31C 



JOtJRNiL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



[ October 14, IBM. 



early in the season thope shallow boxes of honeycomb which 

 they saw offered (or eale in the shops. They never dreamt 

 that the simple process of mixing sugar and water left them so 

 for behind; I cjuM not understand it myself till I tasted the 

 honey mentioned above. Sugar costs iid. per lb. and requires 

 1 lb. of water to make good syrup for bees, thus the syrup costs 

 about 2 J d. per ib. How much weight is lost in the manufac- 

 ture of comb I cannot accurately say, neither can I tell what 

 price the manufactured comb sells at ; doubtless there is con- 

 siderable profit. It matters not to mo whether Cd. or 1». id. 

 per lb. be realised ; but unhesitatingly do I condemn the practice 

 as dishonest, for sweetened water never becomes honey, even 

 though it be twice swallowed and disgorged by bees. It is dis- 

 honest to knock a man down with a view to steal his purse ; it 

 is as dishonest to take the purse without the knockdown, and 

 the trick of selling fyrup (or honey is equally dishonest, unless 

 the buyer be told that the honeycomb is spurious, or artificially 

 made. If the trick be not expofed, and the practice fut an end 

 to, the day will soon come when it will be difficult to sell 

 genuine honey and honeycomb. I slifiU be glad if the honey 

 merchants of Glasgow see these remark?, and taste the honey 

 in the oomb before they venture to purchase it; and judges of 

 honeycomb at the agricultural shows would do well to taste the 

 honey before they award the prizes. One bee-keeper crossed 

 the border to a northern English town, and for three or four 

 years in succession carried back the prizes given for honey- 

 comb. He told a friend, who told me, that sugar and water 

 enabled him to win the prizes. 



It does not follow that, though some of the Stewarton hives 

 are made use of for purposes of deception, all are. Doubt- 

 less many of the Ayrshire bee-keepers use them honestly and 

 well for the collection of pnre and unadulterated honey. — 

 A. Petiigkew, Kusltolme, Manchester. 



MANAGEIIENT OP BEES. 

 I AH puzzled at the statements relative to the treatment of 

 bees, from which, until enlightened as to the line of procedure, 

 ■we should imagine they were as harmless as flies and did not 

 possess stings, whereas they are very pugnacious and not to be 

 trifled with. One is surprised to learn that the interior of 

 hives is examined, queen bees taken out, other queens put into 

 the hive, combs that nre cracked made straight, part of the 

 honey taken out, and bees transferred from one hive to another, 

 ■without any apparent difliculty. One person asserted that in 

 October he removed the bees from a hive full of honey to an 

 empty hive, took all the honey (not fair dealing), and fed the 

 bees with sugar and water, from which they soon stocked the 

 hive with combs and honey ; but he does not say how he 

 effected the transfer of the bees from hive to hive. I have been 

 told that bees will not by driving be made to quit a hive filled 

 with honey for one which has none. I wish to remove the bees 

 of one hive into another which has numerous improvements, 

 and should be obliged if yourself, or any of your correspondents, 

 will kindly inform me the best way of doing this. I presume 

 if the coinb and honey taken from the one hive is put upon 

 the floor-board of that into which the beea have been removed, 

 it will greatly aid them in stocking the hive. — iNguinEB. 



[A skilled bee-master does with the aid of frame hives, really 

 treat hia bees pretty nearly as if they were as harmless as flies, 

 and you are by no means the first who has been puzzled as to 

 how it is done. Example is in these cases so much more 

 effectual than precept, that if you will send us your address we 

 will ende;ivour to introduce you to the nearest master of the 

 art with whom we happen to be acquainted, and would advise 

 your not grudging a moderate journey in order to witness his 

 manipulations. In the meantime, we reprint the following 

 advice given by Mr. Woodbury in reply to a correspondent who, 

 in 1862, found his bees like your own, very pugnacious and 

 not to be trifled with. " ' A. W. B.' does not appear to have 

 done so much amiss for a first attempt. He obtaiued what he 

 wanted, which is a great point, but he appears to have mortally 

 offended his bees. Had the matter been managed more adroitly 

 they would have manifested a much more forgiving spirit. 

 Let him Ly all means envelope himself in a bee-dress, and arm 

 himself with his lighted fumigator ; but in mercy to himself 

 and his bees exchange his buckskin for indiarubber gloves, 

 Buch as are worn by photographers, and take with him a sop 

 for Cerberus in the shape of some sweetened water. Commence 

 proceedincs by sliglitly raising the crown-board at the back, 

 and blowing tinder it two or three good whifis of smoke ; then 



close it down, and wait a minate or two while the bees ar« 

 filling themselves with honey. Next lift it boldly off, and stand 

 it safely on one side, >o as not to crush any bees which may 

 adhere to it, and liberally sprinkle the interstices between the 

 exposed bars with sweetened water. Should the bees take this 

 in good part without commencing an attack the operation may 

 be at once proceeded with ; but if their pugnacity be not quite 

 subdued n second subsidy of sweets should be accorded them, 

 and the crown-board replaced (or a few minutes to give time 

 (or their acceptance o( the proffered bribe. All these manipn- 

 lations are based upon the (act that when bees are alarmed 

 they immediately fill themselves with honey, or such other 

 sweets as may be at hand, and that if we can once induce them 

 to do this they become as inoffensive as house flies. No pro- 

 vocation short of absolute crushing will induce them to sting." 

