412 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIGULTUBH AND COTTAGK GARDENER. 



[ Uay 29. 1886. 



Oomb as fast as it is bnilt, so that my queens may become im- 

 pregnated only by LiRiirian drones ; and now I have no drones 

 at all. My English bees are brfledinp fast, but the Italians 

 seem to bo at a staud-stiil. If my Ligurian mother has gone 

 off with a swarm, or met with her death, may I expect to keep 

 my Ligurians pure under the present circumstances? or, in 

 other words, will the young queens to which I have alluded 

 commence and continue drone-breeding until they become im- 

 pregnated by their own progeny ? or would it be better for me 

 to purchase another swarm or stock containing a good supply 

 of drones ?— A. E., Birmingham. 



[Swarms rarely, if ever, issue before the appearance of 

 drones ; but in your ease the question does not arise, there 

 appearing, unfortunately, no doubt whatever that the Italian 

 queen is actually defunct, and the stock must, therefore, con- 

 tinue to retrograde until the young queen becomes capable of 

 recruiting the waning population. Notwithstanding the paucity 

 of drones in your own apiary, we beUcve j-our young queens 

 will succeed in their wetkUng" flights. They cannot under the 

 oircnmstances fail of being hybridised, as it is certain that 

 they cannot be fertilised by their own male progeny. We do 

 not see that you can do better than obtain another stock with 

 which, under the circumstances, we doubt not Mr. Woodbury 

 will willingly supply you at a moderate expense.] 



BEES WINTERED IN THE UNICOMB HIVE. 



I DEEM it worth mentioning, that I have managed for the 

 first time to presen-e a unicomb hive alive through winter and 

 spring. In former years my observatory hives were always 

 visited with dysentery in winter, and died out before the middle 

 of March. To preserve the requisite degree of heat in such 

 hives, the bees must draw very largely upon their stores ; and 

 if confined by reason of cold only ten days or a fortnight, 

 their bodies become surcharged, and death or dysentery follows. 



About the end of December last, the unicomb I speak of had 

 dwindled down, through dysentery, to the merest handful of 

 bees, and I had no expectation of preserving any bees alive in 

 it tin the middle or end of January. It occurred to me, how- 

 ever, that it might answer a good end wore I to line the interior 

 of the glass with paper to within 3 inche.^ of the top. I did 

 so, and augured well of the process, from seeing the excellent 

 article of Mr. Langstroth on the employment of wooUen cloth 

 as a covering for wooden hives in winter. As soon as the 

 paper was fouled by discharges, I renewed it. The bees lived 

 and were healthy, and on the 22nd of March the queen com- 

 menced egg-biying. Unfortunately not an egg has been 

 hatched to Ufe, owing to the very small number of bees, and 

 the hitherto ungenial season ; but on the 8th of May the 

 queen and her daily diminishing retinue were alive and vigor- 

 ous, and, as the experiment succeeded in most hopeless circum- 

 Btances, I have since joined the few surviving bees to another 

 hive. 



In the course of my experiments some interesting facts in 

 connection with dysentery were evolved. For instance : a high 

 wind blowing in at the mouth of the hive invariably brought 

 on an attack, causing as it did the consumption of food to bo 

 doubled. Several times the bees approximated the description 

 given by Mr. Woodbury of the complaint -which he hypotheti- 

 cally termed dropsy. At the close of a gale many of them were 

 greatly swollen, and emitted a fluid nearly transparent. 



The advantage arising from the paper Uning consisted in 

 the facihtyof ascent which it afforded to the bees seelung 

 egress in vain. A bee labouring under retention of the fieoes 

 has very great difliculty in ascending the cold glass, and often 

 perishes in the effort. This accounts for so many in a dying 

 State being found at the bottom of a nnicomb glass hive after a 

 cold night. From what came under my observation, I have 

 little doubt that a paper Uning would prove a benefit to box 

 hives in presenting them from internal moisture, but as yet I 

 have only partially tested it. 



Contrary to expectation, I have two hives in boxes made of 

 half-inch wood, which have wintered uncommonly well. They 

 were unprotected in any way, and one of them contained only 

 six frames. Though not intended for the purpose, they are at 

 this moment good stock hives. Frequently in March, at 9 a.m., 

 the thermometer indicated 14° of frost, but it did not seem to 

 affect the bees in the very least, notwithstanding the thin 

 walls protecting them. It must be confessed, however, that 

 the past winter has, on the whole, been very favourable to the 

 apiary. True, the hives are in a backward state, but a little 



fine weather now would soon pnt them into a very flourish- 

 ing condition. — R. S. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Rat Trap is. D. .*?.).— Our corrcBpondont wishes to know where " tjnclc 

 JamcB's Intalliblo Kill Trap" moutioned by the R<?v. Mr. IbidwoU, in to 

 he iiuTchaBcd. Wo novor found any traps saperior to the cumuoD drop 

 trup and the steel trap. 



IJuANTiTv oy Food for Fowxs (Corultinl Ite(ulfr).~lt ii »n utter im- 

 poB.'iibiUty to answer yonr question. It dopendri entirely on whether 

 there is any food obtained by them beside that which is (rfven by hand. 

 Farmyards, cardons, and (^rass (lebls teem with food for f.iwls and Tur- 

 keys. DitchoB do the same f.ir Ducks. You can ea'iily make your own 

 calculation. Feed one day yourself, let no one else have anvthlDK to do 

 with it. Measure the food "carefully. Give none but that which is thrown 

 on the (fround, and throw only so lonff as they will run after it : let none 

 remain uneaten. Feed morning and evening, with a moderate middny 

 nical. The quautity will be a correct consumption to allow. It wiU 

 differ somewhat at times ; birds eat more in the winter than the summer, 

 and those that come from hard quarters will, for a few days, oat vora- 

 ciously ; but they soon settle down to an average. 



