418 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIOULTUEB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



I Jane 17. 1869. 



we have the pleaenre to state, that on fall examination of the 

 colony referrett to, we do not find that it is pnff.riDg from foul 

 brood. — Geo. Neioheouk & Sons, 149, Regent Street, London. 



VAGARIES OP AN ITALIAN QUEEN. 



Some of jour readers who are fond of bees may be interested 

 by hearing about iho fiogular oonduot ot a Linurian queen, in 

 the apiary of M. Falcon, E-q , Staioburn, Woikington. 



The qnenn in question led off a swarm on the Slst of May, 

 which settled in two ditisions, one of them being rather 

 Bcattered, Ihe olher compact but apparently smaller in num- 

 ber. The former divibiou was hived first, in a common hive, 

 bnt before ibe second could be joined to them they had all fled. 

 There remtined, then, only a small swarm, and it was placed 

 in a Woodhury barand-trame hive quite empty. On the third 

 day it was fed, and ibe syrup was taken rearii y. On the fourth 

 day the queen was seen outside the hive by Mr. Falcon and 

 his gardener at the same time. TOey saw her take flight and 

 return, and enter the hive after a short time. On hearing the 

 above, I must confess to having couBiderable anxiety about the 

 safety of tbt queen. I lilted out all the frames and carefully 

 examined tbe four pieces of new white worker comb, hut I am 

 certain there was no trace of queenly operations in the form 

 of eggs or gruh^i. I then felt all but certain that the queen 

 had come to grief. I gave directions for liberal feeding, how- 

 ever, and examined the hive again with care on the eleventh 

 day after swarming. On the last frame I lifted I found not 

 more than bull a dozen eggs ; but to see one only was an im- 

 mense relief to me. There was pollen in several of the cells, 

 and the small swarm seemed to be making the best of their 

 numbers. I afterwards found the queen, and this settled all 

 donbt as to her safBty. As an encouragement to her, I put in 

 a frame of ripe brood from another hive, and do not intend to 

 open this hive for a week. 



It would be interesting to hear tbe opinions of some of your 

 readers on the above. What was the queen doing out of the 

 hive at all ? How is her conduct to be explained, as contrasted 

 with that ot most queens similarly situated ? I have only to 

 add that a quarter ol an hour was allowed after swarming 

 before any attempt was made to hive them.— E. B., Broughton 

 Vicarage. 



[Tbe queen was urqnestionably a virgin, and left the hive 

 to mate with a drone in the nsual manner.] 



OUR, LETTER BOX. 



Golden Pheasant's Eggs (E. B.).— We know ol no place wliere yon 

 can Bell your Golden Phensatit'a eggs, unless it be at Stevens's, iu King 

 Street, Cnvent Gurdea. We think they would peil in baskets of one 

 doeen. We cannoc uveu guess nt the price they will make. 



Hen Sitting OvtR-TiME ( Subscriber). — There is no donbt the hen 

 will ait her fall time, ulthough for ten days you coqM not place eggs 

 under her. It ia common for a hen to sit better after having been a few 

 days on dumb eggs. Wh< n we have eny wo are anxious ubont, we never 

 put them uiifiei- a hen till ^e have ascertained sne is a good and close 

 sitter. We h;ive knowu a ben that had beea put on bad eggs, sit cl<^Bcly 

 after the egyn hart burst under her, and had produced maggots that were 

 eating into her breaet. 



TwiHi.9 IN Fowls (T7. S. D.).— What y'>n call "twirls" is giddiness, 

 threatening npopl xy. The fowls are tTobably ton fat. Give them less 

 nourishing food ; chiifly mnshed yotatoeean'l abondauce of lettuce leaves. 

 Purchasing (IF., //nlf/ai).— The Editors flan Lot reply privately. The 

 carriage of e|,vs "nd fnvfis is paid by the purchaswr nnl«-BB the contrary is 

 agreed up^n prt viotihly. We nevtr purcbuee birds that have not been 

 seen either bv durmlves or a friend od whose judgmtnt we rely ; and we 

 never send liiid-<to be n-turned if not liked unltiBt* ne have Ihe money 

 sent previnu-'ly. or a satisfactory r f rence. The he^t course for both 

 vendor and iutendiug purchaser, is for ibe Ialt«.rto peud a post-oflSce 

 order to the veufli>r. payable ten davs after d.ite. payment of which can 

 be stopped if nt-edod " Tue Poultrv-ki eper's Manual," with coloured 

 plates is 7«, 6tl. ; *" Poultry Book for ihe Many " ib 6d. They can be had 

 at oar office. 



