March IS, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICtrLTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDBNEB. 



211 



years pre-vionsly, Mr. Noble, before I threw down the gauntlet 

 and became an" exhibitor, and my first essay was in a class of 

 upwards of forty pens, and I came off with success, which duly 

 gratified me for my past exertions, and stimulated me to in- 

 crease my care of these little pets, which I, with " Wiltbhike 

 Rectob," and scores more, say are easy to breed, but still all 

 feel soiTy we cannot have the best. — Jno. D.Newsome. 



STEALING FOWLS AT EXHIBITIONS. 



Charles Listeb, of Mirfield, a man respectably connected, 

 was committed on the 5th inst., by the sitting magistrates at 

 Dewsbury, to the House of Correction, for stealing a Black 

 Bantam cock, the property of Mr. Matthew Eidgway, of that 

 town. 



On the 26th of December last there was a poultry show at 

 Heckmondwike, and Mr. Eidgway, through a man of his named 

 Williamson, was an exhibitor. He took the second prize for 

 Bantams in one of the classes with this bird, and after the 

 show was over Williamson placed it in a room in the inn where 

 the exhibition was held, intending to remove it when he was 

 ready for going home. In a short time he went to look for the 

 Bantam, but it was gone, and, though a strict search was made 

 (the prisoner assisting), nothing was heard of it until a few 

 days ago, when, by a little stratagem, it was traced to the 

 prisoner's possession by Police Sergeant Lee, and it was ascer- 

 tained that he had sent it to Hull to a dealer there, on approval, 

 the price he set on the bird being £5. Witnesses were called 

 who identified the Bantam produced by the police sergeant as 

 the one stolen, and it was valued at the sum asked for it by the 

 prisoner. Lister, when before the Bench, pleaded guilty. He 

 said he took the bird more for fun than anything else, not 

 being sober at the time ; that he was afraid to return it ; and 

 that had he disposed of it to the Hull dealer for the sum he 

 asked he should have sent the money in an anonymous letter 

 to Mr. Eidgway. Another case of fowl stealing came before 

 the Bench — indeed, there were three instances where theft 

 was proved. The delinquent was James Kuddlesden, and it 

 was deposed that he had robbed hen-roosts at Earlsheaton. 

 The prisoner was committed for trial to the sessions. — (Leeds 

 Mercury.) 



[We rejoice that one villain has been caught ; and his pub- 

 lished conviction, like a gibbeted felon, we hope wiU serve as a 

 warning to other thieves " respect ly connected." The gentle- 

 man who sent us the above repo. . adds — " Mr. Eidgway has 

 done well in trying to put a stop to fowl-stealing and muti- 

 lation, which are now so common at poultry exhibitions. Ibelieve 

 Mr. Eidgway would not have pressed the case, but it was not 

 the first offence. The presiding magistrate, Mr. Greenwood, 

 sentenced Lister to three months imprisonment with hard 

 labour."] 



CITY BEE-KEEPING IN AMERICA. 



Probably some of your readers ruLiy be interested in the ex- 

 perience of a city bee-keeper. If ji.u think so I will, with your 

 permission, introduce them to the apiary of an amateur in the 

 City of Philadelphia. 



Pastcbe. — First let me describe the situation. For city 

 bees mine are favourably placed, having around them more 

 than an acre devoted to trees, shrubbery, and grass ; besides 

 which, many of our neighbours have small yards planted with 

 shrubs aud flowers ; but the closely-built city extemls in all 

 directions around us. To the eastward, at the distance of three- 

 quarters of a mile, flows the river Delaware, which has about 

 that breadth. To our west is the Schuylkill, a much narrower 

 stream, but at a greater distance : so that in either of these 

 directions bees must fly more than a mile and a half before 

 reaching partially open country. Southward, a flight of a milo 

 and a quarter takes them to commons and vegetable gardens. 

 To look northward is hopeless ; more than three miles of brick 

 and mortar might well drshearten any bee. 



One advantage my bees have over those in England is a 

 generally clear atmosphere, our common fuel being anthracite 

 coal, which burns without smoke. 



LiouEiAN Bees. — One of my colonies, occup)-ing the double- 

 storey Langstroth-hive, figured in that gentleman's book as a 

 '* moveable comb-hive with full glass arrangement," was 

 Ligurianised in the autumn of 1863. The following year was 

 not a very good one for honey, and I did not obtain much from 

 any of my hives. This stock would probably, however, have 



done better than it did, had I not neglected to furnish supers 

 until aU the available space below was so filled that there was 

 scarcely room for the bees to pass up to them. The result was 

 quite a moderate yield— not more than about 25 lbs. in the 

 supers. I did not then remove any honey from the main hive, 

 as I wished to leave an ample supply for the winter. 



