68 



JOUBNAL OP HOKTICULTORB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ January 23, 1M8. 



favoured during tbe autumn to bee-driving expeditions — a 

 pleasure whicli must be increased by the reflection that he is 

 thereby rescuing countless thousands of industrious little 

 labourers from a violent and untimely death, and by profits, the 

 value of which can scarcely fail to be enhanced by similar 

 humane considerations. 



When about to start upon one of these expeditions, I secure 

 beforehand the services of a small boy, who propels before him 

 a nondescript kind of trap, composed of the wheels, lower 

 frame, and springs of a child's perambulator, from which the 

 Beat has been removed and replaced by a horizontal platform, 

 formed by ahght wooden frame nearly 4 feet long by 15 inches 

 wide. Upon this are ranged four common straw hives, tied 

 up in as many bee cloths, and a small leather travelling bag, 

 the whole being well secured by a piece of stout patent sash- 

 line, passing from front to rear, and strung through a loop in the 

 top of each hive and through the handles of the bag. This latter 

 contains the following articles : A piece of coarse towelling 

 1^ yards long by 8 inches wide, rolled up, with the end secured 

 by a stout pin, .and 6 yards of small cord wound round it, a 

 fumigating tube charged with cellar fungus, a box of matches, 

 a short iron skewer, a small packing needle, threaded with a 

 yard or so of stout twine, two or three little boxes made of 

 perforated zinc, and fitted with sliding covers, a set of three 

 honey knives, a couple of sheets of newspaper, a piece of half- 

 inch wood, 13 inches long by 8 inches wide, one or two strong 

 quill feathers, half-a-dozen pieces of small cord or stout twine, 

 each from U- to 2 yards in length, and a veil for shielding the 

 face in case of necessity, which latter is, however, but seldom 

 used. 



Arrived at the scene of action, I first ascertain what stocks 

 are to be operated on, mark every one distinctly, either by at 

 once removing the straw hackle or in some other equally 

 nnmistakeable manner, and obtain the loan of an empty bucket, 

 with a couple of kitchen chairs, all of which are forthwith 

 conveyed to the apiary. 



And hero, whilst repeating the confession which I made in 

 page 188, that 1 know of no mode of uniting adult bees, which 

 is free from the chance of an occasional failure, 1 may be per- 

 mitted to acknowledge ray belief that we are indebted to the 

 Bev. P. V. M. Filleul for the first discovery of a fact upon which 

 are based all my more recent modes of uniting bees, and by 

 which it seems to me that the risk of failure is reduced to a 

 minimum. It is, I believe, some eighteen years since that 

 accomplished apiarian, writing under the nom <Il' 2>hi>iie of "A 

 Country Cdkate," informed the readers of The Cottage G.iK- 

 BENER that he had found that if the inhabitants of two or 

 more stocks of bees were driven in succession into the same 

 empty hive, a peaceful union would be the result. A very 

 considerable amount of experience having satisfied me of the 

 general truth of this axiom, it will be found that the manipu- 

 lations which I am about to describe are substantially based 

 upon it. — A Devonsuire Bee-keeper. 

 (To be continued.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Lice on Fowi,e (D. H.)-— Complaints of lice always come after a wet 

 time. When all the laud is saturated, birds cuunot find their dust hath, 

 and that is the only remedy or preventive for this infliction. Every 

 poultry run should bo provided with some sheltered place, and this 

 should be supplied with fine dust, road-Rrit, and briclUayers' rubbish in 

 heaps. To these, or to either of the first, should be added some black 

 fcrimstone, of the commonest sort, in the proportion of a pound to a 

 Jjushel of sand. The birds will show their need of it by running to it, as 

 a thirsty man does to water. There are otlier parasites besides lice, aud 

 some of them are visible only throuKh microscopic agency. By that 

 help they may bo seen clustering round the poll of a chicken in heaps, or 

 suspending themselves in hunches. The immediute cure for that is to 

 rub oil on tbe poll, along the backbone, and under the wings. They nre 

 Ihe parts specially chosen by these pests. We believe this will cure 

 yours. Wo have treated your question generally, because we think that 

 By making proper dust baths you should have no such plague amoug 

 adult fowls. Chickens whi^n out of health will he subject to them. We 

 do not think cinders or ashes, except wood ashes, make good dust baths. 

 Cinders are worse than nothing, as they stick in the feathers and tor- 

 ment the birds. If you have given such they may partly cause the dis- 

 comfort manifested" by the birds. Partridge? will teach you a lesson on 

 dust baths. When we have had long wet weather you will find in every 

 light-soiled beetling bank under the naked roots of trees, regular recesses 

 Jormed by the birds using it for their baths, and the traces left of its 

 constant use. 



Plumage of Dark Erar^ia Pootra Cockerel (Johu Milton). — Black 

 feathers tipped with white are not objectionable ou the thighs of a 

 Brahma cock. 



Poultry VARrETiEs in One Ruk (J. fl".).— The effects of promiscuous 

 intercourse we believe not to cease until a hen has laid her whole season's 

 eggs and become broody. Some poultry-keepers, however, think that 

 after three weeks the effects have passed away. 



Brahma Pootras {E. B. ir.).— There are no such birds as "White" 

 Brahmas. They are called "Light;" the body is white, but the hackle, 

 tail, and flights are black. Coloured Brahmas will do very well in con- 

 finement, quite as well as or better than Cochins. Dorkings will not do id 

 confinement. We always shudder when we hear of fowls in a yard. We 

 picture to ourselves one paved with flagstones. Some years since we 

 were staying in St. Leonard's, in Eversfield Place, and looking out of the 

 back window could see half a dozen melancholy birds standing about oir 

 one foot on large flagstones that were carefully washed every morning — 

 flat-footed birds that had lost the habit of scratching, that only saw the 

 8UU for half an hour in the twenty-four, that turned with loathing from 

 the '^toiijours perdrix" of the clean barley lying on the stones to the 

 variety of the dust heap. Fowls will do ou anything but flagstones, 

 bricky, or hoards. 



