266 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICDLTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ April 15, 1889. 



labour than we are able to do in Northnmberland, and that 

 there are either systems or districts which produce honey in a 

 much greater quantity than ours. Nay, it appears as if one 

 had only to put on supers, and in a short time exchange empty 

 for fall ones, and thus proceed until the weight is counted by 

 the hundred pounds from one hive in a single summer. Not 

 so with us. Thirty years' experience of my own, and commu- 

 nication with others, giye no record of such results. I know 

 of no bee-keeper who could pay all expenses and declare a 

 good dividend after keeping a ten-years account. Bat we are 

 not professionals, and our system existed long before my day, 

 and has since been followed with very little alteration. 



My first practice was to " eke," as we call it, by placing a 

 hive on a rim of straw, 3 or 4 inches deep, of the same dia- 

 meter as the hive, or on a wooden box, with a board ou the top, 

 and holes to let the bees down through the latter. This was 

 intended to be taken off in the autumn, when it was very often 

 full of young bees, and sometimes the queen went with it, and 

 the hive was left to die. Many of us now adopt what we call 

 a " dandy," or little skep, on the tops both of wood and 

 straw hives. This, I expect, is supering. A chance glass hive 

 is sometimes to be seen, and a fancy hive here and there, but 

 I only intend to describe our usual system and its produce. 

 Our skeps are mostly straw, though wood is coming into use, 

 eked or " dandled " as above. As it is now spring I will com- 

 mence with the season. We feed early, as our judgment or 

 impulse directs. In May we strip off the winter coats and 

 widen the hives' months ; there is nothing else to be done now 

 but to look out for swarms. Well, if we get one in May, that 

 is early ; " a hive in May is worth a fother of hay." June is 

 our swarming month, but swarming is often continued into 

 July. Sometimes we super an old hive to obtain honey in- 

 stead of swarms, but it seldom answers. Sometimes we keep 

 a hive back thus, and take it with great hopes to the moors ; 

 but, lo ! it swarms, the swarm is lost, and the hive, half lull of 

 drones, is scarcely worth bringing home. During summer, as 

 the swarms fill their hives —that is, top swarms, we put on dan- 

 dies. These we never change till moor time. Then word comes 

 that the heather is nearly ready. We prepare by looking out 

 for a conveyance, the day is fixed, the full dandies are taken off, 

 empties put on ; old hives and afteroasts need none. Well, it is a 

 lair season, what have we obtained ? Every fifth dandy has 

 14 lbs. in it, and all other weights down to nothing are found in 

 the rest. Capital combs, a little broken, honey running out of 

 ensealed combs — not many stings. Come, the bees are all in ; 

 bring nails, tacks, cord, packing for holes, and zinc for venti- 

 lation, &c. All being right and tied down safely, at midnight 

 we are off twelve or fifteen miles to the stand on the moors. 

 Here we are, the sun is rising ; all set, let them out. All dry, 

 not a spoilt hive. 



In a few weeks' time the heather is done, we have our bees 

 home — an average season ; the old hives will keep with a 

 little help in the spring ; the attercasts up to 35 lbs. ; the dandies 

 oS top swarms average 14 lbs., a chance one up to 20 lbs. 

 Some of the hives must go to the brimstone pit to help ex- 

 penses. What are the expenses for a dozen hives ? Twelve 

 skeps, twelve barrels, twelve ekes. Oh ! but these will last for 

 years, but the next outlay is repeated every year. Horse hire, 

 conveyance, and two men two days to the moors and back, 

 gates, refreshments for men and horses, a shilling a-stand to 

 the shepherd, tacks, &c. I will cot put all this into cash 

 for fear the balance be against me, and I drop the fancy, leav- 

 ing the reader to cast my accounts on his own terms ; but I 

 doubt I can afford to give the bees more than an average ad- 

 vantage. There is little more to do now, we hope for a 

 favourable winter, and our season is over. — Geo. Wilson, 

 Whaltoii. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Fowls for a Cold District (G.). — Spnnisb are not only unfit for snch 

 a ran as yoa describe, but they are not fowls to be batched early. We 

 hatch none before tbe beginning of April, and we prefer May. If you 

 want to rear enrly poultry, and to bave all the year round a good supply of 

 useful egpB and table fowls, keep the Brahma Pootra. Spanish fowls 

 feather with difficulty in favourable weather; in bad weather they do not 

 leather at all. 



