Uuoh 26, 1868. ] 



JOOBNAL OF HOBTICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



251 



ministering also three or four oances of liquid !oad per diem 

 regularly for the next few weeks. With a stock so exception- 

 ally strong as yours is described to be, we should have every 

 hope of breeding drones sutViciently in advance of our neigh- 

 bours' black colonies to insure a true impregnation of the 

 young queens. The best mode of making an artificial swarm 

 under such circumstances, is described in page 80 of " The 

 Gardeners' Almanack," but do not neglect the caution given 

 by us in reply to an inquiry in page 210. When royal cells 

 are formed and sealed over in the old stock, you may readily 

 and advantageously stock the box for your unicomb in the 

 manner described by us in page '232.] 



EARLY APPEARANCE OF DRONES. 



A. PERSON to whom I sold some bees a short time ago, has 

 this morning brought me a young drone which he found crawl- 

 ing on the alighting board. Now I lind from memoranda kept 

 the last five years, that they never appeared earlier than May 

 5th. Do you suppose this stock is likely to swarm unusually 

 early from this circumstance, or why should the queen be laying 

 drone eggs before the hive is filled with workers. 



The sallows in this neighbourhood are now yielding abun- 

 dance of farina, and are fully a month earlier than I have ever 

 noticed them before. Let us hope for a good bee year. — T. W. 



[Nothing whatever can be inferred from the exceptional ap- 

 pearance of a young drone expelled by the workers. Whilst 

 examining the interior of our own hives, we have already seen 

 several instances in which the projecting cover of an isolated 

 cell has proclaimed its tenant to be of the male sex. Queen 

 bees, like 'other mortals, are not infallible, and the best of 

 them will occasionally deposit a drone egg in a worker cell, as 

 if by mistake ; it is probable, therefore, that your drone owed 

 his birth to an error of this kind. The season is unquestion- 

 ably early, and we trust it may turn out a prosperous one.] 



SILKWORM REARING IN ENGLAND —No. 7. 



Having described the castle and the mode of arranging the 

 materials in it for the worms to spin amongst, I will name 

 a few articles which are found more or less useful in Silkworm- 

 rearing. 



The Hatching Box is intended to contain the Silkworms' eggs 

 to be hatched. It can be made of card or wood, and should 

 have a level bottom ; its sides may be half an inch in height, 

 and it may be 4 or 5 inches across each way for an ounce 

 weight of eggs ; but cannot well be made larger than to contain 

 3 ozs. of eggs. For every 3 ozs. there must be a separate box. 



This box must have a kind of lid fitting exactly, like the lid 

 of a saucepan, by entering in over the eggs. In making it, 

 take pieces of wood a quarter of an inch square and form a 

 frame. This can be covered with canvas, net, or other material 

 having holes about the size of a mustard seed, and which is to 

 be glued to the frame, and tacked if found necessary, for it 

 must be tightly extended as for a sieve. This frame or lid is 

 to be let into the box over the eggs, but not so as to touch or 

 press on them ; and to prevent this, four pieces of cork or wood 

 should be placed in the corners of the box among the eggs, just 

 one-sixteenth of an inch above their level ; on these the lid 

 will rest. The eggs in the box should not be more than one- 

 eighth of an inch deep. The lid must have small handles or 

 pegs by which to lift it. The little worms on issuing from the 

 eggs make for the holes or canvas, pass on to the mulberry 

 leaves placed above, and along with these may be lifted ofi and 

 placed on sheets of paper. 



The above kind of hatching box is used by many large Silk- 

 worm-rearers, but I find the following mode of construction is an 

 improvement. Take an even piece of cardboard, or wood, 

 () inches or a foot square ; lay the eggs upon it to the depth of 

 about one-eighth of an inch, and glue an edging or list of wood 

 round it so as to come just above the level of the eggs, a hair's 

 breadth will do. This eJging will keep the eggs in their 

 place. The frame or lid can be made rather larger, and only 

 the canvas part will be laid over the eggs, but supported from 

 touching them by the wood. It will be readily seen that in 

 this way the worms will be in no way incommoded as by the 

 wooden frame inside the box. 



