460 



JOUBNAL OP HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 8, 1876. 



for airing often daring January; then, if I recollect, not at all 

 daring February and March. About the firat week of April they 

 got out for several days, and flowers were making an appear- 

 ance, when a stop came until the Ist of May ; after which, how- 

 ever, they have been working almost uninterruptedly. To speak, 

 therefore, of early swarms is not to be thought of. — J. Sheabeb. 



A FERTILE WORKER. 



Pbactical apiarians, who are in the habit of making them- 

 selves acquainted with the internal economy of their hives, not 

 unfreqaently meet with cases of drone eggs being laid and larvaa 

 reared in a queenless stock. For a long time these cases were 

 inexplicable, but conviction at last resulted that the eggs must 

 be laid by a fertile worker, whose power was accounted for by 

 the supposition (for I do not think it is more than a supposition) 

 that some worker larva had daring its infancy received a portion 

 of royal jelly, which had caused a partial development of its 

 sexual organs safficient to give the power of oviposition, but 

 without power of receiving impregnation. The presence of a 

 fertile worker becomes a very troublesome affair, for whilst in 

 the hive the bees rear no queen and will not readily accept one 

 if supplied; moreover, as there is nothing to distinguish the 

 individual from the other workers it is not easy to get rid of 

 it. It has been suggested that the fertile worker has never 

 flown from home, and therefore if all the bees are taken away 

 from the old familiar spot most of them will fly home, leaving 

 the fertile worker behind. In a case which occurred last year 

 in my own apiary I adopted this plan, and it was apparently 

 BUCceBsful, as the bees accepted a new queen immediately, and I 

 was troubled no more with the fertile worker. 



Many persons, although unable to account for the phenome- 

 non of eggs being laid where no queen could be found, have 

 doubted the reahty of a fertile worker, preferring to think that 

 a queen must be there although overlooked, and I do not think 

 positive proof of an egg-laying worker has ever been recorded, 

 but I have now the satisfaction of offering conclusive evidence. 

 On the 25th of May last Mr. O. Poole of Weston-super-Mare, an 

 enthusiastic apiarian, sent me a bee and said, " Would you 

 mind informing me if the bee sent is a fertile worker 1 There 

 is, I am certain, one in the hive from which this is taken, which 

 I caught to-day with the posterior portion of her body inserted 

 in a cell in which I afterwards found an egg." The bee was 

 apparently an ordinary Liguriau worker showing nothing ab- 

 normal in its exterior appearance. On opening the abdomen 

 and cutting away the viscera, I was, I admit, surprised to find 

 one ovary full of eggs, and the other but little more developed 

 than is usual in the worker. Referring to the figure of the 

 queen's ovaries, it will be seen that they are made-np of a great 

 number of " ovigerous tubes," full of eggs from maturity to 

 very minute. The ovary of this worker on the contrary had 

 but five tubes, each containing about twenty eggs, the largest 

 mature, but none very small, the organs terminating rather 

 abruptly. I counted distinctly nearly one hundred eggs, some 

 of which under slight pressure floated out into the liquid in 

 which I was examining it. The sting and poison-bag was as 

 usual in the worker, and I could find no trace of spermatheoa. 

 Unfortunately at this time I happened to have but little leisure, 

 and in hurriedly attempting to mount the organs, the ovary 

 being exceedingly delicate, broke-ap and I failed to preserve it. 

 Should ever a like opportunity occur I hope to be more careful 

 and Bacoessfal.— John Hunteb, Baton Biae, Ealing. 



LIQURIAN VERSUS BRITISH BEES. 



I HAVE been greatly interested in what has been said for and 

 against these bees in the Journal, and the conolneion I have 

 come to is that — Ist, There must be a profit in keeping Liguriaus 

 for sale, to sell in swarms, or to sell queens for ligurianising other 

 swarms; 2nd, That they are no better honey-producers than the 

 common bees; and 3rd, That therefore to those whose aim is 

 profit by means of honey it is a loss to invest in Lijuriau bees. 



These conclusions have been arrived at iisi various ways. So 

 many of the evidences in favour of Ligurians came from parties 

 who had them to sell, that I could not think their evidence was 

 of a disinterested kind. Then I was greatly astonished that 

 last year no one accepted the competition proposed by Mr. 

 Pettigrew, who advocated the British bee; and, again, your 

 correspondent "B. & W.," who otherwise appears favourable to 

 the Ligurian, makes this important statement in the Journal of 

 Horticulture May llth : " I must acknowledge that I am far 

 from Batis&ed that the common English bee is not in every way 

 as profitable ... as the Italian bees. ... I have now 

 had them for many years." 



