62 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTTJEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ JiUy 18, 1865. 



seem to have much sealed brood, but there were several drone 

 cells. Gross weight of Ligurian stock after the above opera- 

 tion, including floor-board, 36 lbs. 



June 1.5th. — 8 a.m. — Went to see my nucleus box place d 

 yard from Ligurian stock, The bees did not seem in any 

 hurry to leave the box, but, as I had feared, scarcely one of 

 those leaving returned up to 1 p.m. ; doubtless they would 

 return to parent hive. Towards noon could see a difference in 

 their conduct. The bees ran up to and touched each other, as 

 if t<:i communicate something. Could not resist a peep into 

 the box, and foimd a busy scene. The bees were busy and had 

 built four small pieces of comb. Daring the afternoon swept 

 the bees from another brood comb into the nucleus box. Saw 

 common drones in the Ligurian, probably from the comb put 

 in yesterday. They had already begun to work well from the 

 empty frame put in yesterday. 



June 17th. — Hottest day we have had ; temperature 80° in 

 apiary. Examined nucleus, and hardly fancied there were 

 sufficient bees. Could find no signs of prejiaration for a queen. 

 Began to he dubious. Determined to add another brood comb. 

 Found the queen on the sixth frame with eggs ; remove her 

 \vith a feather, and place comb in box. Also brush bees from 

 another comb into box. Feel more comfortable after. This 

 makes three frames taken from the Ligurian stock, besides the 

 young bees swept from two other combs. Notwithstanding 

 this rough treatment the Ligurian stock weighs 42 lbs. — viz., 

 6 lbs. increase in three days. Find the handling of frames 

 rather dehcate work, and calculated to make one nervous ; the 

 very slightest breathing excites the bees. 



June 19th, Monday. — Ligurian stock 47 lbs. — viz., 11 lbs. 

 increase in five days. Nucleus box, found two (jueen cells, but 

 not yet sealed. They were on the frames first put in. This 

 the sixth day. Felt some measure of satisfaction. 



Jime 21st, Wednesday. — Nucleus-box : Put in a brood comb 

 from a Taylor's bar, the result of an accident. How con- 

 venient these compound Woodbury frames are ! 



June 22nd, Thursday. — Nucleus-box: One queen-cell ap- 

 proaching completion ; the other the same as before. The 

 third frame, )iut in im the 17th, does not contain so many 

 eggs as I had thought. Begin to doubt the desirabiUty of 

 putting in any fresh frames until full preparation had been 

 made for the queen. 



Jime 24th, Saturday. — Examine box, and find royal cell quite 

 sealed and beautiful : only one, however, as no further progress 

 has been made with the second. Form another nucleus-box. 

 Commenced at 2 p.5i., and found that I had this time caught a 

 Tartai-. Day rather gloomy, and a little wind from the north. 

 The hive was one moving mass. For better light took the 

 frames outside, and fancy the wind blowing on them must have 

 excited them. Detei-mine to proceed, although it is Saturday. 

 Found my lady on the eighth frame, and felt thankfij. All 

 doubt about Ligurian s stinging is now at an end, as I had 

 half a dozen stings on my head and face. Put two weU-fiUed 

 frames in box No. 2 ; also a third frame with a httlc comb. 

 Took a third frame from Ligurian stock beautifully filled with 

 honey — 5 lbs. Nett weight taken away, 10 lbs. W'eight before 

 operations, 62 lbs. — i. e., 16 lbs. increase in ten days, besides 

 losing a brood-comb on the 17th. Weight after " operation, 

 41 lbs. 



June 2.5th, Sunday Evening. — Put box No. 2 in apiaiy, 

 having had it in the dark since yesterday evening. 

 June 26th, Monday. — Ligurian, 43 lbs. 



June 27th, Tuesday. — To my utter astonishment the Ligu- 

 rians swarmed. Weight of swarm, 3 lbs. Weighed Ligurian 

 stock at once, and found it to be 40 lbs. — ;'. e., just 3 lbs. lighter. 

 Nucleus-box No. 1 : Fouud a queen-cell on the comb last put 

 in on the 17th. Tried bottle-feeder, made out of a pickle-jar, 

 on box No. 2 ; answers well. 



Jime 29th, Thursday. — Gross weiizht of Ligurian swarm, 

 20 lbs. 



June 30th, Friday. — Examine box 1, and find the first queen- 

 cell just vacated ; the queen quite close to cell, and her wings 

 not yet expanded well. Will there be piping ? listened at night, 

 but heard none. The other cell sealed sixteenth day. Ligu- 

 rian stock, 42 lbs. 



July 1st. — Got severely stung by Ligurians by removing 

 cover too soon after unscrewing it. The hive had not been 

 steady, so that they had been shaken. How interesting always 

 to get stung on a Saturday ! — nice preparation for Sunday ! 

