332 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 17, 1865. 



the stocks which were very foul-breeding in 1863, and well fed 

 with medicine iu 18(54, were quite healthy in the summer and 

 autumn of that year, I have seen with my own eyes. The year 

 1865 will, I hope, be probation time. — N." 



I shall, probably, be excused for doubting the eflicacy of the 

 so-called remedies above described, which, indeed, appear to 

 me very unlikely to have produced any effect whatever, especi- 

 ally as the following extract from a letter recently received from 

 my valued friend and correspondent, " A Renfrewshire Bee- 

 itEEPER," into whose apiary the cUsease had been imported in 

 1863, by a Lignrian stock sent to him in ignorance by me, and 

 where it had manifested itself in the most virulent form, proves 

 that it is, at any rate, in some instances quite as capricious in 

 its duration, as it is mysterious in its origin : — 



" While I have my pen iu my hand, I may tell you, that this 

 season I have fortunately escaped my accustomed August deso- 

 lating visitation of foul brood, although I had two singular 

 glimpses of it, a narration of which may interest you, showing 

 a singular variation in its effects on very strong colonies com- 

 pared with those mare thinly peopled. In removing my first 

 full-sized octagon super from the strong Italian stock, the only 

 one that escaped the foul-brood visitation last season, or, I 

 should rather say, whose 7wli me tanrjcre strength saved it from 

 examination, the severing thread had missed a portion of comb 

 attached to the upper breeding-box, and the super on being 

 raised lifted along with it one of the frames, and afforded a 

 momentary glimpse of its contents ere it dropped back into its 

 place, and I was quite horrified to observe several bad cells — 

 sharp reversed pupa; of the abominable brown colour — clearly 

 seen throirgli the widely-perforated cell-covers. I replaced the 

 super instantly with the upper one to confine the bees, and, of 

 com-se, concluded the colony of which I was so proud had its 

 doom sealed. I, notwithstanding, had the good fortune to take 

 from it in succession, four more such supers, and on preparing 

 it for the winter, at the end of last week, saw the fom- boxes 

 in which it now stands crammed with bees, and, I fear, rather 

 overloaded with body honey, as on attempting to guess at the 

 present weight, on tugging away at the )iile, I could only get 

 for reply the unmistakeable cracking of the giving way oif the 

 handles of the lowest box by which I held. 



" The other case was a square straw frame-hive. After I saw 

 the queen had begun egg-laying, the hive having been left un- 

 disturbed with a full supply of pure empty comb, and the sum- 

 mer was well advanced, when one Saturday afternoon I be- 

 thought me to hnvo a look how matters were going on. On j 

 drawing the slides I was amazed at the teeming population that | 

 poured up from every opening, and although not quite pure, 

 they were the best-marked Ligurians I have yet had the good 

 fortune to raise. The hive was so crammed with bees that they 

 massed up thickly ou the top of one another on the hive-top, 

 and ou raising the frames I was stiU more astonished to find 

 every frame loaded ; indeed, overloaded, as there were pro- 

 jecting portions added, and these as well as the frames them- 

 selves, were one mass of the finest sealed healthy brood with 

 not one defective coll from end to end. This sight impressed 

 me more than anything I ever witnessed, with the conviction 

 of the superior productiveness of the Italian bee. Some fort- 

 night or three weeks thereafter, mj' attention was attracted by 

 Uttle pellets of stuff on the landing-board of this hive, scarcely 

 the size of peas, thrty-white iu colour, and of the consistency 

 of soft sticky putty. This led to an examination of the hive, 

 when I foimd stiU an overflowing population but the fine healthy 

 brood i^icture reversed — nothing but decaying embryos. I shut 

 it up iu disgust, till eight or ten days afterwards, prepared with 

 a spare box and queen cage, I again opened the hive, prepara- 

 tory to putting the bees through the purgatorial process, when 

 judge of my surprise to find every brood cell empty, and so 

 clear of every appearance of foul brood, that I could' conceive 

 its passing muster as a healthy hive, even with you. A most 

 minute examination alone showed a rather darker tinge on the 

 very white cells than ought to be. Finding such a state of things 

 caused me to ])ause in my purgatorial proceedings, and I have 

 almost determined to allow it to stand over to see if foul brood 

 break out afresh in spring, which I much fear it will. A singu- 

 lar thmg which I noticed on my last examination, was a barri- 

 cade of propolis built along the entrance of the hive, closing it 

 up with the exception of a Uttle space at each end. Could the 

 transformation of the brood be caused by some sudden fall in 

 the temperature, and this be built by the bees as a safeguard 

 against a repetition of such an occurrence ? I have read of 

 such barricades, but never before had one rmder my own ob- 

 servation.— A Renfrewshire Bee-keeper.'' 



