July 25, 1885. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



81 



Cetweeu throe weuks aiul a ranntli since, tlip nbovn-mentioneil 

 uclvcrtiscr wrote to nio for a (iaino Bantam cock at a small 

 price. I sent him one from a counnonded ix'ii for Via. i'xl. 

 He had i)rolial)ly scon my birds at a show licld in his neigh- 

 bourhood. Tlio cock being of the same strain as the hens I 

 did not care to kcui) him. I forwardi'd thi^ liird instantly, 

 according to rciiuest, as it was to be seen and approved of by 

 some person who was to leave the advertiser's house on that 

 day. The bird was carefully packed in a lined poultry basket. 

 For nearly a fortnight I heard nothing of the bird. I wrote to 

 this effect. A. letter, purporting to be the co)iy of a letter 

 written ten days before, then came. This inadvertently ad- 

 mitted that, as a cojiy, it was a falsehood, or else it was so 

 clumsil}' put together as to make it appear like one. The letter 

 contained an abuse of the bird, and an oifer of 7i. ful. for it. 

 This I declined, stating that, even after so long a delay, the 

 bird might be returned at once carriage paid. No notice was 

 taken of my letter, neither did any bird arrive. In the mean- 

 time I wroti' to the exhibitor of a jien which gained the dis- 

 tinction said to belong to the pen advertised, and sent to mo 

 ou approval, offering to buy his pen if still for sale, and asking 

 if it were the same pen which had been advertised by my 

 coi'respondent. With much incivility, or with some knavery, 

 I have not received any answer ; therefore I conclude that two 

 persons, mrdiles (uiihu, were concerned in the advertisement. 

 Wien I answered this advertisement, I wished to possess the 

 pen that I might put the cock bird into my own pen. When I 

 wrote to the supposed owner of the advertised ))en, I wished 

 to possess it for other and obvious reasons. After waiting 

 another week without receiving auj- answer from either the 

 advertiser or his friend, and without receiving my bird, I 

 directed my man to write for payment of the price. He did 

 so. In two days after this I received the bird, packed, not in 

 my own lined poultry basket, but in a broken fruit basket, 

 without lining, and ill-secured. In consequence of this care- 

 lessness, to use the mildest term, the bird's tail feathers are so 

 damaged that he will be useless until after the moult. 



In mentioning this matter to a friend, I found that the same 

 person wlio has victimised me obtained from him a pair of 

 hens on ap])roval, which he unwarrantably kept during the 

 time of, and until after, a certain show, when they W'ere 

 returned with a string of unreasonable objections. 



■\\Tjo can have done this ? Can this be right ? many will 

 exclaim. I know who has done it, and I will not say that it is 

 right. Truth is a libel if damage can be shown ; but I shall 

 be glad to know by what means, not actionable, the unwary 

 can be put upon their guard against advertisers of this stamp. 



The person in (juestiou is a tradesman, who deals in other 

 things, probably, as he deals in birds. — Egomet. 



DYSENTERY IN BEES— PREMSNTING 

 EXCESSIVE SWARMING, &c. 



Dysentery in bees appears to me to be owing rather to the 

 want of pure air in the hive than to dampness, although I 

 think the combination of both evils aggravates the mischief 

 greatly. Not seldom it arises from the entrance becoming 

 accidentally choked up with dead bees during a long con- 

 tinuance of cold or bad weather, when the living insects have 

 been unable to can-y off the corpses. Depend upon it, that in 

 roomy hives (if not quite full of comb so much the better), with 

 good-sized entrances, and containing plenty of wholesome food 

 stored up in good time, there will be little experience of this 

 complaint. It is important to avoid all feeding from October 

 to Februai-j- or March. A neighbour of mine suffered greatly 

 last winter from this disease, owing to the constant ih-ip of 

 liquid food into his hives from the inverted bottles at the top. 

 " Damp " certainly " helps to cause it." Some persons re- 

 commend that a em-rtut of air be made to pass through the 

 hives all the winter, by leaving a hole open at the top of the 

 hive. I have tried this plan myself with good result, but the 

 hives ought not in this case to face any quarter whence cold 

 winds blow prevalently. I would recommend the excision of a 

 comb or two at the close of the houey season, w hich would 

 make the hive more airj\ 



With regard to the prevention of excessive swarming, it is 

 so^.uetimes impossible to avoid it, but it may be much checked 

 l>y tte plan I recommended at page 407, No. 2'22. I am quite 

 aware iVat up to the time that au artificially-formed swarm is 

 placed in 'ilcu of the daiven parent stock, there will be more or 

 less secession to the neighbouring stocks, if near at hand, in 



which case, however, they will mostly return the same, or tho 

 next day ; but X cannot iuuigine the bees thus seceeding in the 

 case of a natural swarm, when substituted for tho parent 

 stock. I presume that tlie swarm is immediately placed where 

 it is to remain, fi>r when the swarm has had time to establish 

 its distinct individuality, tho bees of the two families will often 

 not i)ea('eably unite. 



