282 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



C April 10, 186). 



given up in despair, thinking there is no remedy. I am, bow- 

 ever, confident that the disease may be cured, unless indeed the 

 bees are so far prostrated as to be unable to take the food given 

 them ; and if any practical bee-master, whoso bees may be 

 afflicted with it. will send to the under-mentioned address I will 

 forward him the remedy gratis.— (1. Thurlow, Buckland, Dover. 



FEEDING AND SHIFTING BEES. 



The following is a description of the mode in which I feed 

 my bees. It is, in my opinion, tlie best plan I have ever 

 heard of, but whether it is new or old I cunnot say. I make 

 my floorboard 1\ inch thick, and then cut out a piece 3 inches 

 wide from the back to the centre. A sheet of tin is tacked 

 under the opening for the drawer to slide on; the drawer is 

 made of deal to fit the vacant space cut in the floorboard, but 

 must not fit too tightly, as the svrup makes it swell. The 

 drawer is of the same thickness as the floorboard, with three 

 grooves cut in it 1 inch deep and half an inch wide, the parti- 

 tions between the grooves serving for the bees to stand on 

 whilst taking their food. The way in which I move my bees a 

 short distance, say 15 or 20 yards", is by shifting stand and all 

 1 or 2 yards each day until I bring them to the place where I 

 want them. — A Bucks Bek-keei-er. 



[We prefer feeding bees at the top of the hive.] 



COMI'AllATIVE LONGEVITY OF THE 

 LIGURIAN AND BLACK BEE. 



A NOTE of my experience as to the comparative longevity of 

 Ligin-ian and black bees may not be without interest at this 

 time. In May, last year, I made several artificial swarms, 

 ^eing desirous of increasing the Ligurian strength of my 

 apiary. This I accomplished by two or three modes, all being 

 eqnally successful and substantially the same in principle. 

 One of these artificial swarms was formed by transposing im 

 empty Woodbury hive, containing three frames of Ligurian 

 comb and brood, with a strong stock of black bees. Of course 

 I expected the bees would raise from the brood a queen, which 

 would be a hybrid or, possibly, pure, as I have one stock formed 

 thus which has produced a perfectly pure queen. On examin- 

 ing the box a short time afterwards I found that the old black 

 queen had escaped into or had joined the new swarm, but it 

 was not convenient for me to do anything more with it, so it 

 stood as it was. The Ligurian brood hatched from the frames 

 duly made its appearance, and some of these bees have con- 

 tinued until the present time. Many of them were visible 

 during the mild weather in January-, but they now seem to have 

 reached the limit of their existence, as only a few stragt^lere, 

 very feeble and attenuated by age, remain. This would give 

 an average age of about eipht months, which is double the age 

 that I have ever seen black bees attain by a similar teet, 

 which I have frequently had occasion to witness. 



I am glad to say that the year opens very favourably, in an 

 apiarian sense, with me. Last season I managed, from four 

 stocks — one pure Ligurian, one hybrid, one black stock, and 

 one black stock too weak to aid operations in any way, to ob- 

 tain in all four absolutely pure Ligurian, six hybrid of various 

 degrees, and four black stocks. Of these, one hybrid perished 

 from a casualty last week, another I have given to a friend, 

 and tlie rest remain healthy and strong, and hard at work, 

 whenever weather permits, I have no doubt that I might have 

 considerably increased the Ligurian element last season, but 

 various circumstances prevented my being able to devote so 

 much time to them as I could have wished. I hope this year 

 to have twelve pure Ligurian hives in my apiary, and then I 

 shall rest contented. 



I first saw pollen-gathering in the second week of January 

 this year. The cold weather of course suspended it, but it is 

 now (March 23rd^ general on fine days. On February 18th, I 

 noticed several chrysalides or pupnp turned out of two hives, 

 evidencing that breeding had commenced in them at an abnor- 

 mally early period.— G. F. B., Spalding. 



CiiicKKMH Dying i.V.jricr).— We nhnaU attributo mnch of your w»nl of 

 HUccesR In renriDi? to the use of Indian monl. It in rlovIni{ and tutten- 

 inf^, but deficient in the necessary pruporties for mnkinttltuuunnd muscle. 

 \Vc think it very bad chicken fo«)d. Your mod*' of foedln^' a vcrr bad; 

 the chickcDH get their innuth<4 fall of your pntitte and r;\nnut Rot rid of it. 

 Tbrn they try to pick up »iand or frrit as a diu*"4t**r. and that slicks, and 

 makoK the hard ftubstanre in the bi>iik. Take away the fowl. Let them 

 Ix* fed often with chopped etr^ri, brend and milk, oatmeal flaked with 

 milk, scraps of fat chopped fine, and a littlo bread and alo. some ploces 

 of potato for a chau(;e : but it in Itad food. If the ken U In a confined 

 mora or house move her out, but keep her under tho coop. Recollect, 

 chitkeni want to be fed very often, and to pick up mor?*eU at a time, and 

 it in well for them to have to seek them. It is ak"^inst nntur<' for them to 

 take a mouthful, and if the f<iod is sticky they c innut t^ot rid of it. For 

 thiH reason the hen muKt nl.«o be dry-foJ. Yonr pa'<te ha-^ been the caunc 

 fif nil your failures. Evm the meal you mix Khould be dry en'^URh to 

 break and scatter when it i» thruwn down. If you will iidopt this plan 

 you will save your chickcnH ; but you must free their mouths from &1I 

 the stuff that ha^ stuck to them. 



yoLKLEss Eoo8 (C. B.)— It IS DO morc than a doranKcmont of the lay* 

 jnc organs, and will not continue. A dose of castor oil will often cure It. 

