Febraary 1, 1877. 1 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



91 



ing from the advantages aocrning from the caltivatioa of the 

 smaller varieties, it is to the larj^er that we must look to ad- 

 vance the breeding of Rabbits and 1 1 educate popular feeling 

 in their fivonr. Claesee fjr Belsiau Hares are, however, being 

 provided at onr principal R*bbiu short's — as for instauce, the 

 Manchester Show of the New National Society of Rabbit fanciers, 

 the late Crystal Palice Show, and several of the larger county 

 shows, 80 that in a fev/ years the position of this variety may be 

 confidently expected to improve. It certiinly should do, as it 

 has many claims upon our good opinion, not the least of which 

 are its great value as a flesh-producer and the ease with which 

 it can be reared. Among the minor uses of which it may be 

 made we may mention its extreme value as a parent. The 

 difference in size and appearance can hardly be imagined when 

 a prick-eared doe is paired to a buck of the breed instead of to 

 one of its own size. The difference in the cost of keep is prac- 

 tically nil, and the primary outlay but a few shillings, while the 

 success of the venture will surprise the most sanguine speculator. 

 As the last point in its value may be mentioned its extreme 

 usefulness for turning down in warretiS. The breed being very 

 hardy can easily find its own living and is very useful in im- 

 proving the size of the ordinary warren Rabbit. About 

 twenty of both sexes turned into a warren will soon produce 

 •ppreciable resaUs.— Geta. 



PROGKESS OF APIAEIAN KNOWLEDGE.-No. 2. 



I.N my former communication on this subject I began with the 

 history of the queen bee, and pointed out that in one or two 

 points — notably in the case of the wonderful discovery of Von 

 Siebold — apiirian knowledge had made considerable strides 

 since the days of Kuber. In his discovery of the virgin birth 

 of drones we have a most surprising fact in nature, and one 

 which adds greatly to the dignity and interest of the study of 

 bees. Practically, so far as we know, no great result of benefit 

 to the profitable management of bees has come out of it, because 

 I think it is not yet ascertained that these virgiu-born drones 

 have the pawer of propagating the species. Presumably they 

 have, otherwise it is difScult to see the use of this extraordinary 

 power of developing male life, seeing that usually drones are in 

 excess in most hives. A moat inteiesting point would be the 

 discovery that worn-out qneens retain the power of producing 

 drones at the close of their existence — as the last vital act of 

 nature after they have ceased to be capable of producing 

 workers, for this would show that j'tii'llienogenesis in their case 

 was a spec'al provision for maiutuining the royal succession, 

 even at those considerable periods of the year when drones are 

 ordinarily absent from the bive. Let scientific apiarians direct 

 their experiments to the elucidation of this question. If our 

 friend Mr. Woodbury were alive his patient perseverance would 

 Boon find the answer. 



Another point connected with the queen bee in which we 

 have gained a step in knowledge, is the ascertained fact that 

 qneens are not always animated with that intense j*^alou^y and 

 hatred of one another which Huber had observed ; indeed, it 

 seems as if such jealousy might prove the exception rather than 

 the rule. In several instances reported in this Journal two 

 qneens have been observed livingamicably together in the same 

 hive, performing the functions of their condition side by side 

 without molestation either from the bees or from one another. 

 There is no doubt, however, that one queen in a hive is the 

 ordinary rule, save at swarming time, when very often two or 

 more young queens will be found fur some days roaming about 

 the combs without let or hindrance. After a time they dis- 

 appear, numbers beiug destroyed iu the act cf swarming, 

 Thete are probably iu most instances despatched by the bees 

 themselves, and not so commonly, as is supposed, by the queens 

 attacking one another. The or.^inary method by which the com- 

 mon bees destroy unnecessary queeos is by 8ul3ocation and 

 starvation in the form now termed " queen encasement " — a 

 method of regicide which was frequenlly noticed and observed 

 by Huber; but he is certainly mistaken wheu he fays that bees 

 never sting the queen to death. The great jehlousy of the queen 

 seems to be excited, as lie conslautly noticed, by the presence of 

 yonng qneens in the pupa slate when swarming is at baud. If 

 permitotd the mother queen will eagerly attack the royal cells, 

 tear a hole in each sufliciently large to admit of her abdomen 

 being introduced, and sting the more or less developed occupant 

 to death. 



Again, Huber tells us that he never could iuirodnce a new 

 queen sacctBBfuUy iuto a hive till after the lapse of twenty-four 

 hours or more after the removal of the old queen. I gmerally 

 find a quarter of that time snflioient for the purpose, provided 

 the bees have really become t;eneral'y aware of their loss. It 

 is espential that they should feel thoroughly distressed, and 

 should have been for some hours in dcsyair, bef"re they will 

 hail with pleasure the presence of a new queen. Nor is it then 

 safe to introduce a stranger queen without usiug much pre- 

 caution, because some bees discover their loss less rapidly than 

 others. The fact, however, ia beyond doubt that bees will wel- 



come a new queen very much earlier than is generally believed. 

