354 



JOURNAL OP HOBTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE (SARDENEE. 



r October 24, 1863. 



second crops of red clover, not sucking the sweets from the tube, 

 but at tbe base of the flower ; and so late as the 22nd of Septem- 

 ber some hives rose a little in weight. That the Ligurians 

 are a superior kind of bees is beyond doubt. In their superior 

 fecundity and earlier breeding, the great desideratum in bee- 

 keeping, has been attained. I may remark in corroboration of 

 the above statement, that in a nine-frame hive with super and 

 nadir, I saw the queen repeatedly dropping her eggs in twelve 

 days after hiving, having no empty cells in which to deposit 

 them ; there would, therefore, be no less than 30,000 eggs de- 

 posited in that time — a very much greater number that many 

 suppose. I had a conversation the other day with an old critic, 

 and he remarked on seeing about two hundred bees lying dead 

 near a hive, that they would soon make it up, as he had no doubt 

 but that they laid as many as one hundred or even two hundred 

 ego's a-day,' when I asked if he did not think that they would 

 reach as many thousand in the same time, and inquired how a 

 hive could swaim at all if bees did not breed more rapidly than 

 that 'i but he only remai-ked that the eggs laid would then be of 

 larger bulk than the queen herself. 



Before closing, I may mention that this year will have taught 

 many to adopt the plan of artificial swarming, as this season I can 

 count in my own neighbourhood no less than thirty stray swarms. 

 Four of these I took out of chimneys, with entrances at top, and one 

 was in the roof of a house. They had been in three weeks when I 

 was sent for to see if I could take them out, which produced rather 

 an amusing scene. A ladder was placed against the eaves of the 

 house, and then one was suspended to the roof, when in a twink- 

 ling the gardener was mounted on the top, the young gentle- 

 men scrambling up the house and relating wonderful stories 

 about these wonderful bees, how they would not sting their 

 master, how obedient they were to the commands of their king, 

 how grateful they were to those who were good to them and did 

 them a good turn, by meeting them when they saw them ap- 

 proach their hives, and buzzing aroimd them with joy, and how 

 a friend of theirs kept bees, and once when he saw them strug- 

 gling with a sickly bee, he approached and killed it, and ever 

 after when they saw him come near they carried out those that 

 were sick to be killed. Such-like stories showed at once that 

 bees were strangers to them. Notwithstanding the courage of 

 the gardener at first, no sooner had I commenced operations to 

 get at the honey, which I managed by driving, tapping gently 

 on the sarking, than the bees instead of running up ran all down- 

 wards. In this case there was an example of the bees' choice of an 

 entrance, where they had an opportunity of entering anywhere. 

 They cemented up the whole seam between the wood and stone 

 and entered below, having a space of 3 feet by 7 inches by 6, 

 completely filled with honey. But about the gardener ; the bees 

 at fii-st seemed a little irritated ; by this time he appeared to lose 

 his courage, and in vain did he beseech me to let him pass by 

 the ladder, as I required his assistance ; but rather than sufl'er a 

 slight sting he scampered over the roof, and dropped on the lawn 

 beneath, fortimately escaping unhurt. 



Throughout the year I have invariably found young bees 

 emerging from their cells twenty-eight days after the exit of 

 the old queen. Can any one explain why the eggs of a fertile 

 queen, from the beginning of February till the beginning of 

 April, although regulnrly deposited to the amount of six thousand, 

 were never brought forward, the hive being both strong in bees 

 and with plenty of food ? Some of these eggs were given to a 

 stock of Ligurians, and not one of them was brought forward. 

 Some of these observations will probably be passed over by many 

 as worthless; but I 'am disposed to hope and believe that they 

 may be of service to others as well as to — A Laxaivkshibe Bee- 



NATR'E HIVES. 



Ik answer to " JVI. S.," I would state, that the makers of my 

 " native hive " are the village carpenter, and a day laboiu'er, 

 whom I have instructed how to make straw hives square. As 

 yet, I have only had four made, and have not kept them 

 tbj'ough a winter. I could, however, have any number made 

 for the price mentioned, 10.<., or if " M. S." would like to know 

 how my straw hives are made, 1 would scud him a sketch of 

 the frame, on which, or rather rotind which, they are made. 

 The "native" wotrld consist of a floor-board, and a square 

 .straw hive made and sewn with cane to a wooden frame, having 

 as in the Woodbnry hive, notches for ten frames ; these when 

 '■ft situ ure flush with the top of frame, and are overlapped and 

 kept tightly in their places by the top, which is screwed down 

 with four brass screws. This top is in a frame with a rabbet, 



in which fits a board with central hole (or a glass, which is not 

 pro\-ided, may be used in the summer mouths), leaving space 

 under for bees to move over the top of the frames.— M. D. 



