JOURNAL OP HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ Juiiuz; S3, IddC 



menced comb-bnilding, or required the occominodation of these 

 frames, they had, in almost every instance, constructed very 

 large combs, which were pendent from the top boards. These, 

 though full of eggs or honey, it was necessary to remove in 

 order to put on the adapters for snpering the hives. Few of 

 them could be made available in the same hives, coneequently 

 the bees suffered a considerable loss of time and resources. I 

 now discovered that the super accommodation ought, in most 

 cases, to have been suppUed a week or ten days previously. I 

 have good reason for believing that this mistake cost me some 

 hundreds of pounds of honey. Nevertheless, such was the ex- 

 cellence of the honey harvest that suddenly took the place of 

 great scarcity, that supers, when put on, were immediately 

 taken possession of, and comb-building progressed with mar- 

 vellous rapidity. In some of the hives an injurious effect had 

 accrued from the delay in affording additional room. Honey 

 being so abimdant the bees stored it in even,' available cell, 

 trenching upon the space required for the brood ; consequently 

 the queens were, to a considerable extent, restricted in their 

 deposition of eggs. This evil was, however, in some degree 

 remedied ; after additional accommodation had been afforded 

 the honey was removed, and was probably made available in 

 the secretion of wax. I trust that the experience thus gained 

 will not be thrown away upon me, and that in future all supers 

 may be in their proper places rather before they are really 

 required than after. 



I purpose giving an outUne of the general results of my 

 apiarian operations for the season, but as this paper has al- 

 ready extended to a considerable length, I must defer its con- 

 tinuation imtil another week. — S. Bevan Fox, Exeter. 



larger than a queen bee ; and when they did at last get liberty 

 to go out of their hives, being unable to fly, they would fall 

 oyer the edge of the stool, and creep on the ground till they 

 died in great numbers, so that scarce one of a dozen of them 

 ever recovered." J'Ule also page 106, 107, and 108.— R. S. 



;It is certainly possible that " R. S." may be right, and thai 

 the disease which, in page .534, I hypothetically denominated 

 " dropsy " may be merely the last stage of dysentery. As my 

 only object is to elicit the truth, and add, if possible, to oar 

 store of apiarian knowledge, I have to thank him for his con- 

 tribution, and would invite others who have had experience of 

 the diseases of bees to follow his good example. I do not 

 claim for our Devonshire bees entire immunity from dysentery, 

 but I do think they suffer less from it than bees kept further 

 north. The question I am desirous of submitting t) the 

 apiarian readers of "our Journal" is, whether the disease 

 which I have described under the name of " dropsy," which, 

 be it remembered, attacks queens as well as workers, and 

 which the finest summer fails even to mitigate, is identical 

 with that which we have so long known under the name ol 

 " dysentci-j '.' " — A Devonshire BEE-KEErEi:.] 



DRmXG BEES. 



DROPSY IN BEES. 



The " Devonshire Bee-keeper " is a high authority on 

 all apiarian subjects, and I have the utmost respect for his 

 opinions, but he will excuse me for thinking he has fallen into 

 a mistake in characterising as dropsy the disease which he has 

 described at page .5.34 of the last Volume of the Journal. To 

 me, the complaint with which his bees were afflicted in 1861 

 appears to have been just dysentery in an aggravated form, or, 

 rather, dysentery in its second and subseqiient stages. 



In the mild climate of Devonshire, where pollen can be 

 gathered on Christmas-day, the period during which bees are 

 confined to their hives is comparatively short, and, conse- 

 quently, the malady with which we apiarians in the north are 

 frequently visited seldom makes its appearance in the sunny 

 south ; but even there the winters are occasionally cold — the 

 thermometer in January 1861 having registered as low as 7° on 

 the surface of the ground, and 12' at a height of 4 feet above it. 

 The seasons, too, I have no doubt, sometimes prove wet, and 

 if continued moisture prevent bees that would otherwise be 

 active from leaving their homes for a considerable length of 

 time, the consequences must necessarily be pernicious. Re- 

 tention of the fa?ces beyond comfortable endurance not only 

 induces dysentery, but, by vitiating the humours of the sys- 

 tem, generate other evils, which manifest themselves in the 

 watery plethora described by Mr. Woodbury. The collection 

 of water, though not confined to them, is yet most abimdant in 

 the colon and receptacle for the fieces, and is discharged in 

 the same way as other evacuations. 



It was only last winter that circumstances led me to put one 

 of my hives into an unusual state of activity, whereby a con- 

 siderable consumption of food was the result. The weather 

 for two months aftenvards proved wet, cold, and stormy, possi- 

 tively forbidding the bees to leave their dwellings ; of those 

 that ventured out only a few were able to return. The result, 

 as might have been anticipated, was disastrous, for the whole 

 colony, amounting to 4000, being tried beyond endurance, suc- 

 cumbed to the cold. Unable to take additional food into their 

 stomachs, they could no longer keep up the necessary warmth, 

 and every bee, not excepting the queen, was swollen to a great 

 extent. I tore up many of the most enlarged, and found them 

 charged with dark fcetid fieces or a semi-transparent acrid fluid. 

