July 2, 18«8. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUKB AND COTTAGE OABDENEB. 



17 



" A FonKiGNER," aa a rigeon -fancier, takes a different view 

 from myself, an English fancier. The fact is, we view the 

 subject from dillorcnt points of night, for from all I have read 

 or heard, Pigeon opinions on the continent are very different 

 from ours in England. The old writers called the Pouter the 

 English Pouter, and they might have pr.'tixed the word English 

 to other varieties ; the continental Tumbler, for in.stunce, was 

 always different from our JOnglish bird 



To mark the differences now-a-days 1 will quote the descrip- 

 tion given of " The Hamburgh Pigeon Show " in our Journal 

 of August 'i'.Hb, 1H(!7. There I read, " The Carriers were very 

 poor indeed in quality, but an improvement on the German 

 idea of them a few years since," and " the Pouters, according 

 to German ideas, were all that could be desired. In my eyes 

 the true English Pouter was very badly represented." " The 

 Tumblers, according to English ideas, resolved themselves to 

 two pairs !" " Of Barbs much cannot be said." " Turbits 

 were awfully low in quality," and so throughout. Nations 

 differ in opinion, and it is right they should ; national feelings 

 vary, well they may, and may they always ; it would, indeed, 

 be a dull world if every nation were exactly like every other 

 nation. Further, at the end of the article I have quoted is an 

 account of forty thousand visitors who met to see two or three 

 hundred Antwerps tossed off; in England the men would not 

 have been nearly as numerous as the birds. Then mark the 

 conclusion, " The attractions of the Pigeons seemed immense, 

 and in many a group of some half dozen staid-looking men 

 one would have imagined that the fate of kingdoms was being 

 discussed, rather than the produce of some particular bird." 



All this would not have happened in England. We love in 

 poultry and Pigeons to breed pet birds with Sue and remarkable 

 points and properties. We delight to reach a certain difficult 

 standard of merit in marking and colours, and only a small 

 class of fauciers care for plain-looking but sharp-flying birds. 



I am sorry I cannot recede in any way from what I have 

 said. I have kept Antwerps, and did not find them as interest- 

 ing, from my point of view, as other varieties. Two years 

 since I saw the Birmingham Show, and think with " J. I. B." 

 that "some Antwerps were little better that Blue Rocks." I 

 am also happy to agree with the author of " Pigeons," where 

 he says, page 82, '• Antwerps often have a class given to them 

 at the poultry and Pigeon shows ; a very absurd arrangement, 

 as they have no qualities that can afford any criteria for a 

 judge to decide upon in a show pen." These words are stronger 

 than mine. Again, this writer says, page 83, " Speed and en- 

 durance are the objects to be attained, and colour is altogether 

 disregarded, another proof, if any were wanting, of the ab- 

 surdity of offering a prize for a pair of well-matched Antwerps 

 in a show pen, a prize which is generally given to a pair of 

 birds that would never be seen again if let out fifty miles from 

 home." 



The right way would be to exhibit Antwerps that had per- 

 formed very long journeys, these performances being duly cer- 

 tified and authenticated, not merely the written word of the 

 owner; then, being sure they had done a great feat, they 

 would be regarded with great interest, and would deservedly 

 have much notice. But as a fancy bird I cannot for one mo- 

 ment place the Antwerp on the same level with the very grace- 

 ful, striking-looking English Dragoon, a bird which merits 

 much care and pains, and without which it cannot be bred to 

 perfection. " A Foreigner" is quite entitled to his view, and 

 so also is an English fancier. — Wiltshire Rector. 



P.S. — I see Eaton says of Antwerps, " The more ugly they 

 are the better they perform their work — that is, of flying." 

 Ugliness is an unfortunate qualification for a show pen, unless 

 the admirers of Antwerps regard them as a man who had an 

 extraordinarily ugly wife did bis spouse, for he said, " I am 

 very proud of her ; no man has such an ugly wife, and there- 

 fore she is unique. Oh ! I am very proud of her." — W. R. 



EARLY DRONE SLAUGHTER. 

 Upon looking at my bees on .Tune 23rd, at noon, I noticed 

 that in one of my hives, a Woodbury nine-bar and frame hive 

 all glass, placed inside a summer house, the bees were killing 

 the drones. The hive has not yet swarmed, but is very strong 

 both in bees and honey. For several days I have seen the 

 queen U| oi the top of the bars inside, surrounded by her at- 

 tendants ; she will stay about half an hour at a time and then 

 go down again, and perhaps in an hour or two will re-appear. 

