500 



JOUKNAIi OF HORTICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ Jaio 33, 1876. 



are wanted in early summer, and efforta are made to indnoe the 

 bees to fill them instead of swarming. In late seasons it may 

 be that some hives are not full enough to swarm in May and 

 June; on such occasions and at such times snpering or other 

 mode of enlargement is resorted to in order to prevent swarm- 

 ing. Takiug a rango of years, I have found that the swarming 

 system of management is better than the non-swarming one, 

 for in seasons favourable for honey-gathering swarms rise to 

 greater weight than stocks that do not swarm at all. Last year 

 Mr. Fox had a super of comb weighing 80 lbs. from a hive that 

 did not swarm at all. The hive was not a large one, and some 

 of the Judges at the Crystal Palace Show disqualified the super, 

 thinking the hive too small to fill it. Suppose the hive and 

 super together weighed 125 lbs. In Aberdeenshire last year 

 July swarms rose to greater weight than 125 lbs. In favonrable 

 seasons during the last fifty years I have invariably found 

 swarms taking the place of honour. 



By the swarming system we can have all our hivee full of 

 young sweet combs, and young queens amongst them. On the 

 non-swarming principle queens die of old age, causing a great 

 loss to the hives at the time of their death. At no season and 

 in no hive can a queen die without great loss being sustained ; 

 and if a queen die when there are no eggs in the hive her loss 

 is ruinous to the community. If one die when drones are not 

 available her death is equally ruinous. Suppose an apiarian 

 who keeps twelve stocks pays no attention to the age of his 

 queens, he will lose by death three queens annually. I know a 

 gentleman who lost three queens last autumn when the hives 

 had no drones. This spring he found that their successors were 

 drone-breedera and useless. One-fourth of his stock was thus 

 lost. 



Again, the swarming system gives the bee-master a choice of 

 stocks. A hive filled with honey to repletion is not eligible for 

 keeping as a stock hive ; and hives managed on the supering or 

 non-swarming principle are generally too full of honey for stocks. 

 Bat when the bee-keeper has a mother hive and one or two 

 Bwarms from it there is a wide scope for choice ; and, moreover, 

 the bees of the rejected hives or those marked for honey, if 

 united to the one marked for stock, make it a hive of surpassing 

 strength and worth. If the readers of this Journal will keep 

 these things in mind, and endeavour to carry them into practice, 

 their future career in bee-keeping will be highly satisfactory 

 and successful. The autumnal unions of swarms are like key- 

 stones in arches, which give strength and endurance to the whole 

 system. We all like to have early swarms and large harvests 

 of honey and honeycomb; and the system of management here 

 indicated will bear comparison in results with auy other that 

 I am acquainted with. The next letter on this system will em- 

 brace the question of supering and nadiring, this referring only 

 to the question of swarming. 



The bee-keepers of Great Britain and Ireland should aim at 

 having early swarms; but in'some districts swarming shonld 

 be prevented by the middle of June, in others not till the middle 

 of July. Where bees are removed to the moors and can gather 

 honey till the end of the first or second week of September, bees 

 may be allowed to swarm till about the 12th of July. From 

 large hives that swarm early I take second swarms, and find 

 that in good seasons they rise in weight to 50 lbs., CO lbs., or 70 lbs. 

 each, and the mother hive, though it sustains a loss at the time, 

 becomes a strong hive by the end of the season. If second 

 swarms be not taken from early swarmers, they become too 

 heavy for keeping in honey years. If stocks are fairly heavy at 

 the time of swarming I turn the bees out of them at the end 

 of three weeks after the first swarms leave them, putting the 

 bees into empty hives, and take the honey from the stock hives. 

 In unfavourable springs I let all stand till the harvest. Having 

 little time to visit the bees at the swarming season I manage 

 them with as little loss of time as posRible. As soon as they 

 are ready for swarming they are swarmed artificially, and if 

 the old stocks contain 20s. worth of honey each the bees are 

 turned out of them into large empty hives and the honey is 

 taken. — A. Pettigrew. 



