68 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTURB AND COTTAGE OABDENEB* 



{ Jnly 16, 1874. 



another. From the honey of field mustard (Sinapia arvensis) 

 the comhs are very yellow indeed. The soiled feet of the bees 

 may help to yellow the combs while working on that flower. 

 The combs built from honey gathered from beans are very 

 white. In the case of beans the feet of bees do not touch the 

 farina of the flowers. The petals of beans are pierced at their 

 bottom, and the honey is sucked through the holes thus made. 

 White clover yields very clear aud excellent honey, but the 

 combs built from it are not so white as those built from the 

 brown aud coarser honey gathered on the moora. Indeed, 

 treacle, when given to bees, yields a much whiter comb tban 

 refined sugir. I think it is Huber who states that sugar yields 

 moie comb than honey, wheu given to bees weight for weit^ht. 

 I am not able to confirm or contradict the statement. All I 

 can say on this point is that a few half-pounds of sugar given to 

 a swarm help it very much, whether it is gathering honey or not. 

 One more thougbt on this subject, aud I shall have done. 

 "Wax is a voluntary product of bees. Than this fact there is 

 nothing more wonderful in bee history. When they want wax 

 they produce it ; they manufacture it at home speedily. Liebig 

 was wrooK in paying that it ** took thirty-eight hours to convert 

 honey into wax." Btes commence to build combs a few hours 

 after they are hived. Oar artificial swarms build combs as large 

 &i a child's hands in less than ten hours. Frequently in a 

 shorter time than that they have pieces of comb built aa large as 

 a watch frtce. "When ventilated too much on tbeir way to the 

 moiirs, a journey of two or three hours, they often lessen the 

 ventilation by daubing white wax on the wire over the crown 

 hole. The mystery of this voluntary secretion of wax will 

 in my opinion be for ever veiled from the ken of mortals. 

 — ^A. Pettigrew. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Game Bantams f(3. H). — The report was written by one perfectly dieir- 

 tercHted aud qualified. If you are of the opininn jou mentioD, write to the 

 par' y yu wiwh to challenge to public competiciou. 



Split Peas for Pigeons, &c. iEcopias). — We have seen Pigeons eat bnth 

 split jieaM aud heauB, but they are not so suitable to the formation of their 

 throam, anil, theieicre, not so pJeafant for them to RwalJow If whole beaos 

 OP peas were put by the side of split, they would leave the latter for the 

 former. It matterB not as t-i food whether the p»aR are white or brown, but 

 the brown are much the cheaper. A stamp ou the wine of a Piyeon, and on 

 it the owntr'suame, ou^ht to and would at once disqualify the bird. Other es- 

 hibitors would, and rightly, be up in arnjs. Suppos-intj some great exhibitor, 

 say Mr. Fultun or Mr. Yardley, put their names on their birds, we scarcely 

 think tbeie would he a second show. If you can mark your birds in some 

 veiy niiiiute wny — for instance, clipping, as we Lave known the point off 

 one certain feather on one wing, a ^maller not a liri^e wing-feather — then 

 the mark Would not be noticed, and, cfinf^cqnently not be objectionable, and 

 at the fame time the owner would be able to identify his birds. 



Drivtno Bkes lApis) — If you wish the bees in your old stock to fill 

 another hive this year, the sooner they are driven into it the better. 



Adding an Eke iBosa n^.l— The hive with a glass super on it could be 

 eahiij eked. Fij st give the bees come smoke fmm old cotton rags or toba'-co, 

 then Ii(t it oS the biiard, put thetbeinita place, and the hive on the eke. 

 But it this be doue the btes will commence fo fill the eke rather than thegUsa 

 super. Jf the weather continue for ten days more as favourable aa it has 

 been for the lat-.t week, your bees may fill buth eke and super. 



Bees not Swarming lA Constant Readi'r).—\Ye advise you, if possible, 

 to prevent your bees swarming now. It. is much too late in the senson. 

