450 



JOURNAL OF HORTlCrULTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I Dccamber 2, UN. 



My balance sheet Ust autumn left me with a profit of 21<. per 

 hive, or thereabouts, and in posscesion of twenty-eight stock 

 hives. These we vaiued at 23«. each, or 7». less than the tip- 

 top price. The winter being mild, they kept their bees well — 

 that is to say, they were in good condition in February of the 

 present year. As ray garden is too near the big city of Man- 

 chester for bees to gather much honey, I took twenty hives to 

 cottage and market gardens three or four miles in the country. 

 Of couTfC, I pay rent, and I am glad to do so, for there my bees 

 have richer pasture ; but the expense of takins; ihem to and from 

 these farms ia considerable. My expenses wUl overtop those of 

 meet bee-keepers. This year my cxpenKS are unu.=ually heavy, 

 amounting lo more than 10s. per hive. Two of the hives in the 

 country f found in May had queens which had never been 

 mated, and were, therefore, useless. Thus my number was 

 reduced to twenty-six. Of these, two never swarmed ; the rest 

 yielded thirty-three swarms, three of which were lost for want 

 of hiving. After swarming, the queens of two hi\'es were lost 

 on their marriage tour, thus adding to the list of my misfortunes. 



Owing to the prevalence of easterly winds, the season, on the 

 whole, was not a favourable one for the accumulation of honey in 

 this locality. These easterly winds cither hinder the secretion 

 of honey in flowers, or dry it up. Still honey in modera'e quan- 

 tity was gathered, tlie roar of conten'ment was kept up, great 

 quantities of brood were hatched, the bees were always prepared 

 to do more work than the weather permitted. At the close of 

 the season my best first swarms ranged in weight from 70 lbs. 

 to 80 lbs. each, the iccond swarms from .30 lbs. to 40 lbs., and 

 the stocks or parent hives, from 50 lbs. to 70 lbs. each. These 

 weights indicate considerable stores of honey, and large profits. 

 But when "we commenced to take the honey to supply an order 

 for -500 lbs., we found much of it discoloured ; and the discoloured 

 honey was so mixed with the go'd and pure, that we could not 

 take the one from the other without great loss. We did not 

 hesitate about declining to supply the gentleman who had 

 ordered .500 lbs., for we felt sure the honey would not please 

 either him or his customers ; but the difficulty was, what to do 

 with the heaviest hives. We resolved to offer them fjr sale at a 

 price less than the value of the honey in them. Hence, we sold 

 some, and kept far more for another year than we had intended 

 to keep. There are forty-two hives kept as stock for another 

 year. Many of them arc large and good, with ample stores of 

 honey ; but owing to the misfortune of having to sell some of the 

 bees with their honey, they have not received swarms and half 

 swarms in the usual way practised here. Still, I value them at 

 23s. each. If I had an extra swarm to put into each, they would 

 have been worth 30s. each, and second to none. 



How did the honey become discoloured ? The sycamore, 

 lime, and oak trees in this neighbourhood were covered with 

 a glittering substance produced by insects, which ignorant 

 people call honeydew. When flowers are scarce, bees work on 

 these shining leaves, and in this way honey becomes damaged. 

 Two years ago, much English honey was dark and unsaleable. 



EXPENSCB. 



£ e. d. 

 Kew hives, boards, and 



honey glaseea 4 



Feeding 1 4 



Rent 4 



Carriage 4 



13 4 



IXCOUE. 



£ s. d. 



Hives told 12 8 



lioney and honeycomb . . 15 

 Increase of stock 16 10 



It is not foul, for when the combs »rc Uken out and bnjkcn, the 

 brood — small, exceedingly small, bees — perfect in form, dead- 

 and dry, roll out in great nombera, like small peas, on the floor, 

 I am quite unacquainted with this disease. — A. Pbttigkew, 

 Liiflwlmc, Manchesler, 



Total 43 18 



Dednct expenses 13 4 



Profit. 



When writing the above, a note came from my friends at 

 Carluke, in Lanarkshire, where bee-keeping is a source of great 

 profit. The writer says ; — 



" Cnrlnkc, October 51 h, 1839. 



*' Mt dear old Friesd,— I beg to be excused for not replying to your 

 note sooner, bat I wailt-d till I RO*. my bees home from the moors, nnd 

 the honey taken from tht-m. I jarred it all np yesterday, and find that 

 ont of ten hives we have ttiken upwards of 4 )u lbs. The heaviest hive we 

 had weighed 120ilbs., two or three of them about 9J lbs , the rest from 

 60 lbs. to 7iilb8 We hid three boxes of honeycomb also, which realised 

 27s. The above is the produce of six stales or stock hives. So yoa see 

 the bees have done well with ns this season. One hive, a second ewarm 

 80 lbs. weight, was sold for £2 5«. — Yours truly, R. R." 



These figures indicate £22 income from six hives ; the ex- 

 penses are not stated. His heaviest swarm was, as mentioned 

 above, 120J lbs. ; the heaviest in the parish, 12S lbs. Last year 

 the heaviest swarm was 168 lbs. ; in 1866, 140 lbs. ; and in 1864, 

 162 lbs. This year my aunt, aged 78, a veteran bee-keeper of 

 sixty years' standing, had 250 lbs. of honey from four slocks. A 

 disease never before known in the parish has appeared in many 

 hives this year. It has been described to me by several of the 

 leading apiarians there. Much of the brood dies in the combs. 



