302 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOUIjTURB A.ND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[lApril », lJB6t. 



Britons, many of which will contrive to spin out their existence 

 even till June, when the whole community in each hive will 

 become one race. Along the range the eye is irresistibly at- 

 tracted to some few in particular — to the strong and powerful — 

 and especially to a splendid Egyptian located in a straw hive 

 of larpe proportions, one which would please even Mr. Petti- 

 grew for dimensions. It is the first and foremost in the whole 

 apiary. Its population is somethiut^ enormous. Even in 

 winter it kept up at intervals a buzzing sound, and nothing 

 seemed to check its onward progress. Its entrance is all ex- 

 citement and bustle, and crowds of foragers are plying their 

 busy work with extraordinary alacrity. 



The bee-keeper isotteusttdly puzzled to account for differences 

 in condition among his stocks in spring. The closing autumn 

 left them, it may be, in circumstances apparently very much 

 alike. Population anrl stores seemed amply sufficient. E^en early 

 in spring no marked difference is visible ; but as trying, testing 

 March (and such a March as last), drags its cold and dreary days 

 along, and when April arrives, we then discover great changes. 

 Here is a hive whose reduced population assumes a lethargic, 

 indolent appearance ; there one equally reduced, but whose 

 activity augurs a more hopeful future. We examine the in- 

 terior, and what do we eee? In the former case wo mayor 

 may not find a queen, but if we do she may be aged or defec- 

 tive, and may not yet have resumed the business of oviposition. 

 In the other case the queen may not be at fault, and it is not 

 unlikely but we may discover two eggs instead of one in many 

 of the cells, showing that her resources are even beyond the 

 requirements of such a limited population. But apart from all 

 contingencies in wintering, or exceptional adverse circumstances 

 accounting for the deoreaee in bees compared with the populous 

 stocks in proximity, there are other causes which have been at 

 work, and to trace which it is often needful to go a great way 

 back in their history. I have, in a former communication, 

 hinted at the immense advantage of having at the close of the 

 season as much of the youthful element as possible in our 

 stocks, and any circumstance which operates against this de- 

 sirable state of affairs is to be carefully avoided. The experienced 

 apiarian will accordingly be enabled pretty correctly to predict 

 the future of a hive by the condition and circumstances in 

 which the closing season finds it. If the population is chiefly 

 made up of aged bees, and especially of bees which have had 

 much work, there is great danger lest a protracted winter or a 

 late spring so thin its population as to bring it under the 

 category of a weak hive. For such a stock an early spring is 

 essentially necessary ; a protracted one is probably its ruin. 



To prove this point, suppose I have some half a dozen ex- 

 perimental hives in my apiary, hives in which I have been 

 rearing queens, though all experiments are hurtful to bees. 

 Well, I join these six into one in autumn. The hive is now 

 immensely populous, and ostensibly it is a first-rate stock for 

 wintering. Not so, however. Its vast numbers are composed 

 chiefly of superannuated, or what will shortly become super- 

 annuated bees. These have been engaged in the work of the 

 season, and all- experts {to use an Americanism) know how 

 short the summer or working life of a bee is. Often have I 

 marked one-fourth of a populous swarm perish, by reason of 

 the various coutingencies to which they are exposed, ere a 

 single bee was hatched, to make up for such a great mortality. 

 Nay, I have noticed the whole brood of a populous hive, which 

 issued from their cradles in July, disappear from the scene in 

 two short months thereafter. August and September-bred 

 bees, however, which have had little or no work, but which 

 enjoy the fruits of their elder sisters' industry, and live in a 

 comparative state of repo.'^e — these live on through winter well, 

 look as fresh and active in spring as young bees, and many of 

 them are permitted to give to the community the benefit of 

 their labours in some cases even till June. 



As a rule, therefore, a thinly-peopled hive at the season's 

 close is to be discarded as a stock hive, as it reveals the fact 

 that the queen has bred few autumn bees. I myself put great 

 value upon a preponderance of the youthful element in hives 

 intended for stocks. These are the hives which, cceteris paribus, 

 lead the van in spring, and give us such bright prospects of 

 future success. Hence the union of condemned stocks in au- 

 tumn, as a general rule, greatly assists in securing this very 

 desirable object. 



Notwithstanding the protracted cold weather we have had in 

 Scotland during March, I still find my own apiary in splendid 

 condition. Young bees are showing themselves in great numbers 

 these fine days, and with a continuance of average weather, the 

 prospects of the season are bright and hopeful.— J. Lowe. ' 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



PttEBERTiNO Egos ( , Thornton-U'Moor).—Tte best method ifl to 



take an earthen bread-pan, pat at the bottom lima and water enough to 

 corer the eggs, and of a consistency to keep them in the position in which 

 they are placed. For the first layer you will mix jupt enough to cover 

 thera entirely, and to present a Bmooth surlace ; as last aa yoa have eggB 

 ready, mix more lime. It ia well to put the eggs in as fresh as possible, 

 and they cnnuot be paclied too closely provided they do not touch. 

 When the pan is full, pour on S'>me slaked lime to fill up, cover thewhole» 

 and put the pan in a cool place. We are now using eggs that were pre- 

 Borved after this method last year, and they are excellent for all cooking 

 purposes, and in the absence of better have sometimes done duty for the 

 new-laid on the breakfast-table, without calling forth remark. 



