February E, 1871. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICDLTDBB AND COTTAGE GABDKNEB. 



135 



for apprehension as in the case of the hot fish. Everything must 

 come to an end, however, and five o'clock that evening saw UB 

 steaming out of Lough Larne on our homeward journey. Three 

 hours' passage, and not in any light this time. But it was a 

 lovely evening, and one could hardly imagine it was January. 

 The lights at Larne and away to the north on "The Maidens " 

 grew gradually less till they disappeared altogether, while the 

 revolving light on CorsewaU Point flashed its alternate red and 

 white glare with greater hrilUancy as we neared Loch Ryan. 

 Cairnryau was sleeping quietly under the hills, the light from 

 its friendly beacon streaming into the Loch as we steamed up 

 its quiet waters, not sorry to be nearing home, with pleasing 

 recollections of kind friends on the other side. — W. A. Blaksto.n. 



THE BEE-KEEPER'S CALENDAR for FEBRUARY. 



This month, like last, is one of inactivity amongst bees. As 

 the days lengthen the hopes and enthusiasm of bee-keepers are 

 awakened, and some preparations are made for coming events. 

 After so many unfavourable seasons in almost unbroken succes- 

 sion, let us anticipate that 1874 will be a favourable one for the 

 apiarians of Great Britain. For two or three years I have been 

 anxious to realise £'100 profit in one season from bee-keeping, 

 partly from selfishness, partly because my father once saved 

 that amount in one year from his bees, and chiefly from my 

 desire to have an encouraging example of bee-keeping to place 

 before the working rural population of England. 



If the weather continue mild, queen bees will begin to lay 

 «arly in this month. In this neighbourhood I once saw young 

 bees on the wing on the 15th of February. The queens that 

 year commenced to lay in January. About three years ago we 

 had a very cold late spring, when queens did not lay till about 

 the end of March — at any rate, the first hatch of brood did not 

 appear till the middle of April. An open early spring and a 

 warm early locality are very advantageous to bees, for their 

 Jives are of short duration — nine months at most, but very, very 

 few of them live so long. If a hatch of brood be not obtained 

 in March to fiU up the ranks thinned by death, many hives 

 become so weak in bees that these have a hard struggle to live, 

 and the population of some is altogether destroyed. In a cold 

 spring and cold late locality I think it is desirable to stimulate 

 bees by artificial feeding, and thus cause them to breed earlier 

 than they would otherwise do. 



It should be borne in mind that spring feeding is simply to 

 stimulate and keep alive, and the food not to be stored-up as in 

 autumn. During February half a pound of sugar with half a 

 pound of water weekly will be enough for a hive of moderate 

 strength. And this half-pound should be given in three doses^ 

 Bay one every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Every bee- 

 master has his own mode of administering food to his bees. 

 For spring feeding we use troughs about 1 foot in length, 

 2 inches broad, and less than half an inch deep. These are filled 

 or half fiUed and pushed into the hives by the doors, thus 

 twenty hives may be fed in less than ten minutes' time. If bees 

 have been prevented from leaving their hives by frosty weather 

 for weeks, an accumulation of dirt will be found on their boards, 

 and it should be scraped off this month. 



Cottagers who make their own hives should get them ready 

 during the long evenings of winter ; and amateurs, too, should 

 prepare beforehand for an increase of swarms. We have already 

 ordered fifty large hives for our swarms. These, with twenty 

 old ones now empty, will probably he required for swarms in 

 May and June. I calculate on having at the rate of three swarms 

 from two stocks — that is to say, one swarm from each hive, and 

 a second swarm from every second hive of bees. The readers 

 of this Journal know that Pettigrew has for years been ringing 

 the bell and telling the bee-keepers of Great Britain and Ireland 

 to adopt hives larger than those in general use if they wish 

 to realise great profits or large results from bee-keeping. It 

 is evident that a large number of workmen will compass and 

 do more work of every kind than a smaller number, and it is 

 equally clear that the births in a large town will far outnumber 

 the births in a country village. 



In preparing hives for the reception of swarms, guide-combs 

 and cross sticks only are necessary. The guide-combs should 

 be sealed to labels of wood, and then pinned on the crowns of 

 hives (of course on the inside), by nails. The combs should be 

 made to run from front to back, and the cross sticks from side to 

 side. Thus the combs cross the sticks and are fastened securely 

 to them. These cross sticks are of much service to bee-keepers 

 who carry their bees from place to place ; and they are of use to 

 the bees, for these go from comb to comb across the hives 

 by their means. Where the combs are fastened to the sticks, 

 the bees leave small holes as doors or passages for their own 

 convenience. We put four or five cross-sticks nearly as strong 

 as a walking-stick in every hive. When the combs are cemented 

 to these, the hive will bear a great amount of iU-usage before the 

 combs are injured. We have sent hives to almost every corner 

 of England without injury. If the reader has no guide-comb 

 preserved from last autumn, he should cut out of one of his hives 



of bees all he will require for his swarms this year. Old tough 

 comb is better than new brittle comb for this purpose, but it 

 should be cut out before brood be put into it. A bit of comb 

 about 2 inches square is enough for each hive. It is requested 

 that the reader will bear those simple things in mind, for it is 

 not my intention to repeat them at the busy swarming season. 



