March 6, 1873. ] 



jourx.Uj of horticultobe and cottage gardener. 



215 



Yorkshire breed of birds : suffice it to say there were several 

 excellent specimens shown. In future years no doubt there will 

 be more entered. 



The Mules above all were worth seeing. The eight classes 

 had in them 126 comi>etitors, and some care had to be exercised 

 in selecting the winning birds. The two Even-marked Mealy 

 specimens were in splendid condition, and fully earned the 

 remark attached to them as being " exceptionally good." The 

 markings on the wings and eyes were all that could be desired, 

 the entire body being clear, with the tail feathers all told. 

 Amongst the Mules, not excepting the cross betwixt the Canary 

 and Linnet, there were many champion birds. 



The whole of the Canary and Mule classes contained 680 birds, 

 the remainder of the classes being set apart for the British and 

 foreign specimens, of which a report has already appeared in 

 the Joomal. 



[Our reporter faUed to send us notes on the Canaries, and the 

 above has been sent to us. — ^Eds.] 



BEE-DOMICILES, AND SYSTEMS OF 

 MANAGEMENT. 



The coiTespondence upon this subject increases, and the con- 

 troversy grows warmer, but as yet nothing practical has been 

 suggested by which the on-lookers have been benefited, and I 

 ana beginning to think that we shall see the opening of the bee 

 season of 1873 without being one whit wiser as to which is the 

 •best hive. That the hive itself, be it straw, wood, or a com- 

 bination of both, with moveable combs or without, round, octa- 

 gonal, or square, has a direct influence upon the nett result of 

 boney to be obtained in one season, I for one do not believe. 

 The size is of more importance than the shape, because in a 

 good and abundant season a moderately large hive would yield 

 more produce than one too small to admit the storing of all the 

 honey the bees could collect if they had space sufficient for 

 their want '-. "What we want is a hive that can be managed upon 

 the swarming or the non-swarming system as may be desired, 

 one in which the space could be curtailed or added to, so that it 

 could be altered to suit the requirements of any season — bad or 

 good, and in which the bees are so completely under our control 

 that a thorough examination of the contents of the hive can be 

 made at any time when necessary (not whenever the curiosity 

 of tlie amateur would tempt him to do so) ; in short, a hive that 

 would admit of the best system of management. Good manage- 

 ment with unsuitable hives would be almost as bad as suitable 

 hives and bad management. The hive and the system must go 

 hand-in-hand — the one dependant upon the other, and then 

 tJrere is a probability of the greatest results following. 



The hive that to my mind nearest approaches to perfection is 

 that described by Mr. Abbot in the columns of 2'he English 

 Mfihanic, and which I presume he would have used had Mr. 

 Pettigrew accepted his challenge. I must own to feeUng greatly 

 disappointed that Mr. Pettigrew has not accepted Mr. Abbot's 

 challenge, because, from the exhaustive nature of the trial pro- 

 posed, I had hoped that the resvilt would have been very con- 

 clusive as to the merits of the moveable comb hive over any other 

 form of hive in which the combs are fixed ; and I am compelled 

 to the opinion that the reasons given by Mr. Pettigrew for his 

 refusal are not in accordance with his previously-expressed 

 desire for a trial that should be beneficial in its results to the 

 bee-keeping community generally. He appears greatly offended 

 with Mr. Abbot for his strictures upon " the Pettigrew system," 

 which he published in The English Mechanic some few months 

 back, and allows his personal feeUngs to interfere with his desire 

 for the public good. I have had the pleasure of reading his 

 *' Handy Book," and if my memory does not play me false, 

 although he does not positively advocate the sulphur pit, still 

 he defends its use, and I beHeve makes use of this observation ; 

 — " As well might we condemn the butcher who kills the sheep 

 that we may obtain the mutton, as condemn the killing of the 

 bees to secure the honey." He also, I believe, mentions a kettle 

 of boiling water to give the coiij} de grace. He finds fault with 

 the conditions proposed by Mr. Abbot, but does not avail himself 

 of his consent to any reasonable variation. He objects to the 

 interference with the hives by the owner, because, he says, " it 

 is not a question of good management." I thought the " let- 

 -aJone " system was athing of the past, but it appears it still has an 

 advocate in Mr. Pettigrew. Oh 1 Mr. Pettigx-ew, your withdrawal 

 may be dignified, but your conduct is not the least bit plucky. 



I had a good laugh over Mr. Lowe's fancied contest, and the 

 championship of the tea-chest. John Chinaman came to the 

 fore, and proved himself the best hive-maker after all. There 

 is no doubt that such a result might follow, and the tea-chest 

 might distance all competitors in a single trial from May to 

 September; but many conditions might arise even during that 

 short time, which on the " let-alone " system would totally 

 extinguish John Chinaman's chance without a remedy being 

 practicable, whilst the same circumstances could be success- 

 fully combated if they occurred in Mr. Abbot's bar-frame. 