Shortening Hoddans' Spdrs (Newarfe).— Circulation only extends 

 over a ctrtaiu length of the spur, the remainder is merely horn, and con 

 be cut through without causing suffering or pain. A em ill tine aaw is 

 the bent thing, and when the spurs are oyer-grown and curved, much 

 may bo removed advantageously. We have used for thia purpose a saw 

 made with a watch spring. 



PaevENTiNo POLLETS FROM L&viNa (Black Hamburgh .—There is no 

 method by which a pullet can be prevented from laying when uhe haB 

 begun. If there were, it would not answer your purpose to adopt it. It !■ 

 too late to think of fattening after a pullet has begun layiBif, she is too old 

 and hard, and will not make good or tender meat. If, however, yoa wish to 

 kill, the sooner you do so the better, as she is fatter now tli m she will be 

 again. A pullet is naturally very fat just before she begins laying; as 

 her number of efrgs increases, the fat dimiui^hes. If you kill, fist her 

 twelve hours, and keep her sorne days, she will then eat well. If your 

 hen appears to suffer when laying these double eggs, take one of her tail 

 feathers, dip it in oil, and pass it up the egg-passago, the eiX-i will then be 

 laid easily. It is very likely she will not "continue to lay thom. 



Aylesbdrt Docks' Beaes (J. N. C. P.).— All Aylesbury ducklings have 

 faultless bills when young, and till they are some montba old. The 

 Aylesbury gravel is not necessary to keep them so. Dirty stagnant water, 

 foul ponds, water that runs off or through peat, all have a tt;ndency to 

 spoil bills. Do not let the Ducks have their full liberty whfin young. II 

 possible, give them the advantage of running water. When they are 

 older let them go into graas early in the morning, and aa far as may b^i 

 remove all colouring matter from them. 



Pigeon, &c. (Huddenjield). — How is it possible for ns to give reliable 

 opinions upon such slight statements ? The Pigeon was probably killed 

 by a rat. Try givrng once daily bread steeped in ale to your drooping 

 fowl. 



Newlt-hatchkd Canaries DBSTROtED dv Mice (Harrj/l.—" The miea 

 have killed your birds. I have known them make gre tt havoo in th« 

 bird-room. They will attack sick and weakly birds of ful' growth, I have 

 found thom dead, minus wings and legs, and otherwise sadly mutilated* 

 A friend of mino lost, I think, as many ae ten in a very short time bj 

 their depredations. They will also remove eggs. Only very recently I 

 met with an instance in which au egg was removed from a nest as a 

 precautionary measure, and placed in a email open box on the top of a 

 I cage, to which, unfortunately, the mice had access. Wuere, indeed, do 

 they not find access '.' Next morning it was gone, and two others similarly 

 located disappeared in the same way. They do not seem to care mucb 

 about trusting themselves to the tender mercies of a trap when they can 

 find a supply of seed without risk. It is not easy to destroy them entirely, 

 except by a patient and systematic warfare against them. I have found 

 "Eattle's Vermin-killer" a most effective agent. If you starve them for 

 a night or two by removing, if possible, all food from their rench, and 

 then bait with a little of the food you intend to use as a medium for their 

 destruction, finally giving a supply of poisoned food, the next morning's 

 result will astonish yoa. Though you cannot see how they find their way 

 into the aviary, cau yoa not discover the holes from which they come ? 

 If so, stop up all but one, and clear the floor of all furniture but a box, 

 which place about an inch from the wall. Eater the room with a light, 

 and immediately close their only retreat, when they will every one ran 

 behind the bos, and a gentle squeeze will explain matters to them very 

 effectuilly; this is a most deadly plan. The room from which the eggs 

 mentioned above were stolen was overrun with mice, and it was dia- 

 oovored they came from beneath the floor through various small holes, 

 bat principally from the box containing the sliding winiiow shutters. The 

 holes were stopped, the lid of the shutters leEt open, and a box placed 

 as 1 have described close to the wall. The first night's hunt gave seven- 

 teen, which I Iwas disinclined to believe, till I myself assisted at the 

 massacre of a still greater number. There need be no hurry in the 

 matter. I went round to the ciges with my friend, who boat the mice out 

 of cover from seed boxes and other hidiag places with a little stick, and 

 allowed them to jump on the floor, occasionally by a skilful application 

 of a slipper killing one or two more impertinent than the rest, who put 

 their heads through the wires as if questioniugonr right to disturb ibem. 

 A night or two of this work, and a stray cat introduced beneath the floor 

 nearly exterminated the whole colony. If your aviary ia not a firtur«, 

 can you not place it entirely out of the reach of the mice by hanging 

 it against a baro wall at a height from the ground? Mice can reach 

 strange placei, but there ore liniitB even to their hunting groaada.— 

 W. A, Blakston." 



Gold Fish {Miss 0.).~Thej must be fed. Give them diuly a little raw 

 meat shred fine. 



Grben Graph Vinegar (iTorn).— We are told that IJ lb. of the grapes 

 that are thinned out from the bunches, should be crushed and ailded to 

 1^ lb. of sugar ta each gallon of water, and yeast added to ferment it. 

 Any of our readers who have a proved recipe will oblige by sending it. 



Roman Cement (Cunicuhut). — It is compounded chiefly from an irony 

 clay, found near VesDvias. We know of no artificial imitation of either 

 it or Parker's Cement, which is made from a somewhat similar clay 

 foond in some parts of England. 



POULTRY MARKET.— .Vpril 28. 



There is a sb'ght improTement in trade, and prices are maintained. 

 The weather has been so favonrable for rearing, tbat W6 may sooa look 

 for an increased sxipply of early chickeoe. 



