308 



JOUKNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AlsD COTTAGE GAUDENEE. 



[ October 10, 1865. 



note requesting that it might be forwarded to me as soon as 

 published. I have not received it, nor has any notice been 

 taken of my application. The publication of a catalogue ten 

 days before a show is an unusual course, and is open to many 

 objections, even if circulated ahke to all. Where the circu- 

 lation is only partial this plan is obviously unfair. Under any 

 circumstances it is likely to create dissatisfaction, and to make 

 exhibitors watch narrowly the awaids in the prize list. — As 



KXHIBITOB. 



DECLINE AND FALL OF A QUEENLESS HR'E. 



Eaklt this year there issued out of a common straw hive of 

 mine a very heavy swarm, and the hive itself became naturally 

 very much weakened, and I was not surprised to see at first a 

 great alteration in the numbers and activity of the workers. 



As the summer advanced I expected that the fruittulness of 

 the young queen would supply the deficiency in the number of 

 her subjects, but I was unable to observe any difference in 

 this respect ; and as the bees came out and returned in the 

 ordinal^ way I did not suspect that which I have only lately 

 ascertained, that there was no queen. The drones came out in 

 very great force, much exceeding in number the male bees 

 in some adjoining colonies, and this circumstance tended in 

 some degree to impart an appearance of activity to the hive, 

 and to hide the paucity in number of their more industrious 

 companions. 



In due time the workers killed off all the drones, so that by 

 the beginning of the month of September not a drone was left 

 alive ; and this circumstance, although it rendered the fact 

 more apparent of how weak a stock it was, merely induced the 

 belief on my part that some extra care might be required to 

 preserve the colony through the winter. 



After aU the drones had disappeared the bees kept more 

 constantly at home than before, and never failed to present 

 themselves in force whenever a robber bee appeared ; and 

 although they were frequently seen in mortal combat with the 

 robbers, they never faUed to hold their own, although numbers 

 of them must have died in the encounter. As similar com- 

 bats were daily taking place outside a Ligiirian hive close by, 

 I thought nothing of the attacks upon the weak hive, except, of 

 course, to regret that, few in number as they were, the bees 

 should still further diminish from a cause I was utterly unable 

 to prevent ; for although I narrowed the entrance to the smallest 

 possible aperture I could not prevent them coming out on the 

 landing-board, which the bees persisted in doing, and I feared 

 the weakening process of shutting up the entrance altogether. 



On the 2.5th ult., about 4 p.m., a more determined attack by 

 far than had been ever previously seen was made upon my 

 Mve, and the robbers in many instances succeeded in effecting 

 an entrance ; this went on until sunset put an end to the 

 strife, which proved but the prelude to a scene that an expe- 

 rienced apiarian, who witnessed it, pronounced of an unpre- 

 cedented character. The next morning, before the heavy dew 

 of autumn had disappeared, robber bees in greater numbers 

 still again attacked my unfortunate hive, and were opposed 

 with a resoluteness and tenacity that could scarcely be ima- 

 gined, and this continued unceasingly the whole day through, 

 until the ground for a long distance round was literally strewed 

 with the dead bodies of the combatants — a result that can be 

 easily imagined when it is remembered that the fighting lasted 

 about ten hours. 



"When the evening once more set in it was agreed by all who 

 saw the battle that the attacked had held their own — an 

 opinion confirmed by the great preponderance apparent be- 

 tween the number of the dead robbers over that of their 

 opponents. 



I next proceeded to repair the disorder arising from the dis- 

 turbance in question, sweeping away from outside the hive 

 great quantities of small pieces of wax that had been forced 

 outside by the spoilers within, and I also resolved to change 

 the floor-board, judging from the appearance of things, that 

 much Utter of a similar kind must have accumulated inside. 



On hfting the hive for this purpose I was surprised at the 

 di min ution in weight, having had occasion to lift it not long 

 before, and this induced me to turn the hive upside down, 

 when I discovered that not a single bee remained within it, so 

 that the inmates had literally fought to the last. 



