July 2, 1874. ] 



JOUENAL OP HORTIOOLTDKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



21 



latter by the flowers on which the beea had been p;athering." 

 Professor Von Siebold was also stated, when inveBti;,'atiuK the 

 Becretiug organs of the bee, " to have discovered three entirely 

 distinct and very complicated systems of salivary glands with 

 separate excretory ducts." 



In the face of such testimony, and ■without clear evidence to 

 the contrary, it would be presumption to affirm nectar is de- 

 posited in combs in exactly the same condition as it is found 

 ■when gathered. But although changed in some respects, this 

 does not afford any ground for saying it requires to be " swal- 

 lowed twice" or ten times, to be converted into honey proper. 

 In wet unfavourable seasons honey is poor in quality, and if we 

 take the crude-like product of one hive and feed another with 

 it we shall find, on breaking up the fed hive, that the honey with 

 which it was supplied is still crude, and has not been perceptibly 

 altered by passing a second time through the receptacles of 

 bees. 



The experiment of getting supplies direct from the fields for 

 inspection was tried yesterday (.June 2Ctb). A frame with empty 

 comb was placed over the central aperture of a stock box during 

 the forenoon, and removed at 2 p.m. As expected, the new 

 honey brought in, when jerked from the cells into a glass vase, 

 was found to be thin and crude, but it was the veritable article. 

 It ■was almost identical with good honey when mixed with a 

 third part of water. To try the effect of evaporation the new 

 honey was placed under the fierce rays of a burning sun. At 

 the end of two hours it became quite consistent, lacking in no 

 property save aroma. It was sweet and thick, and all that could 

 be desired, flavour excepted, and this admits of explanation. 



But as bearing on the subject of " re-swallowing," I may men- 

 tion that Monday, June 1.5th, was the first storing day in my dis- 

 trict. At that date I had a unicomb observatory liive with stores 

 just exhausted. Foragers went out and brought back loads, many 

 of them going direct to the upper part of the comb, and putting 

 ■what they had gathered into the empty cells there. These 

 gatherings were carefully watched and scrutinised at intervals 

 both by night and day. No attempt was made to remove them ; 

 they remained in the cells where they were first lodged, and as 

 the weather proved favourable, had additions made to them 

 daily. I remarked that sealing did not immediately follow the 

 filling of the cells, and that it took place on the side of the 

 comb exposed to the sun's rays two days sooner than on the side 

 opposite. Whilst the cells remained open I also observed as 

 a constant occurrence a bee dip its proboscis into half a dozen 

 or more cells in succession, and apparently lick up the water 

 which, being lighter than honey, had come to the surface or 

 outside. The amount of water obtained in collecting honey is 

 greater than I imagined, and the quantity doubtless explains 

 why bees are not seen going in summer, as they do in spring, to 

 pools and marshy places for a supply. I am therefore of opinion 

 that " re-swallowing " is not needed for the manufacture of good 

 honey ; that proof of the alleged fact is wanting ; that the 

 specific gravity of honey tends to bring its watery particles to 

 the front, where they can be evaporated by the heat of the hive 

 or appropriated for use by the bees ; and that nectar when col- 

 lected only requires to have the water separated from it to 

 become rich consistent honey. — R. S. 



BEE-KEEPER'S CALENDAR FOR JULY. 



In ■writing a calendar one is always beset ■with the diflieulties 

 and differences of early and late seasons, as well as early and 

 late localities. In 1868 bees were gathering great stores from 

 heather on the 24th of July. Some three years after that year 

 the heather was just bursting into bloom about the 20th of 

 August. Kent, Dorset, and other southern counties of England 

 are much earlier than Lancashire and Cheshire, and these are 

 much earlier than many counties of Scotland. Last year in the 

 north of Aberdeenshire some of the best hives did not swarm 

 till July, and some of the swarms rose in weight to 70 lbs., 

 80 lbs., and 100 lbs. each. The season there was favouralile for 

 honey-gathering; also in the Holderness district of Yorkshire 

 and some parts of Norfolk. In 1842, bees in Middlesex and Hert- 

 fordshire continued to store-up honey till the eud of September, 

 whereas in most seasons honey-gathering there is over by the 

 eud of July. Generally speaking, white clover yields honey until 

 the end of July, and heather up to the middle of September. 



In writing this calendar the aim is to give the readers a firm 

 hold of principles, or, in other words, the " why and wherefore," 

 rather than an enumeration of details of management, knowing 

 well that sound principles intelligently understood will make 

 them superior to all the difficuUies and exigencies of their 

 apiary. 



Where bees are not removed to the moors swarming should 

 not be continued this month, and where they are annually taken 

 to grouse land, swarms may be taken up to the end of the first or 

 second week. Late swarming is objectionable for this reason, 

 that the young queens left in the stock hives are so many days 

 iu their cells, and so many days after they are hatched (about 

 three weeks altogether), before they begin to lay, that the honey 



season ends before they have bred beea enough for ■winter. 

