JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOULTORE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ March 22, 1877. 



dnotion and increase of the stock, by affording greater facilities 

 to the queen for the deposit of eggs 1 Will the same qneen and 

 the same Btock increase and multiply as greatly and as qaickly 

 in a hive of one kind and shape as in another ? Is a hive with 

 great width from front to back, like Mr. Abbott's prize frame 

 hive, better for breeding purposes than the Cheshire prize hive, 

 narrow from front to back, but wider from side to side, and thus 

 containing more frames ? Or, to take another shaped hive, the 

 Stewarton, which is very narrow when fitted with frames, but 

 of great height when made up of three boxes, each 7 inches 

 high. Which of these three shapes will produce the largest 

 stock of brood under exactly the same circumstances ? My own 

 impression is, that a hive with greater space from back to front 

 is most advant»geoua. This is Langstroth's view; and I am 

 inclined to think in the case of a hive eked to the height of the 

 Stewarton, that after the brood has been hatched out in the 

 uppermost box the workers would fill the old comb with honey 

 to the loss of breeding space, and also of the supers. I should 

 be glad to be enlightened on these points before constructing 

 my hives for the coming season; and I think it is a subject of 

 general interest. — 0. B. 



CRUDE AND PERFECT HONEY. 



The " Benfeewshibe Bke-keeper" is entirely wrong in 

 asserting that " workers never set eggs." They have been seen 

 removing eggs from one cell to another, and the thing is by 

 many intelligent and advanced apiarians considered an esta- 

 blished fact. I have seen evidence of this fact a thousand times, 

 and I am prepared to let visitors to my apiary in the summer 

 season have absolute ocular demonstration of the same. A 

 few more observations, or a litUe closer observation, will con- 

 vince our Eenfrewshire friend that he has yet something to 

 learn. 



It is the last of my wishes to dwell on the question of crude 

 honey. What I have said aforetime ou it is in tlie opinion of the 

 " Renfrewshike Beekeepek " " the cradest of crude theories, 

 and will disappear like the baseless fabric of a vision." I have 

 no theories on this question, for I am as convinced that perfect 

 honey is made from crude honey by the bees as I am that was 

 is an excretion of bees. I am aa well acquainted with the dif- 

 ference between crude and perfect honey as I am with difference 

 between queens and drones, tor I have been seeing, handling, 

 and tasting both for more than fifty years. I have dissected hun- 

 dreds of bees with crude and perfect honey in them. What my 

 opponent calls " theory " I call knowledge, and what he calls 

 darkness I call light, and both the knowledge and light existed 

 before I was born. Many bee-keepers were then conversant 

 with the fact that the nectar of flowers is twice swallowed by 

 bees before it is made into honey proper. The American 

 apiarians are beginning to find this out, and I am pretty certain 

 that the intelligent bee-keepers of this country will not be long 

 behind them. 



Some three years ago a bottle of honey was placed on the 

 tables of the Crystal Palace Bee Show, and beside it was placed 

 a paper with this heading — " Mr. Pettigrew's theory of evapo- 

 ration refuted." Though I had not any theory of evaporation, I 

 then publicly offered to go fifty miles from Manchester and out 

 both crude and perfect honey from a hive and hand them to 

 competent judges for examinution. I also offered .£'5 to the 

 prize fund of the Bee-keepors' Association if the gentleman who 

 refuted me or any other person would convert the crude into 

 perfect honey. " Eenfrewshibe Bee-keeper" asserts that 

 bees from the fields " carry the nectar of the flowers right up 

 without any intermediate resting place to the super or upper- 

 most portion of the combs, and hurry off for more till the 

 cell is filled." This is not correct, for bees in returning from 

 the fields first drop their pollen and honey iu the cells in the 

 centre of their hives, sometimes in queen cells, aud afterwards 

 convert it into honey, carry it aloft, aud there store-it up. — 

 A. Pettiobew. 



Choice of Baiibit. — The females should be physically strong, 

 the body long and well developed, the hind legs large and well 

 apart, teats apparent, even when not pregnant, aud filled with 

 milk at the approach of birth. The doe should uot bo allowed 

 to breed at less than six months old, although they may engender 

 at five months ; but it is better, if yon wish to preserve a fine 

 race of Babbits, to wait until they are eight or nine months old 

 before you allow them to bear. If under six months they would 

 only produce weak and delicate young ones. Indeed Nature, 

 ■with all her efforts, could not suflice for the development of the 

 mother and give the nutrition necessary for the young at an 

 earlier age. 



