ITO 



JOOBNAL OF HOBIICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAiiDENER. 



( Mai-cb !, 1869. 



The bees lay in heaps on the floorboard, and hung in motion- 

 less clnsters between the frames. Fancying that some bees on 

 the centre comb slightly vibrated their wings, I carried the hiVe 

 ;intoa,wttrm room, and brnshed all the bees adhering to the 

 Icd^kiba and Ijihg on tjie floorboard into apjiarently pu_e lifeless 

 jmasB., A cardfiil examinatioh of each comh:f;iiled tp deteot the 

 (slightest trace of di?ea,EO. I next warmed a little thinisyrnp, and 

 piurejilitonlljie heap, fixing the whole with a spatnW, an^ after- 

 [■wdids' placed |t before the window through *hieH a| bright enn 

 ih^pe|nEd fp be sbinibg. The, hot rays, combined with (ie heat 

 ]ofit)rer<jom, revived tbemass, which seemed at first; sight beyond 

 iieooT( ry. .Asl animatjon returned, the bees licked the sjrup off 

 ]ea«b (|ther, arid id the course of a few hours I was able to return 

 them to Ibeir dwelling with comparatively ftw deatls. By 

 judicious feeding the stock prospered, and on the 7th and Ifith 

 'of'Mly was able to throw off two large swarms. While! write, 

 lit is one of my best stocks, having brood in all stages, and the 

 bees may be seen busily carrying in pollen on every favourable 

 day. As I said, some of its combs have been constantly in use 

 sin^e May, ISOt ; and for anght I know to the contrary they 

 may have done service in Devonshire for years previons to their 

 cdming into my poescssion. Judging from the Experience I 

 *iive bad, I *ouId say that a hive afflicted with foul brood may 

 bnl^ive two summers, but will never see the third. 



' Although the circumstances under which disease is developed 

 are tolerably well known, I believe its causation is as yet very 

 little understood. The origin rfc novo of any epidemic has not 

 jet been decided upon. Whilst I quite believe what Mr, Wood- 

 if)firy has stated, regarding the cases of chilled brood that came 

 i?ii(3fr his notice, I am not sure that they can be regarded as 

 .ecttling the point in dispute. In the tummer, wlien food is 

 ahupdant, or when feeding is resorted to, I thinli that chilled 

 brood even when becoming putrid will ere long be removed by a 

 ^iod Swarm. The great heat that then pervades the hive soon 

 gives such consistency to decaying material in a semi-liquid 

 State, as enables it without much difticulty to be removed by the 

 bees. In this way the putrescent substance may not have had 

 tiiheto generate the poison of disease — atmospheric influences 

 at.that season may not have been favourable. The combs re- 

 ferred to by me as having tainted healtby hives were inserted 

 tV October, and no unusual activity was created by feeding. 

 , (jBefore concluding these remarks, I may mention that every 

 ^Ofllitin my mind as to the truth of the doctrine of partheno- 

 genesis has been removed. Having lately met with drone- 

 Jbr^eding queens, I began to think some stimulus might be 

 Wiitiircdin egg-Iajing, but on the 2Gth of October last, when 

 iiot a drone existed in the neighbourhood, I had a yfiung queen 

 titched. She was never seen to leave the hive, and, indeed, 

 thie weather in November was such as to preclude the possibility 

 of a wedding flight. I am satisfied in regard to the perpetual 

 \ir;;inity of this queen, yet she began to lay eggs in January, 

 And on the 17ih of February young drones were running 

 afltively over the combs. The drones are all being reared in 

 i^orter cells.— E. S. 



