JOUBNAIi OP HOKTICDLTUBB AND COTTAGE ftARDENEB. 



[ Febroary 22, 1877. 



are enabled more fully to understaod not only ita chiraoter, but ' 

 also in some measure its results. Tbis explanation is vouchsafed ; 

 in answer to my query, "Is it by reason of the form, material, or ! 

 oonstriiction of the Stewarton hive which enabled it to eclipse ; 

 BO greatly the straw skep in amassing stores?" Tee reply of 

 yourcorrespoudentis, "I auswerin the ailirmative .... Fiist | 

 'form,' the straw hive being tlie usual dome shape, prevented 

 any snper sitting conveniently on it, saving the Ab n^dou glass , 

 and even to get it placed I had to cut out a portion of the apei ■ 

 with my penkoife and lashed the glass with cord to the pro- . 

 truding cross-sticks. Then the material of the super portiou rf 

 that hive being glass told much against the return .... Ibava 

 heard it estimated by experienced bee keepers in glass-filling 

 that their bees would readily store from 3 to 4 lbs. of honey in 

 ■wood for every one in glass, and, to crown all, the extra breeding 

 and supering area in the Stewarton over the straw must alike 

 have stimulated th>3 fertility of the queen and the actjuisitive 

 principle in the ever increasing band of her more numerous 

 staff of honey- gatherers." 



Now this explanation reveals two things : Firat, theio was no 

 attempt whatever to ascertain the respective merits of the two 

 hives qua hives for obtaining honey irrespective of system, a 

 point necessarily implied in this controversy; second, the pro- 

 fessed object of the test referred to was to ascertain the merits 

 of the straw and Stewarton on the depriving system, aud hence 

 can have no bearing on the question at issue. This being the 

 case we might pass at once from any consideration of it, but 

 even in this light it is unsatisfactory. 



" To fairly compare results one hive with another," says " A 

 Kenfbewshire Bee keeper," " it is obvious that they must 

 occupy a common field." Granted; but there is another equally 

 obvious condition — they must both be treated fairly aud alike 

 according to the system adopted. Now, were these two hives 

 in his garden fair representatives of those in dispute between 

 Mr. Pettigrew and himself ? and second, was the sam5 system 

 as adopted by him with the Stewarton carried out in all its 

 entirety and fairly with the straw? Let us see. The Stewarton, 

 we presume, was of the form, size, aud material considered best 

 by him. The straw, however, was not a straw <; la Pettigrew, 

 and certainly it has little affinity except in material to the flat- 

 topped modern straw hives in my own apiary and locility. I 

 had no idea that so advanced an apiarian as " A RE.NFnEwsniHE 

 Bee-keeper" would have such an antiquated piece of farniture 

 in his apiary ; and yet with this dome-shaped antiquated hive, 

 never intended, and having no facilities for superins; or work- 

 ing-out the depriving system, we ore asked to believe the Stew- 

 arton and it were "well matched." There is an ill and ap- 

 propriate saying with which your correspondent will. I doubt 

 not, be familiar, that " we cauuc-t take the breeks off a Highland- 

 man;" so surely as liitle can we take a super off a dome-shaped 

 hive. We are told that with all the cutting aud carving on the 

 upper portion of the hive, resulting only in a certain aperture 

 being obtained, over which afUss globe of the Ahicgdon type 

 was lashed with cords to keep it up, and thi?, too, with the 

 admitted knowledge, as stated, that for every pouud rf honey 

 stored in this receptacle lashed ever the st;-aw, 3 to -1 lbs. would 

 be stored in the wooden super surmouuting the Ste-varton, and 

 "to crown all" the poor striw laboured under the disadvantage 

 of lack of breeding space belovaud s'orage room above. Yet 

 notwithstanding all these drawbacks, this same straw, mirahiln 

 dicta! stored about 22 lbs, of honey in the gl.ass super, being 

 fully above the quantity which, according to the above estimate, 

 the Stewarton hive itself would have stored had a glass super, 

 in equal fairness, been placed over it instead of a wooden one. 

 The Stewattm, however, was stored bel)w as woU, while the 

 straw, curiously enough, was ^X starvatioa point ; but your cor- 

 respondent accounts for this "to want of breeding space," which 

 is another unequal condition to which the straw v.'as subjected. 



But it is needless to pursue the subjec' further. Wnatever 

 may have been the re.il cause of the d fferei:o9 in honey reauKs 

 in this particular case, it cannot for a moment be supposed 

 that it was in vittae of the one domicile being of straw and the 

 other of wood. 



"A EENFUEwsniRE Bee-keipbr" remarks, that if cerliia 

 other gentlemen aud myself were "more practical," we would 

 Bee ruatters in another light. Fcr myself, I will only say if 

 experience and practice could give knowledge I should have a 

 little, and it is because of that experience and kuowledge that I 

 have presumed to enunciate ray views on this question so un- 

 hesitatingly. It has always been mv habit, nhslher in elucidat- 

 ing the natural history of the bee or dealing with the more 

 practical work of the apiary, to firm opiinous ftod test principles 

 lor myself, and in imitiiion of Ruber, the prince of apiarians, 

 to take nothing for granted which we hav^i the means of sub- 

 jecting through the crucible of close olsirvation aud rigid ex- 

 periment. 



