40 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



[ January 14, 1869. 



good Eabbit, but short in the ears, measuriug only about 

 20 inches, but it weighs nearly 17 lbs., and is very fairly 

 marked ; and when Eabbita are judged for all properties we 

 look at something else besides length of ears. Your correspon- 

 dent nest takes the Self-coloured, and says the first prize was 

 given to a young Blue doe, 21 inches in length, bred by the 

 exhibitor, a poor Rabbit in all properties. Now, he never had 

 hold of the Eabbit, so cannot know much about it. In the first 

 place, it measures 1 inch longer than he says, and I, who have 

 handled it., consider it good in all properties for a young Eabbit, 

 and, which is very praiseworthy, it was bred by the exhibitor, 

 a working man, instead of by one of those gentlemen who give 

 any price for a Rabbit for the sake of gaining a prize. I have 

 been a large breeder and exhibitor, and have been a judge for 

 some years. — The Rabbit Judge at Leeds Snow. 



[We have omitted much that accompanied the above, attribut- 

 ing motives to the correspondent who objected to the judging — 

 motives that have no title to consideration in the search after 

 truth. We cannot insert any more communications on the 

 subject. — Eds.] 



APIARIAN NOTES. 



HoNET Season. — 1 868 has been hardly an average year in 

 this part of Somersetshire, although if our hives had only been 

 in good condition early in May, when the apple blossom, &c., 

 was out, I am persuaded that we should have had a very good 

 early honey harvest. As it was, my own hives were nearly 

 pauperised owing to the bad season of 18ft7 and poor spring of 

 1868, and in consequence the bees were not sufficiently nume- 

 rous to spare workers to gather-in the honey. Still, I was for- 

 tunate enough to obtain a few pounds of very rich honey by 

 the middle of May. By that time all my stronger stocks were 

 in excellent condition, well enriched, and ready to take advant- 

 age of the gifts of spring and summer. Then came the con- 

 tinued drought, and the gradual drying-up of the sources of 

 supply, so that by the 9th of July the honey harvest was over. 

 The result of my operations finds me the richer by about 1 cwt. 

 of good honey taken from eight hives, no one hive giving me 

 more than 22 lbs. 



SwAEHiNG. — I had only one natural swarm, which issued in 

 the act of my trying to prevent it ; but I have heard of a con- 

 siderable number about me, most of which, however, were lost 

 to their owners. The bees not being hurried in their operations 

 by rapid atmospheric changes, seem to have planned their 

 movements in almost every case long beforehand, and to have 

 carried out their arrangements accordingly. As a rule, eoH- 

 tinuous fine weather is adverse to the swarming of bees, for, 

 being out every day uninterruptedly for long periods, the hives 

 are not inconveniently crowded, and the necessity of relief 

 from the plethora of population is not felt. My swarms, save 

 the one above-mentioned, were all artificially formed, chiefly by 

 driving, but in several cases by making use of supers in which 

 the queen had been breeding. The earlier swarms have done 

 well, so far as their own prospects for the winter are concerned. 

 The later ones are very poor. A very fine one of May 30th, 

 with a prolific young queen, has only partially filled its bos, 

 and has very little honey stored-up. 



Italianising Hives. — I have continued my endeavours to 

 Itahanise my apiary, but not yet with full success, owing to 

 the diflieulty of eradicating the hybrid taint. Black drones 

 are found in all directions around me, and seem to be ever on 

 the watch, baflJing my endeavours to overreach them. Is the 

 English drone more vigorous than the alien ? or do drones 

 prefer to seek their brides at a distance from home, and 

 strangers rather than cousins ? Earnest bee-keepers, however, 

 will now have every opportunity of success in the establish- 

 ment of the Italian bee, by following the Koehler process, as 

 detailed at page 141 of the last volume of The Jouenax of 

 HoETicuLTDRE. Even " before testing it," we are " satisfied as 

 to the efficiency of this process." 



Aetificial and Natueal Swaemisg. — Simple and efficient 

 as cannot fail to be the lately revealed secret of Mr. Koehler, I 

 am disposed to value still more highly his " second communi- 

 cation," which is certainly very " agreeable to me." I am 

 surprised it should have attracted so little notice, apparently, 

 among the readers of " our Journal," for here is a veritable 

 " royal road " to success in bee-keeping. If I mistake not, it 

 will open a new chapter in the art. I beg the special attention 

 of all practical apiarians to this interesting mode of manage- 

 ment, and trust it will receive at the hands of not a few among 

 us a fair trial nest summer. Mr. Koehler has far from ex- 



hausted the advantages of his new method. In addition to 

 those he has enumerated, is the obvious saving of swarms, for 

 there need be but one risk in a moderate-sized apiary — viz., 

 that of the first swarm's escape. Again, by this process every 

 swarm will be a prime swarm, thus increasing the profit of the 

 apiary a hundredfold. Many other advantages of this system 

 of swarm-management might be enumerated. — B. & W. 