The following recent experience of mine may not come amiss 

 in this place. I was much vexed to see a swarm issue on the 

 2:2nd of ,)une last from one of my Tasmanian hives, which I 

 had considered out of danger of such calamity. Although it 

 was a very large swarm, it was too late in tlie season to do 

 anything for itself. I, therefore, retin-ned it after cutting out 

 of the parent hive every royal cell I could see. I also gave the 

 bees abundant room in a large straw super, besides cutting out 

 some honeycomb from the hive itself. This answered perfectly, 

 but I do not think it a good plan to '■ join tho queen and a few 

 bees taken from the swarm to th<^ parent hive in the evening." 

 How much Ijetter and simi>ler to jnit the whole swarm, queeu 

 and all, in the old stock's |)lace at once. 



The brown paper I use for smoldng bees is the same as that 

 in which my seeds come to me from the Messrs. Sutton and 

 Sons. It smokes very freely without being dipped in nitre. — 

 13. ,t W. 



ENTRANCE TO .JOINED HFV'ES. 



We have a hive of bees in a common straw hive that seemed 

 too full. Lots of bees hung outside, so we put a piece of wood 

 on the top, with a hole cut in the middle, and another hive 

 with a hole cut in the bottom. Now the bees are working in 

 both with two outlets — one as usual at the bottom of the low 

 hive, and one at tho bottom of the top hive on the wood plat- 

 form. Some of my friends who profess " bee-ologv"," adWse 

 me to stop up the top hole, and let all the bees go in at the 

 bottom and work upwards. I think the two holes are best, 

 ventilate the hives, and save the top workers lots of trouble in 

 getting all through the bottom hive to the top. — An Amatece. 



'We should close the upper hole, leaving the bees but one 

 entrance, and that at the bottom.] 



CONSEQUENCES of DEFECTR^ VENTILATION. 



Havixg obtained a Woodbury straw hive I screwed fore and 

 aft a flange with a groove in it, so that a square of glass was 

 kept firm, but not tight, on the top of the hive, and on Monday 

 June .5th I hived a swarm in it. On the 2Cth (three weeks 

 after), the bees had filled eight of the frames, or nearly so, and 

 had begun on the 9th and 10th, ou which day I took out a 

 maiden swarm, consisting of the two outside combs on the left 

 hand as the bees enter, for they had begun upon the outside, 

 not the middle, combs. I was lucky enough to find the queen 

 on the first (the outermost) comb ; so I had no difficulty, and 

 did not disturb more than the two I removed. They were put 

 into a bar-and-frame hive of native make, of which more anon, 

 and were placed on their original site, and began to work 

 vigorously, seeming scarcely disturbed. The Woodbuiy-hive 

 was then placed about 2 yards from its old position, but facing 

 south-west instead of south-east, with two spare frames in the 

 vacant notches, and the entrance closed with perforated zinc. 



Relying somewhat upon the Woodbury-hive being specially 

 adapted to the making of artificial swarms, and also that the 

 glass cover admitted air on both sides at the top, I concluded 

 that there would be ventilation enough ; and wishing that the 

 bees should commence royal cells and settle down sufficiently 

 before they were hberated (see answer to my letter in your 

 Jom-nal of April 18, page 315), I did not remove the zinc tiE 

 9 P.M. on Tuesday, thirty-two hours from having made the 

 transfer. ^Vllen I did so there was a rush of bees about the 

 entrance, and they were active under the glass at the top. 

 Judge, then, my surprise when at G.30 ou Wednesday morn- 

 ing I foimd the entrance choked up with dead bees, and I 

 scooped out about half a pint before there was a passage for 

 any living bees, which, when they did come, only for a moment 

 hovered around, and then returned to their original home. 

 This went on till at 1 p.m. I became alanned. The ))arent 

 hive with its six full frames had scarcely a bee in it, while the 

 maiden swarm in the original position had all the bees. To 

 remedy this I changed the position of the hives : the conse- 

 quence was that there was a second desertion from the maiden 

 swann back to the original stock, which set to work on the 



