Oetobor 29. 1S39. I 



JOURXAL OF HOBTIOULTUliK AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



333 



apparently made for tbis purpose on the left-hand aide of the 

 aporturo, (ind thai allowed the passage of the individual enter- 

 ing or quitting the hive; the sentinel constantly reauming hia 

 station immediately after the passage had heon effected. That 

 it was the same bee which had withdrawn that again took his 

 station in the opening,' could not ho mistaken ; for his with- 

 drawal was only into the cavity on the side of the hole, in which 

 his head was generally in view during the brief interval while 

 the other was passing ; aud that head again immediately started 

 forward into the passage. During how long a time the same 

 individual remained on duty could not be ascertained ; for 

 althongh many attempts were made to mark him by introducing 

 a pencil tipped with paint, he constantly eluded the aim taken 

 at him, and it was therefore impossible to determine with 

 certainty whether the current reports concerning him were or 

 wore not founded in fact. With the paint thus attempted to 

 be applied to the bee the margin of the opening was soiled ; and 

 the sentinel, as soon as he was free from the annoyance he 

 swfferod from the thrusts repeatedly made at his body, ap- 

 proached the foreign substance to taste it, and evidently dislik- 

 ing the material, he withdrew into his hive. The hole was 

 watched to see what would be the result of this investigation 

 of the substance, and a troop of bees was soon observed to 

 idvance towards the place, each individual bearing a small 

 particle of wax or of propolis in his mandibles, which he de- 

 posited in his turn upon the soiled part of the wood. The 

 little labourers then returned to the hive, and repeated the 

 operation until a small pile rose above the blemished part, and 

 completely relieved the inhabitants from its annoyance. 



If the existence of such a sentinel as has just been described 

 can safely be admitted, his utility would be unquestionable, as 

 being at all times prepared to encounter a straggling stranger, 

 or to give warning of the approach of a more numerous body 

 of foes. Such foes actually exist in moderately-sized black 

 ants, which sometimes in small, and occasionally in large, bands 

 attack the hive, aud between which and the industrious bees 

 desperate conflicts often take place. In these struggles the 

 bees generally obtain the victory ; but they are occasionally 

 mastered by the overpowering numbers of their opponents. — 

 {Appendix to BcLXhetj's Voyage to the Facific and Behriiuj's 

 Strait.) 



LARGE HIVES. 



Frv'E AND TWENTY years ago I wrote a short treatise on the 

 history and management of bees, which was printed in the 

 first six numbers of the Gardcnrrs' Chronicle,' for the year 

 1811. I then ventured to assert that all the instructions given 

 by myself, and all the books that ever have been, or ever will 

 be published on the subject, will be of little service to the bee- 

 keepers of England, unless they use hives very much larger 

 than those in general use. In another treatise on the profit- 

 able management of bees, which appeared two years ago in the 

 pages of a Scotch periodical, I stated that no greater mistake 

 could be made in bee-keeping than that of using small hives. 

 What would an intelligent agriculturist think of a farmer 

 tilling his land wilh Shetland ponies? What would he think 

 of a farmer's wife expecting large eggs and large profits from 

 Bantam hens ■.' and what are we to think of the bee-keepera of 

 England who look for harvests of honey from hives hardly 

 large enough for hens' nests? 



Let us for a moment look into the philosophy of this ques- 

 tion. A healthy queen bee lays upwards of two thousand 

 eggs a-day in the height of the summer. She lays as many 

 eggs in a small hive as she does in a large one ; but in a small 

 hive, such as Neighbour's cottage hive, such as are offered for 

 sale in Manchester, there is not room for more than one- 

 quarter of the eggs laid by a queen. Three-fourths of the 

 eggs laid are therefore lost, never hatched. But are yon quite 

 sure that the combs of a large hive are as well filled with 

 brood from the eggs of one queen as the combs of a small hive ? 

 Yes. I have seen a hive capable of holding 160 lbs. weight of 

 honey, brood, and bees, every cell of which was filled ; in fact, 

 I have never seen the laying powers of a queen overtasked. 

