joSS'^rises. '] 



JOTO^ALOP HOBTIODLTCRE AND COTTAGE GAUfiENEa' 



4i8- 



Stamons, AylcBknry. For Varifly (to include all points).— Priae, G. Hill. 

 Highly Commended, P. Warren, Southampton. 



Mr. Baily, Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, waa the Judge. 



ARTIFICIAL SWARMS— STRENGTHENING 



STOCKS. 

 I AM looking anxionsly for another " pure queen " which 

 " A Devonshire Bee-keepeb " so kindly promised in page 

 388, in order to supply my loss. At the risk of being tedious 

 to your readers allow me to say that hitherto I have been quite 

 successful in forming five artificial swarms from one stock this 

 season. I have actually seen the queen in each hive, except 

 No. 4, but I saw two sealed ones there a few days ago. No. 1, 

 formed on the .3rd of May, contained eggs and rather large 

 gnibs on the ■2nd of .hine, so that I presume the queen must 

 have laid about the 29th of May — i. c, on the thirtieth day from 

 the formation of nucleus. At twenty minutes before twelve 

 to-day (13th of June), I saw the queen leave Xo. 3, but she re- 

 turned almost immediately. I was looking for her return most 

 intently when what I supposed to be a drone flew between me 

 and the hive ; it was the queen, which alighted immediately 



afterwards. I mention this fact because I do not remember 

 hearing the sound of a queen's flight before. Had I not seen 

 what I have just related I should have been satisfied that the 

 sound proceeded from a drone in search of a companion. 



I cannot, of course, tell what sort of season other counties 

 are promising for bees this year, but I fear we shall not have a 

 good one. Up to the 7th of June I did mot hear of more than 

 one cast or swarm. A considerable portion of the month of 

 May was too dry, and now the weather continues gloomy and 

 rather cold, with frequent showers. When my small swarm 

 arrives it is my intention to transfer the bees to a Woodbury 

 hive in the course of a day or two, and gradually to strengthen 

 them by the addition of ripe brood frames from other hives. 



Will this plan not answer as well as the plan of driving ? 



E. B., Clericus, Cumberland. 



[Your pure Italian queen at the head of a small swarm will 

 probably reach you about the same time as this Number of 

 " our Journal." Your plan of strengthening the small colony 

 by the gradual and judicious addition of ripe brood-combs is by 

 far the best, and would have been suggested in preference to 

 driving had I known that your hives afforded the necessary 

 facilities. — A Devonshike Bee-keepek.] 



MY APLiRY.— No. 1. 



now I came to build it, and how i wop.k it. 



*' Imprimis, setles apibus statioque petenda." — ViRGrL. 



(In the first place, stands and a station for the bees are to be sought.) 



' 'What would appear to have been a matter of primary im- 

 portance with bee-keepers in the time of Virgil has remained 

 the same ever since. " Where shall I place my bees, and 

 what sort of shelter must I provide for them ? " is the first 

 inquiry made by every tyro in the art ; and the chances are, that 

 although at his first start he was content with the low, rough 

 block of wood (which time out of mind had been used by the 

 old' cottagers in the village) as a settle, and the jaunty straw 

 hackle, or red milk- 

 pan, as a covering 

 for his bees, yet, if 

 he has persevered 

 in the work, and 

 come, as most bee- 

 keepers do come, to 

 love bis bees, and 

 feel anxious to pro- 

 vide in the best way 

 for their accommo- 

 dation, he will, if 

 he have the means 

 at command, have 

 gradoally advanced 

 from this stage of 

 the art until his 

 garden is furnished 

 ■with some such 

 nsefnl and orna- 

 mental building as 

 that which is re- 

 presented by the 

 woodcut accom- 

 panying these re- 

 marks. 



My first stock of 

 bees (in a cottage 

 hive of course) , was 

 purchased about 

 the year 1850, and 

 placed in my gar- 

 den on a block of 

 ■w:ood, which, as 



tHpre was no bottom board to ,the Mve, seejiisd :t6' fotiii a 

 necessary part of it. From this block it was speedily removed 

 to a neat o.ik stand,' such as is recommended in the useful 

 vfOi-ks of Messrs. Taylor and Payne, and the swarms which 

 issued from it were placed in Payne's fiat-topped straw hives 

 fi%ted with appropriate supe^rs ; tlien fc^owed a trial of Nutt's 

 collateral-boxes, after these Jayne's square straw hive with 

 li^saj Qolding's Grecian iivew-itli bars, Pajne's and Glethis's 

 bar-botes, -ware nged.in susoession; neat after tiiese Teget- 



meier's frame hive; and, last of all, J. L. Langstroth's moveable 

 comb hive, which I have adapted to my own requirements, and 

 which is the only one now used in my apiary. 



As with the bee-hive so with the bee-house. There has been 

 the same gradual progress here. My first was something after 

 the fashion of a kitchen cupboard, fitted first for two sets of 

 Nutt's collaterals, and, when these were given up, for four 

 Grecian hives. The next was a house for myself as well as the 



bees, being a com- 

 mon garden sum- 

 mer-house, which 

 (by closing the 

 opening with fold- 

 ing doors, and turn- 

 ing the back round 

 to the south) fur- 

 nished tolerable 

 accommodation to 

 both parties, and 

 served the purpose 

 very well for some 

 years. But this, in 

 its turn, was dis- 

 carded and recon- 

 verted to its origin- 

 aluso, for the little 

 Swiss cottage which 

 is now used as my 

 apiary, and at the 

 same time forms a 

 pleasing ornament 

 to my flower gar- 

 den. The design 

 was borrowed from 

 a brother clergy- 

 man, but the work- 

 manship was my 

 own, and as I do 

 not consider my- 

 self a skilled hand, 

 I may safely Fay it 

 is not difficult of 

 coflBtruction. ' Since its erection about eight years ago, it has 

 been juuch admired by my friends, and having during that 

 time found it most convenient to myself for the purposes of 

 observation aud manipulation, and suitable totho requirements 

 of my little favourites, as the results testify, I am glad to have 

 the oppcrtuoity of recommending it to my apioiia* friends. . 



So much for the building of my apiary ; iu my next I mil 

 furnish dimeaBionSi &c., when I deeeribe, -' How i- work it ? ''— 



SlEEr.I-ON-THE-WOLD. : i;.n-t «'.;i» 



