20 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ .Tilly 4, 1866. 



fine daj. Will yon inform me what the brood is like at two days 

 old, as I never saw a brood comb ? I suppose the bees can 

 form a queen if they have brood of that age. — A Novice. 



[In choosing a comb for the purpose of rearing a queen you 

 should select one containing brood in all stages, from the newly 

 laid egg to the sealed grub, and take also the bees that adhere 

 to the comb. An egg two days hatched becomes a minute 

 white worm, which lies at the bottom of the ceU surrounded 

 by a miliy-looking fluid.] 



WEIGHT AND PROBABLE UNION OF SWARMS. 



The other day my bees swarmed in my absence, and on my 

 return my ueighbour had had a swarm, and mine had vanished. 

 With his permission I weighed my neighbour's liive aud found 

 the swarm alone weighed 7i lbs. Both my neighbour and self 

 are young beginners, and wish for your opinion as to whether 

 they have iinited. The hives were about 12 yards apart. — 

 Herbert Landon. 



[7J lbs. is a very unusual weight, aud we should, tlierefore, 

 be incUned to believe that the two swarms have united. There 

 is, however, a well-authenticated instance of a swann of Li- 

 gurians weighing 8 lbs., but the heaviest that ever came under 

 our own immediate observation was at Edgbaston, and weighed 

 6 lbs.] 



CAPRICIOUSNESS OF BEES. 



Bees are very uncertain in their behaviour, as sometimes a 

 peaceful union is accompUshed without any trouble or prepara- 

 tion, and again when circumstances are apparently exactly 

 similar a deal of fighting aud disturbauce takes place. I 

 stocked my unieomb-hive this summer with a second swarm 

 made by di-iviug, and secured a moderate-sized swarm and a 

 fine young queen only just at liberty. She turned out a drone- 

 breeder, no doubt owing to the difficulties experienced in find- 

 ing her way out of the hive. I returned home early one day 

 when she was about sixteen days old — i. c, about 3.30 (the morn- 

 ing had been very fine aud bright), and on looking into the hive 

 failed to find the queen. It occurred to me that she might be 

 absent in quest of the drones, and shortly afterwards a scud 

 came on, which caused the bees to retm-n home in vast num- 

 bers, and on looking on the alighting-board there stood the 

 queen, sunrounded by a few of her subjects ; she remained 

 almost motionless for some time pluming herself, and then 

 very deliberately marched into the hive. I could see no marks 

 of fecundation, but thought she might possibly have been more 

 fortunate in a previous excursion. The next day proved cloudy, 

 and the day after she began to lay. I soon noticed that she 

 was imusually tardy in laying, remaining a long time in a cell, 

 and on inspection found that she constantly deposited two, 

 three, or more eggs in single cells, and this convinced me that 

 I again had before me a case of parthenogenesis. 



As the sunmierwore on the population not being replenished 

 with workers, rapidly diminished, and although I furnished them 

 with a fertUe queen, for a short time I feared they would fall a 

 prey to robbers, and so, on leaving home for a fortnight, removed 

 the queen, a valuable one, and left them to rear a successor fi-om 

 her brood. On my return the young queen, a small dark- 

 coloured one, was at liberty with a small pojiulation ; but as 

 the cottagers were taking down their bees, I (h-ove a hive, and 

 brought the natives home to strengthen the waning colony. 

 I sprinkled the strangers with peppermint-syrup, and also 

 anointed the aborigines with the same compound, aud as I was 

 quite indifferent to the fate of the queen I knocked the bees 

 out in a mass in front of the hive, having secured the queen 

 and placed her in limbo, and left them, making sure that they 

 would make good an entrance ; but on my returning home, to 

 my astonishment, I found that my bees, relying on their strong 

 iutrenchments, had compelled the strangers to beat a retreat, 

 leaving a vast number of their comrades dead in front of the 

 stronghold. But where had they retired to ? I supposed they 

 had returned home, but on inqniiy found not one had been seen 

 at the accustomed stand, and on examining a bar and frame 

 hive, containing previously a strong population, I was satisfied 

 that the exiles had joined the community, and this had been 

 effected without the slightest opposition from its inhabitants. 



I afterwards di-ove another cottager's hive, and proceeded 

 in exactly the same manner, hut before knocking out the 

 bees in front of the unicomb-hive compelled the sentinels 

 to retire fi'om the entrance by giving them a few good puffs 



of tobacco smoke ; the strangers marrched to the entrance 

 with great alacrity, gained possession of the entrance, and 

 very soon entered the hive en nuiiise. No fighting too place. 