Sometimes a bee-master may wish to remove his bees from 

 one part of his garden to another. The present month is, 

 perhaps, the best time to remove hives a short distance, for beea 

 come out but seldom now ; and when they come out it ia for a 

 winter dance and purposes of cleanliness, and when on thesa 

 errands they look well about them, and never go far from home. 

 In times of honey-gathering they leave their hives to go straight 

 to the fields or orchards, and may not discover that the position 

 of their homes has been altered till they return to the old 

 stands. In summer, hives should be removed from one part of 

 a garden to another by short stages — say 1 or 2 yards every day. 

 At present they may, I think, be removed from one side of a 

 garden to another with safety. When this is done, all the hives 

 should go at once ; for naturally some bees would return to the 

 old place, and if they found a hive near it, they would seek a 

 home there instead of returning to their new position. 



February is a favourable time to purchase hives and commence 

 bee-keeping. Bees can now be removed to great distances 

 without risk of suffocation even in the hands of inexperienced 

 persons. I am frequently consulted as to where bees can be 

 bought, also when bee-keeping should be commenced, and gene- 

 rally recommend those seeking advice to commence with not 

 less than two hives, and to buy, if they can, of the cottagers in 

 their own neighbourhood. When I say neighbourhood I mean 

 within a few miles, for there would be some risk if the bees bought 

 had been standing within a mile of the buyer's garden. When 

 hives of bees cannot be obtained near home, they may always be 

 had of respectable extensive bee-keepers elsewhere. Here let 

 me notice that there exists in the minds of many people, both 

 rich and poor, a foolish prejudice and a ridiculous superstition 

 respecting buying and selUng bees. " It is very unlucky to 

 either buy or sell a hive of bees. I bought a hive once, and it 

 died." And the poor man says, " If I sell one of mine all the 

 rest will die." Many old women in England believe that all 

 the bees in their possession wiU die if they are not told of the 

 death of one of the family of the owner. Such superstition is 

 very remarkable and lamentable. I can believe that many 

 gentlemen have made a commencement in bee-keeping and 

 failed. Their hives may have been diseased and worthless when 

 they obtained them. 'The season after they purchased them 

 may have been unfavourable, and the bees may not have received 

 proper attention. I venture to express an opinion that almost all 

 the disasters attending hives purchased by beginners have been 

 owing to their own ignorance. It is a most difficult undertaking 

 to teach a novice in bee-keeping how to distinguish between 

 a good and a bad hive, and how to value aright hives at all 

 seasons. 



Next month I shall begin to examine hives internally, and 

 continue to examine them thus till the end of September. — 

 A. Petiigbew, Sale. 



HOW TO KEEP BEES AT A PROFIT. 



Some years ago I began to keep bees, from a desire more to 

 learn their habits and amuse myself than for any return I might 

 obtain for the trouble. I have certainly learnt a lesson, but have 

 gained no money. I have now ceased to take much interest in 

 my little pets. On reflection I begin to think my old grand- 

 mother right, who kept bees on a common-sense plan. Her rule 

 was to destroy all old stocks, keeping over only the early swarms ; 

 so that by having none more than one year old with the " casts," 

 as the later swarms were called, she had two classes of honey — 

 one she sold at a good price, the other was made into a drink 

 called mead. My grandmother seldom fed her bees, for she 

 never attempted to keep a weak swarm over the winter. I 

 begin to think the old woman, by instinct, did what was no 

 doubt the best to get honey. She never had any old foul corub 

 for bees to breed in, as in hives two or three years old, and in 

 not feeding the bees with syrup the comb is not filled with such 

 stuff in the breeding season. 



There is another point I think of importance which I should 

 be glad of some information upon. My opinion is that feeding 

 bees, as a rule, is bad; except on absolute danger of their dying, 

 I do not think they ought to be fed. It must be wrong to teach 

 bees to rely on the bottle, as it might tend to make them idle. 

 We have some proof of this ; for it is well known that in the 

 tropics where the bees can get honey all the year round they 

 store but little, but in the cold regions of the norih, with a very 

 short season, they collect the most honey. 



I took some pains to inquire into this subject when in Swit- 

 zerland. I could not believe that so large a quantity of honey, 

 which I saw in the market, could have been gathered in those 

 narrow valleys so long locked-up in frost and snow ; but one 

 season when I happened to be there at the end of May, I could sea 