Mr. Pettigrew has the warmest thanks of many. He has 

 fought unfliuchingly on behalf of the English bee, and thereby 

 deterred those whose aim was profit from incurring needless 

 outlay in buying bees which, after all that has been said in their 

 favour, have so little proof of their superiority as swarmers or 

 honey-gatherers.— James Shearer, Cairnie, Aberdeenshire. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Hrvraa Bees is Bae-frime Hives (O. i3.).— Your straw hive ahonid be 

 quite fall o( bees bofora you attempt to put th^m into a bar-frame one. M 

 present you would n'>t get bees enough to make a Kood commencement In the 

 new hive ; but by wailing till the straw hive i3 nearly ready for swarming 

 and then drumming them out they would form a strong colony, and soon fill 

 the ten-barred hive. By taking all the bees out of a hive before it swarma all 

 the brood in it is sacrihced, and this ia a great loss ; bat as yon seem anxioas 

 to have the new hive peopled, and as this season is a late one, perhaps yoot 

 better way will be to drive every bea out byand-by, and put them into the 

 bar-framer.^ After all the bees have baen driven mto an empty straw hive 

 tarn it on its crown and put the frame hive on It. The bees will soon run 

 up amongst the bari ; or you may shake them on the dry ground, and place 

 the hive over them, resting it on small bits of wood or stones to let the boos 

 outside the hive creep in all roand; or yon may remove two or three of the 

 bars, and shake them from the straw hive into the bar-frame one at once, and 

 replacing the bars. This is oar mode of transferring bees into bar-frame 

 hives. We first place the hive on its board, unscrew, remove its crown board 

 or lid, take out two or three bars, drop the swarm in, reljx the bars, and pat 

 the lid on ; all very easily done, and is perhaps the best way of hiving beea in 

 bar-framers. 



Abtificul Swaemino {Youlh/al Amaleur).—k letter on this subject will 

 shortly appear, which will perhaps aid you. If you wish to promote early 

 cntilral swarming feed your baes when they are not working. 



METEOROLOGICiL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Sqoare, London. 



Lat. 61° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0" 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 



SlBfc. — ^Very fine all day and a fine night. 



Jane let.— Dark at 8 a.m , and rather so till U a.m. ; brighter in the afternoon, 



bat not either aonny or warm, though very pleasant. 

 2ad. — Very fiae morning; cloudy in early afternoon, slight rain about 4 p.m., 



followed by a wet evening. 

 3rd.— Fine all the moruiag ; rather dull afternoon ; wet evening and night. 

 4th. — Fine imrDiog; rather dull at times durini^the day, and cold at night. 

 6th. — Windy night and morning; dull at 8, and rain at 9 a.m., rather heavy 



at lU, the wiod having fallen; showers occasionally all day. 

 6th. — Slight showers at times, bat a moderately tine day, bat rather cold 

 for the time of year. 

 Temperatare a little higher than last week, bat still cooHor the time ol 

 year.— G. J. Svmons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Jonk 7. 

 Business has rafher fallen off in consequence nf the holidayB, causing th& 

 prices of hothouse fruits to declino somawhat. Of outdoor produce the first 

 Peas from the west of Knglaad and from Kent have arrived daring the week, 

 and large snpplies of new Potatoes still arrive from the Channel Islands aod 

 from Lisbon . 



yauiT, 



8. d. a. d. 



Apples i sieve 1 6to6 



Apricots box 16 4 



Cherries bjs 16 5 



Chestnuts bashel 



Cnrranta k sieve 



Black do. 



Figs dozen 9 15 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 9 10 



Oooaeberriea quart OS 9 



Grapea.huthoase.... lb. 8 10 



Lemons ^100 6 12 



Melons each 6 12 



8. d. fl. d. 



Malberriea lb. OtoO 



Nectarines dozon 8 21 



Oranges ^100 6 12 



Peaches dozen 3 80 



Peara, kitchen.... dozen 



deasnrt dozen 3 13 



Pine Apples lb. 10 4 



Plums (sieve 



Qaincea bushel 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawbeitiea oz. 8 



Walnuts bnabel 4 10 



ditto ¥^100 - - - - 















1 



16 2 



Artichokes dozen 4 



Asparagus l?- 100 1 



French bundle 1 



Beana. Kidney.... ^100 I 



Beet, Red dozen 1 



Broccoli bundle 



Brnasels tiprouts 4 aieve 



Cabbage *. dozon 1 



Carriits bunch 



Capficnms «*■ lOi) 1 



Cauliflower dozen 1 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworts.. doz. bnnchea 2 



Cucumbers each 



Endive dozen 1 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradiah bundle 4 



Lettuce dozen 



French Cabbage .... 1 



TEOETABLES. 



8. d. s. d. 



0to6 



6 6 



17 6 



2 6 



6 8 



Leeks bunch 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress pnonet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley.... doz. bunches 



Parsnips dozen 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



New lb. 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salaafy bundle 



Scorzonera bundle 



Seakale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach buahel 



Tomuioes dozen 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows 



8. d. 6. d. 



4 too 



1 



