few 

 pollen-laden bees were seen to enter it, and a good many in 

 B also, these being the only pollen-gathering hives in my 

 apiary. I venture to hope, therefore, that so far all is well, 

 and that I have at length succeeded in rearing four pure 

 Italian queens, and establishing them at the head of so 

 many promising colonies. I need not detail the other 

 operations of the season, which could hartUy interest your 

 readers. I will only revise my hive list, which now stands 

 as follows : — 



they had only thi-ee or four good working days during their 

 sojoiuTi on the hills. However, the good summer has made 

 them all "keepers," as the term is here, and we must live 

 in hopes of a better axitumn season next year to revive the 

 stocks and the spirits of the Northumberland bee-keepers, 

 now sufTering under a fourth bad year. 



Can any of your readers infonn me whether MeUlotus 

 leueautha is so favovu-ite a flower with the bees as Mr. Wood 

 and Mr. Westwood in then- little works on bees assert? I 

 have sown a quarter of an acre with it. It flowers luxu- 

 riantly and long, for it is still in flower, but the bees do 

 not work on it nearly so much as on borage. — W. C. Ellib, 

 Botlml. 



Pure Italian queen, 

 sister to B's queen. 

 Bom in Sept., 18C3. 



D. 



Hybrid Italian queen. 

 Boni 1861. 



B. 



Pure Italian queen, 

 sister to A's queen. 

 Bom in Sept., 1863. 



E. 



Entrlish queen. 



Boin 1863. 



G. 



Pure Italian queen, 

 sister to F's queen. 

 Born June, 1803. 



H. 



English queen. 



Born 1863, 

 (In garden.) 



Pure Italian queen. 



Born in 1S62. Sent 



me by Mr. Woodbury. 



F. 



Pure Italian queen, 



sister to G's queen. 



Born June, 1863. 



I. 



English queen. 



(Straw liiTe.)BornlSCl. 



(In garden.) 



All these hives are more or less strong in bees; two or 

 three of them must be fed shortly or in spring, the rest are 

 heavy. 



And now what as to my honey harvest ? Colonel Newman 

 and Mr. Lowe will not expect much from an experimental 

 apiary so harassed and tortured as mine has been. Never- 

 theless I obtained the following top-honey of the most 

 beautiful pm-ity, without a single particle of brood or bee 

 bread in it ; 8 lbs. 4 ozs. from C, the Italian stock; 17 lbs. 

 9 ozs. from D, the hybrid Italian ; 22 lbs. 1 oz. from E ; and 

 8 lbs. 2 ozs. from I ; the greater part of which has been sold 

 at Is. 6tJ. per lb. Besides this I broke up a straw hive from 

 which 9 lbs. of the purest comb was taken in a cap, and about 

 as much of good but somewhat inferior honey from the hive 

 itself in all 74 lbs. nett. I do not think I have reason to 

 complain on a review of the experiences of the season, 

 although it must be admitted that I have had enough of 

 disappointment too. In another paper I shall have some 

 farther comments to make on the experiences of the season. 

 — B. & W. 



HOW ITALIAJN' QUEENS AiUE SOMETIMES 

 LOST. 



Italian queens are sometimes lost soon after they have 

 been introduced to colonies of black bees. 



When a queen is caged before her introduction to a strong 

 colony, queen-ceUs are usually commenced, and sometimes 

 are not destroyed after she is liberated, the bees swarming 

 out with the Italian queen, and leaving a part of their number 

 to take care of their old home. This is not an uncommon 

 occuiTence in strong stocks during the swarming season, 

 and it sometimes occiu-s after all natural swarming is over. 



On the 13th of August I destroyed a number of queen- 

 cells, after an Italian queen had been liberated and accepted 

 by a strong colony of bees. On the 20th a swarm issued 

 with the Italian queen, and I found two more sealed queens, 

 but not an egg in the combs. 



On the 17th I removed an old queen from a very strong 

 colony, giving them a caged queen, which was liberated 

 in forty-eight hours. On the 21st, finding many queen-ceUs 

 and no eggs, and not being able to see the queen, I con- 

 cluded that she was lost. Making a more Ciireful examina- 

 tion on the 24th I saw the queen, and removed twelve royal 

 ceDs ; there were no eggs in the hive. I have not made 

 sufficient observations to determine whether queens, under 

 such circumstances, generally decline to lay eggs. Thirty- 

 eight hours after the removal of the royal cells above-men- 

 tioned, I found that the queen had laid a large number of 

 eggs. — L. L. Langstroth, Oxford, Butter Co., Ohio, (in Prairie 

 Farmer.') 



