August 1, 1886. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



101 



CANKi;i; IN J'IC.E(1NS— COLOril OF EYKS. 



Al'uiEON of mine liiul, hh I siipjioso, ciiiikor just above the 

 beak, u tumour opoiiiiig into a very unpluasftiit-lookin;,' darlt 

 yellow ciivity. For this comiilaint Mooro advison the apiili- 

 catiuu of liiiriit aliiiii, ami Koiiian vitriol. Mr. JJrout suggests 

 caustic, and siTiijiing with a spatula shajii'd tor the inirposo 

 from a bit of wood. For the benolit of tlu>sr who do not hajipen 

 to have Koman vitriol in store, and have, perhaps, an inadequate 

 notiou of a si)atulu, I can reeommeud a third process — viz., 

 iettiug the bird aloue, which nioile of treatment resulted in a 

 complete euro. I was led to this discovery by having in- 

 variably failed in doctoring all previous ailments in my colum- 

 barium. 



I saw the other day a curious sport from a pair of Archangels 

 of an inferior colour throughout, which the dealer called yellow, 

 but which I regarded as red. The regular form was preserveil, 

 but not the glossy lustre that sliould belong to that variety. It 

 seems a pity that Pigeon-fiiuciers' standards of taste are so 

 conventional. The brilliant red andyeUow iri^t is ignominiously 

 described as " gravel," while the pinky white passes for 

 "pearl." Now, the former colour harmonises exactly with a 

 bluo-necked bird, and is a relief to a black or white one. On 

 the other hand, I cannot concur with the author of a paper on 

 the .•Vrcbangel, v'lo jnefers a " rich golden eye " for that bird. 

 Tlie gold, 1 imagir.e, kills the orange hues of the neck, and 

 would be well replaced by as pure a white as might be attain- 

 able.— T. Trit.\i;n. 



REJIOVAL OP SUrElXS. 



H.^viNO seen occasional inriuiries in the " Journal," as to the 

 best way to take off supers and to expel the bees, and also having 

 frequent applications made to me personally for information on 

 this point, perhaps it may not be amiss, now that the time for 

 the removal of supers generally has come, or is at any rate 

 drawing near, to give the results of my own experience. It 

 used formerly to be with me a task of very great difficulty, and 

 as my time for these and most other manipulations connected 

 with my apiaries is almost entirely confined to the mornings 

 and evenings, I have often dreaded the commencement of the 

 operation, fearing lest there should be insulficient time for eft'ect- 

 ing it thoroughly before the " shades of evening " should close 

 over us, or the usual business hour of the morning api:iroach 

 ere the stubborn bees were induced to leave their own well- 

 filled storehouse. Occasionally it has been necessary to con- 

 fine the bees in the sujier for the day or night, or until a fm-ther 

 opportunity presented itself. The plan usually recommended, 

 is to remove the super with its adaptor as gently as possible to 

 a distant part of the garden, or to a room partially darkened, 

 having one ajierture only for the admission of light, and to 

 afford exit for the bees. The super is then to be tilted on edge, 

 and the bees allowed to find their way out gradually ; then 

 flying to the light they are supposed to go quietly home. 



This is a plan I have adopted with success in many iust.ances, 

 but occasionally the bees would not go ; then various means had 

 to be resorted to to make them. Patience at length would be- 

 come exhausted, and as the bees came to the surface of the 

 combs, or wherever they could be reached with a feather, they 

 were remorselessly brushed off on the floor. The majority 

 would fly or crawl towards the light, but a great number would 

 fail to reach their homes, from having filled themselves to 

 repletion with honey filched chiefly from the unsealed cells. I 

 also foimd that this plan was certain to attract robber bees, and 

 that, notwithstanding the darkened room, hundreds would enter 

 to endeavour to share the spoil. 



I have found when bees were unwilling to leave a super, that 

 shutting them closely in until they became reaUy inconvenienced 

 from the coutined air, and then affording them means of exit, 

 they would tumble out with a great rush ; this repeated several 

 times would at length prove successful in nearly clearing the 

 combs. Still there were a few that would stick to their colours, 

 nailing them closely to the mast, resolved never to yield. To 

 get rid of these was often a work requiring great time and trial 

 of patience. The most difficult cases are those of bell-glasses, 

 when it is desirable that the bottom of the combs should not 

 be severed from their attachments to the adapters. The small 

 central aperture affords a verj- contracted space for the de- 

 parture of the inmates. A considerable amount of time is 

 usually reqixisite imder such circumstances. The glass must 

 be wrapped up, so as to show but one aperture (that by which 

 the bees ascended for work) whereby light can be seen. Gradu- 



ally, provided it is not assailed by robbers, the bees will leave 

 it, and it is desirable that no shaking of the super, or brushing 

 of bees, bo resorted to. 



