48C 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ Jose 26, 18GG. 



deserted by every bee that could find its way to the old spot. 

 The immature bees which remained behind are likely to fail in 

 raising a queen, '.vhilst they cannot cover or hatch out nearly 

 all the brood, the bulk of which must, therefore, become chilled 

 and abortive. The best and perhaps almost the only remedy U 

 to shake a swarm (a second swarm will do), into the hive, and 

 this should be done with as Uttle deliiy as possible. Ileturn- 

 ing the stock hive to its old stand would at this time seriously 

 injure the swarm, and would probably fail in restoring the 

 parent stock. When you had driven two-thirds of the bees 

 the stock hive should have been restored to its place, and the 

 swarm conveyed immediately to a distance of not less than a 

 mile and a half, whence in five or six weeks' time it might bo re- 

 transferred to your own apiarj'. When this temporary removal 

 to a distance cannot be effected, artificial swarming with com- 

 mon hives had better not be attempted unless two stocks are 

 employed, as advised at page 428. You may super the driven 

 bees forthwith, but it would, of course, bo useless to put a 

 Buper on the old stock.] 



MANAGEMENT OF SUPERS. 



Seeing in your Journal that the bees remaining in a stock 

 hive will not generally till a super after throwing out a swarm, 

 I am induced to nsk your advice as to the following case ; — 



Hive No. 1 had a box super placed upon it in April, and a 

 glass super upon the box. The glass was tilled with honey, 

 and the box with comb, when a swarm left the hive and was 

 lost. 



ELive No. 2 had a straw super placed upon it in April, and 

 now seems crowded. 



Could I remove the box from No. 1, and place it between the 

 super and stock hive of No. 2 ? or should I place the super of 

 Ko. 2 on the top of the box on No. 1, instead of the glass, 

 placing a fresh super on No. 2 to give more room ? and must I 

 in either case remove the bees from the different supers before 

 making the alteration ? — T. E. Bagoe. 



[We should remove the box from No. 1, and place it between 

 the super and stock hive of No. 2. All the bees should bo ex- 

 pelled before the box is placed in its new position.] 



SPiVRROWS EATING LIVE BEES. 



Eefebrinq you to my last communication under this head 

 (page 411), I certainly thought thati should not again havehad 

 to complain of my quondam friends the sparrows annoying my 

 bees, but I was mistaken. On Sunday last (June 17th), I again 

 saw the sparrows doing exactly the same thing under my hives, 

 notwithstanding that I had provided myself with what is called 

 a " hird-scarer," in the shape of a zinc cat suspended to an 

 iron rod, and swinging with the wind. There were plenty of 

 dead bees lying about, as I had only two days before taken off 

 a box of honey weighing 28 lbs., and in domg so had to destroy 

 about a himdred bees ; but Uve game alone would satisfy these 

 harpies, and they were deliberately again jumping up at the 

 laden bees as they came home, and after considerable pound- 

 ing of the bodies carrying them oft to their nests. Again the 

 mandate went forth, and the next morning my man destroyed 

 no less than than thirty-eight young sparrows and twenty eggs 

 in different nests round my premises I 



I should Uke to know if any other apiarian has been troubled 

 this year in a similar manner? and I say this year, because, as 

 I never before noticed such a foray, I cannot help thinking it 

 must be something pecuUar to the season. One nest alone, 

 just over my dining-room window, was spared, as the inmates 

 were a worthy couple not guilty of apicide, I having carefully 

 watched them feeding their young with moths and caterpillai's. 

 — A Blackheathan. 



BEE SUPERSTITION. 



A CORRESPONDENT of One of the New Zealand papers gives 

 the following story as being told by a Buckinghamshire bee- 

 keeper. Ho relates as follows : — 



" Svperstitions Jiidulrfed in with Regard to Bees. — These are 

 many and curious. I remember when I lived in Buckingham- 

 shire, and kept bees there, noting some strange beUefs re- 

 specting them. One evening I was stopping at the house of 

 a farmer, whose mother had died that morning. His wife went 

 out in the evening, and tapped at every hive, repeating before 



each, ' Bees, bees, your mistress is dead ;' and she pravelj 

 assured me that if she had not done so the bees would inevit- 

 ably have forsaken the spot. One day a diflicnlty occurred 

 between myself and my gardener in respect to the bees. He 

 wanted to have his way in reference to some arrangements lor 

 them, and I had rather a desire to have mine, and we had a 

 httle difference on the subject which I cut short by ordering 

 my wishes to be promptly attended to ; whereupon the fellow 

 went half-snivelling, half-sulkily away, saying, ' The bees will 

 all die, they 11 all die, because there 's been words about them.' 

