December 9, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GAUDENEE. 



469 



be deceived, it was resolved to play a practical joke npon one 

 of the members of the household, who was known to be exceed- 

 ingly fond of honey. A piece of beautiful empty comb was 

 selected, and the cells neatly filled with codliver oil. It was 

 then placed in a situation where the lover of honey was sure to 

 find it. The result was juat as expected — the deception was 

 not perceived until the nauseous preparation had been taken 

 into the mouth, and you may be sure that the wry faces that 

 followed occasioned immense merriment to those who were 

 in the secret. Kaowinp; these facts, I have often thought that 

 it would be no very diflicult matter for unprincipled apiarians 

 to foist upon incompetent judges a spurious article. 



Hitherto I have refused to allow myself to be nominated as 

 a judge of honey where prizes are given ; but if I should at any 

 time be placed in that honourable capacity, I should certainly 

 insist upon exercising the sense of taste before making an award. 

 The prizes offered should be of sufficient value to compensate 

 exhibitors for any disfigurement of their glasses or supers. 



Whilst thus giving my opinion that sealed combs made 

 entirely from sugar may be of such beauty as to deceive the eye 

 of the most practised and competent judges, I must at the same 

 time confess that I know nothing of the fraudulent practices 

 that are said to prevail, having had no experience whatever 

 either in buying or selling honey. 



But I pass to another subject. In the interesting account 

 which Mr. Lowe gave in 18()6 of his experience of the Egyptian 

 bee, mention is made of drones making their appearance at a 

 very late period of the season in one of his colonies. I thought 

 at the time that it was one of the peculiarities of Apia fasciata. 

 His words are, " At this moment the Egyptian colony is with- 

 out exception the most populous in my apiary. The maturing 

 brood is still plentiful, young drones have again appeared. 

 The appearance of drones at the end of October is a perfect 

 anomaly with me. I have observed, however, that the young 

 larva; are now being dragged out." Drones in a healthy hive, 

 with a perfect queen, so late as the end of October are certainly 

 anomalous, but what will he think of drones in November ? 

 Pissing round my apiary on November 8th, I saw thorn coming 

 cut in great numbers from one of my hives. I naturally con- 

 cluded that the old queen had disappeared and given place to 

 another, which had failed in meeting a husband, and had there- 

 fore become a drone-breeder. To satisfy myself I opened the 

 hive on the following day and made an examination, but no 

 change had taken place — my old queen with clipped wings, 

 reared a year ago, was still present, active, and looking well. 

 The hive was crowded with bees and a large proportion of 

 drones, all the combs being well filled with honey. Yesterday 

 (November 22nd) the drones were out for an airing, and what 

 is very singular, no attempt has been made by the bees to expel 

 them. Will Mr. Lowe favour us, if possible, with an explana- 

 tion of the mystery ?—R. S. 



JOURNAL OF A LANCASHIRE APIARY. 



I ENCLOSE a copy of this year's entries in my bee journal, and 

 desire at the same time to tender my thanks to Mr. Pettigrew 

 for his "minted syrup," to "B. & W." for his little book, and to 

 "A Devonshire Bee-keeper" for his instructions "How to 

 drive bees." I begged three condemned stocks, drove them, and 

 joined the bees to my " keepers." The hive of my own, which 

 I broke up (No. 1), I treated in the same way. Wasps have 

 been a great nuisance this year, and have plundered a great 

 weight of honey. — J. H. B., The Fylde, Lancashire. 



No. 1, common hive, established June 18th, 1867. April Cth, 

 1369, weighed nett bees and honey, 37 lbs. June 28th, swarmed. 

 Eemoved stock, and put swarm in old stock's place as soon as 

 hived. Weighed the swarm at night, 7 J lbs. The stock did not 

 send out a second swarm. September, drove bees, and added 

 them on Mr. Pettigrew's plan to another stock. Found 25 lbs. 

 of honey in the hive, which I took. 



No. 2, common straw hive, established June, 18G7. 1869, 

 April 6th, weighed 34 lbs. nett. June 29th, swarmed. Treated 

 the swarm like No. 1. Weight of swarm at night, C lbs. There 

 was no second swarm. September, added bees from a driven 

 hive. October 9th, weighed 19 lbs. nets. October 11th, feed- 

 ing gave three bottles. 



No. 3, common straw hive, established June 18th, 18G8. 

 1809, April 6th, weighed 27 lbs. nett. June 1st, commenced 

 work in a small super. June loth, commenced work in a nadir 

 box hive. August lOth, took honey, 30 lbs. October 3id, fed 

 bees, ana added a driven stock. October 22ad, not yet weighed. 