 Should ihej swarm, tou had better drive them as usual, and put the swarm 

 in the parent hive's place. Then turn-up the old hive and cut away all the 

 rojal cells you <^an wee. Then return the swarm and put the hive back asain 

 as before. We cannot account for the absence of drones, except on the sup- 

 potitidp that the bees destroyed them early, and have no intention, of 

 8*armiiig. ^^ 



Driving Bees (TT. Clarke).— Jt yon want to put the beea in a freoh hive 

 and get th<r huufy from the old one, you may turn them out on the day you 

 have named : then help the turn-outs, by feeding, to make ajmbs and one or 

 two hatches of brood. Laie Bwarmers are now heavy, and will jield a great 

 deal of honry. 



Cnosa Sticks in HrTES (T. (3.1— Without croBS stickB in common hives 

 the combs aie tat-ily diMtnrbed and shaken down. It is dangerous to turn up 

 or remove hives without them. Thpy are generally made to run from fide t.. 

 side o! a hive ; atd the guide comb is used to induce the bees to buili their 

 combs from Jront to back, thus crossing all the sticks to which the bees 

 fisien them. 



Driving Bees fZ'fcm.l.— Yon are right In thinking that it would he less 

 trouble to drive artificial swarms into the hives prepired for them, but we 

 like to he cer'ain that the queens are with the swaims, and hence we drive 

 them into hives without sficks, so that we can have a full view <>t the swartns. 

 Wben driven intti hives with cross sticks the bees hang in clustt-rs on thera, 

 mkiug it a d its cult matter to seethe queens. As soon as the queens are 

 B . n we give the hives a sudden shake or violent thump, caupiug every bee to 

 lone its f.ioth.'ld, and in an instant throw them into other hives prepared with 

 Btick-^ and guide combs. If yi.u do not look for the queens (and many 

 begiuuers do not), in artificial swarming, the bees should be driven into the 

 hived prepared fur them at once. 



Bees not Swarming (A Youvg .^pmn'on).— No one can tell why your 

 hive has not caHt<.ff asecond Bi*arm. lieesMwarm more readily some seasons 

 than others, and snmetimes hives are prevented bv wea'her irom swaraiiug 

 when they are ready, ana have young queens sot. The que»ns have to be torn 

 out, thoiigli the bees are clustering out all the tima Bear in mind that 

 th'fugh fir^t hwarms aiethe prolucts of full hives, neoond swarms are nut. 

 Frecpieiitly Kfomd Hwarms are obtained from hives tha'. are not full of bee-. 

 The will ,il bet-H has to be considered in both first imd t-econd pwarrap; but 

 in the cubo ul the latter it la mon the coadition oi queeoa thaa in fix«b ones. 



If second swarms are not obtained a few days after the young queens cnme to 

 maturity, they will not be obtained at all, though the bees may hang out in a 

 cluster as large aw a man's hat. We advite ym never to let been waste their 

 time long in clustering outside their hives. Either Bwatm artificially at the 

 proper time, or enlarge your hives. 



Driving Bees out of a Scper {Tipperary Subscriber). — By blowing 

 smoke into supers rather vigorously bees lun below. Sometimes a few decline 

 to leave supers. The slighteMt touch of sulphur amongst the burning rags 

 will make tbtm go off; but it must be used with tte greatest caution and 

 moderation, for if given in strength it will kill the bees amongst the combs 

 in an instant. Dead bees amongst honeycombs areall but immoveable. The 

 cure i>* woise tban the diKeaee. Drive all the bees you cao t ut of the supers, 

 take them off, place them in a cellar ur room, and the beea will fly to the 

 window. 



Setaratino Honey from the Comb (Idem), — We do not practise Lang- 

 stroth's mode of boiling full combs to separate honey and wax by one opera- 

 tion, and we should not advise you to f-'Uowhis suggestion. Better lay the 

 combs, which have been some weeks without bees, in milk-pans bi-fore a fire 

 tilt they are warmed a little ; then run the honey by the usual proc< ss, but ia 

 warmiug the combs take care not to mvlt them by the heat of tbe fire. It ia 

 mi'cti better to run the honey from combs while they retain their natural 

 heat. 



Moth in Fur of Stags' He.4.ds (J. W.) 

 diluted carbolic acid. 



