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JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ October 8, 1868. 



meat or ponltry, or for baking bread and pastry, cannot be 

 surpassed. Each oven is supplied with a water dripping-pan, 

 which, dnring roasting, is placed at the bottom of the oven, 

 the joint or poultry being hung over it. This pan has the 

 treble advantage of preventing the fat from being thrown on 

 the sides of the oven ; the dripping from being burnt and use- 

 less ; and, by the steam from the water, of preserving the same 

 moisture inside the oven as in the external atmosphere : thus, 

 while the joint is thoroughly done and nicely browned all over, 

 it is not burnt or wasted, as is so often the case in open fire- 

 roasting. 



The oven is so constructed that the underneath part can be 

 used for baking potatoes, toasting bread, browning dishes, &c., 

 while the cooking operations are being performed ; the top of 

 the oven also forms an excellent hot plate, on which may be 

 fixed, if required, one or two boiling apparatus, so that roast- 

 ing, baking, and boiling can be performed at the same time. 

 Its portability is a great advantage, as it can be easily removed 

 from one place to another, tnd requires no fixing ; it is cheap 

 in consumption of gas, costing only Id. per hour when in use ; 

 there is no collection of soot, and the flues never require clean- 

 ing out. 



BEE-KEEPING IN WICKLOW. 



As you gave me advice in the spring about my bees, I am 

 induced to send the following statement of the condition of my 

 apiary, wishing to know whether you consider I have been 

 successful. 



In May I had three stocks, one of them (C) very weak. A 

 sent off swarms on May 7th and 18th, the swarm of the 7th 

 swarming again June 13th and '26th. B sent off swarms May 

 12th and 28th, the swarm of the 12th swarming again June 26th. 

 C swarmed June 7th. 



I obtained a Woodbury hive by your recommendation, and 

 in it hived the swarm of May 18th. I have just succeeded in 

 taking from it two full bars of honey ; they came away quite 

 easily, being made straight. From the other hives I have had 

 two large glasses (Taylor's -is. 6d.), weighing 8J lbs. each, and 

 three of a smaller size. The present weight of my hives, this 

 year's swarms, varies from 27 lbs. to 33^ Ibe., including hive 

 and floorboard. 



But now for my difficulties. My three stock hives up to 

 some little time ago appeared all right, except that we observed 

 wasps going in and out ; but now C has not a bee remaining, 

 and no honey. A and B have only a few bees, as many wasps, 

 and very little honey ; the combs all cut, and the floorboards 

 strewed with powdered comb. Can the wasps have destroyed 

 the bees ? as I did not see dead bees about the hives ; but there 

 are always numbers of wasps about the apiary, and I fear they 

 are robbing other hives. I have contracted the entrances as 

 recommended in " Bee-keeping." Can you advise any further 

 measure likely to check their attacks? I have put several 

 crocks containing treacle and beer near the hives, and have 

 destroyed numbers of wasps, flies, and moths, but I fear some 

 bees also, though our gardener thinks they are a kind of large 

 fly like a drone, of which we have had numbers on the flowers 

 this year ; but it is ditlicult to distinguish them when smeared 

 with the mixture. We destroyed hundreds ol queen wasps in 

 the spring, thirty or forty a-day in our greenhouses. 



I have some vacant places in my bee house. Could I venture 

 to move in some of the hives at present on stands near ? Would 

 the bees in that case know where to find their own hives ? I 

 send some of the moths that we found in the treacle and beer, 

 and will thank you to say if they are the bee moth so much 

 spoken of.^L. Eiall. 



[The moths which accompanied your letter were so much 

 crushed as to render identification difficult. They are certainly 

 not wax moths, but are probably Agrotis segetum, the larva of 

 which feeds on the roots of the wheat plant, &c. 



Having taken two full bars of honey from your Woodbury 

 hive, you should replace the bars and frames, and take care 

 that its inhabitants have plenty of food to last the winter, 

 bearing in mind that empty straw hives of this construction 

 weigh with their floorboards about 20 lbs., and wooden ones 

 nearly 30 lbs. when empty. The same caution applies, of 

 course, to all your other colonies. 



The loss of your three stocks is owing in all probability to 

 their entrances being too near to those of other hives, a defect 

 which is common to all bee houses, and which is very frequently 

 fatal alike to stocks and swarms other than first swarms placed 

 therein through the loss of their queens, which are liable to ' 



mistake their hives on returning from their wedding flights. 

 In contracting the entrances to your hives you have done all 

 that is necessary to enable strong colonies of bees to repel the 

 attacks of wasps. These latter must not be credited, or rather 

 debited, with the destruction of your three old stocks, which 

 we have little doubt was really owing to the cause already indi- 

 cated, and that the wasps only aided robber bees in plundering 

 the stores of the hives after their inhabitants had become in- 

 capable of effectually defending them. Any colonies which 

 you may now wish to place in the bee house should be moved 

 thitherwards, bit by bit, very gradually, whilst the bees are still 

 active, and got into it in this way before winter ; but if this be 

 found impracticable they should remain until the spring.] 



