October 29, 1874. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



393 



Mr. Yates of Manchester began bee-keeping with wood hives, 

 and to prevent the moisture from condensing on their inner 

 surfaces he covered his hives with a very thick boiler felt, hut 

 it did not answer. At certain seasons of the year the inner sur- 

 faces of wood hives are covered with moisture, which rots the 

 combs. The condensed moisture may always be seen by turning 

 up wood hives at those seasons, and often it may be seen running 

 down the sides of the hives and over the flight-board. This is 

 the first year that my apiary has been without a wooden hive in 

 it for twelve years. Every year such hives gave us abundant 

 evidence of their unsuitability for bees and comb-building. The 

 condensed moisture rots the combs in its immediate neighbour- 

 hood, and rotten combs can never hold honey or brood, or be a 

 foundation on which to build fresh combs. The retten parts 

 are taken down every spriug, and new combs put in their places. 

 In turning up a wooden hive at the swarming season we ofteu 

 find the new pieces give the hive the appearance of oue recently, 

 filled by a swarm. During the summer months hives are gene- 

 rally full of bees, and warm enough to dispel the moisture by 

 the doors. In autumn the wood again becomes covered with 

 moisture ; even a riddle rim, which may be used as an eke to a 

 straw hive, becomes covered with wet when not a particle can be 

 seen on the straw. 



Straw as the best material for hives has never lost its position 

 in Scotland, and I believe that the great bulk of the successful 

 bee-keepers there would not use wooden hives even if they 

 could get them for nothing. I believe that the teaching of ex- 

 perience will lead most bee-keepers seeking great results to the 

 adoption of large straw hives. Many of our friends have hives 

 of wood and glass, hives of various shapes and materials. They 

 are amateurs seeking pleasure and recreation from bee-keeping ; 

 but though they sometimes get a harvest of honey, and are 

 satisfied with it, they cannot be reckoned amongst bee-farmers 

 seeking large returns. 



Like Mr. Quinby's, my hives have never suffered from the 

 moth worm ; indeed, I hardly know what it is. The work of 

 plastering the inside of straw hives with propolis has been ex- 

 aggerated. We have now a hive full of honeycomb, weighing 

 more than 40 lbs., which has been in use for eight or ten years, 

 and I can scarcely see any propolis in it. I do not think that 

 3 ozs. of propolis could be found in fifty of my hives. They are 

 so warm and well made that a lining of propolis is qirite un- 

 necessary. Thin, badly made straw hives do sometimes get a 

 coat of propolis, and this, as Mr. Quinby puts it, " will render it 

 less efficient in ridding itself of moisture. I say less efficient, 

 because it (straw) is better than wood at any rate." I have 

 known a straw hive filled with combs in seven days by a single 

 swarm, weighing altogether 43 lbs. Not much time lost in 

 plastering here. — A. Pettigeew. 



I AM a thorough believer in the old straw skep hive, and am 

 sorry it seems to have been so little appreciated at the Crystal 

 Palace Show. If you think a short account of my first swarm 

 of this year will be interesting to the readers of your valuable 

 Journal, or will tend to make apiarians think more of my 

 favourite hive, I shall feel much obliged if you will insert this 

 letter in your next publication. 



The swarm I speak of was drummed out of a 16-inch hive on 

 the 4th of June, into an 18-inch straw skep of the Pettigrew 

 pattern. It was a strong swarm, and the weather was fine for 

 some time after it was driven, so that I never had occasion to 

 give it an ounce of sugar, or to feed it in any way. On the 

 2.5th of July I found the hive was quite fall of comb. I then put 

 an eke on it 4 inches deep, and took it to the Glossop moors. 

 Since that date the weather in this part of the country, to the 

 middle of September, was rather unsettled, and I should think 

 we had only about ten days of really good bee weather ; but in 

 spite of this, when I brought my hive home on September 19th, 

 I was delighted to fiud it weighed, including board, 100 lbs. 



If this result does not speak volumes for the old despised skep 

 hive, no poor words of mine will be of any avail. — Edwakd 

 Thorp, Sale, Cheshire. 



LIGURIANS. 



