72 



JOURNAL OP HORTICOLTUBB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 15, 1874. 



for will it not place ns apiarians ia a position to defy the season, 

 and to produce honey of any quality and any flavour at will and 

 almost at any moment's uotice, as well in midwinter as at mid- 

 summer ? May we not hope, too, that an effectual stop will be 

 put to that miserable system which sees a cow's tail in a pump- 

 handle, against which our old friend " A Renfbewshire Bee- 

 keeper " protests with such righteous force of language? So 

 when our last Christmas chimes were pealing forth their merry 

 strains, may we not hope that with some kind of prescience they 

 were ringing out the false and ringing in the true in our little 

 world as in larger spheres ? Let us hope that no one of our 

 guild in The Journal of Horticulture will soil his hands this 

 year with any transactions, such as are justly condemned by 

 the last writer I have named— least of all any member of our 

 most honourable craft in the speciality we love. — B. & "W. 



13 HONEY BE-SWALLOWED BY BEES'? 



The best proof I have that honey does not require re-swallow- 

 ing and disgorging (and your readers can judge for themselves), 

 is, that I have watched over and over again the bees as they came 

 from the fields with their honey, and where they had no chance 

 of deceiving me, and have seen them commence to fill and seal 

 the cells without ever re-swallowing it. I believe bees have the 

 power of extracting the excess of water from honey the moment 

 they swallow it. As soon as this is done the honey gradually 

 becomes thicker. 



Since the foregoing was written I have read Mr. Pettigrew's 

 article (see page 389 of last volume), and ask how the bees go to 

 work, and how they manage to re-swallow the honey stored in 

 the super, where he says, " Fix a few pieces of empty white 

 comb in a super as already described, and then place it over the 

 empty hive ; in less than ten minutes' time the bees will be in 

 the super and readily commence work." Knowing what bees 

 can do under these circumstances, I fail to see how they will 

 follow out their instincts, and at the same time re-swallow all 

 the honey carried into the combs and have a super finished as 

 it ought to be in the time specified by Mr. Pettigrew. In fact, he 

 has here proven that bees do not re-swallow honey. 



I have also read with some degree of astonishment both 

 " B. & W.'s " and Mr. Pettigrew's mode of feeding. I cannot see 

 how their bees fail to take food quickly enough from the bottle, 

 the best of all feeders. I find there is no difficulty in a good 

 stock of bees taking down 4 lbs. in twelve hours ; and according 

 to Mr. Pettigrew's instructions, if 1.5 lbs. are sufficient from 

 September till March, it cannot be said that to take that 

 amount in four or five days is a tedious operation. But why 

 such a fuss about feeding bees so hurriedly '? From 1 to 2 lbs. 

 daily is a quick-enough rate to adminster sugar to bees. And let 

 me here warn the readers of this to be very careful in giving 

 bees sugar in large quantities at once, thereby overheating the 

 hive ; also to beware of pouring 2 lbs. of sugar at a time on a hive 

 of bees, on account of the fighting it will cause among the in- 

 mates, besides so clogging many of their wings that they cannot 

 ily. — A LANABKsniBE Bee-keeper. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



POFLTRY JcDGE (D. TF.).— Mr. Bura's fitness for the office is well inown 

 and needs no further advocacy. 



Time for Setting Cochins and BnAUMis (IF. IT.).— 'We consider this 

 the best time if you wish to breed prize birds. The earliest chickens are the 

 easiest to rear if you have a large barn or outhouse with an earthen floor in 

 which to keep the chickens during the first six or seven weeks. They require 

 protection from rain, sloet, draughts, and cutting winds; they also want to be 

 warm during the long nights of midwinter. There is no such thing as a 

 firat-class Black Bantam cock with a red earloba. It should be (juite round 

 and smooth, with a dead white surface. 



Produce of Eoas ( C. L. A/.).— If from forty-five hens you are now getting 

 BIX eggs per day, you are going on very well, and producing above the aver- 

 age. You may look now for a daily increase. It has hitherto been one of the 

 worst laymg seasons on record. We cannot understand why you keep such a 

 medley lot of birds. Having only fifty or sixty, with farm and stack- vard for 

 them to run in, we think it would be much better if you confined yourself to 

 one breed— say Dorkings or Brahman ; but from the descriptien you give, it 

 should be the place of places for a Dorking run. We are not friendly to 

 crosses, but we particularly object to a mixture of sitting and non-sitting 

 breeds. The hens you have laying now are probably those one year old. 