CUB LETTER BOX. 



Atlesbttey Ducks.— We are informed tha*-. the article on Aylesbury Ducks 

 which appeared at page 4r»D of our preseot volume, and which was a'-ktaow- 

 ledf^ed as having been taken from the American Fancier'^ Journal, originally 

 appeared in Tft.- Bazaar. It is a pity that our American brethren of the 

 press cannot afford to acknowledge when they are indebted to their con- 

 temporaries. 



Single-frame Observatory Hive for Exhibition (F. C). — Intelli- 

 gible directinns to make this hive for the purpose of exhibiting a comb of 

 bees at a local show can scarcely be given without drawings, but it mity be 

 snffloient to say that it should consist of a stand heavy and bro^d enough so as 

 to be firm, with two wooden upright end pieces, with glazed tash back and front 

 screwed on to them. The frame filled with comb and bees should bo dropped 

 in from the top. suspended by the ends of the frame as it was in its original 

 hive When in position there should be a quarter of an inch space all round 

 and over the comb and frame, the size of which will of course form the guice 

 for the dimensions of the hive. A wooden top should be fitted, having a 

 central hole for ventilation and feeding. The comb should contain a (sufficient 

 supply of honey, or syrup must be constantly aapplied. Alter the bees and 



queen have been removed from the parent hive it will be necessary in return- 

 ing them to take piecautions against their slaughter, for they will be received 

 as strangers. The que»n should be caged at lea't twenty-four hours, and 

 the workers sprinkled well with scentpd syrup. The bees will probably have 

 raised queen cells in the original hive; these must be destroyed. Instmc- 

 tions tor thfse operations and drawings of observatory hives will be found in 

 Hunter's " Manual of Bee-keeping." ^^ 



Bees not Swaemino (W. Dodsleyl— Your bees are not ready for swarm- 

 ing, and they will not swarm naturally for about three weeks after their hives 

 are filled with combs. If you attempt to twarm them artificially before they 

 are read.v they will be much injured probably ruined, for they could not .lield 

 swarms large enough to succeed in this unfavourable season, and the old hives 

 would be greatly injured by the loss of even small swarms at the present 

 time. Let Iheni remain as they are till the end of June, or till the hives bs 

 filled with combs; and if then too late lor swarming yon could soper or 

 nadir your hivea with a view to get some honey instead of an increase of 

 stocks. The combs in your straw hive are now old enough. We should like 

 to advise you to let the bees in it multiply a* fast as possible till the end of 

 July, when they could be all driven into an empty hive and fed for the 

 winter. If they then have 15 lbs. of sugar in a fortnight they will build fresh 

 combs and store up food enough for the winter. The honey in the old hiva 

 will, if July be favourable for outdoor work, be worth three times the cost oj 

 the sugar. 



MEIEOBOLOOICAI. OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 33- 40" N. j.Long. 0" 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 



BE MARKS. 

 14tli. — A bright pleasant day, with nii^e breeze to temper tho heat. 

 IGtti. — FiDe till noon, then clondy; raiuy evening and tight. 

 I6th. — Kain in the night and early morning; fioe attemuon and eveniog, bat 



veiy culd for tbe timeol year. 

 17tb.— Dull and raui like uU day, though Bcarce any Jell; very windy at night. 

 18th. — A beaulifiil day throuqhoat. 



19th. — A Bplendid eummer day and brilliaot starlight night. 

 20th. — Another \ory fiae day; temperature in Bbadc reacbiog nearly to 83', 



but a briek breeze prevented it from being at all oppreseive. 

 The mean temperature of the week only differn from that of last week by 

 about 1", Friday and Saturday having been very cold. The last three days 

 have been very fine. — G. J. Symons. 



COVE NT GARDEN MARKET.— June 21. 

 The last few warm days have bronght a good quantity of outdoor fruit 

 into the market, and consequently Strawberries have experienced a great fall 

 in price. Foreign importatio ns consist of Strawberries, Cherries, Melons, and 

 Apricots, all of which are arriving in large quantities. Trade good. 



