410 



JOURHAL OF HOBTICULTUaE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. t November 18, USS. 



which are calculated to convey a wrong impression as to what | 

 I meant regarding " the nhape ami material of the hive having 

 very much to do with the quantity and quality of honey col- 

 lected." It is trne it mattera not whether a hive be round, 

 octagonal, hexagonal, or square, the honey stored would be to 

 some extent the same ; nevertheless, it is a well-known fact, 

 that honey gathered from the same sources and stored in dif- 

 ferent parts of the hive, will have quite a different appearance 

 and taste, although it may all be collected within a few days. 

 So, then, the construction, which is the shape, whereby we can , 

 regulate the hive in every emergency, thus preserving the i 

 purity of the honey and augmenting the store, is of great im- 

 portance ; besides which, a hive should admit of, arid offer, 

 every facility for manipulation, such as adding and diminish- 

 ing space, ventilating, depriving, artiliciil swarming, queen- ' 

 rearing, &o. Not so with the bive which be describes ; neither 

 are Tegetmeior's hives the best. The Stewarton hive with 

 moveable bars and crown-.board is much superior, and taking 

 everything into consideration equal to the Woodbury hive, al- 

 though the last-named may have the preference in consequence [ 

 of the combs being all of one size, this hive being, in fact, i 

 the one wliich I myself use ; but I work it upon the Stewarton [ 

 principle, nnd have hives yet standing which still weigh 

 100 lbs., after having taken half a hundredweight of iine comb i 

 from each ; and may I inform " A Manchester Man," if he | 

 wants figures to prove the superiority of hives, that I am 

 acquainted with a bee-keeper who had this year fewer hives than 

 he states llr. Pettigrew to have had, and yet obtained no less 

 than a ton of fine comb in supers, besides a considerable 

 quantity of inferior quality ? 



Tour correspondent says, " We Manchester men prefer the 

 article which gives the largest and best result." And so do we 

 who work on the Stewarton principle, but we do not grudge a 

 few pounds at the first outlay, as the produce soon repays it. 

 I regret that he did not succeed with the Tegetmeier hives, as 

 the fault lay not in the material, but in the management. Had 

 he adopted the plan that I recommended some time since, and 

 which was described at the same time by Mr. Langstroth, a 

 very high authority on bees, his hives would not have suc- 

 cumbed to internal moisture. Many people place too much 

 stress on the material of which the body of a hive is made ; 

 they seem quite to forget that the most of the hive is sur- 

 rounded with comb which is most impervious to change, and 

 that it is the crown that is the most particular part. Nature 

 alone suggests this. It ought, then, to be managed in such a 

 way as to carry off all moisture. Whereas the hive described 

 by " A Manchestek Man " is quite opposed to all this, and to 

 every principle of good management. 



With reference to judging honey by tasting, fancy, say fifty 

 different lots, what would a person's taste be worth by the 

 time he got to the end of it ? Or, say a merchant choosing 

 from one hundred different samples of anything, if he had to 

 taste it. I assure your readers, the best judge is one who by 

 appearance, smell, and commonly the feel, can detect a good 

 article. 



" A Manchester Man " comes pretty near the truth when 

 he says the stronger the stock the more workers there are, the 

 more honey will be collected. Now, the hive for this is the 

 Stewarton one ; but he must not be carried away by the notion 

 that a hive 16 by 12, is a large hive, thrice that size might 

 be said to be a large one.— A Lanakkshike Bee-keepek. 



r.S.— I have forwarded two samples of honey which have 

 been pronounced by novices, and men of skill, such as Mr. 

 A. Pettigrew, to be sugar, but which I consider to be as fine 

 honey as I have ever met with. No. 1 is from Lignrian bees. 

 No. 2 was gathered in the same locaUty but by black bees._ I 

 should like to hear your opinion, as I consider the Ligurian 

 honey the better, also what you think of them. 



[The honey in each pot is very pale, and look like a super- 

 saturated syrup of refined sugar. That in the pot No. 1, 

 gathered by the Ligurians, is the whitest and most solid. Each 

 is an excellent specimen of honey, well-flavoured, but beginning 

 to cryetaliise. — Eds.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Weight or Young Tchkevs (H. £.).— Much dcpeEds on tlio breed 

 and feeding. If they are Cambridge, and the food men] or oats, with a 

 few peas and beans, mixed with milk, we sh.iuld expect the hens to 

 weigh 9 the cocks 12 to 14 lbs. cnch, when nearly live months old. These 

 wo'jld be birds that have never had a check, but have thriven all their 

 lives. No bird ever reaches the top weight of its breed or class nnlees it 

 is Jed from the first with a view to that result. 



Tatipv Mon-Tiso or a CnrnrK-'"Br!«A Coci (A. r.).— The older Cochino 

 prow, the greater difficulty they cxpcricnco in mciulting, and tlie longer 

 the process seems to bo abont. At three yonra old the be"*! days of a 

 Cochin are over, and nothing tat good living will carr>- yonr bird throngh. 

 For a yonng bird we ehonld advise cooiing food, for an old one we advise 

 stimolaots. Give him ground cits mixed ivuh milk, meat chujipi d fine, 

 end eggs. He must not be without gr.iss and freth earth, and should be 

 Kept alone. You may give him some ale twice every day. 



Laciko of a Sn.vEP.-spANni.FD HASrecnoH Cock {A Sui<cri»fr).— It 

 is a disputed point whether the wing should or should not be laced. Oor 

 own opinion is that it should bo. Mr. Baily'« book on " Fowls " give* the 

 points. 



