Jiouary -J, :877. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE! AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



21 



Sonrish as well some distance from a loft coutainitig a large 

 flock at liberty aa near it — provided the soil is aa good. I have 

 also known a plant in a flower garden to be much injured by 

 them, owing to its poasessiag such tender and succulent leaves, 

 "when all the many plants around were untouched. A head of 

 lettuce occasionally given is recommended for birds that cannot 

 get youQg beet tips in a neighbouring garden ; and fanciers sow 

 rape or other seed for them, that they may peck at the young 

 plants as the latter stand in the earth. I should think it would 

 be a good plan to plant the seeds of some tender vegetable in 

 boxes, at such times that the plants may attain the height of 

 several inches, at different periods through the winter. These 

 may ba placed in the lof ' in the succeasion in whicli they were 

 plante 1, say at intervals of a week or two. This would be some- 

 what liborions. In the summer I find the common purslane or 

 "pusley," answers excellently for a salad. It is abundant, and 

 eaten with a relish by the Pigeons. I reserved a small corner of 

 the garden for its growth, and now and then threw a bunch or 

 two into the loft where my Pigeons were confined. The sterna 

 are about all they leave untouched. It is a troublesome weed ; 

 bnt cherish a few roots of " pusley " for your cooped-up Pigeons. 

 Don't allow it to go to seed, unless it is scarce in your neigh- 

 bourhood. 



[Commenting npon the above extract from the American 

 Fanciers' Journal, I would say that only in summer Pigeons 

 need or seek any green food. In winter or in cold chilly weather 

 it would do them harm. I have found that Tumblers chiefly 

 care for green food. In the summer I have had them walk 

 through rows of Potatoes, pickiog at the weeds and returning to 

 the loft with their beaks quite green. Jacobins, the variety I 

 now keep, never seem to eeek it. One condiment or helper of 

 digestion all Pigeons want, and seek for greedily — viz., gravel. 

 I have a large space of gravel, and they are frequently pecking 

 it, especially new comers. I would say that salt, broken up old 

 mortar, and gravel are requisites to health ; but green food is an 

 open question, and I am not sure it does the birds any good, but 

 rather harm, as I have noticed it produces purging. — Wiltshire 

 Rector.] 



The annnal Show of Pigeons by the NationaJ Peristeronic 

 Society is to be on the 9th and 10th of January at the Crystal 

 Palace. 



TO PRESERVE EGGS. 



I HAVE experimented with many nests of eggs this year, and 

 find that butter or grease of any kind with me will certainly 

 keep the eggs clear, hut incubation will not begin. I have tried 

 a solution composed of glycerine and olive oil with the same 

 result. It you wish to keep eggs fresh for six months, tike 

 4 0Z9. of the beet glycerine and 2 ozs. of the best olive oil, 

 shake well np together and rub on the eggs. I had some eggs 

 for breakfast that were put down last January in a cool cellar 

 that were treated with a coat of this egg-preserver, and packed 

 the large ends down iu flue sand or salt, and you c Aild not tell 

 them from freshly-laid egg.?. Out of twenty-four dozen that we 

 have used this month that were put down iu that way in January 

 and February, five only were bfid, nnd they only had a strong 

 musty smell. — Dr. W. C. Munhoe (in American, Fanciers' 

 ■Journal). 



DO BEES MAKE HONEY? 



In the Rural New-Yorker, Mr. A Wilson of Onondago, New 

 York, asks this question, and then answers in the following 

 words : — " I do not know why there should be any mystery 

 about this question of bees m-iking or gathering honey, for to 

 me it is as clear as sunshine. Suj^pose we take the best sugar, 

 and make a gallon of molasses or syrup, and put it where the 

 bees can get it, and they take it into their hives, and in time cap 

 it over in the cell ; but, in the meantime, let us keep a little 

 syrup for comparison. After a while take an extractor and 

 remove the syrup from the comb, and it will be found to be 

 honey, and quite different from the reserved material; iu fact, 

 the one is honey and the other is not. The bees, of course, did 

 not make the honey, but changed the fl>ivour only. It will not 

 be clover honey, linden, or buckwheat honey, but syrup honey. 

 Their Creator has given the bees the power of changing the 

 flavour of the sweets gathered, and it is then called by us honey. 

 We may say that bees made it, and so we may say that cloth 

 made of wool is woollen; and of flax, linen; of cotton, cotton- 

 cloth; and 80 with honey. Bees cannot make buckwheat honey 

 into clover honey, any more than we can make cotton-cloth out 

 of wool." 



