Uuch 27, 1873. ] 



JOUKNAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



273 



off the prizes that the rules limiting the price were made ; on 

 the contrary, their competition tending, as it does, to the better 

 success of the shows, is earnestly and cordially desired ; but the. 

 rules are intended to exclude borrowers and dealers ; for many, 

 like mj'self, have no desire to encourage either class with their' 

 attendant practices. 



The framers of the rules were anxious, at all events, to en- 

 courage and cultivate amateur competition ; but how was this to 

 fce done so long as it was competent for boi-rowers to have re- 

 course to the birds of their dealing friends, together with the 

 imposition (to prevent such birds lea^'ing their possession) of 

 impossible prices ? I think the rules have met this difficulty. 

 I have reason to hope the only " bull (?) " in the affair will be 

 that mentioned by your correspondent, and that it will be wholly 

 confined to the pasturages of his letter. I cannot see the 

 analogy between it and our interesting feathered friends, but I 

 can quite understand why it is very improbable horned cattle 

 will be exhibited by any but their owners ; therefore there exists 

 no reason for the introduction of protective clauses or grounds 

 for his comparison. 



I feel called upon to bear testimony to the commendable 

 promptness with which the Council evinced tlreir readiness to 

 grapple with and end a grievance by diminishing mere mer- 

 cenary interests in the poultry branch of their Show. — E. A. 

 Seale, Cottage Park, KilgobMn, Co. Dublin. 



NADIRING. 



I H.1VE only to hint to so able an apiarian as " B. & W.," that a 

 nadir is merely an extension of breeding space, and that it is 

 against all sound storifying rules to nadir first and super after- 

 wards. Bees must be compelled to press up into the super, and 

 when once work is fairly in progi-ess there, then nadir, both to 

 prevent swarming and augment the population to complete that 

 and succeeding supers. All supers ought to be so shallow as to 

 prevent their ever being employed as nadirs, or converted into 

 breeding receptacles, also for the due and proper classification 

 of the different descriptions of virgin honey. There is no diflicnlty, 

 only a little tact necessary, in getting bees to take to shallow 

 supers; the nicety is to hit the proper time. The novice, possibly, 

 on a given date, without taking into account the state of the at- 

 mosphere and honey prospects, opens communication with a 

 super, and the bees, scorning so questionable a procedure, have 

 their revenge by swarming at the first favourable chance. The 

 Stock boxes must be full of bees as well as combs; the tempera- 

 ture must be genial, and honey to be had ; and the guide-combed 

 super, above everything, kept as warm as possible. What an 

 eyesore to Messrs. Neighbour's neat catalogue and handy bee book 

 the " Apiary," those illustrated perpetuations of Nutt's fallacious 

 ventilating theory ! Is it not the first act of the bees to close 

 the perforations in the zinc tubes ? Where was it we read the 

 bee-keeper counselled to draw them up and clear them, then re- 

 insert them ? How long the thwarting process was to be con- 

 tinued we do not remember. We who follow in the wake of the 

 good old ship " Experience," sail on the very opposite tact. No 

 sooner is the super placed than we exclude the colder atmosphere 

 by running a strip of gummed paper round the junction with 

 the stock hive, cover up with a fleece of wool or four plies of 

 woollen cloth ; and when the slides are drawn how grateful is the 

 hum of the ascending throng as they duly appreciate our an- 

 ticipation of their wants and wishes ! The heat so generated, it 

 is evident, must promote wax-secretion and comb-building, and 

 we storifyers know full well the quicker the work is done the 

 piu'er and finer the honey is. — A Eenfkewshibe Bee-keeper. 



ENGLISH BEE BOOKS. 



A coebespondent, "A Welsh Keeper," asks us for a list of 

 " the authors who liave written on our favourites previously to 

 the present century." We can only name those with which we 

 are in some way acquainted, and from these we must except the 

 first in the hst, for we have never seen either the volume or 

 quotations from it. We cannot even tell where we saw it men- 

 tioned : — " Edmund Southen on Bees," 1.593. " Levett on Bees 

 (Dialogues)," 1634. " Remnant on Bees," 1637. Butler, who pub- 

 lished in 1634, entitled his bee book "The Feminine Monarchic," 

 but in Cromwell's time a volume appeared entitled " Reformed 

 Commonwealth of Bees. Presented to Hartlib, 16.5.5." " New 

 Discovery of an Excellent Method of Bees. John Gedde." 1675. 

 J. W. (WorUdge) "Apiarium." 1G76. "English Apiarian." 

 John Gedde. 1721. In this, octagon hives of three storeys are 

 mentioned. " Apes : a Poem by Jacobus Vanerius." 1729. 

 " Modern Art of Breeding Bees. By J. Dimsdale, M.A." 1740. 

