March 13, 1S74. J 



JOUiiXAIj OF HOBTICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



249 



to oue of contentment as soon as the bees had tasted the syrup. 

 He then put the hive back in its place and stopped the hole up 

 to prevent the bees of the other hives from smelling it and goiug 

 in, it being rather early in the afternoon. 



I am sure after what Mr. Pettigrew showed me that old cor- 

 duroy is the bee-keeper's best friend, and that with the aid of it 

 the most timid bee-keeper may do what he wants with his own 

 bees — what he would think was impossible. If the bees are very 

 savage just give them an extra dose of smoke, it wiU take it out 

 of them. In conclusion, I must say that Mr. Pettigrew handled 

 his hives like a master, and I am exceedingly obliged to him for 

 the trouble he took to explain evei-ytbing to me. 



I have to go in the swarming season to see him make an arti- 

 ficial swarm, which I shall do if all be well. If there are any 

 bee-keepers that are as timid as I used to be, and I dare say 

 there are, after reading this let them put what they have read 

 in practice, and I can assure them they will succeed far beyond 

 their expectations. — P. R.unford, New Springs, near Wigan. 



KEEPING BEES FOB PROFIT. 



HuER.iH ! it is found out at last, and your contributor " J. C 

 shall have the honour. Here is the secret, Do as your ancestors 

 did. Expend no capital on your bees, and if any honey is 

 gathered, sell it, and it is all profit. Kow, there are many 

 things our ancestors did both wisely and well, and well worth 

 our imitating, but they lived in slow times compared with 

 ours; their requirements were less, and they were satisfied 

 with less than we need to keep abreast of the times. We live 

 in the days of railways and telegraphs, and it will never do for 

 us to go back to the good old coaching days. 



There can be no doubt but profit has been made by the old 

 system of management; but is it not possible that, by a judi- 

 cious outlay of a little capital, much more profit may be made ? 

 " J. C." has no cause to complain of our little pets. He sowed 

 for amusement and instruction, and he has reaped the same, 

 doubtless abundantly ; and if he had reaped profit as well he 

 probably would have been disappointed, because he does not 

 appear to have aimed at it. I am going in for profit as well as 

 amusement, and for the first I have adopted the Pettigrew straw 

 hive, which I consider the cheapest and best adapted for either 

 breeding purposes or storing honey. I have no doubt about 

 that, but what particular kind of hive to try for amusement and 

 instruction I am entirely at sea. One recommends this and 

 another that, and most of them appear so complicated in their 

 structure, that it seems as if the makers of them wanted to 

 teach the bees something, instead of learning something from 

 them. 



To teach bees what to do and how to do it, appears to me a 

 hopeless task, and I think "J. C." would find it diflBcult to 

 teach them either reliance on the bottle or idleness. Like all 

 good economists, if material is placed near them they will pre- 

 fer that before going a distance to fetch it ; but let the supply 

 fall short at home, and off they go to the nearest place where it 

 can be found. The suggestion about the small quantities of 

 honey stored in the tropics does not prove their inactivity there, 

 but rather their remarkable instinct, for what is the use to them 

 of large quantities of honey stored np where it can be obtained 

 as required ? — Thos. Bagshaw, Longnor, near Buxton. 



BEE-FEEDING EXPERIENCES. 



In the Journal of February lOth I noticed a letter by " Beaten 

 ECT NOT DisjiAYED," who, after narrating his experiences of 

 how he killed a hive by kindness, sums-up by advising all 

 amateurs to leave their hives alone and let the bees take care of 

 themselves. I for one do not agree with him, but consider 

 judicious assistance occasionally to be absolutely necessary to 

 the welfare of a colony of bees. I have a case in point in which 

 I have saved a starving stock this season. 



Some time about the l.'jth of February last, I observed that 

 one of my hives, a Neighbour's improved Woodbury bar-frame, 

 had not been giving any signs of activity by the bees airing 

 themselves for several fine days previously ; and seeing there 

 ■were dead bees inside close to the entrance, which would not 

 have been the case were the occupants in a prosperous condition, 

 and being unable to hear any humming when I rapped on the 

 hive, I suspected something wrong. I accordingly decided to 

 open the hive for inspection, much as I dislike interfering with 

 bees in cold weather. The result proved my conjecture to be 

 correct — viz., that the bees were without honey. They were 

 starving, many of the bees having entered the cells, and not a 

 morsel of honey in the hive. At first I thought they were all 

 dead, but on withdrawing the frames I observed a tremulous 

 motion of the wings of some of the bees ; so wishing to try 

 whether I could save them, though by no means sanguine of 

 success, I shook any dead bees off the floor-board and frames, 

 quickly replacing the latter ; fastening the lid I carried the hive 

 into my vinery, average temperature 6U", first taking care to close 

 the entrance-hole ; then withdrawing the zinc slide in the lid I 



put a large bee-glass over the hole, and left the latter open to 

 allow the bees access to the glass if the heat should revive 

 them. This was about midday, and I observed no signs of life 

 till the following morning, when some dozen bees had made 

 their way up in the glass super, crawling about in a sluggish 

 manner, and on tapping the hive a slight answering hum could 

 now be distinctly heard. I then took a cake of sealed-up honey- 

 comb about 2 lbs. in weight, and opening a few cells I placed it 

 under the glass super. It was an hour or two before the en- 

 feebled bees began to taste the honey ; when they did, however, 

 it was wonderful in how short a space of time the news that a 

 supply of food had been discovered became communicated to 

 the rest of the occupants of the hive. Bees commenced running 

 about instead of crawling, their numbers in the super hourly 

 increasing, and by the evening the whole hive seemed awake. 

