288 



JOUKNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I October S, 18G3- 



Hia numerous triamplas testify as to the goodness of his stock. 

 Exhibitors lose a formidable opponent, and the medical pro- 

 iessiou a distinguished ornament. — E. T. 



A BEK-KEErER'S :^^SHAP. 



r SHOULD much lite to have the advice of '* A Devonshire 

 Bek-keepeb " on the following points in your next impression. 

 On Monday last a friend came to inspect my apiary, and I 

 lifted off the cover of one of Kutt's collateral hives to show him 

 the working of the interior ; unfortunately, at this moment, I 

 was called away on important business, and, in my hurry, for- 

 got to replace the cover on the boxes. When I returned about 

 fom* o'clock in the evening, to my dismay I found the bees in a 

 state of the greatest commotion, the main body of them in 

 immense clusters on the outside and bottom of the centre box, 

 hundi-eds of them on the wing about the entrance, and the 

 ground, alas ! strewed with dead bodies. I immediately detected 

 the honey dripping down from the table on all sides, and saw 

 at once that the intense power of the sun (it was the hottest 

 day we have had this year) had detached the combs from the 

 top bars. 



Early next morning I made an investigation, and found 

 matters even worse than I anticipated. On lifting the centre 

 box several of the combs were in a complete mash, and hundreds 

 of dead bees were on the floor-board. I immediately cleared 

 away all the debris, and restored matters as well as I could, but 

 I fear one of my best stocks is destroyed. "What ought I now 

 to do ? the centre box is not more than quarter filled with 

 honey, quite insufficient for the support of the bees that 

 remain for the winter. I thought of driving them and uniting 

 them to another hive, but all the hives (I have now five) appear 

 to me to be overstocked with bees and honey. I examined 

 them all the other day, and was surprised at their weight and 

 the extraordinaiy number of bees in each. Torn: assistance in 

 this dilemma will be invaluable to me. I may add that the 

 bees that remain, and they are stUl a strong body, are working 

 away in their now half-empty home. Would I by feeding them 

 be able to carrj' them over the winter? — Squib. 



[If your hives are fitted with either bars or frames a contri- 

 bution of a comb from each of the other stocks would at once 

 supply the deficiency without injuring them. If not (as I 

 imagine is i*eally the case), prompt and liberal feeding may 

 meet the emergency. By adding the driven bees of a con- 

 demned stock success would be rendered more probable. If 

 the bees tui-n out, as they are very Ukely to do, too few to 

 grapple with the ilifficulty themselves, and you cannot add to 

 the population, you need not fear uniting them to another 

 colony whenever the weather becomes cooler. — A Devonshire 



Bee- KEEPER.] 



Bee-hives. — Your correspondent " M. D.*' gives a description 

 of what he call '* a native hive." Would he have any objection 

 to state where it can be purchased ? — il. S, 



Tea. — A French chemist asserts that if tea be ground like 

 coffee, before hot water is put upon it, it will yield double the 

 amount of exhilarating quaUties. Another writer says, " If 

 a piece of lumj? sugar, the size of a walnut, is put into the tea- 

 pot, you will make the tea infuse in one-half the time." 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Cockerels' Eves Bursting (Coq H^ron).~We caunot tell the cause of 

 tbe mortality of yoiir cockerels from thoii' eyes bursting?. We know the 

 tlisease only in Spanish fowls. They suffer niuch from it. Yoiur acreage 

 allows you ample ;;pacc. Wo advise you to rail off a small enclosure, iiml 

 to put the Hamburghs in it. It would be very vesatious if it were to 

 spread. 



Inquiry. — Can any of yoiu* readers give me any information respect- 

 ing a person giving his address as H. C. Lewis, 218, St. Paul's Road, 

 Islington, N. ? 1 advertised in yom- Journal of the 29th of, August last for 

 poultry, when the above-named person replied, stating he could supply 

 me with what I required, and would forward them on receipt of a i>ost- 

 office order for the amount, which I sent'; but, instead of the poultrj-, I 

 received a letter from my correspondent making an excuse for the delay 

 in sending them. If any of your readers can throw any light upon this I 

 shall be greatly obliged.— C. A. G. [We are quite at a loss" to account for 

 any one seadiug money to a total stranger before they receive the goods. 

 —Eds.] 



Book {.Beta). — The work on poultry, with coloured plates, is now print- 

 ing. 



HouDAN AND La FLicHE FowtB (W. Rendry).-~TheTO are di-awinga and 

 full descriptions of these breeds in Nos. 62 and 65 of this Journal. We 

 think they are likely to succeed in small runs. Our cdirespondent says 

 that he finds sifted coal ashee act as a deodoriser if put fresh on the floor 

 every second or third morning, but we are quite sm'e that such aahes do 

 not deodorise so effectually as dry earth, and tm-ning this over fre- 

 quently. 



Worcester PorLXRV Show.— By a slip of the pen Mr. E. Tudman is 

 named in oiu- report of this Show as being of Welshpool instead of Wliit- 

 church, Salop. 



MiDDLETON Poultry Show. — Mr. Massey, Fulford. York, we are in- 

 formed, took the first prize for Carrier Pigeons, and Messrs. C. tit E. 

 Royds, of Greenhill, Rochdale, the second, instead uf Mr. Samuels being 

 first and Mr. Massey second, as stated in the list of awards at page 265, 

 which, however, agrees with the list which we received. 



