♦38 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



i>< .'. ;mber 4, lbSC. 



I would establish her at the head of a stock to see whether she 

 would continue for any length of time to breed yellow-banded 

 bees. Fixing on a weak stock, I drove out the bees, captured 

 and destroyed its queen, cut out and fixed the best of the combs 

 in frames, adding two sealed brood combs from another hive, 

 inserted between the combs the cage containing the imprisoned 

 monarch, and returned the bees. On the following day the 

 queen was liberated, being well received by her new subjects, 

 and the first appearance of her progeny was awaited. In due 

 time the young bees appeared, the majority of them being very 

 well marked. As the original black bees died out, the prepon- 

 derance became for some time greatly in favour of the yellow- 

 banded bees. The stock prospered remarkably well, and the 

 queen proved to be a very prolific breeder ; but, contrary to 

 Mr. West's hypothesis, the coloured bees gradually diminished, 

 and although until the end of the hive's existence there were 

 always some to be seen, yet, to a casual observer, it would have 

 appeared to have been a colony of ordinary common bees. The 

 drones were unmistakeably black, and, as may be supposed, 

 exhibited no taint of Ligurian parentage. 



In all observations of this character there must be a certain 

 amount of uncertainty as to the correctness of the inferences 

 which may be drawn from them. A queen may become changed 

 by death or by unnoticed swarming : in my case, supposing 

 this did happen, the young successor might bo crossed by one 

 of my own Ligurian drones, of which there were largo numbers 

 close at hand, so that it would be impossible to state positively 

 that the queen which was originally placed at the head of the 

 stock remained alive at the end of two years when the stock 

 was broken up. Although I do not believe that anything of 

 this nature did really occur, and although I have no reason to 

 doubt but that the same queen reigned until the end of the 

 hive's existence, yet taking the possibility of my having been 

 mistaken into consideration. I am loth to assert as a positive 

 fact that the influence of the drone, so far from increasing in 

 amount as the queen becomes more aged, does really and truly 

 become gradually more feeble. I merely give the case as it 

 occurred in my own apiary for as much as it may be worth. — 

 S. Bevan Fox, Exeter. 



THE EGYPTIAN BEE. 



(Continued fnnn page 417.) 

 Ha vinx, detailed particulars I must now revert to the period 

 when I abstracted combs from the Egyptian stock. It was 

 then that the true character of my foreign friends manifested 

 itself in right earnest. Decidedly more irascible ! Compari- 

 sons must be laid aside. Their fury and ferocity were beyond 

 all parallel. " Nemo me imptme lacessit," the motto which I 

 have since presented them with, and which now holds a per- 

 manent place in their family escutcheon, was but too forcibly 

 exemplified. Panoplied though I was from head to foot, I was 

 never before so beset. Smarting under the bad usage received 

 in their journey from Exeter, and by my subsequent manipu- 

 lations, they were determined, apparently, to resist all future 

 intermeddling with " their nest," and so I had a literal swarm 

 about my ears, stinging everything and anything they fancied 

 vulnerable about the person. My retreat was almost as diffi- 

 cult as Napoleon's from the Russian hordes that pursued him 

 from Moscow ; but the enemy, though repulsed, had contrived 

 to escape, and satisfaction was incomplete. Exploring parties 

 scoured the ground all around, to the evident danger of the 

 lieges and my great discomfort. A friend residing with me at 

 the time, himself an apiarian of considerable experience, 

 acknowledged he had never witnessed such a fracas. He, 

 too, was followed to some distance, and had to he in ambush 

 for a long time ere his relentless persecutors permitted him to 

 leave ; and the cover imder which I myself took shelter was 

 long after haunted by these vindictive little foreigners. Mean- 

 time a family council was held to consider what was best to be 

 done. My friend urged an immediate removal. I was in a diffi- 

 culty ; but the bees had been sadly irritated and abused, and I 

 pleaded a day or two's delay. Fortunately the clear Indian- 

 like sky, from which a burning sun had shot his cloudless rays 

 for some days previous, had become gloomy and overcast. My 

 incensed little foreigners now assumed a somewhat more sub- 

 dued and pacified aspect. The regimental files hitherto guard- 

 ing the entrance, heads outwards, and with daggers half drawn, 

 gradually retired. So, early on the morning of the '26th of 

 June, while the guards were caught napping, I took their 

 citadel by storm, deprived it of all its treasures, and trans- 



ferred the captive population to a new dwelling, as already 

 stated, and so after all the Egyptians have remained in Bay 

 apiary up to the present time. Since then, or, rather, since 

 the manipulations have ceased, the foreigners are behaving 

 themselves like their more civilised brethren of the north. I 

 now know their temper and habits better, and we are better 

 friends. There is only one stipulation which I must observe — 

 I must not interfere upon any account with their " nest." 

