JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Febraary 8, 1877. 



inquiries after the health of our oompetitive straw haa amused 

 ns not a little, for was it not the premier straw hive of our 

 apiary ? and were we not a little rrond of the heaviest and best 

 glass of honey we ever harvested which it yielded, when our 

 other straws, equally healthy, gave nothing, and less than 

 nothing? they aud their swarms requiring to be heavily fed 

 early in the season, while with our neighbours, where this had 

 been neglected, the bees were dead and dying all round. Such 

 a weight as 70 lbs. with a single swarm in our poor district we 

 have never seen, clearly demonstrating the necessity we have 

 already pointed out for comparison being drawn on a common 

 field. It also proves the thorough efiiciency of the Stewarton 

 implement we possess for our miserably watery west coast. We 

 cannot here afford to subdivide our forces ; we must combine 

 them to improve each blink of sunshine, and when favoured 

 with a genial spell is it not surprising the feats their conjoined 

 numbers can perform ? which, according to Mr. Lowe, even 

 " staggered " the faith of our friend Mr. Pettigrew in the straw, 

 which the former gentleman's plausible theory has now alto- 

 gether overthrown. 



Mr. Pettigrew descants " on the condensation of moisture on 



the inner side of wooden hives and hopes that a 



cheap and satisfactory mode of ventilating wooden hives may 

 soon be discovered and made widely known." He says, "The 

 quilt, an American idea, has been tried in this country without 

 success, so far as I know." This evil is unknown in our apiary, 

 either in hives of wood or straw. Your correspondent, possibly 

 being iu ignorance of what our old log testifies, that sixteen 

 years ago. when this periodical led the van of apiarian thought, 

 that the present writer proved how that by the employment of 

 India or Cuba matting, a hive — not of wood only, hut of gloss — 

 was so thoroughly ventilated as to withstand 25'^ of frost within 

 the hive on the memorable morning of the 21th of December, 

 18C0, and came through dry and in tine order; and how the first 

 authority on the American continent, Rev. L. L. Langstroth, 

 subsequently approved and recommended the same material as 

 thoroughly efficient for such a purpose. 



It may interest Mr. Pettigrew's Cambridgeshire correspondent 

 to know that my favourite hive, the Stewarton, so far from being 

 landed, was not so much as mentioned in any work I could pro- 

 cure on my beginning bee-keeping, its fame being then merely 

 local; and it has been brought into notice principally througii 

 the present writer's pen in these pages and elsewhere an amateur's 

 recommendation to his fellows, who never had the smallest pe- 

 cuniary interest in any hive whatever. The superiority of its 

 results, in quantity as well in quality, were seen to advantage 

 on the first and second prize table displays at the first exhibition 

 of the British Bee-keepers' AsBociatiou at the Crystal Palace, 

 when the leading journal pronounced " that the Scotch honey 

 eclipsed everything." 



How often do we find parties, possibly deniiiened in the environs 

 of towns, lay the blame <if their failure in bee-keeping on their 

 locality, when a glance at their hives would lead to the suppo- 

 sition that their intention was to cramp rather than stimulate 

 the industry of their bees. Some years ago a Greenock acquaint- 

 ance, Mr. B , sought my opinion as to the feasibility of his 



setting up a hive of bees iu the ceutre of his villa garden situ- 

 ated at the top of a populous street, which, with his little green- 

 house to one side, he thought would then be complete. Were 

 the bees to turn out self-supporting in summer he would not 

 grudge as much sugar as would tide them over the winter, and 

 then in a special good year, could he but get a bit of honeycomb 

 for his table, what a treat it would be! After discussing the 

 distance of surrouudiug foraging grounds I thought it worth a 

 trial. His idea of a hive was one in which he oould see the bees 

 at work, in which they could be prevented from swarming — for 

 his being absent in town all day the swarms would be lost, but 

 he could devote time morning aud evening to looking after them. 

 I recommended the Stewarton hive, and gave him the address of 

 a maker and of a cottager in our parish who supplied a prime 

 Bsvarm. The stock was set up in an ornamental octagon cover, 

 back portion hinged ; ha wrought under my directions, and it 

 proved a much greater succfss thau either of us could have 

 anticipated, even to the extent of his harvesting one good season 

 Bix octagon supers. In course of time the first octagon stock 

 became flanked by one on either fide, and he not only supplied 

 his own table to satiety, sweetened all his friends', but actually 

 sold honeycomb. His great success ultimately proved his ruin. 