Treatmekt of DccK3 (Sussex). — Ducks of all kinds should be kept in a 

 house separate from other poultry, and with a brick fluor, to admit of fre- 

 quent washing. Give them plenty of room. Boiled roots, mixed with a 

 little barleymeal, is good food f»r them. Addalittle milk when fattening 

 them. Eleven eggs foi- a large Duck, and nine for a small Duck, are 

 enough for them to sit upon. The eggs do not keep so well as those of 

 the common hen, so sit them on the freshest. Make the nest on the 

 ground, and in a damp place. The Duck requires to be fed evoi*y morning 

 and evening whilst sitting. Let her have food and water near to the 

 nest. Boiled but cold oatmeal porridge is the best food for ducklings 

 until they are ten days old ; afterwards baileymeal, oats, and pollard, 

 with plenty of green food. They are ready for table in eight or ten weeks 

 if well fed. Never give them hard spring water, but water from a pond. 

 They may bo taken away from the Ducliwhen three days old if they have 

 a confined yard to be kept iu, well supjilied with water, and a di\v. warm 

 house to retire to, and if never allowed to come out of that house before 

 nine o'clock in the morning. The tails of young ducklings need ttot be 

 cHpped off. 



Warming an Attary (A. W. ^.).— You do not say what aspect your con- 

 sei-vatory has. If north then a stove, as you mention, will be good to 

 keep out the severe cold in winter, but if it faces the south, and is shel- 

 tered from the north and east, I Aa not think it will require heating. 

 Canaries can stand our climate very well if sheltered. Your gi-eatest 

 trouble ^rill be to guard against the sudden changes of temperature. The 

 small conservatory becomes very hot when the sun shines on it, and at 

 nit;ht quickly becomes cool, especially when the windows are left open to 

 cool the rooms adjoining. This sudden fall of temperature gives the 

 birds colds, coughs, asthma, and inflammation, and causes many deaths. 

 It is the sudden change that injures the birds. They do not mind cold if 

 faheltered from the wind and ruin. — B. P. BnENT. 



Collared Tcrtle Doves (Coluviba risoria). — Your feeding them on 

 light wheat and a little hempseed occasionally is good, but instead of hemp- 

 seed I would recommend a little buckwheat or Canary seed as a change. 

 The price of CoDared Tui-tle Doves in the London shops vai'ies from 

 ds. to 7». Gd. per pair according to circumstances. — B. P. Bhext. 



Strengthening Weak Stocks— Dark-coloured Honey [A. B. C.).— 

 Our experience of supoi-posing has not been very favourable. We should 

 prefer driving and uniting in the manner recommended in page 59 of the 

 fifth edition of "Bee-keeping for the Many." Clarifjing your honey by 

 standing the jar in a saucepan of water and boiling it, skimming off all 

 impurities as they arise, would render it more fluid, and might probably 

 improve its appearance. 



DRmNG Bees {A. T. .S'.l— The following are Mr. Payne's directions: — 

 " I very much prefer the middle of a bright day to any other time. The 

 process is verj' simple, and may be effected in a few minutes. I very 

 much msh that I could persuade all my cottage friends to adopt it, in- 

 stead of the cruel and wasteful method of ' burning; ' for in weak stocks 

 the bees themselves are frequently of as much value as their little store 

 of honey and wax ; and by joining them to other stocks, very considerable 

 advantages arise. My method of driring is this: — On a bright day, be- 

 tween eleven aud one o'clock, turn the hive from which the bees are to be 

 driven bottom upwards, in a shaded comer of the garden, and place 

 upon it a hive of the same size; see that they fit closely, and, to make 

 the junction more complete, tie a cloth round the hives where they meet. 

 Then, vrith two sticks, keep up a gentle but continuous tapping upon the 

 sides of the inverted hivo for about ten minutes, the bees will by that 

 time have left it and gone into the upper one. Having ascertained that 

 fact, take it immediately to the place where the driven hive was taken 

 from, and i)lace it upon the same floor-board; can-y the driven hive 50 or 

 60 yards away, and place it upon a fresh floor-board ; the few bees that 

 remain in it, as well as those that are out at work, will return to the 

 driven bees. All is now finished until an hour after sunset, except empty- 

 ing the driven hive of its store, when two sticks may be laid upon the 

 gi'ound about 8 inches apart, opposite the stock to which the driven bees 

 aj-e to be joined ; then, with a smart stroke, dash out the bees between 

 the sticks, and instantly, but very gently, place the stock they are in- 

 tended to enter upon the sticks; leave them for the night, having first 

 defended them from rain, should any fall: and in the morning, an liour 

 before sunrise, replace the stock in its original position, aud all \riU be 

 peace and harmony." 



LONDON iM^VPJvETS.— October 2. 



POULTRY. 



Another, Michaelmas has passed, only to convince us we were right 

 when we said years ago that the goose-eating part of it was fast fallmg 

 into disuse. The number this year were so small, that had there been 

 any demand they would have sold very dear. 



d. s. d 



6 to 3 



Large Fowls 2 



Smaller do 1 



Chickens 1 



Geese (J 



Ducklings 2 



Guinea rcwls 



Grouse 2 



Partridges 1 



Hares 2 



Pigeons 



Rabbits 1 



Wild do 



