JOUKNAL OF HOaTICULTORE ANii OOTTAGB GARDENEB. 



and LoDE-ficed Tumblers especially, and these were very good. 

 As usual Mr. Binus arrived too late with his exquisite Euglish 

 Owls, and the honours feil to other exhibitors. Carriers good ; 

 and the first in Pouters a yonui; Blue hen, very good in all 

 points, lu Turbits a grand Yellow was to the front; and in 

 Short-faced Tumblers an Agate of capital head qualities was 

 placed first. Antwerps were very good, and mostly Medium- 

 fuces, though the first, a Silver Dun, was a capital headed Short- 

 faced cock. 



At the close of the Show a meeting was held, the President, 

 Lieut -Col. Child, in the chair, when it was decided to hold 

 another Show on the 2ud of August for young birds only. 



PIGEONS.— Carriers —1, W Hnches. 2, E. Horner. Poctees— 1. E. Mnw" 

 son. 2, W. Hughes. Tumblers.— S*iorJ.—l. E. Mawson. 2, W. Hughes. Lrjng- 

 —1, 2. ana S, G. Lister. Daiooosa.— I, A Battye. 2. J. H. Roberts. Antwekps' 

 —1. 2, 3, and 4. T. Kell. vhc.J. Pollard, E. .Wawson. OwLS.-l, E. Mawaon- 

 2, J. Pollard. Tdrbiis.— 1 and 2. T. Kell. jjjic, A. Battye BiRBa.—l, E. Maw- 

 aon. 2. W. Hughes. Nuns.— 1 and vlic, a. Lister. 2, T. KeU. Swallow or 

 Magpie.— 1, T. Kell. 2. E. Mawson. Foreign Owls.— I and 2, C. Atkinson. 

 Abcbangels— 1, E. Mawson. 2. T. Grainger. Any other Vaeieiy.- 1 ana 

 vIk, Lieat.-CoL Child. 2, W. Grainger. 



JtjDGES. — Messrs. Hatton and Beldon. 



• CANARIES. 



I THINK the majority mate their birds too early in the season 

 to be successful. My way was to keep the females by themselves 

 in a room where they had as much suu as possible, but no arti- 

 ficial heat. This made them close in feather and later in coming 

 in, and were not apt to moult out of seisou, their health being 

 good. I raised more birds by August tbau many of my fi-iends 

 did who began in February. I uevtr put mine together before 

 the last of April. Others by that time would have one or two 

 nests of eggs at least, if not young birds. I believe in wire 

 nests with cotton flinnel liniug and plenty of material for build- 

 ing, the best thing for that purpose that I have seen being 

 horsehair, such as they use to mix for plastering purposes. 

 Clean it well, and it makes a nice soft neat. 



Of course you have to feed your biids extra when you put 

 them together. I found it best to give them a small piece of 

 hard-boiled egs mised with coarse oatmeal. No sugar at all nor 

 cracker. I always gave a small piece of dandelion root once or 

 twice a-week ; this I f )und very good if the hen got egg-buuud, 

 almost always setting her right. When the young came I gave 

 a little green feed every day, continuing the meal and eggs, aud 

 When I could get plantain and dandeli' n seed ripe gave it freely, 

 also grass seed and millet, in fact any seed that the wild birds 

 feed on, believing that the nearer nature I went the more suc- 

 cessful I was. 



To know whether the young are male or female examine them 

 about the tenth day. If they are clear-coloured birds yon will 

 find as the feather begins tu come out of the quill on the head 

 near the root of the bill, that it will be quite yellow on the male, 

 even if he is buff. A yellow hen will be bufi on that part. I 

 never knew this to fail me. One particular thing in this as in 

 all other breeding, was keeping them free from vermin. This I 

 eacceeded in doing by rubbing a very little white precipitate 

 powder around the nest, and sprinkling a very little on the hen 

 while hatching. To sum all up, health aud cleaulineis will give 

 you saccess and profit. I breed fancies always, Bt^lgians aud 

 Antwerps, and have raised as many on the average as if they 

 were common, usually raising ten birds from one pair in the 

 season. As soon as the young could feed themselves I preferred 

 a small room with plenty of ventilation, ^.ire in the one half of 

 the window, plenty of clean water aside from their bathing dish, 

 with seed of all the different weeds. By October my birds are 

 all in good feather and quite able to stand the winter. — Niel 

 ThjUPSun (in Afnerican Fanciers' Journal). 



MODES OF ENLARGING HIVES. 

 By enlarging hives more space is given to the bees inside, 

 which they may use either for storing honey or for breeding 

 purposes, or for both. In spring and early summer bees are 

 naturally bsnt on spreading brood widely and thus multiply 

 population as fast as possible. At the present time hives are 

 filled with brood from top to' bottom and from si'le to side. 

 Hives so filled, whether tbey be stnck or swarm hives of the 

 onrrent season, will speedily ripen up to the swarming point. 

 All bee-keepers should bear in mind that the storing of honey 

 day by day virtually contracts the hives, for bees do not cover 

 thickly combs filled with honey. In fine weather how fast 

 hivoB are filled to crowding and repU tion ! Nothing but swarm- 

 ing or enlargement can prevent this. In ordinary seasons we 

 encourage swarming, and ttke swarms till the end of June — 

 Bometimes till the 10th of July. Afterwards we prevent swarm- 

 ing by enlargement of hives. For many reasons wo prefer the 

 BWarming system of management. Two reasons only may be 

 mentioned here : first, it is the most natural to bees, and secondly 

 most profitable to as. But we are rather differently placed to 

 man; bee keepers, for we can never procure stocks or hives of 

 bees enongh to meet the orders that are sent to aa for them. 