 Why. then, cripple the industry of the bees by putting and keep- 

 ing them in small hives? It is a perfect marvel to me that 

 argument, logic, or figures are necessary to convince bee- 

 keepers of the folly of using small hives. If they could manage 

 to shake off their prejudices, the exercise of a little common 

 sense afterwards would do the work for them. Three hundred 

 navvies can do more work than one hundred. Fifty thousand 

 bees in a large bi\e can gather more honey, hatch more brooO, 



send oS larger swarms, than twenty thousand bees in a small 

 hive. In fine weather the bees of a small hive gather from 

 1 lb. to 'J lbs. per day ; those of a large one about 5 lbs. lu 

 one instance, to my knowledge, the beea from a large hive 

 gathered 20 lbs. weight in two days. In advocating the use of 

 large hives, I freely admit that in fine seasons considerablo 

 stores of honey may bo obtained from small hives ; but taking 

 one year with another, the profits of small hives are incon- 

 siderable. 



The sizes of hives which 1 have recommended are :— First 

 size, for first-early swarms, 21 inches wide by 12 deep ; second 

 size, for later first swarms, is inches wide by 12 deep ; third 

 size, for second swarms and turnouts, 15 inches wide by 12 deep. 



The first size holds mote than 100 lbs. of honey, the second 

 above 80 lbs., and the third above 50 lbs. In favourable seasons 

 for honey-gathering they have to bo enlarged by ekeing or by 

 supers. An eke is simply four or five rolls of an old hive of 

 the same width put underneath a hive. For this purpose, I 

 generally use riddle rims 4 or 5 inches high. It is not necessary 

 to adhere to an exact size, say 12 inches deep. It is wise to 

 have all hives of certain widths, so that the same ekes will 

 auswer and fit year after year — that is, 15-iuoh hives and 

 15-inch ekes, and so on. 



The reader will bear with me if I venture to warn him against 

 adopting the largo sizes all at once. A swarm from a small 

 hive would not fill a large one the first year. Therefore it 

 would be better to begin with the 15-inch and 18-inch hives, 

 having a depth of 10 inches. The difficulty with me is to ob- 

 tain hives large enough. There is no one in this locality can 

 make proper hives. I asked an old uncle of mine in Scotland 

 to make sixty of the three sizes mentioned above, but he made 

 me only thirty-four, and some of them far too small. Of 

 course I could obtain wooden hives of any size I liked, but 

 wooden hives should never be used if straw ones can be ob- 

 tained. The moisture of bees is condensed on the sides of 

 wooden boxes at certain seasons, and this condensed moisture 

 moulds and rots the combs. A common straw hive, well made, 

 is incomparably better for bees than the best and most costly 

 boxes ever produced. 



If such large hives are used with great advantage and profit 

 in apiaries managed on the swarming or multiplying system, 

 surely it is desirable to adopt them where honeycomb only, and 

 not swarms, are sought. If the Ayrshire or Stewarton hive were 

 made twice as large aud properly managed, much more honey 

 would be obtained. If Neighbour's hive were thrice as large as 

 it is, and the three little holes in the crown or top of the hive 

 were made ten times larger, say 4 inches each in diameter, 

 ten times more honey would be obtained from it thin at 

 present. I do not recommend either of these hives, or any 

 other that is meant to prevent bees from swarming, because I 

 know that the swarming system is the most natural and pro- 

 fitable one ; but what 1 mean is, that hives managed on tha 

 non-swarming principle should be of considerable dimensions. 



— A. PETTlalffiW. 



BUTTER IN SACKS. 



A conEESroNDEKT of the Ilodiford lirijister, writing from 

 Olympia, gives the method used on the Pacific coast for pre- 

 serving butler: — 



" I think the dairymen here have an art in the management 

 of butter that might be turned to good account at the east, but 

 which I never saw practised till I came to this coast — I allude 

 to the manner of putting up butter for market. Perhap.s 

 necessity was the mother of this invciiiion, but that makes 

 the invention none the less vatua'ule. Here such a thing as a 

 butter firkin or a stone jar to pack butter in is unknown ; but 

 all butter is packed in musliu sacks, made in such a foim that 

 the package, when complete, is a cylinder 3 or 4 inches in 

 diameter, and from G inches to a foot in length. The butter 

 goes from the churn, as soon as worked over, into the cylin- 

 drical bags, made of flue bleached muslin. The packages are 

 then put into large casks containing strong brine with a slight 

 admixture of saltpetre, and by means of weights kept always 

 below the surface. The cluth integument always protects the 

 butter from any impurities that chance to comeiu contact with 

 the package, aud being always buried in brine, that protects 

 it from the action of the air; and it has been ascertained by 

 trial that butter put up in this way will keep sweet longer than 

 in any other way. Besides, it is found easier and cheaper for 

 the manufsnturer th.in to pac!t either in firkins or jars. Aud 

 for the retailer, there ia no telling the advantage on the score 