Our common object must certainly be the advancement cjf 

 sound knowledge on this as on all other poiiiti. In speakins; of 

 the different kinds of hive we mn^t dcaly fairly by all ; and it 

 was only when I noticed that onr old friend the straw hive (I do 



not mean the antiquated dome-shaped cf your correspondent, 

 but the straw now generally in use) was being so abased and 

 caricatured as well as to its size and form as to its entire un- 

 suitabiliry to all the ordinary operatioos of the apiary, and 

 above all as to its nacessary connection with the sulphur pit, I 

 did not hesitate to repudiate these disparaging opinions regard- 

 ing our old friend. 



"A Senfrewshire Bee keeper" remarks at the cocclusi'jn 

 of one of his articles as to his observatory as j^ kind of hive not 

 suitable for stioiiog honey ; I quite agree with him. Such class 

 or unicomb hives were never intended for such a purpose. They 

 are constrcctad not for the ordinary purposes of the apiary, but 

 for opecifie ohj-^cts^for stidy, experiment, or pleasure, and 

 therefore do not come within the scope cf my arguments nor of 

 any other writer on this question. 



That " no such adventitious circumstance as the kind of hive 

 alluded to, wood or straw, can have much or any influenca on 

 the amonut of stores collected by the bees," is a statement 

 supported by such eminent apiarian writers as Dr. Bovan, Gold- 

 ing, Dunbar, Jardine, Langstroth, Huish, and Taylor, ami many 

 others I might name. — J. Lowe. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Vertigo (B. H. T.) — Ic is usually cau?eil by pressure of blood on the 

 braiu. Tile escitement produced by beiug exhibited would oaaae it. A 

 tableRpooDfal of cistor oil aad a supply uf lettuce leaves is the best, pre- 

 veLtive aodrcixeiy. 



Grass for Fowls [C S ). — Apply to Messrs- Carter or to Messrs. SuttoD, 

 and ttll tbem the bize of yo-jr grouud and kiud of soil. Letting chickens oat 

 depends up jn the weather more thaa their age. Do not let tbem out hefsiB 

 mid-day unless 



CiSAniES Dvi.s-Q (S. P. H.I.— They were not killed by the Cadrus deodara 

 buds. The birds scat to us we think were cramped, probably from esposure 

 to cold winds. 



Stewabton Hive (F. J.). — The Sbewarton bivo is quite dissimilar from 

 the Carr Stewarton, the former being an octaiioD. the latter a square hive. 

 The btewarton hive is usually wrought ti a depth of 18 inches breeding 

 spase — at leas^, my bjxes are 7 inches deep. Two at 9 inches might do as 

 well. Mine are made bjr James Allan, cabinet maker, Stewarton, Ayrshire, 

 Scotland, who will supply with bars or frames a3 required. Honey boies are 

 but 4 inches deep with seven bars 11 inch wide, all moveable — to all intents 

 aud pQrpoaos sectional. My colonies are protected by light-wooded moveable 

 cjveis, top also moveable. The hivo is usually wrought with three breeding 

 boxes, aud the lowermost removed for winter when vacated by bees. Boxes 

 could be carried cheaply from Ayrshire to Cork vid Greenock steamer, aEdl 

 hnd can hj had much cheaper from thence than locil tradesmen will make 

 them. To IB inches breeiing space, with best colonies, I find it necessary la 

 good years to use as many as seven supers at one time to keep all honey 

 gatherers at full wjrk, or a total depth of 46 inches. The Carr hive is a 

 sma.ler, more fanciful new idea. — A liENFRsiwsHmE Bee-keepeh. 



MErEOROLOGtCAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camoen Square, London. 



Lat.5l--83-4r N.; Long. 0' 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 



14th.— RaiQ i-*: forenoon; attcrnoon and evening fair but doll. 



locu.— fair all day bat dull ; very little buu. 



16th.— Rttiu is the oarly morning, but followed by a beaatiful day. 



17th. — Very fino all day bat cold. 



IStU. — Fine bnt cold all tbo forenoon; rain commenced aboat 1 p.m., and 



coDtioued at intervals all day. 

 loth.— Fair though cold all the (ore part of the day ; very dark at 4.15 P.II.. 



vih>'u 8DOW and K:>ft liait fell; heavy rain at ui^ht. A very rapid and 



sudden fall in the barometer between 9 p.m. aud midnight, and thd 



wind very hijjh. 

 20th.— Much raiQ aijd bii^h wind in the nifjht and oarly morning, with snow, 



followed by a very bright Bunny day. 

 About 5^ colder than last week. The inosfe remarkable feature was Ibft 

 arrival on the IQth of a »harp t^lorm of wind, agreein^i; remarkably with the 

 trlographic warming aent several days before from New York. — G. J. Symons. 



COVEKT GARDEN MARKET.- Febhuaby 21. 

 Business has aga'.n teen flat and prices barely maintained. No alUration 

 to ti«ote. 



