332 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 8, 1874. 



away ; in the other they are bred either from these domesticated 

 parents or from wild eggs that have been taken and put under 

 tame birds. It 13, however, necessary with both either to pinion 

 them or to keep tlieir wings so cut that flight shall be impossible. 

 Although Ducks are called waddlers, and are supposed not to be 

 clever on their feet, still they will stray a long way, and with 

 the help of hiding places here and there may be found in the 

 course of twenty-four hours far from their home. If it is easy 

 for them to do this, it is much easier for them to follow a stream. 

 Having, as you say, a pond 60 yards in circumference, we would 

 advise you to fence-in with wire between 3 and 4 feet high three 

 sides of the pond ; the fourth, ending at the stream; should be also 

 fenced-in, but with a strong iron grating reaching to the bottom. 

 Ducks dive. A small island might be made in the following 

 manner:— A strong framework of rough timber, moored by 

 meaus of a strong chain attached to a stone, weight, or anchor 

 suliiciently heavy to retain it in position. It should then be 

 covered with earth, and planted with fast-growing shrubs that 

 thrive in very damp localities. It is well if the fence of which 

 we have spoken be 5 or yards from the water's edge, and there 

 may be planted at intervals rhododendrons, hollies, &c., with a 

 pathway through the middle of them. With us such a place, 

 stocked with beautifally-plumaged Ducks that come to whistle 

 to be fed, is always a relaxation and resort. The banks may be 

 of turf down to the water's edge. At each side, or in two places 

 at each side, the bank should be cut through, leading straight 

 into the water. These are to the Ducks what man-holes are to 

 labouring men when they are overtaken by a train from which 

 they are unable to escape, and find themselves in a tunnel. The 

 beaten Duck cannot climb the upright if not overhanging bank, 

 and submits to its fate — either beaten to death by its pursuer or 

 drowned ; but if it comes to one of these openings it is at once 

 ashore, and is safe. It may appear paradoxical to speak of 

 drowuiug a Duck, but it is a fact that a Duck drowns as readily 

 as a hen. So long as the outer plumage is waterproof so long a 

 Duck is buoyant, but if from confinement in a dry place the 

 outer feathering becomes dry, the water finds access to the down, 

 the bird becomes, if the term may be used, " water-logged," 

 sinks deeper and deeper till the head falls under the surface 

 from sheer inability to hold it up, and the Duck drowns. 



Carolina Ducks, Muscovies, and Egyptian Geese are the only, 

 or almost the only water birds that perch. The Carolina will 

 not make a nest, nor 

 lay in one. It must 

 have a small kennel 

 like a dog kennel, made 

 of plain plank, with 

 cross pieces nailed 

 across it, standing on 

 a pile, and having a 

 small ladder runLing 

 to the water, as in 

 firj. 99. Such huts are 

 not unsightly on a piece 

 of water like that which 

 you describe. These 

 birds also greatly de- 

 light in perching on old pollard stems, and these look rather 

 well standing a tew feet from the bank in the water. 



Your house that you mention will never be tenanted. Tame 

 — i.e., farmyard Ducks will take to such a place. Wild fowl will 

 get under shrubs or banks, or any place that offers the security 

 they require. They are clever in finding it. Many, nearly all, 

 wiU roost ou the island it you make it. Cats and water rats are 

 both enemies, but the latter are not to be greatly feared, and 

 the cats will not take water after them. Carolinas, Mandarins, 

 Shelldrakes, Brazilian Pintail, Casarkas, Whistling Ducks are all 

 to be had tame-bred, and the addition of a couple of pairs of 

 Brown Call Ducks will help to keep them together. They 

 should be fed in shallow water where there is a gravel bottom, 

 with water clear enough to see every grain of corn that is given. 

 They will dive after it, but if given in thick and deep water the 

 loss is great. 

 _ The birds that may be made tame by pinioning, by associa- 

 tion, and by good treatment are Dunbird, Tufted Duck, Pintail, 

 Widgeons, Shoveller, Garganey, Scaup, Gadwall, aud Teal. 

 These remain tame as long as they are confined. Whenever 

 they have the opportunity they get away. The food should be 

 barley, Indian corn, buckwheat, a little hemp ; nothing helps 

 more to keep them tame than at times to give them some crumb 

 of bread, they are very fond of it, and as it floats it causes 

 amusement to see th'em all after it. 