I examined the comb, which completely filled the hive, and 

 found no trace of mildew, or of an insect of any kind, and al- 

 though the robbers had torn open many of the cells there stiU 



remained some 4 lbs. of honey a good deal intermixed with bee- 

 bread, and here and there a pupa sealed over, and very little 

 advanced, but there were no signs whatever of a queen, or of a 

 royal habitation, and I can only presume that her majesty 

 must have met with some accident which prevented her return- 

 ing from her first matrimonial excursion. 



I have detailed the circumstances of my queenless hive, 

 because they seem somewhat at variance with what one reads 

 of the consternation of bees that have lost their queen, as 

 most certainly nothing of the kind was ever witnessed in the 

 present instance, aU that we ever noticed being that fewer bees 

 came out and retm-ned during any given time than in the case 

 of the other hives, nor did the bees raise a queen in the manner 

 pecuhar to them, when deprived of their lawful monarch. — 

 C. H. Hodgson-. 



[Xou have given a graphic and very truthful description of the 

 dwindling and ultimate violent extinction of the inhabitants of 

 a queenless colony. The stock may possibly have failed to 

 raise a queen, or the juvenile sovereign may have met with 

 some accident during her wedding flights, may have mistaken 

 her hive on her retm-n from one of them, or "may have been 

 mui-dered by her own workers. Mr. Woodbury considers that 

 more yoimg queens perish through regicidal attacks, than in 

 any other manner.] 



DEPRniNG BEES OF THEIR HONEY. 



I HAVE been asked by cottagers if I knew of any way to take 

 the honey from their bee-hives without using siilphur, which 

 is generally used, and they complain that the honeycomb is 

 turned black by it. Can you teU me any other means of taking 

 the contents of the Hves ? — A. H. D. 



[The best mode of appropriating the contents of common 

 hives is by di-iving, and imiting their inhabitants to those 

 stocks that are intended to stand the winter. Full instructions 

 for performing this operation are given in " Bee-keeping for 

 the Many," and were quoted by us in page 288 ; whilst articles 

 on driWng and uniting bees, from the pen of Mr. Woodbury, 

 appeared in Nos. 139 and 144 of this Jommal.] 



THE HONEY HAK^-EST IN SCOTLAND. 



We copy the following from the Scottish Farmer : — 



Since the labours of the bees for the year 18C5 may now be 

 said to be at a close, it may not be amiss to note the kind of 

 season they have had, and the results. 



It is well known to most bee-keepers that the winter of 1864 

 and spring of 1865 were very unpropitious. The long periods 

 in which the bees were unable to get out during the winter, 

 from the cold and snow, were very injurious to many, and a 

 nimiber died in consequence ; others were attacked with dysen- 

 terj', which, if they did not succumb to, were much injured 

 thereby, so that in the early spring most hives were weak ; but 

 as the spring advanced the fine weather enabled the bees to 

 get out, and they began to breed fast, which enabled many 

 to get early swarms. What with the amount of turnip seed 

 grown in this quarter, and also the extraordinarily fine crop of 

 white clover in the fields, they increased in strength and weight 

 very fast, and a number of tops of fine flower honey were ob- 

 tained by many who never got them before, and were sent to 

 market as soon as possible, until the merchants were fully 

 stocked. When the price fell, all were anticipating an abun- 

 dant harvest of heather honey ; but how woefully we have all 

 been disappointed. 



For my own part, out of seventeen hives which I have at the 

 heather, I shall not have any ; but I have had a good share of 

 flower honey. I began the season with nine hives, and from 

 them have now twenty- three, and have taken from them 290 lbs. 

 of flower honey. I had three tops of as fine honey as ever 

 was seen, weighing respectively 40, 36, and 32 lbs. nett. The 

 40 lbs. was gathered by a top swarm within five weeks, the 

 others about the same time. They are the heaviest which 

 have ever been seen in this locality. I attribute my success to 

 the Uberal feeding which I gave the bees early in spring when 

 the queen was breeding. By so doing, I had strong hives, 

 which were ready to take advantage of the white clover ; and 

 as my bees are now aULigurians, or hybrids between them and 

 the black ones, I cannot help giving them the preference, as I 

 never could obtain such resiilts before with the common bee. 