-Sprinkle them thoroughly with 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



OA.MDRN SQtTiRE, LONDON. 



Lat.Sr 32'40'' N. ; Loog. 0' d' 0" W. ; A'tifcuH*- ill feet. 



REMARKS. 



8tb.— Fair, but dark and hazy morning; fine pleasant day; and starlight 



night. 

 9th.— Very fine hot day; lightning in S.W. at night. 

 lUth. — Very hot. rather hiyh wiud ; li^^htniug in E. and W. at 8 p.m. ; thunder 



at 9 p M. ; tuunder shower abuut H p JI, 

 11th. — Fine moruiiig, but soon cloudiug over ; very cloudy after 3 P M. ; thunder 

 2 to 5 P M. ; aud lightuii.g in tl. at 4, and mure ur luss till 7.30 p.m.; 

 heavy rain 7 to f P.M. 

 12th. — Very fine throughout, though looking stormy about 8 p.m. 

 13ch.— Kaiher hazy inoiniiig ; very line af lerwards. 

 14th. — Flue, warm, summer day. 

 Warmest week this year, prevailing wind westerly. — G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Joly 15. 

 Brisk demand for and good supply of the usual sorts of bush fruit; a large 

 quantity beiug takeu to the north, so tbat the markets geuerally are iie^t 

 cleared. There is again a large cargo of West ludiati Piues of good quality 

 on the market, aud these havu much reduced tha demand fur hume-^rowu. 

 Black aud White Grapes are very plentiful, but do not reach the usual 

 btandard in appearance. 



FRUIT. 

 B. d. 8. d. 



Apples J sieve 1 Otol 6 



Apncots Uoz. 2 4 



Cherr es t^ lb. 1 a 



CbeMtnotB bushel 



Currants i ftieve 4 



Black do. 5 



Figs do2. 6 12 



Kiiberta 1". 10 16 



Cobs lb. 1 16 



Gouseberries quart G 9 



Grapes, bothoube.... lb. 1 6 6 



Lem..nH r- 100 8 12 



Oleiona each 4 8 



Mulberries V lb. 



Nectarin«8 duz. 



Oranaea ** li)0 



s. d. s. d. 



[> OtoO 



sou 







Peaches doz. 10 31 



Pears, kitchen doz, 



deasert doe. 



PiueApplea lb. 2 



Plums J 8i«vo 



Quiuues doz. 



Hiiapberries lb. 



Strawberries ^ lb. 1 



WaUiutrt buhhel 10 



ditto ■#»'100 a 



VEGETABLES, 



Artichokes doz. b 



Aaparag .s %• 100 4 



I'teufb -.. . 



Beaus, Kidney.... Tf^ 10 2 



nroal bm-hel 4 



Beet, Ked uui 1 



Brt'CCoU bundle 



Cabbage di>z. 1 



Cnp-i*-um8 If liiO 



('airof-H bnnob 



Tau jflower doz, 2 



t'elir.y bundle 1 



Coifwnrts . duz, tiuucbuB 2 



Cucuuibcrs eaub 



pifkliug doz 



Fnrtive (iua. 2 



teMiel bnueb 



(iuri o lb, 



Herbs ....buLch 



Hiirneradiab buixlle 8 



l^eeka biuioli 



Otoe 



8 















8 



Lettuce doz. 



Muonruuma punie 



Muetard dc Cress.. punnet 

 Unions bushel 



pickling quart 



Paruley per doz. boucheb 



Parsnips doz. 



Pean quart 



Potatoes busuel 



Kidney do. 



New ^ lb. 



Badiuhee.. duz buuubea 



Bhubuib. liuudlo 



:jttlaufy bit Utile 



Scorzuuera buudU 



riea-kalb banket 



shallotB lb, 



bpiuuch buHhel 



luiiititoes (tuz. 



luruipB bUM<ih 



VegetablQ Marrows ..doz. 



a d. B. d. 

 1 uti>2 

 -i 



2 

 S 







7 





 4 



1 G 

 1 G 

 6 U 



8 

 u 

 1 6 

 I 

 U 

 

 

 u 



i 



