324 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AN» COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 23, 1806. 



skeps near the fire, I drove them all out by long-continued 

 drumming and blowing. I then searched for the queen, and 

 having found her, took her away. The bees were so listless 

 that they manifested no signs of the queen's removal. I tied 

 a cloth round the bottom of the hive, and brought them close 

 to the fire, so that they might become sensible of the loss and 

 make a commotion; but I could not succeed in accomplishing 

 this, although during the summer bees confined in a skep with- 

 out a queen get into a state of fearful commotion : I therefore 

 resolved to risk the queen amongst them. The bees being 

 all spread round the sides of the skep and over the top, were 

 so listless that one would have supposed that no injury would 

 he done to a queen introduced to them ; but when I put the 

 queen among a number of bees on the side of the hive, no 

 sooner did they become aware of her presence than they made 

 the most ferocious attack upon her, stinging her, apparently, 

 to death. So violent were they in the attack, that I had to 

 sever the attacking bees in two before I could rescue the queen. 

 She appeared to have suffered much. 



I now saw it was useless to try any more, and accordingly 

 returned her to the little box ; but she was there most un- 

 mercifully attacked by her own bees. In inspecting the box 

 a few minutes after I had put her in, I found her on the bottom 

 violently attacked, and in danger of being stung to death. I 

 have often witnessed such instances before. I immediately 

 took her out, and resolved once more to risk her with the 

 driven bees. I saw, if left alone, she would in all probability 

 have died. I put her in a small cluster. The bees were not so 

 ferocious as at first. I then inverted the skep, placing over 

 it the skep containing the comb from which the bees had been 

 driven. A good many went up into the comb, and I was glad 

 to observe that they now began to manifest signs of the loss of 

 the queen. Still, the mass of bees would not leave the lower 

 hive. They all clung round the upper edges, and there they 

 remained all day, though close to the fire. I drummed them 

 occasionally, but they would not leave. I was never so ex- 

 hausted with any operation. I went down to the kitchen about 

 10 p.m., and noticed that nearly one-half of the bees had gone 

 up. On narrowly examining the lowest part of the cluster of 

 bees attached to the lower skep I saw the queen among the 

 bees, and apparently, with the exception of the wings, not 

 much injured. I by means of a twig gently removed the bees, 

 and in the course of some little time was enabled to induce 

 them all to move up. The queen accompanied the bees into 

 the upper hive. Whether she has received serious injury re- 

 mains to be seen. Her gait would lead me to suppose she has 

 not. 



To add to the labour of the above operation, one or two of 

 the combs of the " drummed skep " had fallen down. You 

 know what difficulty there is in getting these reinserted in a 

 common straw skep. I was kept in great suspense during the 

 whole period of a troublesome operation. Using a cage at this 

 season of the year I fear would not have succeeded. I was 

 afraid the bees would neglect the queen and allow her to 

 perish. — J. 



of fertile queens, you may by diminishing their entrances en- 

 able them to set wasps at defiance. Autumnal feeding should 

 only be resorted to if the stocks are too light to face the coming 

 winter. It should at any rate be now no longer delayed, and 

 should be concluded before the end of this month.] 



Taming Bees. — A writer in a recent number of the " Scottish 

 Gardener " says — " To tame vicious bees, we have only to 

 accustom them to the form of human beings. A scare-crow, 

 or what my Scotch friends call ' a potato bogle,' placed in front 

 of the hives of stinging bees, is a great help. It can be shifted 

 now and then, and, to provoke a general attack, place a loose 

 waving rag or handkerchief in the hand of the bogle. I have 

 been told that vicious, kicking horses have been completely 

 cured by hanging bags of hay behind them in their stalls. 

 They kicked and plunged at the bags till their strength was 

 exhausted, when their vice and folly left them ; so that they 

 quietly tolerated the bags to dangle by their sides, and grooms 

 to do as they liked. In like manner, the bees attack the waving, 

 provoking handkerchief, and sting at it till their vice leaves 

 them. That which scares crows tends to domesticate bees. If 

 kept in a garden where men, women, and children are often 

 seen, and where they are not disturbed, bees are as tame and 

 peaceable as cocks and hens." 



INVADING-WASPS— LATE FEEDING. 



Codld you give me any advice how to prevent wasps attack- 

 ing and robbing a hive? I have totally lost my finest stock, 

 weighing 36 lbs., from this cause. Observing that the wasps 

 were disturbing the bees, I mortared all round the hives, leaving 

 only a hole big enough for one bee to pass, which I had hoped 

 would have enabled them to prevent the entrance of the wasps. 

 The hive in question is a straw hive in a wooden box. A few 

 days since I found the bees in a most disturbed state, hanging 

 in a thick cluster outside the box. Next day I found them the 

 same, except that numbers were lying dead on the ground. I 

 then proceeded to drive out the remaining bees, and found that 

 there was not a particle of honey left in the comb, that two or 

 three weeks before had weighed 36 lbs. I dressed a fresh pot, 

 but the bees have not taken to it, and have all disappeared. I 

 fear my remaining hives will be treated in the same manner, 

 as I frequently see a wasp making its way in. Would it be 

 desirable to feed the bees at present ? owing to the wet Septem- 

 ber they have not done much work. — E. B. S. 



