86 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



[ July SO, 1868. 



they will go, sometimea three nr four times a-day, walk about 

 with their former companions, Imt never going into the old pen, 

 and then return. — A Foreignjsu. 



QUERIES AND ANSWERS ABOUT CANARIES. 



1. I HAD a pair of Canaries together last mouth, but for certain 

 reasons I took away the cock, on say Monday morning, and put 

 a new mate in the side compartment of the breeding cage. 

 The next morning I withdrew a wire, and he passed through 

 to the hen, who received him very spitefully, but he soon 

 thrashed her into submission, and in two or three days she 

 built her nest, and the morning following laid her first e^g. 

 She laid four in all, and hatched out three young ones. Two 

 died, and the survivor so closely resembles the first mate that 

 was removed, that I want to know if it is possible he could be 

 its father. 



[Quite possible. The fact of her resisting the overtures of 

 the second cock seems to favour this conclusion.] 



2. A hen lays soft eggs ; she is fed as usual on rape and canary 

 seeds. Please state cause and cure. 



[The absence of a supply of chalk or lime. Give her a piece 

 of old hme rubbish to nibble at, and strew some at the bottom 

 of the cage.] 



3. A young Canary does not put its hind claws round the 

 perch, but they stick out and up in front. Is this a de- 

 formity 1 What could cause it, and what cure it ? 



[It is a natural deformity ; a freak of Nature, and incurable.] 



4. What are the exact measurements of the nest box ? 

 [Mr. Blakstou's are 3 inches square inside, and Ij inch 



P-] 



5. What is the proper food for young birds? and when do 

 they begin to feed themselves on hard food ? 



[Crushed hemp seed and hard boiled egg mixed, or take a 

 slice of stale bread, soak in cold water, and squeeze nearly dry, 

 which substitute for the hemp seed. They will help them- 

 selves to this as soon as they leave the nest, and will crack 

 seed in from a fortnight to three weeks afterwards.] 



6. Are scales on a cock bird's hind claws a sign of his being 

 too old for breeding purposes ? — C. A. J. 



[No.] 



GAS STOVE IN CANARY AYIARY. 



I DO not see that gas, when properly managed, should neces- 

 sarily be injurious in a Canary room. At the same time, I am 

 quite ready to admit that there is a risk of the " mischief it 

 causes when it goes out in the night ;" but that risk can be 

 reduced to nothing if the apparatus be properly erected, with 

 due regard to draughts, itc. My bird room is at the top of the 

 house; in fact, it is the attic or garret, which I think Walker 

 defines to be the uppermost room in the house, and my 

 chimney is conveyed into the cockloft, which he defines to be 

 the room above the garret. The outlet is immediately under 

 the roof, and sometimes in very gusty weather I wish it were 

 not quite so gusty ; and I believe I have been known to get out 

 of bed at strange hours of the night, in a costume more airy 

 than elegant, and creep up to my bird room just to see if it 

 was all right. I also believe that on one occasion, a very 

 squally nipht, I did turn the gas off altogether for fear of its 

 going wrong; but as a rule, I never found the slightest ill 

 effects result from it, and certainly never the least effluvium. 

 I keep an open vessel of water on th* stove, the philosophy of 

 which I will not enter into, b«eau«« I do not quite understand 

 it, but I fancy it rectifies tke dryness of the atmosphere. I do 

 not advocate gas versus an open fireplace, but I have no fire- 

 place. 



My birds have been very healthy all the season, and I have 

 been fortunate enough to breed a few which I hope will be 

 heard of at the " British National," at Manchester, in which I 

 am happy to find Mr. Ashton is taking an active part. — W. A. 

 Blakston. 



THE BARON VON BERLEPSCH ON FOUL BROOD. 



(Continued from page 53.) 



CONTAGIOUS FOUL BEOOD. 



In some districts this form of foul brood never appears to 

 occur. Spitzner, in Upper Lusatia ; Busoh, of Arnstadt ; Kaden, 

 of Mayence ; and Kleine, in Hanover, state that they have 

 never witnessed this disease in their apiaries or in their re- 



spective neighbourhoods. In Thuringia it was entirely un- 

 known until 1858, and my old instructor in bee-culture, Jacob 

 Shulze, had not met with it either in his own colonies or in 

 any others during an extensive practice of more than fifty years. 



