122 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Febrnary 10, 1876. 



Belgian.— 1, S. 'Williamson. TcVow Norwich.~1, J. W. Nicblin. 2. S. "William- 

 son. Buff Noruich.—l and 2. S. WiUiamson. Other than the foregoino.—l and 

 2, S. 'WilliainBon. Linnet— Droujj.—l.R Uoyd. 2. T. Gaiuctf. Goldfinch.— 

 1, S. ■WilliamsfH. bkylark.—l, T. H.'pe. 2, A. Simmona. Bullfinch.^!, S. 

 Willjameon. Selling Class.— 1 and 2, S, Williamson. 



Rabbits.— Long i^ars.-J, H. W. "Whittles. 2, W. T. MUlett. For weight.-l, 

 R.Uojd. 



PLURALITY OF QUEENS IN ONE HIVE. 



Le Feeee Rimaulb of Stavueli, Algeria, has in L'Apicul' 

 ieur, given an intereBting account of the bees of Algeria, from 

 which I extract and tracslate the following account of their 

 queen- raising : — " The Algerian bees bring up an extraordinary 

 number of queens at swarming time. I was much astonished 

 when breaking- up the combs of a deserted hive at the great 

 quantity of queen cells it contained. On one comb I counted 

 thirty-fight, and five combs gave a total of 190, all sealed in 

 that hive in March and April. All these cells were torn open at 

 the bottom. 



" There is yet another observation that very much surprised 

 me. If anyone had told me I could not have believed it. All 

 bee-keepers admit that two queens cannot rest in the same 

 hive, that the piping of queens in their cradle determines 

 the issue of the swarm, and that if the weather becomes un- 

 favourable for many days the old queen destroys her rivals, 

 which retards the swarming. Here is a fact to the contrary. 

 On the 22nd of March I had a hive where the bees hung-out 

 very strongly ; all the front of the hive was literally covered 

 with them . On the 30th of the same month I determined to give 

 a cap to that hive in order to excite the bees to work. Before 

 touching the hive I listened and heard distinctly the piping 

 of several queens. I then lifted the cover to replace it by one 

 with apertures. In so uncovering the hive I found at the top of 

 the combs three young queens already emerged. I left them, 

 and put on the cap. That day the weather changed to wet and 

 cold, and so continued until April 14th. Three days after in 

 approaching that hive I heard the piping of three or four queens 

 in the cap. Four days later the same piping made itself heard, 

 and several others in the body of the hive, and five days yet 

 later there were the same sounds, queens were therefore born 

 all these twelve days. 



"As the hive where these bees were hatched was half an 

 hour's journey from my house I could not follow the observa- 

 tion. On the 1-ith of April the weather became fine, and we 

 had on that day a dozen swarma issue, and when I revisited that 

 hive all wes quiet — the young queens had gone out with the 

 Bwarm that stock had thrown. The brother who had the sur- 

 yeillance of that apiary had sent me the swarms without indicat- 

 ing which hives they cnme from." 



It will be eeen from the above that the season for bees occurs 

 much earlier in Algeria than in Britain. — John Hunter, Eaton 

 Mise, Ealing. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Rust Spots on Spanish Fo^vxs' Faces {J. P. C.).— The rnst Bpots are 

 caused by their teing picked by their fellows. The cure is to remove the bird 

 until it is quite healed. Frequent applications of compound sulphur oint- 

 ment ■will cnre the sturf of the comb. It is common to all fowls to pick any 

 apparently raw ppot, ond ^vben they have made it bleed they will positiTely 

 eat the bird. Stiauger still, the bird will Ftanfl ttill to be eaten. When 

 birds make a eoxe 11 is from a vitiated state of the body, causing unnatural 

 appetite. The treatment for it is, first an active purgative and then cooling 

 food. Lettuce is very good. 



Sunflower Seed GaowiNO (F. W.). — Sow in April in"rows 18 inches 

 apart, and thin the plants to 30 inches apart. The seed will be ripe about 

 August, and is given to poultry whole. 



Ei-BLT Qdeen-beeeding (Stoodlij Pike). — The very best book on early 

 qneen-breeding of which we know is by an American author of the name of 

 Langetroth, but its cost is 10s. Can any of our readers recommend any other? 

 Messrs. Tiubner & Co., we believe, would supply you with Langstroth'e 

 book. 



Feeding Bees (W. H. Attwood). — We presume that your six stock?, saved 

 thus far out of twelve, are in straw hives. As yon must have plenty of empty 

 coinbB from yonr lost stocks at your disposal, we think the simpltat way for 

 yon to feed will be by taking a large flat comb and carefolly filling the cells 

 on one side of it with a syrup made of dissolved sugar. Set thin flat upon 

 the bottom board of the hive you wish to feed any calm warm evening, and 

 put the hive over it upon an eke. Take it away in the morning. "We would 

 not give more than half a pound of food at a time twice a week, unless your 

 bees are starving. In this ca=e double the quantity will do, otlierwise it is 

 better to feed a little and ofi^n at this time of year. It will do no harm if 

 you keep this up for a couple of months. Your bees will amply repay yon for 

 this trouble. If your hives are in wooden boxes you have only to make an eke 

 of wood exactly the size of your box about an inch thick. On the whole we 

 think this mode of feeding about the best of any of the systems which have 

 been recommended. 



