22 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



[ January 7, 1860. 



very BtronK, not an egg was deposited in the lower combs. 

 Keither did the double hive act as a preventive of swarming, 

 for hives so treated were ready for swarming just about the 

 same time as single ones. No number of boxes on the top will 

 prevent swarming, as many know who have seen bees migrate 

 from hives in which they had six, eight, and even sixteen 

 Jboxes filled partially with honey. 



Again, before bee-keepers can " measure the limits of their 

 fields in order to limit the number of their colonies," as Mr. 

 Hazen proposes, there must be some definite arrangement 

 made vrith the "clerk of the weather," to have all seasons 

 nniform ; then we can have a solid basis on which to form our 

 calculations. 



Last season (18G7), was very poor, and if I had " formed my 

 basis " about July 10th I should have said forty or fifty colo- 

 nies were my limit ; but at the same date this year 150 were 

 nniformly storing in boxes, and I have no doubt five hundred 

 would be if I had them in good condition. My advice to bee- 

 keepers is to study less the capacity of their fields, and more 

 Low to have every colony strong and in good working order 

 from April to October, especially how to have them strong in 

 spring, for I unhesitatingly lay down two propositions and 

 challenge proof that they are not true. 



1st. Hives containing from 2000 to 2400 inches are as large 

 as any one queen will keep stocked with bees. 



2nd. No section of the West was ever overstocked with ffood 

 strong colonies in hives of this size. 



Let us hear from some one who had not too many hives half 

 filled, but too many good strong colonies in May ! 



Here is a colony storing honey in eight boxes ; another by 

 its side with sixteen, half fall ; another, still, is barely support- 

 ing itself and rearing a little brood ! What makes the difference ? 

 Is the weak one suffering from scanty pasturage ? or shall we 

 put it into one of Mr. Hazen's hives and secure " lots of sur- 

 plus ? " Do we not all see that while the first two colonies 

 send out early and late myriads of workers, the third has but 

 a handful of bees to gather its supplies ? If the harvest of 

 honey continues long enough it may be strong in a month or 

 two, but too late for this season. In order to prove that bees 

 have reached the " limit of their field," we must show hives all 

 strong in numbers and all failing to gather supplies.— E. S. T. 

 (in Prairie Farmer.) 



FEEDING BEES— PROTECTING HIVES. 



Some of my hives being very light I was anxious to supply 

 them with food according to your directions in the " Gar- 

 deners' Almanack " for 1808, where (in the month of Fe- 

 bruary), you give the quantities of lump sugar and water to be 

 supplied by means of an inverted bottle. I had the food made 

 according to your directions, but found it ran out of the bottle 

 though I tied double muslin over the mouth, whereas you 

 only spoke of cap-net. I then tried a greater proportion of 

 sugar, which had only the effect of candying the food, for the 

 part that still remained uncandied ran out of the bottle as 

 quickly as before. Please say what I should do, as I fear my 

 bees are in want of food. 



I find it very difficult to protect my straw hives that are on 

 stands, during this very wet weather. I have covered them 

 with straw covers, and then put an inverted milk-pan over 

 them, but still find them wet or damp. Say if I ought to do 

 more to cover them. — L. Eiall. 



[We can only surmise that your bottle-mouth is too wide, as 

 we use coarse net of an eighth of an inch mesh, and prefer it 

 to any finer fabric. Test the bottle with pure water, and if, 

 when tied over with cap-net and inverted, its contents do not 

 after the first rush remain perfectly suspended there is some- 

 thing wrong, which must be remedied without having recourse 

 either to the substitution of muslin for cap-net, or to thicken- 

 ing the fluid by the addition of sugar. Your straw covers 

 should at all events be rendered water-tight, a task which any 

 ordinary thatoher will find no difficulty in accomplishing. ] 



WAXEN SHEETS. 



