JVngQst I, 1887. 1 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGB QABDENER. 



91 



you please attempt their substitution for your black queens, 

 but this must not be done until they have commenced egg- 

 laying, and it will be well as a derniiT ressort to confine the 

 black queens in Rmall boxes with about a hundre-l workers, and 

 a piece of sealed honeycomb to each, until either success or 

 failure has been ascertained. You will learn also from Mr. 

 Woodbury's article what to do with any superfluous royal cells.] 



CONSEQUENCES OF SELLING FOUL BROOD. 



Is the early part of this month (July), I was mortified to 

 find foul brood in the second Ligurian stock sent mo by Messrs. 

 Neighbour, under the circumstances related in No. 322. as well 

 as in several nuclei. This being a return of the pest, I intend 

 as early as possible to rid my apiary of this terrible malady, 

 and therefore wish to ask two or three questions, which may 

 interest other readers of " our Journal " as well as myself. 



Ist, Is it absolutely necessary to put the Woodbury hivo- 

 covers through the same process as recommended for the stock 

 hives, or is simply a coat or two of paint sufficient ? 



2nd, Can a queen taken from an infected colony bo given in 

 the course of the same da,y to a healthy colony without any 

 danger of the disease going with her '.' 



3rd, Have swarms that have corae off from diseased stocks 

 ever been known to be infected from that source, supposing 

 they kept clear of the disease from other ways ? — J. ]3., Bracken 

 Hill. 



[1, We consider it unnecessary to do anything to the roofs 

 or outside cases, the infection being confined to the hives and 

 their contents. 



2, Dzierzon seems to be of opinion that the queen of a dis- 

 eased stock may be introduced into a healthy colony with 

 impunity ; and this opinion is confirmed by our own experi- 

 ence. It is, however, but right to state that some (Jerman 

 writers demur to tliis conclusion, and assert that infection may 

 be conveyed by the queen from one hive to another. 



3, We believe that swarms from infected stocks would gene- 

 rally, if not invariably, take the disease with them ; but as we 

 have had no direct experience on this point, we should be glad 

 of the opinions of such of our correspondents as have had 

 better opportunities of judging. 



When, during the summer of 1803, Mr. Woodbury's apiary 

 was devastated by foul brood, he immediately published in our 

 columns the full piirticnlars of his di.^aster, writing at the same 

 time to all who had that season received bees from him, in 

 order to put them on their guard, and offering them every 

 oompcneation in his power, whilst he reiiolutely refused to 

 part with another stock until ho had succeeded in restoring his 

 entire apiary to perfect health. We commend this example to 

 the attention of Messrs. Neighbour & Sons. They have already 

 done incalculable mischief by disseminating this terrible dis- 

 oase during three successive seasons. ^ 



UNITING SWARMS. 



I SHATj. be much obliged to be told where I was wrong in the 

 •following unsuccessful attempt to unite three hives of befts. I 

 was the more disappointed as I had previously succeeded in a 

 similar enterprise. 



To begin, then, I had at the commencement of this July a 

 box containing a small flight of bees in my apiary, which I 

 desired to strengthen by marriage, as it is called. Thi.s I call A. 

 On Monday, July Sth, a swarm which I call B, issued from 

 an old stock which we will distinguish as D. Swarm B was 

 exceedingly large, which may be accounted for by the lateness 

 of its appearance. My plan was this : to fumigate D and B, 

 and unite them to A. 



I first operated on D, the very old stock. In four or five 

 minutes the fumes of fungus pulverulentus (called in Suffolk 

 Bull Ficc), applied us they stood, stupified the few btes which 

 remained behind tho swarm. The hive was turned up, the 

 little honey preserved, and the stupified bees, liberally drenched 

 with sugmed ale, were swept into a pail. 



The swarm B was next operated on. Ten, fifteen, twenty. 

 tbWty mituites elapsed before they showed the least signs of 

 giving in. I therefore gave leave to use tobacco instead of 

 the fungviq. Although the straw hive was covered up with a 

 wet elotli to keep in the fumes, it was, lam sure, three-quarters 

 ol a(t hour before they finaUy euocnmbed. When they were 



" down," they were in like manner drenched with about a pint 

 of sugared ale, and added to tho D bees already in the pail. 