Flying Tdmblers f AdolphiL9).~'We think the time that Tumblers are 

 said to keep. in the wing h.is been mucu exnggt-nited. Our experience 

 agrees with yours. Th hmgost flii^ht naturally fallows the longest time 

 of confinement. Very absurd sluries, ^o we h>ve deemed them, have 

 been told by per&onn tn ui of the prolonged flight of their Tumbler^t. 

 One old man. too old to speak no wide of the truth, gravely informed na 

 his birds kept up all niglit aud he could Bee them when they crossed the 

 moon I Mix peas with the other foud, 



Pabbot Plucking Itself {A Subscriber). — Irritability, and a desire to 

 pluok out tbe fi-athers are occasioned by giviue Parrots animal food, 

 most probably a bone in pick. This should never be done ; it is altogether 

 unnatural lo tliciu, as they are purely grain-catii.g and fruit-eating birds. 

 Apply once a-day to l)ie body of yunr bird a, loticn njade of common salt 

 dissolved in spring water, and give it nothing but bread and milk for 

 some time. 



Stbayed Swabm (G. r).— If you oan prove that, the ewarm of bees 

 which flesv into an unoccupied gaudea about 10 yards came from your 



hive, your neighbour who has no bees of his own. who took thera and 

 refuses to give them up, can be compelled, and -^ught to he compelled, 

 to Rive them up. Confiulta soliciter, and sue your neighbour in tbe coonty 

 Court. 



Bees not Entering a Super (H TT.).— There isnnthincextrnordinary 

 in stocks of bee^ refusing to work in supers after they buve pwarmed, 

 B'uoc it is but seldom that they will do so If you mean that you put on 

 supers before they swarmed, and that th^y refu'^ed to t ike poHHea«ion of 

 thera, it is only the experience of mnny others who h"ve fi>unf1 it fq'ially 

 difficult to induce bees to accept supern The u^e of ful'-sized guide- 

 cnmbs filled with either liquid honey or dimple syrup, is pethnpa the most 

 probable way of overcoming (his reluctance, and when a stock has 

 Bwarmed, it is better to transfer the super from the etock hivo to tbe 

 swarm. 



Strengthening Second Swarms {T. B. H.).— If yr.u attain the art of 

 •' driving." and practise it instead of stupefiing the bees, your n'Mn will 

 answer admirably. Refer to Mr. Woodbury's articles nn uiilising and 

 uniting condemned bees, which appeared in N'o'^. 3'>6. 857. 85-. «nd 869, 

 nnd carry out the instructions therein given. Your swarms weighing over 

 7 lbs. are remarktbly large. The fram^-s are evidently ton large for their 

 b xo, as there i-hould be a space of from a quwrter to t' ree-ei'jlitha of 

 an inch between them and any part ot the hive. We fear, thtrefote, yon 

 will have to put them into larger boxes. 



Vauious {BnDitchfd).—As the bees of a swurm rapidly diminish in 

 nnmbf-rs during tbe first three weeks after liivin;?, voura will n"t now 

 require tbe eke. If the queen at first laid pqgs ia the puper th-'se will 

 rapidly batch out, and the seat of breedina will be transferred tu ibe hive, 

 so that in a few weeks' time yon will probnbly find it free from broiMi and 

 the combs filled with honey, but somewhat dwrkened wliere tbe brood 

 has been. The bees in the Stewnrton bive have n-it d^ne w^-H. and we 

 shou'd be obliged if "A RENPREWsHihE B^.e-keep^r " wou'd fnvnur as 

 with his opinion as to the best moans ofroiuvigo^ating them. Tbe expul- 

 sion of the two (jrubs which had probably heeome chilled is of no im- 

 portance. We ftill consider the Ligurian variety superio' to the common 

 honey bee; and if you write to T.Woodbury, Esq., Mount K»df rd, Eseter, 

 he will furnish you with particulars regarding them, i T. H. B.) —1. The 

 probable cause of tbe be vs desertina their hive was the dea'h of their 

 queen at a time when tbe absence of worker egss or brood of a suitable 

 age rendered them unable to supply her loss. This misfi>rtunp may very 

 probably have arisen from n.atural causes over which you coild h ive no 

 control ; or it may possibly have been brought about by a predat' ry nttack 

 by the inhabitfints of the hive with which they ultimately fraternised. 

