25C 



JOXmNAL OF HOKTICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



[ October 1, 1868. 



Sunset is the time recommended for the nniting of swarms 

 for many reasons, the best being that other bees are at home, 

 and, therefore, not attracted by the smell of the syrup. 



In winter or very cold weather the work of nnitinp; bees is 

 best done by candlelight in a room or barn. The chilling of 

 some to death is thus avoided. In this communication my 

 business is not to tell people how to drive swarms into empty 

 hives ; but, a gentleman came to me this week to say, that 

 he had been severely tasked for half a day to drive a swarm ; 

 the bees would not run, and it was a terrible job. I said if he 

 had poured half a pound of sugar and water over the bees 

 fifteen minutes before he began to drive them, they would all 

 have run np in twenty minutes. He said, " That is another 

 wrinkle," and he was thankful for it. — A. Pettigkew, IlusJwlmc, 

 near Manchester. 



HONEY HARVEST IN HAMPSHIRE. 



We have had a very fair honey harvest in our neighbourhood 

 this season, as you will see by the annexed statement. You 

 will observe the early part of the summer waa very much 

 more productive of honey than the latter. 



From one of my hives I took 52 lbs., from another, 26 lbs., 

 and a swarm which yielded 17 lbs. Both these hives, and the 

 next two, described as A and D, belonging to my brother, Mr. 

 F. Crowley, are Gale's hives. 



June II. 

 „ 16. .. 



A 



No. of 

 drawers. 



Jnly 21. 



Aug. 26. 

 » 29. 



Net 



boney. 



.. 7 Iba. 



• ■ n „ 



.. 4 



4 

 4 

 4 

 8 

 7 

 11 



Total.... 41 



Jane 



1. 



„ 8. 



„ 4. 



„ 8. 



„ 11. 



„ 12. 



„ 15. 



„ 20. 



„ 24. 



„ 29. 

 July IS 1 



„ 17 1 



„ 25 1 



Aug. 29 3 



D 

 No of 

 Drawers. 

 ... 1 .... 

 ... 1 .... 

 ... 1 .... 



Net 

 ■Weight. 



. 7' 



:li 



.1-2' 



, 4 

 . 4 

 . Sk 

 . 3? 



. s; 



. 5 



Total.... eii „ 



From another, a this-year's swarm, 14^ lbs., and plenty left for 

 the stock. 



Mr. Alfred Crowley, of Croydon, also took from one of Gale's 

 hives over 40 lbs. — Philip Ckowley, Gulvcrton llouse^ Alton, 



FEEDING BEES. 



Eaely in the spring I purchased a stock of Lignrian bees, 

 but they have not swarmed ; and as they killed oil all the 

 drones some time since, I quite expect there will be no attempt 

 at swarming until next year. Fearing that the bees had not a 

 sufficient quantity of honey laid up for winter consumption, I 

 endeavoured to feed them with syrup mad-? from white lump 

 sugar, from the top of the hive (a moveable bar-frame one), by 

 means of an inverted wide-mouthed bottle; but as it appeared 

 to me that only a very few bees at a time could gain access to 

 the syrup, I had made a zinc tray with a circular. opening 

 through the centre to correspond with that in the top of the 

 hive, through which the bees might pass from the latter on to 

 the tray. Into the tray I poured syrup, and on the syrnp I 

 placed a thin deal board (perforated with small holes, which 

 were made with a red hot wire), so that the bees might walk 

 over the board and feed without smearing themselves with the 

 syrup. The tray of syrup when placed on the hive I covered 

 with an empty hive. After doing all this I found they fed freely, 

 and in large numbers, but unfortunately, on subsequently es- 

 amining them, I found them between the sides of the tray and 

 the covering hive, dead in hundreds. Can you inform me 

 where I am at fault ? — Tyro. 



[There is no bee-feeder at all equal to the inverted bottle 

 when properly managed, aud yours must have been greatl.v 

 mitmanaged if only a few bees at a time could gain access to 

 the syrup in a wide-mouthed bottle. We find the great stumb- 

 lirg-block in the way of the efficient use of the bottle to be a 

 Tery prevalent but utterly mistaken idea, that it is necessary 

 to take extraordinary precautions in order to prevent the food 

 from flowing into the hive. Acting under this delusion the 

 sjrup is often boiled to too thick a consistence, but more often 

 the bottle- mouth is covered either with muslin, or even calico 

 oi so close a textuie that its pores become clogged with food, 



and it thereupon speedily assumes a concave shape, which, 

 when a piece of perforated zinc is interposed, withdraws almost 

 its entire surface quite beyond the reach of the craving little 

 tongues, the owners of which may be Rupposed to experience 

 some of the unenviable sensations of Tantalus, as they pro- 

 trude through the ::inc, stretching and straining themselves in 

 the vain attempt to appropriate the coveted food. It should 

 be remembered that as a covering for the mouth of a feeding- 

 bottle no fabric should bo employed the methes of which are 

 less than a sixteenth of an inch in diameter, and if it be doubted 

 wbether under such circumstances food may not flow down into 

 the hive, let the experiment be made with pure water in the 

 open air, when it will be found that after the first rush caused 

 by the bottle's inversion even water will remain perfectly sus- 

 pended. 