 Gantlemen who kept bees more in the country twitted their 

 gardeners as to how they could not suiiply their tables with 

 equally beautiful comb from their straw iskeps. Some mali- 

 Oioualy-disposed person during the night entered my friend's 

 garden, and robbed and utterly wrecked all his colonies. 



I was recently iutrodnced to an npisrian in the same town ; 

 among other things the peculiarities of last season were discussed, 

 and in such a locality as his bees could not be expected to do 

 much. What hive did ho find yield most? The Stewarton to 

 be sure. What had been considered his " best " hive came nest. 



Such a year three full-sized supers, instanced Mr. B -'s six 



supers same year. He had heard of that case, but there was 



something mysterious about it he oould not comprehend, for 

 were not their gardens close to each other ? The mystery was 

 soon solved. What depth of bos do you use ? 9 inches was the 

 reply. How many of these constitute your set followed ? Of 

 course, one ; to which I rejoined, " Your workshop of but one 

 9-inch box gave elbow-room to a given number of willing hands ;. 

 Mr. B 's, at 18 inches of breeding space, to double your num- 

 ber. Y'our force turned out three, all yon could expect ; his, six 

 full-sized supers." Such is the beautiful exactness with wliioh 

 honied results are proportioned to the construction of hives 

 placed on a common field. — A Renfkewshibe Bee-keepek. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Elephantiasis in Fowls (Rooster). — The first appearance of olephantiasiF 

 (St. Anthony's firo), ie the formation of a sort of white crust at the edge of 

 each scale of the let,'. At this stage we have known it cared by frequent ad- 

 mi tiistration of sweet oil by meaos of a feather, or by constant application 

 of ointment. It afterwards increases, penetrates beneath the Bcale and 

 raises it, filling the space with white crust. This increases till the legs even 

 of a young fowl resemble the upper shell of a coarse oyster. We know no 

 cure for it iu this state. It, nevertheless, is nut a disease from which fowls 

 suffer either paiu or inconvenietice. We have only known it among fowls in 

 coufineruent. In a large pen where some have had it, we have never known 

 it affect all the birds. As a rnie it attacks adults, bub we have known 

 chickens catch it. The ground oats can be made only with stoneu dreBEed 

 on pur pose. Ordinary grinding is worse than useless. 



EnruBn^GH Columeaeian Society's Exhibition.— Mrs. Ladd writes to- 

 say that some of her prize Pigeons have been injured and lost during their 

 return homewards. The baskets pass through so many hands between 

 Edinburgh and Calne that it will be difficult to detect the culprits. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 5F3'2'40" N. ; Long. 0" 8' Q" W.; AUitude, 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 



aist.— Fine morning, solai- halo between 8 and 9 a.m.; fine till the evenings 

 when there was again rain. 



Ist.—Dull and damp all day, but scarce any rain. 



2nd. — Neither sun nor rain all day; stars very bright at night- 



Srd, — White frost in morning, fiue forenoon ; rather less bright in the after- 

 noon ; fine evening, and starlight night. 



4th— White frost foUowed by a fine bright day, brilliant Ennset, and starlit 

 night. 



5th.— Slight white frost, fine morning and fair till 5 p.m., when it began to 

 rain and the evening was showery. 



6th. — A damp, dull, disagreeable day; rain at intervals during the day, and 

 more heavy at night. 

 Very mild, and, excepting on the Slst, somewhat drier than for Bome weeks 



past.— G. J. SvMONs. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— February 7. 



We have no alteration to report from last week. 



Apples iBieve 



Oarrants eieve 



Filberta lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Grapes, hothouse,,., lb 



Lemons 1^100 



Melons each 



Artichokes dozen 



Asparagus -^ 10) 



French bundle 



Bsans. Kidney **10) 



Beet. Red dozen 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts. .i sieve 



Carrots- bunch 



Capsicums ** 10) 



Cauliflower drzen 



Celery bundle 



Coleworta.. doz. bunches 



Cucumbers each 



Endive dozen 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Hi»rscra(UBh buudle 



Lettuce dozen 



Leeks bunch 



Oranges ¥^ ICO 



Pears, kitchen doz. 



dessert doe. 



Apples lb. 



Strawberries, _ _ _. 



Walnuts bushel 



ditto ¥*'10O 



VEGETABLES. 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress punnet 



Ouions bushel 



pickling auart 



Parsley — doz. bunches 

 Parsnipa doz 



.08 10 



Peas 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



New lb. 



Radishes., doz, bunches 



Rbnbarb bundle 



Salsafy bundle 



Scorzonera bundle 



Seakale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spmach bushel 



Tomatoes } i 



rt 



