Vl8 



JODKNAL OF HOETICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



[ July i!, 1868. 



■ wasting much time and wax in repairs. If this new glass had 

 • only a flat wooden top, and were otherwise improved according 



to the suggestions I have ventured to offer, many of these 

 - difficulties would be removed, and the glass would be all but 



perfect. Will your correspondent, " A Eesfp.ewshike Bee- 

 I KEEPER," kindly state where these glasses can be procured, and 

 '.at what prices ?— E. & W. 



WILL TWO HIVES OF BEES WORK IN THE 

 SAME SUPER? 



■ Place the hives back to back, with a space of, say, 6 inches 

 between. Place on them a super having holes to communicate 

 with each hive through which the queens cannot pass. Divide 

 the box in the middle with perforated zinc, and have the same 

 over the entrance holes. Then first draw away one slide and 

 allow one lot of bees to pass up, then in a day or so let the 

 other bees come up. There then being free communication 

 between the two hives, divided only by the zinc plate, the 

 smell of the one will mingle with the other. After a short time 

 would the bees know the dii3ference in each other? The zinc 



■ plate if stopped up by propolis could easily be exchanged for 

 another, and if the plate were entirely removed, what then ? 



"Would they fight ? Or is the experiment worth trying or no ? 

 The object of this would be, I presume, an immense number of 

 bees at work in the same super. Of course, they would go out 

 of either hive, but always return into their own, I suppose. — X. 

 [The same idea has occurred to us, but we have been deterred 

 from trying it, by the expectation of a quarrel. There is also 

 the risk of regicidal attacks being occasioned by the inter- 

 mixtm'e of the bees of two different hives. We know of an in- 

 stance in which the attempt was made to work a large glazed 

 super by dividing it into four compartments, and admitting 

 into each the bees from the same number of hives. The result 

 was not encouraging, for all would not commence at the same 

 time, so that the work in the different compartments advanced 

 at a very unequal rate, then some of the queens went up, and a 

 large quantity of brood appeared. Finally, one or two colonies 

 swarmed, and declined to continue the work, until in the end 

 the huge super had to be taken off with its contents in a very 

 chaotic condition.] 



TWO QUEENS IX ONE HIVE. 



The following instance of two queens in a hive will probably 

 be of interest. 



Premising that of nine young queens which I have lately 

 raised from a Liguriau imported by Mr. Woodbury the half 

 are remarkably Ught and well marked, and the other of a dark 

 mahogany colour, with hardly a vestige of rings, I may state 

 that having formed a nucleus with two combs, I saw 'on the 

 30th of May two royal cells sealed, the first of them on the 22nd. 

 On the 2nd of June I found a young queen, which I consider 

 to have been hatched May 31st, and very large, remarkably 

 light-coloured, and with the hind extremity very black. 1 did 

 not remark the condition of the royal cells, but put the box 

 into the cellar, according to the receipt of " M. J.," for impreg- 

 nation, and which, I may remark, has in two nuclei on which 

 I have tried it in second-rate weather, proved a failure. 



On June .5th I showed the queen to your correspondent 

 "E. S ," when she appeared very large, but her bright yellow 

 a little dimmed by confinement, as was that of the workers. 

 On the 8th I looked at the queen, and was astonished at the 

 change in her appearance; she was now of a dark mahogany 

 colour, and very slight, which change I ascribed to the confine- 

 ment, which ended three days previously. On the 11th I 

 again saw the queen under the same aspect, and on the 18th 

 observed her entering the hive about noon, the day being calm 

 and cloudless, and remarked that sho had quite recovered her 

 pristine looks and condition. In the evening I looked and 

 found her encased, a great beauty for size and colour, and with 

 the evidences of a recent successlul wedding flight. Dispersing 

 the knot of bees, I shut the box up for about a quarter of an 

 hour, when, looking again, I found her, as I supposed, at 

 liberty ; but, wonderful metamorphosis ! she was now dark, 

 slender, and evidently unimpregnated. Suspecting at last how 

 the matter stood, I examined the other comb, and there was a 

 knot with the yellow queen in the middle of it as before. 



It is evident that in this case two queens inhabited the same 

 box for more than a fortnight in harmony, but when one took 

 a flight, she was received on her return as an alien. Is it not 



possible that this may happen oftener than is suspected ? and 

 that it may account for the manner in which young queens 

 are frequently destroyed on their return from their wedding 

 trips ? In this case I should never have suspected anything 

 had it not been for the remarkable dissimilarity of the two 

 queens ; when first the yellow, and then, perhaps, the dark 

 queen would have been destroyed ; for, as it was, after I had 

 removed the yellow queen, I found tho bees very mutinously 

 disposed towards the other, which I eventually removed and 

 then caged the yellow queen ; but until dark the regicidal 

 furor remained unabated. 



