Kovember 12, ISfiS. j , 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBB AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



373 



I do think that sealed-up larvoj, dying from whatever cause, 

 and continuing unremoved, have much to do with the intro- 

 duction of the foul-brood jjost into our Ijivcs. ThoBe of a 

 certain age very soon pass into a treacly stale of consistence, 

 and adhere to the cells, fc'iving forth an offensive odour ; and it 

 is in these putresceut bodies I believe the germ of disease is 

 to be found. At all events, in making use nf combs in which 

 I had allowed the brood to perish of cold and rot, I have found 

 most unsatisfactory results follow. This was even the case 

 when I was at due pains to clean out every cell that had become 

 putrid. Foul brood geuerully followed, CBrtniuly not with viru- 

 lence at lirst, but as an evil that would go on increasing. Now, 

 cells of the description referred to are frequently to be met 

 with in spring and autumn in hives where the population is 

 scant. I have made several direct experiments with combs from 

 which I had extracted imtrid brood which had been allowed to 

 die of cold, and I have no liesitation in saving that healthy 

 hives were tainted by their introduction. 



Notwithstanding all I have said, it is still possible that I 

 may have been making use of previously-infected combs, iu 

 spite of the most painstaking examination. — H. S. 



[With regard to the microscopical examination of foul brood 

 which Mr. Edsvard I'arlitt so kindly undertuuk at my request, 

 and the result of which was published in " our Journal" on 

 the 24th of November, 18(j'3, I laay now state that his in- 

 vestigations were subsequentlyrepeated by competent observers, 

 who came to the conclusion that the minute "animals" 

 figured by that gentleman were merely vibrioues of some kind. 

 These are a family of very minute organisms, well known to 

 mioroscopists aa being present in all or nearly all infusions of 

 decaying or putrid substances, as well as m the purulent 

 matter of tumours, and even in the tartar of the teeth. Their 

 nature, however, is not as yet clearly understood, it being 

 doubtful whether they are animal or vegetable ; but it seems 

 to be certain that they are the effect and not the cause of 

 disease, and this I fancy is most probably the case in respect 

 of the fungi discovered by Dr. Preuss. 



I have myself had no experience of swarms issuing from 

 hives infected with virulent foul brood, and in the face of such 

 an announcement it may appear almost presumptuous in me 

 to doubt the correctness of so accurate an observer as " B. S." 

 Having regard, however, to the pestilent character of the 

 disease, I am almost disposed to question whether a perfectly 

 healthy swarm can ever issue from a virulently diseased stock. 

 It is, of course, just possible that a tainted swarm issuing with 

 a virgin queen, and placed in a pure hive, may completely 

 purge itself of the infection by reason of the jjeriod which 

 must elapse before the c immencement of egg-laying serving to 

 exhaust the virus in the same manner as the three or four 

 days of penal discipline and inanition, which are recommended 

 by Dzierzon ; but I cannot but beheve that however healthy 

 such a swarm may appear at the outset, it will generally be 

 found that the disease is only latent, and that in the vast 

 majority of instances it will sooner or later reassume all its 

 former virulence. 



I am, moreover, firmly of opinion that perfectly healthy 

 • blood, no matter what its age may be, can by no possibility be 

 made to pass into that peculiar kind or phase of decomposition 

 in which it assumes a brown colour and a treacly state of con- 

 sistence, adheres to the cells, and gives forth an offensive 

 odour. All these I regard as uumistakcable and indubitable 

 evidence of the presence of virulent foul brood, and I would 

 on no account admit within my apiary either the bees or the 

 combs from a hive in which I found a single cell of this de- 

 scription. 



The perusal of the foregoing article from the pen of my 

 valued friend and correspondent leaves, therefore, upon my 

 mind the painful impression that nearly all — perhaps, indeed, 

 every one — of the stocks which he possesses, or to which he 

 has access, are more or less tainted with foul brood ; and that 

 from this cause, in spite of all his laborious and painstaking 

 examinations, the results of his very laudable experiments and 

 investigations into the nature and origin of foul brood have 

 been most unfortunately vitiated by the unwitting use of pre- 

 viously-infected combs. — A Devonshire Bee-keepek.] 



MY DOGS.— No. 3. 



MY DOG WHEN I WAS A LONG LAI). 



In the Satiirdaij Review there has been a series of papers on 

 womankind, most of them unfair, one of them very offensive. 



I allude to that entitled " The Girl of the Period." The writer 

 of this production is, I imagine, what Dean Swift called " a 

 nice person," which he said meant " a person of nasty ideas." 

