Decombor 5, 1805. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND QOTTAGE GARDENEB. 



475 



months' absonoo, and foiiud bis improved cottage hives iufested 

 with thousands oj earwigs. Allow a croj) of these vermin to 

 remain ou the top of a hivo for a week only, and notice liow 

 fat and jilunip they will have Ijccomo as they scamper away on 

 being disturbed. Certain enough it is that the beo grubs and 

 the honey are the cause of that emhonpubit , and it was one chief 

 cause of our lakingito Bantams again ; for notwithstanding all 

 the precautions v, hich I have frequently detailed in these pages 

 as having been taken against the entry of insects into my hives, 

 earwigs are scarcely to be baulked ; but pray do not daub any 

 dirty, damp, and cracky mortar about, to try by that means to 

 eradicate them ; it would make bad worse. By Black Bantams 

 earwigs are the most sought for of morsels, and during this 

 season, which has been a peculiarly favoiuablo one for these 

 insects, no woodhce or earwigs have had a chance of congre- 

 gating with me. Along with them spiders, beetles, caterpillars, 

 slugs, small snails, auts and their eggs, &c., have all been de- 

 voured by the unluing searchers for insects, and there is no 

 variety of fowl that docs the scratching more gently, or works 

 less harm amongst flowers and plants. My system of netting 

 over strawberries, gooseberries, &c., is so simple and secure 

 that I am never concerned about tlie birds iuteifering with 

 them. When I wig my hives — viz., take the pans and covers 

 off the supers for the purpose of whiskmg aw-ay with a goose's 

 wing insects that may be concealed there, the fowls instinc- 

 tively know all about it, and are generally there on the look 

 out. If they should not be, " Boys, boys ! " is sui-e to bring 

 them, and woe betide the marauders ; but these fowls never 

 touch a bee. I would earnestly advise Mr. Cadogan to take to 

 Black Bantams. He informs us that his garden is a large one. 

 Then what can be better for his bees than borage planted wher- 

 ever the room can be spared ? What a perpetuity of bloom it 

 gives, and what a quantity of seed it will produce ! There is 

 no food that Black Bantams are more fond of. They will nearly 

 subsist upon it, and search it out from the pods as zealously as 

 the bees do the honey from the blossoms. I rather like the 

 borage as a weed, for it is precocious, and compels one to be 

 constantly stirring the ground to do away with it where it is 

 not wanted, and so every other weed shares the same fate be- 

 fore it can weU be seen, still less produce seed, and the soil is 

 benefited. Then what capital and prolonged layers, and ex- 

 cellent sitters, without being inconveniently so, Black Bantams 

 are. Besides, a couple, or even three of them, when well fed, 

 properly cooked, and placed on a dish at one end of a dining 

 table, with a pig's cheek %'h-a-vh, might satisfy a more gastro- 

 nomic individual than — Upwaeds and Onwards. 



WOOD FOR Hr\'ES. 



I AM inclined to indorse the opinion of " A Devonshire 

 Bee-keepeb " relative to wood hives being best made from 

 yellow pine ; that known as St. John's is what ought to be 

 used. Although there are some sorts of bled red* pine little 

 inferior to some sorts of yeUow, yet I always consider that 

 wood approaching in character to that of the pitch pine ought 

 to be avoided in making hives, being by far too close in the 

 pores, and too good a conductor of heat. Many hives are ruined 

 by too close coverings, or rather covering them with too close 

 a material. By covering wood hives with any kind of oil- 

 cloth, slates, or slabs of stone — that is, when there is little else 

 than these materials close to the hive, the steam that is gene- 

 rated and carried up through the pores of the wood, is con- 

 densed upon these coverings and falls back upon the hive, 

 where it produces a most injui-ious dampness. Whenever any 

 of these coverings are used there ought always to be a sufficient 

 quantity of dried grass interposed between the hive and its 

 cover to absorb all moistm-e ; but the best of aU hive covers 

 where there is no house are those which stand free of the hive, 

 with ventilation at top. A word, then, as to ventilation. It 

 never should be given with a draught. A very good and safe 

 plan is to open any orifices that exist in the crown, and place 

 on the top some cleaned straw, thus imitating as much as 

 possible a thatched-roofed cow-house, or to fill an empty box 

 with clean straw and place it on the top, after drawing slides, 

 or unstopping whatever openings there may be. — A Linabk- 



SHIRE BEE-IiEEPEIt. 