I may remark that I immediately examined all my other 

 young queens, and found them intact, so that the supposition 

 that one of them might have fotmd its way into the hive is 

 excluded ; indeed, there was not any young queen within many 

 yards of the spot. 



For the information of one of your recent correspondents I 

 will observe that I have fitted an adapting board with gratings 

 three-sixteenths of an inch wide to exclude the queen, and that 

 the super is progressing as well as if the passage were free. 

 As an experiment in hastening fertility, I selected a glass 

 unicomb hive with one common Woodbury frame on which a 

 queen was hatched on the twelfth day of its removal from 

 the parent hive, and I fed the very moderate population day 

 and night from the time of the queen's being hatched. They 

 built much comb, and on the ninth day of her life she was 

 rendered fertile. I have never before had a queen so before the 

 fourteenth day. — Apicola. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Gapes in Chickens (G.F.). — If your chickens died from poison they 

 woald not be then as you describe. We believe tbcy die of gapes. There 

 is only one cure for them. No ordinai-y treatment is of a»y service, as 

 it is a purely local disease, and that only ivbich comes in contact with 

 it can be of any service. You must administer pills of camphor, one 

 at a time, and each pill halt the size of a garden pea. These most bo 

 given every eight hours till the bird is relieved. lu slighter cases a cure 

 ia effected by giving the chickens water strongly impregnated with 

 camphor to drink. The diseai^e is caused by small red worms at the end 

 of the windpipe, and these die as soon as the odour of the camphor 

 reaches them. Adult fowls do not surfer from gapes. Chickens are 

 strengthened by having wormwood iu their water. 



Weight of Spanish Fowls— Coubs TrRKiNG Black (H. B. T.). — 

 There is no standard weight for Spanish cocks and hens. They are birds 

 of feather, and should be judged accordingly. It is very likely your birds 

 are approaching the moulting season ; that would account for the appear- 

 ance of the combs. Those of the hens always shrivel up at that time. 

 We look with suspicion when a cock's comb falls over, always fearing lest 

 it should remain so. Feed them well. Let them have their grass ruu as 

 usual. You must not expect their combs to be as florid as in the spring. 



Hen Suffering from Biarrhcea (P.).— Gi\e your hen Baily's pills 

 [ If yon have not them at hand, mix some pounded chalk with hard old 

 strong beer, and give the pills every two hours till she is better. 



Washing Fowls for Eshibition (/ciem)-— You may wash the plumage 

 of any fowls with a sponge and cold water, if very dirty add a little soap. 

 Wipe the feathers the right way, as it is only the outside that is dirty. 

 Put them in a basket with hay to dry ; in the winter before a fire, now in 

 the sun. You may wash them the day before they leave you. 



Brahmas Vcltcre-hocked {Kovice).~li is very rexatious that your 

 birds should come vulture-hocked. You are right; they arc valuable 

 only for the cook. This may occur in spite of every precaution on the 

 part of the seller, as his birds may throw back. The birds that won the 

 cups were not vulture-hocked in all probability. The seller of the eggs 

 will, probably, regret the result as much as you do, and be willing to 

 make compensation by sending you some more eggs, especially selected 

 with a view to prevent a similar result. — B. 



Cockatoo Self-plucked {C. E. S.).— Continue to give your bird a 

 good syringing of water, slightly warmed, two ( r three limes a-day with 

 a watering pot through a tine rose. Give it coif, sopped bread, dry plain 

 biscuits, Indian com, canary seed, and fruit, a pleutiful supply of clean 

 water, and some bread dipped, not soaked, in milk occasionally. If the 

 bird has plucked its feathers any length of time, there is no remedy, we 

 fear, of curing it of the habit of doing so. This answer has been acci- 

 dentally delayed. 



Ground Oats [Verr). — Apply to Mr. Agate, Slaugham Mills, Crawley, 

 Sussex. 



Est.ablishing a Hive {D. TF.).— It is certainly not too late. A trifling 

 expenditure in sugar will in any event set matters right. 



Silkworms' Cocoons [M. l'. J.). — Three hundred are too small a 

 quantity for commercial purchasers, and are only worth 28. or 3s., pro- 

 ducing about I oz. of silk, but if good they might be useful for iiroduction. 

 If you send a sample to Mr. L. Harman, Jan., Old Catton, Norwich, 

 perhaps he will buy them. 



poultry market.— Jcly 1. 



We jire daily getting a larger supply of poultry, and prices are hardly 

 maintained, although, as is usually the case in very hot weather, there 

 is a good demand. 



s d. s d 



Large Fowls 4 to 4 6 



Smaller do S 6 



Chickens 2 2 6 



Goslings 5 6 6 



Pncldings 2 6 3 



Pigeons 8 9 



e. d 



s. d 



Pheasants to 



Partridges 



GuineaFowls 2 



Hares 



Rabbits 1 4 1 6 



WUddo 3 9 