PRESERVING BROOD— TRANSFERRING BEES- 

 APPARENT QUEENS. 



1. How long wiU brood from condemned hives keep? and is 

 there any way of preserving it ? 



2. WiU it be a good plan to place a common hive of combs, 

 ifec, after having driven out the black bees, over a Wood- 

 bury straw frame-hive containing a weak stock of Ligurians, 

 for them to carry down the honey, and hatch out the brood ? 



3. Is it probable that there would be more than one queen 

 in a hive of Ligurians ? as I find, in looking through a hive 

 lately purchased, several bees that are longer and more acute 

 in the abdomen, .and with shorter wings. — A. K. 



[1. Sealed brood would probably keep many days, and might 

 even hatch out if kept in a tmiform temperatm'C of about 85°. 

 Unsealed brood, on the other hand, protrudes, and dies when 

 the larvaB attain a certain stage if there are no bees to seal it 

 over. In practice, therefore, it is very desirable to keep brood 

 as short a time as possible out of the hive. 



2. It would be much better to cut out the combs, fit those 

 containing brood into frames, and insert them in the Wood- 

 bury hive. 



3. It is certain that there is but one queen in the stock. 

 Those bees that appear larger than the others are gorged with 

 honey, whilst the taper-pointed abdomen is a general charac- 

 teristic of the Ligurians.] 



FEEDING BEES IN AN OLD STR.VAV HHT^. 



I WISH to know how to feed bees in an old-fashioned straw 

 hive. I have been feeding them in a little trough outside the 

 hive. I think I am doing wrong, as several bees are lying dead 

 on the ground. This morning I picked up sixty bees all appa- 

 rently dead. Some of them looked numbed as if cold ; and I 

 put these between my hands and breathed on them, which 

 recovered them, so that they could fly. I put three or four of 

 them into the hive's entrance, but they were instantly beaten 

 and turned out again, and appeared as bad as ever. — J. R. P. 



[If there be, as there frequently is, a cork or stick inserted 

 through a hole in the centre of the crown of your hive, draw it 

 out and feed through the aperture. If there is no such open- 

 ing make one, say 2 inches in diameter, with a sharp penknife. 

 The best means of feeding is by means of an inverted bottle 

 with a short neck, which must be tied over with a bit of cap 

 net, or such like material, and inserted through the orifice 

 thus formed. Feeding bees outside the hive is at aU times 

 bad practice. Those bees which were refused admission into 

 the hive were most probably strangers to it.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Diseased Pigeons (A. ir.).— I suspect your Pigeons are in a bad state 

 of health from over- feeding or want of salt, and, their blood being impure, 

 they break out in sores wlien pecked in lightiuR. You can try dough pills 

 containing one grain of calomel, repeat one pill each day for two or three 

 days, then a dessert spoonful of castor oil, and bathe the eyes with goulard 

 water.— B. P. Beest. 



Beans for Pigeons. — Evesham will be obliged by the address of any 

 party who has old small beans to dispose of, suitable for Pigeons. He 

 wishes for some little larger than peas. 



German Pigeons (JF7ora).— The white Pigeons with black heads and 

 tails which vou noticed at Wiesbaden were probably Florentiner, oder 

 Hinkel Taulien ; a breed similar to what we call Leghorn Runts. Your 

 Ducks, 1 suppose, are the Bebe or Black East Indian variety, the skeUs 

 and skins of the yolks of whose eggs are often dark-coloured. I have 

 heard that feeding on acorns will darken the yolks.— B. P. Brent. 



Gbeypated Goldfinches IF, E. JJ.).— I suspect they die from eating 

 rapesecd. The change from gi-een food, chickweed, groimdsel, and 

 thistleseed, which thev get in a wild state, to hard dry seeds, especially 

 hot pungent seed like rape, is too gi-cat for them, and they die of fever 

 caused by the unnatural food. You can have! " The Canary and Other 

 Finches " from the office of this Journal, free by post, by enclosing nine- 

 teen stamps with yom- direction. — B. P. Brent. ^ 



Substitute for Insect Food {F. W. jB.).— Mealworms may generally 

 be procured at most mills or bakeries, though it is not all bakers that 

 care to acknowledge they have them, or will take the trouble to look for 

 them. If you procure some of the parent beetles and put them in a tub 

 with some" meal vou can breed them and so have a constant supply. 

 Emmets' eggs.orthe cocoons of the ant, may be collected and dried in the 

 oven and so preserved for winter use. Lean beef scraped and mixed with 

 boiled yolk of egg, German paste, and chopped suet are sometimes used 

 as a BUbBtitute.— B. P. Brest. 