 I covered-up the super and left them, and on the following 

 morning when the sun was fairly warm I replaced the hive on 

 its old stand, still leaving the entrance closed till the evening, 

 when I opened it. 



The next morning from the cold of the night the bees had 

 quitted the super, and on inspecting the comb they had cleared- 

 out every drop of honey. I then made some liquid food by 

 boiling good beer and brown sugar together for a few minutes, 

 in the proportion of three-quarters of a pint of ale to 1 lb. of 

 sugar, adding a tea-spoonful of salt, and when cold a small 

 dessert-spoonful of rum. This I gave in one of Neighbour's 

 circular wooden feeders (not those with a float), with a sheet of 

 glass over the top, putting a few chips of straw in the groove 

 into which the food passes to prevent the bees falling into the 

 syrup and being drowned. 



They soon ascended into this and began to convey down the 

 syrup, and as the day got warmer began to carry out their dead, 

 so I no longer despaired of their having recovered, provided the 

 queen was uninjured. I still keep on the feeding at the top, 

 and for the past week or more the bees have been hard at work 

 bringing-in pollen on their legs whenever the days were warm. 

 Of this they can get a good supply, as we have any quantity of 

 laurustinus in full blossom, which is a great help to early breed- 

 ing. From this latter sign I have little doubt that the queen is 

 in safety, and the hive has probably ere this some brood in it. 



Had it not been for the letter of "Beaten but not Dis- 

 mayed," I should not have thought of writing to you on this 

 subject ; but as his failure may make other inexperienced api- 

 arians follow his advice and leave starving stocks of bees to 

 their inevitable fate, I send you this, in hopes, if you deem it 

 worthy of insertion, that it may encourage judicious feeding at 

 proper times and save the lives of many a starving colony. — 

 William Savile. 



Mb. Charles Eatson. — With much regret we have to announce 

 that this good and honourable judge of Rabbits died on the 

 3rd inst. at his residence, Ivy Lodge, Didsbury, near Manchester. 



Consumption of Egos. — Farmers, cottagers, every dweller in 

 the country, ought to breed poultry, for the demand still in- 

 creases. In February the value of eggs imported was £151,005 ; 

 in the corresponding month last year, .i'117,822. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Dorking and BRAmiA Cross {Suhscrihcr). — The DarkBrahma is generally 

 preferred, because the colours Uamiomse better with the Dorkings. There ia 

 no difference in the merit of the two breeds. 



Feather-eating Fowls (Rusticus). — The deplorable habit of picking the 

 foathers is geuGrally acquired in confinement. We have never known it 

 among birds that were at liberty. It arisL-s from the lack of something they 

 would get if they were at liberty, and the feather is the nearest approach to 

 that for which they have the natural craving. Spanish are very prone to it. 

 We have uevor been able to cure it entirely, but we have lessened it by sup- 

 plying them with fresh horae dung, lumps of growing grass, with plenty of 

 fresh earthworms and lettuces. 



Poultry Management {D. E. JP.).— You must alter your feedingand come 

 more to natural food. Potatoes in every form are bad. Give in the morning 

 ground oats or bark'ymeal mixed with cold water, midday alternately whole 

 maize or bark-y ; evening same as morning. lu the small space they have, 

 give gras!*, earth, garden rubbiyh, and lettuce if you have it. Your birds are 

 overfed, and probably too fat. They want s..imething that will amuse them. 

 Three meals per diem are enough. The space is too small for Dorkings. None 

 will do better than Brahmas. It is dillicult to cure ht-ns of egg-eating; you 

 may lessen it by putting hard composition eggs in the nests, and by laying 

 one or two about in their run. It is almost incredible that your Brahmag 

 have not yet laid. 



A\XEsnniiY Ducks Moulting {Attie).~Yo\iT Ducks should have laid before 

 this. We cannot account for their moulting. Is it all over the body, or in 

 parts "? li the latter, in what parts ? 



Partridge Cochins' Plumage (A. B. C.).— The principal points in Par- 

 tridge Cochins are in the cock scrupulously black breast, black and orange- 

 striped saddle and hackle, no white anywhere. The hen should be Partridge 

 or (irouse-feathered all over, without yellow tinge, and the feathers more 

 marked than those of a Game hen. Condition makes a cock's plumage glossy. 

 Many fanciers think a few white peas daily are beneficial. 



Produce of Eggs (Pullet). — Like most of those who complain they get 

 no eggs, you are overfeeding and giving improper food. Your birds are too 



