September 16, 1869. 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



237 



Bantams.— 1. A. Bnglass, Carville. 3, T. MitcheU. Mount Pleasant. 



Geese.— 1, M. Heslop, Harthope MiU. 2, MrB. Hedley, Qaarry Bom. 



Docks (.\ylesburv).— i, G. .Mlison, Park Wall. 2, M. Harrison, Warter, 

 Pocklington. he. A. Young, Driffield; Mrs. Sanderson. 



DDCK3 (Anv other breed).— 1, A. Young. 2, J. Emmerson, Low Joffies. 



TnKKEYs.— 1, G. Thompson, Bog Hole Farm. 2, Mrs. Sanderson, 

 Bradley Hall. „ ^ 



Extra Class.— 1, Miss D. D. Shafto (Cochin-Cbina). 2, J. Hardy 

 (White Cochin chickens). 



Pigeons.— 1, R. Thompson, Sonnybrow. 2, G. Adamson. 



Judge.— ilr. F. Greathead, Darlington. 



DOVER FANCY RABBIT SHOW. 



The fourth half-yearlv Show was held, September 1st, at the Wel- 

 lington Inn, BigRin'Street. The show of prize Rabbits was exceedingly 

 good, and demonstrated that there were many strong and practical 

 breeders connected with this now well-known society. It gave great 

 satisfaction to the nnmerous company that attended on the occasion. 



Lexgth of Eaes.— Mr. Stanton, fawn doe; 21? by 6 inches ; weiRht, 

 9 lbs. 6 ozs. Mr. Wberwell, fiwn doe; 21i by 4^ inches; weight 6 lbs. 



9 ozs. Mr. Burton, yellow and white doe ; 21 inches ; weight 9 lbs. 4 ozs. 

 AxL Properties.— 1, Mr. Jasper, black and white buck ; length of ears, 



19J by 4^ inches ; weight, 4 lbs. Mr. Bai-wicls, yellow and white doe : 21 by 

 4| inches; Tibs. Mr. Corry, tortoiseshell doe; 20 by 4j inches; weight 

 8 lbs. 5 ozs. Mr. Everest, gfev and white doe ; 18^ by 4+ inches ; weight, 

 6 lbs. Mr. Thome, fawn doe ; 20? by 4; inches ; weight, 6 lbs. 12 ozs. Mr. 

 Pritchard. fawn buck ; 20^ bv 4^ inches ; weight, 8 lbs. 

 Weight. — Mr. Young, tortoiseshell doe ; 20 by 4J inches ; weight, 



10 lbs. 6oES. 



The Judges were Messrs. Whorwell, Stanton, Barton, and Everest. 

 — (Doyrr Chronicle,) 



SUBURBAN PIGEONS AND FOWLS A CENTURY 

 AND A H.VLF AGO. 

 Gay, in his " Epistle to the Karl of Barlington," in which 

 he so amusingly details his equestrian ride to Exeter, says — 

 "Then Tnmham Green, which dainty Pigeons fed, 

 But feeds no more, for Solomon is dead. 

 Three dusty miles reach Branford's tedious town — 

 For dirty streets and white-legg'd chickens known." 



A foot-note says, •• Solomon was a man famed for feeding 

 Pigeons." Is anything known about him ? and are chickens 

 still a Brentford export ? — Vectis. 



'DROPSY" IN BEES. 



liR. WooDBUP.T in an article which appeared in the Journal 

 of December '2Gth, 1S65, described as a new disease under the 

 name of " dropsy," a malady which he supposed to have been 

 previously unnoticed by apiarian writers. To this view of the 

 complaint I took exception at the time, believing it to be identi- 

 cal with what had long been known as dysentery ; but I now 

 confess I was altogether in error, and I might at once have 

 perceived my mistake it I had given due consideration to his 

 statement that, " all through spring and during the finest sum- 

 mer weather the ground in front of the hives was perpetually 

 covered with hundreds of disabled and dying bees, which 

 crawled about in all directions." Dysentery seldom if ever 

 attacks bees during the finest summer weather, and when a 

 hive is afflicted with it, a few fine days are generally sufficient 

 to restore it to health. 



This disease may be said to be at an end as soon as the over- 

 loaded bees have rlischarged themselves ; but it is not so in 

 " dropsy," where tho parting with its contents gives the afilicted 

 bee no relief. Although the general characteristic of the com- 

 plaint is a swollen abdomen filled with a watery fluid, there 

 are alsj amongst the sufferers great numbers with little visible 

 enlargement that are yet unable to do more than bobble over 

 an inch or two of .ground and make a feeble movement with 

 their wings. la crawling out of the hive they appear very 

 sensitive to cold, and will often turn back. 