Lastly, wo attacked A, a light flight of this year. In this 

 instance also we experienced the greatest difficulty — although 

 it was a li-inch-thick box and made air.tight — in stupifving 

 tho bees. At last they were " down," and were added with a 

 plentiful supply of ale to the others. 



There was now an enormous heap of bees before us, and the 

 problem was to discover tho best way of coaxing them all up to 

 the capacious box A, which was very partially filled. I took 

 an oblong frame, standing on four legs, a sort of frame-stool, 

 which was exactly the width of the square box A, and tied a 

 large cloth between it, so that the folds of the cloth fell down 

 in the middle ; into this extemporised bag I emptied the bees 

 and set the box A, with comb in, above, and then tied the 

 skirts of the cloth around the box. I then protected tho bag 

 from the cold and went to bed. Next morning, Tuesday, to my 

 dismay, but somehow not to my surprise, I found my bag of 

 bees nearly as large as before. Few if any of them had gone up, 

 for I could see through the windows in the box. They seemed, 

 in fact, overcome with smoke or the liquor. 



I gave them up for lost, and was vexed enough : but as I 

 could only fail, I determined to try one other plan. I washed 

 them. My servant brought some lukewarm water in a milk- 

 pan, and slipping it under the bag washed it carefully by the 

 help of a new whitening brush. This evidently revived some 

 of them. So when tho tubbing was over, we dropped the 

 sunny side of the cloth containing the bees, and with feathers 

 spread them in the warm sun. This they enjoyed, and several 

 of them, completely tamed by adversity, took kindly to every- 

 thing and crept up into the still teuantloss combs of the box, 

 which I had left where it was. That Tuesday evening I re- 

 placed the remnant of a hght box with the counterbalancing 

 weight of a heavy heart. Out of that enormous heap of bees 

 I am afraid not more than one-quarter survived ; but, strange 

 to say, the box is now strong and prosperous. 



I spared no pains nor time to succeed, and having failed, I 

 shall be truly obliged to be corrected, that I may do better 

 another time. — W. H. S. 



[The fungus-smoke which you employed was evidently not 

 strong enouuli, whilst the fumes of tobacco were, as we have 

 found them in our novitiate, so powerful as to prevent the bees 

 from recovering. This mode of uniting stocks should now, 

 however, te considered a thing of tho past, and together with 

 chloroform, deserves to be ranked in pretty nearly the same 

 category as the brimstone-pit. Had you driven the inhabitants 

 of the three stocks one after the other into a capacious empty 

 hive and then inducted them into A, by knocking the cluster 

 out on a cloth, and placing tho hive over it, raised on a couple 

 of sticks to avoid crushing the bees, you would have had no 

 further trouble, and little if any loss of life would have ensued.] 



TIUS YEARS HONEY-HARVEST. 

 SosiE of y»ur correspondents have sent you most gloomy 

 accounts of their bees. Uudoujjtedly the year has been very 

 unfavourable to honey-gathering. I fed my bees liberally late 

 into the spring, and they are all very strong. I have had four 

 swarms and two flights, and till this recent St. Swilhen'a 

 weather they were rapidly cleaning off the honey-dews, and 

 are now industriously working; but I have taken no caps off. 

 I never saw them looking more strong and healthy. I slmll, 

 however, think rjyself fortunate if my ten stocks get enough to 

 carry them through the winter.— W. H. S., Yaj^lnj, SujTnlk. 



A QUASI-QUEEN. 

 AnocT a fortnight ago I removed a Ligurian queen, which 

 had commenced egg-laying, from her parent hive (a nucleus 

 box), in order to place her at the head of a strong black ttock. 

 Somewhat to my astonishment her subjeels manifested little 

 or no uneasiness at her loss, nor did they take any steps to 

 supply her place, sealing over all the young worker brood which 

 they possessed without attempting to found royal cells. Look- 

 ing over the combs to-day (July SiUi), I discovered a worker, 

 surrounded by a circle of bees, giving herself all the 8ir< and 

 receiving all the homage due to a legitimate monarch. This 

 pretender to royalty really bhawed a. ton?iderabl«reseml)Unce 

 in shape to a perfect queen, and hat she waa- £<> i«gar4eU ^y 