In the concluding portion of Mr. Lowe's letter he says, " Se- 



cond, that in the same season and locality differences in honey 

 results in different hives, as a rule, will be determined or ac- 

 counted for, not by the difference of hive, but by a difference in 

 the state and condition of its population." Surely, no better 

 argument than this can be used in favour of a hive in which 

 that condition and state can be so readily ascertained, and so 

 promptly remedied, as in the bar-frame hive. Suppose, as most 

 bee-keepers know to their cost is often the case, the queen dies, 

 or ceases to be fertile, the hive, if closed against inspection, 

 would graduaDy go to the bad. In a bar-frame hive, however, 

 the introduction of a comb of y»ung brood from another hive at 

 once changes the aspect of affairs ; hope springs up, queen cells 

 are started, and soon, where all was desolation, activity prevails, 

 the colony is again in possession of a ruler, and becomes flourish- 

 ing and proUfic. The present spring affords a strong proof of 

 the advantage of being able to make a careful examination of 

 the interior of the hive. The open winter has led to great con- 

 sumption of stores and very early breeding, and I have already 

 seen several instances where the hives were judged by weight 

 in the middle of January, and appeared quite heavy enough to 

 weather the coming time of trial. Had an internal examination 

 been made, the weight would have been better understood, as it 

 was caused chiefly by brood in all stages. Of food there must 

 have been a short supply, for upon the departure of the frost 

 which set in so soon after, the hives had perished of starvation, 

 and presented a sorry sight. Had their true condition been 

 known, a few pounds of food woidd have saved them. I had 

 several bar-fram« hives in the same state, and am happy to say 

 that by prompt attention at the right time they are still alive 

 and prosperous, and I owe their preservation to the knowledge 

 that I obtained of their condition by an inspection of their con- 

 tents in the first week of January. 



In conclusion, I hope that we shall have more individual 

 opinion and less personal controversy in the correspondence 

 upon this subject, as it is only by the comparison of opinions 

 and experience that we are likely to benefit. "We have a 

 champion in the field for the straw skep, the Stewarton hive, 

 and the bar-frame. What particular form Mr. Lowe favours I 

 do not gather, but from the way in which he handles his subject 

 his opinion would be valuable, even if he took his stand on the 

 tea-chest ; and I hope he will favour ua with his opinion as to 

 which is the best hive, and, what is of equal importance, how it 

 should be managed. — B. Symingtox. 



THE BEST-HIVE QUESTION— UNITING SWARMS. 



YotTR number of the Journal for February 27th contained a 

 good deal that was both amusing and interesting to bee-keepers. 

 Hot waxes the strife on the subject of the " best hive." It is 

 the old story, " when doctors differ, ttc," only aggravated in this 

 case, because the doctors do not merely differ but fight. How- 

 ever, the question is shelvedj)!'0 tern., as the combatants decline 

 the encoimter, and the hive controversy passes again into com- 

 parative obscurity. Mr. Lowe's valuable monograph on the 

 subject, happily corroborative of my own opinion, puts the ques- 

 tion in its true Ught. You might as well ask which is the best 

 house for the genus homo, as inquire which is the best hive for 

 bees. Neither question can be settled off-hand, and in spite of 

 Mr. Pettigrew's undoubted reliance on the superlative merit of 

 his beloved straw skep I feel sure it never will be settled at all. 

 It all depends on the circumstances and wants of the families, 

 whether human or apian that are to occupy the several tene- 

 ments. So of the controversy we may say, requiescat in pace. 



But your other correspondent "A. B." has given us a valuable 

 addition to our practical experience in bee-management, in 

 his repprt of the method he adopts for uniting swarms, and in- 

 deed families of bees in every case of need. Nothing can be 

 simpler or more likely to succeed. I wish to draw particular at- 

 tention to it, and hope that it will be largely adopted in the_ en- 

 suing summer. The only case of difficulty will be where it is 

 desired to preserve alive a particular queen — say one which has 

 proved herself a fertile mother, or possibly an Italian queen of 

 value ; because obviously in every case where swarms, &c., are 

 united iu this way, the queens would probably fight out the 

 battle between themselves, and in any case one of them must be 

 sacrificed. I should hke to know whether " A. B.'s " plan would 

 answer iu the fui-ther case of uniting one stock to another, with- 

 out recourse to driving in the case of one of them. Has he ever 

 tried such a union of stocks '? I should be particularly glad to 

 know that this has been tried successfully, because I have four 

 or five weakish stocks I should much like to unite together at 

 this present time. They have so far survived the winter in good 

 health, but they wiU do nothing, save perhaps growing into 

 strong stocks by the autumn. By the way, I may observe that 

 I often find my weak hives of one year become the strong stocks 

 of the next, owing to their not swarming as the others do, often 

 to excess. — B. & W. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 

 Light Beahjias {St. Edmund).— Yoa may safely purchase i om any two of 

 the liTe you name. 



