358 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



Bons of our land. Oa the other hand, the Italian is equally the 

 favoured swain with the native brunettes. In a radius of from 

 one to close on five miles bee line from my apiary crogses from 

 the reversed parentage abound ; and as the first, and for several 

 years the only possessor of the Italian in our county, it always 

 afforded me much pleasure to fiud the humble cottager point 

 out with honest pride his "striped bees," and hear him dilate 

 on the swarming and harvestiug feats they performed, some- 

 times unconscious that it was to tbe listener he was indebted 

 for the fresh blood he so highly valued ; and on disposing of 

 surplus stock the striped livery rates at a higher value, so much 

 BO that the gain from the cross has proved the stepping-stone 

 to the pare. 



The darkest shadow on the Italian piotnre is the impossi- 

 bility for one bee-keeper alone in a district to breed pure, and 

 instead of finding it a larger, to my eye it has always appeared 

 a sharper-ended lesser insect than our old sable friends. Again, 

 I was led to believe it to be exceedingly gentle, almost queenly, 

 in the use of its sting — let alone they are exceedingly harmless. 

 Personally we have lived together on the best of terms, possibly 

 on the principle of the fiery colt which knows its master; but 

 I have had assistants who would only approach them with fear 

 and trembling, and they were most discriminating in their 

 attentions to these parties, would decidedly pronounce them 

 much quicker-tempered than the aborigines. The slow lumber- 

 ing black leisurely circles the head in the first instance to make 

 observations, while the Italian strikes right out when once war 

 is declared. 



I am decidedly of opinion that it would amply repay the 

 humblest and poorest cottager to procure at least one Italian 

 queen, and place her daughters at the head of every hive of bees 

 fie may possess. — A Renfrewshire Bee-keepeb. 



CROSS STICKS. 



A CORRESPONDENT, " Zeno," asks how honeycomb can be cut 

 from the sides of heavy hives with cross sticks in them. His 

 hives are home-made and measure 16 by 12 inches, and have 

 four cross sticks in each. Cross sticks are necessary in large 

 straw hives to give support and steadiness to their combs ; they 

 are very useful, too, at the crossings, for there the bees have 

 byeways or passages from comb to comb. Without such passages 

 the bees would have to travel long journeys. It would, indeed, 

 be doubling the Capo to them. Without cross sticks large hives 

 could not be turned up, handled, and examined with safety as 

 we do ours very frequently, neither could they be removed from 

 place to place or sent off by road or rail without very great risk 

 and many breakdowns. In the Stewarton hive, for instance, 

 there are no cross sticks, but the danger and difficulty are met 

 by having a number of shallow boxes in one hive, so that there 

 is not much weight or depth of comb in any part of the hive. 

 At the junctions of the boxes in the Stewarton hive the bees 

 will have cross lanes enough. 



The bar-frame hive proper, or moveable-comb system, does 

 not admit of cross sticks. The admission of one cross stick in a 

 bar-frame hive would destroy its principle and fasten its combs. 

 In bar-frame hives proper there are no cross lanes from comb 

 to comb, and as their combs are unsupported there is consider- 

 able risk run in removing them from place to place in summer. 

 The larger a bar-frame hive is the greater is this risk ; and as 

 doubtless they will be made larger year after year, it is to be 

 hoped that some clever bee-keeper will invent or contrive 

 something that will steady and support the combs in bar-frame 

 hives. 



In fine honey seasons large hives of every kind become too 

 heavy for keeping. From 20 to 30 lbs. of honey is enough to 

 keep a large stock hive from September to April, and then pro- 

 bably some will remain uuconsumed. About 15 lbs. is the 

 average consumption of a good hive in an average winter, but 

 it is well to err on the safe side. We repeat here that one of 

 the greatest difficulties in bee-keeping is to arrange matters and 

 select stock hives at the end of a houey season. A superabun- 

 dance of honey in stock hives is a hindrance rather tban a help 

 to bees. One year we cut about £10 worth of honey from oar 

 selected stock hives which had crass sticks in them. No doubt 

 the sticks are in the way a little, but we do as well as we can. 

