504. 



JOUENAL OP HOETICTJLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ December 22, 1863. 



Dui'ing the summer I took from, four of my strong stocks 

 nearly 100 lbs. of very beautiful honeycomb ; so that on the 

 whole I am very well satisfied and thankful for the bountiful 

 season of 1863. I have now one of the finest apiaries in this 

 country, or, perhajis, in England, as my stocks are in my 

 improved bar-fi'ame hives, strong and with plenty of honey. 



Tour correspondent, " A South Lancashire Bee-keepek," 

 in his letter, which appeared iu The Journal of Horti- 

 ctJLTtTKE of the .3rd iilt., seems to have been very unfortunate 

 with his bees this year, as it appears that he has only taken 

 about 5 lbs. of honeycomb, and has finished the season with 

 only two stocks, the same with which he commenced the 

 year, and is in the unenviable position of having his Ligiu'ian 

 stock requu-ing food to carry it over the winter, and it refuses 

 to carry liquid food into the hive. 



You advise him to try the bottle-feeder, but I beUeve he 

 will find that during the cold weather the bees wOl scai'cely 

 touch it ; and as he neglected feeding them up to the re- 

 quired weight in the beginning of October, his only chance 

 now will be to remove the cover of the hive on one side, 

 and put between each of the combs some sticks of barley- 

 sugar. A stock of bees that I purchased on October 12th 

 carried into the hive 8 lbs. of loaf-sugar made into 12 lbs. of 

 liquid food in thirty-six hoiu'S. If •' A South Lancashieb 

 Bke-kebpek" will write to me I will try to assist him to 

 make his bees more profitable another year. — Wm. Cakb, 

 Clayton Bridge, Newton Eeath, near Manchester. 



DRIVING BEES. 



When a person becomes master of any branch of science, 

 it appears so easy that he is very apt to laugh at the novice 

 on seeing him fail in accomplishing some experiment in that 

 branch. This is unjust, but it is quite excusable when we 

 know that the novice is self-conceited and wedded to his 

 own preconceived notions, and wiU not take advice. Now, 

 I see plainly that it is the case with a great number of your 

 correspondents to whom advice has been given. They are so 

 prejudiced for their own way that they seldom succeed in an 

 operation, even after great pains have been taken to exijlain 

 that which has baffled them so much. Now, it appears that 

 a great nvunber of bee-keepers fail in driving their bees, 

 although it is a very simple process ; and even after the very 

 able and well-advised letter of "A Devonshire Bee-keeper," 

 we yet hear of failm-es, all arising from the want of a little 

 perseverance in following his dii'ections. Although he has 

 given those directions so plainly, yet there i.s a point or two 

 which, perhaps, he hag thought too simple to mention, and 

 yet they are of great importance to enable the novice to 

 succeed in driving. 



The fii-st point is to take care not to enrage a single bee 

 till the hive has been inverted, because it is only at the 

 lifting of the hive that the bees get enraged, and they 

 seldom use their stings after the hive has had a smart rap 

 or two if dealt rightly with at first. 



The second point is to dislodge the bees when they appear 

 to remain firm to their hive. This is the trying jioint to the 

 novice, and hence so many failures ; yet the jilan to dis- 

 lodge easUy is to remove the empty hive, and in the greatest 

 cluster of the bees to give them a smai-t whiff or two with 

 the breath or with a pair of kitchen bellows, which will at 

 once set them running. — A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 



Bees and Honey of Greece. — The honeys of Hybla and 

 Hymettus are at this day almost as celebrated as they were 

 in the time of the classical Greek poets ; the honeys of 

 Cerigo, of Zaute, and many other places, continental and in- 

 sular, are aU fine, and each lias it admirers. The honey of 

 Leucadia is, perhaps, almost as good as any, and the descend- 

 ants of the bees that fed Ulysses deserve some consideration. 

 I was interested, then, in the little bee gai-den on the site 

 of the old city of Leucas. It was a rocky, barren-looking 

 spot, and did not at fii'st sight seem very promising, for the 

 whole gronn.? for a great distance ai-ouud looks naked and 

 without vegetation. But it is not really so. Every little 

 crevice or interval between two stones, whether large or 

 small, and not a few holes made by vegetation in the solid 

 rock itself, contain some little flowering plant especially 

 patronised by the honey bee. Eosemary and sage abound. I 



was not much surprised, therefore, to see the bees, but the- 

 hives rather puzzled ine at first. They consist of small oblong 

 boxes ijlaced on end on a low stone, each l.'ox being covered 

 by two or three tiles, evidently to keep oil' the heat of the sun 

 in summer. Two round holes, each about half an inch in 

 diameter, sufficed for the bees to enter and emerge, and it 

 did not seem to matter much where these holes were pierced. 