 Hence the desirability of preventing late swarming. 



Before I come to the various modes adopted to prevent 

 swarming, let me call attention to the importance of examining 

 old stock hives before their young queens commence to lay. 

 Three weeks after their first swarms have left them the combs 

 should be free from brood. A few drone cells may have healthy 

 young brood in them till the twenty-fourth day, but if the 

 centre combs of the hive have a few cells of worker comb un- 

 hatched, and these cells have scooped lids, suspect foul brood. 

 Examine thoroughly, and if this disease exists in a hive, the 

 bees should be driven out of it into an empty one. All the 

 healthy brood has been hatched, and foul brood is an incur- 

 able distemper which paralyses all the activity of bees. The 

 seasons to examine hives for foul brood are when there is no 

 healthy brood in the combs — viz., three weeks after the old 

 queens leave the hives, and at the end of the breeding season, 

 say September. 



Old hives and second swarms are exposed to a danger by their 

 queens going off on their marriage tours when they are but a 

 tew days old. Many of them never return. In what way they 

 are lost no one can tell. The swarms that thus lose their queens 

 are thrown into a state of wild excitement, and for some days 

 their loss is manifested by their paroxysms of grief and loud 

 lamentations. Such swarms should be furnished with queens 

 from other hives, otherwise they will dwindle away. When 

 the bees of mother hives and second swarms are seen to kill 

 their drones, the apiarian may know that their queens are safe 

 and properly fertilised. Drone-killing generally begins about 

 ten days after young queens have commenced to lay. The 

 general massacre of drones takes place at the end of the honey 

 season. 



We now come to notice the various modes of enlarging hives 

 to prevent swarming. In favourable seasons for bees the hives 

 of early swarms and their mother hives, as well as weak stocks 

 that have never swarmed at all, are, generally speaking, well 

 filled early in July, and should then be enlarged by ekes, nadirs, 

 or supers. These, properly used, will prevent bees from swarm- 

 ing, and give them ample scope for building combs to hold both 

 brood and honey. In all hives meant for stock for another year, 

 breeding should now be promoted to the uttermost, for hives 

 filled with brood in July and August will be strong and populous 

 during next winter and spring. Now is the time to lay the 

 foundation of success in 187.5. 



Eking is the best mode of enlarging hives ■where run honey 

 is the object sought. Straw ekes or riddle-rims about 4 inches 

 deep, and of the same width as the hives, placed beneath them, 

 make them about one-fourth larger, without any complications 

 whatever. Eking is the most natural and simple mode of en- 

 largement, and the most certain to prevent swarming. When 

 bee-keepers come to know that bees usually gather 6 lbs. in ekes 

 for every 4 lbs. in supers, eking will become more general in 

 England. It is practised extensively iu Scotland, where run 

 honey is largely consumed. 



Nadiring is now well known to be the opposite of supering. 

 Nadiring is accomplished by placing empty hives beneath full 

 ones, and is adopted to secure both honey and stocks. The bees 

 come through the crown holes of nadirs, and fill or partly fill 

 these with combs, carrying most of the honey into the upper 

 hives. At the end of the season the bees are driven below 

 from the upper hives, which are put down for run honey. 



Amongst amateurs, stipering is the moat popular mode of en- 

 larging hives. Pure honeycomb is the suminiun honujn in bee- 

 keeping to many people. Some letters on the art of supering 

 appeared in this Journal last autumn. They compassed the 

 whole subject, and might be read again at this season of super- 

 ing with permanent advantage. 



Supers of various sizes are made of wood, straw, and glass. 

 Wood and straw supers are cheaper and more convenient than 

 glass. When glass ones are used they should be covered thickly 

 with wool or other materials. A hive or box fitted over a glass 

 super is not enough. Whichever kind is used, and whenever 

 used, the bees should be tempted to enter them at once, and 

 commence work. A bit of guide comb in the top of every super, 

 and a wood ladder to it, will enable the bees to reach the top 

 easily. It should be borne in mind that supers do not always 

 prevent swarming, and often iu the hands of inexperienced 

 people they do not even hinder it. Many swarms are lost and 

 hives injured by ineffectual attempts at supering. Drone combs 

 should be used as guides in supers; and all traffic between 

 them and the outside world should be made through the hives 

 on which they are placed — no doorway but one. Only the house- 

 maids with clean feet and pure honey should enter supers. As 

 soon as supers are filled they should be taken off, and empty 

 ones put on. In bar-frame hives the bars of comb filled with 

 honey should be removed, and empty ones put in their places. 



Late swarms should be well attended to during the first ten 

 days of their separate existence. Special attention and kindness 

 to them are amply rewarded. A few half-pounds of sugar given 

 at this time enable the bees to buiid comb rapidly, and as rapidly 



