December 29, 1863. ] JOURNAL OF HOETICULTtTBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



523 



holding an exhibition of Canaries, British and Foreign 

 Birds, &c., at the Mechanics' Hall, Derby, on the 15th and 

 16th of next month. Derby, there can be little doubt, presents 

 facilities for such an exhibition second to none in the king- 

 dom, as it enjoys railway communication with all parts and 

 is pretty centrally situated. 



ME. ALFRED HEATH'S ISABEL POWTERS. 



Being last week on a visit near Calne, I iaquu-ed for the 

 residence of Mr. Alfred Heath ; for having read in this 

 Journal an account of his Isabels or Isabel Powters, I had a 

 curiosity to see the same I fortunately found Mr. Heath at 

 home ; he most readOy and kindly showed me his birds, 

 and I spent some time very pleasantly (for in the country a 

 pigeon-fancier seldom meets with a brother), in examining 

 the whole of his stock. 



In regard to the Isabels, there can be no doubt that they 

 are Powters. As one jjair was recently sold by Mr. Stevens, 

 Mr. Brent if not the buyer, probably saw them, and was 

 confirmed in his opinion that they are Powters, as un- 

 doubtedly they are, and nothing less or more. They have 

 a very refined and delicate look, and I could not, when see- 

 ing them, sever from my mind the idea of the Collared 

 Turtle Dove (Columbarisoria), possibly this arose from their 

 colour only. They also struck me as being admirably suited 

 for an aviary, or where birds are kept confined, being just 

 the Pigeons to be ladies' pets, and the nearer view you get 

 of them the prettier they are, their elegant cream colour, 

 to be fully appreciated, demanding a close mspeotion. The 

 very full development of the crop in the hen is wox'th notice, 

 and the thoroughly feathered state of their legs. On the 

 whole, prettier, more slender-shaped, and more elegant 

 Pigeons I never saw, and though Powters, yet among a 

 number of those birds my eye fell upon them at once, for 

 beauties of their own. Theii' fi'equently producing white or 

 nearly white young ones, looks, I fancy, as if they were 

 originally bred from a white Powter and another Pigeon, 

 could it be the Columba risoria ? I once saw a young bird, 

 but wliicli died, bred from a hen Dove and a very small high- 

 bred Tumbler. I believe this was the case, a schoolfellow 

 possessed the bu-ds and I was frequently his playmate and 

 recollect seeing all three. After, therefore, a caa-eful examina- 

 tion, I would certainly say that the Isabel Powter is a gain 

 to our varieties of Pigeons. 



One word more. We know how very small difficulties 

 become when a man is iu earnest in a pursuit or hobby. I 

 have heard of such a man saying, " Sir, I never spell diffi- 

 culty with a great D." And Spitalfields weavers with their 

 valuable Tumblers, and Lancashire cotton operatives with 

 their stands of fine Auiicidas, show that men in piu'suing 

 recreations can make much out of scanty means. Here was 

 Mr. Heath with a small square yard, with high buildings 

 around — for Calne is an old-fashioned town with the streets 

 naiTOw and the houses near together — yet iu this small yard 

 he manages to have on the south side, a capitally arranged 

 pigeon-loit on the ground floor-, full of valuable birds on the 

 separate box system, each box capable of being closed, and 

 all the birds having theh' freedom ; there is a covered run on 

 another side for Spanish fowls, a fountain in the middle, and 

 a little shallow bit of clean water on the Pigeon side with its 

 tiny jet, for the Pigeons to bathe in — and aU, Pigeons and 

 fowls, looking healthy. How Mr. Heath manages to prevent 

 depredations from cats I cannot conceive, with such capital 

 cat promenades all round him. "Who can estimate the in- 

 nocent enjoyment, in the hours of leisure from business, 

 which that small yard and its inhabitants afford Mr. Heath ? 

 — WiLTSHIKB EeCTOE. 



POLLEN-GATHEBING AND BeES BeEEDING IN DeCEMEEE. 



— As a proof of the mildness of the winter, I may mention the 

 following fact. Having occasion on .the afternoon of Satur- 

 day, the 19th inst., to examine the roots of a wall tree 

 immediately behind one of my hives (a Stowarton), to pre- 

 vent annoyance from the bees, I ran in the sliding-door. 

