116 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 7, 1866. 



satisfactorily without any fighting, many times during succes- 

 sive years, simply by giving three puffs of tobacco smoke to 

 each swarm to be united, and so making them all smell foully 

 lor the time). I, of course, put on a large straw top, otherwise 

 they could not then all have found room, and looked forward 

 to at least 50 lbs. of honey from this immensely strong hive. 

 Ab it was, however, they now managed by dint of squeezing to 

 keep nearly all in the centre box, and though I had guide combs 

 in the super, they did not extend them, evidently bent on not 

 remaining. I looked out the next afternoon and evening to see 

 which queen was turned out dead, as I have almost always 

 found one on the ground in this plight within twenty-four 

 hours, but could see nothing of her. On the 9th of June at 

 eleven o'clock, the whole united mass swarmed again, and such 

 a swarm I never had in all my experience. They tried to settle 

 on two or three shrubs and trees, but all the boughs gave way, 

 and the whole mass kept falling to the ground ; at last they 

 went into a hedge, which sustained them, and they were hived 

 in a large straw cover ready at hand. 



On examination I found that the Ligurian and common bees 

 were so intermingled, both in the swarm, and the stock from 

 whence they came, that it was impossible to state which was 

 Ligurian and which not. Now, also came the question, Which 

 has the Ligurian queen ? I thought this a good opportunity to 

 test the respective ages of each sort of bee, should it so happen 

 that the old Ligurian queen remained in the stock, and the 

 common queen with the swarm, or vice versa. I therefore put 

 the combined swarm into a Stewarton hive, and on the next 

 stand to the Ligurian, so as to afford the greatest facility in 

 watching. At first I noticed that the swarm was pretty equally 

 divided between Ligurian and common bees, perhaps, if any- 

 thing, the former being in the majority. As regards the stock, 

 I should say the Ligurians were as five to three, a decided ma- 

 jority. Both worked well, and considering the comparatively 

 empty state of the stock hive immediately after swarming, it 

 was wonderful how rapidly the latter increased again in numbers. 

 Within three weeks I began to notice in the stock that the com- 

 mon bees were dwindling away, although in the swarm they 

 were still about equal. Within the month the stock became 

 five to one in favour of the Ligurian, and the swarm then 

 began to show three or four to one in favour of the common 

 bee, and I could easily see in the swarm numbers of the young 

 black bees daily coming out on the alighting-board. In a 

 similar way I could see in the stock the young Ligurians. 

 This at once showed to me that the old Ligurian queen had 

 remained in the stock hive, whilst the old common queen had 

 led out the swarm. Within five or six weeks the relative pro- 

 portions rapidly became twenty to one in f avour of the Ligurians 

 in the stock and ten to one in favour of the black bees in the 

 swarm, and so on, until last Saturday (July 28), I could not 

 detect a single black bee in the Ligurian stock, and only six 

 Ligurian bees in the swarm, after half an hour's close watching 

 at the entrances in the middle of a fine working day, when the 

 bees were out in great numbers. I may add that the six 

 Ligurians which I saw were almost worn out, their wings 

 being ragged, and their bodies showing that peculiar dark look 

 indicative of old age. 



Both stock and swarm are very strong in bees, the latter 

 having filled a super of about 20 lbs. of honey, which I shall 

 shortly take off. What has become of the Ligurian in the one 

 case and the common bees in the other ? It is quite clear that 

 they have all died off, and their places been supplied by young 

 bees ; for there is no diminution of numbers, but rather the 

 reverse in both cases. It also follows, of course, that if the 

 Ligurians in the one case, and the black bees in the other, 

 have gradually and visibly died away, their contemporaries in 

 each case, pari passu, must have perished too; the result is, 

 therefore, that at all events during the working season, the 

 whole hive is renewed within two months ! 



Another fact is also proved — that the duration of life of the 

 Ligurian and common bee is about the same. Now, it does 

 not follow that the age of the bee is always limited to two 

 months ; on the contrary, during the late autumnal and winter 

 months, when little or no hatching of eggs can take place, I 

 expect that the bee may live four or five months, as there is 

 then little or no wear and tear, and their flights are limited to 

 the neighbourhood of the hive ; but it is quite evident that 

 during the working months the mortality is immense, and only 

 •replaced by the great fecundity of the queen bee. 



From the little experience which I have had of the Ligurian 

 bee, I should say that the queens of this sort are decidedly 

 more prolific than those of the common bee, as the increase of 



population in the stocks of the black bee which have swarmed 

 is not nearly so large as that of my Ligurian stock. The 

 latter also seem to carry into the hive twice the quantity of 

 farina on their legs as compared with the other sort — a sure 

 sign of extensive breeding. 



Allow me to add that, as a whole, I consider this season to 

 have been a bad one for honey. Our main resource here is 

 the Limes, which, although well flowered, soon withered, owing 

 to the excessive heat of the direct rays of the sun. The white 

 clover is now their last resource, but it is not so abundant as 

 last year. — A Blackheath'an. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Feeding Fowls — Preserving Eggs in Lime (J. R. B.). — Nothing can 

 be so injurious to fowls as feeding from a trough. Their own excrements, 

 if they are healthy, will not be picked up to an injurious extent : any- 

 thing else is beneficial. We believe that food thrown down, mixed with 

 earth, is better than clean corn. Fowls have no teeth. Our feeding will 

 be cheaper than the trough, which is extravagant. The lime should in 

 the first place be mixed stiff enough to cause an egg to stand upright in 

 it. When poured over them it should, when dried, form a perfect crust. 

