184 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ August 29, 1865. 



Jence of bis plan. If Mr. Fox could favour us with any plan 

 equally efBcaeious in preventing swarming, I, for one, should 

 ie greatly obliged to him, as I find it is no trifling matter to 

 remove a heavy super from an immensely strong stock and 

 search the frames for royal ccUs, an operation wliich the bees 

 .resent as a, most unwarrantable liberty ; and I have found that 

 with plenty of room in the super and a nadir 3 inches deep a 

 Bwarm came off in the latter part of July, and was lost to the 

 great annoyance of — G. L. 



TAKING HONEY FROM SUPERS. 



A FRIEND of mine keeping bees took off a super a few days 

 ago, and upturned it for the sake of letting the bees go about 

 4 yards from the hives, and on going to it in about four hoiirs 

 he found the bees had carried all the honey back into the hive, 

 leaving the empty comb. — S. T. 



[In removing supers the greatest care is always requisite to 

 elude the vigilance of the bees, whetlier of tlie parent stock or 

 of neighbouring hives, all being e(iually alert and active in 

 "looting" on these occasions.] 



REMOVING BEES IN THE AUTUMN. 



DRONE SLADGHTER SUCCESS OF SECOND SWARMS. 



I CONSTANTLY read of the autumnal purchasing of stocks for 

 the establishment of an apiary, but have failed to discover 

 from any author which I have consulted the exact ])eriod of 

 the autumn at which their removal should take place. Will 

 you kindly infonn me on this point ? also the best plan for con- 

 veying the bees with their plant a distance of two miles, and 

 should the removal take place by day or night ? I suppose a 

 strong early swarm of this year-, with hive full of honey, would 

 be preferable to a stock of last season which has been allowed 

 to swarm. I have my choice of either. 



The very gloomy and wet weather which we have had in 

 Ireland since the middle of last month has comjiletely put an 

 end to the honey season here, and, with the exception of carry- 

 ing on an unmerciful war against the drones, my bees have 

 almost struck work entirely. I was siuprised the other evening 

 in walking among my hives, after one of the few fine days we 

 have lately had, to discover on the ground not only a large 

 number of slaughtered drones but also several drones in the 

 grub state wluch had evidently been torn from their cells and 

 forcibly ejected from the hive. Not being an apiarian of long 

 standing this surprised me, but I remembered reading of the 

 circumstance in '* Goldsmith's Animated Nature," and on 

 reference I foimd the following : he quotes from the authority 

 of Keaumur — " Nay, the working bees wiU even kill such drones 

 as are yet in the worm state in the cell, and eject their bodies 

 from the hive among the general carnage." 



For the information of those who are doubtful as to second 

 swarms flourishing during winter I may add that I hived on 

 the 28th of June last a small second swarm in a Scotch hive. 

 At this memeut it is not only crammed with honey but a small 

 super also, and I do not think I ever saw a larger colony. It 

 was under this hive that the circumstance I mentioned above 

 occurred. — Sciuin, Co. Kildarc. 



[Stocks may be purchased and safely removed to a distance 

 of not less than a mile and a half as soon as the evenings 

 become chilly. After dusk they should be tied up in a coarse 

 cloth of open texture (cheesecloth), and aU egi'ess being ren- 

 dered impossible by a string tied tightly round the hive about 

 2 inches from tlie bottom, conveyed carefully to their destina- 

 tion. A swarm of this year would have the advantage of new 

 comb, but might have a very old queen, whilst a stock which 

 has swarmed this season must have a young queen but old 

 comb. Both, therefore, have tlicir advantages and disadvan- 

 tages ; and it is only by balancing these, aided by inspection 

 and a knowledge of the history of each, that a judicious decision 

 can be arrived at.] 



;. DRIVING AND UNITING BEES. 



I HAVE three stocks of bees in common straw hives. I have 

 this season ha<l one swarm from each of tliem, which swarms 

 were hived respectively in a Woodbnry-liive, one of Gale's 

 Tiives, and one of Neighbour's hives. I now wish to do away 



with the old stocks entirely, but think I ought to save the bees. 

 How could I best put them into the three new hives which 

 are now occupied by the three swarms, which I suppose would 

 be worth doing, so as to increase the numbers in these hives ? 

 — BK;ijiLEY Oaks. 



[Drive the bees out of the old hives, and unite the inhabi- 

 tants of each to the nearest swarm in the manner recom- 

 mended in page 59 of the fifth etlitiou of "Bee-keeping for 

 the Many."] 