In April, 1865, this hive was examined by an expert, who 

 assured me it had so much honey that there was insufficient 

 room for brood. I therefore had three frames removed, with 

 honey weighing about 20 lbs. Some weeks afterwards I took 

 out yet another frame of honey and brood to replace a drone- 

 breeding queen in another hive, an operation which proved 

 successful. 



The bees then entered upon their summer's work, to facilitate 

 which, and to avoid the error of the preceding year, I took a 

 super of the same dimensions as the hive proper, furnished 

 with a full set of frames, and, first removing the crown or 

 honey board, placed this super directly upon the hive. The 

 bees entirely filled it with fine honey, which I removed on the 

 6th of October, and found to weigh 83 lbs. nett. I also took, a 

 few days later, combs weighing 15 lbs. from the main hive, 

 leaving still an ample store for the winter. In addition to these 

 98 lbs., I had taken, as before stated, at least 25 lbs. from the 

 same hive in the i spring, most of which, however, was gathered 

 in the previous year. Still this stock of Italian bees has yielded 

 me this season upwards of 100 lbs. of honey ; while black bees, 

 having the same range, have never given me much more than 

 half the quantity. 



The industry of the Ligurians is very remarkable. As an 

 example of it, I may state that the three frames from which 

 honey was taken having been returned to the hive, the bees, 

 although so late in the season, at once set to work to repair 

 damages, and have actually filled up two-thirds of these frames 

 with new comb, aud even deposited honey in a portion of it. 



Supers and Collateral Boxes. — So far all my experience 

 has tended one way, and that in favour of ample supers. The 

 smaller and more numerous the supers, whether tumbler, bell- 

 glass, or box, the less has been the surplus honey ; and my success 

 has been least of all when trying to induce bees to travel late- 

 rally. I believe it to be about as unnatural for bees to work ia 

 collateral boxes as for hot air from a furnace to travel horizon- 

 tally. You may force either, but it is not economical to do so. 

 Mr. Langstroth tells me that I erred in removing the crown 

 or honey board before placingi the super, as it rendered the 

 deposit of brood in the upper box more probable. He recom- 

 mends leaving this division of the hive, but with ample cuts in 

 it for the passage of the workers. He also advises simple bars, 

 instead of frames, for these large supers ; coinciding in this, I 

 beheve, with your " Devonshiee Bee-keeper." 



Wintering Bees. — Our winter cUmate is a very variable one. 

 A difference of 20° or more Fahrenheit in as many hours is by 

 no means unusual, nor unaccompanied by corresponding hygro- 

 metric changes. In this chmate my hives, wooden boxes of 

 Langstroth's design, have been freely exposed, without the least 

 protection. For winter ventilation I have merely removed 

 the supers, leaving the passages in the crown board uncovered, 

 giving both the air and the bees free access to the upper part 

 of the hive, aud have found this a sufficient winter ventilation. 

 I have, however, this season, at the recommendation of Mr. 

 Langstroth, removed the crown-boards from the hives, and placed 

 pieces of old blanket directly upon the frames. This I think 

 will improve the ventilation, dryness, and general condition of 

 the hives, although I do not think that my bees have ever 

 seriously suffered from dampness, while numbers have occasion- 

 ally perished from the low temperatm-e upon the outer combs, 

 when no winter passage has been left or made through these. 

 This passage should always be made in the autumn. It is 

 easily done by passing the blade of a knife vertically through 

 the middle of the comb on each frame. If this is done late in 

 the season the mutilated cells will be cleared away by the bees 

 but not rebuilt, and they wiU then have the means of rapidly 

 retreating to the central part of the hive ; while without this 

 passage they might be chilled and die upon the outer combs, 



Comparative Lonoevity of the Ligurian and Black Bee. — . 

 On the 7th of June, 1862, I introduced a Ligurian queen into a 

 strong colony of black bees. She was courteously received, and 

 laid some eggs, but afterwards was probably killed by a rival 

 raised from the larva of her predecessor ; as your old acquaint- 

 tance Mr. H. C. Hermann, author of " The Italian Alp Bee," 

 examined the hive about a month after her introduction, and 

 assured me she was missing. 

 I observe that Mr. Neighbour, in his late book, reports the 



