JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t July 2, 1871. 



fill it with brood. This brancb of bee-management is less under- 

 stood and attended to than many others. It is of the greatest 

 possible importance to the bee-master to keep his swarms in a 

 state of progress. For a little outlay in sugar he will receive in 

 return " good measure pressed down, and running over." In 

 June and July, swarms have a passion for comb-building and 

 hatching brood. The sooner hives are filled with combs and 

 brood the better, for early swarms, ekes, nadirs, and supers are 

 frequently required. Three or four years ago my best swarms 

 filled large hives and supers of 30 lbs. each afterwards. 



By the end of this month many bee-keepers will be making 

 arrangements for taking their industrious servants to the moors. 

 The first journey to beginners is often a sad one; combs are 

 shaken down, and the bees smothered. Amongst "The Private 

 Thoughts " of an excellent clergyman, the Rev. Thomas Adams, 

 ■we find one touching the loss of a cow which died ; he wrote 

 these words, "This morning I am a cow poorer but a thought 

 richer." Of how many bee-keepers on their return journey may 

 it be truly said, " They are some hives poorer but a thought 

 richer." All such disasters would be avoided if cross-sticks in 

 hives were used, and thorough ventilation secured. The doors 

 and crown holes should be covered with fly-proof wire, and the 

 hives securely nailed to their boards. Hives thus fastened will 

 travel by road or rail one hundred mQes without injury or the 

 loss of a bee. 



The harvests of honey gathered on the moors are often very 

 great. Strong hives have been brought home 50 lbs., 60 lbs., 

 and 70 lbs. heavier than when taken ; but the wear and tear of 

 such work destroys bee-life to a lamentable extent. We have 

 taken hives with 10 lbs. of bees in them, and with brood from side 

 to side, to the moors ; and after gathering 50 lbs. each, they have 

 come home with less than 3 lbs. of bees. Forty thousand or 

 fifty thousand bees per hive have been lost on the lieather. How 

 can such an enormous loss of bees be accounted for ? Well, 

 when honey is in the flower bees will have it, will risk their 

 lives to get it. In August hives become stored with honey, the 

 space for brood is contracted, less work and fewer bees at home, 

 more outdoors wearing out their lives with hard labour, and 

 exposing themselves to sudden showers which frequently bring 

 them to the ground by thousands. Thus they perish on the 

 altar of their own industry. Some seasons are not so hurtfal to 

 hives as others. Mild weather and moderate work are not so 

 destructive to bees ; but the hives that are not taken to the 

 moors are, generally speaking, fuller of bees and better for 

 stocks than those that have been there; besides, heather honey 

 increases the mortality of bees during winter; clover honey is 

 more healthful. — A. Pettigbew, Sale, Cheshire. 



QUEEN BREEDING IN SUPERS. 



Last autumn one of your correspondents in the north wrote 

 you advising the use of perforated zinc with holes three-eighths 

 of an inch wide between stock hives and supers to prevent the 

 queen bee breeding in the latter. He kindly sent me a pattern 

 of the zinc, and I promised to let him know how it answered 

 with me, but I was taken ill and unable to try it. I am now 

 fitting it to my new frame hives, and should be glad to hear the 

 experience of any of your correspondents who may have tried 

 it, and if there are any objections to its use. I lost a fine super 

 of honey, taken 4th of June, for want of some such preventive 

 of the queen breeding in supers. — A YouN« Apiabun. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Poultry House (Jrisk Suiscrilcr)— The space you name (13 feet by 15' 

 •would accommodate twenty fowls if they have an unlimited run outside, or Lf 

 they have a large one. Ihere lA plenty of space and air for that number, 

 especially as the house can be ventilated under the roof. If, however, the 

 outside run is limited and confined in space, not more than eight or ten 

 fowls can be kept in such a h<iuse. They use it in the daytime much more 

 than they would if they were able to roam at will. The word " unlimited," as 

 applied to a fowls' run, is f-o significant and so suggestive of space, that we 

 will say we should not consider fowls confined if they had one or two acres to 

 run over, especially if the surface of the ground be a broken one, covered 

 with grass and shrubs. To fit up your bouse, the door should be in one 

 comer; the perches should be within 24 inches of the ground, aud runnmg 

 from side to side of the house, protected from draught by being put away 

 from the door. The flooring must be of earth. It may be hardened by chalk 

 mixed with it; this enables it to be swept with a birch or other hard broom. 

 It should slant from the back every way to the door. The floor should be at 

 leastGiuchts higher than the ground on which the house stands. There 

 should be windows for light and air. If glazed, they should be made to open ; 

 if made of wirework they should have shutters. They require to be open in 

 summer, closed in winter. Glass is best. 



Ground Oats — TbesoiLple of ground oats you have sent is very good. 

 Tt is such as is used for pjultry in the great rearing districts (f Sussex. If 

 you refer to our poultry advertisements you will see where the article is to be 

 Irad and the terms. 



