404 



JOUENAIi OS' HORTICULTtTRE AND COTTAGE GAKDENES. 



[ NoTcn.ber 17, 1863. 



him from various quarters that foul brood was entirely the 

 result of chill : — " To me, the cause assigned appears inad- 

 equate to produce all the results with the lai-vae. After close 

 patient observation of fifteen years, I have never yet been 

 wholly satisfied that any one instance among my bees has 

 been thus produced." — A Devonshike Bee-keepbb. 



POLLEN-GATHEEDSTG. 



All the bees about here (Spalding) have been unusually 

 active with pollen lately. I trace it to blossom of coleseed, 

 of which there is some at no great distance. They even 

 forsake Michaelmas Daisy, which I have observed hitherto 

 as their most favourite plant at this season for it. The 

 idea in the Jouknal of Hoeticulture that it may be from 

 fuchsias I consider quite eiTOneous : I have as many of them 

 as most persons in my garden, but never saw a honey bee 

 at them yet. Some of the wild bees attack them, and some 

 bore holes in the tube below the calj'x for tlie pvu-pose, but 

 the structiu'e of the honey bee's organs renders this impos- 

 sible, and it is not possible to i-each the honey without so 

 doing. I notice another thing regarding ixoney-bearing 

 flowers : many v?hich are fruitful in honey in one locality 

 secrete next to none in some other places, to say nothing of 

 the influence of weather. — G. F. B. — Oct. 30. 



[My bees were then incessant in thefr attention to the 

 fuchsias, from wiiich they collect abundance of light-coloured 

 pollen, and erti-act honey from the punctiu-es, made, I 

 believe, by hiunble bees, at the base of every flower. — ^A 

 Devonshtee Bee-keepee.] 



FOUL BEOOD AND LIGtTEIA^T BEES. 



I THINK I shall have little difiiculty in proving to 

 "Inquibbb's" satisfaction that he is as much mistaken 

 in attributing foul brood to the introduction of the Ligu- 

 rians, as he is in anticipating any outpouiings of wrath on 

 his head on account of the suggestion, which is after all 

 scaa'cely so wliimsical as that of the American who connected 

 it with the potato disease, and declared that, " Since the 

 potato rot commenced I have lost one-foxu-th of my stocks 

 annually by this disease." 



In the fii-st place, I may repeat what I have before stated 

 — that I have no doubt of foul brood having been fli'st intro- 

 duced into my apiary by the use of infected combs taken 

 from deftinct hives of common bees, and that it has been 

 quite as prevalent and fatal among my black Iiees as among 

 the Ligurians. Mr. George Pox's Italian stock came from 

 my apiaa-y, and doubtless can-ied the seeds of the disease 

 with it, although of coiirse, perfectly unknown to me at the 

 time. 



" Inqtjieee" is also mistaken in believing tliat Dr. Bevan 

 is silent on the subject, which is in point of fact referred to 

 by him, although under another name. He will also find 

 that it is noticed by Schfrach, Bonner, Dunbaa-, and Huish, 

 all of whom probably lived and died before the introduction 

 of exotic bees was ever di-eamt of. In America Mr. Quinby 

 lost as many as a hundred stocks in one year from foul 

 brood, long before the Ligurians were known on that con- 

 tinent ; whilst in Silesia Dzierzon's apiai-y was reduced to ten 

 stocks, and he estimates his loss fr-om this malady at over five 

 hundred colonies during 1848, just five years before he made 

 the acquaintance of the Italian race of honey bees which 

 he has since done so much to render populai'. 



In conclusion, I commend to " Inquikek's " perusal the 

 following appeal recently made on behalf of some unfortu- 

 nates dwelling in a part of Germany, to which the Ligurians 

 do not appeal- to have penetrated. It proves at any rate, 

 that the evils of foul brood have been by no means exagge- 

 rated by — ^A Devonshire Bee-keepee. 



"foul brood. 