BEE-KEEPING AT CLOGHEEN, IRELAND. 



Having but four stocks in the spring, I determined to allow 

 each stock to give one swarm, and, by destroying all queen 

 cells except the most forward one, immediately after the swarms 

 had left, I have succeeded far beyond my expectations and 

 reaped a bountiful harvest. One stock yielded 72 lbs. of beauti- 

 ful honey in supers, also a swarm that now weighs 47 lbs. ex- 

 clusive of the hive. Two others were nearly as good; the 

 fourth produced its swarm on June 24th, and 27 lbs. in the 

 super. Being obliged to drive the bees of this last hive on 

 the 25th of August I was surprised to find 51 lbs. of honey, 

 after securing brood. Sec, for stocking another hive, and which 

 I have succeeded in doing through the excellent instructions 

 given by " A Devonshire Bee-keeper." 



My hives are all home-made, square, straw inside, board 

 outside, with a half-inch space between, fitted with bars, &a., 

 and covered with a board roof. 



The best preventive of brood in supers that I have used, is to 

 attach a good-sized piece of thick comb to the two or three 

 middle bars of the super before putting it on. — G. Beckett, 

 Shanbally Castle, Clogliecn, Ireland. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



PocLTHY Trespassing {Inquirer).— Give your neigbbour a legfil notice to 

 keep his poultry ft-om trespaBsing If tliey trespass after that notice sue 

 him in the County Court. The smallest damages recovered would suffice 

 to make him prevent future trespassing. 



Brahma Pootra Cockerels {M. .4. i?.).--We lean to No. 1. From your 

 description we fancy No. 2 ia f. squat-sot bird, while No. 1 has not only 

 Errown, but may again. Do not mislead yourself or us about the comb of 

 No. 1. If it is a faulty one, it is a disqualification. In all breeds whero 

 the comb is a point, there is no hope for a defective one. Again, highly- 

 featbered legs such as you describe on No. 2, are serious disadvantages. 

 We do not admire the brown shade or patch on the wing, but we see few 

 fine birds without it. Most of the birds good-coloured in the body have 

 this on the wing. 



Broody Hens (H. E. .V.).— There arc no means of preventing a hen 

 being broody, and it is very cruel to try. It is simply her nature, and a 

 little patience will survive the annoyance. M. Jaque's book can be pro- 

 cured in London through any French bookseller. We bought ours in 

 PariR, but we have never needed a French book that a foreign bookseller 

 could not procure for us. The only extra expense is the substitution of 

 shillings for francs. 



PiGEoN-KEEprNG {Expcrientia docct).—'We would say you can keep in a 

 healthy condition in your space six pairs of large fancy Pigeons, or nine 

 pairs of smaller; but remember crowding and quarrelling, ending in^de- 

 struction of eggs, &c., always go together. Pigeons of high-class varieties 

 are loose in feather from cold ; and if neglected and not kept irann, con- 

 sumption, "going light," and rot feather follow. A plastered floor, if a 

 ground floor, \70uid certainly be cold in winter. Have, at any rate, abun- 

 dance of perches, like narrow stools, for the birds to avoid being much on 

 the fioor, and beware of wet from the birds bathing, s^et a small pan in 

 a larger, and then remove both after they have had a bath, and this only 

 in genial weather. Fancioi--» separate their Pigeons in the winter to 

 prevent their breeding and so weakening themselves. It is said that 

 removing the nests and boxes and all temptations to breeding does as 

 well. A slight wire door, that you can make yourself and put across 

 your b: ft, would suffice. 



BONT Pigeons (S. Barneyy.—U yon refer to the prize lists of soma o 

 the poultry shows you will see the names of the most successful breeders. 



Bees in a Rosery (^n OW Su!)scri!)fr).— There is no chance whatever 

 of the hive bee injuring your roses. If you intend keeping bees some- 

 what after the ordinary manner, with the power, however, of putting on 

 supers, you cannot do better than adopt Payne's Improved Collage Hive, 

 described in "Bee-keeping for the Many," but made somewhat larger, 

 say 16 inches diameter, by 8 or 9 inches deep inside. If, on the other 

 hand, you intend to go in for scientific bee-keeping, the Woodbury frame 

 hive would be the best. As you live so near Exeter, why do you not call 

 on Mr. Woodbury, who would, we are sure, be happy to give you every 

 information in bis power. ...« 



C0M31ENCIKG Bee-keeping (R. WnlpoU). — ^ixtecu inches in diameter, 

 by 8 or 9 inches deep, inside measure, is a good size for flat-topped straw 

 hives. Entrances, 5 inches wide, should be cut in the floor-board, and 

 contracted when necessary by the insertion of moveable blocks of wood. 

 Buy " Bee-keeping for the Many." published at this office, whence you 

 can have it free bypostiif you enclose five postage stamps with your 

 address. 