 But just as people who are habitually liara occasioually speak 

 the truth by accident, so this "nice" or "nasty" writer, de- 

 scribing girls between the school and tho young-lady age, calls 

 them " nymphs," a very happy term — not children, nor yet 

 romping schoolgirls, nor yet settled down into young-woman- 

 hood. But by what term can I describe the same age in the 

 other sex ? Youth pairs with maiden, and both imply — love. 

 But there are yet a few years between cbildhood and youth 

 before that pleasing troubler comes. " Hobbledehoy " is not 

 a pleasant word ; it seems to imply awkwardness and clowuish- 

 ness. Wo see before us an uncouth farmer's son, whiteslopped 

 and hobnailed. Now suppose that, in v,'ant of a better term 

 to describe this portion of human life in mankind, I call it tho 

 " long-lad " age. The long lad is no more a play-absorbed boy, 

 but he is not ashamed uf coming down to a good game occa- 

 sionally. He is not so ready as before to make friends with 

 everybody — 



" To bear his heart upon hie sleeve," 

 but he delights in a chum. He is uncommonly shy before 

 ladies, especially if he be a very long lad ; but he is a capital 

 brother to his sisters, and is ever ready to use his long strong 

 arms in their service, to do for them what they have not strength 

 or height enough to do for themselves. The long lad is getting 

 out of the Egypt of dirty clothes and fingers, and untidy hair, 

 and just near enough the Canaan of youthful beauism to rush 

 to his room at the sight of strangers, and put on a new necktie, 

 which he considers the very sum total of dressing. The long 

 lad is frequently, nay, almost always, absorbed in some favour- 

 ite fancy or pursuit, liabbits he deems childish, so he goes in 

 for Pigeons, and is learned in the length of a beak, or the 

 number of feathers in a tail. Or if he iu in the way of learning 

 to shoot, and obtains by coaxing a gun, that becomes his 

 delight, his charmer, his everything — it is to him what his 

 horse is to an -4rab. The long lad envies not the man with a 

 license, who may only shoot here and there. He shoots every- 

 where. His game is Rabbits, Fieldfares, and Wood Pigeons. 

 He will spend hours in pursuit of such, watching and waiting 

 like a sentinel in the damp and cold. But the long lad usually 

 delights also iu a dog, which he will teach all manner of tricks, 

 but a rat dog and a rabbit dog it must also be. 



When I was a long lad I had a rat dog, a terrier, sandy in 

 body, dark in muzzle and legs, therefore as to colour a black 

 and tan reversed. He was bought because of his quickness at 

 ratting. His name, of course — Pincher — not a refined name ; 

 but the long lad cares little for refinement, he goes in for fun 

 and for sport. His name, aa I said, was Pincher, and it is 

 wrong to change a dog's name. He will take another, but not 

 wholly, and is delighted bej'ond measure if any one calls him 

 by his old name. I fancy a dog feels it to be a sort of insult 

 or rudeness, as it certainly is for other people to call one's 

 children by a different name to that by which they are called 

 by their parents. If I always call a son Henry, I think it bad 

 manners, as it is, if another person will insist on always calUng 

 him Harry. 



Well, Pincher was bought and brought home in the evening 

 to exhibit his rat love and prowess in our baru, then ral- 

 troubled. I brought him home, and you will usually find it 

 correct, that whoever brings a dog to a new home, that one of 

 the new family he takes to. He seems to think, " I knew you 

 first, and you were kind to me ; you brought me into a scene 

 amid new faces, I knew your's first. I turned to you as a 

 friend ; you were kind to me first, so I love you best. Yuu 

 brought me my first milk, or my first bone, and you took me 

 to my kennel and fetched a bundle of clean straw, and care- 

 fully |jut a pan of water near me, and as you showed me love 

 first of all, I'll give you my love iu return." 



Pincher's performance in the barn was most satisfactory ; 

 among rats he was in his element, and at the very highest pin- 

 nacle of his being's enjoyment. Not a hunter with hounds in 

 full cry, not a sportsman when the brown-backed covey rises 

 before him, has more intense joy — joy that thrills through his 

 frame and looks out at his eyes, than has a terrier among rats. 

 Notice his forward-thrusting, audibly-smelling nose, his atti- 

 tude of perfect symmetry, his keenness, his eagerness, his 

 Eharp short bark, and his sharper whine — a noise only heard 

 when rats are near, and, to sum up, if it be dark, his eyes 

 shooting green fire. 



The long lad and Pincher went to many a rat hunt, specially 

 when a corn stack was being lowerel. The rats go lower a^ 



