October 81, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



375 



letter soalod with a crest, where somothhig in «aid about a 

 recouciliation which reduplifatoa the letter I. 



So ranch for my poatafio atid peace of miiiil. The cue ia 

 reduced and the i>ther restored. I have now ended my phi- 

 lippic, and have told the talo of my shabljy volumiuoua corre- 

 spondent, wild twice received birds cif mine at his nncle's as 

 purchaaed, and returned them unpaid after he had enjuyed the 

 use of thorn for some time. — CocK-i-DOOBLE-BOo. 



MIDDLETON POULTRY SHOW. 



It may appear late to make complaint of the above Show, 

 but by givinR publicity to the following facts relative to my case 

 as aii exhibitor, it may induce the Middleton Secretary and 

 Committee to bo more careful and attentive at a future exhibi- 

 tion. 



On entering the Show field at ono o'clock I first went to the 

 Pij!e»ns, which I found at that hour exposed to the full sun, 

 and neither supplied with food nor water. I requested ono of 

 the attendants to feed them, which he promised to do. An 

 hour after, the bu-ds were still uusupplied, and suffering from 

 exposure to the weather, and it was not until I placed a piece 

 of silver (in the shape of a shilling) into the man's hand that 

 I could prevail on him to procure food and water. 



Now as to claiming birds at the iiliddleton Show (it was done, 

 I believe, but how I do not know). I went repeatedly to the 

 sale ortice for this purpose, but no Secretary was to be found, 

 and no purchases to be made. Several intending purchasers 

 with myself were wasting our time waiting for the retui-n of 

 the Secretarj'; but as this seemed of no avail, one of the 

 clerks informed us we should be sure to find Jlr. Mills in the 

 Show lield ; but as we did not happen to know Mr. Mills -we 

 did not find him, and it was only very late in the afternoon 

 that I did see the Secretary in the sale office, though I paid 

 many and frequent visits. 



I iiavo now a word or two to say as to the payment of the 

 prizes. I had a first and second prize for Pigeons, and a third 

 for Buff Cochins, which were claimed, and am receiving pay- 

 ment by instalments. My first remittance was the amount of 

 Pigeon prizes (less one shiUing and sixpence, for what I know 

 not, andnm not informed) in stamps, charged at the post oliice 

 for being over weight. Since then I wrote to the Secretary re- 

 questing him to forward the balance due, and have lately re- 

 ceived the amount of the poultry sale, with another deduction, 

 besides the usual commission. I have applied again for the 

 prize awarded to the fowls, but my letter is not acknowledged. 



Again, I exhibited a mastiff dog, and as it did not return 

 from the Show I telegraphed to Mr. Mills as to its safety, pay- 

 ing at the York ofhce for a return message, and received no 

 answer. I did, however, the third day, after telegraphing, re- 

 ceive a letter, and on the fourth day tke dijg arrived. 



I have no wish to complain unnecessarily of the manage- 

 ment of the Middleton Show, but I do say exhibitors have a 

 right to courteous treatment, and their specimens to have 

 proper attention. — \Yilliam Massey, Fulford, York. 



Brr.MTNGHAM ASD MIDLAND CoDNTiES EXHIBITION. — We have 

 received the prize lists and programmes of the seventeenth 

 Annual Show of this deservedly popular Society, and observe 

 that considerable additions and alterations have been made in 

 the number and value of premiums offered, the whole being 

 now upon a most hberal scale, and the total amount reaching 

 the sum of £'2080, upwards of one-third of which is appropri- 

 ated to poultry and Pigeons. The arrangements for excursion 

 trains are progressing satisfactorily, and the principal railway 

 companies have also kindly consented to convey stock and im- 

 plements back from the Show free, if unsold. We remind our 

 readers that the entries in every department will close on 

 Wednesday next, November Ist ; intending Exhibitors should 

 therefore, at once communicate with the Secretary, whose 

 address wUl be found in our advertising columns. 



MANAGEilENT OF DRIX'EN AND UNITED 

 BEES. 