I have, when the communication with box-supers couM be shut 

 off by slides, occasionally had them completely cleared of bees 

 in a few minutes without removing the supers from their stocks. 

 Having pushed in the slides, the bees are allowed to remain 

 undisturbed until they begin toshowunmistakeable signs of ex- 

 citement ; the sujier is then gently raised in front about half an 

 inch, or an entrance aperture is opened, a stream of bees will 

 pour out and descend the front to the entrance of the stock- 

 hive. Tlie owner must watch, and if a cessation occurs before 

 all the bees have left, he must again confine them for a bit, 

 carrying off the super so soon as he thinks it tolerably cleared 

 of tliem. I have taken away well-filled straw hives worked on 

 Taylor's doubliug-board plan, perftK'tly cleared of bees in two or 

 three minutes, by pushing in a zinc slide between the two 

 boards and opening an unused entrance in the hive to be ap- 

 propriated. As slides are almost entirely abolished iu my 

 apiary (one good hive only is retained, which is so worked). 

 This last plan is now very seldom resorted to by me. 



Of late years I have adopted the use of large-sized supers, 

 caijablo of containing from 35 lbs. to 7.5 lbs. of lioney, of which 

 some are of glass, some almost entirely of glass, being framed 

 glass octagons, and others simple wooden boxes, ilj- apiary 

 having largely increased, and the time at my disposal for at- 

 tending to the requirements of the bees having become more 

 and more limited, I was at length led to adopt a far more sum- 

 mary method of dislodging bees from the supers, and this was 

 the all-powerful persuasion of drivinp, which up to this date I 

 have never found to fail in effecting the desired end in an in- 

 credibly short space of time. At first it was tried on wooden 

 supers only, as I thought it would be almost a matter of im- 

 possiljility to handle glass supers iu a manner sufficiently rough 

 for the purpose. But finding that the bees coiUd be so readily 

 induced to ascend into an empty hive from the ordinary box 

 supers, I was not long in making the attempt with a large ma- 

 hogany-framed glass octagon. 



I choose a hollow-sounding de.al table, or fix a board with its 

 ends resting on two hives or similar support. The glass super 

 is removed as gently as possible, and immediately inverted on 

 this table or board. A straw hive is placed over the combs, 

 and without tying round with a cloth, a gentle drumming is 

 kept up on the board or talde, the super itself not being touched 

 except to steady the straw hive. As the bees ascend I usually 

 tilt the straw hive on edge, watching them as they go up. If 

 the straw hive is larger than the super, I hold it on with one 

 hand, so that, perhaps, only one part of its edge comes iu con- 

 tact with that of the latter. It seems to have no eft'ect in pre- 

 venting the ascent of the bees. It is advisable to select a hive 

 that is free from tUrt, which may be shaken down with the 

 ■s-ibrations, otherwise the appearance of the combs may be sadly 

 marred. 



Wlien all, or nearly all the bees, have been forced to ascend 

 into the receiving-hive, I remove them at once. A cloth is 

 fastened so as to rest partly on the floor-board in front of the 

 entrance of the old stock ; the other end is secur-ed to the 

 ground. The cluster of bees is shaken out with a few smart 

 concussions between the open hands ; falling in front of their 

 proper home they rapidly crowd into it. With a frame-hive 

 the cover can be removed, and the cluster knocked out on the 

 top of the frames ; but I usually adopt the plan first described. 

 When supers are too small to allow of a receiving-hive rest- 

 ing over them, I fix up a temporary stand close to the parent 

 stock, of such a height as to allow the edge of the inverted 

 su])er to be on a level, and to come in contact with the floor- 

 board. I then drum gently on this stand, endeavouring not to 

 shake the stock-hive, and usually find the bees rmi up and into 

 their proper entrance in one continuous stream. If they do 

 not all go at first, it may be advisable to remove the surer to a 

 darkened room for a little time, or there may be some difficulty 

 in keeping off an attack on its contents by the bees which may 

 pour out from the stock. Still, with a little management, I 

 have found this plan answer very well. 



In about an hour and a half of one evening dm'ir.g llie 

 summer of last year, I succeeded in dislodging the bees from 

 four large supers, varying in size from 73 lbs. to 20 lbs. In the 

 largest of these, an octagonal glass box, there remained after 

 the operation one soUtary drone, which was liberated subse- 

 quently. The others were cleared in an equally effective manner, 

 and in addition to this, the adapters were all removed from the 

 stock-hives, the proper tops put on, and all made snug for the 



