March U, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



303 



pursue. The temperature was too low for fair work ; but the 

 suspicious activity of the plundered stock was emulated by 

 one other ia particular, which stood about a dozen yards off. 

 Planting myself midway between these two, I soon made out a 

 stream of bees rapidly passing and repassing between one and 

 the other, so that no doubt could remain as to the identity of 

 the actual culprits. Had any doubt been possible, it would, 

 however, have been dispelled by an examination of the interior 

 of the suspected hive, which, for an especial purpose, I deferred 

 until evening approached, and which revealed the combs loaded 

 almost to overflowing with the ill-gotten booty. Selecting one 

 of the heaviest of these I brushed off all the bees, chuckling 

 slightly to myself as I substituted this ponderous comb for one 

 of the empty ones in the plundered hive ; nor could I, even in 

 the midst of my discomfiture, help feeling some little satis- 

 faction at the idea of the retributive although tardy justice 

 which I was executing in politely handing over to the marauders 

 a perfectly empty comb, which they had themselves only re- 

 cently been so assiduous in clearing out. My object in doing 

 this so late in the day was to furnish the now nearly-destitute 

 stock with a supplj' of food, which the buccaneers should not 

 have time to remove before the approach of night compelled a 

 cessation of their nefarious labours. As soon as darkness had 

 fairly set in I shut up the victimised stock, and conveyed it to 

 a dark cellar, there to remain until I could make arrangements 

 for transporting it to such a distance as might place it entirely 

 out of the reach of the buccaneers. Fearing lest these latter 

 might transfer their unwelcome attentions to some of the 

 neighbouring stocks, I left the outside case and roof in their 

 place ; and was not a little amused during the next and suc- 

 ceeding days to see a multitude of would-be plunderers inves- 

 tigating the empty case, in puzzled bewilderment as to what 

 had become of its former easy-going inhabitants and their 

 ill-defended stores. 



The non-resisting hive having been transported about half 

 a mile off, a distance which I have found sufficient so earlj* in 

 the season, quietude was restored in the apiary, and remained 

 undisturbed until the 21st of February, when I ventured to ad- 

 minister a bottle of food to the stock which stood nearest to the 

 spot previously occupied by the removed colony. The usual 

 degree of excitement supervened without creating any suspicion 

 until the afternoon, when I was somewhat alarmed by observing 

 the former freebooters and the inhabitants of the hive which 

 stood iiext to them, and which I had more than suspected of 

 taking a secondary part in their former nefarious proceedings, 

 again manifesting a very equivocal degree of activity. Similar 

 investigations to those above related, pointing irresistibly to the 

 same conclusion — viz., that this third stock with a fertile queen 

 and an abundant population was surrendering its stores with- 

 out the slightest attempt at defence, it was in its turn shut up 

 in the evening, and took its place the next day beside the other 

 votaries of " peace at any price," where both stocks have since 

 remained unmolested, and where they are both doing well. 



With regard to the query propounded by my esteemed cor- 

 respondent, I confess myself unable to come to any satisfactory 

 conclusion, but must leave it to others to form their own 

 opinions. Are these apian freebooters liliewiso freemasons ? 

 and are they in the possession of some mysterious password or 

 signal which has served as an " open sesame " to the store- 

 combs of three successive hives? Or may not the rightful 

 giiardians of these latter have joined the " Peace Society," and 

 with all the fervid and imdiseriminating zeal of new-made 

 converts, carried their exemplification of the doctrine of non- 

 resistance far beyond the practice even of that great advocate 

 of peace, John Bright himself? However this maybe, the 

 probable result of a national adhesion to this doctrine may, I 

 think, be reasonably inferred from the sad fate which must 

 have inevitably befallen these apian votaries of " Peace at any 

 price," had it not been averted by the timely intervention of — 



A DEVOSSHIItE EUE-EEEPEE. 



north aspect, and is 4 feet from the ground in a walled garden, 

 the elevation being about 3i0 feet above the sea. — J. G. C, 

 South Northamptonshire. 



FOUL BROOD— ASPECT OF APIARY. 