 The bees were in a great state of agitation all night, as the 

 strangers were evidently searching for their queen, and in the 

 morning I found that the yoimg Italian monarch was under 

 arrest, she was not, however, very closely confined, and would, 

 I doubt not, have soon been set at liberty. To hasten her 

 liberation I dispersed her persecutors with a whiff or two from 

 the pipe ; the bees stiU continued to search for their own queen, 

 but did not again molest the Italian princess, who was pro- 

 claimed monarch bv universal suffrage before evening set in. — ■ 

 J. E. B. 



BEES IN A CHIMNEY. 



A swARii of bees have settled in an unused chimney in a 

 large stack in my house. The chimney is a great height from 

 the ground, the house being too storeys high, aud the swarm 

 is some distance down the inside. 'VV'hat means would you 

 advise me to adopt in order to captm-e the colony ? — T. H. F. 



[We confess ourselves puzzled, and should be obliged if any 

 of our correspondents who have had experieuce in the capturing 

 of errant swaj-ms would advise •' T. H. F." in his difficulty.] 



BEES FIGHTING IN A COLLATERAL. 



A SMALL straw hive being crowded, I added a collateral box. 

 After about a week the bees entered it, but only to fight 

 furiously, so that the ground in front of the hive is strewed 

 with dead bodies. I cannot tell what they were doing in the 

 hive, but they worked very peaceably in a super. — H. 



[We cannot tell why your bees fought in the side box. Are 

 you sure they did so ? We have known bees die in great 

 numbers owing to being unable to find their way out. In this 

 case a small aperture allowing the bees to escape into the open 

 air is all that is necessary to set matters right.] 



DRrV^NG BEES, AND TAKING THEIR HONEY. 

 This is the second year I have had them, and I have been 

 most successful this year in driving them. I drove a hive last 

 week, which swanned May tnelvemonth, and obtained 40 lbs. of 

 tine honey, and did not lose one bee. They are all working away 

 merrily now in another hive. In the case of a swarm of bees 

 which I took on the 2nd of June, finding the hive so full of 

 comb, I drove the bees on the 22nd. and have 10 lbs. of 

 beautiful white honey. I mention this hoping it nvill encourage 

 yoimg bee keepers, and save the bees from the painful death of 

 suffocation. — Prospera. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Cochin-China Chicken Dying Suddenly {Eboracum) —Sl&iXgerint* 

 after feeding, and falling dead, demonstrates that the chicken died of 

 apoi)lesy. A blood-vessel i-nptiired on the brain. Cocbin-Chinas are 

 voracious feeders, and excess of food is one of the most common causes 

 of apoplexy both in man and animals. Less food both in quantity and 

 at any one time is the be.st preservative. 



Fattening Chickens ildfin). — We cannot reply better than by this 

 quotation from our - I*oiiltry Book for the IVI:'ny." Oatmeal and barley- 

 meal alternately, mixed «ith milk, and occasionally with a little di-iiipin(?, 

 is good food. The feeding-troughs, which must be kept constantly 

 scoured, should be placed before the birds at regular intervals, and when 

 they have eaten sufficient it is better to remove them, placing a little 

 gravel i^-ithin reach of the coop to assist digestion. Keeping the birds 

 without food for some hours after they are put up frequentlyindnces them 

 to take it more readily afterwards, but sufficient attention is rarely 

 bestowed on the various details of preparation and supplying the food ; 

 hence complaints of the fowls deteriorating in the fattiug-pen are far 

 from uncommon. Access to water should be allowed at all times. Fatten- 

 ing must be completed in ten days, for after that period they begin to 

 lose weight. The best age for table birds is when they are from four to 

 six months old. The coop should be 3 feet high, 2 feet wide, and 

 4 feet long. This will admit from six to eight birds, according to their 

 size. The bottom and front should be of bai-s 3 inches apart. A 

 board outside the bars in front. 6 inches wide, will sei-ve as a stand for 

 the food and water-troughs. The coop should be in a warm, well-venti- 

 lated outhouse, and if kept dark between the times of feeding all the 

 better. Sleep and warmth promote fattening. 



.Java Sparrows (B. B.). — It is a very usual thing for birds, although 

 not paired, to lay eggs and sit on them for a short, time, and such was the 

 case with your Canary. A Java Sparrow will not pair with a Canaiy, as 

 the former bird will not breed in this country. We do not know of any 

 distinctive marks between the sexes of the birds. 



Stocking a Hia-e. (R. W.). — The best mode of stocking your improved 

 hive is with a swarm from the old colony. Transferring a stock of bees 

 from a common to a moveable comb hive is by no means a simple opera- 

 t:'on, and one which should only be undertaken by a skilled bee-master. 



