March 20, 1866. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



233 



the same time some reasons for so doing, instead of declaring 

 all others worthless, a notion so preposterous that it cannot be 

 allowed to go unnoticed, his letter might have passed without 

 comment, and he would not have thus laid himself open to 

 censure. I have closely scrutinised many birds of each sort, 

 and have given my reasons for upholding the white-rumped 

 ones. I have found that the blue-rumped ones are generally 

 ticked with small black spots upon the top portion of the wing- 

 coverts, and as often have amongst those ticks one or two half- 

 black feathers, which look as though a third bar were making 

 its appearance. The latter sort resemble the Blue FantaU in 

 colour, which is always of a more sombre, subdued tone, and 

 lacks that brilliancy which a good Dragon should possess. 



Mr. Percivall makes bad worse by pronouncing the same 

 judgment upon Owls. He has avoided answering the question 

 with regard to Powters. Bunts and Autweps, he tell us, rank 

 so low in the estimation of the fancier, that it is a matter of 

 indifference whether they be white-rumped or not. I beg 

 to state that it is no more a matter of indifference in these 

 classes than in Dragons or Owls, as they have each much to 

 recommend them, and are worthy of more notice than Mr. 

 Percivall is wiUing to allow. 



Mr. Percivall says he is pleased that the Dragons he exhibited 

 at Birmingham claimed my special admiration. This they 

 certainly did ; but it is not consistent in him to value that 

 expression of opinion, when, in the former part of his letter, 

 he says he cannot help thinking I am one of those who do not 

 know what a good Dragon should be. 



The last sentence of his letter needs but little comment from 

 me, as he has admitted the error in matching the Archangels, 

 and tells of his misfortune in losing one just before the Show, 

 leaving him a stock of two odd birds to select his pair from, 

 with no alternative but either to compromise his judgment or 

 leave a vacant pen. He, therefore, chose the least loss of the 

 two, and sent the birds for competition. 



I hope my remarks may have the effect of convincing those 

 interested that Mr. Percivall is wrong, and that he did not 

 properly deliberate upon tho wisdom of allowing to be set in 

 type for pubhc criticism views not rightly matured. — A De.*.- 

 GooN Beeedee. 



COMPARATIVE LONGEVITY OF THE LIGURIAN 

 AND BLACK BEE. 



I HAVE been much interested by the description given by 

 Mr. W. G. Malin, in page 212, of his experience of bee-keeping 

 in the city of Philadelphia, and hope that the communications 

 of that gentleman and Mr. Langstroth may prove the harbingers 

 of a continuous free interchange of ideas through the pages of 

 " our Journal," which cannot but tend to the advantage of 

 apiarians on both sides of the Atlantic. 



It is, therefore, in no captious spirit that I venture tojpoint 

 out an error into which Mr. Maliu has fallen 'with regard to 

 the comparative longevity of the Italian and the common bee, 

 the fact being that there is no appreciable difference in this 

 respect between the two races ; and however solicitous I may 

 be for the good name of the elegant and prolifie variety which 

 I have taken so active a part in introducing and dissemiuatiug 

 in this country, I should he very son-y to permit it for one 

 moment to be supposed that any superiority was claimed for 

 the Ligiirians to which they were not faii'ly entitled. 



Judging from my o^vn experience, I should say that Mr. 

 Malin's mistake has arisen in this way: — After the first 

 Itahau queen had been introduced and favourably received, 

 and had commenced egg-layiug, she was probably deposed and 

 murdered by her new subjects, who then raised a young queen 

 from her brood, which,;beiug impregnated by a common drone, 

 bred a mixed race of black and LigiTrian bees, the latter gra- 

 dually diminishing in numbers as the progeny of the purer 

 Italian queeu died off. From their ultimately remaining in so 

 small a minority as about one in thirty, I should be iuclined 

 to suspect the purity of the original Italian queen, whose 

 hybridised daughter, being fertilised by a common drone, would 

 in that case breed but few Ligurian workers. 



