624 



JOITENAL OF HOETICXJLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ December 28, 1863. 



each side of the combs in the other hive ; stragglers having 

 been brushed out on the to]) of the exposed bai-s, the crown- 

 board may be replaced, and the job is complete. The use 

 of smoke and scented syriip is an additional safeguard 

 against a quarrel ; but as the bees usually gorge themselves 

 with honey during the preliminary examination and removal 

 of a moiety of the combs, I generally omit these precautions, 

 and seldom have reason to regi'et the omission. 



All these modes of efi'ecting autumnal unions liave been 

 fully tested, and may be relied upon as being eft'ectual in 

 the great majority of cases. An occasional quarrel may 

 sometimes ai-ise, and it is probable that with such pugnacious 

 and beUicose insects no mode that can be devised wiU 

 entu'ely obviate the possibility of such a contre (emps. When 

 it is desired to unite common to Liguriaa bees the risk is 

 considerably increased. Still, even this may be success- 

 fully effected in the great majority of cases, if all those pre- 

 cautions are adopted vt'hich have been indicated by — A 

 Devonshike Bee-keepee. 



BEE-FLOWEES. 



I CAN confirm the observations of "A Eenfeewshiee 

 Bee-keepek," that the value of Melilotus leucantha as a 

 bee-flower is very much over-estimated by some writers. I 

 had some for several years, and found that the bees fre- 

 quented it so little that I discontinued growing it. Borage, 

 on the contrary, the bees are so fond of that I have a 

 succession of three crops during the season ; the fii'st I raise 

 as early as jiossible, and the last is generally cut down with 

 the frost, when about three parts of the flowers have come 

 out. I also sow a succession of French poppies, which yield 

 an immense quantity of farina, and also look very gay in the 

 garden. On the 10th of October, my bees were so busy 

 collecting farina from the poppies, that I counted eight bees 

 on one flower at the same time. I never saw so many on one 

 flower before. My bees were carrying farina into the hives 

 on the 24th of November, which is some weeks later than 

 the average of years. — William Caek, Clayton Bridge Ainary, 

 Newton Seath, near Manchester. 



Acclimatisation at the Antipodes. — The Acclimati- 

 sation Society of Victoria has fortunately met with very 

 liberal support from the Government, and has been enabled 

 to obtain a most valuable site in a reserve of &U0 acres 

 appropriated as the Eoyal Park. It is described as being 

 well grassed and timbered, presenting an agreeable un- 

 dulating sui-face, though somewhat bleak and exposed. 

 To this spot the Society and its fi-iends are enabled to take 

 the animals and bu-ds which they may import into the 

 colony. In order to fit it for the reception of animals a sum 

 of about ^4000 has been expended. There are paddocks with 

 sheds erected, into which the goats and llamas that feed 

 about the park in the daytime are driven for shelter. In the 

 50 acres which are allotted to the Society ample arrange- 

 ments have been made for dividing and classifying the Uve 

 stock. Substantially-constructed cages contain pheasants 

 and doves, and such class of birds, with shelter-cots in the 

 centre. The water fowl have their ponds in which to disport, 

 themselves and an island on which to breed. The zebras, 

 the elks, and the ostriches have theu' separate compart- 

 ments ; a system, in short, is provided even more complete 

 than that which exists at the Zoological Gardens in the 

 Eegent's Park. What would, however, be a novelty, and, 

 indeed, a matter of surprise to many persons in this 

 country, is the care which is manifestly bestowed upon the 

 protection of those small birds which ai-e considered here as 

 the general enemy of the gai-dener and fai-mer. There, 

 sparrows, and rooks, and finches, and yeUowhammers, and 

 blackbu-ds, and thrushes, and linnets, and robin redbreasts, 

 and a host of other famUiar members of the feathered tribes 

 have been brought together, and after resting from the 

 fatigues of then- voyage across the sea, they are set at liberty 

 to breed in the country, and establish for their races a home 

 among the wilds of Australia. The birds which have been 

 set at liberty at the Botanical Gardens of Victoria up to the 

 present time have been eighteen canai-ies, eighteen black- 

 birds, twenty-four thrushes, six Californian quails, sixty 



English wild ducks, thirty-five Java sparrows, four English 

 robins, eight tui-tle doves, and fifty minor birds. At another 

 point there have been located five pheasants, six skylarks, 

 six Californian quails, four thrushes., four blackbirds, one pair 

 white swans ; at Sandhm-st, four pheasants, four skylarks, 

 and four thrushes ; at Yarra, six thrushes and four skylarks; 

 and near Sydney, seven thrushes four skylarks and ten 

 blackbirds. The stock on hand of beast, birds, and fishes is 

 not only interesting, as showing the value which is set upon 

 many things held as of little worth in this country, but is, 

 moreover, highly creditable to the managers of the Society m 

 the colony. — {Australian and New Zealand Gazette.) 



