December 11, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL Ob' HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



457 



only 98 . and this brought on ft groat many chicks until they 

 were ftbout a fortnight old, at which ago they all appeared to 

 have perished, when the eggs wero opened on the twenty-first 

 day, probably for want of the additional heat necessary for 

 their full development. 



I shall try again next spring, and, being wiser by experience, 

 hope for fair sucoess ; but I trust that some of your readers, 

 knowing what IB wanted, will be able before then to throw fresh 

 light upon the subject. — Investigator. 



[The desiderata noticed by our correspondent seem to be 

 supplied by Schroder's Patent Incubator, of which the accom- 

 panying are drawings and descriptions : — 



liwrai 



b. The inlet. 



c. Hot-water tank. 

 D. The outlet. 



E. Egs-drawcrs. 



r. Cold-water reservoir or drawer. 



G. Perforated zinc. 



Mr. Schroder says that " besides being a perfect incubator, 

 it is a warming apparatus of the best and cheapest construction, 

 and, by its being made ornamental, it forms a constant hot- 

 water table, applicable to the heating of halls, nurseries, laun- 

 dries, and conservatories ; and further, if placed in a kitchen, 

 it can be used as a steamer for cooking-purposes." 



To breeders of Game, Mr. Schroder thinks it will be found 

 especially advantageous, for every Game breeder knows the 

 difficulty of procuring broody hens at the time they are most 

 valuable. It can be heated either with gas or by an improved 

 oil lamp.] 



BEE-KEEPING IN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE. 



Seeing The Journal of Horticulture for the first time 

 lately, I have been interested in its gardening part, but more 

 so in that relating to bees, in which I take great interest. Being 

 now, however, a constant reader, I notice occasional accounts 

 of apiarian proceedings and honey products, but none from this 

 part of England, the north of Lincolnshire. These statements, 

 with the exception of that of your Renfrewshire correspondent, 

 would not lead me to believe the past to have been a very abun- 

 dant honey seasou. 



1 have been a bee-keeper since the death of my father, 

 nearly twenty years ago, and he for eighteen previously, and 

 although no journal or notes have been kept, I have a fair re- 

 membrance of the best honey years during that period. It 

 may, therefore, perhaps be interesting to some of your readers 

 if I mention them as they occurred here. I may also state 

 that my lot is cast near the banks of the Humber, not con- 

 sidered a first-class locality for bees, although in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of large commons and heathy moors of great 

 extent on the one hand, and on the other of well cultivated 

 c irn districts, one-fifth being in grass and one-fourth of the 

 jeiuainder being white clover in alternate husbandry. In such 

 a situation in <• iod seasons extraordinary results have been 

 achieved by the busy little workers. For instance, in 184G, with 

 a friend of my father, five stock? increased to twenty, whilst 

 my father had live first swarras that gave 1(1(1 lbs. of pure 

 honeycomb in supers or caps, leaving the stocks heavy enough 

 for the winter, all this being done with common straw hives. 

 (Ices after that good year did not do much. It is the cus- 



tom of the county to take the swarms with brimstone early in 

 August, and leave the old stocks for years ; and by theso means 

 very little honey was obtained during the following years, 

 there being no extra honey years excepting 1851 and 1854, 

 which were middling, until lKr>7, which was nearly as good as 

 L846, This was again followed by bad years until 1800, the 

 worst of all, so that by the spring of 1801 thoro were very few 

 stocks of bees remaining, and fewer still that were strong. I 

 had, however, three large flat-topped hives which had bees in 

 them since IMS or 181!). They wore I", inches in diameter 

 inside, and when raised on hoops of straw in the breeding 

 season their strength became enormous, but they ended by be- 

 coming queenless in 1803 and 1804, and not being able to ob- 

 tain other hives of that pattern I began with Stewartons. 



I now pass on to the fine season of IMC,:,, when my apiary 

 was once more fully established, and had its complement of 

 more than a dozen stocks, somo in common, some in 

 Stewarton, and somo in Woodbury hives. In the autumn of 

 that year I introduced into my apiary two stocks of Ligurians, 

 one from a respectable house in the south, and the other from 

 a gentleman near Manchester. The former arrived safely, the 

 latter had a multitude of bees suffocated during the journey. 

 With nursing they both survived the winter, but I shall leave 

 an account of their doings to a future paper. 



Passing to the spring of the present year, the severe cold 

 weather at the end of April, and on to the middle of May, 

 threw the stocks back, it was therefore the middle of June 

 before the majority became populous, or swarms began to 

 issue, and surplus honey to be gathered. Having several 

 stocks in common straw hives, I permitted them to swarm, 

 and placed them in Woodbury hives ; and here I may state, 

 that whilst the past season has produced nothing extra in com- 

 mon hives, those Bwarras placed in Woodbury hives filled them 

 with combs in one week, and in three weeks some increased to 

 50 lbs. nett. Thus much for tho Woodbury hive. 



With three weeks of fine weather, beginning on the 22nd of 

 June and ending on the 21st of July (with a break of five or 

 six days following the 1st of July), which were very favourable 

 to bees, I have been surprised to find so many stocks queenless 

 this autumn, particularly amongst the cottagers. All these 

 soon became a prey to robbers, so that by the end of Septem- 

 ber the number of stocks in this locality became very much 

 reduced. 



I will now give an account of what has been done by my 

 two best stocks, which are, of course, common bees. 



No. 15. A rather weak stock in two Stewarton-boxes, having 

 passed the winter safely, I see by my notes was rather weak 

 in the middle of May, but by the 15th of June it had become 

 populous, and I then placed a regular-sized super on it, which 

 was at once taken possession of, and work commenced forth- 

 with. A third breeding-box being added in the course of a 

 day or two, and extra fine weather commencing on the 22nd, 

 work proceeded both at top and bottom, until by the 2nd of 

 July the first super was filled, sealed, and taken off, nett 

 weight 20 lbs. Another was at once placed on, which in three 

 weeks contained 31 lbs. nett, making a total of 51 lbs. The 

 three breeding-boxes now weigh 57 lbs. nett. 



No. 2. Another Stewarton, the best queen I ever possessed. 

 She led off a swarm on the 11th of June, 1805, which in my 

 absence was placed in a common straw hive. On the 1st of 

 July this queen again led off a virgin swarm, which was hived 

 in two Stewarton-boxes and stored sufficient honey to live 

 through the winter. One box was completely and the other 

 about half filled, the stock weighing last autumn 38 lbs. gross, 

 and in the spring, on the 20th of March, 20 lbs., and by the 

 27th of April 40 lbs. ; it then decreased, and by the middle of 

 May weighed only 35 lbs., all gross. 



The fecundity of this queen was such that on the 2nd of 

 June the hive was crowded, so I at once placed a third breed- 

 ing-box under and a super over. Work was begun in both 

 simultaneously, and on the 23rd of June, I farced preparations 

 for swarming had commenced, so I added a fouith Ireeding- 

 box, yet in spite of this they swaimed on the 28tb, in m 

 absence, and after a momentary sojourn on a raspberry tree 

 decamped to the woods, and were, of course, lost. The super 

 was now nearly full but not sealed, so I was obliged to leave 

 matters as they were. A second swarm came off on the 5th of 

 July, weight 5 lbs. ; and a third on tho 8tb, we gbing 3 lbs., 

 both °f which are now good fair stocks. The old hive of bfei 

 now finished its super, 22 lbs. licit, mid combed the fourth 

 breediDg-box, which I have removed. 22 lbs. of honey, two and 

 a half breeding-boxes combed, and three swam :-, lea\ing the 