All our best hives are taken away yearly by purchase. Last 

 year we had orders for about ^£100 worth more than we had to 

 sell. Every year the passion for bee-keeping increases. It is 

 somewhat amusing to us to read what is said about the straw- 

 hive system going out of fashion, and that it will come tu an 

 euil as soon as Mr. Pettisrew is removed from " the paildie-box 

 of the Journal of Horticulture." So far as we can discover 

 straw hives are but coming into fashion and use in many parts 

 of England. Wbere do the hundreds of Scotch straw hives go 

 to which we see annually in Mr. Yates's warehouse before the 

 swarming season '? I thought he had enough tbis year, but all 

 were sold before the swarming time was half over. Mr. Yates 

 has told me that he must be prepared with a far greater supply 

 nest year. Straw hives I am certain will never go out of fashion 

 while this country bears the name of Great Britain. If any 

 clever man cuuld invent a machine for making straw hives I 

 think Mr. Yates would willingly pay him handsomely for the 

 invention. Doubtless hives of other materials aud descriptions 

 are also in great demand. 



There are various modes of enlarging hives, most of which are 

 pretty well understood by a large section of apiarians. In our 

 practice we are guided by circumstances and resort to all known 

 ways of enlargement exct-ptiug the collateral syttem. The 

 hives we use are not adapted for collateral operations. ■ In 

 honey seasons we have recourse to eking, supering, aud nadiring 

 in various forms and modifications. Some eight or nine years 

 ago we snpered a great many hives, and the bees filled most of 

 the supers; bat unfortunately honeydew abounded that season, 

 aud much «.-f it was gathered into our hives, and which polluted 

 aud spoiled the honey in all the supers — made it quite unsaleable 

 aud nnfit for table use. Oar fears are a little excited this season 

 by the shining glistening leaves of the sycamore trees. "When 

 bees are gathering the nasty substance called honeydew super- 

 ing should be avoided. Honeydew collected or gathered by 

 bees is darker in colour than the coarjtst molasses, and pollutes 

 and discolour.s all the honey it touches. 



Eking is the simplest form of enlarging hives, and is perhaps 

 the best wbere run honey is the object aimed at. It is the most 

 certain mode of preventing swarming, for bees with an eke 

 below them cannot fail to understand that they have house room 

 aud scope enongh for progress. In good seasons a swarm may 

 fill it:* hive and two or three ekes besides. The straw hive, the 

 Stewarton, and some other kinds of hives admit of ekes at all 

 st-iges of progress. The bar-frame hive and that of Neighbour 

 and Sons are not made for eking; they are made and used for 

 suporieg. I never but once (nine years ago) alluded publicly to 

 the hives of Messrs. Neighbour & Sons, when I suggested the 

 desirability of making them larger, also the holes in the crown 

 of the hive to be larger to facilitate supering. Their hive should 

 be about double its present size with larger crown holes. Their 

 hive is about the size I like to use as a super — viz., to hold about 

 30 lbs. of h >neycomb. 



Nadiring consists in placing one hive below another, say an 

 empty one below a full one. Both the Stewarfcon hive and bar- 

 frame hive are suited for nadiring. The bar-frame hive has not 

 been much used on the principle of nadiring, but I fancy it 

 could be very advantageously used in this way. By taking the 

 crown board off a bar-framer and placing it ('he hive without 

 the crown hoard) beneath a full hive, what scope and play room 

 would be given to the bees ! what full and free access between 

 hive and hive the workers would have! One bar-frame hive 

 with empty hives of its own kind placed above and below it 

 without the partition crown boards would be the Woodbury 

 hive Sfevtartnnised,or worked with advantage on the Stewarton 

 principle. This hint is thrown out for the benefit of the bar- 

 frame school of apiarians, at present a pretty large school. My 

 first swarm, whicti tilled its hive in fifteen days, was nadired 

 on the 19th of June. I placed an ly-iuch hive below it. If the 

 fiue weather continue for three or four weeks the swarm hive 

 will be well filled with honey aod the nadir with combs and 

 brood. Nadirs do not always prevent swarming, neither do they 

 always make good stacks for keeping. Sometimes tbey contain 

 too much drono comb. Hives filled or partially filled with 

 combs may be used as nadirs with advantage, provided the 

 combs be young and sweet. 



The Nutt or collateral system of enlarging hives consists in 

 adding box to box on the same level or floorboard. A cottage 

 with two rooms only and both on the same floor is termed in 

 Scotland " a butt and a ben ;" so a Nutt hive has sometimes a 

 '' ben" on either side of the butt hive. 



Supering is the mode of enlarging hives when pure honeycomb 

 in a separate form im sought. Wo all admire supers well filled 

 with pure honeycomb. A bit of pure white empty comb should 

 bo fixed in every super before it is placed on a hive to induce 

 the bees to enter it at once and commence work We use, aud 

 advise others to use, a sheet of paper between hive aud super, 

 so that the combs of the super do not get fastened to the crown 

 of the hive. Supers thus fitted on may be gently lifted off at 

 any time for examination. They could be weighid every night 

 and morning, aud thus be made the iustruments of teaching us 



