468 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 11, 1866. 



old hive about 5G lbs. nett, constitute, I think, a fair result for 

 one queen in a season. — J. B., Bracken Hill, Briyg. 

 [We shall be glad to hear again from you. — Eds.] 



TAKING HONEY FROM BAR-HIVES. 



I was very much amused at reading, at page 380, Mr. J. E. 

 Beyton's account of taking honey out of his " bar-frame hive." 

 I can say with truth that he is not the only one who has been 

 in the 1 same difficulty, and some have been so who are not 

 amateurs in bee-keeping. I have several hives made after 

 the style of the Woodbury nine-bar and frame hives, but 

 would not use them at any price again, if I were without them; 

 in fact, I never take honey from them except by bell-glasses. 

 The best hive I now have in use is one made after Huber's 

 book or leaf hive. The frames are held together by two rods 

 from each end of the hive ; between each end room is left for 

 nine frames; which are screwed up, and each end has a glass 

 in it, so that I can see if the combs are full. The top at one 

 end is fastened with hinges, at the other end by a rod from top 

 to bottom, and screws up. The top, when loose, lifts up like 

 the lid of a box. When I take out a frame I loosen this 

 from its neighbour with a knife, after having raised the lid a 

 little, but not so that a bee can escape ; I draw out the frame, 

 and push up the end of the hive to the remaining bees, and 

 you still have a full hive. All my hives are full of combs at 

 the end of the season ; some with six, some with seven, and so 

 on, according to the season or the quantity taken. All who 

 have seen the hives which I use say they are the best for 

 manipulation, with one exception. I shall be glad to show 

 them to any who are within easy distance of — A South Lanca- 

 shire Bee-keeper. 



P.S. — I hope the readers of "our Journal" will not think 

 that I in any way consider Mr. Woodbury's hives are useless — 

 far from it. 



[There can be no doubt that the paraphernalia of bars and 

 frames are worse than useless to a bee-keeper who does not 

 possess, and cannot attain, the amount of courage and skill 

 which would enable him to manipulate them. It is, however, 

 quite too late in the day to question the value of an invention 

 of such proved utility. The proprietor of a lot of frame hives 

 who cannot avail himself of the advantages which they 

 possess, appears to us to be in somewhat the same predicament 

 as the cockney who, setting up for a country gentleman, 

 deemed it the correct thing to keep his stables' full of hunters, 

 not one of which he ever ventured to mount.] 



APIARIAN VARIETIES. 



tinned from page 418). 



The Winter of 1865-fi. — Although the winter of 1864-5 was 

 so destructive, that of 1865-6 has been equally favourable. 

 Scarcely any deaths have taken place within the hives, whilst 

 the bees have consumed but little food. It is natural that 

 during a mild season they need exert themselves but little in 

 order to raise the temperature, but may remain in the quiescent 

 state which they usually assume only during the latter part of 

 autumn. This winter affords us also another remarkable proof 

 of how much the bee-master may contribute to a good and 

 cheap wintering of his stocks by placing them in a suitable 

 locality, and thus withdrawing them from the influence of 

 severe cold. If no destructive second winter follows, and we 

 have but a moderate spring, the bee-master may take fresh 

 courage, and looking forward to the augmentation of his stock, 

 should prepare hives for the reception of numerous swarms. 



Feeding,- — I hold continual feeding to be an abuse. Feeding 

 is an evil that shoidd only be resorted to in the most extreme 

 cases, and even then the insertion of a plate filled with food is 

 a far more convenient and natural mode of supplying it than 

 the repeated substitution of the feeding-trough. But it is said 

 the use of the latter at the commencement of spring will pro- 

 mote early breeding and accelerate swarming. To concede the 

 justice of this assertion is only in accordance with the cus- 

 tomary mode of bee-keeping in straw hives. Those who use 

 straw hives must seek to multiply them, otherwise they can 

 devote none to the brimstone-pit in autumn, and, consequently, 

 can reap nothing; but it is different with depriving hives, 

 where it is of little consequence whether the bees swarin or 



i , 



remain united ; by removing full honey-boxes the bee-keeper 

 may obtain as large, nay, sometimes a larger, honey harvest 

 than by destroying swarms in autumn, at all events he will 

 obtain finer honey ; but if one wishes for an increase of stocks, 

 who would try to force swarms by continued feeding and the 

 expenditure of so much honey during the robbing-time of early 

 spring, when it is doubtful whether it will ever yield a profit, 

 when he can get them so safely and so easily at his own time 

 by artificial means ? 



