90 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAilDENEB. 



I July 23, 1874. 



tail feathers ; but they had roomy boxes, and their full liberty. 

 I agree with Dr. Morgan that white is the best colour by far, 

 and that neither neck nor tail should be coloured, but saddle- 

 back Fans are vei-y pretty, and in them neck and tail are, of 

 course, pure white. — Wiltshire Rectoh.] 



IS THIS A HONEY YEAE? 

 We have not yet obtained accounts from distant places, but 

 from all I have seen and heard, I believe that 1874 will be better 

 for honey than any of the six preceding years. March aud 

 the first half of April were very unfavourable for bees in this 

 part of the country, also the whole of May. This, together 

 with the weak state of the hives, made swarming late generally. 

 In June the weather took a more favourable turn for bees, 

 which have been doing moderately well ever since. From a 

 bee-keeping point of view, rain is much wanted in this locality ; 

 we have had one shower only for many months, and that shower 

 did not penetrate more than 3 inches deep. Here we have a 

 thin peaty soil resting on 12 or 15 feet of white sand and gravel. 

 Hence the fields are parched, and white clover is not yielding 

 honey so plentifully as it usually does in similar hot weather. 

 On heavier land where clover is more plentiful bees are doing 

 better. Still all are moving onwards ; swarms are filling their 

 hives, and old stocks that yielded them are now pretty well 

 filled with honey. We have turned-out a lot of ours from which 

 we get about 20 lbs. per hive of excellent honey. Though honey- 

 dew appeared on sycamore and oak trees the bees fortunately 

 did not touch it this year. I am encouraged to believe that 

 the honey harve&t will generally be large throughout Great 

 Britain and Ireland. Apiarians should take notes of observations 

 and results, and send them to the Editors. The practical work 

 of the bee-master is now to prevent swarming, by giving his 

 bees room enough in ekes, supers, aud nadirs. — A. Pettigrew. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Spanish Cocblerel's Face (Resitr(iam).—U it he true that the bird you 

 name is frnm really white- faced birdu, it will be tou ttoon to condemu him. 

 It ia, nevertheless, quite true tbat tbe youog cocks show tho white face low^ 

 before the piUlets, and the bird iu questioD should show it jjow. The white 

 should first bhow on the lower part of the face, and then gradually increase. 

 The last spot that remains red is immediately over the eye. This is the 

 same in cocks and puUets. 



Influence of the Weather {Doubtful).— V7e prefer the extreme heat 

 to either looK-ooutiuued rain or east wind. We do not beUeve this late 

 weather to have been injurious. Our chickens have done weU all the time. 

 The only inconvenience is they want their water frequently renewed. We 

 think water that has become tepid from standing iu the sun is very bad 

 for chickens. We have it renewed four times per day, aud the remainder 

 thrown over the grass. Nothing ia gained if the vessel is only hllel up. 



Bantam Chickens Chilled (O. W. i?.).— The chickens ought not to suiTer 

 from the storm if you wiU give them some bread and ale uight aud morning 

 for a few days. If it does not cure them you must give tiiem a strong decoc- 

 tion of camphor to drink, and let them have no other water. If they are 

 ripped in a damp place move them to a dry one, and, above all, choose a spot 

 well eipoeed to the sun. 



Poultry Farm {S. Q ).— There is no farm devoted to poultry in all Eflig- 

 land. Visit Lady Gwydyr's poultry-yard near Ipswich. 



DiSTiLLrNG Lavender and Rose Water (.V. Y. Z.). — Freshly-picked 

 lavender flowers, lib.; rectified spirit, three pints; macerate for two days, 

 and distil by the heat of a water bath. A few drops of essence of ambergris 

 may be added. For rose water mix 5 lbs. of rose petals with 3 fluid ozs. of 

 proof spirit and one gallon of water. Distil one quart only from the mixture. 



Linnets (7(;T(orawnis).~When intended to be reared by hand, they should 

 be taktn from the nest when about ten days old, or when the tail has be^un 

 to sprout. They may be fed on sopped bread mixed with mawseed (pr>ppy 

 seed), and a httle hard-boiled egg. Some persons use rapeseed; but if this is 

 employed it should be first scalded and then well-washed to deprive it of its 

 pungency. Rapeseed, however, we regard as much too pungent and oily to be 

 a wholesome food for birds in confinement. Hempseed, of which all birds are 

 very fond, is also too fattening and exciting, and should only be used 

 medicinally. The yooog, when hungry, will stretch up their heads and gape 

 open their mouths, when the food may be put in a small lump at a time by 

 means of a flattened stick or cut quill. They require feeding often, and care 

 must be taken that their food is never sour. You should have " The Canary 

 and Other Song Bii-ds." It contains fuller directions. For twenty postage 

 stamps you can have it post free from our office. 



Lebds OfiNiTHOLOGiriL SOCIETY.—" May I, as exhibitor at this Society's 

 Show held three months ago, ask, Are we to have our money either for prizes 

 or birds sold ? As the latt«r applies to my case, I shall be glad to know when 

 we may expect value for our property disposed of.— W. G. He.sry." 



Takjsg Honey from a HrVE (vl. F.).— The story you have heard about 

 turning up an old hive, placing it upside down a^ a little distance fi-om its 

 stand, aud lotting a new one on the board, and that if this be done all the 

 bees wDl leave tbe old one and go to the other, is a very foolish one, and 

 should not be believed The queens of hives thus treated would not leave 

 them, aod all the bees that forsook the old hives would be lost. Your batter 

 way will bo to drive the bees out of the hive into another at onoe, as the 

 season is far advanced, and help the bees to fill their new hive by a little 

 leeding. The price of one-third of the honey in the old hive will buy sugar 

 enough to enable the bees to fill a new hive with fresh beautiful combs. 