 Now, as I did not wish his words to como true, I took the 

 liberty of smoking my last weed at night up and down the 

 garden walk by which the bees stood, and by a curious coin- 

 cidence, the gardener came prowling round there, and was 

 rather surprised at finding me out at that time. The same 

 thing happened the next night ; and finding that I did not 

 mean to permit an epidemic amongst the bees if I could avoid 

 it, ho did not come again, and my bees did not die after all. 

 If I had not suspected that the rascal would strive to servo me 

 out, no doubt my bees would have perished, and I should have 

 been requested to believe that it was in consequence of there 

 having been words about them ; which, after all, would no 

 doubt, in one sense, have been perfectly true." 



LiGDEiANS versus Black Bees. — One of my correspondents 

 writes to me as follows :— " A stock of pure Ligurians in the 

 possession of a clergyman in Essex sent out two very large 

 swarms in May, and a third on the 4th of June. If the season 

 continue favourable this stock will probably increase to seven 

 in one year ! such is the enormous fecimdity of pure Ligurian 

 queens." — W. J. P., Dover. 



Crtstai, Palace. — A list of the newly-added specialities to 

 be seen daily would be too long to insert here. A young hip- 

 popotamus ; a new aviary of owls, eagles, hawks, and other 

 British birds ; an exhibition of bees ; and a newly-patented 

 incubator for hatching and nursing poultry and game, deserve 

 remark as forming matters of interest and instruction to young 

 persons in what maybe regarded as an addition to the thousand 

 and one ordinary — because happily usual — attractions of the 

 Palace. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Game Fowl (BUult Oamc).— Wc eanuot Rive jou the information you 

 seek, for we have ODly seen the first Number. 



Haxts and Berks Pocxtry Show. — We aro informed that tlio first 

 prize lor Spanish was awarded to Mr. James Jenner, of Lewes, Sussex, 

 and not to Mr. A. Heath, of Calne. 



PiGEox Diseased (A. L. Z.).—The substance talien from your dead hen 

 Trumpeter, is evidently an indiiratod yoll*. which has i)een retained 

 Offing to some injury or disease of the egg-organs. — B. P. Brent. 



Pea A>rD GnrsEA Fowls' Time of Inxubatixo — Heat of Incctiator 

 { TT. i?.).— Pea Fowls' cgRs require twenty-eight days for hatching, and the 

 eggs of Guinea Fowls (Gallinas, as yon call them) twonty-eight to thirty 

 days. The temperature of the incubator should be 104 . 



Bebs m A WooDBCEY HiTE (IT. D. .1.1.— 1, It a swarm fills a Woodbury 

 hive the first season, it is as much as oan be expected of it. 2, The union 

 of two swarms in the maqner proposed will generally succeed, although 

 a fight is not absolutely impossible. 3, We do not see that you can do 

 anything more to prevent the issue of a swarm. 



Reartno. YotiNrr BcLLFiNCHEs iCt'cil L.). — A fortnight is a good age to 

 take the young bullfinches from the nest in order to rear them by hand. 

 They are best well feathered, always provided they are not too old to 

 open their months. Place them nest and all in a covered basket. Tho 

 food may be made as follows ; — Scald .and well wash some rape seed, so 

 as to soften it and remove its pungency. Soak some stale broad, and 

 heat the two into a stiff paste. Feed cvijry two hours, and give ns much 

 each time as they will open their mouths for. Australian crows may be 

 fed like magpies, they are almost omnivorous. — B. P. B. 



Galvanised Iron Water Cisterns. — Messrs. Motley & Green have 

 sent us copies of several testimonials in favour of these, and they stttto 

 that they have had long experience of their duraldUty and efficiency, 

 and have never had a complaint about them. 



POULTRY MARKET.— .June 25. 



OCR supply gradnally increases, and the tendency is rather to a redac- 

 tion of prices, except in large fowls. 