Bi^CK East Indian Ducks (J. W. T7.).— Itis not a characteristic of 

 the breed to lay seldom; they usually lay freely. The Duck has laid 

 somewhere else, or she drops her eggs in the water. Have her watched. 

 " AiH-FiLLED TcMOUR (J. S.). — We havo had tbe same tumour formed 

 lioth in Spanish and Cochin-China fowls. It arises from an accidental 

 introductiiin of air between the skin and the flesh. Tour treatment by 

 lancing the tumour was judicious. We nre sorry to tell you we have 

 ji^waye fooud the operation give only temporary relief. 



Turkeys with Clasped Toes (A, Wynne).~Tt is a cramp, and ariscB 

 either from cold damp soil, or from roosting on a boarded, bricked, or 

 btone floor. If they do, remove them, pive them strong beer freely, 

 and coop the hen out in tbe sun. Do not let them go out in tbe grass 

 at daybreak ; the slight frost and heavy dew are both too much for 

 them. 



Cochin-China Bantams (Old Siibscribrr).~Cochm Bantams are exhi- 

 bited every autumn. They are rather smaller than other Bantams, and 

 we admire them much. We know of no eggs for sale. Those who have 

 the birds ask large prices for them, 



Spanish Hens (IP. D. S.).— Spanish hens do not lav early, but they 

 keep on well when they begin. Tbe weather has been t'ill now unfavour- 

 able. We make no doubt you will have eggs before you read this. Fowls 

 do not require salt. You cannot tell tLeir exact age. We consider Dork- 

 ings and Erahmas preferable to Dorkings and Cochins. The Brahma is 

 a better table fowl than tbe Cochin. 



Vent Protrcding (E. F. S.).— Brahma hens often have this unplea- 

 sant appearance. It can generally be found by pressing with the finger 

 whether it be solid or merely a sac containing' matter. If the latter, it 

 may be opened without ri&k, but from the outside. If solid it will be 

 reduced by the application of iodine. It has nothing to do with diarrhcea. 

 You will do well to cut off the feathers round the swelling. 



Cockerels and Pullets {J. N. C. P.'.— It is better to separate birds 

 that are intended to be winners at an exhibition ; both cocks and pnlletB 

 will grow better and larger lor it. They will not pine. Tbe birds intended 

 to be shown together should be put together three weeks before they are 

 shown, otherwise they will probably spoil each other. Beer is better 

 than water ; it must be given in the winter for seven or eight weekB, in 

 the summer for three or four. 



Poultry Company (Subscriber).— It failed, and so did the mode of 

 managemtnt. 



Eggs Sent Unprep.aid For (Ashton <£■ Booth).— You have no remedy 

 except in tbe County Court; and before you incur any expense, you had 

 better ascertain whether you have been swindled. 



Entry Fees at Poultry Shows (J. W. C). — At some shows the entry 

 fee.s are too high, and might be lowered to the advantage of all parties, 

 but low entry fees would soon extinguifaL a poultry &huw. There would 

 be more entries, and consequently more pens and more food to be pro- 

 vided. 



Dear's Poultry Food [R. F., ajid others).— We can give no opinion 

 about it. Mr. Dear should advertise it and state testmionials. 



Eggs of Spanish Fowls (IT. H. 5. .—Advertise them in this Journal. 

 Six slillings for nine, including packai:;e, would be enough, as the 

 parents, though pure, are not known as prizetakers. 

 Asphalt Wales {L. 3/.).— They are in no way injurious to poultry. 