 "Collateral Bee Boxes. By Stephen White, M.A., Rector of 

 Holton, Suffolk." 1756. ■' Au Enquiry into the Nature, Order, 

 and Government of Bees, those instructive and useful insects ; 

 with a New, Easy, and Effectual Method to Preserve them not 

 only in Colonies but Common Hives — a Secret imknown to past 

 ages, and now published for the Benefit of Mankind. Written 

 upon Observation and Experience. By the Rev. John Thorley, 



of Oxon. Third Edition. 1772." Plate of hive as frontispiece, 

 on top of which is engraved, " Thorley's Original Honey Ware- 

 house removed to No. 85, Lombard Street, near the Mansion 

 House;" and at the bottom, " Just pubUshed, the 2° Edition of 

 The Management of Bees. By N. Thorley." The preface is 

 dated Chipping Norton, Nov. 24, /43. The editor in the preface 

 speaks of the author as his father, and states that improvement 

 is a glass on the top of the super. He quotes Dimsdale on Bees 

 — a poem. Thorley says, " I once had a stock of bees which not 

 only bred great number all the spring time, but also swarmed 

 without drones." N. Thorley had an apiary near Ball's Pond, 

 Newington. We have omitted the works of Purchas and 

 Y^order. 



TO BEGINNERS IN BEE-KEEPING. 



[The following extract from the American " Bee-keepers' 

 Magazine " will interest some of your apiarian readers. Some 

 of the hints are worthy of particular notice by all novices ; and 

 others are suggestive even to the more experienced.] 



Work quietly, and avoid sudden starts. Never fight your 

 bees, and always keep cool. 



If you get stung, remove the sting, squeeze out all the poison 

 you can, and apply hartshorn. 



Use plenty of smoke. A roll of dry rags or decayed wood 

 makes the best. Blow it in the entrance and at the top of the 

 frames. 



If you are timid use rubber gloves on the hands and a veil 

 over the face and head. The veil must be long enough to allow 

 the vest or coat to be put on over it. 



When pasture first becomes plenty in the spring is a good 

 time to transfer bees. Always work among the hives during the 

 middle of the day, when the bees are busy. 



Stocks without eggs or young-born in June must be queenless, 

 and should be supplied with a queen or queen cell, or they will 

 dwindle away and perish either by robbers or moth. 



When symptoms of robbing occur use the utmost caution. 

 Contract the entrance of weak hives, and allow the comb, honey, 

 sugar, or syrup to be around. Avoid opening hives as much as 

 possible. 



Avoid an excess of drone comb by the presence of a queen in 

 swarms where combs are to be constructed. As swarms ha\'ing 

 young queens seldom swarm that year, less drone comb is built 

 in swarms having young queens. 



Quiet is essentially necessary to the well-being of an apiary. 

 Do not place it near mills, steam works, or manufactories of any 

 kind. If possible have it in view from the window of the 

 family room, as much extra trouble may be avoided. 



As natural talent or business tact is requisite with education 

 to success in business, so a careful turn of mind and a love for 

 the business, with an understanding of the subject, are necessary 

 to success in bee-keeping. 



Put on honey boxes partly filled with comb as soon as the 

 lower part of the hive is well filled with honey and bees, and 

 when they are gathering honey plentifully; commence with only 

 one or two boxes at a time on the most i^opulous stock. 



In transferring combs, always give those the preference that 

 contain worker blood. Put brood combs near the centre of the 

 hive in the order in which they were in the box hive. Do your 

 transferring where robbers cannot possibly be attracted. 



Avoid weak swarms, as they gather but little honey, breed 

 slowly, and are in great danger of destruction by robbers, the 

 moth, or severity of winter. Weak swarms should always be 

 united in the fall, and should never be made by dividing early 

 in the season. 



Whenever you notice the bees running about the entrance in 

 the evening, in a disturbed condition, mark that hive and notice 

 it the next evening. If the bees run about smelling each other, 

 it is a sign that they have lost their queen, and should receive 

 attention. 



In establishing au apiary, select a gentle slope to the south- 

 east ; face the hive in the same direction. If possible have 

 running water near. Shade and protection from winds are im- 

 portant. Set every hive as perpendicular as a clock ; for a stand, 

 take two short pieces of 4-by-6-inch scantling, and lay or nail on 

 a board. 



To make queen cages : Cut wire cloth 3 by 4 inches ; pirll out 

 two or three transverse wires from one of the 3-inch edges, and 

 insert the protecting ends thus left in the corresponding meshes 

 of the other 3-inch edge, and fasten them ; stop one end with 

 cork or wood. When you wish to introduce a queen, put her ia 

 the cage and stop up the other end with wax. — (American Bee- 

 keepers* Magazine.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Eeahmas— R.1EBIT.S (P. C. .S.).— All Brahmas have feathered legs. The 

 Ostend Rabbit we believe is also known as the Polish, Himalayan, and by 

 other names. The Patagoniaa has russet-coloured fur. You will find all 

 particulars in our " Rabbit Book," a new edition of which is now printing. 



AUTiFiciAL HATcmNG (T. W. B.).— We know of no machine that would 