 The identical disease, I imagine, is referred to by Bonner in 

 his "Treatise on the Natural History and Management of 

 Bees." At page 102 he says " Suffice it, therefore, to observe 

 in general that long confinement is prejudicial to the bees, and 

 that, as they do eat a little during their confinement, it is ne- 

 cessary they should get out to void their ordure. For I have 

 seen feces in some hives that have been long confined swelled 

 to such a size for want cX such opportunities, that they seemed 



In The Journal of Horticcltube, No. 248, 1 find the sabjeet 

 of driving bees through the bars referred to. I hare driven 

 them both ways ; but if " J. A." is not accustomed to driving 

 I would say. Invert the hive, as the fact of turning the hive 

 seems to set the bees in motion, and they run about an if to 

 find out what is the matter, then a few minutes' driving gene- 

 rally puts all right. On the other hand, by lifting off the crown- 

 board and dri^•ing they are very slow in leaving the hive, mn- 

 ning over the bars and down again several times, and a great 

 many make for the usual opening of the hive. If "J. A." 

 take off the crown-board quietly and look verj- closely between 

 the combs he may catch sight of the queen, if so, let him take 

 a strong feather and lift her into the empty hive, carefully 

 watching that .she do not go back again ; then a few raps onder 

 the hive and he will find the bees leaving very fast. I onee 

 succeeded in this way in taking the bees from a glass 'hive that 

 I was most about. My experience of driving has been with 

 wood, straw, and glass hives ; but I always take advantage of 

 a fine, hot day, and I have only attempted the operation in Oie 

 autumn. — TiiTEraEY Bee-keeper. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Buckwheat (G. R. .S.).— It is not each f*ood food for poultry asljfulcy. 

 and bruised oats nre better than cither for them. 



Internal Ulcehation (ir. JJ. P.). — The symtoms yon particnlariec 

 indicate intomnl ulceriitirn. We cannot give you a better replv than Uw 

 followiup ixtract from " The Poultry Keepers' Mannal," wliich we have 

 just published: — '* Ulcehation of Liver or Intestines. — If a fowl 

 mopes, with its nock drawn within its shoulders, droops its wintrs, twir 

 pallid comb, wastes, and finally diarrhtea sets in— the probability is that 

 it has ulcers in its liver, or intestines, or in both. There is little or no 

 hope of sax-ing a fowl thus diseased. Bread soaked in ale should be lt« 

 chief food, but we know of no medicine that is beneficial." 



Barb Pigeons at the Aberdeen Show {J. R. R.). — We have reoeiTBi 

 your comphtint, and have made inquiries, and cannot discern that jam 

 have any ground for coniplaininp apain?t the Committee. They haveno 

 right to interfere with the Judge's decisions unless fraud of some khul 

 has been practised. The Powtcr cock yuu have received and is not >^<Hir 

 own, we advise you to keep until either the Committee or this notice 

 brings an owner for it. Any delay in answering your letter, we are in- 

 formed, was occasioned by the Secretarj's absence. 



Excrescence on Cochin Cock's Comb {Subscribfr). — If only n wart. 

 and an accidental excrescence on the comb of your Cochin cock, we do 

 not consider it a dist^ualification; but, if it be a sprig growing on the siilc 

 of it, it is a grnve <li-^iidvantage. It is by no means uncommon, and it is 

 generally cnt oiT \vhrn the birds are y'oimg. A light Buff hen doee not 

 match with a Cinnamon cock. Cinnamons have not been cncooragod of 

 late, nor do they stem to be understood as they were formerly. There 

 are dark and Silver Cinnamons. 



Spanish Cock Unwell {Spanhh Cock). — Yonr bird, with copious dis- 

 charge from his mouth, is suffering from severe cold. In any other breerf 

 it would end in roup, bat Spanish arc not subject to it. He oiast br 

 l»urgcd with castor oil, a table- spoonful every other day, and fed on bread 

 steeped in iile. Ht- will soon be well, and you may breed from him safeVy. 



Floor ok Povltrv-hocse t-Vemo). — We have found road-grit the lt*«t 

 bottom for fowl^■ pens. It is light and soon dries after rain. Batf<jr 

 this, we hardly know what we should have done during the long wd 

 weather. It is composed of scrapings and the triumiings of the sides. 

 We pay 4<i. per one-horse cartload. It is mixed up with gra.ss t»n4 J* 

 is wonderful to see how the fowls dehght in it. 



Book {Efiorncnm). — We cannot tell what a publication will he. The 

 editor is not a iSrst-rnte authority. 



Mot'LDV Combs ( It". W. W.). — The few remaining bees having been ex- 

 pelled and united to another stock, the mouldy combs should bp put in a 

 dr.- place uud kept there until wanted fir use. Much of the mildew mjty 

 then be removed by lightly bnishing their surfaces with a soft brusli, aii*I 

 the bees themselves may i>e safely trusted to deal with the reuiaiiMiei'. 