 TuRBiT Pigeon Diseased (T. IF. £.).— You do not tell us quite enough 

 but as yon mention there being a disagreeable smell about your bird, we 

 suppose it has canker. Open its mouth, and you will probably find a 

 nasty mass, which you can remove with a thin piece of wood, and then 

 apply caustic to the place. Or apply a strong solution uf alum and water 

 with a feather twice a-day ; this, perhaps, may dry up tbe lump and cure 

 tbe disease, which is. in fact, a putrid sore throat. If the disease be only 

 diarrhoea, put down the bird's throat a lump of chalk the size of a bean 

 three times a-day. Remove the clotted feathers from the vent. 



Damp Pigeon Loft (A Constant Ii4:ader). —Yon do not mention it, bat 

 wc suppose your birds have their libt i*ty, or at any rate fly out intoa 

 win-d aviary. Bricks make a bad floor, and in your case the drainage ia 

 doubtless bad. Take up the bricks, well drain the ground, and lay down 

 boards ; for years we have never put on the floor either sand or gravel, 

 still less sawdust— all these make dust and retain damp. W'e scrape 

 the floor every morning, thiin sweep it : hence the birds' feathers are 

 never fouled. Gravel, old mortar, loam, and salt we keep in a large pan, 

 and we never have had illness in our loft for the last ten years. A dry 

 floor and top ventilation are best for every reason ; we believe also that 

 stone and bricks are both too cold for Pigeons to rest on. 



E3G-EATING CANARIES fC. A. J.)-— " Hftvc you read Brent's 'Canary 

 and British Finches,' published nt the office of this Joui-nal V It might 

 be the sort of vade-mecum you require. Egg-eating is a most i^isagreeable 

 trait in the character of a Canary. I am afraid there is no cure for it. I 

 have heard legends of eggs duly tilled with cayenne pepper and other pun- 

 gent anti-egg-eating compounds ; but when a hen eats both the shell and 

 its irritating contents, which she will do, what is to be done? A breeder 

 here, who is in some respects an eecsntric character, s-ys, 'Take the 

 hen out and clash her a gainst the back of the cage two or three times, and 

 she will not eatlany more eggs.' It is h glily probable it would stop her eating 

 altogether, and no great loss. Such birds are the fly in our pot of ointment. 

 If she is valuable and you are anxious to save her eggs, taVe them away 

 and put them under another hen. If you are uncertain whether she or 

 the cock is the delinquent, give them an egg to experiment on, and notice 

 which is the offender. In either case you can easily save the eggs by 

 doing as I have said ; but if you do not value tbe hen, give her away. I do 

 not know the cause of this most unnatural propensity. It is fortunately 

 comparatively rate. The 'bortest cure will be to do as in toothache, have 

 it out. The vexation attending the constant repetition of the ofl'ence is 

 not a proper companion fur the bird room, neither is the cannibal bird. 

 If the asthmatic cock continue to fill his eggs, go on with him. A little 

 bread and milk occasionally is an excellent diet for him. He will most 

 likely die at the moulting season. — W. A. Blakston." 



Various (0. I. C.).— Keep an Aldermy cow; have half an acre of your 

 field in grass, and on tbe other quarter of an acre grow mangold wur^el 

 and cattle cabbages. You cannot keep pigs on vegetable marrows. For 

 the eggs you mention apply to any of tl e well-known breeders who adver- 

 tise in our Journal ; they will tell you the prices if you write to them. 



Centrifugal Honey-extracting Machine ( ).— This machine is 



a German invention, bv means of which honey can be extracted from 

 the combs without injnjing them, so that the same combs mav be filled 

 I and refilled several times in one season, thus greatly economieing the 

 time of the bees and the material (honey), from which was is secreted, 

 and, of course, vastly increasing the hooey harvest from moveable-comb 

 hive's. It was figured and fully described by Mr. Woodbury, in No. 378 

 1 of our Kew Series. 



