November 26, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOBTIOULTUBB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



487 



future hives ; the shoots breaking ont'round the top of the straight 

 piece were trained for side supports. The straight piece formed 

 a handle at the top of the hive. Straw was tied-up at one end 

 like a birch-broom for a covering in winter, which was called a 

 hackle. The loose ends of the straw were opened out round the 

 hive, pressing the tied-up end down upon the peg at the top, 

 and then tieing it round with string. This was all the covering 

 afforded. I have known as much as £10 made from bees in a 

 favourable season. I knew one poor old widow, with a son a 

 cripple, who would have had to end her days in the Union if it 

 had not been for her bees. Since writing before, I have read 

 n a book on insect architecture an account of black bees. One 

 hinks them old worn-out workers; the other, that they are 

 oung bees, caused by some defect in the interior of the hive ; 

 he last is my own opinion, as they all appeared to be young. — 

 J. E., a Working Gardener. 



HIVES. 



Mr. Pettigrew appears to be a very practical man, and as a 

 gentleman argues with good temper, and, I believe, is solely 

 actuated by a desire to express his honest conviction, for the 

 benefit of the readers of this Journal, that straw is better than 

 wood for a bee hive. In this opinion he is far from being alone ; 

 and I assert, whether " B. & W.'* considers it reasonable or 

 unreasonable contradiction, that wooden hives are not so profit- 

 able in their results as straw hives ; and further, I cannot agree 

 with "B. &W."that in point of interest and perfect mastery 

 of the science of bee management, the wooden and the bar hives 

 carry the day. I maintain that during the summer it does not 

 matter so much what the material of the hive is, but in winter 

 it is of great importance. In summer a wooden hive is more 

 likely to have its combs melted by the heat than a straw one 

 would be, on account of the greater conducting power of wood ; 

 and for the same reason straw, being a bad conductor of heat, is 

 less likely to part with its internal warmth in winter. Wood, 

 also, presents a colder surface inside the hive than straw ; there- 

 fore more of the moisture arising from the bees is condensed in 

 a wooden hive than a straw one. The conclusion is, that a straw 

 hive, whether lined with propolis or not, is in winter both 

 warmer and drier, consequently more conducive to health in the 

 hive aud ultimate profit. 



As to the Crystal Palace Show, it is well known there was no 

 exhibition of straw hives, therefore no comparison could be 

 made ; and if there had been, it is quite possible to get as much 

 honey from a wooden box as a straw hive if the internal dimen- 

 sions are the same. The true test of the value of either is in its 

 suitability as a winter protection to the bees. Many bee-keepers 

 keep their opinions of the straw hives to themselves, but prove 

 their appreciation of them by using scarcely any other. 



In the true interests of economical bee-keeping I hope this 

 controversy will not cease, but that by the aid of controversy 

 bee-keepers may at last become convinced by the truth of plain 

 facts, either that the old straw hive made of a larger size with a 

 4-inch hole at the top, or a wooden box, is the most " profitable " 

 hive in which to keep bees. I say nothing about bar frames, 

 because that I think is not at the present moment the question. 

 — AncuLA. 



The well-timed remarks of your able correspondent " B. & W." 

 in your last issue must have come home to the sympathies of 

 many of your readers. The repetition by Mr. Pettigrew of his 

 view of the relative merits of hives may well now have a pause ; 

 but I cannot restrain a remark or two in reference to his critique 

 upon bar-framers. Let me first say that the whole premiss of 

 whatever argument there may be connected with his asser- 

 tions is erroneous, since it seems to be taken for granted, if in 

 the absence of the bee-master or any system of management, 

 bees can and will store an equal amount of honey in a skep as 

 in a bar-frame hive, the utility, or at least the superiority, of the 

 latter is disproved. 



The mobility of frames gives the bee-keeper who understands 

 his art, the power of enormously distancing anything that even 

 the Pettigrew skep can accomplish; but all will freely admit 

 that if the hive be in the hands of those unable to take advan- 

 tage of the character of its construction, it will not surpass 

 good hives with fixed combs. The tyro can discourse music as 

 sweet upon a barrel organ as the most accomplished musician 

 can elicit; and, from much the same cause, with skeps the be- 

 ginner and the bee-master are upon pretty equal footing. Hence 

 many in the first year of their apprenticeship are " fully con- 

 vinced of the superiority of the Pettigrew hive ; " but when we 

 remember that with moveable combs we can equalise stocks 

 both in bees and stores ; cut out queen cells and prevent cast- 

 ing ; stop the raisiug of unnecessary drones ; swarm artificially 

 with extreme ease and certainty ; raise queens in nuclei, and 

 subsequently restore the combs and bees to stocks from which 

 they were taken; ascertain the absence of queens, disease, &c., 

 V-y simple inspection ; easily insert new queens ; promote breed- 

 ing bj enlargement of the brood uest; throw out honey by the 



slinger, &c., can we doubt which is the hive for the bee-master ? 

 and who keeping bees;does not desire to progress and become one ? 