 This I am willing to do, and the "Hem i me impiirie laccssit" 

 emblazoned on their escutcheon always reminds me of the 

 paction, and thus peace is maintained. 



I would not have it to be inferred from what has been said 

 that Apis fasciata cannot be kept in the apiary without incon- 

 venience and danger. Mr. Woodbury has stated, and my ex- 

 perience confirms the remark, that if the " bees are not 

 meddled with they are peaceable enough." For experimental 

 purposes they are certainly very difficult to deal with, and 

 when interfered with in any way they must be very gently and 

 cautiously handled. It was only yesterday that I opened three 

 leaves of the Huber hive, in which the colony is now domi- 

 ciled, to examine the interior, and though perfectly unpro- 

 tected, so gently did I deal with them that no resentment was 

 shown. 



At this moment the Egyptian colony is without exception 

 the most populous in my apiary. The maturing brood is still 

 plentiful, young drones have again appeared, and during the 

 recent very mild weather farina loads, forty a-minnte, were 

 being carried with the utmost vigour, while other hive3 are 

 half dormant. Can it be that the instinct of the queen is at 

 fault ? — or, rather, that it is true to her native soil, where the 

 spring is our winter. Be this as it may, the appearance of 

 drones at the end of October is a perfect anomaly with me. I 

 have observed, however, that the young larva? are now being 

 dragged out. 



Of the respective progenies of the young Egyptian queens, 

 those of two only were similar to the parent, though these, 

 too, differed a shade. The bees produced by the others were 

 of a varied and motley character — some Egypto-Italians, and 

 some of a light leaden colour, forming a variety tud genefja. 



Most of the queens, too, differed somewhat from the original. 

 In appearance they more nearly approximated to the better- 

 coloured Italians, though more beautiful and gay. Two or 

 three were especial beauties, and sparkled among the black 

 population like gems of gold. 



I regret that I cannot speak as to their honey-gathering 

 qualities, the autumn being so bad. The original hive of 

 course I did not send to the heath, and the young hives 

 afforded no test, as the Egyptian element formed but a small 

 proportion of the population. The bee is exceedingly indus- 

 trious ; is not affected in the least, apparently, by our northern 

 climate, and I expect no more difficulty in wintering the 

 Egyptians than the other varieties. — J. Lowe. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Hamburgh Fowls. — Mr. J. H. Bey ton wishes to know whether the 

 eight hens mentioned by " S. G. J." have no run attached to their house 

 12 feet by 6 feet. The oats enclosed by Mr. Beyton are ground, not 

 Crushed. * In such a state they must be mixed with water. Crushed oats 

 are merely flattened by the rollers of the mill they are passed through, 

 and can be given to the fowls unmixed. 



Houdans [Bath). — We do not know what you can desire more than is 

 stated in the " Poultry- Keepers' Manual." The nearer the fowls approach 

 to coincidence with the description and drawings there given, the better 

 your chance of winning. To disqualify any fowl there must be an ab- 

 sence or defect in some of its most prominent characteristics, such as 

 the peculiar comb and top-knot of the Houdan. Your garden will do 

 very well for Houdans, especially if there is a shed of some kind under: 

 which they can retire, find shelter, and a dry sand-bath in all weathers. 



Ipswich Poultry Show [An Exhibitor). — There may be many reasons 

 why the Judges withheld the second prize for Creve Cceurs at the above 

 Show, although there was the same pen that was commended at Chelms- 

 ford shown. The birds may not have been in good condition, or the 

 Judge? at Ipswich may have a higher standard of excellence than the 

 Judges at Chelmsford." 



Belgian Cock Canary (3/. P.).— Yon must apply to some of the 

 dealers in Canaries, for you alone can determine what you like, both as 

 to appearance and price. 



POULTRY MARKET.— December 3. 



s d. s. 



Large Fowls 2 6 to 8 



Smaller do 2 2 



Chickens 1 6 1 



Geese 5 6 G 



Ducks 19 2 



Pigeons 6 



Pheasants 2 



Partridges 1 



Grouse 1 



Hares 2 



Raohitg 1 



Wild do 



d s. 



5 to 2 



6 1 

 A 2 

 6 2 

 4 1 

 8 e 



