Maroh 22, 1877. ] 



JOORNAti OF HOBTIOOLTORE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



223 



siooerely hope that he will accept the challenge thu9 given aritl 

 have the matter fairly tested. If he is right, tue shortest way of 

 gainiD? his end and the approval of the apiarian world is by 

 estiblishiug his position by a trial like the one now suggested. 



If onr friend succeeds in proving that the Stewarton hives are 

 even 10 or 20 percent, bettor than other hives I shall be the first 

 to regard him as a benefactor among practical apiarians. I will 

 this year put three or five swarms in as many straw hives, 

 and prepare thera to he pitted against three or five Stewarton 

 hives in any part of the country. If the " Renkrewsuire Bee- 

 keeper " will not accept the challenge, I hope some other bee- 

 keeper will do so. The (luestion is a very important one, and 

 the trial now suggested, if properly carried out, will, in my 

 opinion, do much to advance practical apiculture and end this 

 " battle of hives." If truth is what we are all seeking nothing 

 ca.n be lost in the trial ; indeed, nobody has anything to lose but 

 errors and mistakes, and the sooner we lose these the better. 



The hives which will be prepared here for the trial will be 

 tenanted by common bees. The *' Renfrewshire Bee-keeper '* 

 says he has an ailditional advantage in possessing Italian bees. 

 I shall not object in any way to this advantage being on his 

 side. I have said I will comply with any reasonable conditions. 



I would suggest that the hives be placed side by side in the be- 

 ginning of next year, and remain untouched by their owners till 

 the end of the season. On this condition wh.at should be done 

 at swarming time '? Let them alone : each side will share and 

 share alike the dangers of losing swarms. All I shall do to mine 

 will be done before they are placed iu their competing position. 



I shall cut a wing off each of my iiueens. If the bees go as 

 swarms they will return ; and if the queens crawl back into 

 their hives very little loss will be sustained. If queens be lost 

 second swarms may be lost too. But tlie arrangement of supers 

 may possibly prevent swarming, and thus make the contast one 

 of strength. But anything and everything that will satisfy the 

 intelligent bee-keepers of this country iu such a contest will both 

 satisfy and gratify me. 



I I shall also put swarms in three or five grocers' boxes, costing 

 Sd. each, with a view to pit them against the best and most 

 costly hives that can be produced. I much prefer straw hives 

 for convenience and ventilation to wooden hives of any kind, 

 but my object in proposing grocers' boxes is to let it be known 

 that plain cheap boxes are just as good for bees and honey- 

 gathering as costly and complicated hives. 



The challenge is open for anybody to accept. If it be accepted 

 I shall make arrangements for its being fully carried into execu- 

 tion, even if I be carried from this scene of action before the 

 time comes. But someone may ask. Why not test the matter 

 this year ? and say. There is time enough yet to arrange it. I 

 hardly think there is time enonf»h to do it in a satisfactory way, 

 but if it can be done I shall be glad. In making arrangements 

 for a fair trial of strength it should be well understood whether 

 both parties will be permitted to come into the arena of contest 

 with hives in the best possible condition, or to have both sides 

 fairly balanced in strength at the commencement. I think that 

 each party should be permitted to appear on the scene of action 

 with hives in the best possible condition. — A. Pettigbew. 



PROGRESS OF APIARIAN KNOWLEDGE.— No. 3. 



H.ivixG gone throngh our experiences of recent date in regard 

 to the progress we have made in our knowledge of bees so far as 

 relates to the natural history of the insect, I come now to treat 

 of progress attained in the art of managing them with a view to 

 profit. 



But first a few words must be said relative to a discovery 

 alleged to have been made in respect to honey. A very few 

 words will be snflioient, because, as is well known. I have taken 

 a prominent part already in the discussion of this question, and 

 have stated my entire incredolity with reference to it. The 

 theory, as stated, is in substance that bees do not gather honey 

 in the fields but a kind of crude syrup, more or less sweet it 

 may be, but chiefly remarkable for the flavour of the article, and 

 this is the principal thing which characterises it. It becomes 

 honey afterwards in the hive after the bees have reswallowed 

 and disgorged it twice. The richness of the honey — if.s saccha- 

 rine quality — is not acquired till it has been swallowed and dis- 

 gorged a second time. The stomach of the bee is, on this theory, 

 so marvellously adapted to the production of sugar (which as we 

 all know is the chief ingredient in honey), that quantities of it 

 are annually secreted there, multiirn in j'ar no, Tea,Ay to be de- 

 veloped so soon as the crude- syrup of the flowers has been 

 swallowed a second time. As no evidence has been forthcoming 

 of a nature to satisfy a scientific mind it may be dismissed into 

 the limbo of crude theories. Probably the remarks and evidence 

 to the contrary recently adduced by your correspondent, " A 

 BENFREwsniKE Bee KEEPER," will finally extinguish it. 



