372 



JJtJKNAL OF HOKTICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GAia'ENEK. 



[ November 13, 1868. 



their new apartments in the Bame order as that which they 

 occupied in their old one, deepen the hive by the addition, on 

 the top, of another, from which the frames and crown and floor 

 boards have been removed, set it on the old stand, and knock 

 out the clnster of bees into the upper hive on the top of the 

 frames of the lower one, putting on the crown board imme- 

 diately. Next morning take away the inserted hive, and the 

 day after that remove the supports from all the combs which 

 the bees have fixed. If any are not secured, their supports may 

 be left until they are fastened. If, however, yon consider the 

 combs too old for transferring, you may permit the stocks to 

 swarm naturally, and twenty-one days after the issue of the 

 first, drive out all the remaining bees and add them to one of 

 the swarms, appropriating to your own use the combs and their 

 contents, which will at this time be found nearly, if not en- 

 tirely free from brood. Or the same result may be brought 

 about artificially by driving all the bees into empty hives in the 

 middle of a fine day during the month of May, and establish- 

 ing them as swarms in Woodbury hives on their old stands. 

 Their deserted habitations should then be put in the place of 

 other strong stocks (which must be removed to new positions), 

 and dealt with twenty-one days afterwards in the manner 

 already described. Strips of artificial comb, or embossed wax 

 about an inch wide, are excellent substitutes for guide combs.] 



WAX SHEETS— HR'TIS QUEENLESS— QUEENS 

 UNPROLIFIC. 



To be successful with wax sheets they ought to be deeply 

 impressed, and of one uniform thickness, otherwise the api- 

 arian wiU find to his or her loss, that bees placed amongst 

 plain sheets will at once commence excavating the bases of the 

 cells, and in so doing will cut through the wax instead of build- 

 ing on the already-laid foundation. The waxen sheets, per- 

 forated in this way as if by so many shot-holes, will ultimately 

 fall, and instead of appearing paragons of neatness, will become 

 masses of almost worthless combs, fit only to be remelted. 

 This, the experience of myself, as well as others, is directly 

 opposed to the conclusions of " Apicola," (see page 199). 



I have also been puzzled to account for his queenless stocks 

 building worker instead of drone combs. If this took place 

 with plain sheets it is a remarkable fact ; if with impressed 

 sheets it is a proof of their superiority over plain ones, and 

 controverts his own argument. What is said of the bees re- 

 jecting waxen sheets, and taking to combs in preference, 

 proves nothing against them, since it is natural for bees to 

 take to the farthest-advanced pieces, showing their sagacity in 

 BO doing. Instead of my bees rejecting impressed sheets they 

 are passionately fond of them, and I had this season to remove 

 several unoccupied hives that had been furnished with sheets 

 and were standing ready for swarms in the bee house, owing to 

 the bees from some storified hives taking possession of them. 



" Apicola " goes on to say, that " The expense is, however, 

 a great objection, the makers charging tkl apiece for them." 

 He speaks it without taking into consideration the pains 

 that are required in making these not once only, but, perhaps, 

 some of them requiring to be remade several times ere a 

 marketable sheet can be obtained. Besides, when sheets are 

 ordered, it often happens that six or twelve are the most that 

 are wanted, and when packing and packing-box is taken into 

 consideration, 6d. a-piece is not too much for them. When 

 many dozens of these sheets are ordered at a time, they can 

 he had at a considerable reduction. As I am now in want of 

 some hundreds, and cannot even purchase wax at that rate, I 

 should be glad if "Apicola" would communicate with me 

 with the view of supplying me with wax sheets of the di- 

 mensions which he states, at Id. each, or even a fraction more, 

 but they must be sheets that will please one who makes them. 



I should also be glad if "Apicola" would explain the cir- 

 cumstances under which his queenless hives built worker in- 

 stead of drone comb. Through all my experience I never yet 

 found a queenless stock build worker comb, but, on the con- 

 trary, have known queenless bees transform worker to drone 

 comb, and stocks build drone combs readily when their queen 

 relaxes laying. It is, indeed, only by selecting fertile queens, 

 keeping them laying, and avoiding waste of eggs, that surplus 

 drone combs can be avoided. A young queen whose bees build 

 drone combs ought to be destroyed, as it shows either a defect 

 in her organs, or that she is not proUfic, in which case the hive 

 will go to ruin, unless a change of queens be effected. It is, in 

 fact, best to examine every hive containing a young queen, lest 



she should not be prolific, since otherwise the defect may not 

 be detected until a new queen has been raised, when it is too 

 late for impregnation, and the hive may in this way be lost. 



