112 



JOUBNAL OF HORTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENKB. 



f July 30, 1874. 



a miseraMe condition at the close of the winter. Our stocks 

 and the stocks of those who mauaiiie their apiaries on the best 

 principles, were very healthy and strong at the close of the 

 winter, whilst our neighbours, who give neither thought nor 

 care to their bees, lost many of their hives ; and although I think 

 they deserved to lose them, I do not infer that " B. & W." lost 

 his hives from neglect. It was a great pity that such fine supers 

 as he speaks of should have been sacrificed for feeding pur- 

 poses. I think sugar-syrup would have been better, and also 

 much cheaper. If " B. & W." would try sugar-synip next time 

 he feeds he will nee the advantage it has over honey-feeding, 

 more especially over good super honey. — W. C. 



HONEYDEW. 

 Tour able correspondent, " B. & W.," is fond of breaking a 

 lance with Mr. Pettigrew, but he cannot surely intend doing so 

 on behalf of houeydew ; and yet, to the astonishment, I doubt 

 not, of many of your readers, he speaks of " extensive honey- 

 dews " as among the blessings which have been denied him this 

 summer. I have long come to Mr. Pettigrew's conclusion, that 

 the blight called honeydew is " a great nuisance to bee-keepers," 

 and that " it is a great pity that bees touch it at all." To this I 

 may add that I have observed it to have an exciting and almost 

 intoxicating effect apon bees, making them extremely quarrel- 

 some. — E. H. R. 



HOW TO MAKE A BEE HIVE. 



Take inch plank, let it be smooth, 28 by 18 inches square, for 

 the bottom ; saw out of the centre a piece 6 inches square ; cover 

 this with wire cloth. Make a slide for the under side, so as to 

 give ventilation according to the weather. Let the side pieces 

 be the same length, 12 inches wide, and set these on the bottom. 

 Nail from the under side, letting one be 1 inch from the edge. 

 This is for the bees to have a place to light on. Make an entrance 

 under this for the bees to go in. Take strips, 2 inches wide, 

 and nail on the outside at top on the side board, extending above 

 1 inch. Hang the frames inside of this on the top of the side 

 board. For frames, take strips three-quarter by IJ wide, 10 inches 

 long; for the end pieces, for bottom and top, 1 inch wide; 

 bottom piece 15 inches long; top piece 2 inches longer, extending 

 1 inch over each end piece, when nailed together. Nail through 

 the top into the end and through the end into the bottom piece. 

 For a guide, take a triangular piece, tack it on the under side of 

 the top piece. Cut out end boards 12J inches wide, and hang 

 on just like the frames. 



Nest is a covering for the top ; put this on with hinges on the 

 front side, and fasten on the other with a latch, or a weight on 

 the top will do. When complete, the frames should be a quarter 

 of an inch smaller than the hive inside, giving room for the bees 

 to pass around. When you wish to open this hive, unfasten the 

 latch, raise the lid, slip off the end boards, and all is open to 

 inspection. 



To put a swarm in this hive raise the lid, put one end board 

 in place, then seven frame?, and then the other end board. Put 

 a board or cloth on the top of the frame, raise up one end board 

 3 inches, empty the beea close to this opening as you can. When 

 they all go in, let down the end board, take the board or cloth 

 off of the frames, let down the lid, and you have them. As they 

 fill up, put in more frames. You can make frH,mes larger or 

 smaller, according to your fancy. The principle is the same as 

 Mr. B. M. Qninby's, but the hive differently constructed. — R. H, 

 PiTLE. — {Frairie Farmer.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



I1.4BB1TS fS. Ertityn Wlntc.>. — Tour FLabhH<i ara suffering from too mnch 

 watery fond, cr it may be from dump-liutches. Give more soU3 and less 

 'watei'y (ooil. atnl season ifc with salt, liraploycon'liment'5 corapused of lenvea 

 of heather, jnniptr, lage, wormwood, thyrrfi, and ;?rR6a parsley, dried aud 

 powdered. If the hutcbea era dump they must bo juada driei'. 



Leeds Ohnit ho logical Sooikty. — '-I was also an exhibUor afc Leeds, 

 whtiro I showed a pair of Pouters, which were sold, but I have not receivftd 

 any money for them, though I have made aeveral applications for it. — H. W. 

 Webb, Sydenham^' 



Eemoving Bees to the Heather (J. W. Fitzgerald). — We are pleased 

 to hear you succeeded bo well in driving tho bees from your hive on the 

 twenty-first day after swarming, and that you obtained 30 lbs. of honey. If you 

 remove the bees to the heather they will, weather permitting, gather stores 

 enough lor the winter. Our beea are abiMit two miles from a sea of heather, 

 but tbey do not go to it. If you want honey in quantity we advise you to 

 remove the bees to the heath at the end of July ; if you merely wish to have 

 good stock hives they may remain at home, and thusi that are not heavy 

 enough for winter should he fed in September. 