My Renfrewshire friend's suggestion that the strength of his 

 two infected colonies enabled them to cope with and even to 

 vanquish the disease, appears to be negatived by the experiment 

 of " R. S.," who imited three swarms to his foiil-breeding hive, 

 thereby " filling it to overflowing," but all without effect. I 

 must confess myself wholly unable to offer any solution of the 

 mystery, the clue to which can, probalily, only be discovered by 

 long and patient investigation and experiment. I hope both 

 our Dumfriesshire and Renfrewshire friends will not fail to 

 communicate the result ; but in the meantime I may venture to 

 hint that apparent are not always permanent curesi and that it 

 seems to me that for the present they cannot do better than 

 " wait and watch." — A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 



NATURE 3AND TREATMENT OF THE C.VTTLE 

 PLAGUE. 



This is the title of a pamphlet just published by Messrs. 

 Churchill & Sons, from the pen of Dr. R. H. AUnatt, and is the 

 most rational that we have seen. At the same time we will re- 

 cord as our conviction, that the deaths of cattle by the disease 

 are much fewer than would be suspected when we read of such 

 exceptional instances as the herds of Earl Gran-s-iUe and Miss 

 Burdett Coutts. 



As soon as the first sjnnptoms appear — discharges from the 

 eyes and nostrils, languor, and groaning, the animals should 

 have a mixture of salts. We will quote Dr. AUnatt. 



" The specific formula for an ox or a cow labouring under the 

 disease, will be as follows, which may be administered in any 

 stage of the attack : — 



Chloride of Sodium 3 oz. 



Nitrate of Potnssa 2 oz. 



Carbonate of Potassa 8 oz. 



Chlorate of Potassa 2 oz. 



Sulphate of Magnesia 4 oz. 



Mix, and dissolve in two quarts of boihng water, and give luke- 

 warm. 



" The quantities must of course, be modified according to the 

 age and strength of the animal, and after the primary effects of 

 the full dose, administered in subdivided proportions. 



" All wild animals have a strong natural craving for salt, and 

 are instinctively led to immense distances in pursuit of it. It 

 is the natural stimulant to the digestive organs. It was once the 

 custom, on almost every farm throughout England, to use 

 what were denominated " Salt Lickies." Large boulders of 

 crude crystallised rock-salt were exposed in mangers and other 

 feeding-places to which all the domesticated cattle had easy 

 access. 



" It is astonishing mth what avidity they resorted to these 

 lickies, and how sleek and healthy they became under the con- 

 tinued use of the saline. 



" The good old custom has, I fear, become obsolete ; if so let 

 it be .it once revived, for it was founded ou wise and salutary 

 physiological principles." 



Northern Counties PorLTEY Show. — This Show, better 

 known as the " Darlington," is to be on the 6th, 7th and 8th of 

 December. The prizes as usual are liberal, and no less than 

 twelve silver cups are offered as extra prizes. 



Long Sutton Poultry Show. — We are sorry that any ex- 

 hibitor met with neglect at our hands, mistakes wiU arise some- 

 times. We have now made the amende by posting a copy of 

 our catalogue and prize list to each of our eighty-nine exhibitors. 

 — Cl.4-P.ke & Snushall, Hon. Sees. 



P. S. — For the future catalogues will not be the printed until 

 day of show. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Poultry for Coiwiked Space (J. S.).— For cottagers any of the 

 varieties of Cochin-China, but especially the dark colom-ed, and Brahi^a 

 Pootra. Six pullets and a Dorking coek would produce a good suzJply 

 of eggs, and chickens excellent for table. 



Book {Mnlvern). — A volume with very numerous coloured plates and 

 woodcuts will be published at om- oilice at fhe end of this mouth. 



Silk Skeins (B. P. C. i;.).— Our con-espondent wishM to know whore 

 she can find a market for skeins of silk wound from English cocoons, as 

 'she has a considerable quantity. 