 " We — I speak of most bee-keepers of the Guten Society — 

 had in spite of the miserable simimer of 18G2 and the winter 

 1862-63, likewise most nnfavoui-able to them, brought our 

 bees tolerably well through the winter. Stocks had greatly 

 decreased in autumn, owing to the loss from rain, cold, 

 &.C., but especially from leaving off breeding too early. We 



were looking forward to the new year with apprehension ; 

 but to om- great delight the blossoms of trees and rapeseed 

 gave so much honey, that in spite of cold nights the stocks 

 strengthened themselves visibly. In the middle of May 

 most hives (we use Dzierzon-hives, straw hives, and wooden 

 boxes), were filled with brood and bees. Suddenly the stocks 

 relax in thefr accustomed activity — notwithstanding the rich 

 pasture they fiy but little. What is the matter ? The hives 

 ai-e opened, and behold, we find foul brood, of which until 

 then we knew only the name. Of one hundred maggots, 

 three, five, ten, twenty, sometimes even ninety, had grown 

 rotten. Most of the stocks were therefore shifted into other 

 hives at the beginning of July. With some the fasting cure 

 was employed, others were brought into new hives without 

 employing it, and of others the combs" were cut as far as the 

 pure sealed honey. And what is the result up to this time ? 

 Most stocks are again diseased. There is, however, this differ- 

 ence, that it is no longer the maggots but the nymphs that 

 die. With other stocks neither dead maggots nor dead 

 nymphs are found. The brood, however, is very iiTegular ; 

 regularly sealed combs are scai'cely to be found. It must 

 also be remarked that most of the stocks, which were shifted 

 into other hives swai-med out in the beginning of August. 

 These are our sad experiences. Without advice we now 

 stand by our stocks and see them perish, unable to help them. 

 And what will most of our bee-keepers do when the last bee 

 hums to them the farewell-song ? They will '• thiow the gun 

 into the corn."* 



" In bee-books much is indeed written on foul brood, and as 

 to what is to be done to remedy this evil ; but the end of 

 the song is abnost always, " Destroy the stocks and procure 

 new ones ! " But who likes to adopt this means ? Many of 

 om- bee-keeijers have deprived themselves to get together 

 the little sum required to procure their stocks ; and now, 

 destroy them !— horrible thought ! 



"And now, gentlemen, has no siu-e means been recently 

 discovered of remedying this evil ? It is the duty of man to 

 assist his fellow man at least with advice. Do not allow so 

 many bee-keepers any longer to pass sleepless nights and 

 days of giief. Many a poor man loses by this disease twenty, 

 fifty, a hundred and even two hundred thalers.t and that 

 is much for him. Dzierzon, Von Berlepsch, Kleine and- 

 other honoured gentlemen, give us some advice if there be 

 yet a means of clearing foul-breeding stocks. — N." 



MALE WASPS. 



In one of youi' late Numbers you mentioned that some of 

 the male wasps had stings : I must beg to differ in toto 

 fr_m this. For the last few yeai's I have examined scores — 

 n ly, hundi-eds, and never yet found a male with a sting. I 

 have often nests brought to me with scores of both males 

 and queens in them, and have frequently caused much 

 amusement by taking up the wasps (males of course) in my 

 hand \vith the most perfect impunity, pretending they never 

 stung me. They are so readily distinguished from the ordi- 

 nai-y wasps by thefr long horns and long bodies that I have' 

 never any fear of laying hold of the " enemy," or else "woe 

 betide me." I think, therefore, you are cjuite mistaken in 

 supposing that the male wasp has any sting whatever. We 

 all know that the drone bee has not. — Etbuene. 



' Tbis meane that they will give up bee-lieepinfr altogether, 

 t The Prussian thaler is nearly equal to 3s. sterling. 



OFE LETTEE BOX. 



Book on Poi.'LTRT(J/. CJ.— No book ■will teach you ■' every particular, 

 so as to make poultry profilable." You can have " The Poultry Boob for 

 the Many " free by post from our office for eight postage stamps. That will 

 pive you all the general infnrraation. Management, economy in feeding, 

 and the use of your OTvn good sense tt:!] be the other chief aids to success. 

 When any difficulty occurs you can have further information through this 

 Journal. 



Dyeing Moss Grekn (0. TV. i).%— We have be?n told that this is done by 

 soaking perfectly dead mo?s in a -warm solution of Terdigiis in distilled 

 vinegar. Perhaps some ol our readers ■will oblige us by decisive information 

 on this subject. 



Heron's Pldme [L. .ff.).— "The feathers -which constituted * The Heron's 

 Plume, ' " were the finr.- long depending feathers o( the bird, especially 

 i those above the wings. 



