474 



JOOKNAL OP HORTIOULTOBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



hives with queens not more than two years old, very good, even 

 great resalta may be obtaiced in the coming season. No limits 

 can be put to the results of bee-keepiag if special efforts and 

 attention be given to a selected set of hives. What has already 

 been done may be thrown into the shade by some future special 

 effort. 



But our correspondent "A. A." only asks for a few hints on 

 the non-swarming principle. If we were going to act partly on 

 this non-swarming principle in bee-keepiog we would have 

 lar.'e straw hives, say 16 or 18 inches wide and 16 inches deep, 

 well stored with bees at any cost in autumn. We would keep 

 them well and warmly wrapt up and covered during the winter 

 and spring months. We would super them on a modification of 

 the Stewarton plan and principle (which has been lately noticed 

 in this Journal), and take the honey from the hives as well as 

 the supers every season. We have always recommended the 

 two systems to go together, for the non-swarming principle 

 cannot be so well carried out iu the absence of swarming hives, 

 which furnish an apiary with plenty of young queens and an 

 abundance of bees from honey hives. In our own experience 

 we have found in the swarming mode of management less at- 

 tention and time are needed, less loss, greater average results — 

 i.e., more profits, and stronger better stocks obtained. If our 

 friend in Aberdeenshire intends to follow the non-swarming 

 system we commend to him the consideration of the Stewarton 

 hive and system. — A. Pettiorew. 



DRIVING BEES. 



I AM but a novice in bee-keeping, and know little of the ma- 

 nipulation the bee-master is every now and again called on to 

 undertake. All my experience about bees is what I have learned 

 from the Journal, and although this is only the second year 

 that I have given any attention to the subject, I think I have 

 on the whole been very successful in all I have undertaken. I 

 have several kinds of hives, but not one of them is on tbe frame 

 system, and I this year being desirous of trying one of these, I 

 procured from Messrs. Abbott a Woodbury storifyer, No. 12 in 

 their catalogue. When it arrived I set about driving a swarm 

 which had been for a week or ten days in a straw skep, having 

 been hived into it l)ecause of the non-arrival of the Woodbury 

 in time for the swarming. I adopted the usual system of invert- 

 ing the skep and placing the Woodbury upon it, tbe junction 

 of the two being enveloped by a sheet, as is recommended in 

 the books. I set to work drumming with two sticks on the sides 

 of the skep, and kept ou at tbis amusement for twenty minutes 

 or more, and on peeping in to see the result of my efforts I 

 found not a bee had risen to the Woodbury, but all were iu a 

 state of commotion in the skep. I saw it was hopeless to per- 

 severe, so I returned the skep, bees and all, to the floorboard, 

 and allowed them to settle down for the night, determining to 

 try again the following morning. I turned the matter over in my 

 mind all the evening; when I was in bed the thoughts of what 

 ■was to be done on the morrow troubled me, and iu tbe morn- 

 ing when I awoke the driving of tbe bees was still present 

 in my mind. I had nobody near who could give me any advice 

 on the point, and so I was left to the resources of my own 

 ingenuity. 



After breakfast, armed in my veil and gloves, and provided 

 with a table spoon, I sallied forth, accompanied by the old gar- 

 dener, determined that if the bees would neiiher be drummed 

 nor coaxed out they should be forced. We turned up the skep, 

 having first taken some of the frames from the lowest section 

 of the Woodbury, and then with the spoou I deliberately lifted 

 as many spoonfuls of bees as I could out of the skep and put 

 them into the Woodbury, which had been previously smeared 

 with honey. As soon as they were housed they set upon the 

 honey and became quite settled and subdued. We returned 

 the frames to their places, and then added the second section of 

 the Woodbury, put on tbe quilt, and surmounted the whole with 

 the roof. There were still a great many bees left in tbe skep, 

 and to induce them to join the commonwealth I placed the 

 edge of the skep against the entrance to the Woodbury, and 

 as soon as they found out where their companions had gone 

 they took that direction, and in a very short time the whole of 

 them were seen trooping into tbe Woodbury, their movements 

 being stimulated by gently tapping on the skep with a stick. 

 The bees are now safe in possession and hard at work, and I 

 flatter myself that by the exercise of a little ingenuity and per- 

 severance, I, though a begiuner, have succeeded in what some 

 suppose to be one of the difficult operations in bee-keeping. — 



EOGEB ASHPOLE. 



