March 1, 1S77. ] 



JOOtiNit. OF HDSriCULTURE AND OOrfAQB GARDENEB. 



169 



to deprive a strong stock of bees of their stores. Whea the 

 brickwork was cut away what a sif>ht presented itself! One 

 large flue, its diametar completely filled-up with euormous 

 combs tuick and heavy. This appears to have been the breed- 

 ing space, for the bees hai passed through a very small hole in 

 a partition-wall and built magnificent combs in au afijoiuiog 

 flue, the greater part of the cjmbs were filled and sealed-up. 

 The man mformed me their depth and breadth were such that 

 as he cut them out aad handed them down a ladder, he could I 

 only compare to " flitches of bacon." Another stock which had 

 taken up their quarters in the roof of a thatched cottage was 

 deprived of their stores about the same time, and was reached 

 by cutting away the ceiling of a bedroom. The combs were 

 built on the outside of a brick chimney which passed through 

 the roof and also on the rafters. They were supposed to have ] 

 measured many of them about '2 feet by '2i feet, and of groit 

 thickness, and as they were cut away were handed down and 

 stacked iuto talis, pans, dishes, bo ivls, and every available vessel 

 to be found. Unfortunately the weights of neither stock are 

 known, but the produce of the two could not have been much 

 short of 400 lbs., and perhaps considerably more. It would 

 appear to most common-sense people that these two stocks of 

 bees were strong and healthy, and had abundance of houey at 

 easy distance, and good weather to collect it, and plenty of store 

 room. Will your correspondent tell us that this ohimuey-stack 

 and cottage roof had "form, material, and construction" in- 

 ferior or superior to the best hive ever made ? While some talk 

 of "wood versus straw," why should not I ask. Then what abont 

 bricks and mortar if mere weight is all we hive t > consider ? 



I'oar correspondent seems singularly unfortunate in the shape 

 and working of his skeps, and would have us {your read- rs I 

 meao) believe that a glass only can be placed to super them, 

 and that, too, in a very bungling manner. lu all humility I 

 would mmend a leaf or two out of Mr. Pettigrew's book to his 

 notice. I can put on my large straw skeps boxes belonging to 

 any hive, b^ll-glasses, or, what I prefer, straw supers 4 inches 

 djep and from 8 to 13 inches over, flat-topped, very strong, and 

 having a U or 4 inch hole in the top, which ia covered with a 

 piece of glass, then woollen, and a thin piece of board, to enable 

 me to report progress when the bees are not wanted to go 

 higher. 



The same correspondent on page 109 writes, speaking of con- 

 vincing a straw hivist, " To be sure I had one advantage over 

 him in possessing the Italian bee." Is this an advantage? I 

 ask this of anyone who will kindly give the information through 

 the Journal, because it ought to be settled in whut respect they 

 are better, equal, or worse than the common bee. A few yenrs 

 ago I had decided to give ,£.5 for a good stock of Italians, and I 

 went to Exeter to see the good Mr. Woodbury and bia apiary, 

 who very kindly offered me a veil. "What is that for?" I asked. 

 "To put on your face ; it is safer for both of us," he said. Then 

 he proceeded to take out his bar frames, beginning with the 

 Italians, poiutiug out all the little matters of interest. "See 

 how these Italians sail about us," he rt-marked, as he held 

 up their combs for inspection; not so the black bees, wLich we 

 came to next. These were examined in the same gentle and 

 systematic manner, and exhibited their irritible temper a little, 

 but nothing compared to what I have seen since when changing 

 floor-boards. "Now, Mr. Woodbury," I asked, "will you be good 

 enough to tell me in what respect are these Liguriaus superior to 

 the common bee? All things beiug equal, will they collect and 

 store m'Jie houey?" "No," was the reply, and his emphatic 

 " no " decided me. " Then in what way are they superior ?" I 

 asked. His reply was, " Only that they are less willing to use 

 their stings." From that day to this I have never p.issessed an 

 Italian, but should be pleased to do so if there is ajy good in 

 them which the comniou bee does not poaaess. If that was the 

 decided c jncluaiou this groat apiarian had come to, where now 

 lay their superiority V 



One more important question I atked of this gentleman — 

 namely, "Will bees collect and store a greater weight of honey 

 in your bar-framo hives than in a common box 14 inches by 14 

 by 10, and supered as required ?" "No," was his answer; "but 

 my hives may possess otUer advantigea." Certainly, and thank- 

 ing him very mnch I took leave of Mr. Woodbury, much pleased 

 with the interview. I may mention that at tnat time all my 

 bees were in boxes as above, Nutl's hives, and Stewatton, all of 

 which I have Btill.— W. J. C. 



CEUDE HONEY AND THEORIES. 