UNiiiNO Bees by Smoking {A Constant Reader). — It is rather surpris- 

 ing to bear of bees bemg unaffected by smoke from both fustian and puif 

 bail. We have never found any that could not he mastered by such 8m..ke, 

 and cannot suggest any rt-ason why your neighbour's bees were not subdued 

 like your own. Perhaps some comb or hindrance at the door prevented the 

 smoke from enteriog the liive, the bets of which were furious. On one 

 occasion we asked a young man to smoke a hive which we were about to 



swarm artificially. He apparently did so, but on tuming-up the hive tlis 

 bees rose like a cloud iu our face and stung very severely. The smoke 

 had not entered the hive. When the infuriate bees had settled we took the 

 smokiug fustian m our own hands, subdued the bees, and swarmed theia 

 quietly enough. 



Bkivi.vo Bees (Obliged Subscriber).— U the old st-ick hive has honey 

 enough iu it to make it worth while to obtain it, we drive the bees out on the 

 twenty-first day from swarmiug, whether a second swarm has issued or not. 

 If second swarms have been had, the turn-outs will form smaller swarms, 

 and should be put iu smaller hives. The combs will be without brood three 

 weeks after artificial swarming. 



bWAHM Desekti.vo its Htve (Hem).— The large artificial swarm that 

 remained only tveuty -four hours in the hive probably had a queeu, and re- 

 turned to the old hive from caprice. Sometimes swarms are whimsical, and 

 act in a very unaccountable manner. They leave their hives and gladly 

 accept fresh ones. Oue swarm of ours was hived in three different new hivea. 

 It left them all. In your cave the queen may have been injured and lost. 

 But drive again if the queen be living, no harm has been done. The oue 

 hundred bees that continue in the 20-inch hive were young ones just hatched 

 when driven-up with the swarm. They did not know the way back, and had 

 not sense or power to follow the swarm. 



METEOBOLOOICAL OBSEKVATIONS, 



Cauobm Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0' 8' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



BEMARE3. 



24th. — Heavy rain in early morning; thunder about 11 a.m., and again at 

 oPM.; fair after 4 P.M. 



25tli. — Fine morning, but windy; frequent showers at intervals in the after- 

 part of the day, with mneh wind. 



26th. — Bull, cold, rainy, and disagreeable all day. 



27th. — Bull zuorniug; bhowery forenoon; afternoon and evening fine, but 

 rather close. 



28th. — Morning fair but dull ; forenoon showery ; afternoon moderately fine ; 

 rain again iu the evening. 



29th. — Fine moruiug, showers in the forenoon ; fair but rainlite in the after- 

 noon, and ruin in the evening. 



30th. — Very fine muruing, forenoon, and afternoon; but clouded over with 

 higU wind before C p.m. 

 Rain almost daily, aud at timea rather heavy, but no storms here. Tempe- 

 rature generally abuvu that of last week, but weather much less pleasant. — 



G. J. SiMuNS. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— June SO. 

 Business remains tolerably firm, and very little change has taken place 

 duriug the week; the weather, however, has materially iufluenced the trade 

 in strawberries, they having been much icjured aLd deteriorated by the 

 heavy rains; ihe later sorts, however, will be greatly benefited by them. Heavy 

 jmpurtatious continue of Cherries, Apricots, &c., and especially of Potatoes 

 jroin the Channel Islands aud elsewhere. 



PBUIT. 



Apples i sieve 



Apricots tloz. 2 



tnerries fib. 1 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants i bieve 4 



blttcH do. 



Figs doz. 6 



Filuerts lb. 1 



(Jobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries quart 6 



Uraptis, hothouse.... lb. 



Lemons ** 100 



Melons each 



B. d, B, d. 

 OtoO 



Mnlberriea i^lb. t* 



. d. B. d. 



OtoO U 



4 Nectannes doz. 8 18 



•Ji G 













 12 



1 6 



OrauKes ^ lUO 4 IB 



Pebches doz. 10 21 



Pears, kitchen doz. 



dessert doz. 



PineApples lb. 4 8 



Plums j sieve 



9 



6 1 



8 la I 



Quinces Uoz, 



Kaspberries lb. 6 u 9 



Stiawbenies ** lb. 1 U 3 



, "Walnnta bushel 10 16 



I ditto fioo a a 



Artichokes doz. 



Aspura-jas ^100 8 



ifreuch 



Beans, Kidney.... 1*10' 2 



oroad bushel 6 



Beet, Ked doz 1 



Bruccoh bundle 



Cabbage doz. I 



Capsicums ^ lOO 



U.^r lilts bunch U 



Cauutlower doz. V! 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworta. . doz. bunches 2 



Cucumbers each U 



picaUng duz. 



Endive doz. U 



Feiiuel bunuh 



(.iariio lb. 



tlerbs bunch 



Horberadish bundle S 



Leeks bunch 



VEGET.iBLE9, 



d. a.d. 

 Qto6 U 



Lettuce doz. 



MtisUruoma pume 



Mustard & Cress. .punnet 

 Onions bubhel 



pickling quart 



Parsley pur doz. bunches 



Parsnips duz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



New V lb. 



Kadlahes., doz. bunehea 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy bundle 



Scorzonera bundle 



dea-bale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vexetabie Marrows ..doa. 



B. d. 8. d< 



1 to a u 



^ U 3 



1 



2 U 