Keep the Peafowls in coufiuement for a time, and feed them 

 ■well. When first let out tie their wings that they may not fly. 



saw hundreds if not thousands of dead bees on the floor of the 

 balcony devoted to the manipulation, I attributed the loss of 

 life to the people treading on those bees which happened to 

 settle on the ground, and not to fighting amongst themselves, 

 of which I saw no trace while I was there. From what we know 

 about the wonderful instinct and memory of bees I do not think 

 they were unable to distinguish their own homes. I was sur- 

 prised to find the various hives working so steadily and system- 

 atically in spite of the confusion inevitable to the manipu- 

 lation and the people constantly going in and out. The loss of 

 bee life is of course to be deplored; but in the general diffusion 

 of the means of saving the lives of bees by driving and uniting 

 them to other stocks instead of consigning them to that mon- 

 strously cruel because lingering death, the brimstone pit, I 

 think this part of the Exhibition was practically most successful 

 iu furthering one of the principal objects of the British Bee- 

 keepers' Association, " the advocacy of humanity to the indus- 

 trious labourer, the honey bee." 



I think it would be good policy for the Committee to allow 

 labouring men and bee-keepers of the humbler classes admission 

 to the manipulation at a nominal price, say Id. or ^d. Sixpence 

 virtually excludes this class, which is the very one that would 

 benefit most by a practical knowledge of the means of driving 

 the bees without destroying them. I would further suggest that 

 the Secretary provide a better and quieter room for the next 

 meeting of the members of the Association. I do not say this 

 by way of complaining, as I for one feel that the members of 

 the British Bee-keepers' Association are very much indebted to 

 Mr. Hunter, Mr. Abbott, and others for their work and trouble 

 on our behalf, in causing this first exhibition of the Association 

 to be such a success. — A Young Apiaeian. 



CRYSTAL PALACE BEE SHOW. 

 Is " Beaten but not Dismayed " right in the facts in his 

 stitemeuts about driving bees at the Crystal Palace 1 I was 

 much interested in this part of the Exhibition ; and though I 



HONEY HAB VESTS. 



For six or seven years my balance sheet of bee-farming has 

 been published annually. From various causes I shall not be 

 able to present a fair balance sheet this year. Last winter all 

 my best stocks of bees were sold ; everyone in my possession 

 likely to do well was bought. Many orders came that could not 

 be met, simply because the stocks left were considered not 

 worth selliug — not good enough to put into the hands of buyers. 

 Last winter dysentery attacked many of our hives, and thinned 

 their populations to a great extent. My hives in March this 

 year were weaker than it is possible to describe. Being rather 

 too old to manage so many hives, it is my intention to reduce 

 the number of my stocks. If I give up my large farm, I shall 

 settle down to a small apiary of ten or twelve hives. If I cease 

 to be a bee-farmer I shall become an experimental apiarian, 

 and keep all within the limits of my own grounds. Hitherto I 

 have kept bees for profit, and managed them with the least 

 possible trouble. 



The hives I have used are, in my opinion, incomparably better 

 for bees and honey than any other kinds I have ever seen or 

 heard of. In a week or two the attention of the reader will 

 probably be called to various kinds of hives. Next year I shall 

 most likely introduce various hives into my experimental apiary. 

 Let no one fancy or say that in doing so I shall be seeking 

 a better or more profitable hive than such as those I have so 

 long used. No, I do not expect ever to find any other kind of 

 hive equal to them for profit and convenience; but for the sake 

 of contrast and variety, it seems desirable to have several kinds 

 introduced into an experimental bee garden. I shall be ex- 

 ceedingly pleased if the Bee-keepers' Association offer next 

 year their highest prize for *' the best kind of hive for bees 

 and honey," the hives for competition to be filled or partially 

 filled by swarms of 1875, and exbibited without bees. No other 

 prize will touch so important a question as the one now suggested, 

 or please so many bee-keepers. 



"Taking Great Britain as a whole, I think that 1874 has been 

 the best of the last six years for honey. Twice or thrice during 

 that time have my best hives risen in weight to 100 lbs. each; 

 but then the stocks were much stronger in spring, and swarmed 

 much earlier than those of this year. This year March, April, 

 and May, with the exception of the last ten days of April, were 

 very unfavourable for honey-gathering and bees. More favour- 

 able weather occurred in June, the first half of July, and ten or 

 eleven days of August. From the 19th to the 30th of August 

 bees gathered honey fast on the moors. 



In almost every district of this country swarming was un- 

 usually late, and I hear that in some counties few swarms 

 were obtained. Satisfactory accounts come from many parts of 

 England; more honey has been obtained this year than for 

 some years past ; but most correspondents have not given the 

 weights of their hives, or the quantity of honey obtained. All, 

 however, seem encouraged by their success in artificial swarm- 

 ing and uniting swarms. They are in the calm and hopeful 

 possession of a theoretical aud practical knowledge of bee-moJi- 

 agement. 



Our old friends at Carluke, Lanarkshire, are hardly pleased 

 with the results of bee-keeping there this year. Swarming was 