CfRiosiTiES or NATrr.AL Histoht. — A black Woodcock has 

 been shot in Norfolk. A pied Thrash, white in the head, body, 

 and throat, with brown wing and tail, has been captured near 

 Chippenham. At I'eckbam, on November '.Kb. Sparrows were 

 busy building. Do they anticipate a mild winter? The grey 

 PhaUrope has entered an appearance in Sussex in considerable 

 nambers. The assumption by a sterile female Silver Pheasant 

 of the male plumage is a remarkable phenomenon, not hither- 

 to observed in this species. She was originally brown, but is 

 now nearly all white, the long white feathers of the tail giriog 

 her entirely the appearance of a cock bird. — {Exchange and 

 Mart.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



" Aliqcip," we rcffret to bear, is iocapacitated for writing at present, 

 bat he hopes to be able to notice his opponents next week. 



Broken Crocker- f H. C. J ).— 11 broken Into very (wnall fraff-nentB K 

 miffht be na^fol where ^avel could not be resorted lo by fowlf). bot it la 

 not possible that it could lapersede the need of mortar or cb&lk for 

 them, iuasmacb as no common crockery coat&ins lime. 



Game PrLBs' Legs (.NVbio. \<in/(nVh).— There is no spectded oolottr 

 that is absolutely required by judges. We pretcr white, bat yellow and 

 willow are admiBsible. 



Black HAUBraons for ExHreiTioN {Black Ha :'ihurtih).—\' oar diet will 

 do; bnt do not overfeed the birds, and one week's roDfinement previous 

 to the show would be quite enough. Certainly do not let them be relaxed 

 in their bowelp. Leave the pills alone. 



Cross Between a Dorking and Gcisea Fowl (IT. IT.).— We have 

 seen the rc^nlt of the cross you mention. The hybrid bird resembled the 

 Guinea fowl in shape generally, and in Its plumnge ; the head, feet, and 

 flesh resembled the other parent.— B. 



Brahma Pootra VrLTCRE- hocked (Subtcripiumab initici.— It ih^Ttd 

 marks in your ttketcb represent the feathers the bird is decidedly TuUarc- 

 hockcd. 



Fowls Waitint. for SmpJTENT {O. 0.1.— In keepint; birds that are 

 waiting for shipment, it is always advisable to put them as soon as 

 possible in the pens in which they are to make the voyaiJQ. supposing yon 

 speak of one of coosiderable duration. In all breeds, with the exception 

 of Game fowlfl, a pen of a cock and two or three bens may be sent In ono 

 pen or compartment. The food must be light aud easy of digestion, and 

 water but sparingly civen. 



HouDAN's Wiso iNJrEED (E. P. F.).— Yoar Hondan, If it has Io«t a 

 portion of its wine r^^P^f- would sl.ind bat little chance in oropetitioD. 

 If, however, you have cut the plumage, the bird would most likely be di£- 

 qnalified as "marked." 



Winter Food for Fowls {Far Tr*«n.— We find no food answer flo well 

 as good barleymeal or ground oat!> made into stiff dough and given ni^bt 

 and morning ; a little maize or tailing wheat at mid-dav. If extra fe«ding 

 be required, a small quantity of thoroughly scalded tallow grMvee msy 

 be mixed with the meal. 



Oaue Fo%%x's Etes Swollen (A. B.\—Vfe should recommend foryonr 

 fowls a thorough change of diet, and a course of castor oil, the heads 

 frequently washed with vinegar and water, and we should put camphor 

 in their drinking water. Baily's roup pills may be given with advantage^ 

 Wing Disease ns Pigeons (Fox). — Apply tincture of iodine, which yoa 

 may obtain of any chemist, and he will, according to the strength he 

 makes it, tell you how often it should be applied. In addition, attend in 

 every way to the health of your bird. 



Teaching a Parrakeet to Talk (J. A).— It you w.mt a bird to talk, 

 you must teach it by talking to it, saying the sauie word over and over 

 again, when the bird and you are aloue. Parmkcetrt are, however, moro 

 pleasing to the eye than to the ear. Far from fluent, yet they please by 

 their beauty, their graceful movements, and tbeir afTtrctionate di.spoeition. 

 Dri^tng Bees (/>. H.)— The instructions for uniting bep^ by driving, 

 given in " Bee-Keepinp for the Many," do not emhmce Hip removal of 

 the snpemumerniT queen, as the bees will tJieniselves usually fictile this 

 question in a satisfactory manner. A bee-veil aud gloves had better be 

 worn by a novice, althnagh these are quite unnecessary when tbo 

 operator is a skilled apiarian. 



Cooking Car: ooN6 [liev. iv. H). — Cut them in pieces 6 inches long, 

 and put them on a string; boil till tender, have ri*ady a piece of butter in 

 B pan, flour and fry them. They may also be fried in bundles and served 

 as asparagus, boiled on a toast, and butler poured over. Another method 

 is to cut them in pieces, take off the outside bkin, nnd wash and scald 

 them. Put them into a stewpan, add stock enoagh to eorer them, boil 

 till three parts done, and the liquor nearly reduced; then add a litt^a 

 bechamel, and stew them gently till done. Serve with sippeti of fritd 

 tread round the dish, and the cardoons In the ceatre. 



POULTRY lilARKET.— Decembeti 1. 



r. d. f. d. 



Large Fowls 3 to S 6 



Smallerdilto 2 6 SO 



Chickene 16 19 



Oeese 6 7 



DnckB 2 2 



FbessaLls i C 3 



Partridges 1 



Groase 2 



Pigeons 



Hirrs 2 



Rabbits 1 



WUd ditto « 