" A LiNARKSHiitE Bee-keeper's" last letter in vindication 

 of the impressed sheet system as against the plain, resolves 

 itself into two assertions : 1st, That plain sheets are good for 

 nothing, and that in my observations which proved the 

 contrary, I have been deceived in some mysterious way only 



known to himself. To this I can only reply: Try it, bee- 

 keepers; try the sheets side by side as I did, and let us know 

 the result. 2nd, He asserts that wax sheets weigh sixteen to 

 the pound instead of, as I say, thirty, the words oy which I 

 qualified thestatement, " when trimmed for Woodbury frames," 

 being omitted. In reply to this, I may refer to the note which 

 you have appended to his letter, to the effect that Neighbour's 

 sheets weigh twenty-three to the pound ; you might have added, 

 "in their rough state." Now, when these sheets have their 

 corners rounded off till they become nearly semicircular, as is 

 advisable for several reasons which I need not enter upon, and 

 when the unstamped margin is removed, they will be found to 

 run even more than thirty to the pound. If the price of wax 

 has risen lately, the expense of the sheets wOl of course be 

 proportionately increased. I have not had occasion to buy any 

 for some time, but I have not heard of any of my neighbours 

 obtaining more than 2s. a-pound this season. 



To sum up the controversy in a few words. Impressed 

 sheets are an excellent invention, but plain are quite aa good 

 and vastly cheaper. — Apicola. 



AMERICAN SCRAPS. 



When the wind is east and Turkeys gobble, 

 It is no time a borse to bobble ; 

 But let him range to catch the breeze — 

 Shoold be be troubled with the heaves. 



An OS with broad homa and short glossy hair, 

 Ib good for the team, the market, or fair. 



One white foot is bad, and two are too iiiaii;^. 

 That horse is best that does not have any. 



A farmer without hogs, 

 But an army of dogs, 



Will have more puppies than pork; 

 For the swill will be lost, 

 To the husbandman's cost. 



Dogs good for nothing to work. 



The Blackest farmer, strange to say, 

 Is known for being out of hay. 



When chickens roost above the mow. 

 It spoils the hay for horse or cow. 



Pork and Beans make muscles Btrong- 



Something farmera seek ; 

 It is a dish to uiako life long. 



When cooked but once a-weck. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Cochin-China Fowxs (A Novice).~Cock3 will crow at night without 

 being disturbed. There is a superstition that they always crow at mid- 

 night to remind people to watch and pray. Cochin pullets, being mode- 

 rately but well fed, should lay at six months old at the latest. 



La Fleche and CRivE-CtEDRs AS Latees (TV. 7F.).— La Fleche lay 

 rather a larger egg than the Creve-Cceur, but they are not healthy or 

 hardy fowls. We know hardly any one who once kept them and still does 

 so. They are well and dead in a day, and therefore although they lay 

 larger eggs than the Creve-Coeurs, the latter at the end of the year will be 

 found the better layers. 



DisQDAxiFnNO Birds (TF. H.).— Wc are of opinion that the Committee 

 in all cases can withhold prizes, though awarded by the Judges, if it is 

 found that the birds were disqualified, as they were in the case you 

 mention. 



Ducks' Eggs (J. Cricfc).— Whether the eggs laid after a fortnight's 

 separation from the drake will prove fertile is uncertain. Why you 

 should put a Rouen drake with Aylesbury Ducks after killing the pre- 

 vious drake because he was not a true Aylesbury, seems incomprehen- 

 sible. 



POULTRY MARIiET.— January 6. 



It has been almost impossible to give any report of the market of late. 

 The supply has been a continual glut, the heat of the weather has made 

 sales almost impossible, and there has been constant grumbling on all 

 sides. Nothing sold but a few very choice lots, and they realised prices 

 that made the average appear unsatisfactory. 



B. d B. d 



Largo Fowls 3 G to 4 



Smaller do 3 



Chickens 2 



Geese 7 



Ducks 2 



Pigeons 