Mouldy Combs (Carolus).— Cut all the mouldy combs out of yonr hive as 

 80CU aa you can conveniently. Keep both the hive and the board free from 

 moisture in future, otherwise more combs will become mouldy. 



How to Select Good Stocks (Wm. Talbot).~lt you have courage enoush 

 to turn up hives and examine them internally, you may easily select three of 

 the best out of the dozen of hives belonging to your friend. Go to his garden 

 before the bees are astir, gently and quietly uncover all of them without dis- 

 turbing the bees at all. Then gently lift (one by one) the hives off theii- 



boards, and turn them up, so that you can see the bets sitting amongst the 

 combs, and count the number of clusters or seams of them in each hive. 

 If small hives have four seams each, about as large as a teacup eaucer, they 

 may be considered in pretty good condition as to population at this time of 

 the year. The most populous hives now, other things being equal, are the 

 beet. In examining hives thus you will see at a glance whether their combs 

 are old or young, and whether the hives are full of combs or not. Young 

 are better than old black combs, and hives filled or nearly filled with 

 combs are preferable to those half empty. You are not able to detect the 

 disease of foul brood, even if it exists in any of the hives. If the hives are 

 not nailed to their board the esaminBtion now Euggef^ted may be completed 

 in six or seven minutes. Mark or put a stone on the flight boards of those 

 you may deem the best. If the hives are fastened to their boardi; and cannot 

 be turned up without first disturbing the bees, blow some smoke into the 

 hives before you examine them. Honey stores, though of less importance 

 than population, should not be forgotten in turning the hives up. 



Galvanised Iron Vats (Miss H.).— These must not be used to hold cider. 

 The white metal coating the iron is zinc, with which the acid of the cide 

 would combine and form a salt probably poisonous. 



METEOROLOGICAL 0BSEBVATI0N8. 



Camden Sqdabe. London. 

 Lat. 61« 82' 40" N. ; Long. 0'= 8' 0" W. ; Altitude, 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 



2nd.— Rain in early morning, but fine before 10 a.m. ; a bright beautiful tunny 

 day, and a ttarlit night. 



3rd. — White frost eirly; fine all day, at times bright, but not near so fine as 

 its predecessor. 



4th.^Fair all day, but windy and cold. 



5th. — Snow in early morning, but fine by 10 A.yi., and so continued all the day 

 but windy and cold at night. 



6th. — Fine morning, but a little snow at 1.30 p.m., at 5, and at 9 p.m. ; mode- 

 rately [leasBut in the early aftemon. 



7th. — Fair, but not bright in the morning ; rather dull and cold all day. 



8th.— White frost early ; rather overcast all day, with frequent very slight 

 falls of snow. 

 A somewhat winterly week; frequent falls of snow, but not of any depth, 



nor lying on the ground. — G. J. Siiioxs. 



C0VENT;GARDEN market.— FEBBrAnv 9. 

 A FAIR amount of business has been dore during the week with no altera- 

 fon in prices. A large arrival of St. Michael Pints is to hand in splendid 

 condition, making the sale of English fruit very difficult. Kent Cobs are 

 realising advanced prices. 



FRUIT. 



s. d. B. d. 



Apples k Bie^e 1 0to2 



Apricots dozen 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bushel 12 20 



Corrantfl i sieve 



Black do. 



Figs dozen 



FUberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



y 











Lemona ^100 6 12 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse.... lb. 2 6 





 

 

 

 



Melons each 1 2 G 



8. d. 8. d. 



Malberries lb. OtoO o 



Xect.orines dozen 



Oranges %^ 100 6 12 



Peaches dozen 



Pears, kitchen.... dozen 



deaeert dozen 2 4 



PineApplea lb. 2 6 



Plums.., i sieve o 



Quinces bushel 2 6 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawbenies lb. 



Walnuts bushel 4 10 



ditto ^100 16 2 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes dozen 



Asparagus V 100 10 



French handle 18 



Beans. Kidney.... tMOO 3 



Beet, Red dozen 1 6 



Broccoli bundle 9 



Brussels Sprouts j sieve 2 



Cabbage dozen 1 



Carrots bunch 



Capeicums V lOd 1 



Cauliflower dozen 2 



CL'Iery bundle 1 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 2 



Cucumbers each 1 



Endive.. dozen 1 



Fennel bunch 



Gariio lb. 



Herbs bunch 



HoTseradiah bundle 4 



Lettuce dozen 



French Cabbage .... 1 



OtoO 

 12 



Leeks bunch 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mnstaid &, Cress punnet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley.... duz. bnnchea 



Parsnips dozen 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do... 



New lb. 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy bundle 



Scorzonera bundle 



Seakale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach buahel 



Tomatoes dozen 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrowa 



