JOUBNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ Jannary 18, 1877. 



80 well said on the value of Manetti and the worthlessness of the 

 briar stock for light soils and severe winters ; have no sympathy 

 with that " Wyld Savage," and are especially gratefal for Mr. 

 Hinton's invaluable rose poll; and so should you, too. Messieurs 

 the Editors, for we made it a rule since its first appearance to 

 present every rose-loving friend far and near with a copy, and 

 have been thanked in return and told, " The rose poll is capital, 

 we have (or we mean to) take in the journal," as the case may 

 be. We oarefally study our chief's able pomological descrip- 

 tions, and again mentally revisit the ancestral nursery of Saw- 

 bridgeworth, the birthplace of onr pyramidal trees ; and as we 

 take yet another look at Miss Cresswell's clever sketch of Early 

 Wood our White and Silver-Grey Dorkings assume a fresh in- 

 terest; and then we reach our own especial corner, and what 

 have we to say of it ? 



We apiarians have great cause for thankfulness in the year 

 that has gone. 187G opened most inanspiciously, with a cold 

 backward spring advancing into as hopeless a summer. So un- 

 propitious did it become that latterly we began seriously to con- 

 sider feeding our non-swarming colonies, which by this time the 

 Btraw-hivists tired of doing. But the tide turned at last with 

 Buch a flow as filled the hearts and hives of our little favourites 

 with joy and gladness, coming so opportunely when the failure 

 of the beetroot crop so raised the price of sugar as would have 

 made a second autumnal heavy feeding a serious matter to many 

 a poor bee-keeper. 



We think kindly of " the captain on the paddle-box," and 

 only wish he would study our old lo^-book more, to save we 

 deck hands taking soundings of assertion schools to get backed 

 off in time, remembering our log is read in America and on the 

 Continent. Oar thoughts revert back, too, to our " old captain," 

 with many a pleasant reminiscence of his good seamanship. 

 We trust during the present year no one will be allowed to call 

 him hard names : he is dead, and we bronzed tars among the 

 crew revere his memory. 



Ab we peruse our Ealing Rise shipmate's interesting report of 

 the fertile worker, we smile as we think to what better account 

 he might have turned it than dissecting in the forecastle had he 

 passed it aft to the " captain on the paddle-box," who offered a 

 large round sum for its production while denying the existence 

 of any such. 



Then, again, we think with " B. & W." it very hard to deny 

 our favourites the power of carrying the nectar of the flower 

 right aloft into their supers without being first deposited in that 

 intermediate state, we have as yet failed to discover. 



We thought we had done, but on the last page Mr. Pettigrew 

 while summing-up " Another Year's Experience" hazards three 

 theoretic propositions which do not bear the test of experience. 

 The first—" Stories are told of bees living continuously in the 

 cavities of trees and roofs of houses. That bees live occasion- 

 ally in such places a few years without attention from the hand 

 of man I can readily believe, but having doubted that honey 

 bees are natives (originally) of Great Britain, I have given but 

 little credence to the stories alluded to," &o. I have been re- 

 minded thereby that it is just sixteen years this month since I 

 shipped on board the old craft, and curious enough my first con- 

 tribution was chronicling the great success of my roof bees, in 

 which high latitude I started bee-keeping some four years pre- 

 viously; and it is there recorded that stretches of comb found- 

 ations were measured G feet in length, showing that my garret 

 tenants werenot the transitory visitants Mr. Pettigrew imagines. 

 In the roof of an old mansion in an adjoining parish I have 

 heard of as much as a washing-tub of comb taken out on the 

 demolition of an old colony; and in this neighbourhood bees 

 displayed so great a partiality for the roof of a mansion, that 

 the worthy baronet could not exclude them till he caused the 

 slates to be stripped off and covered underneath with thick 

 asphalte felt, heavy paper tried i)reviou8ly having been gnawed 

 through. Your correspondent is also mistaken as to bees so 

 dreading cold, if dry. Witness their survival through the m ost 

 severe Russian and Canadian winters ; and here in our own as 

 well as in our neighbour's roof they always showed a marked 

 partiality in selecting a north aspect. And why ? Because they 

 there enjoyed the maximum of winter dormancy with the con- 

 sequent minimum consumption of store. 