This, the most formidable of all the diseases to which bees 

 are subject, presents itself in various aspects, being sometimes 

 more and sometimes less destructive ; at times running its 

 course rapidly, at others lingering through a protracted period. 

 Sometimes it is of so manageable a character as to be easily 

 removed ; and not unfrequently it spontaneously disappears. It 

 is impossible to specify these various grades minutely, though 

 three of them may readily be distinguished : — 



First Grade. — We find at the commencement of the disease 

 in one or more combs from ten to twenty sealed cells, more or 

 less, with collapsed covers or caps. If closely examined these 

 caps will be found perforated with a small round hole. When 

 the cap is removed we fiud the full-grown larva stretched out 

 at length with its head towards the septum of the comb, and 

 its body discoloured of a brownish hue. The larva usually 

 dies before the head enlarges, evidently soon after the cell is 

 sealed and before assuming the pupa state. Unsealed putrid 

 larviE are seldom seen, and putrid pupa3 (the form approximat- 

 ing to the winged state of the insect), still more seldom. When 

 crushed we find the contents consist of a viscous slimy mass. 

 The specific form of the larva speedily becomes no longer re- 

 cognisable, decomposing into a clammy glutinous substance, 

 which in the course of ten or twelve days dries up into a dark 

 brown scale or crust approaching to black, adhering to the 

 under side of the cell. This crust the bees are unable to re- 

 move, but while they remain sufficiently numerous to work 

 with some spirit they will demolish the entire cell and rebuild 

 it with new material ; but when the disease has made greater 

 progress they abandon all efforts to remove the obnoxious 

 matter and cease building altogether, as they are not disposed 

 to build combs unless the stock be strong and pasturage abund- 

 ant. When the disease has become very virulent and over- 

 powering they almost cease fiying, and content themselves with 

 endeavouring to expel the vitiated air from the hive. They are 

 apt also to swarm out and desert their hive altogether, either 

 in spring or autumn, if tempted thereto by the occurrence of a 

 fine genial day. 



It minute brown or black scales or granules which produce a 

 slimy fittid substance when rubbed between the fingers are 

 found on the floor-board, the existence of foul brood in the 

 hive may be considered certain. When once commenced it 

 usually spreads rapidly, and frequently from a half to three- 

 quarters of the brood becomes afi'ected and dies. At this stage 

 of the disease its existence is proclaimed by the offensive 

 smell, resembling that of putrid meat, which is diffused from 

 the mouth of the hive iu place of the agreeable scent usually 

 perceptible there, the bees ventilating the while with unwonted 

 vigour. 



It is a very singular fact that all the brood does not perish. 

 Even in hives iu which foul brood exists in its most malignant 

 and noisome form, some portion of the brood, however small, 

 will always be found in a healthy state and attaining a perfect 

 development. Considering the great contagiousness of the 

 disease, this is in truth a great mystery. The malady will not, 

 however, be long confined to the hive in which it originated, 

 but will gradually spread to other hives, so that in the course of 

 a year two all the stocks in the apiary or even in the neighbour- 

 hood will be more or less affected. Colonies infected with this 

 kind of foul brood in its malignant form never survive long. 

 The malady progresses rapidly, and not only does the brood 

 first affected die, but the very brood-cells are converted into 

 nurseries of disease, so that iu a short time the queen can find 

 none in which to lay her eggs. Thus the colony becomes 

 rapidly depopulated, and generally perishes during the first 

 year, or certainly in the second. 



Second (Jraiic— This grade differs from the first only in this, 

 that first the malady does not spread so rapidly ; secondly, that 

 it rarely becomes so intense ; and thirdly, that it usually dis- 

 appears spontaneously. I have myself had frequent oppor- 

 tunities of observing this. For instance, in the spring of 1859 

 many stocks belonging to Mr. Umbreit, of Wolfis, in the duchy 

 of Gotha, were strongly infected with foul brood ; yet in 

 1862 the disease had entirely disappeared, though no means 

 had been adopted for its removal or cure. Mr. Klein, of Tam- 

 buchshof, has experienced a similar case as related in the " Bee 

 Journal " for 18C4. The disease when occurring in this grade 

 is always curable if treated with ordinary care and attention, 

 ' and is even in many cases easily removed, as I have repeatedly 