 We use a carving knife aud a comb knife at this work. Of course 

 the combs cut out leave empty spaces in the hives, which have 

 to be refilled by the bees in the spring; and this is an objection 

 to the system, for bees are apt to build drone combs in the 

 spring months. We have frequently used the comb knife in 

 summer and let the bees fill up the spaces in the autumn ; and 

 since sugar has become so low in price we have practised more 

 the system of taking all the honey from heavy hives, putting 

 their bees in empty ones and feeding thnm into stocks. " Zeno" 

 will find that by placing hia cross sticks near the centre of 

 his hives, and at least 4 inches above their boards, he will have 

 but little difficulty in cutting combs from heavy hives. A 

 little courage and experience make every operation easy. — 

 A. Pettigbew. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Cock's Comb Discoloured (E. D.).— We advise you to give the bird a 

 tablesprjonful of castor oil at once, and ta repeat the dose every other day till 

 the comb retarwa to its natural colour. Your feeding ia very good save the 

 Rreen meat. A fowl will not eat cut grass, nor does it care for cabbage 

 leaver. It wants somethin? that will bear a pall, such as a large sod of earth 

 covered with grass. The resistance excites the birds, and they tear the grass 

 to pieces. They discover lota of food in the earth, and they eat it. 'Xhey 

 also eat much of the earth itself. It beepa them in health. 



Swans {E. B.). — Swans vary in the number of eggs they lay; between five 

 and nine. There is no fixed time of incubation, but it ia generally thirty 

 days. The uucertaiuty of their hatching has perhaps given rise to the com- 

 mon belief that a Swan can only hatch during a thonderetorm. The cygnets 

 may be pinioned when seven or eight weeksoJd. 



CoLoDB OF THE EvES IN ENGLISH OwLS [Reader). — In all Owl Pigeons, 

 except the Whites, the eyes should be of an orange-red colour. In Whites 

 they ahould be " bull" — i. '-., dark, and apparently all pupil. 



Driving Bees. — " O. C , Croydon," gays, "I took the honey from my bees 

 last year and fed them well up with syrup. This spring I have fed them 

 gently. They are now nomerous and healthy. Suppose they Bwarm in May 

 or June, do I understand correctly that twenty-one days after they swarm is 

 the best time to drive the bees and take the honey ?" Yes, if the hive has 

 considerable stores of honey at that time and you wish to obtain it. Twenty- 

 one days or theroabouta is the best time to drive the bees into an empty hive ; 

 but it does not follow that they will require to be fed with syrup, for the 

 season will not then be over, and the bees may fill their hive without artificial 

 feeding. On the twenty-first day after swarming a hive has no brood in it 

 save a few cells of drones, which are twenty-four days in being hatched. 



METEOBOLOQICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Sqoabe, London. 



Lat. 51" 82' 40" N. ; Long. 0' 8' 0' W. ; Altitude, 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 

 2nd.— Dull early, bat gattiog grai.ltially brighter; occasional gleams of sun 



in the after part of the day, aud fina nisht. 

 Srd.^Fioe muraiog aud forenoon; a few drops of raia aboat 2 P.ai., dull 



afternoon; cold ail day and starlit night. 

 4th.— Very fine and brif^bt all the forenoon, rather less so in the afternoon, 



but briflht starlit niRht. 

 5th.— Very bright all the furo part of the day, rather less 80 towards oveaing, 



but asaia a very hue night. 

 6th. — Bright and fine all day aud night, bnt still cold except In the sun. 

 7th. — Another fine day and much warmer, bat the night cold and starlit. 

 8th.— Much warmer; a bright eujoyable day, much more samiuer-liko than 

 any we have previously had. 

 The beginning of the weak very cold, especially at night, the mean of the 

 night temperatures being 6" lower than Ust week. Very sharp frost on tho 

 nights of the 2ad, 8rd, 4ch, aui 6th.— G. J. SvmOaNS. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— MiY 9. 

 BusrNRSS has been somewhat quieter daring the week, and with a fair 

 sapply of best goods prices have given way. All outdoor vegetables are 

 coming short and advancing in value, bat large quantities find their way from 

 theContineat.suchas ABparfts'UHjFrench Beanq, Carrots, Turnips, Artichokes, 

 aud new Potatoes, thereby holpiug to keep things at their proper level. 



a. d. 



.^100 6 10 



Apricots doz. 16 3 



s. d. B. 



, f^-lOO 8 0tol2 



Peiiche* doz. 15 S) 



Peara, kitchen dos. 



dessert doe. 8 12 



PineApples lb. 2 5 



Strawberries oz, 6 1 



Walnuts bushel 6 8 



Benna, Kidaey ^* 10.) 



Beet. Red. dozen 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts. -i sieve 

 Cabbage . 



New., 



Caulidow 

 Culery 



. bunch 4 8 

 ,... do. 16 2 6 



. dnz 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 



Cauumbers each 



Endive dozen 



Fennel bunoh 



Garhc lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Lettuce dozen 



Leeka bunch 



pickling qua 



Parsley.... doz. bunches 



Parsnips dozen 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



bushel 



Ne 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rbubarb bundle 



Salsaly bundle 



Soorzonera bundle 1 



Seakale basket 1 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 2 



... bunoh 



lb. 6 16 



Ne 



Vegetable Marrows 