The second point. Sugar-fabricated super combs would not 

 pass master even if practical for super honeycomb, as it is well 

 known to all storifyers that the presence of the whitest of the 

 previous season's empty comb quite mars the beauty of the 

 completed box, consequently such are only fit to contain honey 

 for running, or more useful still, to be cut out for guide if of 

 worker pattern. Mr. Pettigrew has repeatedly recommended 

 employing empty drone comb for such purpose, which induces 

 the construction of drone combs, and from the coarser appear- 

 ance in supers their market value is lowered. 



The third and last point is the (jnestion of the superiority of 

 the Italian bee now olimatised in Great Britain during fifteen 

 years ; and one would think it is rather late in the day calling for 

 competitive tests, all advanced apiarians having satisfied them- 

 selves individually long ago on that point. We generally find 



the sceptical are those who have preconceived them unworthy 

 of a trial. But as I have already encroached too much on valu- 

 able space must leave over detailing some of my experiences 

 with the yellow-jacket to another opportunity. — A Renfbew- 



SHIBE BeE-KEEPEK. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Chickens Ceamped {J. C. 0.). — It is caased by the cold and wet. Keep 

 them in the greenhouse, and give them bread soaked in ale night and 



Characteristics of Rouen Ducks and Black HuMnuROHS (A. P. W.). — 

 The Black Hamburgh cock Bhould have entirely black plumage all over his 

 body, a well-formed rose comb firmly seated on the head, with a good pike 

 behind turning upwards. Any such mixture of colour as you name would be 

 fatal to any hope of success. All Black cocks are proue to have red, yellow, 

 or white feathers, but they cannot be passed over. Rouen Ducks and drakes 

 should bo the counterparts of the wild Duck and mallard, no difference can 

 be allowed. They are most frequently faulty in their bills. The Duck must 

 have no ring round her neck. Neither Duck nor drake may have white 

 feathers in their wings. 



Spratt's Food (G. M.l. — We do not know how much should be mixed with 

 the morning meal of boiled mangold and barleymeal (hot) for your twelve 

 Brahma hens. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0' 8' 0" W. ; Altitude, 111 feet. 



BEMARES. 



and dark showery day; the : 



at times very 



10th.— Very foggy i 



heavy. 



11th.— Fair, but dull and cold ; rain at 9 a.m., and at intervi Js all day. 

 12th.— Fair, but thick and cold ; white frost during the day ; sun seen at 



noon, and fair at night. 

 13th. — Foggy, and at times extremely dork; sunny at 1 p.m.; fair afternoon, 



but wet evening. 

 14th. — Dull, but fair morning ; rain from noon all the rest of the day, but 



only showery. 

 15th. — Fine, dry, and bright all day ; shower in the evening, but brilliant 



starlight night; a more pleasant day than we have had for some 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Janoaky 17. 

 Trade continues very qaiet, and with the exception of bast goods prices 

 rule low, with scarcely any alteration. Kent Cobs, with a short supply and 

 moderate demand, are slightly better. 



. d. 



Chestnuta bushel 



Currants l sieve 



Black 4 do. 



Fiffs dozen 



FUbei-t3 lb. 



Cobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse.... lb. 2 



2 



, d. 8. d. 



Peaches dozen 



Pears, kitchen.... dozen 1 



dessert dozen 3 



Pine Apples lb. 1 



Pluu 



Quinces bushel 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



Walnuts bushel 



ditto ^100 



5 8 

 19 2 



Beet, Red dozen 



Broccoli bundle n 



Brusselii Sprouts...) sieve S 



Cabbage dozen 1 



Carrots bunch 



Capsicums V-liO 1 



VECtBTABLES. 



s. d. B. d. 



Mushrooms pottle 1 6 to 2 



Maetaril & Cress punnet 2 4 



Onions bushel 



pickling quart 4 6 



Parsley.... doz. bunches 2 



Fiiranips dozen L 



Peaa quart 



Potatoes bushel 2 6 4 6 



Kidney do. 



6 



Endive dozen 1 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish bundle 4 



Lettuce dozen 1 



Leeks bunch 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy bundle 



Scorzonera bundle 



Seakale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach boshel 



Tomatoes i sieve 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows 



10 2 

 1 1 G 