The Egyptian versus the Italian Bee. — I have received so 

 many letters from persons who imagine that I have already 

 obtained the Egyptian bee, that in order to prevent similar 

 inquiries, I wish to state that, interesting as are the observations 

 which Herr Vogel has already made with regard to this bee, I 

 have taken no steps whatever to establish it in my apiary, 

 inasmuch as one cannot keep two races perfectly pure in the 

 same place ; but I am so firmly convinced that the Italian 

 bee is the queen of all races, that she is the ne plus ultra 

 in beauty, good nature, industry, and ability to defend herself, 

 that for this reason I would exchange her for no other. That 

 she may be maintained thriving and pure in our climate is 

 manifested by thirteen years' experience, during which she has 

 been improved by careful breeding. This was proved at tho 

 last exhibition at Briinn, where of the four queens brought 

 from Italy none were equal in beauty to the one found in the 

 hive exhibited by me. — Dzierzon. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Breeding from Related Fowl8 (Brahma). — Breeding from related 

 fowls, or " breeding in-and-in," as it is termed, usually causes the chickens 

 to be smaller and weaker than their parents. 



Farnworth Poultry Show. — " I beg to state that I have not received 

 my prize money nor silver medal. I have written twice, and have us y- I 

 had no reply, t also won a silver cup, but as I went to the Show I brought 

 vithme.— John Crosland, jun., Wakefield." Mr, James Jackson, 

 of Garden Street, Bury, Lancashire, also states that he has not yet 

 received his cups. 



United Toes ( ).— Two toes being joined together on the tooi 



a fowl is a disadvantage, but not a disqualification. It is not iniportan . 

 for breeding-purposes. In an exhibition it is better that the fourth and 

 fifth toes should be well defined and separate. We have answered fi 

 Dorkings. It in any other breed that should have but four toes there is 

 a fifth, it is a disqualification. 



Cramming (Mrs. K.).— Cramming should never last more than a fort 

 night, after that the food is wasted. The bird makes fnt and los< 

 Shut the birds up now in an outhouse or a large pig-stye which i 

 enough to allow them to roost. Feed them in a pig-troush three time a 

 per day, giving each time as much as they eat up clean. Oatmeal mixed 

 with milk ; a little pea or beanmeal will do good every other day. The 

 trough must be quite clean before fresh food is put in. If you attend to 

 this cramming is unnecessary. 



Brighton Poultry Show (Fair Play). — Slight apparent discrepancies 

 will always occur; but the Judges have to make their awards on the total 

 amount of merit possessed by one pen as compared with the total 

 merit of other, and a deficiency in one point may be outweighed by 

 great ex ell nee in other points. 



Incubator (H. G. E.).~ You must refer to the advertisements or write 

 to the maters for prices, &c. Eggs for sitting should not be older than a 

 fortnight. We do not understand your other question. 



Book (T. 7».).— As you require information relative to manures, cows 

 and cattle, you must procure a book on farming, for there is no puhli 

 cation on those three departments only. Mr. Morton and Mr. Steph ns 

 have each published on general farming, but their books are expensive. 



Management op Bees [A. B.). — 1, We do not feed bees placed in 

 nucleus-boxes unless their stores run short. 2, In strengthening a 

 nucleus by adding hrood comb, all the bees should be swept off, unless the- 

 comb bo taken from the same stock as that employed in the formation of 

 the little colony, and within a few days of its establishment. 3, We be- 

 lieve a queen cannot pass through an aperture about one-fifth of an inch 

 wide. 4, Success in adding a Ligurian queen to a stock of common bee ■.-. 

 is always more or less uncertain ; but it is said that if a stock of black 

 bees be fumigated, and their own queen removed, all that is necessary to 

 insure success is to bury the Italian queen in the heap of stupefi 

 when they are beginning to recover, and leave them to ascend togetfa 

 amongst the combs. 5, Much information may be derived fron 

 Langstroth's work, as well as from M. Hermann's little pamphlet on the 

 Italian Alp bee, but we know of no book specially devoted to the subject 

 of queen-breeding. 



POULTRY MARKET.— December 18. 



We have larjre supplies and a very dull trade. There is hardly sale at 

 any price for inferior goods. 