No. 4, wood box hive, established June 18th, 18G8. 1869, 

 April 6th, weighed 23 lbs. nett. June 25th, swarmed; the 

 treatment the same as for No. 1. Swarm weighed 7 lbs. 

 10 0Z3. There was no second swarm. October 9tb, weighed 

 31 lbs. nett. 



No. 5, wood box hive, established July 1st and July 2nd, 1868, 

 from two second swarms joined. 1869, April -Sth, weighed 

 19 lbs. nett. June 25th, commenced work in super. August 

 12ih, removed super containiag 28 lbs. of the most beautiful 

 honeycomb. October 9th, weighed 22 lbs. nett. 



No. 7, square straw hive, established June 29th, 1869. Sep- 

 tember Ist, joined a driven stock. October 9 th, weighed 13* lbs. 

 nett. October 11th, feeding commenced. 



No. 8, square straw hive, established June 28ih, 1869. Sep- 

 tember 2nd, joined a driven stock. October 9th, weighed 

 21J lbs. nett. 



No. 9, square straw hive, established June 25th, 1369. Oc- 

 tober 9th, weighed 27J lbs. nett. 



Results of Year. — No. 1, honey, 25 lbs. ; swarms, one. 

 No. 2, honey, none ; swarms, one. No. 3, super honey, 30 lbs. ; 

 swarms, none. No. 4, honey, none; swarms, one. No. 5, 

 super honey, 28 lbs. ; swarms, none. Nos. 7, 3, and 9 are the 

 three swarms of this year. 



JiIODE OF INTRODUCING NEW QUEENS. 



YoDR correspondent who on the 25th of November gave an 

 interesting instance of queen encasements, may find in one of 

 the recent numbers of " The American Bee Journal " a con- 

 tribution from an able writer, in which he expresses the opinion 

 that queens are sometimes "loved to death." 



This leads me to remark that the latest German method of 

 introducing new queens appears to be a very excellent one. 

 The process is simple and speedy. Sprinkle the queen to be 

 introduced, and the stock in which she is to be placed, with 

 syrup strongly scented with grated nutmeg. Do this Uberally, 

 and allow a few minutes to elapse before disturbing the frames. 

 Then find the queen to ba removed, and place her, with a few 

 of her subjects, in a cage, in case of accident. At once place 

 the new queen upon one of the combs, and close the hive. 

 Next day an examination should be made to see that all is 

 right. I have made a very satisfactory trial of the plan, and 

 think it has no equal. 



This method possesses many advantages. The exchange is 

 effected in one operation ; no time is lost through the absence 

 of the queen, even for an hour ; and the bee-master who dis- 

 covered it states that the result is certain.— A. L., Reading. 



LIGURIANISING THE COMMON BLACK BEE. 



About seven o'clock in the morning of the 28th of October 

 I received a Ligurian queen and her attendants, but it was a 

 morning most unsuitable for bee operations, as the ice was an 

 inch in thickness ; in short, it was a bitterly cold day. The 

 bees after their long journey were very much chilled, indeed 

 they appeared lifeless ; but after being put into a warm room 

 for a while they soon came to, and were very lively. Although 

 it cost me a good deal of anxious thought, I am happy to state 

 that her yellow majesty was introduced to her black subjects 

 with perfect success. " My difficulty was this — the stock to 

 which I was about to introduce the queen was in a common 

 straw hive, and I could see no chance of capturing the black 

 queen, except by driving them, and to prevent loss of bees on 

 such a day what was to be done ? There is an old saying, 

 " Want is no shift," or " Where there is a will there is a way ;" 

 so I decided to have the bees brought into my kitchen, where 

 I succeeded in driving them into an empty hive ; and in search- 

 ing for the queen, which I captured in two minutes ; only 

 about three dozen bees flew to the window, all of which I 

 returned without losing a single bee. This was about 3 p.m , 

 and in an hour afterwards I found unmistakeable signs that 

 the bees had discovered their loss. I then introduced the 

 black queen to her old subjects, but first put her into a queen 

 cage, where I left her until about tight o'clock next morning ; 

 then I took her out, and again left the bees queenless until I 

 saw they had discovered their loss, which was about nine 

 o'clock. I then introduced her yellow majesty in the same 

 cage, and put her in the same place in the hive, and precisely 

 at ten o'clock I opened the prison door ; she was immediately 

 well received by her new subjects, and I need hardly say that 

 I feel very proud of mv success. 



1 may here state that the q-.een cage is made of fine wire 