 Where eggs are much wanted we should never keep hens more than two 

 seasons. We do not hold with allowances of food, as the need cannot be 

 always the same. For instance, where threshing is going on there is the barn- 

 door scratch, and fowls never do so well as when they have it. At those 

 times as much food is not required as at others. Fowls should be fed aceord- 

 "ig T "^ requirements, and these are much greater at some times than 



others. In the summer they, like ourselves, require le.s3 food, and in the 

 winter more. If, then, one undeviating rule of feetUng bo adhered to, half the 

 food wUi be wasted in the summer, and the fowls will be half fed in the 

 winter. Eight o'clock in the morning is too late for the first meal ; they 

 should at this time of year be fed at daybreak. Thev have then been fasting 

 from fourteen to fifteen hours ; this is much against laving and condition. 

 It inconvenient, some food may be put in their runs overnight. Supposing 

 that, as m most farmyards, there is always some food to be had, we will sav 

 let the birds be fed at daybreak with corn, not oats (except the Ducks and 

 Oeese); at mid-day let them have the house scraps, and at evening another 

 leod of com. The pulped mangold amounts to nothing, and may be omitted 

 ■without injury or detriment. The man in charge must vaiy this at discre- 



tion, taking care the birds are always sufficiently fed. We will undertake to 

 say there will be an increase in the number of eggs, and no increase in tha 

 consumption of food. Maize may sometimes be given for a change. 



Eoo-PBODOCING Fowls ( fVeUiji).—Yoa mav choose among Spanish, Crcve- 

 CiBUrs, and Houdans. They are the best. If you will toll us the nature of 

 your run, wo shall be glad to advise you further. 



Eggs (A Younr/ Fanner).— We know of no reason for doubting the honesty 

 of the person you inquire about. Mr. Wright's "Illustrated Poultry Book " 

 contains the characteristics. 



Various (I. G. IF.}.— We answered some or all vour queries. Mr. Wright's 

 " Illustrated Poultry Book " is the best. The Canary we do not remember. 



Removing Bees from their Hive (A Younn Apiarian).— V/a cannot 

 endorse the plan recommended by " An Old Man " of taking bees from hives, 

 and prefer the other modes usually adopted by practical bee-keepers— viz.. 

 driving or shaking them out. The driving may be done in about fifteen minutes, 

 and when the bees are sitting loosely amongst the combs they could be 

 shaken out in less than one minute. The straw hive should be nearly full of 

 bees before this work is done, say about the end of April, and even then the 

 brood would have to be sacrificed and a loss sustained. By attention to the 

 straw hive you may have it ready for swarming by the beginning of May, 

 when the swarm could be introduced to the bar-frame hive, and three weeks 

 afterwards all the bees could he driven out of the straw hive into another bar- 

 frame. Thus you would have two bar-frame hives and the honey in the old 

 straw hive. Wo think no other way of compassing the end you have in view 

 so eligible as this. 



Tauing Wasps (3/ariana).— Of what use would it be ? The foUowing from 

 a contemporary is applicable—" What Sir John Lubbock has to be answerable 

 for if old maids as a body take to this interesting study may happily be more 

 readily conceived than felt. A correspondent writes : Encouraged by the 

 success of Sir John Lubbock with the solitary wasp of the Pyrenees, throe 

 sister spinsters residing under the shadow of Durham Cathedral have been 

 endeavouring to tame a few of the British species. The result is unsatisfac- 

 tory. One of the sisters has a large patch of powder-blue over the left eye. 

 another has her right arm in a sliug, and the third, the doctor thinks, will be 

 able to drive out in aweek. The wasps were liberated." 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat.5r32'40" N. ; Long. 0° 8' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



REMAKES. 

 7th. — Fine all the morning and noon ; rather less so in the afternoon, bat 



fine night. 

 8th.— Rather dull early ; slight rain at 11 a.m., and shotvery after ; -windy at 



night. 

 9th. — Wet morning; showery and uncomfortable all day. 

 10th. — Dull though fair morning; showery before noon, but fine afterwards. 

 11th. — Fine morning ; fair all day, but not bright; slightly foggy. 

 12th. — Rainy morning, and dull all day. 



13th.— White frost in the morning, followed by a beautiful day ; bright and 

 clear. 

 Weather very similar to that of the two previous weeks, but more pleasant, 

 owing to the absence of the fogs with which they had been accompanied.— 



G. J. SVMONS. 



COYENT GARDEN MARKET.— January 14. 

 SurPLiES, both of fruit and vegetables, are fully equal to tho demand. 



