156 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ August 21, 1866. 



me to set the imprisoned monarch at liberty. Eemaining un- 

 molested, and being followed only by admiring and caressing 

 antenna? in this her first royal progress in her new domain, I 

 was encouraged to hope for the best, and successive examina- 

 tions during the same and following days proving to my satis- 

 faction that she indeed reigned in the affections of her alien 

 though adopted children, I set myself by the careful selec- 

 tion and gradual addition of ripe brood-combs, so to increase 

 the population of the hive as to admit of the propagation of Apis 

 fasciata before the season, already so far advanced as to make 

 success improbable, should be so far passed away as to render 

 it entirely hopeless. — A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 

 (To be continued.) 



TAKING HONEY FROM SIDE BOXES AND 

 SUPERS. 



On the 11th of this month it appeared to me that the bees 

 in a Nutt's hive were abstracting the honey out of a side box, 

 which never had been quite filled, though "the comb was quite 

 finished. I took it, and found no honey in it ; none has been 

 taken from it this year. The stock has thrown out one if not 

 two swarms (possibly even three), in spite of all precautions. 

 How am I to know when to take the side boxes in future? 

 When should I have taken this ? I have two or three stocks 

 in straw hives which must be taken. They are reasonably 

 heavy, but the bees are still busy bringing in pollen. Of what 

 is this a proof ? Ought I to leave the stock as long as the bees 

 seem to work, or, honey being my object, ought I to take them 

 at once? — Hampshire Sector. • 



[It is very probable that the bees commenced breaking in 

 upon the contents of the side box when the first swarm issued, 

 and that they have been diminishing ever since. We can, 

 however, lay down no positive rule as to the proper time for 

 taking either side boxes or supers. Of course, when once com- 

 pletely filled they are best removed as soon as possible ; but 

 you must endeavour to form your own opinion as to the time 

 at which the weight of a partially-filled box reaches its pro- 

 bable maximum, when it should at once be appropriated. Bees 

 bringing in pollen freely is a sign of prosperity and of the 

 existence of brood, hut it does not show that the store of honey 

 is increasing. Weigh your stocks towards autumn, and take 

 them when they reach the culminating point. We find that 

 the honey harvest is over in our locality whenever the fine 

 weather breaks up in July.] 



year, if all is well, I shall hope to multiply my Italian stock 

 from her brood more largely. 



It is time I should give some account of this year's proceed- 

 ings in my apiary, so I will make a beginning by stating how 

 many stocks survived the winter. This will be" seen by the 

 following schedule of stock hives, corrected from page 81 in 

 your former volume. It represents the condition of my apiary 

 in April last : — 



E. & W.'s APIARY IN 18 



In a communication to " our Journal " in January last I 

 mentioned that I had received in the autumn a young'ltalian 

 queen from my friend Mr. Woodbury, who had suspicions, as 

 well as myself, that I had hitherto been unfortunate in possess- 

 ing only a hybrid queen of that race. With much care, but 

 little difficulty, after uniting the populations of two stocks and 

 destroying their queens, the young stranger was successfully 

 introduced to the united bees, and located in my bee-house in 

 place of A. By careful feeding this united stock survived the 

 winter in good health ; but the queen not breeding till late in 

 the spring, the population, which had been large, became so 

 reduced in number that I despaired, even so late as April, of 

 its recovery. However, the queen proved to be all I could 

 desire, and not only filled the box (one of the largest in my 

 apiary i, which was only one-third full of comb when the queen 

 was put into it in autumn, but the bees also worked in a super, 

 giving me about 6 lbs. of pure honeycomb. 



Being absent from home during July, and this stock (A), 

 being too backward to operate upon before, it was left to its 

 own devices till the 3rd of August, when the queen and entire 

 population were driven and shifted into D's box, whose queen 

 and population had been previously driven into an empty hive. 



A's box was subsequently given to the bees of D after the 

 destruction of their queen, the bees of both hives remaining 

 in their former places, but having exchanged hives. I have 

 some doubts, however, whether the bees in D will manage to 

 rear a queen, as there was no brood apparently in the hive, 

 except such as was quite recently hatched. I shall be quite 

 content if I can rear one queen to head this stock this au- 

 tumn. Mr. Woodbury will be glad to learn that the bees are 

 beautifully marked, and the queen a first-rate breeder. Another 



FOWL-HOUSE. 



V. O. 



Degenerate queen. English queen. 



Bred out of C in 1865. Born 1865. Strong. 



Strong. 



K. N. 



Degenerate queen. Defunct. 



Born 1865. Very strong. 



It will thus be seen that I began the year with twelve stocks. 

 I have to add that I discovered I was in error in stating that 

 the queen of F had become degenerate. Most of the bees 

 have been fairly-marked Italians. I am still puzzled to ac- 

 count for the bees in P in the fowl-house, having degenerated, 

 as I remarked at page 80, last volume. No doubt, however, 

 the queen must have died in the course of the summer. I am 

 the more inclined to believe this, as the actual queen of that 

 stock has not proved a good breeder this year, as her predecessor 

 had shown herself to be last year. — B. A- W. 

 (To be continued.) 



HOG CHOLERA— COAL FOR CURE. 

 A western farmer is convinced that bituminous coal is a 

 preventive of hog cholera. He has four hogs that will average 

 300 lbs. live weight each, and now about seven months old ; 

 some three months since he began to feed them daily with 

 coal, and, to determine the amount consumed, weighed it. For 

 the first twenty days they consumed 1} lb. each ; during the 

 past month he has resumed weighing again, and finds that they 

 eat 2 lbs. each. He thinks this daily feeding keeps them in a 

 more healthy condition. They have no desire to root like 

 other hogs, as this coal supplies what they would get from the 

 soil. He also contends that the cutting of the snouts to pre- 

 vent rooting is barbarous — positive\lestruction of the health 

 of the porker. The hog does not root simply for the fun of it, 

 but to supply a want, and as coal answers the purpose, he 

 ceases to root, and lies down in lazy quiet. When the coal 

 has been omitted for two or three weeks the propensity to root 

 returns. — (Boston Cultivator.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Cost of Rearing Dicks and Chickens for Taele {T. H. F.).— At 

 what age do you consider your Ducks and chickens fit for table ? In the 

 London markets some arc sold very young. They generally realise the 

 best prices because they are earliest in the season. We must also ask at 

 what time of year you want them reared ? It is worth twice as much to 

 rear in the winter as the spring. In the summer you should give Gd. per 

 month per head, and you must contribute part of the food. Wg are 

 assuming that the fowls are reared by cottagers, where, being no farm- 

 yard, there is no run or scratch where food may be found. Geese are easily 

 reared where there is a common, and cost little more than chickens. 

 Turkeys are troublesome, and you would have to pay Is. per month. 

 The feathers will almost pay for plucking. Ordinary prices are Id. per 

 head for fowls and Ducks, Ad. for Geese and Turkeys without feathers. 

 These are for practised hands. - I 



Uniting Swarms (C.I..).— We should prefer driving the bees in the 

 first place into an empty hive, and uniting them afterwards in the 

 manner recommended in page 69 of the fifth edition of " Bee-keeping 

 for the Many.'" The use of a little smoke, and sprinkling both swarms 

 of bees with peppermint-scented syrup at the time of uniting them, may 

 also be advisable. 