SECTIONAL SUPERS. 



Eefereino to " B. it W.'s " article of June 1-lth, it is evident 

 he has not understood my description and drawing of Root's 

 American sectional super as in the Journal, May 17th. These 

 supers are not four-sided or closed-in on all sides; indeed, ex- 

 cepting the end supers, they have strictly no sides at all— simply 



two ends, top and bottom. They are used exactly the same as 

 those " B. & W." describes he is using, and when on the hive 

 each row of sections form one long box. There is nothing to 

 prevent the bees massing themselves in sufficient numbers. 

 The sections are held together simply by a strip of paper pasted 

 along the sides, which a knife easily severs when the honey- 

 combs are sold. — John Hunter, Eaton Bise, Ealing. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Cath and West of Enoland Society's Show. — Mrs. W. C. Drummond , 

 we are iofurmed, won the firat prize for White Cochin hena. 



Bees (A Working Man). — The dead beeg and drones, also the queens in 

 the paper parcel, are of the common English kind. No Italian mark on any 

 of them. We are glad to learn you have Ijeeu succeasful with your bees, and 

 tbiuk your eucoees may be traced to the course of management you dot 

 follow. 



Stung by a Bee (B. S.). — To have caused death, the gentleman stung 

 must have been iu a peculiar state of health. We hava known pernous etang 

 by twenty bees in their faces and bauds with no other incouveaience thaa 

 tbe pain and after-sweliing. The best application to a stung place is spirit 

 of hartshorn. 



Stbayed Swarm (T. J. B.).— Unless a swarm is followed and had been 

 seen to issue from the parent hive it cannot be claimed. 



METEOROLOGICiL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. : Long. 0' 8' " W. ; Altitude, 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 

 13th.— Very cloudy and overcast in morning with drops of rain, clearer in the 



afternoon, and fine at night. 

 X4th.— Fine bright day. bat not very warm, there being a gentle breeze. 

 15th.— Another fine bright da?, warmer, but not oppressive. 

 16th.— Fine day, bright and cloudless throughout. 

 17th.— Another fine bright day, and absolutely cloudleas; hot, but nob 



sultry. 

 18th.— Fine and bright, but a little hazy in alternooa; lunar halo 10 to 



10.30 P.M. 

 19th. — Fine and very hot. 



A fine warm summer week, temperature above 80' on three days ; no 

 measurable rain.— G, J. Sysions. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— JuNE 1 

 We have no alteration to notice from last week. 



Apples i sieve 



Apricota dozen 1 



Cherries lb 1 



Chestnuts bushel 



Cmruuta 1 hieve 



bhuk 4 sieve 



Fiu'M dozen 6 



1-illHita lb. 



Luba lb, 1 



GooatibeiTies .. quart 



Grape».hothou«e lb. 2 



Lemons ^100 6 



Artichokes dozen 3 



Asparagus ^ lOJ 3 



Ht-jins. Kidney.. !;►' 100 1 



Bi^.t Ufd dozen 1 



Kroiiiili bimdle 



Cabbage dozen 1 



Carruta bunch 



new bunch 1 



Copsicuma .... ^ OH 1 



CauUflowera. . . . dozen 2 



new dozen 6 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworts doz. hunches 2 



Ciu:uniberB .... each 



KinUvij dozen 1 



Fi-iincl bunch 



Guilic lb. 



Hcrbd bimch 



Lettuce dozen 1 



Lueka bunch 



8. d. 



Melons each 8 0to3 



Nect.irines .... dozen 12 30 



Oranges *^ 10 J 10 16 



Peaches dozen 8 SO 



Peara, kitchen., dozen 



dessert dozen 



Pine Apple* .... lb. 2 5 



Plums i sieve 



Raspberries.... lb. 



StrawbeiTies .. lb. 3 12 



Walnuts bushel 5 8 



ditto I^-IOO 



YEGETABLES. 



Muahroomg .... pottlo 



Mustard & Cress punnet 



Onions buuhel 



pickling quart 



Parsley.... doz. hunches 



Parsnips dozen 



Heas quart 



Potatoes bu-hcl 



Kidney bushel 



New lb. 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



i;hubarb bundle 



Saisafy bundle 



bcorzonera .... bimdle 



Seakale basket 



fahaUots lb. 



Spinach bu-hel 



Im-nips bunch 



new bunch 



Veg. Marrows .. each 