 If the hens are debarred from creeii food cutthein some larRe nods of (?tow- 

 inf? (H'Ass, at the present time of year a mo«it valuable poultry food and 

 medicine. 



Tact, of SPANisn Cock (.9(our6ridj;r\— Spanish cocks are oftentimes 

 inconTenionced by the excessive development of their beauties, as In 

 tins instance; hut althoutfh the eve iniy he invisible, it is swldom entirely 

 closed. There is only one wav of kcepinR the eyos nnclosed, which is by 

 strapping hack the overlnppinjj li<U with narrow strips of some adhealve 

 plaster. We have had miiny years* experience of Spanish, and have never 

 found this operation necessary. 



Shell-less Er.c.s iX. Y. Z.). — DiRcontinue foedini; on flesh; vou will 

 ncTor have really healtliv fowls while you feed on meat. Instead of 

 chalk throw down some bricklayer's rubbish. Give them, if they are in 

 confinement, some pruwinR Rrass cut in heavy sods with plenty of fresh 

 earth to them. Eatink' the egus is far more seriou-* than lavin-^ soft ones. 

 Put some hard compo^itinn ejjtrs in their nest. The soft cri^s and the 

 desire to eat them would imply temporary want of health and deranee* 

 mcnt of secretions ; but as the epa;s are shell-less, and as the first desire 

 to eat them is undoubtedly from a desire to obtain that which will make 

 shell, we cannot help thlnkinfi that they do not possess mat«'rial for forra- 

 iuR it. Road grit or scrapings are excellent for poiiltrj'-houses and runs. 

 Call Dress with Rouen Docks (H. A. F.).—\\'o think, except in ex- 

 traordinary cases. Call Ducks and Rouens may be kept in the same 

 yard without fearof intermixture. Theycannot be kept with Wild Ducks 

 or any of the smaller breeds. 



TtTRUEYs (A. R.).— The Norfolk and the Cambridge are the best breeds 

 for the table. Eggs are constantly advertised in our columns. 



Game Cock with Blinded Eve (F. TV. J.).— The accidental loss of an 

 rye, for instance, if it has I».;en cut out fighting, is not a disqualification, 

 not even a disadvantage ; but a sightless eye is a disquilification. We 

 mean an eye presenting its full volume, but dull and grey- coloured. 



Creole an'd Cdckoo Fowls {J. R.).— It is easy to buy Cuckoo fowls ; 

 but we do not know where there are any Cuckoo Creoles. 



Variocs <A Beginner). — For Brahma Pootras you mnst write to some 

 one who adrerttses them in our columns, stating what is your object. 

 Feeding in troughs or not is merely a matter of opinion. We always use 

 troughs, as being less liable to waste. Wo have no objection to giving 

 rain water to fowls if it is quite sweet and fresh. If taken from a water 

 cask it seldom is sweet, and if not sweet it is objectionable. 



Improved Frame Hives. — *' Sidert-in-the-Wold " writes to correct 

 an error in the punctuation of the last paragraph in p«ge 265, which 

 should read as follows : — " The size of my boxc-* is also different from any 

 other that I know of, being always of the sume depth— viz., 10 inches, hut, 

 of course. Tarring in width, as constructed to contain frtmi four to ten 

 frames; as the locality in which I reside is by no means favourable for 

 1 bee-keeping (the woldi of eist Kent being about the same in character 

 as the wolds in other parts of the kin,'dom— viz., high, windy, and open), 

 my boxes are usually made with eight frames." 



TRorr (L. .7". B.). — .\s your stream flows freely there i'^ no fear that the 

 trout will not be supplied with food. Thoy feed on flies, gnats, grubs, 

 FmoU water molluscs, and these are supplied abundantly naturally. If 

 you place any dead animal body in the water, it will attract insecta, and, 

 the gentles bred in it would not be neglected by the fish. 



QcERT ( H'. W. Burton-on-Treni). —Yon had hotter write to the secretary 

 of the club. 



Zrsc m A Chcrn {O. B.I.— If kept perfectly bright inside no injury 

 would arise ; but if it became oxidised (which in the angles of a barrel 

 rhnm it would), the orid of the creim would dissolve some, forming a 

 lactate of zinc, the medical properties of which we do not know. There 

 is no material for a chum so eligible as wood. 



TiTUiCF. {A Subtcribtr). — You must either shoot these bee-vampires or 

 trap them. A common steel trap of the size u^ed for catching mice, and 

 baited with a bit of suet, will entrap them. There is another trap made 

 by bending a hazel rod, a loop of string, and a i>cg baited at one end with 

 suet, which also secures them. It can scarcely lie made intelligible 

 without a drawing, bat most bojs know how to construct it. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



SjLVEn-GREY Dorkings (Katf).~Acock with the feathers you enclosed 

 cannot be a Silver-Grey Dorking. 



POULTRY MARKET.— Apuii, '.). 



We shall have little chanue to note for the next few weeks. Prices will 

 probably remain good, with little variation, until the advancing season 

 increases the supply uf poultr}*. 



s. d. 



Large Fowls S 



Smaller do S 



Chickens 2 



Geese 



GasUngs 6 



Ducklings 3 



Guinea p'owls 2 



Pari ridged 



Hares 



Rabbit* 1 



Wild do 



Pigeons 