The instinct which prompts bees to raise young queens when- 

 ever their own queen is reluctant to lay, is not always attended 

 with success, as. for example, a perfect young queen may only 

 be taking a rest that nature demands, when the bees commence 

 raising others, and should one of these be allowed to reign, and 

 the season be far advanced, the stock will be lost. " Feed yoar 

 bees in autumn, and you will have good hives," is a common 

 saying. This, however, only holds good when they are fed 

 early. August is the best time, as it affords the bees the op- 

 portunity of raising young queens ere all the drones are 

 killed, in case the old queen or even a young one be nearly ex- 

 hausted. Queens which cease laying in September, or even 

 sooner, and do not recommence until March, often produce the 

 best hives, as in this case their powers are not impaired by 

 continuous laying, and then, as with poultry, they lay con- 

 stantly for the time, and changes of queens are not so frequent. 

 Bees when fed so late as October, naturally commence breeding, 

 and the young ones thus produced often do not have a favour- 

 able opportunity for airing until the spring months, by which 

 time they are so swollen by long confinement tliat they are almost 

 sure to be lost, and present the appearance of dysentery. Be- 

 sides this, bees that are late-fed do not seal up their honey, so 

 that their hive instead of being a comfortable dwelUng becomes 

 a miserable one, and many a queen which might have bred on 

 until the spring, becomes dethroned, and is succeeded by a 

 young princess. — A Laxabkshire Bee-keeper. 



MICROSCOPICAL IN\^STIGATIONS INTO THE 

 NATURE AND ORIGIN OF FOUL BROOD. 



With great pleasure I respond to the invitation of the " De- 

 vonshire Bee-keeper," in page .311, to give mv opinion of the 

 theory advanced in the very able and interesting paper of Dr. 

 Preuss. At the same time it is with considerable diffidence 

 that I venture to make any remarks on the subject, inasmuch 

 as I am neither a fungologist nor an adept in the use of the 

 microscope. I can neither confute nor corroborate the truth 

 of the appearances which foul brood has presented under his 

 manipulations ; but I may remind the readers of " our Journal " 

 that Mr. Edward Parfitt, in his investigation of foul brood, 

 arrived at results apparently different from those of Dr. Preuss. 

 The former discovered minute animals in the material sub- 

 mitted to him for examination, the latter appears to have found 

 fungi only. 



Now, I have always regarded fungus as an effect, and not the 

 cause of decay. Its origin and development depend in a great 

 degree upon influences which may be called atmospheric. For 

 example, the past exceptional season caused the Mushroom 

 fungus to spring up in places where, perhaps, no one living 

 ever sa it before. And reasoning from analogy, I would say 

 the fu us in disease owes its origin and development to 

 disease, but does not occasion it. I doubt much whether it 

 will even live where the vitality of a subject is perfect and its 

 health unimpaired. If sporules attach them-tlves to larvae 

 and multiply in such numbers as to be incon-istent with the 

 continued life of the organism on which they are discovered, 

 I expect these deposits have found a soU prepared for their 

 reception. The subtle influence which occasions death and 

 decay must have been previously at work. We are all anxious 

 to know what that mysterious agent is ; and I cannot help 

 thinking it is a miasma or poison generated by putrescent 

 bodies, that have died at a particular stage of existence, under 

 favourable states of atmosphere. I am therefore of opinion 

 that the vital principle in a subject must have been injured 

 prior to the fungus taking possession of it. The views of Dr. 

 Preuss are nearly identical with those propounded by " G. F. B., 

 Spaldinri," in the Journal of September 1st, 1863. 



If sporules attach themselves to the feet of liees, how can a 

 swarm emanating from a hive virulently affected with foul 

 brood escape carrying the disease along with it ? But I have 

 witnessed on various occasions perfectly healthy colonies go 

 forth from habitations in which the plague was raging. Be- 

 sides, we should expect a fungus to die when the material on 

 which it subsists has been exhausted. Is not its pabulum 

 gone when the brood combs are excised on the approach of 

 winter ? but in an infected hive the virus remains after every 

 comb has been extracted. It even adheres to it for years when 

 not neutralised by some such agent as chloride of lime. A 

 putrescent body is no doubt a fitting nidus for sporules ; and 