ODR LETTER BOX. 



DccKs' Eggs Unfebtile (.4. P.).— \'ou have been uosacceBaful two years. 

 As you have bred from the birds with aatiHfactory results before we should 

 be diBpoBe<2 to look to the management aud feeding for the cause of foilore. 



Like most others you overfeed. Instead of the varied bill of fare give them 

 wholo oats twice per day, morning and ovening. Give them la a trough or 

 vessel with a sod of grass at the bottom placing the oats on it, and the whole 

 covered with water. Let them have some ground oats in water at midday ; 

 nothing else. Seeing that this is the third season of the drakes we think it 

 would be wise to change them, or at least one of them. In putting Duck's 

 eggs under hens you must recollect the Duck keeps them always wet morning 

 and evening, the hen does not ; they must therefore be wetted, or they will 

 not hatch. This omission would not, however, account for the state of the 

 eggs when broken ; that would point more to the necessity for a change of 

 drakes. 



Hermit Fowl (IJtadfr).— We do not know the Hermit fowl, nor in our 

 half-century of experience did we ever hear of it. The new breeds are so 

 numerous we shall soon want a descriptive catalogue. An "all-year-round 

 layer " is as common as a never-sleeping servant. It is against nature for a 

 fowl to lay all the year round, and it is an impossibility. It does not follow 

 because fowls do not sit that they are always laying. Formerly the Pencilled 

 Hamburgh was the must popular and the best known of the uon-sittera, aud 

 wai called the *' everlasting layer." They were then, as they are now, great 

 egg- producers; but they had and have their time of moulting, when all their 

 powers go to the production of new feathers. The only novelty that can be 

 produced that will be of any real service will be a breed that will lay at all 

 ages from November till March. That will hardly be found. 



SxRiw Hives (T. J. LcdcH).— Those dealers who advertise in our oolomus 

 could obtain for you any that you require. 



« 



METEOROLOOICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



' Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51°S3'43' N.; Long.0°8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 



BEMIBES. 



14th.— A very pleasant and at times a very bright day, and much warme r 



than its predeceesor. 

 15tb.— Very fine all day, but much colder. 

 IGth.— Fine throughout, the sun at timea very bright. 

 17th. — Vory bright indeed at 9 a.m. ; rather cloudy by 11, and the afternoon 



showery, with some enow. 

 18th.— Very bright all the forenoon; but slight enow shower about 2 p.m. ana 



again at 4, and damp the rest of the day. 

 19th.— A bright pleasant day throughout, but much colder. 

 20th.— Fair but not bright in morning and forenoon; snow before 1 p.m., and 



wet evening. 

 Rapid (all in temperature towards the end of the week.— Q. J. BYMONg. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— March 21. 



A BETTER business has been doing, and prices have consequently improved, 



more particularly with late Grapes, as good samples are now coming very 



short. Strawberries are in good supply, and are quite equal to the demand. 



Forced vegetables meet with a ready sale. 



Apples i sieve 3 ■ 



Apricots dozen > 



Cbestnuts bushel 



Currants 4 sieve 



Black d do, 



Figs dozen 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse.... lb. 10 



Lemons ^ 100 6 



Melons each 



Artichokes dozen 



Asparagus ^ 103 8 



Beans, Kidney 1^103 1 



Beet, Red. dozen 1 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts.. J sieve 8 



Cabbage dozen 1 



Carrots bunch 



Cftpsicums \^ 10) 1 



Cauliflower dozen 2 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 2 



Cucumbers each 



Endive dozen 1 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Hurseradish bundle 



Lettuce dozen 1 



Leeks bnnob 



Peaobes dozen 



Pears, kitchen.... dozen 



dessert dozen 



Pino Apples lb. 



I Quinces bushel 



Raspberries lb. 



I Htrawberries oz 



Walnuts bushel 



ditto V 103 1 



VEaETABLES. 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress punnet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley.... doz. bunches 



Parsnips dozen 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



New lb. 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salaaf y bundle 



Scorzonera bundle 



Seakale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spiuaoh bushel 



Tomatoes (sieve 



Turnips bunoh 



Vegetable Marrows 