 In the latter case you may have indirectly contributed to tb^ catastrophe, 

 if yon placed the two stocks near together. 2, It is verv d fflcult to trans- 

 fer new combs, as they are too soft to sustain the weight of tb- ir own 

 contents when their natural supports have been removed. Be'ter defer 

 tbe transfer until the hive become populous next spring, sny in April or 

 May, according to the season. In the meantime you will have th» beaeflt 

 of the instructions promised by Mr. Woodbury on this very point 3, As 

 you appear to have succeeded, you were crttiioly not nlto'^'ctber wrong 

 in your treatment of the chilled and exhausted c.ipt. Had you, however, 

 in the first place merely sprinkled them pretty liberally with simple syrup 

 it would have saved you much trouble, and would prob'i bly hnve nn'*wered 

 every pnr[)09e. We also advife simple eyrup made with lump i^ugir for 

 feeding, instead of giving beer. Put i> lbs of 8ii«.'.r to 2 lbs of watiir, and 

 boil a minute or two. 4, Yon may reduce Mr. Woodbury's iuRtruct tms to 

 practice as soon as they appear, by transferring the bees and tombs of 

 your old stock. 



Dropsy {E. WalpoU,jun.).—'^OTiT description leaves no doubt whatever 

 that the disease is what Mr. Woodbury hai hypotbelica'ly denominated 

 "dropsy." His mode r>t curing it is first to look over tlie corn's, and 

 Laving captured tbe queen to place her ia safety in some way ; ih'-n re- 

 move the hive, vuttin;,' an empty one in its place, nnd, sprf>^ding a cloth 

 upon the ground, lift out all the frames in succf-ssinu, bru-*hing ofi" every 

 bee upon the cloth, and put the comba Into the pr-vio"sly t-mp'y hive, 

 finally introducing the queen at the top. Obviouslv immaturrt hl^*^a may 

 he picked up and returned to the hive, but no adult bee should bo per- 

 mitted arcess lo it which cannot roach it by means of her wings. In this 

 way all unhealthy bees are eliminated, and the disease is at once ended. 

 The middle of a fine warm day must he selected for the operition If the 

 stock is extremely weak it may be streuythened by the very grtdaal 

 addition of ripe brood combs from other hives. If it bo lo'> far goae for 

 this mode of cure, it only remains to put the Italian queen at tbe bead <rf 

 a colony of black bees. 



LiouRiAN Bees {A Bee-l-eeper).—^. Woodbnry, E-^q.. Mount Kadford, 

 Exettr, can give you the information you seek. 



Dead Bees (''. Tr.).~The probability is. thU tha cmmnnicafion with 

 one or other of the supers (possibly with both), i^ tO'i r.stric'cd, nnd that 

 the mortality among your bees arises from their not b-ing >ib'c t't find 

 their w.-ty out. They may even, to aomo extent, h'ive br-uubt th'^ evU 

 upon themselves by" the manner in which tbey have C'Hi'-triict--d their 

 com'is. We have known thousands of bees die in a super in this manner 

 before tbe cause of the mischief was dis^covered. 



Lactometer (North Eaut Norfolk).— Yon cm obtain it from M-'Ssrs. 

 Negrelti & Zambra, of H.atton Garden, London. Tlie principle i-f the 

 instrument is. that if new milk is poured into gbisa tubes and at'nwed to 

 remain, the division between tho cream, which Ilo its untm the surfioe of 

 the milk, will be so evident that its depth may be eitsily measured ; and 

 should the milk from any cow produce more crr-am than that of 'nother, 

 the difference will by seen by tho divisions or marks on tho gins* tubes. 

 The lactometer oonsists of four or five gla^s tube-^. abnut half wn inch 

 diameter, and 11 inches long, fitted into nn np-ight mabog<ny frame; 

 each tube having a fine line drawn round it, 10 inches Irom the bottom; 

 3 inches from the line downwards, it is graduated into mchps nnd tt^ntfas 

 of inches. At milking time, each tube is to b^* fiH^d up to the me with 

 new milk. After standing twelve hours, the qumtity of cream which 

 floats upon tbe surface is shown by the scale of inches and t-^nths ; each 

 division will therefore represent one per ceut. of the whole. If th»* milk 

 given by a cow at one meal is one gallon, or eight pints, and the thirkness 

 or depth of the cream which floats upon it measures fourte n divisions, 

 multiply the number of pints, y, by the depth of the cre;im. 14 ; the result 

 will be'that the produce of the cream of that mesl is 12. orl.i2 pint. 

 Care must be taken to fill these tubes as soon as the pail is taken from 

 under the cow, for if any delay takes place, some of the cream will have 

 ascended towards the tup. The milk should be taken from the mid-Ue of 

 the pail, which is to be done by dipping a cream pot below the froth, 