; HONEY HjVR'VEST NEAR STAFFORD. 



DnONE BRED IN A ROYAL CELL FERTILE WORKERS. 



Up to the end of June the present was a splendid honey 

 season in this neighbourhood. Very little has been collected 

 since ; many late swarms are even suffering from want of food. 

 Swarms generally were not very early, I only heard of two or 

 three in May. I only kept three stocks last winter, but they 

 were three good ones. From these, besides several brood 

 combs, I have had one natural swarm and I'l'i .lbs. of honey- 

 combs in supers. I also took a super, containing 75 lbs. of 

 beautiful honeycombs, off a Woodbury frame-hive belonging to 

 a lady neighbom'. Dm'ing the i^resent showery weather I 

 notice that Ligurian bees are more attentive than the common 

 ones to borage and other garden flowers. I have quite recently 

 had a royal cell tenanted by a drone, which came to maturity, 

 and issued from the cell in the usual way. The case, however, 

 was not similar to the very interesting one related by " A Devon- 

 shire Bee-keeper," there having been none but drone eggs in 

 the hive ; nor was it quite Hke those recorded by Huber, the 

 egg being that of a fertile worker, and the royal cell being, I 

 think, fomied round it after it was laid, as is usual in compul- 

 sory ([ueen-rearing. It came about in the following way : — 

 On the 17th of July I examined a small artificial swarm to 

 which I had given a brood comb on June 17th to raise a queen 

 fi'om. I found very few bees remaining, and no queen. Two 

 out of their three combs had each a small patch of drone cells 

 in its lower corner, and in one of these I thought I saw eggs, 

 but owing to my lia^ing a bee-di-ess on, and to its being late in 

 the evening, I could not be sure, so I cut a small piece off to 

 examine afterwards by a better light. I found that it contained 

 several eggs in each of the cells, some had as many as a dozen 

 each. On the 2fith I examined again, and found three royal cells 

 formed on the drone-comb along the cut I had made on the 

 17th. One was sealed over, another had a good-sized grub, the 

 third was not tenanted. I examined them frequently after- 

 wards, and at last on the 10th of August I found the royal cell 

 open at the end, and a fine young drone perambulating the 

 comb. The gi-ub had disappeared from the other cell, and 

 there was no other drone in the hive. Very few of the eggs 

 liad hatched, and those few were not in a forward state. I 

 found that egg-laying had coutinued in the patches of drone- 

 comb, but that none had been laid in worker cells. That 

 they were the produce of fertile workers I have no doubt ; it 

 is not likely that I so often overlooked a queen among so few 

 bees ; while the formation of royal cells, and the continuance 

 of egg-laying afterwards, are, to my mind at least, conclusive 

 evidence. — John P. Edwafj)s, Shirlajnicli, near Stafford. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Spaxish Cock's Face Becoih; Partly 'Rylh (Typo). — It is not uncom- 

 mon for a fjood Spanish cock to show red in his face when moulting. If 

 formerly his face was entirely white, it will be so again, but you must not 

 deceive yourself. If his face was not white before, it ^vill n(.)t be so when 

 he has done moulting. The fowls you mention are Black Hambiirghs. 



Poultry in a Town {Old Subscriber). — All your wants will be attained 

 liy your keeping either Cochins or the Brahma Pootra fowls. Both will 

 thrive in confined spaces, both are good layers, and will furnish a meal. 



Poultry Basket (H. J. C).— There can be no doubt that Mr. Bartlett 

 should liave long since had a final settlement with you, but it is not a 

 transaction entitled to notice in our columns. 



Canary continually Moulting (G. F.)—l should think that there is 

 sfimething in the place where yuu keep your canary that is injurious to 

 him. Do you keep him where gas is burned, or in too wanu or close a 

 place ? Draughts are not good, but the birds do best with fresh air. Let 

 the food be quite plain, as canary seed and clean water. Sand the bottom 

 nf the cage. He may have as much green food as he will eat, a piece of 

 lirc-ad or biscuit to peck, or a few o.it grits; but avoid sugar, cake, hemp, 

 ur rape seed, and indeed all trash. — B. P. Brent, 



Clitherok Poultry Show. — I see the .Tudge.^ have awarded me the 

 .■-econd prize in Cochins at the Clitheroe Show. Thin is aneiTor, aslnever 

 jCiit uiy birds, the weather being so bad. — R. J. Wood. 