Earlobes of Black Bantams (B. H. A/.).— Black Bantams must have 

 white deaf-eurs. They are by no means ueceisary for White or other 

 colours. 



Crooked Breast \(R. B. J.).— Thi-^ deformity in fowls usually arises 

 from constitutional weakness— like the rickets in children. The chickens 

 are stimulated into rapid growth, so that their amount of muscle is far 

 out of proportion to the growth of tho houes. These being in a gristly 

 state, and the muscles on one side being more developed than on the 

 other side, tho breastbone is soon pulled into a crooked form. Nourishing 

 but not stimulating food, rusty iron in the water trough, plenty of greecj 

 food, and a good run, are the best preventives. Kever breed from a 

 crooked-breasted fowl — "like begets like." 



Malt Dust (A Constant Reader). — You may generally obtain malt dust 

 at any corn-dealer's in the countiy. It may bo given as a stimulant mixed 

 with bailey meiil. 



Dlxks (.4. 3'.). — Yon can keep Ducks in any place, where you can give 

 them an outlet either into a yard, or to gi-ass or garden land. They re- 

 quire but little water, and are by no means dainty. It is not necessary 

 to keep a drake, unless you intend to set the eggs. If you send to our 

 office seven postage stamps with your address, and ord^r " Poultry Book 

 for the Many," you will have it sent free by post. It contains directions 

 for keeping Ducks. 



Incubator {A Subscrihi'i). — There are several makers of them, and we 

 cannot venture to recommend one more than the others. You will see 

 the advertisements in some of our back numbers. Write to tho makera 

 for information and select for yourself. 



Isle of Peru.—" T. C. H." will be much obliged by " W. H K." stating 

 in what atlas or work this inland is mentioned. 



Canary Seed (Hfrfford). — Retailers must have a large profit, or it would 

 not be worth tlieir attention. The portraits you refer to never appeareiJ 

 before in our columns. 



Canaries {Lncicn). — If you send twenty postage stamps with your 

 address, aud order "The Canary," the hook will be sent to you free by 

 post. It contains full directions for their management. 



Red Lice in Canary Cage IBumlen). — Lime will not destroy them, 

 but flowers of sulphur rubbed into all the openings, aud a little mixed 

 with the sand on tbe cage floor, will extirpate them. 



Hen House Fleas (A. D. E.). — Several of the feverfews, especially 

 Pyrcthruui roseum and carneum, if dried aud powdered, and sprinkled 

 about tho house, are said to drive away fleis. 



Pigeons uaving Incased Featheks {B. }V.). — Your Pigeons have not 

 moulted freely, a general complaint this season, caused by the protracted 

 damp and cold weather after harvest. It is well tho feather has fallen 

 out, aud if the bird lives it will be replaced by a new one during spring. 

 Indian corn is good feeding: add, if possible, a few small tick beans and 

 vetches, but spare your wheat till the breeding season ; the harder the 

 food the better during winter. The short breathing proceeds from weak- 

 ness, and often appears in Pigeons that have not moulted freely. Keep 

 your birds warm and dry at night, this is of great consequence. Give 

 them plenty of clean water to wash in, daily if possible. Use a large 

 vessel about 3^ inches deep. Washing is life to all birds that do wash. 

 Fill an 8-inch 'flower-pot saucer with fresh gardener field earth, free 

 from manure or chemicals, and mix well through it lialf a tea- cupful of 

 salt; all your birds may peck freely at this mixture, of which they are 

 very fond, you will find this improve them quickly both in health and 

 plumage. Should the salt appear to purge (as it may do at first) remove 

 it for a few days. Give pleuty old bruised mortar, and let your birds fly 

 if convenientin dry weather. Your sick birds may have a handful of 

 hempseed once or twice a-week, but if the seed is not digested by 

 morning give no more of it. 



Bars for Supers (C.A.J.).~'V,'c use tbe same bars in supers as in 

 stock hives, but place them a little wider apart, using only eight instead 

 of nine bars in a 13-inch box. 



Gratings to Exclude Drones (Wcwi).— Gratings with .apertures 

 three-sixteenths of an inch wide arc used to exclude the queen and 

 drones from supers. 



Revolving Frames (Idcin).—Vi'e believe that the German centrifugal 

 machine extracts all the honey from combs without inj uring them in any 

 way. 



Size of Nucleus Boxes {Tdevi). — Our nucleus boxes are 6^ inches 

 wide inside, and accommodate four combs in each at equal distances 

 apart. 



Combs Beyond the Bars (Wcjh). — When there is an overflowing 

 honey harvest bees will crowd every available cranny in their hives with 

 combs, even the space which is left between the ends of the frames and 

 the sides of a Woodbury hive. The occasional slight obstructions thus 

 caused to the removal of the combs can readily be cleared away, aud are 

 a much more trivial inconveiiieuce than would be esiJerienced in mani- 

 pulating frames in an unduly contracted hive. 



POULTRY MARKET.— January 22. 



The suprly of the market is small, but small .as it is. there is scarcely 

 trade enough to consume it. There is gi-eat depression in every branch. 



d s. a 

 to 3 6 

 6 19 

 

 2 6 

 2 14 

 a 10 



Large Fowls S 



Smaller do 2 



ChicliCQS 2 



Geese 



Ducks 



Pigeons 



Pheasants 3 



Partridges 1 



Grouse 



Hares 2 



Rabbits 1 



Wild do 