Losing Swarms (B. S. fl.).— Your frienda in Kent have been very un- 

 1 Ttunate in losing five swarms from sLt stocks, and these stocks are now so 

 full that the bees cover the front of their hives. Probably tho hives aud 

 supers oa them are well filled with honey, and there is but little space for 

 bleeding iu them. Yo'ir friends should either enlarge their hives by ekcing, 



or drive the bees wholly out of them into empty hives, and then take tho 

 honey. No bees should be allowed to hang about the dojrs iu clusters for 

 any length of time. If the bees were driven into empty hives now, and fed a 

 little, they would soon fill them with combs, and become another year mora 

 eligible for stocks than the present ones, if permitted to go on as they are. 

 There is no time to lose ; the sooner the bees have more room, the better it 

 wiU be for them aud their owners. 



Bees' Breeding Season (C. B".).— In answer to yonr inquiry, we have to 

 say that bees generally continue to breed as long as they gather honey. 

 About three weeks after honey- gathering ends most hives will be without 

 brood, and where bees are not taken to the moors, honey-gathering generally 

 ends eai'ly in August. If you wish the bees in the old hive to fill the new one 

 with combs, your better way will be to drive them at once, and sacrifice tho 

 brood in the black combs. Feeding the swarm in the new hive will cause the 

 bees to build combs, and fill them with brood. If you object to the sacrifice 

 of the brood, one-third of the bees could be left in the old hive to hatch it> 

 then unite to those in the new hive. 



HiTES Deseeted (F. R. L.). — There is no way of accounting for your bees 

 deserting their hive, if not from caprice. The other day a swarm of ours 

 readily accepted a hive, and at ooco commenced to build combs in it. It 

 continued at work in this hive for two days, and then deserted it. They 

 swarmed on a bu&h again, from which they were shaken into another hive, 

 and are there doing well. The deserted hive and combs wera gladly accepted 

 by another swarm. It is vexatious to lose swarms from whimsical notions 

 on their part, and this is not an uncommon thing. Many fugitive swarms 

 are seen iu this locaUty, and during this hot weather going in all directions. 



Honey Candying lA. Fisher). — It is natojal for all good honey to crys" 

 tallise and become solid. The houoy gathere I fi-om aom^ lljwjrs solidifies 

 sooner than that from other kinds of fljwors. It you prefer to eat it iu its 

 liquid state, you have only to put it in an oven oroa thejfee for a few minute?. 

 This will destroy its grittiness for a month or more. 



Bees Dying (A, F GodmnrtD.—YoxiT account of yoi^r b;eea is quite un- 

 precedented. You say you had " two unusually large ewarflis of bees on, 

 the 9th aud lOtb, which you hived into Neighbour's cottage hives, and found 

 both swarms all dead on tho following mornin,'." We can ouiy suppose one 

 of two causes: Either they were suffocated by the entrances not bemg open 

 (could this be the case ?J, or else the hives themselves were poisoned in some 

 way. So extraordioaty a circumistance is worth careful scrutiny. We sympa- 

 thise with your misfortune deeply. Can any of our readers throw light on t he 

 cause of this fatality ? 



Bees in Bar-hive {West Cheshire Subscriber). --'We fijad it advisable in 

 using bai'-framed hives to atiix a piece of comb to every alternate bar. The 

 " Woodbury-bar " has the lower angles rounded-ofi', with a central rib an 

 eighth of an inch iu breadth aud depth. This is bineared with melted 

 wax, and generally answers well. It is a good plan also to save old bars which 

 have had the combs regularly worked along them. The foundation of tbe 

 comb should bo left always oq these bars. A judicious altercate arrangement 

 of these with new bars iu a new hive will secure great correctness in the build- 

 ing of the combs. Half au inch is a good distauce from bar to bar, tbe bars 

 themselves bemg 1^ inch in width. If you write to ilr. Pettigrew, Sale* 

 Manchester, he will, no doubt, gladly show you his apiary. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camdqn S<iOARE, London. 

 riat.51**32' 40" N. ; Loag. 0" 8' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 

 15th. — A very fine warm day, rather stormlike, with wind about 6 p.m., but 



fine afterwards. 

 16th. — A much more pleasant day than lately, from there being more air and 



less heat. 

 17th.— A delightfully pleasant day, aud starlit night. 



iHth. — A very hoe day, as, though the sun was hot, there was a cool breeze. 

 19th. — A very fine hot day, but from there being very little movement in tho 



air the heat was rather oppressive. 

 20th. — Rather hazy morning, followed by the hottest day this year; towards 



the evening there was more wind, and the night was much cooler. 

 21st. — A very line day, though there was a very short shower at 0.30 p.m., and 



a cloudy evening, the temperature falling so much fxa to feel quite 



fresh and pleasant- 

 Another week of splendid summer weather, but without those thunder- 

 storms and that rain which usually accompany high temperature. On 

 several days there were indications of the existence of storms ia the neigh- 

 bourhood, but none reached this station. — C*. J. SxaioKS. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— July 22. 



Heatt supplies are to hand now in consequence of this bright sunny 

 weather, especially of bush fruit. The demand is also good, and prices hiYe 

 advanced for some descriptions during tho last few days. English Pines are 

 now in excess of the demand, aud we have to report the arrival of two more 

 cargoes of West Indian fruit. Hothouse Grapes are very pleutiful, but there 

 are very few among tbem approaching hrst-class. Very large arrivals of 

 Potatoes, but very little alteration in price. 