The honey season is gradually approaching, and I have been 

 taking a survey of my hives to see how they have stood the 

 winter. A Stewarton hive attracted my attention by the ap- 

 pearance of robber bees, and on examining it I found the 

 lower box full of empty comb, and some of it white with 

 mould. The upper box is full of comb, partly filled with 

 honey, and what I suppose is foul brood. I have excised this, 

 cleansed the floor-board, and placed the box with the bees on 

 it. It is quite possible I have not cut out all the foul brood. 

 Will the taint remain in the hive in consequence ? and have 

 I done right in leaving the bees but the one box? I took 

 from this hive a top box of pure honey last autumn, weight 

 13 lbs. I considered I had a flourishing colony. The bees 

 which are left appear feeble. 



The next colony, a Stewarton, alfco in the same bee-stand, is 

 the most flourishing colony I have, excepting a Woodbury 

 hive standing in a window at the top of the house on the north 

 side. This was a May swarm of last year. It filled the hive 

 and yielded me 5 lbs. of honey in a straw cap placed over the 

 hole in the crown-board. 



I shall be glad to know what you advise me to do as the 

 spring advances. Shall I put on a large 'super, or distribute 

 the bar-frames among other hives ? I own that swarms come 

 quite fast enough, andlrather aim at obtaining honey without 

 multiplying swarms. 



I consider a north aspect a far better one all the year round 

 than a south or south-east one. Is this the opinion of your 

 readers ?— B. B. 



[If you are right in believing that the combs contained foul 

 brood the stocks should be at once destroyed, and the hive 

 purified by scraping and a thorough washing with a saturated 

 solution of chloride of lime, the remaining honey being ap- 

 plied to any purpose except feeding bees. We give this advice, 

 believing that with foul brood, as with the cattle plague, the 

 plan of " stamping out " on its first appearance is by far the 

 best. As you aim at a giod honey harvest rather than the 

 multiplication of swarms, we should advise putting a large 

 super on the Woodbury hive, substituting, however, an adapter 

 for the crown-board. Experience has satisfied us that aspect 

 is a point of very secondary importance in bee-keeping.] 



BL.^CK DRIVEN BEES. 



These are so far all right, and were seen to take in pollen 

 on February 17th. 20th. 24th, and 28th freely. They were 

 driven on the 13th of September, 18(36, and their previous 

 history is stated in Vol. XI., page 399. 



The lowest reading of the thermometer noted by me during 

 the first week of January this year occurred on the 4th — namely, 

 7°; on the 14th of the same month the lowest temperature was 

 reached, being 6°. My thermometer] is fuUy exposed, with a 



FOUL BROOD (?). 



I AM desirous of communicating some particulars of my ex- 

 perience of foul brood. A few years since I had an apiary at 

 Epworth, where I now reside, which consisted of fifty stocks 

 all in one row, when this disease came amongst them. The 

 first attacked was the tenth hive from the west end of the row, 

 and fifteen stocks in succession were totally destroyed. More 

 would doubtless have been infected had I not given them the 

 strictest attention and used every exertion to stem the disease. 

 I noticed from the first bees coming out of the hive and crawl- 

 ing on the gi-ound to rise no more, appearing as though they 

 had just made their escape from a treacle-pot, whilst others 

 were going into the nearest hive, which led me to conclude 

 that the disease was infectious. I therefore lost no time in 

 removing all those stocks which showed symptoms of the dis- 

 ease, after which the rest went on well ; so I lost sight of the 

 pest for that season, which was a happy release. Although I 

 have had to contend with it many different times since, I have 

 never again experienced so fatal an attack. I had several 

 stones of honey from the infected stocks, which I used after 

 heating it, whilst I well washed all the utensils in hot water, 

 and dried and aired them well before I used them again. 



I attributed the origin of this fatal disease to having sent so 

 many late swarms and condemned stocks of bees to the heather, 

 where for the first few fine days the bees were able to collect 

 honey ; but after this thera were two or three weeks of gloomy 

 wet weather, so that the bees could not go abroad, which 

 caused the hives to be full of brood, and before this was ma- 

 tured cold chilly weather set in, which compelled the bees to 

 close up betwixt the combs, leaving numbers of the larva to 

 perish in the combs. For these and other reasons I am per- 

 suaded that nineteen eut of twenty such disasters are brought 