 I have proved it many times, even so lately as last autumn, as 

 has been recently recorded in the pages of this Journal. 



It is still believed that queen bees never leave tho hive save 

 at swarming time for any purpose save to mate with the drone 

 in the open air. I have no evidence to produce to the contrary. 

 As, however, I am inclined to believe they do occasionally quit 

 the hive at other times, it is a question whether they mate with 

 the drone more than once in their lives. My attention has been 

 directed to several instances where hives have unaccountably 

 lost their qneens in the full vigour of life^cases where they 

 have been seen walking about the entrance, and where they 

 have been found iu the perilous bond of queen encasement sus- 

 piciously near the entrance just within the doorway. But evi- 

 dence is not Bufiicient to authorise assertion of the fact. It 

 would be very desirable if special attention could be directed 

 to this question by our numerous apiarian friends. 



I believe I have gone through all matters connected with the 

 queen bee in which there is reason to think that our knowledge 

 betters Huber'a instruction. If any of your readers can correct 

 or supplement what I have written it ia open to them to do so. 

 — B. i W. 



MOVEABLE versus FIXED COMBS. 

 TouK old and excellent correspondent, Mr. J. Lowe, in con- 

 nection with the above discussion, contributed an article en- 

 titled "The Battle of the Hives," wherein he rakes together 

 some of the ashes of a controversy he and I engaged in fotir 

 years ago ; and from the little support afforded by the fraternity 

 to the latitndinarian views he then promulgated I thought 

 he had seen sometbiug of the unteuableness of his position, but 

 the old adage is often verified — 



" A man convinced against his will 

 Is of the same opinion still." 



From his theoretic eminence Mr. Lowe's eye sweepi over the 

 distant American continent and scaus our nearer home fields, 

 and the diu of " The Battle of the Hives " so grates upon his 

 ear, that at the mention of the simple question — " Which is the 

 best hive ? " souuds to him a very foolish one, and causes him 

 to add, "Certainly I could not with all my experience presume 

 to answer it;" tj which I can only reply. How consummate, 

 then, must be the folly, how limited the experience of those 

 bodies of apiarians banded together in the south as the " British 

 Bee-keepers' Association," and in the north as the " Caledonian 

 Apiarian Society," with all the sister branches, when they 

 actually give so very liberally out of their means the much- 

 coveted prize, and decorate with their medals Mr. Lowe's myth 

 " the best hive " in all their sections ? Is not the prize hst of 

 every apiarian society in Europe and America a protest against 

 your correspondent's hypothesis? 



The recent discussion originated in a comparison of harvest 

 results obtained not from all but simply the Stewarton hive, 

 and moveable combs and system of management usually followed 

 with it on the one side, and the large straw hive with fixed 

 combs as championed by your coirespondent Mr. Pettigrew on 

 the other. S> far as Mr. Lowe can venture from his equality 

 stronghold, he rather lends his influence towards fixity and the 

 straw skeps ; but I am afraid Mr. Pettigrew will look rather 

 askance at his sceptical ally, fordoes not he (Mr. Lowe) proclaim 

 " That no such adventitious circumstances as the kiud of hive 

 can have much or any influence on the amount of stores col- 

 lected by the bees," and is not Mr. Pettigrew justly proud of the 

 large harvests reaped by his improved hives ? 



From y(jur correspondent's standpoint we will all very readily 

 almitthat the hive cannot of itself make nor reap, nnr even 

 store honey, no more than the pen in my hand can of itself 

 writ3 these lines : they are both pieces of inanimate matter. It 

 is puerile to state this, but so far as we can comprehend it is 

 the gist of Mr. Lowe's contention, a mere playiug upon words, 

 which we fail to see can in any way further the cause of apicul- 

 ture we havo all so much at heart. The hive must be peopled, 

 the reapers have their iojplements, even the store its porters, 

 the writer his pen, and then what follows? In exact propor- 

 tion as they are severally efficient will be the quantity and 

 quality of the work produced. Mr. Lowe may deny this — 

 beyund it we can only say it may amuse the theorist to throw 

 up its glitteiiug soap bubbles, it only damps the practical hand 

 to crush them. 



With reference to my competitive hives, the Stewarton and 

 straw, a correspondent, "W.J. C," says, "The Stewarton no 

 doubt was crammed completely, although we are not told so," 

 to which I reply, that it as well as the straw were " crammed," 

 but only with the progeny of their re iptctive queens, and neither 

 had any extraneous aid whatever saving wliat whs narrated. 

 With regard to tbe same hive Mr. Lowe says, " There is some 

 ground for suspect ng that all was not right with that [straw] 

 colony," but I cau as-ure Ijim it was in every way iu perfect 

 health and condition ; and fun ber, that " the same results might 

 occur even if tbe competing hives were both Stewartons," this 