In the above quotation Mr. Wilson's ideas appear to me to be 

 pretty accurate and intelligible. His advice, to keep a little of 

 the crude syrup to compare with tbat which is refined by the 

 bees, is very good indeed. Mny I aek the readeiM of this Journal 

 who have any doubts on the question to tske his advice, and test 

 the matter for themselves ? The experiment will be found both 



simple and satisfactory. In a summer day any unprejudiced 

 person may settle the question to his own satisfaction in a few 

 minutes by extracting both crude and perfect honey from a hive 

 at the same time, and comparing them. It will be found that 

 the honey which has been re-swallowed and stored-up has both 

 body and flavour, in every sense different and superior to the 

 crude honey as it is carried from flowers and disgorged iu the 

 Centre combs of hives. Mr. Wilson says syrup made of sugar 

 and water becomes syrup-honey. Though the hees thicken and 

 sweeten the syrup, and greatly improve the flavour, I do not call 

 it honey. It is, after all, only syrup refined and improved by 

 bees, and is minus the smack and appearance of all kinds of 

 genuine honey. To sell syrup honey iu any form as genuine 

 tifjwer honey would be a fraud and imposition. For many 

 years past I have denounced this practice as dishonest, and 

 raised my voice against it. 



The American writer is quite right in his remarks about the 

 distinct difference of this and that kind of honey gathered from 

 this and that kind of plant. Last week a Welsh lady sent me a 

 small bottle of honey which she obtained at Arundel iu Sussex, 

 on making a visit there last autumn. She did not like it, but 

 wanted my opinion of it, and to know the kind of plant that 

 yielded it. This Arundel honey pleased me much, as it was ex- 

 cfedingly clear and highly scented, and with a rich aromatic 

 flavour, I never tasted better honey, and fancy it was gathered 

 fiom wild thyme. 



As the question of crude and perfect honey has been often 

 before the readers of this Journal I need not dwell longer on it 

 here. Young apiarians will fiud the su-bject a very interesting 

 one, and if they could only be induced to put the question to the 

 test of a simple experiment, they would iind that bees not only 

 gather honey, but refine and remodel it after it is gathered. la 

 this remodelling process there is much water eliminated. This 

 watsr escapes as vapour generally by the doors of hives, and 

 during the nights much of it may be coudensed and caught as 

 it escapes. — A. Pettiseew. 



BEE PASTURE. 



A coBEEsroNDEST "P. B. P." has asked for a short desca'iption 

 of places and flowers from which large harvests of honey have 

 been obtained. It is no easy matter to convey in words what is 

 and what is not a good district for bees. Though some districts 

 are much bett'-r than others for honey-gathering, success is often 

 attained in apparently unfavourable places. Fruit trees and 

 pasture fields (for cattle) are properly considered the best provi- 

 sions for bees in Great Britaiu. Orchards and dairy-farms are 

 the principal features in the landscape from abeekeeper'a stand- 

 point. All other things beiug equal, the south aud warmer 

 counties are better than the northern districts. The south ia 

 better than the north in more senses than one. Bees in the 

 south begin breeding earlier, and as the climate is warmer the 

 flowers yield greater supplies of honey ; for climate favourable 

 for honey-gathering in this country can never equal France, 

 Italy, and America. 



With a view to assist "P. B. P." and others iu forming a 

 pretty correct notion as to the best places and pasturage for 

 bees, I will here name some of the most common and best kinds 

 of plants for honey which grow in Great Britain. There are 

 about one hundred kinds of plants grown in this country which 

 yield food for bees; in this letter about twenty only will be 

 mentioned. 



In early spring the flowers of crocuses and some kinds of 

 willows (Salix) are very tempting to bees; border hyacinths, 

 single wallflowers, and an early tussilago are haunted for their 

 sweets. But the real honey season begins when the fruit trees 

 come into blossom. The flowers of all our fruit trees yield large 

 supplies of excellent honey, I may safely say super-excellent. 

 Gooseberry, plum, currant, cherry, peach, apricot, pear, apple, 

 raspberry, and black or bramble berry, are all honey-yielding 

 plants, and are well known everywhere. 



Field mustard (Siuapis arvensis) a mere yellow weed in com 

 fieldri, is a most valuable plant to bee-keepers in some districts, 

 for it continues a long time in flower and yields great stores to 

 bees. The honey from this plant soon candies, and the comba 

 built from it are tinted yellow. The flowers of turnip, cabbage, 

 and all the braasica trilje are of the same cruciform shape, and 

 yield honey in abundance. They are seldom allowed to flower 

 in this country. 



The field bean is another valuable plant for bees, and it con- 

 tinues a long time in flower, and is extensively cultivated. The 

 flowers of this plant have to be tapped near their bottoms in 

 order to obtain tbeir honey. The flowers are so deep (like those 

 of the red clover) that bees cannot reach |the honey in their 

 receptacles from the top, hence the flowers are pierced below, 

 and much rich treasure is extracted from them. 



Sycamore (or plane) trees are valuible to the bee-farmer, as 

 they come into flower before the apple blossoms are over and 

 continue till white clover comes iu. In this country the honey 

 lies on sycamore flowers and is clammy to the toach; from 