CaBiNG Hens of Sitting. — Mr. Duren, states in the Ncn- 

 England Fanner, that he cures his hens of sitting by shutting 



* That is, that from which the turpentino has been e\tracted. 



them in a tub with an inch or two of water on the bottom, 

 during the day. Ho puts them on the roost nt night, and it 

 not cured, treats them to the water remedy for another day, and 

 they will bo glad to stand on their feet. 



THE DISEASES OF BEES. 



I OWE an apology to " A. W.," for not having made an earlier 

 response to the appeal which he made in " our Journal," for 

 information on the subject of dysentery among bees, so long 

 ago as the 11th of July last, and which he has repeated at 

 page -iJl. Wy reason for keeping silence on the point was, 

 that of dysentery proper I have seen but very little, and can, 

 therefore, offer no information derived from ray own experience 

 of the malady. As, however, I happen to be able to refer to 

 what the great German apiarian, Daicrzon, has written on the 

 subject, I deem it worth while to transcribe his opinions re- 

 garding it, adding thereto the results of my own experience in 

 respect of other diseases to which our little favourites are un- 

 fortunately liable. 



"Dysentery (says Dzierzon), which frequently oecui-s to- 

 wards the end of winter, is certainly an evil in bee-keeping in 

 countries where the winters are long and severe. It consists 

 in the inability of bees to retain their fa3ce3 beyond a certain 

 time and measure ; but it is not a proper disease because the 

 evil is at an end as soon as they arc able to empty themselves. 

 The causes of dysentery are as foUows : — Long and severe 

 winters, unwholesome honey, or honey carried in or given too 

 late in the season, and which, therefore, mostly remains un- 

 sealed, coldness of the hive and combs, frequent disturbances, 

 superabundant moisture or extreme drought, premature breed- 

 ing, or, in short, any circumstance which causes an imwonted 

 consumption of food, and by which bees are deprived of the 

 opportunity of voiding in the open air the ffficcs which then ac- 

 cumulate so rapidly. But, as imder these circumstances, the 

 bodies of many become so swollen that they are unable to fly, 

 and can at most drag themselves to the entrance of the hive, 

 the evil ultimately degenerates into a disease of which numbers 

 perish both inside and outside the hive. Nay, the malady some- 

 times appears to become actually contagious, since it has been 

 found that when a stock which had been reduced by dysentery 

 was strengthened by the addition of healthy bees, the mor- 

 tality continued until it became as weak as it was bSfore. The 

 queen alone is exempt from this disease, owing to her consum- 

 ing only the purest honey and pollen, and because her excre- 

 ment, consisting merely of an opaque watery fluid, is naturally 

 voided within the hive. She, therefore, remains in good health 

 even after the great majority of her workers have succumbed 

 to the malady. 



" He, therefore, who would bring his stocks clean and healthy 

 through the winter, must avoid the above-mentioned causes of 

 disease as far as lies in his power, and should keep only such 

 stocks as are capable of wintering well." 



Bees evidently suffer greatly from dysentery during the severe 

 and protracted winters of Germany, and when this is the case, 

 Dzierzon advises that they be brought into a warm room with 

 but one window, and that facing the south. The hive being 

 placed in the sun, a few feet from the window, its inhabitants 

 are set in motion by a little food either inserted within [the 

 hive or injected into it. As the bees take wing and fly towards 

 the window, many empty themselves, and the rest will do so 

 when they reach and rest on the window-sill. Here the brown 

 faeces must be sponged off as rapidly as they are ejected, lest 

 the bees soil themselves with them, and when all have had 

 the required opportunity they will joyfully re-enter their hive 

 if the entrance be brought close to them. 



It is more than probable that my bees owe their immunity 

 from the ravages of dysentery in a great measure to the mild- 

 ness of the climate of Devon. Fine and balmy days are gene- 

 rally so frequent late in the autumn and in the early spring, 

 whilst they are not unknown during even the depth of winter, 

 that it is rare indeed for bees to be confined to their hives 

 during many weeks without the opportunity of recreating 

 themselves on the wing in the open air. Added to this, flowers 

 of some kind are always in bloom in our gardens, so that 

 fresh pollen is within their reach whenever the weather and 

 their own inclinations impel them to seek for it. I may, 

 indeed, say with truth that there is not a single month in the 

 year during which I have not at some time or other seen pollen- 

 laden bees entering some of my hives. 



My information, therefore, on the subject of dysentery, its 



