290 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ September 24, 1874. 



violently, and the ground was bestrewn with thonsanda of 

 victims. I have made some swarms and turn-outs this year, 

 and by followiag the directions laid down in Mr. Pettigrew's 

 book I generally manage my work without killing half a dozen 

 bees. If this can be done by an amateur of one year's experience, 

 it may be worth the consideration of the professors of the art 

 whether a repetition of their singularly painful performances 

 should not be omitted next year. — Beaten but not Dismayed. 



"PETTIGREW'S THEORY OP EVAPORATION 

 REFUTED." 



Some days after the Crystal Palace Exhibition was closed I 

 received a letter informing me that the words above, written in 

 conspicuous characters, appeared on a table beside a bottle of 

 honey at the Show. Not having a theory of evaporation, and 

 not knowing anyone of my name that had one, I ventured to 

 write to Mr. Hunter, the Secretary, to ascertain whether I had 

 been rightly informed. Mr. Hunter has very kindly told me 

 that the paper with these words " was published." He thinks 

 the " exhibit was legitimate, but certainly should not be made 

 in an offensive manner." He has given me the name of the 

 gentleman who placed the paper on the table, but assures me 

 " that the Committee as a body had nothing to do with the 

 matter." I readily accept his explanation. 



I have no theory to propound, and what I know on the question 

 of crude and perfect honey was well known by many apiarians 

 before I was born. I was taught it before I was eight years of 

 age, by very experienced bee-keepers. For fifty years I have 

 had ample opportunities of seeing, tasting, and handling both 

 crude and perfect honey. The truth of the lesson taught me in 

 early life has been confirmed a thousand times. Some three or 

 four months ago I found in the works of Kirby and Spence, 

 that they believed that honey undergoes a change in the bodies 

 of bees. I will not enter into a controversy of any kind with 

 the gentleman who placed the paper on the table at the Crystal 

 Palace. I have no *' theory of evaporation." 



With a view to convince others that honey is perfected by 

 bees, I extracted two bottles of crude honey from two hives 

 about three months ago. It had been gathered into the hives 

 but not reswallowed, or made into honey perfect. Four eminent 

 medical doctors of Cheshire, and almost all the apiarians who 

 have visited this place during the last three months, have tasted 

 and examined it. They find and say that it is the pure nectar 

 oi flowers, but very different in taste from real honey. I took 

 leave to send a bottle of it to the Editors of The Journal of 

 HoRTicoLTUBE two months ago. I have still a small bottle of 

 it left, which I should like to send to one or more of the Judges 

 at the late Show, to taste and examine. No process of evapo- 

 ration or artificial treatment will ever give it the flavour of 

 honey proper. 



I will now make a proposal, which I hope will be considered 

 fair and honourable to all parties. I do it in the interests of 

 truth and without ostentation. It is this — That I will undertake 

 to extract crude honey next summer from the hives of any 

 gentleman living within fifty miles of Manchester, in the pre- 

 sence of witnesses, and hand it to competent and trustworthy 

 persons, and if they succeed by any artificial process in convert- 

 ing it into honey proper, I will give £^ to be offered as an extra 

 prize at the next Crystal Palace apiarian fete, provided that 

 those who differ in opinion from me on this question will give 

 £S each towards the same object in the event of failure. If a 

 more fair and satisfactory proposal be made I shall be glad to 

 accept it. If the proposal be accepted I hope that all parties 

 will act in a manly spirit, and avoid the use of offensive per- 

 sonalities. — A. Pettiqkew. 



A Valuable Recipe. — The Journal of Ghemistrij publishes a 

 recipe for the destruction of insects, which, if it be one-half as 

 efficacious as it is stated to be, will prove invaluable. Hot alum 

 water is a recent suggestion as an insecticide. It will destroy 

 red and black ants, cockroaches, spiders, chintz bugs, and all 

 the crawling pests which infest our houses. Take 2 lbs. of alum, 

 and dissolve it in three or four quarts of boiling water; let it 

 stand on the fire till the alum disappears ; apply it with a brush 

 while nearly boiling hot, to every joint and crevice in your 

 closets, bedsteads, pantry-shelves, and the like. Brush the 

 crevices in the floor of the skirting or mop boards, if you suspect 

 that they harbour vermin. If, in whitewashing a ceiling, plenty 

 of alum is added to the lime, it will also serve to keep insects at 

 a distance. Cockroaches will flee the paint which has been 

 washed in cool alum water. 



Preservation of Essence of Citron. — The addition of 2 ozs. 

 of water to each pound of essence of citron assures its preserva- 

 tion, and the agreeable odour is retained for many years ; the 

 water, in falling to the bottom of the containing vessel, carries 

 with it the mucilaginous matters which favour the resinification 

 of the essence. — [Pharmaciat.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Death oy Hen (M. R, S.). — Her liver was severely ulcerated. No treat* 

 meut could have saved her life. 