[The queen had probably died, and the stock fallen into a 

 dwindling condition before the final onslaught was made. Many 

 if not most of the bees which you drove out and which ulti- 

 mately disappeared, were, doubtless, marauders from other 

 hives. If your remaining colonies are populous and possessed 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Incubators (A Subscriber). — We cannot undertake to say which is " the 

 best." That which we have seen and heard most of is Mr Brindley's. 



Dorkings not Able to Walk (J. T. S.).— The probable cause of the 

 inability of the Dorking cock to walk is that he has swollen and tender 

 feet, caused by perching too high, or perhaps by the flooring of the house 

 in which he roosts. A bird of between 7 and 8 lbs. falls heavily on his 

 feet when he flies from a perch. If, therefore, he roosts more (ban 2 feet 

 from the ground that would cause the evil. The same inability to walk 

 would explain the enlarged liver of the other. Another cause would be 

 stone, brick, or wooden flooringto the house. Either of these causes first 

 strain and swelling, and afterwards paralysis of the feet and legs. Have 

 your perches 2 feet from the ground, and the flooring of loose gravel. It 

 is not uncommon for a Spanish fowl to become pied, and we have known 

 them moult quite white, and afterwards return to their original colour. 



Brahma Pootras Early Layers (Thos. W. S.J.— Your experience of 

 Brahmns will be endorsed by most persons who keep them. They begin 

 to lay at betweenltive and six months old. 



Cochin- China with Swollen Head (Tom). — Your Partridge Cochin 

 hen is suffering from cold. Give her some bread steeped in strong old 

 ale. In all cases it is well to separate diseased from healthy birds. Do 

 so in this instance, and she will soon recover. The best medicine is 

 Baily's pills. 



Game Cock with Swollen Head (Y. Z.).— The previous answer will 

 serve in your case. As, however, Game are subject to roup, and Cochins 

 are not, we advise yon to add to other remedies camphor in his water, 

 and pills of it the size of a pea. two every other day. 



Brahma Pootras {F, T.). — The plan yon propose to get up a stock of 

 Brahmas is quite correct, and will produce you excellent birds if yon 

 make a good selection of your new stock. Houdans are among the 

 hardiest fowls we know, doing well at all times and on all soils. They 

 are excellent layers. 



Farn worth Show (J. F. Newton).— The Secretary ought eilher to 

 return the stamps or send you a catalogue. It would be difficult to prove 

 that he received them. 



Error. — " In your report of the Farnworth Show, Mr. J. K. Fowler is 

 put down as the winner of the second prize in 'Ducks, any other 

 variety.' The second prize was awarded to a pen of Carolinas belonging 

 to me. — J. R. Jessop, Hull." 



Long Sutton Show.— Mrs. Bailey won the cup for the best pen of 

 Dorkings. It was not a "local" prize. 



Middleton Show. — "In your impression of the 9th inst.. appeared a 

 letter from a Mr. Holt, stating that though to my pen, No. 861, was 

 awarded the first prize, yet it belonged to him, as his Black Hamburgh 

 cockerel had been put into it. I was not at Middleton, but I received my 

 own cockerel back in my own basket, which does not look as if there had 

 been a mistake. The Secretarv refuses to pay me the premium. Will 

 you inform me if I am not fully entitled to it ?— Chaeles Sedgwick, 

 Eyddlesden, Keifililey." 



'[You were not entitled to the prize if Mr. Holt's cockerel was in the 

 pen assigned to you. Whether it was so we cannot say. There was much 

 mismanagement at the Show.] 



Pigeons Dying (Short-face, Limerick).—! am not acquainted with the 

 disease you mention— "crops full of water." I should think it arose 

 from something injurious in their food or water. Has the former been 

 heated or kiln-dried ? or does the latter contain any lead, or any other 

 injurious substance in solution? I should be inclined to keep the sick 

 birds short of water, and administer a bread pill containing one grain of 

 calomel and the twelfth part of a grain of tartar emetic, to be followed 

 by cod-liver oil as a restorative; the calomel may require repeating. 

 Beans I think are better food than peas. Sopped bread and buckwheat 

 may be given to the invalids. — B. P. Brent. 



Salt Cat (C. W. S., Greenock).— The simplest form of salt cat for 

 Pigeons is a mixture of old mortar and salt. There is no law against 

 having a looking-glass in a Pigeon-house, nor do we think one necessary. 

 You can have the " Pigeon Book for the Many " from our office for twenty- 

 stamps. 



Grape Wine (D. F.).— It is not "necessary" to add water to the ex- 

 pressed juice. Water is added only to increase the quantity. If you 

 have juice only, much less sugar will be needed. 



