Novembar 19, 186a ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTXCULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDiSNEB. 



393 



bee possibly is the A. Adanson^ o{ Latreille;" but I nndor- 

 stood that the A. Adanaonii of Latreille whb a variegated bee, 

 and agreed with A. faseiftta insizo and colour, differing only in 

 its darker hair. It is said that this form of variegated bee 

 ocoura at the Cape. If so, I take it to be the " diminutive of 

 the Liguvlan" referred to by Mr. Woodbury's correspondent — 

 A. Adansonii. I also understand that together with this varie- 

 gated form, there occur at the Cape trauBitions of all kinds to 

 a nearly uniform dark one, and that the darker variety only 

 differs from the British bee in Its smaller size. This seems to 

 me to be the other variety referred to, which Mr. Woodbury 

 has oomiuissioned, and which is described as being nearly 

 identical with the A. uuicolor of Latreille, which abounds in 

 the Mauritius and Madagascar, and which M. Gersliioker says 

 " differs from the north German bee (A. melliflca), only in its 

 smaller si:;3." In short, I expect that the African "niggers" 

 on their way to England will resemble somewhat those propa- 

 gated by myself (only darker), by the crossings of the A. melli- 

 flca with t!'9 A. fasciata in my possession. 



That the characteristics of each variety should be thus 

 tnaintaiued so conspicuously, as is represented to exist at the 

 Cape, is one of those mysteries which it is dil'licult to solve, 

 though a batter acquaintance with facts might throw some 

 light upon it. Wheie two opposing inQuonces are at work it 

 is natural to suppose that the strongest or largest will have the 

 mastery. In this country it will be found that the Liguriau 

 race will have much to contend against in this respect for many 

 long years to come ; but even when its propagation shall 

 arrive at that point, when both the Italian and British inlla- 

 enoe shall bo nearly equalised, I believa that even then in 

 certain localities the Ligurian race will be found to prevail over 

 the other race, and vice versa, just as is represented at the 

 Cape with reg.ird to the Egyptian r.ud British bee. 



I fear, then, that Mr. Woodbury in getting possession of 

 these African " niggers," so far from obtaining any new race of 

 bee, will only bo renewing his acquaintance with hybrid 

 descendants of his old "friend" (!) A. fasciata, only with a large 

 preponderance of the black element ; and that in making a 

 choice of these for importation over the so-called " diminutive 

 Ligurian," mentioned by his correspondent, so far as irascibility 

 of temper is concerned, he will only be avoiding Scjlla to fall 

 into Charybdis. 



In thus forming an opinion, however, I need not say that I 

 shall be glad if that opinion prove incorrect. In any case, all 

 apiarians must owe Mr. Woodbury a debt of thanks for his 

 indefatigable and persevering exertions in this matter. 



One or two very interesting topics have been recently mooted 

 by your excellent correspondent, " E. S.," to which I hope to 

 direct my attention at some future time, and to which other 

 apiarians will, I doubt not, lend their aid towards a solution. 

 — J. Lowe. 



INTRODUCING LIGURIAN QUEENS. 



The following is an account of our experience with six Ligu- 

 rian queen bees we recently obtained from Mr. Woodbury. We 

 first asked his advice about how we were to introduce them to 

 the Week bees, and were referred by him to the number of 

 The Jcuenal op Hor.TicoLTURE for the 5th of September, 18C7. 

 We got it, and were then prepared to act. 



On the 15th of October we had a note saying that the bees 

 ■were to leave Switzerland in a few days. We let the black 

 -queens remain in their hives four days after that, and then 

 removed five of them, thinking that within five days their 

 foreign rivals would be forwarded to take their place. We were 

 disappointed, however, for instead of five days it was twenty 

 ere they arrived. 



My neighbour, who was to receive three of the six queens, 

 became very disheartened; his bees came out, and seemed 

 careless about going back again. He expected to lose all; 

 around his hives the bees were lying dead. He shut them up, 

 then dysentery began in two of the hives, and when the queens 

 came, there was a great number of his bees dead in two of his 

 hives (they were vei-y strong hives to begin with). He cleaned 

 them out, and tried one of the queens on a comb ; she was 

 received cheerfully. The other two had to be put into wire 

 cages, and left for two days. He has now succeeded with all 

 three. 