Mr. Pettigrew, however, concedes that we are improving the 

 bar-frame hive in removing the bottom rail of the frames, which 

 ne says enables the bees to make their combs 1 J inch longer. 

 The 1} inch should have been half an inch. But let this pass. 

 Singularly the " doubtless " improvement upon which Mr. Petti- 

 grew alights is the alteration above all others recently introduced, 

 which is only on its trial, and which many whose opinions must 

 be respected regard as a defect. At least the following objec- 

 tions may be taken to it. 



When the swarm is placed in the hive the bees' warmth and 

 moisture soften the wood, and should their weight pull down 

 the centre of the bar one-tenth of an inch (the calculation is 

 made for the Quinby size), the uprights are splayed a quarter of 

 an mch, and brought into contact with the hive-side to be 

 immediately propolised. The bees also will occasionally attach 

 their combs to the bottom board. In one of my hives this 

 Bummer ten queen cells which I desired to insert in nuclei were 

 built on the bottom of a comb so near the rail that I could not 

 cut them out without risk, and so the rail was at once removed. 

 Soon afterwards this frame was fixed, and upon pulling it out I 

 found the comb bnilt to aud attached upon the floor board, so 

 that some length of it was broken off. It is moreover notproved 

 that the bottom rail is a disadvantage. Experience has shown 

 that good ventilation beneath the combs greatly aids in winter- 

 ing ; and while comb-building, the bottom rails give the bees 

 forming the last rounds of the living ladder convenient standing 

 room without at aU interfering with the busy journeyers beneath . 

 — F. Cheshike. 



CBUDE HONEY. 



What is honey ? Mr. Pettigrew says it is a substance which 

 bees gather in the flowers. It is a liquid crude syrup, which 

 gets its pecTiliar flavour from the plant, this flavour existing in 

 the syrup found in the flowers. To this definition of honey he 

 further adds that its crudenesa is removed by the bees, who 

 " sweeten as well as thicken the syrup or nectar," and thai 

 " after it has been twice swallowed and disgorged it is perfect, 

 whether found in the combs sealed or unsealed." 



Although Mr. Pettigrew satisfactorily answers my question as 

 regards the taste of honey, I cannot lie sorry I put it to him in 

 the interests of scientific knowledge, because it has elicited from 

 him a fuller statement of what I must call his wonderful dis- 

 covery as to the origin of the richness and sweetness of honey. 

 The source of it all is to be found ia the stomach of the bee. 

 There the acrid substance gathered in the ivy blossoms, as well 

 as the nectar extracted from the million flowers of spring, find 

 their sweetness. Now, to believe this it is necessary to believe 

 that the stomach of the bee possesses a reserve of saccharine 

 matter of most extraordinary quantity or concentrated power, 

 considering that honey is little else than sugar slightly diluted. 

 Does Mr. Pettigrew believe this ? Imagine the stores of sugar 

 which a hive of bees on this theory contrive to carry about with 

 them night and day, for it must lie hidden somewhere within 

 the body of the insect. Hitherto we have supposed that sugar 

 has been one of the peculiar bounties of mother earth, the true 

 "extrait de millefleurs," the elixir of life, which constitutes the 

 excellence and nutriment of all the vegetable produce of our 

 fields and gardens, from the delicious blades of summer-grown 

 pastures, whence the rich milk and butter and cheese of our 

 dairies, up to " bread that strengthens man's heart." Not so, 

 quoth Mr. Pettigrew, at least in the exceptional ca^e of the 

 sugar in honey; that is elaborated within the body of the bee. 

 There is little or no sugar in the crude and liquid substance 

 which flowers give forth ; that is a vulgar error of the nineteenth 

 century. They "sweeten" it within their own stomachs " after 

 it has been twice swallowed and disgorged ! " 



I should not have referred to the matter again if, as in the 

 case of stick-and-straw hives, Mr. Pettigrew had not again 

 thrown down the gauntlet by his repeated advancement of a 

 mere theory of his own, as if it were an undoubted fact, as fully 

 demonstrated as a mathematical truth. I am tempted to ask 

 him in conclusion, why it is he advocates the feeding of bees 

 with such quantities of sugar ? Would it not be suilicient to 

 supply them with a decoction of ivy leaves macerated iu water ? 

 After swallowing and disgorging this a suflicient number of 

 times it would become " perfect, whether found in the combs 

 sealed or unsealed." — B. & W. 



OUK LETTER BOX. 



Crystal Palace Suow. — The address of Misa Paeley, who took a prize, ia 

 Mourhill, Fareham, HantB. Mrs. Cross, who won the second prize for Crevo 

 hens, refeides at Appleby Vicarage, new Brigg, Lincolnshire. Mr. T. Wakefield 

 took the fourth jrize for Ronen Ducks. 



Yarmouth Poultry Show. — \'ou state that the majority of cups can ooly 

 be won by local exhibitors. Such is not the case. If you refer to our schedule 

 yon will find there are only four'local cupa— three for poultry, and one for 

 Pigeona.— F. W. Maryson. 