I have adopted a more simple method than either of the 

 above with success, when the quantity of eggs is small, by 

 doubling a sheet of rather stiff paper so as to form channels 



or gutters thus _AAAA — The gutters are made about an 

 inch in height, and are kept open at top to the extent of from 

 half an inch to an inch, by gluing down the two sides to card- 

 board. The eggs are placed in these gutters, the leaves are 

 laid on the ridges, and the worms on hatching easily travel up 

 the sides to the leaves, which can be readily lifted away without 

 any eggs adhering to them, as would be the case if the leaves 

 were laid directly on the eggs, by reason of the fine web silk 

 issuing from the worms' mouths becoming entangled among 

 the shells. Perhaps this plan would bo somewhat tedious for 

 large quantities of eggs, but I believe it to possess some ad- 

 vantages. The warm air of the hatching room can circulate 

 under the gutters, and its doing so is certainly beneficial to the 

 eggs ; besides, the eggs, instead of being heaped together, lie 

 farther apart, and thus the worms have more room to travel 

 about, which I consider very important. If the leaves from 

 being very small fall into the gutters, this may be prevented by 

 laying over the ridges fine netting, by which worms and leaves 

 may be lifted away. 



The TiKnmmeter is necessary in Silkworm-rearing, to indi- 

 cate the heat of the room in which the worms are. Some 

 persons also use a thermometer out of doors to serve as a guide 

 in the admission of the external air to the room. 



TJie Hygrometer is recommended by several first-rate Silk- 

 worm-rearers to point out the degree of humidity in the rearing 

 room. It is not so absolutely necessary as the thermometer. 

 Damp should be wholly avoided. Salt will be a good substitute 

 for this instrument, for if placed on a saucer in the room it 

 continues dry if the room is not damp, otherwise it becomes 

 damp. A damp room is an improper place in which to keep 

 Silkworms. Stagnant dampness is that which is so hurtful, 

 and not the natural moisture of the atmosphere from rain, 

 because the insect lives in the open air, exposed to it as well 

 as to sun and wind. 



Tlie Mieroicope at the present day has become an essential 

 instrument, not only in examining the Silkworm, but even the 

 eggs, to discover if they be free from disease. The instrument 

 should magnify at least three hundred times. 



Sheets of paper or calico are necessary for covering the stages 

 on which to keep the worms. When paper is used it should 

 be tolerably stout and without gum, in order that it may dry 

 quickly. The sheets for the stages I have described should be 

 2 feet by IS inches, two covering each compartment, or sixteen 

 to each stage. A paper without colouring matter is to be pre- 

 ferred ; common brown paper will answer the purpose. I 

 prefer calico if not too dear, for it will last several years and 

 can be washed, which paper cannot be ; indeed it can seldom 

 be used again the second year. The commonest grey calico 

 wUl serve every purpose, and it may be cut if desired to the 

 full size of each compartment of the stage. The calico must 

 be laid in water in order to shrink it before cutting, otherwise 

 it will shrink on being washed, and become too small to cover 

 the compartment. 



Wooden or Tin Trags. — These are for transporting the sheets 

 of paper or calico on which are the worms from one stage or 

 place to another, when their removal is necessary for the pur- 

 pose of cleaning, and to give more room. These trays may be 

 formed of light thin boarding, well planed and even polished, 

 that the sheets may the better be drawn off into their fresh 

 position. Tin would answer the purpose very well, or even 

 stiff cardboard, but I consider wood best. The trays should 

 be made rather less in width than the compartments of the 

 stages, because when these are arranged with the materials for 

 the worms to spin in, the trays will have to pass between them 

 without disturbing such materials. The i-nost convenient size 

 seems to be l.^ inches wide, and 4 feet long. Their being less 

 in width than the sheets of paper is of no consequence, be- 

 cause the worms are only to be placed so as to occupy about 

 half the area of the stages, and as the worms grow larger the 

 other half of them fill their new quarters. The only time the 

 worms would have to be laid more thickly would be when full 

 grown, at the time of moving them into their spinning retreats. 

 The width of 4 feet admits of two sheets of paper being carried 

 at once, besides the convenience of lodging the trays across 

 the aide rails of the stage while gathering up the worms. 



Xefi and Perforated Sh'ets of Paper. — Nets are used by many 

 Silkworm-rearers to facilitate the work of cleaning when the 

 worms are growing large, or after their third change of skin. 

 The net is laid over the worms, and leaves are distributed over 

 it. The worms pass through the meshes to the leaves, and 

 can then be lifted up by the net, which can be secured to the 

 bottom of the stage above by hooks during the time the dirt 