 Box No. 1 : Found second queen-cell empty ; she must have 

 been disposed of by her rival. For first time examined box 

 No. 2. Three queen-cells sealed seventh day. 



•July 3rd, Monday. — Nucleus-box No. 2 : Saw queen-cells all 

 right. 



July 4th, Tuesday. — Ligurian stock, 48 lbs. 



July 5th, Wednesday. — Took about one-third of bees and 

 frames, with one queen-cell, from Ligurian stock. Only one 

 queen-cell left in the hive. Neither of them sealed eighth day 

 from swarming. Examined natural swarm from Ligurian ; 

 found (jueen on the very last frame. Eighth day swarm 

 weighed 20 lbs., as against 20 lbs. six days since. Took queen 

 from a second cast of black bees, -ivith a view to putting in one 

 of the sealed queens out of box No. 2. Put the captive queen, 

 after much consideration, into the Taylor's bar-hive, which 

 swarmed on Saturday last. ""VTif 



July 6th, Thursday. — Transferred a comb from the deprived 

 hive to box No. 2, with a view to putting in a sealed queen. 

 To my great gi-ief and astonishment found all the cells open ! 

 only the twelfth day from the forming of the nucleus box : 

 Cannot understand it. Thimderstorm with rain in the 

 evening. 



July 7th, Friday. — Dull rainy day for the most pai-t. 



July 8th, Saturday. — Morning duU, but bees flying much in 

 the afternoon. The weather cooler, and do not deem it expe- 

 dient to examine hives. Still feel anxious about my queen 

 cells being open so soon. Querj', Is it possible that the queen 

 from box No. 1 can have mistaken her home, got into box 

 No. 2, and rifled the queen cells ? The boxes are exactly alike 

 in all respects, and present the same outward appearance, but 

 they are at least 3 yards asunder. — E. B. 



[We never heard queens pipe in a nucleus, owing, probably, 

 to no opposition being made under these circumstances to their 

 destroying the remaining royal cells, which they proceed to do 

 in an incredibly short time after they are themselves hatched. 

 We consider one brood-comb » sufficient in each nucleus box 

 at first. When this has hatched oiit, and before the young 

 queen has commenced egg-laying, then, and not till then, a 

 second may be advantageously introduced. The population at 

 the outset is usually far too scanty to cover more than one 

 brood-comb properly. Siiperfluous royal cells should be utilised 

 by being transferred to other nuclei ou the ninth or tenth 

 day, as they sometimes hatch out so early as the eleventh, 

 although we have known them delayed until the twentieth day. 

 The young black queen transferred on the .5th of July would, 

 if unimpregnated, be very Ukely to return to her old liive, and 

 would in this case at once destroy the inserted royal cell.] 



FLOOR-BOARDS— FEEDING-HOLE. 



The floor-board three-quarter-inch thick, under a hive was 

 firmly nailed to a pedestal. The floor-board is now beginning 

 to warp and crack. Wlien wiU be the best time to put a new 

 one in the place of it ? and how must I ])roceed ? Would it be 

 a good plan to cut a hole in the top of the hive through which 

 to feed the bees with a bottle or pan in the autumn and spring, 

 and to let out the moisture ? If so, would it not be best done 

 soon, and what size should the hole be ? — A. R. 



[Your new floor-board should be IJ-inch thick, and keyed to 

 prevent warping. As soon as it is finished let some one raise 

 the hive gently at dusk some cool evening and slip the new 

 board under it. A hole of from 2 to 3 inches diameter for feeding, 

 &c., may be cut at once.] 



* This brood-comb should, however, have either au'empty comb or a 

 honeycomb on each aide of it. 



OUll LETTER BOX. 



Aylesbury Ducks (J. C. Hose). — We hiive made inqiiiries; and think 

 that yoxi will be quite safe in breeding from the Ducks, though one of the 

 eleven has a dark patch of In-own feathers, for this proves no more than 

 that some generations ago there may have been a Kouen cross. Do not 

 breed frtim the Duck ba^-ing the brown patch. 



Pay'ne's Cottager's IIi\'t: {M. A. Williamson). — Your Payne's hive will 

 not require the straw cap if stocked so late in the season as this. The 

 hole in the top should be closed by laying on it the loose round straw mat, 

 without inteniosing an adapter, which should be used only when a super 

 Is put on; the bees will fasten the cover in their ovra way. Bees fre- 

 quently appear unwilling to work in glasses; there is, therefore, nothing 

 extraonlinarj' in one of your stocks refusing to do so. The glass should 

 be taken off when seen to be filled, and the combs severed by means of a 

 fine wire drawn across under the glass, or under the adapter if there be 

 one. The bees may be got rid of in the manner described in our reply to 

 " SguiE " in p:igc 40. " ~ ' 