,[1 am very glad to learn that the apiary of my esteemed 

 correspondent is now in such perfect health, and have no dis- 

 position whatever to discredit the evidence which he has pro- 

 oiiced in support of his theory regarding the origin of foul 

 brood further than that, as he himself stated at the time, it 

 was still possible that he had been making use of previously- 

 infected combs ; and being al?o aware that his apiary had not 

 always been free from thie fatal scourge, I was and am afraid 

 th»t his experiments can scarcely be admitted as decisive on 

 the point. Although the fact that not one of the many cases 

 ol. chilled hialthij brood which have come under my notice has 

 ever developed into foul brood, proves to demonstration the 

 fallacy of Mr. Lowe's assertions, I am not unmindful of the 

 difficulty, nay, almost the impossibility, of proving a negative, 

 and am, therefore, far from holding it to be conclusive on the 

 debateabio point whether healthy chilled brood may not under 

 v^i^ exceptional circumstances degenerate into actual foul 

 brood. All I'can soy is. that no such case bos ever come under 

 Wy own observation. My valued friend most truly remarks 

 that the origin <Je novo of no epidemic has as yet been decided 

 upon. It is very probable that medical men may entertain 

 abstract theories as to the first causes of smallpox, measles, 

 scBilet fever, rinderpest, &c., who yet if a case of either of these 

 djaeases were actually brought before them, would vmder any 

 ciicumf-tanoes absolutely refuse to refer it to any cause other 

 ilpan infection or contagion. And this, in the absence of more 

 4^pisive evidence than has yet been produced, is still my opinion 

 \^ith regard to foul brood. 



It is also extremely gratifying to me to find that " E. S." 

 has at leijgth tucceeded in obtaining such conclusive evidence 

 as entirely to dispel from his mind the last lingering doubt 

 with rrgard to the truth of parthenogenesis, which may well bo 

 deemed one of the greatest maivel;', if not the very gteatcst 

 marvel, which has yet been discovered in insect l.fel — A Devon- 



sniP.E BEE-KEEfEB.]' ' ' i j ' 



OUR LETTER BOX. j 



CBABACTimsTics' OF GA3IE FowLS (N'yricr Bvd Nc'ir Sulccriher).^ 

 There are four colours admiseiblo for ibo It^s of Giiuie fowls — ^illowj 

 blue, yellow, nnd white All have their partisiua; the willow are thd 

 most popular. You are hardly exploit encugb when y.iu spewk of Grey 

 Game. Arc they Bircbeu Greys? Wo have petn ILem wiiii black legsi 

 No Game fowls can he diequalified for the colour of the legs, provided an 

 in the pen are alilie. Thet-e are, nevertheless, preferences and prejadicefl 

 that f?o for much. White in the ear-lobe is objectionable. A fl^ite tail 

 feather is only admitted in White or Pile coekB. In the dark classes it is 

 a dipfiuaiification. 



Fowls for CoNFniED SpAce (Bampfon Wick'.—Vcesam\ng, from yonr 

 mention of u small avi^.iy, that your fowls are to live in confinement, 

 wo cannot advise DorkinRs. They require a range. Cochins or UrabmaB 

 will do ; we prefer the latter. Either ^7ill l«y well in a small space, but 

 cbickeus want elbow-room. A small space w ill not do for rearing chickena. 

 Any place will do for a hen to tit in, and whore uothijig else offers v^e 

 advise you to buy as many empty butter-firkins ns you will require, have 

 tbera sawn across in half, and the bead knocked out, place them on the 

 cround, put in a little straw on which to put the eggs, and set the hen. 

 The top may be covered with anything. Nothing is better than a basket- 

 lid. A 1-yiug-box is ditferent. " Alt that is required is to put a bead 

 1 inch from the ground, and 12 inches flora the wall. This may be 3 or 

 4 feet loni-', according to the number of birds or the sizo of the house, 

 divided at intervals of 10 inches by pieces of tliin deal board, which can 

 be fn-tened to the Wall. If a little straw is put in these places tho honfe 

 will lay in tbem. In the summer one cook will serve twelve hens. Ybo 

 run little ri.-^k now, as they become more attentive as the weather becomes 

 warmer When your chicKens are hatched wo advise you to put them in 

 the kitchen garden ; they will do well and find food in the sheltcrei 

 spots, and they ^\ill do no real harm. 