THE BEE SEASON IN NOETHUMBEELAND. 

 Having read the announcement of a very good honey 

 hai'vest this year iu the south, it may be interesting to your 

 readers to know that here (in Northumberland) it has not 

 realised the expectations which the warm di-y summer made 

 us entertain. The bees certainly did better during the 

 summer th.-in they have been known to do for many years. 

 The hives mostly went up to the moors veiy heavy, and from 

 that cause lamentable was the account of hives broken 

 down in their jom-ney. Some cottagers took off tops, be- 

 fore they sent the hives to the moors, weighing between 

 20 lbs. and 30 lbs — a prosperity almost unheard of here, as 

 our chief harvest is gathered from the heather. We cannot 

 hope to i-ival the supers of 50 lbs. or 112 lbs., mentioned by 

 your correspondent, Mr. Fox, of Exeter; but the result o'f 

 the bees' journey to the moors is most unsatisfactory. I 

 cannot hear of any hive which has increased more than a 

 few povmds in weight, and that only by guess-work. The 

 general complaint is that they have retiu-ned lighter than 

 they went. The wet and windy weather set in abo\it the 

 middle of August, just after the bees had been sent, and 



OTJE LETTEE BOX. 



Manchester Poultry Show {A Yorkskircinan). — Wc tliffer from you 

 entirely. "We consider the prize list very liberal; but we deprecate the 

 Show being held on days which include Christmas- day. 



Broody EIenb {J. W. C, Halifax). — There is no method of preventing 

 heiia Irom sitting. The desire to do so comes naturahy when they have 

 done laying. It is nature's rest, and although they may be prevented from 

 sitting, they will not lay any the sooner. Drive them about constantly 

 with the other fowls, donot let them get in any comer. If they show a 

 desire to ait in any particular place shut them oat of it, and keep them on 

 the move. 



Isabel Pigeons [Cohimba), — I do not know any variety of Pipreon by 

 this name. On the continent Isabel is used to designate a pale buff or 

 yellowish-cream colour. I believe, however, that some Pigeons have lately 

 been exhibited under this title. As snch, perhaps, some breeders of them 

 will say what are their points.— B. P. Brent. 



Skeletonising Leaves (Langholme). — A work was published in Ame'*ica 

 on this subject, with the taking title of "The Fairy Bouquet," but it is 

 worthless and gives no available directions for skeletonising. We know of 

 no other publication on the f.nbject 



Moving Hives (T. £. Hobsony.—Vi^e do not deem it necessary or even 

 advisable in this climate to remove bees from their ordinary stands and 

 shut ihem up during winter. If, notwithstanding this, yon decide on trying 

 the experiment, the removal should take place before very severe weather 

 sets in, riud the confinement terminate as soon as frost and snow have 

 disapiieared. In America Mr. Quinby appears to have carried out this 

 mode of wintering bees to the fullest extent. He inverts ordinary hives 

 and removes the top-boards from those having either bars or frames, not 

 confining the bees to their hives, but trusting to perfect darkness to prevent 

 their strdying. In this way he boasts oi having kept bees uninjured 

 during five months. For several years he made use of a small bedroom in 

 which he put about a hundred stoeks. He describes it as being lathed and 

 plastered, but with no aperture for air except what was admitted through 

 the floor, which was single and laid rather close, though not matched. In 

 1849 he built a room without any windows for this es[iecia) pui-pose, IG feet 

 square and 7 feet high. A good coat of plaster was put on the inside, and 

 a space of 4 inches between the ceiling and laths was filled with sawdust. 

 Under the floor was a passage for the admission of air from the uorth, and 

 another overhead for its exit, which could be closed or opened at pleasure. 

 This room was divided by a partition near the centie in order to prevent 

 disturbing the whole by the udmission of light when removing the stocks in 

 spring, and the hives were nrranged in tiers one ybovu the ()tbtT on 

 moveable shelve?, V\'e do net know where you can obtain a Ligurian 

 queen. 