SoMETHrec. like ten years ago the late Mr. Woodbury set 

 himself energetically to work to assist apiarians to ligurianise 

 their stocks by the substitution of Italian queen bees for the 

 more legitimate sovereigns, but felt compelled to discontinue 

 the scheme on account of the frequent failures, the inter- 

 lopers being so often slaughtered. I do not think the method 

 of introduction pursued has altered much, neither can I say the 

 amiability of the worker bees has to any extent increased, but 

 certainly to make the regal exchange in question is not now con- 

 sidered a formidable operation, and the risk is but small ; indeed, 

 with frame hives ten or twelve minutes should afford ample 

 time for the work, and the danger to the new sovereign is almost 

 nil. With skeps or closed boxes more time is occupied, it being 

 imperative that the black queen should be first captured; and to 

 effect this it is generally necessary to drive-out the bees until 



the queen is discovered and safely removed. Sometimes she will 

 elude the most educated and vigilant eye in spite of patience and 

 assiduity, and it is never safe to introduce the new sovereign 

 without being quite certain the old one is not in the hive. The 

 mere fact of not finding her is not sufficient, and in the event 

 of a battle royal it must not be forgotten the foreigner is tired, 

 cowed, and enfeebled by her long journey and confinement, 

 whilst her antagonist is in her accustomed vigour. Supposing 

 the old queen is surely removed, it would never do to introduce 

 the new one to the tender mercies of the workers without 

 proper precautions being observed, for bees are not noted for 

 hospitality to strangers, so she must be enclosed in a wire cage 

 placed in the hive, and kept so imprisoned for at least twenty- 

 four hours, when the excitement of the bees at the loss of their 

 old queen will have passed away and the new oue will generally 

 be gladly accepted. It is advisable to sprinkle the bees and 

 queen liberally with scented syrup both on the introduction 

 and release. When the above time has elapsed open the cage 

 gently and let her majesty walkout. Watch carefully the workers. 

 If they take no notice of her or merely walk over, licking and 

 feeding her, all is well and she may be safely left ; but if she is 

 seized by the legs and wings, and the bees assemble tumul- 

 tuously about her, beware ! In a few minutes the bees gather 

 iuto a ball with the queen in the midst, when regicide is meant. 

 Take-up the knot of bees and drop them into a cup of water, 

 which will eilectually separate the cluster snd hurt none ; or 

 pull off the bees until the queen is released, and immediately 

 cage her again for another day's imprisonment, when the same 

 process must be repeated with probably a better result. If a 

 cluster is again formed try the effect of worrying them about 

 with some tobacco smoke for a few minutes, when most likely 

 they will give up in disgust. 



Fertile Italian queens are now imported in considerable num- 

 bers at irregular intervals, and are generally bespoke on their 

 arrival, for in the little boxes they arrive in they will not thrive 

 long, and the casualties of the journey are sometimes serious. 

 Their cost in England varies according to season, from about 

 7s. 6d. in October to 15s. in May. This is a considerable re- 

 duction from their value when first introduced, about fifteen 

 years ago, which was something like two guineas. At the 

 price now obtainable they will amply repay their speculative 

 purchaser, for there is no question the Ligurian variety is a far 

 better worker and breeder than our old friends. They may be 

 seen sallying forth to work long before the true Britons, and 

 still at labour after their neighbours have sought their well- 

 earned rest. The queens are more prolific, probably because of 

 the above ; for whilst food comes into the hive, breeding will go 

 on, and if supplies are stopped so is egg-laying. The intro- 

 duction of a Ligurian stock is a general source of benefit to the 

 other bees of the neighbourhood, for the natural law of " fresh 

 blood " giving vigour holds good with bees as with larger 

 animals, and very quickly it will be found the progeny of many 

 young queens will show signs of love-makiuR by the strangers. 

 The one and only great source of disappuiutment with Ligurians 

 that I am aware of, is the impossibility of being certain that the 

 queens bred by them here will be the mothers of pure Ligurians, 

 from the (as yet), impossibility of controlling their choice of 

 sweethearts. This will decrease as the Italians get more widely 

 spread, but at present the gentlemen in black have far the 

 greatest majority ; but even a mongrel stock is an improvement 

 on the original black bees pure and simple. The introduction 

 of a Ligurian queen into a stock of common bees, gives us in- 

 disputable evidence as to the length of a worker's life, which 

 may be said to be regulated not by time but by the amount of 

 labour executed in the midst of summer, when the days are 

 long and the weather fine. Six weeks are sufficient to showthat 

 scarcely a black bee remains in the hive, all beicg dead and re- 

 placed by Italians. " A short life and a merry one," should be 

 their motto. But let the introduction of the new queen take 

 place in October, and we must take months in lieu of weeks to 

 arrive at the same result; but even this is very curious, and the 

 uneducated bee-keeper would scarcely credit us did we tell him 

 that all the bees he has (except the queens), will have ceased to 

 live before the flowers of May enliven the fields with their 

 beauty and perfume. 



The bees arrive from Italy in little deal boxes about 5 inches 

 square, a queen accompanied by abont a hundred workers; 

 and on lifting the cover a remarkable proof is afforded of how 

 much our irritable little friends may be subdued. Open the 

 box, there they are, a fluttering, buzzing little swarm, each bee 

 armed with a sting and a pair of wings, but showing not the 

 slightest inclination to use either, as harmb.'ss as so many flies. 

 Hold the box in hand, they buzz and seem to boil over the edges, 

 running about the hands ; and having apparently ascertained all 

 about it, back they go to attend their liege sovereign without 

 any attempt to investigate further or revenge the indignities 

 they have lately suffered. This state of subjection is the whole 

 secret of driving : it may be summed-up in one word, " terror." 

 Only thoroughly alarm the bees and they become tractable and 

 harmless ; but there always remains the danger of accidentally 



