October 7, 1869. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB, 



295 



bnt the matter was bo very simple that there was bat little time 

 reqnired. As regards not meaBuring the two Lop-eared Babbits, 

 there was no necessity, they were side by side, and there was 

 no difficalty in seeing which was the better. Tour correspon- 

 dent does not say that the prize was not given to the best ; bat 

 that we "certainly did not know, and as clearly did not care." 

 Now, I think these remarks are quite uncalled for, unless he 

 could show that we had erred in judging, which I am quite sure 

 we did not. Had there been any diiScuIty, or had there been 

 a large entry, of course we should have measured them, which 

 I always do where there can be any doubt. — James Dixon, one of 

 the Judges. 



TREATMENT OF RABBITS AT SHOWS. 

 As an exhibitor at the Middleton Show, I was pained to read 

 the following lines in the notice of the Babbits published in 

 your Number of September 23rd. — "Might I suggest to the 

 Committee a little more attention to the creature cnmforts of 

 the specimens, remembering that some of them had travelled 

 a great distance to the Show, and had to return, I suppose, the 

 same distance? " The above words would not be written incon- 

 siderately, and they mean in plain English that the Rabbits 

 were insufficiently fed, or not fed at all. Cruel as it is, I fear 

 this is no uncommon treatment, and I will give a case in point. 

 Tlie other day I dispatched six Babbits to Whitby, and followed 

 them the next day with some friends to see the Show. Beaching 

 the grounds about eleven, our first observation was — that there 

 was not a single grain or the least vestige of any kind of food in 

 any one of the Ribbite' pens, from whiob we concluded that they 

 could have had no breakfast. We were assured, however, that 

 they were all fed very early that morning, and we could only reply 

 that it must have been a very early or a very scanty meal, as 

 every Babbit had made a clean sweep of everything in the pen. 

 Well, I hoped that a pennyworth of carrots might charitably be 

 doled out to the twenty-one R ibbits before the day was over, but 

 they were all packed off with empty stomachs, though the 

 managers knew perfectly well that many of them had a long 

 way to travel, and could not possibly reach home till sometime 

 the next day. Mine arrived a little after ten, so that some 

 t wenty-fix, twentj -eight, or perhaps thirty hours had passed 

 s^nce they tasted food. I was greatly struck with the fine 

 bracing effect of the Whitby air, judging by their appetites. — 

 Gbeekwood. 



LIGURTAN QUEENS FROM AMERICA. 



Towards evening on the 26th of August last, a letter reached 

 me bearing the New York post mark, which upon opening I 

 found to run as follows : — 



" New York, Anr^nst 13tb, 1869. 



*'Dear Sir, — I have reqaestei a friend of mine to ship you two Italian 



queens to-morrow, bred in Mr. C *a apiary, Colraine, Ma'fa I 



will send yon Mr. G 'a sarplns box in a few days, and write yon more 



at length when leaa harried — Vonrs very truly, E. P. 



" Let me know the condition in which they reach yon. 



"The bees referred 1 1 within have been delivered to J. I., ship steward 

 of the steamer 'Erin,' which sails for Liverpool on to-morrow (14th 

 August). The bos coutninint; the bees ia addressed to you, and Mr. I. 

 promised to take f;ood care of it, and forward same by express on his 

 arrival at Liverp"ol." 