 Can you tell me the cause of the drones being killed so early ? 

 The queen looks well and lively, not languid or slow in her 



movements. The bees hang out in thousands at the front of 

 the hive, but still she does not seem inclined to lead them off. 

 I passed last winter with fifteen stocks and did not lose one. I 

 have had several swarms, but none before May Slat. — A South 

 L.\scAsniuE Bee-keei'ER. 



[This somewhat premature massaore of drones arises from 

 the recent break-up of fine weather putting a stop to the 

 honey-harvest, and indicates that however populous the hive 

 maybe it is not likely to swarm naturally. Kvery available 

 cell being, doubtless, filled either with brood, honey, or pollen, 

 the queen's occupation is for the present gone, and she, there- 

 fore, idles much of her time at the top of the hive. The true 

 remedy for this unsatisfactory state of things is to make an 

 artificial swarm, which we should do immediately in the 

 manner described by Mr. Woodbury, in page 80 of " The Gar- 

 dener's Almanack " for 1868. The swarm should, of course, 

 be fed it the weather is unpropitious, in order to enable it to 

 proceed with comb-building.] 



A BEE DISASTER. 



'• By other's faults wise men correct their own." I think I 

 remember this proverb being on my copy slip long, long ago, 

 and it is in the hope that others may profit by my woeful ex- 

 perience that I send you the account of to-day's disaster. I 

 took a pin swjirm of Ligurian bees last September, after it 

 had been in the rain all night, hived it in the only hive at 

 hand, a rotten old affair, brought it home, added two or three 

 (I forget which) common swarms to it, fed them to the amount 

 of 25 lbs. of food during the winter, and had the pleasure of 

 seeing them thrive to my heart's content. 



When this unlucky day, June 13th, 1 attempted to drive an 

 artificial swarm — the bees had been hanging out for days, and 

 as I was obliged to go from home, I feared they would swarm, 

 and go off in my absence — so I turned up the rotten old hive, 

 when down fell all the precious combs full to overflowing with 

 honey, brood, and bee bread. The hive was so tender that the 

 pressure I used in attempting to invert it, though 1 thought I 

 was most careful, was too great, and a confused mass of bees, 

 combs, and honey, was all that remained of my so lately pros- 

 perous colony. No words can describe my distress. I have 

 packed up as much as I can, and placed it in a super, in the 

 forlorn hope that the bees may rally round it. If you can 

 advise me what to do, I shall be grateful ; if not, publish this to 

 warn others against a like disappointment. — An Unfortunate 

 Bee-keeper. 



[We fear that this is a hopeless case. The probability ia, 

 that the combs had become attached to the floor-board, and 

 that the catastrophe might have been averted by the use of a 

 moveable floor-hoard which could have been inverted with the 

 hive.] 



BEE GLASSES. 



My attention has been directed to the very admirable sketch 

 of a glass of honey which was given in your Journal for June 

 4th. With a little further improvement this glass would prove 

 a great acquisition. First of all, supposing that the hole of 

 communication by which the bees enter from the hive below is 

 at the base of the glass, as it stands in the engiaviug, and that 

 the upper part is quite open, would it not be better for the top 

 to rest upon, and not within the marginal rim, as it appears to 

 do in the engraving? Methinks, too, it would be better made 

 of wood than of glass, in which case the bees would make their 

 combs adhere to it, and we should nut, as now, see the bees 

 constantly obliged to repair their labours, when the comb 

 breaks down from its own weight, and from the difficulty of 

 making it adhere to the glass. 



Then, I should like to know how the bottom hole 3 inches in 

 diameter is closed, so as to prevent the honey from oozing out 

 when on the breakfast-table, which without some sort of stopper 

 it will certainly do, as soon as the comb begins to be eaten. A 

 cork would probably suffice, but then some allowance must be 

 made in the stand below for the recepii' n of the projecting 

 part. But for some arrangement of this kiod the glass, how- 

 ever beautiful as " a drawing-room ornament," will be practi- 

 cally useless where it is most wanted, "on the breakfast-table." 



I have long given up glasses as odjuncts to ny apiary, find- 

 ing practically that those in common use are on extravagance. 

 Often the bees will not work in them, and when tbey do, the 

 industrious insects are constantly baffled by the difficulties 

 they meet with in constructing and securing their combs, 