 Lime water would be useless. 



Aylesbury Decks (Aylesbury).— Ducks begin to lay at eight months 

 old. Except in case of accidents, to which they are liable, drakes begin 

 to be useful at the same nge, and are good for three or four years. We 

 have known a drake perfectly useful at six years old. We cannot define 

 " pulse." 



Game Chickens Unable to Stand (J. B.).— The first symptoms yon 

 describe are those of great weakness, and may arise from insufficient or 

 improper feeding, or from overgrowth. It is more frequently met within 

 cocks than pullets. Cochins and Spanish are subject to few if any ail- 

 ments. If all your birds are kept precisely under the same circumstances 

 as to food, liberty, nature and construction of roosting place or house, 

 then there is only one conclusion to arrive at — it is hereditary in the 

 strain of the cock, although he himself suffers not from it. He must be 

 changed. As these svinptoms mav, however, be caused by cramp, which 

 does not interfere with the appetite, and which may arise from a wooden, 

 stone, or brick flooring, if such exist, remove either the flooring or the 

 birds, and you will, we believe, find the cure. The best treatment for 

 those affected is to feed them solely and plentifully on stale bread soaked 

 in strong old ale. 



Crystal Palace Poultry Show (if. B.).— The shows at the Crystal 

 Palace have been discontinued for some years. We have not heard of 

 any intention to resume them. 



Poultry Results — Crossing Fowls (Two-years Subscriber).— Your 

 result is a very good one. Five hens in ninety-one days laid 249 eggs. 

 Our- opinion is, that it is in every way better and more profitable to keep 

 pure than cross-bred birds. Such a cross as yon mention, Cochin and 

 Spanish, must be a mistake. The Cochin could not improve the breast of 

 the Spanish. One is a broody hen, the other never sits ; one lays a large 

 white egg, the other a small brown one; one has a blue, the other a 

 yellow leg. The object of a cross is to develope some particular point or 

 quality in a bird, by obtaining a cross from one that possesses it or them 

 iu a large degree. Thus, if a particular strain of Game is losing its 

 courage, ferocity, hardness of feather and bone, a cross is at once 

 sought with the "Malay, because it possesses all these qualities. Grey 

 Dorkings would seem to do well with you, better than any of your 

 crosses. If you mean to cross, never put sitters and non-sitters together. 

 Game and Dorking make a much better cross than Game and Cochin. 



Pigeon Apoplectic (Jero).— Tour Fantail cock seems to be suffering 

 from apoplexy. Do notlethim have any hempseed. Give him a pill con- 

 taining one grain of calomel ; repeat the dose for two or three successive 

 nights, and then purge him with castor oil. — B. P. B. 



Powters with Foul Breath (Amateur)*— H you examine the mouths 

 of vour Powters you will probably find cheesy-looking lumps, which 

 contain matter causing the disagreeable odour you refer to. Remove 

 the matter by scraping it away with a small wooden spathula, and rub 

 the place thoroughly with caustic. Give your birds freedom, and put 

 flowers of sulphur in their water. 



Bullfinch Asthmatic (Tolchard).— Your Bullfinch appears to be asth- 

 matic. Do not give it any hemp or rapeseed. Let it have bread and 

 milk, and lettuce, chickweed, and groundsel ; also put some Spanish 

 liquorice in its water. Do not cut the tongue.— B. P. B. 



Sisktn (Miss Bagha).— We suspect you have fed your Siskin on food 

 that was too stimulating, snch as hempseed and rapeseed. Confino the 

 birds more to canary and millet, giving them occasionally a little maw- 

 seed and plenty of green food. Keep a piece of sulphur in their water. 



Breeding Mealworms (E. S. C.).— Mealworms are the young of the 

 common black beetle (not cockroaches, which are often called black 

 beetles). If some of them are put in a tub with some meal they will lay 

 eggs, and these will hatch into the much-coveted mealworms for fee ding 

 cage birds. Almost any miller or baker can provide some for stock, but 

 they do not like acknowledging them. — B. P. B. 



Mule Canaries Breeding.— Some time since I wrote to you respect- 

 in" Canary Mules breeding. I have now five young birds from a cock 

 Canary and a Greenfinch hen Mule, very strong. The hen is again sit- 

 ting on five eggs.— W. B. H. 



Silkworms (J. S., Torquay). — Your management of the Silkworm 

 hitherto has been perfectly correct. Whenever the grubs show a dis- 

 position to spin, put them into a small bag of paper made by twisting it 

 in the form of a grocer's sugar-paper, and fix these against a wall or up- 

 right board with pins. In due course the moth will come out, and, after 

 laying its eggs, die. The eggs are to be preserved all the winter, and 

 then In the following summer they will be hatched, when you have Dut 

 1 to repeat the process which you have gone through this season. 