Bees Cldstering outside IIives {An. Old Su.6scri&^pl.— Wq consider 

 that to let bees clnster outside a hivo aud in largo masses below the board in 

 Jul}', is not good for either the bee-master or the bcea; and where this 

 clustering is permitted to go on for weeks a fcreaS loss is sus'r-.ined. Tho 

 Bonner eystem of artificial swarming is so simple and aa easily carried out, 

 ihat raere novices succeed whenever they make au attempt. Your hives 



should have been swarmed artificially three weeks ago. It is now too late 

 for swarming ; we therefore advise you either lo eke the hives, and thus give 

 the bees room and a stimulus for work, or drive all the bees into empty hives 

 and take the honey from tlio old ones. A few pounds of sut,'ar given to the 

 swarms or turnouts will entible them to fill their hives nearly full of combs, 

 and these combs with brood. Tho old hives ate probably so full of honey 

 that there is little brood comb iu thorn. We have known bees hang outside 

 their hive tiD almost every cell of every comb was filled with sealed honey. 

 Why they sometimes do this no one can tell. The sooner your bees get new 

 houses, or additions to their present ones, the better. When smoke is used 

 it is blown in at the doors of hives. 



Bees not FrLLiNO Large Hives [E. F. TT.).— Tho season must improve 

 greatly to enable your bees to fill the lar^-ebives with comb this year, when 

 BO late as tbe 18th of July they had not half-filled them. Should they not 

 sture a sufficient quantity uf honey you will have to feed them ; but if .well 

 fed before winter, we do not think you need fear their dying of cold. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSEBVATIONg, 



Oamden Square, London. 



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



REMARKS. 

 2 2nd. — Fine moi-ning ; the day rather dull, and much cooler than it was a day 



or two since. 

 23rd. — A very pleasant day, though there were two sharp short showers, one 



in the lurenoon, the other about 5 p.m.; fine evening. 

 24th. — Fine morning ; thunder between 1 and 2 p.m., and several times in the 



afternoon at a dibtauce ; occassional showers ; fine evening. 

 25th. — Rather cloudy all day, but cool and pleasant. 

 2Bth, — Rain early, but fine belore 11 a.m., aiici cuntinuing so all day, though 



not very bright ; stormlike between y and 9 ph. 

 27th. — Dull morning, occaeiunal showers, but by no means a wet day ; sun at 



times very bright. 

 28th.— Very wet morning; thunder at 9.30 a.m., and frequent heavy showers 



all the forenoon ; afternoon very bright and fine. 



Frequent showers, falling heavily and suddenly like thunder showers, though. 



there was but httle thunder heard here, and nothing either of that or rain to 



be Called a storm. The cluudy sky aud frequent showers have lowered tho 



temperature very considerably, the maximum of the week being only 76.5'^. — 



G. J. tiVMOKS. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— July 29. 



A GOOD business is current, and fair prices generally ai-e obtained. Large 

 importations continue, aud comprise Apricots, Green Gages, Peaches, and 

 Nectarines, with Grapes from ttie Channel Islands. West Indian Pines aro 

 X)lentiful, at prices ranging from 1«. 6tZ. to 2a-. fit/, each. 



fi. d. s. d. 

 j sieve 1 to 1 6 





 



Apples 



Aprioota doz 



Cherries f 1 D 



ChestnatB buahei 



Currants i bieve i 



Black do. 5 



Firs doz. S 



filberts. if. 1 



Cobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse.... lb. 1 



Lemons t* lO'J I'-i 



Melons each 4 



s. d. B. d 



Mulberries ^Ib. OtoO 



Nectarines doz. 6 15 



1 Uraunea ^100 4 16 U 



I Peaches doz. 6 



I Pears, kitchen doz. 



I dessert doz. 2 



8 I PinuApples lb. 2 



1 6 j Plums j sieve 3 



1 6 I Quiucea doz. 



U I U^spberriea lb. 



6 Strawberries ^ lb. 1 



16 L Waluatu bushel 10 



8 [ ditto ^100 3 



Artichokes doz. 



Abparag us U*^ lOU 



French o 



Beans, Kidney.... t sieve 8 



Hroad bushel 4 



Beet.Ked doa 1 



Broccoli bundle 



Cabbage doz. 2 



Capsicums l^" lUO 



Carrots bnnoh 



Cauliflower duz. S 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworts. . doz.bunchee t 



Cucumbers each 



pickUng doE. 



Endive doz. 3 



Fennel bunoh 



Garbc lb. 



Herbs liimch 



Horseradish baudlo 3 



Leeks bunch 



VEGETABLES, 



, d. s. d 



Oto6 

 





 

 

 U 

 

 6 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Lettnoe doz. 



Mu»nruuma putite 



Mubtard & Cresa.. punnet 



Uuious bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley per doz. bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Putatoea bushel 



Kidney do. 



New V lb. 



Radibbes.. doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bimdla 



Salbrtfy.. bundle 



Sci-T/unera bundle 



Sea-kale baykei 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Touiatoea doz. 



Turnips bnuotj 



Vegetable MarrowB ..doz. 



a. d. B. d. 



1 utuS 