CocKEP.EL SOT AM.iTorv (.Ifoniuij/ j;.-adcr).— The time of year hae 

 ranch to do with the apparent reluctance of the cock to ullcnd to the 

 hens. This inattention will probably increase rather than otherwise lUl 

 after Christmas. It is not the less true that birds have their antipathies 

 Ukes and dislikes. The description yon give of the dwindling cbickene 

 is that of crop-bound birds. This uriBcs from improper feeding, espe- 

 cially feeding from troughs. Feed them sp^nntly, and supply them 

 with grass ; discontinue the rice. The coop should not be pnt on stones, 

 hut on earth. Fowls should never be on stoies, boards, or brick. 



Face of the Spanish Cockeeel (S>aiii«?< Cod).— A Spsnith cockercJ 

 fit six months old is far mo:e advanced in face than a pullet at nln- ; he 

 has not always a " dead " white face, but it does not follow he wiU not 

 have. He should have no red when he is .■j..wn if he is expected to win. 

 No real judge will allow a trimmed Sp'.i;!-'u fowl to appeir in the prtj* 

 sheet. Many are disqualified by it. Huiri mf.y bo removed from lh» 

 iacc without detection, but the feathers from the base of the comb to 

 the beginaing of the face cannot be tampered with with impunity. 



Lame La Fi-kche Cock U. B. C.).— It is probable the lameness pro- 

 ceeds from weakness. If so, he will be in the habit of roosting on his 

 knees. He will require to be well fed three times per day. and one meal 

 thould be stale bread steeped in ale. The other feedings should have no 

 whole corn in them. B:irlev meal or ground oats, il mixed with milk so 

 much the better, cooked moat chopped flne, and even eggs boiled hard 

 and minced, are the best food for him. given a very Uttle at a time. _loa 

 must judge for yourself whether the patient is worth the trouble and the 

 expense. 



SlLVER-PENCILLFD HAMECnOHS (A T:'0--,faTI-oU ."^ub.'.— Refer toour 

 advertising columns. Some wore advertised last week. If you wish for 

 very superior birds, write to some of the owners who took prizes with 

 Silver-pencilled Hamburghs at the shows of which we pubUsh the prize 

 lists. 



Eggs of Dark BaAiniAS IG. B. G-eUim) —Write to some of tb» well- 

 known breeders who advertise in our columns. 



Barb Pigeons (Coiunilarian).— Write to some of those who have taken 

 prizes with them. 



Fantaji. Pigeons with Incased Tail Feathers (t.).— We have also 

 found this to be the case very frequently during the present year with 

 our most highlv-bred and delicate birds, especially with the hens. I he 

 cause is delicacy of constitution ; the cure, warmth and good nutntionj 

 food. Keep vour birds in on cold dam a days. With some of the incased 

 feathers you may, when the sheath is sufficiently dry, peel it off, sphtling 

 it carefully with vour nail, or a penknife's pomt, but only as far as i! 18 

 quite dry. With "our birds we have entirely ebaegcd the food, and make 

 them (for Fantails are idle birds), come some distance to be ted, jnstcaa 

 of feeding them in their house when the weather U fine and dry, bemg 

 sure that exercise strengthens and does good to every biped, feathered 

 or otherwise. But warmth has much to do with the cure, while damp 

 weather or rain makes the sheath tongh and prevents its drying an* 

 scaling off, as it will do in warm weather. Do not puU the feathers out, 

 as worse will probably succeed. 



HosEV DARK-COLO0RED (G. Cftajjmnn).— The dark colour ot yonr 

 honey arises from some peculiarities of the season, or in the pastnrage, 

 and may not occur again. It is said that honey collected from honey- 

 dew is often very dark. 



BoTTLE-FEEDrs-G Bee3 (ronscronfirc).— The pattern which yonenclose 

 is of too close a texture for covering the mouths of feeding-bottles. .48 

 stated in page 26 of the last edition of •' Bee-keeping for the Many, as 

 well as repeatedly in our columns, "it is a mistake to use muslin for 

 'his purpose, or. in fact, any material the meshes of which are less than a 

 sixteenth part of an inch wide.' With flat-topped hives where the aperture 

 CRU be covered with perforated zinc, the only use of the net is to enable 

 the bottle to be conveniently inverted. When this is effected, tlio net 

 may be withdrawn altogether, as we have often done in the case of large 

 wide-mouthed bottles when we wished to afford the bees every fnc.ity for 

 taking food quickly. No other feeder is at all to be comiwred <o<hc in- 

 verted bottle, and your question as to the food rnnmng through faster 

 than the bees can take it up is founded on « complete but very common 

 misapprehension. If properly managed, the bottle retaius its 'jnUnts by 

 Imosphcric pressure, on the principle ot a bird-fctmtain. W hen on" 

 inverted and in its place, not a drop runs into ;he hive, b"' «» "■ 

 mains perfect'v suspended until removed by the bees. \\ hen, however, 

 the bottle-moiith is tied over with material of too close a texture, the 

 syrup appears so to clog the meshes that air cannot readUy enter, and its 

 surface assumes a concave form, which, when perforated zinc is inter- 

 posed, withdraws nearly the whole of it beyond the reach of the bees 

 tongues, and the process of feeding under these circumstances becomcfl 

 very slow indeed. 



POULTRY MARICET.— November VI. 



The supply is ample, and the trade bad. The late close weather bae 

 had a deadening effect on the market. 



s. d. s. A. 

 Partridges 1 4 to I 6 



.-. o " o 



Grocse * 



Pigeons 



Hares 



s. d. B. d 



Large Fowls :i to :i i 



Smaller ditto - 6 3 ( 



Chickens 1 6 1 i 



Geese 6 ' ( 



Ducks 3 2 * 



Pheasants ~ S 3 < 



Rabbits 1 



Wild ditto 



2 6 

 <• 9 



3 

 1 5 

 10 