The mortality which followed the use of your float-feeder 

 was not owing either to the zinc or the carbonised wood, but 

 probably aro.-^e from the sinking of the float, an accident of no 

 unfrequent occurrence.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Cost of Feeding Poolthy {A Beginner). — Yonr old stock— your breed- 

 ing birds — appear to be seventeen ia number They should cost at the 

 outside 4.?. Zd. per week to keep. If they have any advantage of food or 

 run they should cost less. VVhen for an adult you allow Zd. per head per 

 week, you have allowed a sum that is reached only hy Cochins. They are 

 huge eaters. Your present Btock of poultry amounts to 9ii. The expenses 

 for two months are 9&.— 4s. only over the average of Is. per head fureight 

 weeks — three halfpence per week. At this rate each fowl will cost 6«. Gd. 

 annually — that U, each breeding bird. You have not chickens enongh 

 for the number of hens you keep. Your egi:js should return Id. each. It 

 is tbrpwiog away monev to keep Spanish fowls to hiy largo eggs to be 

 sold sixteen for a shilling. Dncks are more espensive than "hickens, 

 and they are wasters. Your eg^3 at \d. should make £7 13*. This would 

 make the produce j£lC lU»., find would, even against your expenses, show 

 a profit. Try f;iirly che diminution of the food, or bring the fowls to the 

 allowance we have named. 



Fowls Plucking Each Otheti (P. QX — Are yonr fowls in confine- 

 ment V We should imagine they are Wliat is their bread ? VVe fancy 

 they are Spanish. Wo have some that are in the state of nudity yon 

 describe, especi illy the cocks. They remain quite contentedly while the 

 hens eat their feathers. We can only prevent it by givint; them their 

 liberty. 'I he only treatment is cooling food. If tliej' are watched nar- 

 rowly it will generally be found it is one bird only that takes to the habit. 

 He or she should be removed directly. Tne birds should bo plentifully 

 enpplied with fre^h earth, and growing grass if they have it not. Tney 

 eat the featliers because they are in adiseased state of body, and feathers 

 approach nearer than anything else to that which they crave for. It is 

 consequently wisdom to make the greatest change possible in their food 

 and treatment. 



Mahkings of Erahma Pootras (J. G. P.).— Light pencilling is, as a 

 rule, preferred, provided it be regular and free from white and yellow. 

 The cocks should have either black or black and white-spotted breasts, 

 light hackle aud saddle, and black tails. 



Points op CriIve-Ccf-urs {N. E. R.). — We believe Judges are agreed as 

 to the points of Crcve-Oocurs. They should be top-knottpd, bearded, 

 short-legged, square-bodied, and as black as possible. Weight and si^e 

 are very impnrtaui. Piilleta seldom have white feathers in the top- 

 knots, hens often do. Light and yellow feathers in cockerels do not dis- 

 quality. Ked ones do. The Black birds will always be preferred. 



Spanish Cock (B. B.)- — The loss of one eye from the incurable swelled 

 face to which Spanish fowls are subject, does not render him in the least 

 less serviceable for breeding purposes. 



KoRTHALLERTON POULTRY Show. — Mr. John White, of Warlaby, informs 

 us that both first and second prizes for Dorkings were awarded to him- 

 self, and not to Mr. O. A Young. 



Wolverhampton Poultry -how. — The date for closing the entries at 

 this Show hus been altered to Monday, October 5th. 



Pooltry House (A Subscriber, Qivedgcley). — If yon enclose seven post- 

 age stamps wi'L.hyour address, and order " Poultry-keeping for the Many,' 

 it will be sent to you post free from our office. It contains a plan and 

 description of the house you need- 



CAroNisiNG Turkeys \ Ah Irish Su6«cri&er).— We never heard of tha 

 barbarous and totally needless practice being applied to Turkeys, and we 

 cannot give any information on the subject. 



Dead Piglon (L. W), — We cannot undertake to dissect Pigeons; but 

 from the general appearance of the bird wethiukit di* dof roup, on which 

 so much was publistied by ns in oui* last volume. You will find a recipe 

 for its cure in No. 356. 



A Pair of Pigeons (A Fancirr). — Beyond any doubt by " a pair " in 

 intended a cock and hen, and wbo>^vt-r win^ a priz.e with two cocks f*r 

 two hens has committed a fraud. We have a letter on the subject from 

 Mr. Fulton detailing the times he h.is been thus defeated ; but we cannot 

 publish his letter. 



Bees in a Wall— Moving Hives to a Shed (IT. £.) — Part of the 

 wall shtiuid be cut awny, so as to get at the combs, which, with the bees, 

 should be put into a frame hive in the manner indicated in reply to D. 

 Williams, in pnge 218. Wc do nut consider it advisible to remove bees 

 from their stands in order to place them in a shed during winter. 



Taylor's Amatkur's Bar Hive (Wor^ftaTnpton).— Write to any of the 

 advertisers of hives in our Journal. Messr-^. Sutton, of Heading, and 

 Messrs. L^wsnn & Son, of 23, Budge Row, Cannon Street, London, sell 

 the Molilntus leucautha seed. 



Aquarium Troubles (T. O, J.). — We never knew gold fish eat the 

 Validneria spiralis. If they do, the ool^ remedy is to place tho plants at 

 one end with a wire net before Ihem. The film on the fi^h is often caused 

 by the water being loo cold. Drift sand should cover the bottom of the 

 aquarium. We never employed snails a? scavengers. 



