394 



JOCRNAIi OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ April 16, 1868. 



If wished by any fancier that I should point out the breeds 

 that I think are keeping their ground and those that I deem 

 are losing it, I shall be happy to do so on some future occasion. 

 — Habky. 



[Be assured that your comments wiU be acceptable to all 

 Pigeon-fanciers.] 



WOOLWICH, PLUMSTEAD, AND CHARLTON 

 FANCY RABBIT SOCIETY. 



The half-yearly Exhibition was held on the 6th inst., at the Society's 

 Club House. Beresford Street, Woolwich, when there were shown some 

 of the finest specimens ever exhibited. One doe belonging to Mr. A. 

 Cavey, was worthy especial notice, its weight being 13 lbs. 9 ozs., 

 and she had not attained her eighth month. She tool three prizes. 

 We must also notice another doe reared by Mr. A. Carey, which 

 weighed 16 lbs. 9 ozs. 



LIST OF PRIZE BABBITS. 



Owners. 



•Mr, A. Carey's. 

 Mr. Vallom's .. 

 Mr. Skinner's . . 

 Mr. Walklin's . . 

 Mr. OUey's .... 

 Mr. Dawson's . . 

 Mr. Burrel's. . . . 

 Mr. Thompson's 

 Mr. G. Carey's . 

 Mr. A.Carey's . 

 Mr. Kent's .... 

 Mr. Jns. Carey's 



Sex. 



Tortoisesbell . . 

 Tortoiseshell . . 

 YcUow* White 

 Black & 'White . 

 Black & ■White . 

 Tellow & White 

 Yellow & White 

 Tortoiseshell . . 

 Blue and White 

 Grey and 'U'^hite 



Fawn 



Blue and Whitc.Doe 



Doe.. 

 Buck 



Doe.. 

 Buck 



Doe.. 

 Buck 



II 



T3 « 



go 



2U 

 20i 

 203 

 19i 

 19| 

 181 



isl 



18| 

 191 



m 



20f 

 Ex. weight.. 



Weight. 



lbs. ozs. 

 13 



9 

 9 

 XO 

 6 

 7 

 8 

 9 12 



8 6 



9 10 

 8 13 



16 9 



Age. 



d. 

 29 

 29 

 29 

 14 

 29 

 21 

 11 

 

 13 

 29 

 23 



* This Rabbit took the weight prize under eight months, also the width 

 prize, being the widest exhibited. 



THE EGYPTIAN BEE.— Part VH. 



now IT HAS FARED SINCE I TRANSMITTED IT TO AMERICA. 



In page .39 of the twelfth volume of " our Journal," I re- 

 lated how I had been appUed to by the Kev. L. L. Langstroth, 

 who was desirous of introducing Apis fasciata into America. 

 In consequence of this application I imported a second queen 

 from Herr Vogel, placed her at the head of a hybrid stock of 

 Italians, and despatched the entire colony to Liverpool, thence 

 to cross the Atlantic, on the 21st of October, 1806. Of its safe 

 arrival in the United States I was advised by Mr. Langstroth 

 in due course, and early in 1867 that gentleman thus writes in 

 " The American Bee Journal," under date of the 10th January 

 in that year. 



" I cannot close this communication 'without paving a de- 

 served tribute to Mr. Woodbury, for the admirable "manner in 

 which he prepared a colony of bees with an Egyptian queen 

 expressly imported by him for me from 'Vogers apiary. Al- 

 though the bees had been detained nearly a week in the 

 Custom House at New York, I found on opening the hive at 

 Brooklyn, that they had suffered little, if at all, from their long 

 confinement, few more, if any, having died than would have 

 perished had they remained on their stand in his apiary. The 

 arrangements for giving the bees air were excellent, and the 

 devices for preventing the combs from being broken were 

 superior to any I have ever seen." 



Having, therefore, received this colony intact, and obtained 

 another Egyptian queen through the kind offices of the Rev. 

 Mr. Eleiue, of Lnethorst, in Hanover, Messrs. L. L. Langstroth 

 and Son, with business-like promptitude, immediately adver 

 tised under date of November, 1866, to the following effect :— 



" Egyptian Queen Bees. Having received choice queens of 

 this variety from the Berlin Society of .^.cclimatisation, which 

 imports them from Egypt, we shaU be prepared to fill orders 

 for them next season. For circular and price list send," &c. 



This advertisement seems, however, to have been at least 

 premature, as may be inferred from the following communi- 

 cation addressed to the editor, which appeared in a recent 

 number of the " Bee Journal." 