Passing, then, to the subject of this paper, I must beg to differ 

 from Mr. Hunter's remark that the " science of bee-keepiag is 

 scarcely born." This remark is chiefly made in reference to the 

 species of bee which is established in this country. It may 



possibly be that by judicious crossing with foreign blood, or by 

 the introduction of a new variety of bee, we may improve the 

 breed. The introduction of the Italian Alp bee has been tried 

 with success. It is found everywhere, having so multiplied and 

 crossed itself with the old English bee that it is doubtful if a 

 perfectly pure stock of the latter is now to be found in England. 

 But what preponderating benefit has accrued from this cross or 

 from the Italian breed in its pure state ? Years ago, when Mr. 

 Woodbary was most eager and enthusiastic on the subject of 

 this bee, and when I was bitten with bis enthusiasm and intro- 

 duced the Italians into my apiary, much as I liked them (as I 

 like them still) I could not perceiveany such material superiority 

 in the one sort over the other as to say positively that we had 

 gained a great advantage. Others say they have seen this great 

 advantage, and we are bound to give them credit in a matter 

 where actual experience is attainable and no mere theory is in 

 question. 



But after all, given the best bee known, unless it be in its 

 nature and habits a totally di£Eerent honey-gatherer, it will fall 

 under the same laws as ourEuropean bees, nor will thescientifio 

 treatment of them be different in any essential particular to 

 that now in vogue. The same method of comb-building will ba 

 practised by the bee, the same sort of hives will be in vogue as 

 now, as in the case of the English, Italian, Cyprian, or Egyptian 

 bee. The latter was tried but lamentably failed owing to its 

 vicious nature and irascible temper ; and if we introduce a 

 stingless bee how will it maintain its ground or resist aggression 

 from our own bees with their sadly marauding propensities? 

 Such brutes as the Cattara bee are not likely to he more popular 

 than the Egyptian, which Mr. Woodbury was only too glad to 

 rid himself of after its onslaught on the passers-by at Mount 

 Radford, Exetsr. A mild-tempered bee, disinclined to sting 

 man, while ready to defend its stores at the point of its spear 

 against its own congeners, would be an acquisition indeed — an 

 insect capable of Sue die-tinctions, duly appreciative of the lords 

 of creation ; yet, I repeat, it would not alter our management of 

 the honey bee. I am one of thoee, therefore, who think that we 

 have made very great progress in this management, and that 

 our appliances in the way of hives, supers, use of artificial pollen, 

 methods of feeding, wintering, artificial swarming, &o., are infi- 

 nitely a-head of the knowledge and practice of our forefathers 

 in this respect, and may very well be called scientific. 



To begin with the subject of hives. " Hives!" Tes, hives to 

 be sure ! in spite of the controversy on the subject which has 

 led to what is called " the battle of the hives." Mr. Pettigrew's 

 large well-made straw hives are greatly in advance of any such 

 hives that were ever in use in England. No man deserves greater 

 praise for the way in which he has led the crusade against the 

 miserable skeps that were in common — nay, universal use iu 

 this country fifty years ago. They have quadrupled the quantity 

 of honey that may be collected iu any locality where they are 

 adopted ; and not only the quantity, for it may be taken as an 

 axiom in bee keeping, that the more space there is for the ac- 

 cumulation of large stores of honey in any hive, the more virgin 

 comb of first rate quality will be harvested therein. Let us 

 give honour to whom honour is due. Mr. Pettigrew has proved 

 himself the cottager's friend iu this respect, as well as in all 

 the sound lessons in practical bee-keeping suitable for them, 

 which his long experience has enabled him to give with un- 

 doubted authority. I say, then, that Mr. Pettigrew's hives are 

 " Al," for cottagers and lor all persons who are content to obtain 

 plenty of honey. One only caution is necessary — no honey- 

 producing dislricts are exactly alike. Some are very rich, others 

 very poor. In the latter a smaller hive must be adopted, which 

 can be enlarged by judicious eking and snpering at those mora 

 favoured but rarely occurring seasons when (as last year in this 

 locality), a fair honey harvest may be iogathered; but in all 

 other places the larger straw hive will be found the most re- 

 munerative. It will be observed that I confine my recom- 

 mendation of these large straw hives to those only who want 

 honey and nothing more. After all, these I suppose are the 

 legion everywhere. 



But there is a numerous class who like greater precision in 

 their management of bees. They wish to regulate the interior 

 arrangement of the hive, to have swarming under their control 

 in all its accidentals, to adapt the changing circumstances of 

 the hive to their wishes— e.;/., to distribute comb in proportion 

 to population, to feed easily and naturally with the least risk of 

 life, to ascertain at any given moment the condition of their 

 bees and to treat them accordingly ; to plunder the stores, it may 

 be, without breaking-np or weakening the stock. The man who 

 does all this I call a scientific bee-keeper, and I think that for 

 him the " science " of bee-keeping has of late years made very 

 great advances. How and to what extent I will endeavour to 

 show in another paper. — B. & W. 



FORM OF HIVES. 



TnouoH the shape and form of a hive may have very little to 

 do with the storage of honey, has it nothing to do with the pro- 



