JOUENAIi OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( May 24, 1877. 



super which has been placed thereon, fitted with guide combs. 

 Communication between stock and super is afforded by with- 

 drawing the outer slide only on either side. Should the weather 

 be favourable and honey abound the bees take to at once ; if not 

 it is better to run in the slides again and wait for a day or two, 

 thea make a fresh trial, as it is a curious fict that bees often 

 will swarm rather than accept a super open to them which they 

 have previously rejected. A few days after the bees have taken 

 possession white comb appears at the windows ; then, and not 

 til] then, the third breeding-box is placed as a nadir underneath 

 all, its slides withdrawn and pegged as at the union, and the 

 doorway to the central box closed once more. 



" The colony may now be said to be fairly under weigh, and 

 should favourable honey-gathering weather coutinne a second 

 honey box may be placed on the first, and all the slides of the 

 first super withdrawn. To induce the bees all the more readily 

 to take to the supers I have found it a considerable advantage 

 to run a slip of gummed paper round the junctures. If the 

 super be taken to, or if honey be plentiful, a second slide on 

 either side of the top box may be withdrawn, at first either 

 partially or wholly. This is a nice operation dependant on the 

 flow of honey, and the bee-master must exercise his discretion, 

 BO as, if possible, to prevent the incursions of the queen into 

 the super. The plan of admitting only the honey-gatherers of 

 [at] the ends of the combs to the supers to the exclusion of the 

 queen, nurses and pollen-collectors of the centre, is a most valu- 

 able feature of the Stewarton hive. A third and other super may 

 be still called for, putting the additional super accommodation 

 always uppermost; and in exceptional cases even additional 

 breeding space by nadiriug at the bottom may be requisite, 

 although a strong colony was lately worked with but IS inches 

 [deep] of breeding space while filling seven honey boxes in 

 various stages of progress. To get bees to take to the supers at 

 first and to work them steadily through the vicissitudes of tem- 

 perature it is indispensable to cover and wrap them well up 

 with some warm woollen stuff. I generally use old crumb 

 cloths for this purpose, four plies thick, and I need not add that 

 as the Stewarton hive is made of wood only five-eighths of an 

 inch thick it must have the protection of a bee house or shed 

 from the direct raya of the sun, or better still an outer octagon 

 case with a nicely bevelled roof. 



"As soon as the lowest super is seen sealed at the windows 

 the attachments between it and the stock below and the super 

 above it are severed with a thin wire, so that it can be removed, 

 letting the one above it take its place, and so on till the end of 

 the season. When all are removed, the slides re-introduced, 

 then as cold weather sots and the lowest breeding box vacated it 

 too is better taken away, the slides replaced, the mouth wrapped 

 up with paper to exclude moth and dust, and suspended in any 

 cool dry garret till required the next season." 



This is a very accurate and intelligible description of the way 

 of working the Stewarton hive, and is a valuable literary contri- 

 bution to the science of apiculture. With this description and 

 a Stewarton hive before him no bee-keeper can be greatly 

 puzzled to know how to proceed. The hive in question can be 

 worked on the non-swarming system the second year, and two 

 swarms could be hived in it together at first instead of wast- 

 ing t»n days for the second swarm, as suggested above. The 

 object aimed at is to get the breeding boxes full of combs, and 

 Bupering to commence as soon as possible. The lady who puts 

 the questions may cut some gaideoomb from stock hives in her 

 a. — A. Pettigrew. 



APIARIAN PROSPECTS. 



We are now past the middle of May, and can form some idea 

 as to the probable character of the season from our point of 

 view as apiarians. And what is the prospect before us? I con- 

 fess that it looks to me gloomy enough. I am still feeding the 

 majority of my hives, and can see but faint traces of honey 

 collected in the strongest of them. There seems, in fact, to be 

 no honey in the flowers; and, indeed, who could expect it with 

 the ground soddened with perpetual rains and cold aa it is, 

 owing to the remarkable absence of sunshine 1 Unless a very 

 extraordinary change in the weather takes place I fear we shall 

 have to reckon the year 1877 as a disastrous one. 



During the long-continued cold weather of this spring, rang- 

 ing from February to May (on and off), breeding seems to 

 have entirely ceased in some of my hives. One hive that was 

 vigorously carrying in pollen in February died of cold a fort- 

 night ago. On examining it not a dozen oells of young brood 



could be found. There was food, but too far off to benefit the 



bees, who must have risked their lives to fetch it. 

 Is my case an exceptionably bad one ? and is this great 



Somersetshire plain a peculiarly unenviable one tor an earnest 



bee-keeper to live in ?— B. & W. 



8th of l\Iay, and placed a glass on the hive. On the 9th of May 

 another good swarm was hived, and the bees seem in a thriv- 

 ing state. They have not been fad throughout the season. On 

 the 17th inst. one secoud swarm was hived from the hive that 

 swarmed on the 8th, and they all appear to be very busy, though 

 the weather is cold. Mr. Maoe of Guunersbury informs us that 

 he had a good swarm on the 15th of May from one of Mr. 

 Cheshire's hives. The parent hive has not had any food all the 

 winter. Mr. Mace asks, " Being so near Loudon, is not this a 

 success ?" 



OOR LETTER BOX. 



Feeding Parrots (S. C. (?.).— Hempseed is good for ParrotB if given 

 spariDtjly. They shonid have rapa. and at times canary seed. Sugar and 

 cake are both very bid feeding. Bipi fruit is good for them; when that can- 

 not be had watercressea are good. Bread and milk make good food. When 

 moulting, especially if the weather be unfavourable, the red capaioam may 

 be given with advantage. 



Hedgehogs (J. S.). — No one ever deteoted them sucking a cow. That 

 they may lap up the milk shed from a cow in the field Is probable if they 

 happened to be cIobb by when it was shed. 



aiETEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camdem Square, London, 



Lat. oV 32' \T N. ; L Jug. 0^ 3' ' W. ; Altitude, 111 feet. 



REMARKS, 



16fch. — Very hoe till 11 a.m., than alternately fine or showery; heavy shower 



about 4 P.M. and nlight showers after. 

 17th.— ihowery till the G^eniag, starlight night. 

 18th.— Very fine early, fine all day, bat rather less so than in the morning; 



a white butterfly seen. 

 19th.— Rainy morninsr, heavy rain with thunder about 2 p.m.; rather fine at 



times in the afternoon, but a wet evening. 

 20th.— Rain in the early morning, a damp cold day. 

 21at.— Grey and rainy in the morning, rather bright in the forenoon, and fair 



all the day and night. 

 22nd.— Another dull, cold, wintery-looking day; the ground being at nigbt 



warmer than the air, and the sky overcast, the grass thermometer is 



higher than that in the shade. 

 Temperature very similar to that of the previous week, and the little differ- 

 ence which does exist is the reverse of that which would be espected, for this 

 week is even colder than last. — G. J. Sraioss. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— MiY 23. 

 We have scarcely any alteration to quote, business being interrupted by 

 the holiday. One of the largest consignments of St. Michaels Pinea roftohed 

 us last week. Over three thousand arrived in good conditioa. 



Eablt Swarjis. — A Kentiah correspondent states that she was I 

 earlier than Mr. Cattlin, for she hived a epleudid swarm on the | 