" Many of our correspondents are calling our attention to 

 the clause in our circular for 1867, in which, speaking of Apis 

 fasciata, commonly termed the Egyptian bee, we say, ' 'We can 

 speak warmly of their great beauty, and will give the public 

 our judgment of their relative value, when we have subjected 

 their claims to a thorough test in our climate. ' It seems to 



be expected that this report can new be made. Owing to a 

 peculiar combination of circumstances such is not the case. 



" 'We received in November, 1866, two distinct importations 

 of these bees. Their coming had been delayed until we had 

 given up all expectation of their arriving that season ; and wo 

 had consequently no colonies prepared for the reception of the 

 queens. They arrived late in November, and it was several 

 days later when they reached our apiary. The weather was 

 unusually unfavourable even for December; and some of the 

 queens perished from exhaustion long before they could be in- 

 troduced. Others were not to be found when the stocks to 

 which they were introduced were subsequently examined. As 

 our order for another supply of queens raised in 1866, and 

 thoroughly tested, had already gone forward to the Berlin 

 Society of Acclimatisation, the queens to be shipped in April, 

 1867, we still hoped to be able to breed and test this variety 

 last season, though we returned all monies received by us on 

 order for Egyptian queens. But we found it impossible, al- 

 though having a personal agent in Europe, to expedite matters 

 in the least. Herr Vogel, who breeds these bees for the Society, 

 was absent in Egypt during part of the season, and we did not 

 succeed in getting our importation of 1867 in time to breed 

 from them to any extent last fall. 'We are, therefore, able to 

 say little more about Apis fasciata from personal knowledge 

 than we could have done a year ago. Those apiarians who are 

 expecting a report from us in regard to the merits or demerits 

 of this variety in any or a"ll points, must consequently await 

 the results of another season's operations. — L. L. Lanostkoth 

 AND Son." 



Further particulars are given in a letter which I have just 

 received from Mr. Langstroth, who, I regret to learn, has been 

 for some time laid up from ill health, and who, speaking of 

 the Egyptian queen which I sent him, says : — " After I reached 

 home I found that beautiful queen gone, and have never been 

 able to ascertain what could have happened to her, as she was 

 in prime condition when I left New York, and her colony all 

 right when examined here. I also lost all those imported 

 directly from Vogel, which came in miserable condition. 'We 

 had four queens last season from him ; two died, and the other 

 two were hybrids. 'We have now ordered others from a different 

 party, determined to test this variety in America. Thus far 

 we have not found them peculiarly irritable." 



It does seem almost heart-rending that this queen, which 

 appears to have been about the only one that reached America 

 in good condition, and which, originally bred in Germany, had 

 escaped the dangers of a journey, first to England, where she 

 encountered the risk of being placed at the head of an alien 

 colony, and then to America, only to perish miserably just as 

 she had reached the end of her wanderings ; but I think I can 

 make a shrewd guess at the manner of her disappearance, and 

 possibly afford a hint for Mr. Langstroth's guidance in his future 

 dealings with such " kittle cattle " as Egyptian queens. Unlike 

 the portly Italian monarchs, which are so little disturbed by a 

 sudden transition from the Cimmerian darkness of the hive's 

 interior to the full glare of the noonday snn and the curious 

 gaze of the apiarian, that they will sometimes actually perform 

 their duty of ovipositiou whilst the comb upon which they are 

 standing is held suspended in the hands of the operator, 

 Egyptian queens endeavour in every way to elude his scrutiny, 

 and being generally too heavy to take wing, will often quit the 

 combs altogether, and remain with a few stragglers in the empty 

 hive. In Mr. Langstroth's case, however, the season was so 

 far advanced that egg-laying must have been entirely suspended, 

 and the queen being therefore slender, and in fine condition 

 for flight, probably took wing without his perceiving it 

 immediately upon being lifted out of the hive. Had he, when 

 he first saw her at Brooklyn, adopted his usual precaution of 

 clipping her wings, this catastrophe might in all probability 

 have been averted. 



It would appear, therefore, that the attempt to propagate 

 the Egyptian bee in America having resulted in complete failure 

 both in 18B6 and 1867, Messrs. Langstroth are now exerting 

 themselves to retrieve their misfortune. They have my best 

 wishes for their success, but in the meantime the enterprise 

 is being taken up by others, since we find in the Albany 

 " Country Gentleman," that Mr. Ehrick Parmby, of New York, 

 who has assisted Messrs. Langstroth in their importations, 

 has received two nuclei on his own account, and, in conjunction 

 with Mr. 'W. Gary, of Coleraine, Massachusetts, undertakes that 

 "every exertion wiU be made to breed them in purity, which 

 will be done in an apiary five miles from his (Mr. Gary's) 

 Italian stock." 



