Maroh 20, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDKNEB. 



253 



might be raised in vast abundance, their food being an item of 

 no expense, a few cabbage leaves, roots or waste parings being 

 all they would require to grow into proportions to till vacancies 

 in a gourmand's stomach. 



BEE DOMICILES AND BEE SYSTEMS OP 

 MANAGEMENT. 



I NOTICE your esteemed correspondent Mr. Lowe, at page 194, 

 expresses regret that the reiteration of his hypothesis has failed 

 to convince me of its soundness. Now I feel sorry he should 

 have given himself this additional trouble, as I was perfectly 

 familiar with the theory, which was simply a reproduction of 

 what he promulgated more than a dozen years ago in the pages 

 of this periodical ; consequently it can scarcely be styled as 

 *'iucideutally expressed." ■■■ ^ .— - 



Let us suppose there are the two hives I drew the comparison 

 between— the straw skep and the Stewarton — side by side. Let 

 us look no deeper than the entrance. Does not the running-in 

 of that sliding door in the Stewarton, which the straw skep 

 lacks, so close as to admit but one or two bees at a time during 

 the prevalence of this bitter March east wind which whistles 

 into both, raise the temperature and stimulate the queen's pro- 

 duction ? -Assume, for the sake of argument, at the moment 

 we looked, both hives were on a perfect equality as to population, 

 bee for bee, is not every additional worker that is called into 

 being three weeks hence, just so much bee-power, if I may use 

 the expression, put upon the field to add to the honey result in 

 tl e Stewarton over the straw skep '? Admit but this thin end 

 of the wedge and the equality theory topples : it is unnecessary 

 to drive it home, the increase being in a progressive ratio. Or 

 does not the exchange of the overloaded combs from this old 

 Stewarton colony with the fully-combed but starving one esta- 

 blished last season, without the smallest outlay, save the exist- 

 ence of the one and beneficially affect the other, so as to give 

 the reasonable prospect of a good honey result from both ? And 

 pray had the hive qua hive here little or no influence on such 

 a result ? That starving straw skep has to be fed at present 

 oi:tlay or perish. 



Does the spring examination reveal the queenlesg state of that 

 otTiier Stewarton ? The interchange of a frame brood for one of 

 empty comb puts all right. What are the honey results from 

 the queenless straw skep ? 



Is not an inch or two of more depth, one hive over another, 

 all other things exactly alike, sufficient often to prevent a swarm 

 and complete the super, the former of which in the other case 

 goes off, leaving but empty comb therein, with honey result ?iil ■ 

 Is the disparity so little between one hive and another when 

 there may be a defect sufficiently wide over the centre to 

 admit the body of the queen to pass through to the supers ? 

 and are her peregrinations therein for one morning not suffi- 

 cient to ruin the honey results of the season ? 



How many more bees per minute emerge from the Stewartsn 

 <:olony with close on 14 inches of triple doorway room at mid- 

 summer over the two or three of the straw skep, would be a 

 nice calculation, watch in hand, for the theorist; and what a 



fain in honey result at the season's end, from the greater free- 

 om of egress and ingress alone, besides the bracing stimulating 

 effect of so much fresh air, the practical apiarian knows full 

 well. 



Why compel that row of workers to stand busy fanning at the 

 contracted entrance of a straw skep on a sultry summer day ? 

 Would it not be a manifest gain to set them free, to the more 

 congenial task of adding to their honied store ? Does the ma- 

 nager of the manufactory so waste his labour power ? Is he not 

 ever ready to attach a belt to going machinery and economise 

 it? But I forget; a bee hive is not a manufactory — simply a 

 store, says Mr. Lowe. Well, a store be it, then. Are stores 

 too, like bee hives, beyond the pale of improvement ? In these 

 -days of enormously enhanced manual labour and horseflesh cost, 

 does not the prudent store proprietor dispense as much as pos- 

 sible with both, and adopt the hydraulic or steam hoist, adding 

 materially if not to his honied at least to his monied result at 

 the year's end ? And what is to prevent the bee-keeper from 

 adopting the aerial hoist described above ? 



As to the general question " Which is the best hive ?" there 

 is much force in your excellent contributor " B. tt W.'s " re- 

 marks thereon, at page 109, as to the impracticability of Mr. 

 Pettigrew's competitive scheme. 



Mr. Lowe in his fancied contest presupposes his tea-chest the 

 winner from its greater nett weight. Would not Mr. Pettigrew 

 a,t once enter his protest that nett weight was not honey result ? 

 There might be more brood and pollen in the chest ; " And pray 

 iow are we to ascertain it?" ask the bewildered Judges. " By 

 rtmning it, to be sure," replies Mr. Pettigrew triumphantly; 

 *' it is run honey that is most in demand, you know." Liberty 

 is granted. A couple of pairs of chairs are procured from the 

 tent and set back to back, basins and measure from the nearest 

 chinaman's ; the bees are got quit of, and each competitor pro- 

 ceeds to break-ui) his waxen citadel, depositing the combs as 



bruised in the suspended cheesecloths. " Look here," says Mr. 