Tutir boiliea, too, have a glistening appearince as if covered 

 with perspiration, forcibly reminding one of a plague of former 

 days called the "sweating sickness." But as Mr. Woodbury 

 has given so full and so accurate an account of the malady in 

 the article referred to, I shall briefly state what recently came 

 nnder my observation, as I think it corroborates the truth of 

 what be has there narrated, and any tyro in bee-keeping may 

 put in practice the simple mode of cure prescribed. 



My first experience of "dropsy" commenced in January 

 las;. When walking round my apiary towards the close of the 

 month, I found one of the hives in a state of fever-heat, and 

 iuz"iug as loudly as it often did in summer. The outer glass, 

 which should have been cold, felt quite warm to the touch, and 

 the bees showed evident symptoms of distress by retiring from 



the entrance the moment they approached it. I did not at 

 the time apprehend mischief, but in the course of a few days a 

 fearful mortality set in. Bees unable to fly hobbled to the 

 edge of the landing-board, and fell to the ground. On elevat- 

 ing the hive I found the board much soiled, and covered with 

 hundreds of dead and dying. These were immediately cleared- 

 off, the board was washed and dried, and the first favourable 

 opportunity seized for feeding with honey and port wine, which 

 was quickly deposited in the combs. But this nostrum, al- 

 though a fine day occurred at intervals, allowing such bees as 

 were disposed to go out for an airing, had no effect on the health 

 of the hive. All through February and March the daily death- 

 rate would average two hundred. 



The hive had been in splendid condition, and was not only 

 full of bees on the 28th of January, but three of its combs 

 were filled with brood in all stages. On the 19th of March the 

 population was reduced to a mere handful, covering only a 

 portion of two combs. In the short space of six weeks I am 

 persuaded more than 10,000 bees perished, and I conjecture 

 that the whole of the old inhabitants died-off, and that the 

 young bees coming forward in the early part of February alone 

 survived. Egg-laying was entirely suspended, and at the date 

 last mentioned, there was no brood, save two, which were ready 

 to leave the cells. I gave up the hive as lost, but in the 

 beginning of April a bee might be seen to go out occasionally 

 and return with pollen. Contrary to all expectations the hive 

 rallied, its progress towards prosperity was amazingly rapid, 

 and on the 30th of June it was able to send out a good swarm. 



Though I give an account of the ravages made in this single 

 hive only, I must add that the malady in question attacked 

 other hives sucsessively in March, April, and May. In two of 

 them the queens perished. One hive in particular escaped a 

 visitation till the middle of May. On the 19th of May, when 

 I left home for ten days, it promised to swarm before any of 

 its neighbours ; but when I returned on the 30 th I found it 

 one of my weakest, and the ground in front of it literally 

 covered with thousands upon thousands of dead bees. Towards 

 the middle of Juno I found on examination the brocd in two 

 frames, which the small and reduced population could not 

 cover, quite dead, and some of it in a decaying state. A drone 

 comb, which was empty, intervened between these two frames 

 and the other brood combs. I left these frames containing 

 decaying brood in the hive, and I am happy to say that on 

 making an inspection of them on the 19th of August, no evil 

 results had followed. 



Owing to the late period of the season when the hive in 

 question was seized with dropsy, there was no return from it 

 in the shape of supers or honey, but it recovered sufficient 

 strength to enable it to lay up ample store for the winter, and 

 it is now as populous as could be desired. There were two 

 swarms among my early casts that carried the complaint 

 with them, but they threw it off in less than a week. Not, 

 however, until the middle of July did it entirely disappear 

 from my apiary, and its departure could not be said to be 

 due to any remedial measures that were employed on my part. 

 I have now the satisfaction of knowing from an experience 

 extending over five months, that the complaint which Mr. 

 Woodbury described and designated " dropsy," is specifically 

 distinct from dysentery, and that however closely it may re- 

 semble the latter in some of its features, it is yet far from 

 being identicil with it. 



Though I could not be said to have tried the cure recom- 

 mended by Mr. Woodbury for the malady, I have no doubt it 

 will be found amenable to the process he adopted, which was, 

 after securing the safety of the queen, to remove the hive to a 

 little distance, and plant an empty box in its room. This 

 done, the bees are to be brushed off each comb on to a cloth, 

 and each comb when divested of bees is to be placed in the 

 empty box. As the bees that are able to fly will return to 

 their accustomed stance, the diseased ones will be left to perish, 

 and the hive, thus purified by having the whole separated from 

 the sick, will afterwards enjoy health. — R. S. 



P.S. — I forgot to mention in my last, that by letting fall two 

 or three drops of carbolic acid within the hive, swarms inigbt 

 be made to go together peaceably, and an end put to hostilities. 



FEROCITY OF INDIAN BEES. 



Many stories have already been related in " our Journal " 

 illustrative of the ferocity of the large Indian honey bee, Apis 

 clorsata. To these I now add the following : — 



The first is extracted from a note just received from an 