Temperatcbe of iNcrnATOR (H. J. fl.).— The proper heatjin a hntchinir- 

 machine i.s 104 . Wearo not able to state at present what maximum »nd 

 minimum temperatures destroy vitality in CKgs; hut we are makinff el- 

 periments, and you shall hear the result. An extreme heat is, we tuink, 

 more fatal than cold. Minasi's incubators can now bo bad. and are gene- 

 rally successful. Our columns contain the advertisement of them. 



SPAKisa Chickens (/. C.).— The principal thine to do is to indnce asie 

 much growth as possible in your chickens. Let them have all the sun 

 they can get. The semi-dark and confining process is necessary only 

 with adults. The white face, so advantageous In Spanish chickens, is 

 with them a result of maturity, and maturity can only be advanced or 

 encouraged by taking every natural advantage. Fresh air and exercise 

 are important ones. The faster your chickens grow the mure their good 

 points will he developed. You can show them as chickens till the end of 

 the year, and afterwards, wherever there is a class for birds of 1866. 

 After the faces are become quite white, it is well not to allow them too 

 much light for some days before they go to a show. 



Cochin China Eoos Unfertile (J. T. J.). — You do not say whether 

 all the eggs from this hen were unfertile. Those you mention are called 

 " clear eggs." and would be as apparently fresh after being under a hen 

 si.v months as they were the day they were put under. It admits of very 

 easy explanation. There is no germ of life in the egg, and consequently 

 there is no development ; there is no life, and therefore can be no death : 

 no chicken even if well sat on ; no decay as if partly hatched and then 

 neglected. We do not think much of yoiir food ; to add bran to the meal, 

 isto stimulate digestion without gi\'ing it food to act upon. The atten- 

 tion of the cock has nothiug to do with producing eggs, it only fertilises 

 them. With regard to the one hen, we have long loarut, that cocks have 

 their likes and their dislikes among their hens, and this will often ex- 

 plain why many bad eggs come out of a pen. It is not the fault but the 

 fancy of the cock. He would seem to be in low condition, and wo advise 

 you to alter your feeding, by giving oatmeal or ground oats morning 

 and evening, with whole corn "in the middle of the day. We answer your 

 question as to the sterilty of the eggs, believing it has occurred now, 

 lately ; if it happened in the winter, there might be other reasons. 



Egg-Eating Hens (F. Jif.).— It is believed that hens, in the first instance, 

 eat their eggs because they require the shell to form that of eggs to be 

 laid. They like the contents, and cat afterwards for that reason. One 

 egg-eater will inoculate a whole yard with the practice. The best plan 

 Is to put some hard composition eggs in the nest, and to lay one or two 

 about their haunts. They get tired of pecking these. Watch the chief 

 culprit for a few days, and as soon as she has laid drive her from the 

 nest and take the egg. 



Barlev-meal as a Food (Q. V, r.).— As a rule, fowls have great 

 digestive powers, and meal possesses enough of the bran element to 

 stimulate them without adding more, unless it be for convenience of 

 storage or transit. Wo do not sec what you gain by making bread or 

 biscuit of your meal, slake it with water; that is no more trouble than 

 soaking tlie biscuit, and you save the labour and expense of making and 

 baking biscuit. A more direct answer to your question is to say, bread 

 or biscuit made of barley-meal, withrmt the addition of extra bran, and 

 soaked, will bo very good food for poultry. 



Eg(Js Becojiino" Pai-er, &c. (A>ic Subicriber"*. — You have little to 

 complain of. Your fowls have laid and done well during three months. 

 Towards the end of the laying, it Is common for the eggs to get lighter. 

 Nature is getting tired. Much of the shabbiness of the plumage may 

 be attributed to the long-continued attentions of the cock ; the rest to 

 the fact they have worn the same clothing ever since last antumn, and 

 it is getting shabby. As soon as they leave off laying, the strength that 

 has produced the egg will he diverted into another channel, and will 

 supply fresh clothing. Potatoes are not good food for fowls confined in 

 a small space. They are not nutritive enough. Y'our midday meal is 

 good : let that in the morning and evening consist of oatmeal slaked 

 with water, brewer's grains are too stimulating, and act injuriously. 



Pheasant Malays <A. L. Ii.). — The Pheasant Malay has a plumage of 

 very dark rich chestnut, with darker hackle, tail, ami flights. The hens 

 are more or less spangled in most cases, and the resemblance to the 

 breast of a cock Pheasant has earned them their present name. The 

 combs are red. rwugh, and flattened on the bead ; the legs should be 

 yellow. They have other points in common with ordinary Malays. The 

 cock has a darker saddle. They are not Game fowls. Their origin is 

 from the East, but they have i>een crossed in England with Golden- 

 spangled Hamburghs. The hens weigh about 4 lbs., the cocks 6 lbs. 

 each. The Versicolor Pheasant is a native of Japan. It is not larger 

 than our English birds. A pair of pure binis is worth about £14. Their 

 colour is a rich purple, varying in shade and brilliancy with every motion 

 of the bird. 



Hee-IJook for a Beginner — Ornasiental Hive (ff. S., Gcdmy). — 

 '* Bee-keeping for the Many" sent free from this office for five stamps. 

 Messrs. Neighbour. 149, Regent Street, and 127, Holbom, or Mr. Pettitt. 

 Snargate Street, Dover, supply ornamental hives. 