 Lowe, " it's but September. See what a lot of unhatched brood 

 and grubs are here. It is not humane to so destroy them. 

 Where is Mr. Abbot ? Possibly he may have a spare frame or 

 two ; I could fix in these spare combs nicely and save them." 

 " Wo'n't have it," cries his opponent, ** that's modern. Besidep, 

 you have told us experiment and chill are synonymous with 

 foul brood. Crush them up, man, they are sappy." " Lend 

 themahtlle hot water," cries Mr. Symington from the ropes. 

 Pint after pint is measured and duly recorded in the Judges' 

 note-books. The process is slow, and the crowd of ou-lookers 

 impatient. "Can't they wring it out?" cries a voice. This, 

 too, is allowed. Off coats and up shirt-sleeves, and at it they 

 go ; straw skep if anything ahead. " One squeeze more," cries 

 Mr. Pettigrew, and the measure overflows. It is declared the 

 winner by a quarter of a pint amid the cheers of the spectators. 

 — A Renfeewshibe Bee-keepek. 



[We have omitted much from the above communication, and 

 must similarly treat all other communications. Our pages are 

 too limited to afford space for merely smart sayings and repar- 

 tees. We wish every writer would confine his pen to detailing 

 facts and their legitimate deductions. Bach is entitled to his 

 opinion, and each is searching for truth. — Eds.] 



THE BEST KIND OF HIVES AND THE 

 BRIMSTONE PIT. 



Being an interested observer of this discussion, I have looked 

 into Mr. Pettigrew's book this morning to see what is said about 

 the brimstone pit, and there I find the following instructive 

 paragraph at page 172 — " Now let us suppose a bee-keeper has 

 twenty hives at the end of August — ten for stock and ten for 

 honey. Should he apply the brimstone to the ten for honey ? 

 No, and again we say no ; but drive the bees out of them, and 

 unite them to those selected for keeping. This is a considera- 

 tion of prime importance, for hives thus plentifully furnished 

 with bees in September are worth much more than those which, 

 being otherwise equal, receive no addition of bees from without. 

 Hives thus strengthened are well able to bear the difficulties of 

 cold winters. They swarm about a month sooner than others 

 in spring ; and their first swarms in fine seasons will have their 

 hives filled with combs, and be nearly ready to swarm them- 

 selves before hives not so skilfully and Liberally dealt with begin 

 to swarm at all. No poor words of ours can describe the value 

 of this hint. Let it go and be circulated widely with that of 

 large hives, and the success of those who carry it into practice 

 will soon stimulate the attention of those who do not. The 

 awful brimstone pit, now used to destroy valuable lives, will 

 soon be considered as something which belonged to the dark 

 ages." And again on page 178 we find — " We are no advocates 

 and patrons of the brimstone pit. We do not use the pit, or 

 ever attempt to put to death whole swarms of bees. We think 

 it bad poUcy to do so ; but we cannot agree with some senti- 

 mental folk who hold up the practice as one of inhumanity. It 

 is not more cruel to destroy bees for honey than it is to knock 

 a calf on the head in order to get milk, or to drive the poleaxe 

 into the brains of a bullock with a view to get beef. And what 

 about cutting the throat of a sheep for a bit of mutton ? There 

 is nothing in the destruction of the Uves of bees more cruel and 

 inhuman than there is in the destruction of the lives of cattle, 

 sheep, and fowls. There has been given to man a power over 

 the inferior creatures, the proper use of which is an advantage 

 and blessing to the human family." 



In the interests of fair deaUng I send you these extracts, which 

 speak for themselves. — An Obsebver. 



[How would killing calves, oxen, and sheep for their flesh be 

 justified if it were possible to have their flesh without kiUing or 

 hurting them ? Honey and wax can be obtained without killing 

 or hurting the bees. — Eds.] 



NADIRING. 



At the request of one of your con-espondents who signs him- 

 self " A LooKER-ON," and asks for some information on the 

 advantages or disadvantages of the practice of nadiring hives, 

 I must confess that my own experience of this practice has been 

 very Umited, for the simple reason that it has never in any case 

 of trial been found of use except for a particular and Umited 

 purpose. . . 



It is an excellent plan to nadir a strong stock in May with a 

 box intended to be used as a super, and to put it oyer the hive 

 as soon as the bees have begun fairly to work in it. For this 

 purpose my supers are mostly of the same size as the stock, 

 boxes, only considerably shallower. Everyone knows how diffi- 

 cult it sometimes is to induce bees to ascend into supers ; but if 

 the plan of previous nadiring be adopted all difficulty ceases, as 

 the bees have already become accustomed to the box and have 

 begun to work in it. With this exception I cannot imagine any 

 advantage in the practice— certainly not if virgin honey be a 