Coc£iiNS AT SrALYEBiDGE Show. — The second-prize chickens shown by 

 Mr. Crabtree were bred by Captain Heaton. We correct the error in our 

 report, because wo know that the Captain covets the credit of being a Buccesa- 

 ful breeder more than that of being a winning exhibitor. 



WoLsir^GHAM PouLTHY SHOW — Mr. W. YiUDghusbaud informB as that 

 the first prize for Game chickeus was awarded to him. 



DiARRH'EA IM YoDNG TcRKEYS {J. R.). — The Pcouriug of your Turkeys 

 may be ciued at once by friving some food made of barley, pea, ani beanmeal, 

 mixed with a little pounded chalk and slaked with water. The swelling of 

 the head is more serious. It is the coEumeucement of a disease known only 

 duriug the last few years. It attacks the head, eyes, throat, and mouth; the 

 latter is tienerally extensively lacerated. The treatment usually i.s to feed on 

 bread aud ale, to ^ive two pills of camphor, each as large aa a horsebean, till 

 there is impruveraent, aud to rub the mouth with a strong solutiou of tar. 

 The cause generally is that the weather has been cold and wet. or that the 

 poults have been allowed to wander about in the morning while the white 

 frost is on the grass. At this time of year keep them shut-up till the sun is 

 high enough to dry the grass. When there is neither frost nor dew let them 

 out early. 



Hives (W J.C). — A. series of notes on hives, their special objecta, size , 

 Bhape, and materials, will appear in our columns. 



Damson Wine (E. I<.).— We published a recipe in o ur Jom-ual on the 

 3rd inst. 



METEOROLOGICAL 0B3EBVATI0NS, 



Oauden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0^ 6' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



BEMARRS. 



16th.— Fair but dark early ; fine by 9 a.m. ; fair all day, bat dull ; sun bright 



at times. 

 17th. — Rather dull, though fair all day ; gleams of sun occasionally ; and fine 



ni^'ht. 

 18th. — Hazy early, bat euon cleared oS, and was a pleasant day and night, 

 lyth. — Fiuemuruing aud pleawaut day, though not particularly bright ur warm. 

 2jth. — Fiue morumg ; very bright at uoon, cloudy after; and rain at 10 p.m. 

 2iBt. — Hazy at 8 a.m., fine at 9, and till the afternoon, when there was a sharp 



shower ; a tine evening. 

 23nd. — A very fiue forenoon, but showery in the after part of the dayj wind 



rather strong. 

 Rather cloudy, aud unsettled weather ; the mean temperature very Blightly 

 above that of last week.— G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— September 23. 

 Trade still keeps quiet, and the late rains have brought in a better anpply 

 of vegetables. Prices generally lower. 



FRUIT. 



B. d. B. d 



j sieve 1 to 1 6 



Apples 



A[jricotH doz. 



Cherries ti^ib. 



Cheatnats bushel 



Curriiuta i sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz, 1 



Filberts II). 1 



Cobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse.. .. lb. 1 

 Lemuas.. 



jtfelons eaoh 2 



Mulberries V lb. 



Nectarines doz. S 



Oraoges ^100 12 



S. d. 8. d. 



OtoO 

 



Peaches doz . 3 10 



Fears, kitchen doz. 



dessert doz. 10 8 



PineApplea lb. 2 6 



Plums i sieve 8 4 



Quinces do2. 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries ^ lb. 



Walnuts bushel 10 16 



ditto ^100 10 2 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. 3 



Asparagua ^*' lOO 



French U 



Beans, Kidney.... ( sieve 1 



riruaJ bu»hel 



Beet, Red doz 1 



Broccoli bundle 



Cabbage doz. 1 



Oapsiouma fe*- 100 U u 



Ca rroia bunch 4 



Caalittower doz. 3 



Celery bundle 1 8 



Colewortd. . doz. bunches 2 6 



Cucainbera each 4 



piukhug doz. 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel buoch 8 



(iarhc lb. 6 



Herbs bunch 3 



Uorseradish bundle 3 



Leeks 5 





 8 



1 8 



2 6 

 

 



6 

 2 

 i 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 4 

 



Lettuce doz. 



Muanroums pottie 



Maatardilic Cress. .punnet 

 Onions bucihel 



pickling quart 



Parsley per doz. bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas -. quart 



Potatoes buBhel 



Kidney do. 



New V lb. 



Radishes., doz. buuohea 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy bundle 



Soorzonera bundle 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows ..doz. 



s. d. a. d. 

 1 otua 

 9 