YotJB esteemed correspondent the Vice-president of the Cale- 

 donian Apiarian Society was kind enough to publish in your \ 

 namber for the 11th December some notea of a visit he paid to 

 my apiary during last summer, and he referrtd to the oppor- j 

 tunity which he and the two keen entomological friends who 

 accompanied him had of inspectiog the procedure of the honey- 

 laden bees as they arrived aud deposited their loads in the comb 

 cells of my observatory, which carried conviction to the minds 

 of my friends of the untenablenei^s of the " twice-swallowing and 

 disgorging theory " which Mr, Pettigrew has maintained with 



a pertinacity worthy of a better cause. There was a sectional 

 portion of comb in the upper pait running parallel to and 

 wrought on the glass, thereby showing a half comb, the divided 

 side beiug next the observer, which I had allowed to remain 

 on as a special treat to my visitors. From its central backbone 

 the cells were attenuated and carried out on either side to a 

 depth requiring three and four separate divisions or " bulk- 

 heads," to use a nautical phrase, and the marked contrast in 

 colour of the different honeys stored in each, with the unin- 

 terrupted view of the head of each bee while discharging the 

 secretion, elicited expressions of the greatest interest and 

 delight from my friends. 



To account for the difference"; of opinion on this and many 

 points in the natural history of the bee, for the benefit of the 

 general reader it becomes necessary to explain that parties who 

 keep bees in domiciles with fixed combs are of necessity on such 

 points in the dark, the hive being to them a sealed book, hence 

 the tempting opp irtunity for the exercise of a lively imagina- 

 tion and the guesswork of fiction to set against fact. They deny 

 the toiling labourers their well-earned repose; they suppose 

 them busily employed during the silent watches of the night 

 in moving about the eggs which the queen has improperly 

 deposited, changiug their sex by a process without a parallel in 

 auimated nature ; and, heaviest task of all, removing to a different 

 portion of the hive the entire gleanings of the day, and re- 

 storing it a chemically changed substance, robbing our little 

 favourites of half their heaveu-born instincts. These crudest 

 ot crud3 theories disappeir like "the baseless fabric of a vision" 

 when the bee-keeper advances from " fixism " to " mobilism." 

 The precious truth is then laid bare. 



The workers are never seen to " set" or move the eggs about, 

 although rarely they may eat them when pressed by want. 

 The queen does not drop them at haphazard ; she thrusts her 

 head carefully into the cell in every instance, and on satisfying 

 herself on its thorough preparedness then deposits the egg, 

 fixing it in position by that familiar half turn she never omits. 

 The honey-lsd-u bee is seen to carry the nectar of the flower 

 right up without auy intermediate resting-place for security to 

 the super or uppermost portion of the combs, and hurry off for 

 more till the coll is filled. Then what follows ? Is it moved 

 to another portion of the hive ? Never, there is no such super- 

 fluous waste of labour in the hive. It stands a time ; the watery 

 property (proportioned ti> the state of the atmosphere and 

 weather) rises to the surface aud is sipped off by the workers, 

 aud the final extraction made through that little central orifice 

 of what I described three years ago as the " aqueous and aerial " 

 properties, before it be hermetically sealed-up. When at that 

 time describing the process as above, your correspondent Mr. 

 Pettigrew prouounced my fact as unworthy of a place "at the 

 top of the list " t'f theories ; but fortunately its truthfulness was 

 subsequently confirmed by a special experiment instituted by 

 that most excellent correspondent " R. S.," whose graceful con- 

 tributions to these columns are much missed by us all. 



The separation of the watery element takes place somewhat 

 after the style affected by a clergyman's lady of my acquaint- 

 ance, who, strongly suspecting some twitches of the iron-tailed 

 cow in her milk supply, put aside a sample tumbler for a time, 

 set it on a plate, aud astounded her milkman at the door as 

 follows :—" Here is your milk; if you intend to give me this 

 quantity," pointing to the thicker strata at the bottom, " in 

 return for my money, well, I'll just take it; and please allow me 

 to flivoiir it with t'lis," pointing to the water floating on top, 

 " to my own taste for the future." 



Many years ago I had an observatory stock placed in a stair- 

 case window, which stood much in want of feeding, and feed it 

 I did with no stinted hand. Owing to its inside position aud 

 consequent warmth of the house they took down greedily. The 

 exposure was from where 



" Boreas wi' hia fclaatg did blow" 

 so vigorously in at the entrance that not a solitary bee dared 

 venture abroad, placing my little favourites in a most unenviable 

 plight with their loaded sugar-syrup combs. The wind chopped 

 round at last, aud the sun shone out brilliantly. The extracting 

 process began with a vengeance— the pent-up prisoners caine 

 forth like a swarm, and at their high altitude could be seen dis- 

 porting themselves backwards and forwards over a bit of lawn 

 like mlidcaps, at the same time emitting in long jet-like clear 

 streams crossing and recrossiug each other, which could only 

 be compared to a sweetened shower. 



I cannot close these remarks without impressing on the novice 

 the great necessity for the careful keeping separate and distinct 

 for running the unsealed from the sealed combs. The contents 

 of the latter will consolidate and keep even at midsummer; that 

 of the former should always be scrupulously kept out, otherwise 

 the smallest quantity acts "like the little leaven which leaveneth 

 the whole lump." — A Eenfbewshibe Bee-keeper. 



In Memobiam — We regret this week to have to record the loss 

 of another poultry fancier. Mr. H. 0. Dear, of North Stoneham 

 Park, Southampton, has passed away from us. He was one of 