 Shortly thereafter I observed three foragers on the board 

 anxiously awaiting admittance ; and to my surprise, in each 

 case theii- thigh-baskets were sparingly laden with dark- 



coloured pollen, similar to what I was enabled to report 

 collected in the end of January in the three last seasons. 



While surveying the ravages of foul brood in another 

 stock on the 17th inst., I noticed a sprinkling of newly-laid 

 eggs. Neither hive was excited by deeding ; the former was 

 set on a ventilating eke. Fniit-buds on young pyramid pears 

 are beginning to expand. — A Kenfkewshiee Bee-keepbe. 



u]S"itinct bees. 



Having given full particulars in page 423, of what I have 

 found the best mode of driving a stock of bees and securing 

 its queen, I now come to the means to be adopted for uniting 

 the expelled workers to another colony. 



If the bees to which they are to be united are domiciled 

 in a common hive, I know no better means of effecting the 

 desired object than that described in page 59 of the last 

 edition of " Bee-keeping for the Many " — viz., about an 

 horn- after sunset to spread a cloth on the groimd opposite 

 the stock to which the bees are to be joined, on which cloth 

 two sticks must be laid about 8 inches apart, then with a 

 smart stroke dash out the bees between the sticks, and in- 

 stantly, but very gently, place the stock they are intended 

 to enter upon the sticks, leave them for the night, having 

 fii-st defended them from rain, should any fall, and in the 

 morning an hour before sunrise replace the stock in its 

 original position, and all will be peace and harmony. 



Thus far Mr. Payne, and he may be, and probably will be 

 found to be right in a majority of cases ; but in many in- 

 stances I have known daylight reveal a sickening scene of 

 slaughter, so extensive as to make it more than doubtful if 

 sufficient bees survived to render the attempted union of 

 the slightest advantage to the stock intended to be benefited 

 thereby. 



In order to diminish as much as possible the risk of such 

 an unwelcome catastrophe, it is a good plan to treat both 

 parties to a copious sprinkling of sugared water scented with 

 pepijermint, which is easOy prepared by means of a little 

 ordinary peppermint water added to simple syrup. This 

 acts as a peacemaker in a double capacity — fir-st, by con- 

 fusing their sense of smell, and by this means rendering it 

 more difficult for them to identify one another; and, 

 secondly, by inducing the probable belligerents to gorge 

 themselves with food, in which stats " peace at any price " 

 is theh' general maxim. 



When, on the other hand, the destitute family is to be 

 united to one domiciled in either a bar or a frame-hive, I 

 confine them towai'ds evening by tying them up seciu-ely 

 in a cloth, and convey them in-doors for the night. In the 

 forenoon, or towards the middle of the next day, I remove 

 the crown-board of the hive to v/hich they are to be added, 

 and temporarily deepen it above the bars by laying on it a 

 wooden frame of the same diameter as the hive, 1 to IJ inch 

 in depth. This done I replace the crown-board, blow a few 

 whilis of smoke under it, and proceed to loosen the knots of 

 the cloth and cord by which the expatriated unfortunates 

 are confined. All being ready, the crown-board is once more 

 removed, and the bees treated to a liberal dose of the scented 

 syrup. Almost at the same moment the restraining cloth 

 is removed from the straw hive, and a few whiffs of smoke 

 blown on the bees clustered within. This is followed by in- 

 verting the hive, and sprinkling the cluster with scented 

 syi'up. The next instant the enth-e cluster is dashed on the 

 top of the exposed bars of their new domicile, and the crown- 

 board being replaced before the cluster has time to spread, 

 or many bees to take wing, the junction is effected in far 

 less time than it has taken to describe the mode in which it 

 is managed. 



When both colonies are lodged in either bar or frame- 

 hives of similar construction in the same apiai-y, I remove 

 so many combs from the sides in such hive as to reduce them 

 to one-half their original number, looking over the rema i ning 

 combs one by one so as to assure myself of the existence of 

 a queen in one case, and removing her entirely in the other.* 

 These objects having been attained, the remaining combs 

 and bees of the queenless stock are lifted out and placed on 



* She may be kept nlive a few days in order to provide against accident, 

 by being placed with a fi:v^ of her subjects and a bit of honeycomb or 

 barleysugar in a small perforated box, or under a -wine-Klass slightly 

 raised on one aide to admit air, and kept in a warm room. 