HEEBIVOKOUS ANIMALS AMONG YEWS. 



I HAVE always found in regard to the danger of yew to 

 cattle, slieeiD, and horses, that in a growing state it is harm- 

 less, but when cut and withering it has killed every animal 

 that has eaten of it (as far as my experience goes), except a 

 goat. The goat was with the heifers which died, but I 

 cannot say positively that it ate the yew, though we always 

 believed it did so. — J. M. S. 



[There is a decided conflict of evidence on this point. Dr. 

 Martyn in his edition of Miller's " Gardeners' Dictionary " 

 says : — " Some intelligent persons assert that the branches 

 of yews while green are not noxious ; but among the number 

 of cattle that we have known fall victims to this deadly 

 food, not one has been found when it was opened but had a 

 lump of green yew in its paunch."] 



Seeing an article on the above in yoiir Journal of the 15th 

 December, page 471, recalls to my memory a fact to which 

 I can fully bear testimony. Early in the spring of 1855, I 

 was living at Stapleford Park, Leicestershii-e, the seat of 

 the late Earl of Harborough, and in the end of January, 

 or beginning of February, a very severe fi'ost set in, and 

 the deer walked over the ice to a small island in the lake 

 which was planted with some very fine yew trees ; and the 

 consequence was, that in the course of two or three days 

 more than one hundred head of deer were poisoned by 

 browsing on the yew. This shows that the statement 

 you have quoted from Gilpin,, is not correct, .although it is 

 very possible that the poisonous effects of the yew might 

 act with more deadly effect in consequence of the deer being 

 starved to eat it in large quantity. — H. Gent, Loioer Clapton. 



[This is very important evidence. Mr. Gilpin evidently 

 doubted the statement that deer are not poisoned by brows- 

 ing on the yew, for he introduces it with " as park-keepers 

 say."] 



Substitutes fob Holly Bebeies. — In answer to a cor- 

 respondent, you say that you know of no method of dyeing 

 peas so as to make up for a deficiency of holly berries in, 

 winter decorations, and suggest that they should be dipped 

 in melted sealing-wax. Here in Yorkshire we use glass beads 

 similar to the enclosed, and a very good substitute they 

 make. They may be jjurohased at the wholesale toyshops, 

 and are generally sold at a low pi-ioe by the ounce. — Eustic 



EOBIN. 



[The beads sent are of glass, coated inside with melted 

 red sealing-wax.] 



OUR LETTEE BOX. 



To Breeders of Partridge Cochins.— A few amateurs propose to raise 

 by a subscription of agutaei each (subject to 10 per cent, rcductinn, for 

 expenses} a fund to be awtiriied at the next Birmingham Show, in one prize 

 (cup or specie) to the best pen of chickens of tlie above breed. This prize 

 is to bo awarded to subscribers' birds only; the prize toco in accordance 

 ■with the Birmingham prize list ; but should not a subscriber's birds be in 

 the BirminKham prize list, the Judges ■wilt be requested to award tliio prize. 

 The subscription will cUse on the 1st of March next. Subscribers' names 

 must be sent in on or before that date to E. Tudman, Esq., Ash Grove, 

 Whitchurch, Salop, who has kindly consented to receive the same. 



Newport Poultby Show.— In our notice of the main features of this 

 Show, we inadvertently stat^,d that Lady Holmesdale had taken tliree first 

 and five second prizes besides com mendntinns. whereas the prize list indicates 

 Lady Holmesdale to have been a^\;irded^'?e first prizes, independently of the 

 one for the best cnllection of Poultry, and the same number of second prizes, 

 and one third prize ; such success we need hardly say, is only obtained by 

 tlat good rwanagementand perseverance which Lady Holmesdale has always 

 ehown in the condition of the fowls she has exhibited. 