 The boxes were constructed in the roughest manner, and 

 seemed to have two orthi-ee cross sticks within them. They 

 were placed not 2 feet apart, and each box was about 

 20 inches high, and 9 inches square in secticn. The bees 

 were exceedingly busy and perfectly good-tempered. — [Au- 

 sted's Ionian Islands in 1863.) 



Pollen-gathering. — I was greatly surprised yesterday 

 (December 13th), to see my bees taking in pollen, obtained, 

 I presume, either fi'om some late-blooming ivy or laurus- 

 tinus, which is in full bloom here (East Cornwall). The- 

 26th of November, the same day on which your correspon- 

 dent at Crom Castle observed pollen going into his hives, 

 was the day which I had noted down as the last of the poUen- 

 gathering ones for this season. — J. L. 



Mrs. Garnham's "Ladt's Assista-nt" is testified by 

 many to be a most useful addition to the work-table. One 

 lady says, " It is a great acquisition to those whose failm-e of 

 sight prevents their effecting all they desire in finer sorts of 

 needlework, taking up stitches in knitting, &c." Those who 

 do not wear glasses while sewing, yet cannot thread their 

 needles, will find the " Lady's Assistant " invaluable. It 

 concentrates the light most efficiently. Mis. Gai-nham is 

 the daughter of the late Mr. Payne, who was our apiarian 

 authority formerly, and she is now residing in Churchgate 

 Street, Bury St. Edmunds, and sells this useful Assistant. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Substitute for Holly Berbiks {J. M). — Wc krow of nc mode of 

 dyeing peas so as to make up for a deficiency of boliy berries in winter 

 decorations ; but we ebould melt some red sealing-wax and dip the peas in 

 that, 



Dteing Moss {M'oss).~To dye it green, dissolve as mnch verdigris in the 

 distilled vinegar as possible. To dye it blue, dissolve in a glass tumbler one 

 drachm of powdered indigo in one ounce, of sulphuric acid, stir it witli the 

 stalk of a clean tobacco-pipe or a glass rod, and, after standing twelve 

 hours, add as much water as will reduce it to the desired tint. 



Improving Dorkings (P. B.). — Vc think ycuv purpose will be more 

 easily answered with eggs than with a hen, us the change will be effected 

 in less time and more completely. Eggs travel by railway without injury. 



Fattening Ducks for Exhibition {E. X. Z }.— All poultry ;:hould be- 

 shut up when fattening. Exercise is not favourable to the formation of fat. 

 They should not only be shut up, but should have only room sufficient to 

 turn and move. 



Egg-eating Heks {A T%ciini\.—\t is believed thattens first eat their 

 eggs for the sake of their shells, in order to form the shells of those that 

 have to he laid. This jnay be remedied by laying bricklayers' rtibbisb 

 about iheir haunts. There are two ways of preventing and perhaps of 

 curing them tit the c^mn.bal habit. One is to watch thein wlien tht-y are 

 on ihtf nt-st, and to drive ihem from it the moment they have laid. The 

 other is to put very hard composition eggs in the nests. The hens peck 

 at these with no other resuU than to make their beaks sore, and they get 

 tired of the practice. 



BnEEniNo Dorkings foe Exhieition {Sfiwx Galltis\— It is conpidered 

 alniost impcssible to breed a pri/.e pen :'rom parents taken from the same 

 yard. Tho^e who exhibit the best birds generally choose a cock from one 

 >ard and the pullets from another. This is the case in ne;irly all breeds. 

 Large birds are bred fioin very large hens put to middiing-t-iZLd cocks. 

 Your stock bird is heavy enough at T.-, Ib^. Ten and a half pounds would 

 be a bad stuck-gctter. We telieve the Judges do nut weigh Dorkings as a 

 rule. They do poraetimes, but prizes are mostly awarde'l by h.audling. 

 We do not know the weight of the prize birds at Birmingham. 



LONDON MAEKETS.— Decembeb 21. 

 POULTRY. 



It is iiFnal for prices to improve a little on the approach of ChristmaB, ant! 

 the present ye«r i.s not an exception. At tlie time of our guiiij: to prees the 

 25th was not near enough tor us to say Mhjt the market vas, but tlie cus- 

 tomary rise Vis taliiDg pluce. 



p. d. s. (1. 



PErlridges 1 to 2 



Grouse „ () 



Hares 2 C „ 3 " 



Kahbits 1 4 „ I 5 



Wild do I) 8 ., (I 9 



Pigeons t) „ i) 