A day before the Italian queens arrived I found a young 

 queen cast out from each of my two hives, from which 1 had 

 taken the queens about seventeen days before. This told me 

 there had been qnecn-making going on, so I made a search 



before putting in the new ones, and found a fine large queen in 

 each, and four queen cellp. This rather puzzled me ; how was 

 I to do now ? As it was very cold, how was I to manage to 

 keep the new queens five days, as Mr. Woodbury said the bees 

 should bo kept live days without a queen before putting in 

 the new ones? The five queens we took out first died in ten 

 days, and the frost being now so severe, I was afraid to keep 

 them a day from the hives after the journey from Switzer- 

 land. I saw no alternative but to risk them at once ; bo I 

 placed two of them each into a cage, and put them into their 

 hives. I had not taken the queen from my third hive, bo 1 

 went in search of her, and saw her on a comb, but ere I could 

 take her off, she was out of sight. I then searched the comba 

 four times over, but could see nothing of her, so I gave it up 

 in despair till next day, when we found her outside of the 

 house. It was a very hard frost all night, and the sun not 

 making his appearance, I durst not open the hive, bo I thought 

 of just risking the new queen in at the opening or feeding hole 

 at the top of the hive. I opened the box to take her, but found 

 her lying on the bottom, and her companions along with her, 

 to all appearance dead, so I shook her out on my hand (the 

 reader may conceive my feelings after allmy trouble); she 

 seemed a beauty. I ran to the fireside, warmed my hand, held 

 it over her, breathed between my hands to warm her, and was 

 laughed at by my wife, who told me I was getting " bee-daft." 

 The heat had the desired effect, however, for the queen began 

 to move, and in ten minutes was on her feet. I put her into 

 a box, placed a piece of glass over it, wrapped the box in warm 

 flannel, ran to the bee house with her, and put the box on the 

 feeding hole. I left the bees there, and examined the three 

 hives at the end of four days, and found the queens in all 

 doing well. I should have stated that my two queens that 

 were caged at midday were released from their confinement 

 by the bees excavating their cages out of the comb by next 

 forenoon. 



We have managed far better than we expected. We feared 

 that the frosty nights would kill the queens on the journey. 

 My neighbour and myself had both had one that was more 

 like dead than alive. — H. L. 



THE BERKSHIRE HIVE. 



I CAN fully endorse what is said by " S. B." as to the advan- 

 tanes of the Berkshire bee hive, which I have used with the 

 oTeatest success, and which I believe to be for ordinary bee- 

 keepers the most satisfactory hive known. It is somewhat on 

 the principle of the Canadian hive, than which nothing can be 

 more simple or efficient for taking and storing honoy. 



Mr. Sadler's bivL-s and bee houses both deserve notice, and I 

 am surprised that they have only just found their way to the 

 Bee-keepers' Chronicle. 



This year I have taken 6S lbs. of honey from three hives, 

 leaving, of course, the stocks well supplied for the winter. _ It is 

 not true that the hives never throw off any swarms, for if ex- 

 posed to the sun the bees are sure to swarm ; they require to be 

 kept entirely in the shade. My best stock swarmed tmce this 

 year, and made no honry in the supers because they were ex- 

 posed to the sun all the previous season, and consequently pro • 

 pared for swarming early this spring. I have tried many hives, 

 but none with equal success to that of the Berkshire Hive. — 

 Halcvon'. 



WAXEN SHEETS. 



In reply to "A Lan-arkshike Bf.e-keepek" in your last 

 number, I would observe that no wax sheet which I have 

 purchased or made is of uniform thickness ; the wax, tending 

 downwards when the board or glass isdipped into it, accumulates 

 in a greater thickness on the lower side of the sheet, and if care 

 be not used to hang the sheet by its thickest edge a break- 

 down frequently follows. The perforation which he describes 

 I have occasionally observed in impresfed sheets, but not to 

 any serious extent, and never, so far, in plain sheets. 



if "A LiNAEKsnir.E Bee-keepes" will refer to my letter in 

 your number of September 10th he will see that I was speakir g 

 of impressed sheets, when I said that I had known workei- 

 comb built upon them by queenless stocks. This I have seen 

 so frequently that I think I may say that it is the rule that 

 drone comb is not built until the comb is brought below the 

 level of the sheet ; but in respect to plain sheets I may now say, 

 that on the only occasion within my knowledge of bees build- 