BEES ON OLD CHRISTMAS EVE. 



Mt neighbours and I, after reading your correspondent's 

 assertion that bees hum at twelve o'clock on Old Christmas 

 Eve, determined to see whether it were true or not, and accord- 

 ingly watched by our respective hives on the nights of the 5th 

 and Gth ; but as far as our experience goes, it is all "hum," for 

 everything was perfectly quiet on both occasions, and all I got 

 was a cold. Bees often hum for a minute or so on a winter's 

 evening, I do not know why. — Charles Alfred Dunn. 



[Bees would make the same mistake that we do if they cele- 

 brated the Nativity in January, for there is little doubt that it 

 occurred in April. However, we celebrate the event, and 

 whether in the right month or not is of Uttle consequence. 



Since writing the above, we have received another note from 

 Mr. Wilson. He and some friends listened at hives on Christ- 

 mas Eve. Some hummed, and others did not ; and, we believe, 

 the same occurs every night in the winter. — Eds.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Hamburgh Pullet's Diseased Liter [J. liohimon). — Werecognise the 

 disease perfectly. It is very commoa among old tens, and is often ac- 

 companied by great swelling of the liver. We have seldom seen it in 

 pullets Rabbits are very subject to it, but with them it is the cause of 

 great increase of size in the liver. It is a decided complaint of the liver, 

 and where it is not fatal it induces dropsy. We always in these cases 

 shut the birds up, depriving tbem of water entirely, except a little in 

 the morning and a little in the evening. .'SVe feed them moderately 

 giving much bran in their food, and supplying them every day with fresh 

 earth. 



DncEWTNG Game Bantams (Black Baniain). — There are Silver Dnck- 

 winga, but not Silver-Grey. The dilTerence between the two Duckwings is, 

 the Silvers have white hackles and saddles instead of yellow ; they have 

 no chestnut patch on the wing, and the pullets should have no robin 

 breast. 



Lice on Chickens (H. T.).— The following is extracted from our 

 "Poultry-keeper's Manual." — "These vermin in poultry are efTectually 

 destroyed by thoroughly dusting flowers of sulphur down to the roots of 

 the feathers twice or thrice, with the interval of a day between each two 

 dustings. The best course of procedure, however, when yon detect lice 

 in your chickens, is to give them immediate relief by putting a little 

 sweet oil with the finger on the poll of the head and under each wing. 

 Then let them have a dust bath. Thoroughly dry coal ashes are best for 

 this bath, and mix a pound of flowers of sulphur with the ashes." 



Crossing Short -faced with Air Tcmelees (Coj:).— The cross you 

 mention would produce good birds ; but if your Short-faced are very high- 

 bred you will need, perhaps, to make a second cross with the Air Tum- 

 blers. Such crossing is verj- interesting, and for your purpose very de- 

 sirable. \oa will obtain well-shaped and pretty-feathered pets, and also 

 good Tumblers. 



Goldfinch Mule-breeding (TF. Hay). — "I have ever fonnd that 

 breeding Mules in cages is a better plan than breeding them in a 

 room, for the Goldfinches are of so mischievous a nature that they are 

 not to be trusted with nests or eggs. My plan is to have partition 

 cages with slides, so that you may run in the Goldfinch to the hen re- 

 quired. By this plan I can work three or four hens. I never think of 

 pairing the Goldfinch with a Canary hen in the same way as I would a 

 pair of Canaries. I put the hens up for Mule-breeding early in May, sup- 

 plying them with boxes or baskets according to fancy, with the requisite 

 builfling materials. The tiens, when they commence building, naturally 

 enough require a mate or Goldfinch being put to them, and this I do 

 every morning while the nests are being constructed, but I never leave 

 the Goldtinches in long, to give tbem the opportunity of either destroying 

 the nests or eggs. Your not having any young birds from the eggs is 

 not the result of breeding in a cage, but of the Goldfinches not having 

 been in proper condition. I never use a yearling Goldfinch, but a two- 

 year-old bird, and I will guarantee if the hen call for a mate, and 

 such an aged finch is in proper condition, that he wUl have success. In 

 my promised remarks on Mule-breeding and Mules, I shall enter more 

 fully into particulars on the subject, and I have DO doubt they will be of 

 service. — G. J. Babnesbt, Derhyy 



POULTRY MARICET.— .January 1.3. 



A DAT or two of dry weather have iufased a little life into the trade 

 It was necessary, and will, we hope, last till the depression that has 

 weighed it down for the last six weeks shall have disappeared. 