I offer the above as the most probable explanation of the 

 circumstances relatedi by Mr. Malin, because I have known 

 Italian queens, which were apparently at first well received, 

 deposed and slain after they had commenced egg-laying, royal 

 Cells being at once constructed and young queens reared from 

 the lorood left behind by the murdered sovereign ; but whether 

 this be or be not the true explanation, I have ample experience 



to justify me in declaring that there is in reality no distin- 

 guishable difference in the longevity of the Ligurian and the 

 black bee. — A Dbtonshibe Bee-keepeb. 



WOODBURY HIVES. 



In your Journal of May 31, 1804, we are told, "the top, 

 bottom, and sides of each frame should be thi'ee-eighths of an 

 inch from the crown and floor-boards, as well as from the sides 

 of tho box." But if the space above the bars be three-eighths 

 of an inch, the bar itself three-eighths of an inch, inside mea- 

 sure of frame TJ inches, the thickness of the bottom of the 

 ti-ame five-sixteenths of an inch, and the space between the 

 frame and the floor-board be threo-eighths of an inch — total, 

 8l,i- inches — I want to know how and where the remaining five- 

 sixteenths are to be disposed of, " so that these dimensions 

 may be rigidly adhered to." — -Epwd. Faikbeotiieb. 



[The reason of my frames being about a quarter of an inch 

 shallower than nine-inch boxes would admit of is, that the 

 latter are usually made out of nine-inch planks, which will in 

 the first place seldom finish the full 'Width, and generally 

 shrink an eighth of an inch more under a summer's sun, 

 whilst it matters little in practice whether the clear space 

 under the frames be three-eighths or five-eighths of an inch. 

 If you refer to my article you will find that it is the dimensions 

 of the bars only which are required to be " rigidly adhered to," 

 shght variations in other respects being of m in or importance. 

 — A Devonshiee Eee-keepee.] 



THE SEASONABLE TURKEY. 



Bir.D of two meats — the brown and white — 



Which like tho dual Niles unite 



And iu a single body ran. 



Of tints diverse, in sahstance one — 



Hail to thy hosom broad and puffed I 



Plump as a maiden's cotton-stuffed. 



Hail to thy drumsticks, dainties fine, 



That, seiTed as " devils," seem divine, 



(And mind us of had Franldsh men 



Browned to good purpose in Cayenne.) 



Hail to thy side bones ! — rich morceaux — 



And thy ecclesiastic nose, 



"Which to the laws of order hlind, 



Nature has queerly placed behind. 



Yet scoffers vow they fitness see 



In 7(n.sv o/huthop foUowiug thee. 



And hint that ever on a priest 



The ortjan points towards savoiy feast. 



And as the shark astern, at sea 



Trackst he doomed ship, still follows thee ! 



Methinks I see a dish borne in 



O'ercauopied with shinin,^ tin : 



From 'neath that dome a vapour rare 



Cui-ls through the hospital)le au'. 



Presto ! up goes the burnished lid, 



And lo, the bird its concave hid ! 



I see thee, browned from crest to tail. 



Bird of two moats, all hail ! all hail ! 



Through thy rouud breast the keen steel glides, 



Rich juices ii-rigate thy sides — 



" Dressing," to give the slices zest, 



Eolis from thy deep protuberant chest ; 



Then tnuneliug in search of " cates," 



The spoon thy " innards " excavates. 



And forth, as from a darksome mine, 



Bi-ing treasures for -which gods might pine. 



Bird of the Banquet ! what to thee 



Are all tho birds of melody ? 



Thy " merry-thonght " far more I love 



Than merriest music of the grove. 



And in thy " gobble," deep and clear, 



The fioimnand's shibboleth I hear ! 



Of ail earth's dainties there is none 



Like thee, to thank the Lord upon. — { U. S.) 



Pabtriboes an-d Pheasaots. — a hen Partridge is sitting 

 (March 9) at Lulworth, Dorsetshire, on a nest of eggs. She has 

 been sitting more than a week. Silver Pheasants are showing 

 for laying, and there is every indication of their doing so 

 shortly. 



