JOUENAL Oi- HORTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Angiiat 1, 1867. 



the other workers was evidenced by the confusion which cn- 

 BTied upon her removal. It occurred to mo that she might 

 perhaps be fertile, but I could not discover that she had depo- 

 sited any ep;f;s ; it is. nevertheless, possible that she might have 

 done so had her life been longer spared by — A Devonshiee 



BEE-KEEPEli. 



nONEY HARVEST— GALES HIVE. 



Having noticed several letters in your paper lately, com- 

 plaining of the honey harvest this season, I think a few par- 

 ticulars from this neighbourhood may interest some of your 

 readers. 



My stock is only small, being two of Gale's hive.i. Gale is a 

 carpenter in this town (.Uton), who is very much interested in 

 bees, and he has made these hives, which are certainly the 

 most convenient I every saw, so far as ability to take honey 

 goes. Should you wish, no doubt he would send an account of 

 them, for the benefit of your readers. 



From my two stocks of bees in Gale's hives, I took on 



lbs. 

 Juno IStb 24 



„ 23nd sl 



„ 24tli 3" 



„ 29th S\ 



July Ist 7i 



Jnly 2nd . 

 „ 12tli. 

 „ 17th . 

 „ 18th . 

 „ 24tb . 



IhR. 

 .. SJ 

 . . i 

 .. 4 



.. n 



..9l 



Total 48( lbs. up to the present time (July 27th), and I ex- 

 pect to take nearly as much more, some of the drawers being 

 now half full. Each drawer weighs from 3 lbs. to -libs, when 

 fuU, and is very easily taken out of the hive. — Philip Ckowley. 



BEES NEAR BIRMINGHAM. 



I KECEivED au artificial Ligurian swavm from Mr. Woodbury, 

 •Tuly 3rd, and emptied the bees out of their travelling box on to 

 the bottom of the bars of an inverted bar hive. I had previously 

 taken a bar of brood, and a little honey as well, nut of two of 

 my black stocks, and put them in the hive ; then I turned this 

 up, and as soon as the bees collected in the hive, put it on the 

 floor. board, and placed them on their stand. They have (as I 

 consider) done very well, for they have filled all the bars but 

 one of a ten-bar hive with combs, the cells of which arc now 

 filled with brood. I have some young Ligurians, as I saw when 

 I opened the hive to-day (.July 23rd). They have gained 9 lbs. 

 in twenty days. Is this not good for a new hive ? Now, as 

 this variety does so well, it seems a great pity that they cannot 

 be kept pure, but that the black drones are likely to mate with 

 the young queens. Is there not some way to prevent this ? 



I had a black stock in a Neighbour's hive, which I have 

 written to you about before, as being very lazy. The other 

 day I wanted a swarm to send to a friend, so I took off the 

 super, which had been on some time, and the bees, as I thought, 

 were working in it ; but it, like the hive, seemed full of bees only. 

 I then knocked them out and found but little comb, and less 

 honej', for the time it had been on. I next put the hive over a 

 cloth, and beat a lot of bees out till I had the queen. As soon 

 as I had her out I put her in an empty hive to collect the bees, and 

 placed it on the stand. In doing all this a piece of comb came 

 out, which I gave my friends, the Ligurians, the benefit of. I 

 thought by this time I had enough bees for a swarm, so I packed 

 and sent them away. This was done July "ith. 



Next day I weighed the hive, which made 8 lbs. for the bees 

 and honey, and on the morning of the 22nd I did so again, and 

 they had gained 3 lbs. In the middle of the same day I thought 

 as this hive had done so badly, I would transfer the inmates into 

 a bar hive, for Ihke to look at them often, and I did so, knocked 

 all the bees out, and having found the queen, collected them 

 in an empty hive, and put them on the old stand. I then re- 

 moved the old hive to take the combs out, which I fixed with 

 strings and pieces of wood into the bars. I next put the bees 

 into it, and set it in the old jilace, and all is quiet to-dny (July 

 23rd), and they have fixed the combs, so that I have been able 

 to remove the supports. There seems to be a large number of 

 drones. Should you suppose that the old queen was mostly a 

 drone breeder ? How many eggs can a queen lay in a day ? 

 and is there any difference between a drone and a worker egg? 



My other hives have done well lately. No. 1, a bar hive, 1ms 

 made 13 lbs. ; No, 2, ditto, 13 lbs. ; and a Neighbour's hive, 

 71b9 , in seventeen days. I had all these hives last winter. 



Why do bees begin so many royal cells ? When is the best 

 time to take bars of honey away ? Is it best to cut out royal 



cells when you find them beginning, and do not want the bees 

 to swarm? — J. G. 