Now, this letter bothered me not a little. In the first place 

 why should my friend, with whom I had before had the pleasure 

 of corresp(.ndiDg on apiarian subjects, but from whom I had 

 not heard for more than twelve months, wish to send me two 

 Ligurian queens ? and in the next place, what was I to do with 

 them on so short a notice ? Despatching Italian queens from 

 America to Europe, seemed to me not a little like " sending 

 coals to Newcastle," but after cudgelling my brains to no pur- 

 pose, I failed in solviog the problem, and I may add that it 

 etui remains a mystery, as I have not yet heard further from 

 the New World. What to do with them on so short a notice 

 was also a puzzle, for was it not most probable that the steamer 

 "Erin" had conveyed my letter as well as the bees, and that 

 the former would prove to have outstripped the latter merely 

 by a few hours, or possibly only by a few minutes? Hid I 

 not also already applied for and obtained tickets for myself and 

 family to accompany an excursion of the Briti.-h Aisooiation to 

 Dartmoor the next day, aud must not I, therefore, forego this 

 intended pleasure ? On submitting this motion to the family 

 conclave, however, I could find no seconder, but, on the con- 

 trary, was left in an ignominious minority of one, and an 

 amendment was cinied against me by acclamation, to the 

 effect that I might be peimitted to remove the queens from a 

 couple of stocks the next morning, but only on condition that 



this preliminary operation should be performed so early as not 

 in any way to interfere with the promised excursion, which 

 must be carried out in its integrity, even if all the Italian 

 queens in the New World were on their way to revisit their 

 parent continent ! I had, of course, no alternative but to obey, 

 and accordingly placed the queens of one black and one hybrid 

 stock in durance vile the first thing the next morning, and 

 devoted the rest of the day to a picnic among the granite tors 

 of Dartmoor, examining at the same time sundry Druidio 

 circles, and admiring the magnificent scenery of that romantic 

 neighbourhood. 



On our return, I inquired anxiously after the expected royal 

 visitors ; but found that none had arrived, nor was it until 

 some days afterwards — viz., on the 1st of September, eighteen 

 days after their departure from New York, that a special 

 messenger from the Sonth-Western Biilway Station reached 

 my domicile soon after three o'clock in the afternoon, and 

 placed in my hands a email package, of the external appearance 

 of which the accompanying sketch will convey a tolerably 



accurate idea. A cursory examination showed that it consisted 

 of two small and narrow boxes (which I afterwards found 

 measured on the inside 6 inches from front to back, by 3 inches 

 wide, and G\ inches deep), made of five-eighth wood, and 

 united together by a wide slat nailed on the back and front, 

 and two narrower ones at the bottom, the latter of which pro- 

 jected about IJ inch on either side, so as to form a wide 

 base for the whole to stand upon. At what may perhaps be 

 termed the front end, and close to the bottom, ventilation was 

 afforded by an aperture in each box extending across its whole 

 width, and three-eighths of an inch in depth ; this was covered 

 on the outside by wove wire of one-twelfth of an inch mesh, 

 whilst a seven-eighth hole in each of the covers was secured 

 by the same material, but of a still coarser mesh, tacked over 

 them on the inside. Above the whole, and forming a very con- 

 venient handle, was arched a black leather strap rather more 

 than an inch in width, and fastened by a couple of short screws 

 on either side. 



By breathing into the orifices on the top, I at once elicited 

 so indignant a buzz from one of the boxes, as to satisfy me that 

 the bulk of its inhabitants remained in full vigour after their 

 threethousand-miles trip; and accordingly, after separating 

 the two, I turned my attention to the other box, from which I 

 had failed to elicit any response whatever. Withdrawing the 

 two screws which secured its cover, I carefully raised it, and as 

 I had feared not a bee attempted to escape, nor, in point of 

 fact, could I discern a single living one. What met my gaze 

 was simply a wooden bar an inch broad, wiih sealed honey- 

 comb attached to it, and which ran from front to back in the 

 centre of the box, resting in a rabbet at each end, to which it 

 was secured by screws. Withdrawing the^e, I raised the bar, 

 and then found that it formed the top of a small frame 

 4} incbes wide by 4J inches deep inside, and c mpletely filled 

 with sealed honeycomb. At the bottom of the box lay a black 

 mass of dead bees completely choking the venii!«lor, but a few 

 semi-torpid and exhausted bees nearly incapable of motion still 

 clung to the sides of the comb, and among t'ltm, to my great 

 joy, I discovered the queen. After having been warmed and 

 fed, she speedily recovered, and escaping from ray hand flew 

 gaily to the window. It was but too evident, however, tl at she 

 had had a very narrow escape. Out of what was originally a 