 There is no difliculty whatever in driving bees from a full hive 

 into an empty one in the manner described in page CO of the 

 last edition of " Bee-keeping for the Many ;" but it would be 

 a miserably bungling attempt at assisting them if you placed 

 the contents of their old domicile higgledy-piggledy on the 

 floor-board of their new one. A satisfactory trAnsfer can in 

 point of fact scarcely be effected except into a frame hive in 

 the manner described in page 72 of our present volume. If, 

 therefore, frames are not among the numerous improvtmentB 

 appertaining to your new hive, we should advise its remaining 

 unoccupied until it can be stocked by a swarm in the oanal 

 manner.] _^ 



OUK LETTER BOX. 



Chickens not THarviNo iXoviec), — As a rule, this is tho time of year 

 when fo^vls require watchint', anil when a little alteration in foml by w»J 

 ol elimnlant is very beneficial ; but it haa been bo warm, that such treat- 

 ment would be snperfluoufi. Are they in a daniji place ;' Isthe diinmntion 

 of the boviraof sunshine felt? Wo advise yon to do away with llie buck- 

 wheat, the sharps, and the potatoes. The latter may be civen as a 

 change and a help at times, but to adopt th^'m as regular food it) neither 

 profitable to you nor wholesome for the birds. Givo them some bread 

 bleeped in strong beer. When a bird seems to become wor-e, remove it 

 from the others, and pive it some pills of camphor, two for a dose, each 

 the size of a pea. Give them lettuce whenever you can, cibbn-jo when 

 you have nothing else to give; but they will not eat lawn mowiugs, and 

 thev only make a mess in the pens. Quadrupeds will eat them, but 

 fowls will only eat them when they con pick them, and they cannot pick 

 them save when growing. 



MiDDiETOH Saow.— The first prize for a Black Hamburgh cockerel, we 

 are informed, was awarded to Messrs. Mason &. Walker, and not to Mr. 

 Charles Sidgwick. 



Points of Silteb Duckwisokd Gisie Fowls (G. Jl.).— Tho Silver 

 Duckwing must havo no brown patch on the wings, and tho feilncrs that 

 are straw-colonred in tho ordinary Dackwinc-". ma-Jt be pure while in the 

 Silvers. The hen must have no robin or wheaten breast. 



Food Needed by Fowls {H. T.).— Yon do not know ynurselj the 

 qnnntily of food the fowls calher, and we cannot, in tho absence of snch 

 infjrmatiiin, give any olber than a general answer to your question. Ton 

 must be guided by their coasnmptioa and feed accordiui.'ly. In warm 

 weather like this'they obtain much food from the surface of the earth. 

 In Terr dry, cold, aufl frosty westhor they find little or nothing. Now 

 the food mav be decreased, then it must be increased. Tho best food to 

 give is barleV, but in hard weather it is necessary to substitute Indian 

 corn, as the small binls stool tho borley. Thev cannot shallow the 

 Indian coru. The best quality of food is always tho cheapest, and tbero 

 is none so dear as the indiiTercnt samples that cost less money 



Furnace Gajik Fowls !A StUntcriher). — There nre no other points that 

 differ from any other breed of (jame but the coljur. You will find that 

 in all the poultry books. 



How TO DiBTixGinsii A Gakdeh {E. It. P.l — We hove grent faith in 

 the opnions of old women when tho sex of Geese is in question. They 

 say that if Geese are put in a pigstye, shed, or othr-r confined place, 

 and a dog is thrown in to them, the Geese will raise their heads and with- 

 draw, tho uander will drop bis head, stretchout his neck, and hiss ntthe 

 dog. Others say the bag that lungs between tho legs is double In tho 

 gander, single in the Goose. Some say Iho nccU of the mi'e is thicker 

 and clumsier than that of the female. Tho sure and infalliolc way is to 

 examine the bird by handling, there can then be no doabt. Pressor© 

 below the vent will reveal the sex. 



Points in I'abtbidoe Cochins (Oalp/-!.— The points of Partridge 

 Cocbint are the same as in others, excepttbat the colour is dilTerent. The 

 comb should be medium-sized, well serrated with numerous si-rrations, 

 and scrupulously straight. The danger of a large comb i-". that it is 

 almost always crooked. The less yellow tiuge there is in the plumage 

 of these birds tho better it is : they are prone to this defect. The cock 

 must have a thoroughly black breasi. Any mixture of buff is a disqualifi- 

 cation. 



Crkve-C(Edhs' Feet Distorted (H^ml.— The Crive-Coeurs would not 

 be disqualified, and it would only bo disadvantageous in very close com- 

 petition. . 



Weak Bwaoms and Stocks (A. Croirleyl.— Tho bees are certainly 

 worth saving, a»d it will lend to prevent confusion if yon nnite the inha- 

 bitants of ailjoiniug flocks. Tho union should bo efTected t'y drivmg 

 both colonies iulo an emptv hive, and afterwards inducting t hem into 

 the doinicilo which they are intended permanenlly to occupy, as stated 

 in reply to " M. .1. ^V. " in page iil.S. . , „ . 



Proverb ((;al(u.»).— The proverb yon refer to is probably Iho followio^, 

 indicating that vonng specimens of Ihesnimals mentioned ar,' preferable 

 for table .—" Chickens chirping, Pigeo-S pecpiig. Rabbits creniing, are 

 best eating." 