I HAVE been induced by reading the articles on bees in your 

 .Journal to try driving and uniting the bees from old stocks, 

 instead of the old plan of killing them. My first attempt was 



on a strong old stock early in September, and I succeeded in 

 getting the bees into a new hive, in which I had init a side 

 window, and fastened three pieces of comb which I hupcd would 

 give them a start, and which I was sorry afterwards to find 

 fallen down. In about three weeks I gave them au6tlu;r lot o£ 

 driven bees, and they have now about half filled their hive, an 

 orilinary-sized one, with comb and honey, and fur the last week 

 I have fed them with honey. I am very anxious to preserve 

 them and try to obtain a few glasses of honey next summer, as 

 1 have hitherto had none but the old straw hives without 

 supers or any method of experimenting. I should be glad to 

 visit an apiary and learn to distinguisli the different kinds of 

 bees, if I could do so without intruding. I should also be glad to 

 know how and where to purchase one or two new kinds of hives 

 to put my swarms in next summer'? — S. Bbierley. 



[If you feed your driven bees up to a nett weight of from 

 15 to 'JO lbs., there is every probability of their surviving the 

 winter and doing weU next summer. Any of our bee-keeping 

 correspondents would, we are sure, be most hapi)y to show you 

 their apiaries, whilst Messrs. Neighbour & Sons, 14'J, Regent 

 Street, and 127, Holborn, will readily supply as many hives of 

 modern construction as you may requh-e.J 



A BEGINNER'S DIFFICULTIES. 



I coMiiENCED bee-keeping this year, but was at first very 

 unfortunate in losing swarms from my only stock (a set of 

 Kutt's collateral boxes), and smothering one of those I did get 

 (which, to make matters worse, was the first one), in endeavour- 

 ing to hive it in a large bell-glass. My stock now consists of a 

 set of Nutt's boxes and two stocks in AVoodbury bar-frame hives. 

 No. 1 Woodbury was formed by uniting three condemned stocks 

 in August to a stray swarm, hived July 10th, one of which driven 

 swarms, I believe, "left and joined Xutt's hive the first day they 

 stirred out, which was five or six days after being driven, the 

 intervening days being very wet. No. 2 Woodbury was formed 

 by uniting two condemned stocks to two very weak swarms from 

 Nutt's box. This stock is not so strong as I supposed it would 

 have been, but what cause to assign for it I cannot say, as in aU 

 the swarms joined I could not find more than about twenty bees 

 killed by fighting. Some certainly went back to their old place 

 of residence, a neighbour's hard by, but very few. I fed the 

 stocks liberally at the time of junction, as they had but little 

 honey gathered, and the weather continued very unfavourable 

 for some time. 



Some of my greatest difficulties now lie in not knowing how 

 properly to manage Nutt's boxes. They have been in use for 

 the last ten or twelve years, and, I believe, were kept more for 

 ornament than anything else, as they seldom gave more than 

 one of the side boxes of honey in any ono year, and the bees 

 often died in the following winter from want of food. The centre 

 box or pavilion not containing enough honey to support the bees, 

 I have now put a bo.x on the top of the pavilion (having re- 

 moved the crown-board), containing 4.30 cubic inches, and which 

 I intend to leave there permanently, which makes the stock box 

 contain altogether 1450 cubic inches, and stand 18 inches from 

 floor-board to apex. Is that height too great for the stock box ? 

 or say how I could have managed better. I feared leaving them 

 any honey in one of the side boxes, as when cold weather sets 

 in they would in all probability retire to the pavilion. I may 

 say that since I took from them the side box and gave them the 

 top one, they have worked far better than before ; but then the 

 unprecedented fine season we have had since then may have 

 been the only cause of that. 



This set of boxes wants a new floor-board ; will it be a good 

 plan to make three entrances sunk in the new one — of course 

 one left constantly open for the centre box, and the others lead- 

 ing to side ones, to be used when bees are working in them, so 

 that they may go in and out by either way as they please ? I 

 saw in a late Number of your Journal that you advised a corre- 

 spondent to make holes so as to save the lives of bees which 

 could not find their way out of side doors. Did you intend them 

 to be permanent as I mean these ? 



There has been but very slight mention made in your Journal 

 of Nutt's boxes, owing, 1 suppose, to their n)t being in favour 

 with scientific apiarians; still I, lor une, will feel much obliged 

 for any information which any of your correspondents may give 

 concerning them, more particularly as I fancy if Woodbury 

 hives could be worked profitably on the collateral .system, it 

 would save a great amount of t:ouble, such as lifting on and off 

 supers when manipulatuag them. Also say, Does it answer to 