Food for Fowls ( ). — We have many limes written that it is im* 



posL-ible fur us to say how moch corn a fowl. Duck, or Pigeon will eat or 

 should eat. \ pint and a half should satisfy any fowl, but r fowl fed on 

 clean ccrn only would soon die. Fowls require grit as a means of 

 digestion, grass as a help to health, insect food for the same purpose, and 

 they find and eat a hntjdred things we neither aee nor know. Without 

 these helps life is almost, and health is quite, impossible. 



Fowls Overfed {J. P.). — Abernethy told a gouty patient the best 

 cure for the disorder was to live on 2.t. "n-flay, and earn it. W*e think so 

 badly rif yonr dietary that we are sure your birds are aoffering neither 

 from fat nor plethora. We are surprised they lay v.-el],but do not wonder 

 the eggs are not good. Our fowls do not care for whole oats. Grind your 

 oats and give them stalled with water. Serve some good heavy barley in 

 the s.Tme way. Feed alternately with each, and by way of change some*- 

 times give a little \\hole maize. If they have no grass run, give them 

 daily sunu- growing sods, cut with plenty of fresh mould on tbem. You 

 will find their health improve, and your eggs will have nothing objection- 

 able either in taste or colour. They are not unwholesome. 



Spanish and Minorca Fowxs {F.A. i?.).— The only essential difference 

 is, that the Spanish must have white faces and earlobcs, and the Minorcas 

 red faces. To breed Spanish you must purchase a cock and hens having 

 the essential characteristics. 



Eeariso Aylesbury Ducra-iNos {J. A'. C. P.).— the ducklings mvat, 

 be kept out of the water, and out of positive cold, but they want no other 

 shelter than that afTorded by an outhouse that is free from draughts. An 

 old pigstye is a good place later in the season, but now we recommend 

 you a more sheltered place than that is usually. Let the young have a 

 shallow Vessel with very little water in it, and some oatmeal, with scrape 

 of bread in it. When they get older put sods of gi-a'^s in it. There is no 

 great difiference in the eggs, save that thoso of the Aylesburya are very 

 large. The shape has nothing to do with them, unless a very old theory 

 be a true one — viz., round eggs are Ducks, and long ones drakes. 



Rain Water for Poultry— Black Hasiburghs (W. C). — Rainwater 

 is said to be bad for fowls, but we do not know wby. for it is pure if not 

 caught from the roof of a bouse in a smoky district. Filtered and 

 exposed to the air for some days it won d even bo rendered harmless. 

 If you get three good birds for the sum you name, they are worth it. ' If 

 they ure had ones, the sam asked is too large. 



POCLTBV-YARD .\BRANGEMENT3 {J. <7.).— We C8U DOW add that VOR 



may start with eighteen or twenty-four fowls, as you inform us they 

 will have the run of a plantati.jn. They phmild be birds of 1^68. Yon 

 must trust those of whom you buy them. An\one can tell the difference 

 between a pullet and an old hen, but it would be impossible to give 

 marks, signs, or data to guide anyone in hazarding a guess at the age of 

 a bird between twelve and twenty months. 



PoRTS-MouTH POULTRY SHOW (H. S, i^'.l.—We are much obligod ty yom- 

 notes, and if, on a future occasion, you will favour us with your com- 

 ments during the week a show is held, we will readily publish them. 



Churn (Clijtofi CotiagcK— Try the American churn, sold at the depr' 

 in Bond Street. You can have it of any size. 



Mites in Stored CoaiBS (E. J. C.).— Wo have often used similar 

 combs and never found that the mites (Acaii), witli which they were in- 

 fested produced any injurious effects on the bees. 



Mange (S/ar).— There is no doubt that your pointer is suffering from 

 one of the many varied forms ^^hich maQf^e absumes. The hair often 

 tnlyat first falls off on the dog's joints. Lower his diet, give him. no, 

 me.'tt, and little meal, but plenty of uiashed potatoes and boiled preens. 

 Give him four grains of blue pill every morning, nnd a dose of castor oil 

 afterwaids. Wash the dog once or twice weekly with aott-eoap and water. 