[When drones are in excess, the probability is that it arises 

 from an excess of drone-comb, which should be removed, and 

 worker-comb substituted. A good queen can lay 1500 to 2000 

 eggs a-day, or possibly even more. Von Siebold's investigations 

 demonstrated the fact, that the worker eggs are fecundated, 

 whilst drone eggs are unfecundated. The instinct which leads 

 bees to found a plurality of royal cells seems a wise provision 

 against the possibility of failure. The excision of queen cells 

 can, at any rate, do no harm, under the circumstances you 

 mention. Bare of honey may be removed at any time when 

 they can be spared. The best means of preserving the purity 

 of Ligurians were detailed by Sir. Woodbury, in page 271 of 

 our last volume.] 



A Negho Discussion AnouT Eggs. — In the fairest village of 

 Western New York, the " culled pusscns," in emulation of their 

 white brethren, formed a debating society for the purpose of 

 improving their minds by the discussion of instructive and 

 entertaining topics. The deliberations of the society were pre- 

 sided over by a venerable darkey, who performed the duties with 

 the utmost dignity peculiar to his colour. The subject for 

 discussion on the occasion of which we write was, " Which am 

 de mudder of the chicken — de hen wot lay de egg, or de hen 

 wot hatches de chick?'' The question was warmly debated, 

 and many reasons pro and con. were urged and combated by 

 the excited disputants. Those in favour of the latter proposi- 

 tion were evidently in the mf jority, and the President made no 

 attempt to conceal that his sympathies were with the dominant' 

 party. At lengtli an intelligent darkey arose from the minority 

 side, and begged leave to state a proposition to this effect : 

 " Spose," said he, " dat you set one dozen Duck's eggs under 

 a hen, and dey hatch, which am de mudder, do Duck or de 

 hen ? " This was a poser, was well put, and nonplussed the 

 other side, even staggering the President, who plainly .=aw the 

 force of the argument but had committed himself too far to- 

 yield without a struggle ; so, after cogitating and scratching his 

 wool a few minutes, a bright idea struck him. Ilising from 

 his chair in all the pride of conscious superiority, he announced : 

 "Ducks am not before de house; chickens am de question; 

 defore I rule de Ducks out ! " and do it he did, to the complete- 

 overthrow of his opponents. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Choice or Frekcu Foivls {Rev. T. P.).— We believe wc hnve, and hnvB 

 had, more experience in the French breeds than most jieople. Wo have 

 no liesitnfion in enyinp we consider the Houdans the best for peneral 

 purposes. Their laying qualities are of a high order, and 1 hey are as 

 hardy as fowls can be. Their only drawback in oni' eyes is that they do 

 not pit. This necessitates keepinfj two breeds. 



TJr.cEES IN French Fowls (7". R P.).— It is proved beyond contradie- ' 

 tion ' i the cocks of La FU-eho fowls are subject to diseases unknown to ' 

 our Enplish breeds, and th^t are not common to the hens. The same 

 may be said of the Creve Cceurs. A cock of either breed will be hearty 

 Monday evening, Tuesday morning ho will be choking with ulcerous 

 matter, Thursday he will he nearly well again, and within a week he will 

 lie dead of positive w isting — not an ounce of flesh left on his b'nes. We 

 have never found but one treatment to be useful. It is to allow them no 

 water in their pens, but to give them drink three times per day; when, 

 ill to withhold it altogether. This latter system has cured the only cases 

 we have been able to treat successfully. We had a walk of La Fleche at 

 an isolated fjirm-house. Within two day-s of a heavy shower they were 

 always sict. from drinking from puddles. These birds, we believe, delight 

 iu filthy water, and prefer it to a running stream, or to that fresh from a 

 spring. 



Etio SnELL in Chickens' Food (E. ,S.)-— We should think all such 

 contrivances as pouuded egg-shells bad for young chickens. When only 

 four or five days old they require soft food that is ea?y of digestion. 

 Your feeding was evidently wrong from the glutinous adliesion of their 

 excrement. In rearing chickens nrtitieially you have to supply tlio heat 

 of the hen, and as nearly as possible to give food such as she would iiud 

 and call them to. She would not do this for egg-shells. Wo beheve sho 

 knows that which we fancy, that the poor little ones could not digest 

 them. 



FnENcH PLirars.— itce and Lrnrn wishes to be informed how to preservo 

 jdunis in the mode adopted tor those called French plums and sold in 

 jars. He thinks his Victoria plums would do for the purpose. Any of 

 our readers will oblige us by sending us iuformation on the subject. 



Stock that has not Swarmed (Caroliw).— Are you sure that the stock 

 l-.as not swarmed unperceived ? We should not now ejpeet a swarm to 

 issue, although if one should rise its probable preservation over the ap- 

 proaching winter is only a question of autumnal feeding and a f«w 

 shillings' worth of lump sugar. We know of no means by which you can 

 accelerate swarming, nor should we expect the bees to take to a boll-glass 

 so late in the season. 



E.-.VPTIAN Bpes (/. II. H.).— Write to T. W. Woodiory, Esq., Moimt 

 liadford, Exeter, 



