April 2, 1874. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICDLTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



283 



Meanwhile, Mr. B, you would do well to consider and compare 

 different waj's of managing bees, witli a view to determine before- 

 hand whether you will adopt the swarmingor non-swarming mode 

 of management. 



Mr. B. — Please to explain both briefly, that I may fairly 

 understand them and choose the better of the two, for while I 

 listen to you I will use my own reason and judgment. 



Mr. P. — Well, let me say that swarming is a law amongst bees 

 — it is an instinct of their being, and tends to their preservation. 

 Before hives become full, emigration and colonisation are 

 thought of, and preparations are made inside for such events. 

 When full of combs, brood, and bees, first swarms with the old 

 queens leave their hives. A few days before they leave, eggs 

 are placed in royal cells, which come to perfection in fourteen 

 days, or in about ten days after the first swai-ms issue. When 

 these cradled princesses come to maturity they begin to make 

 strange sounds by piping and barking at one another, and these 

 sounds may be heard for three days and three nights. Then 

 second swarms, smaller than the first ones, are sent off. You 

 will not fail to see, that by taking one or two swarms from a 

 stock hive an apiarian has the great advantage of having young 

 queens and young combs in his hives. He can, if he likes, take 

 the honey from his stocks and keep younger hives. Besides, on 

 the swarming principle he has all the bees in the honey hives 

 wherewith to strengthen and make doubly strong those he 

 selects for stocks. Again, on the swarming principle he can in 

 ordinary seasons turn all the bees out of the stock hives three 

 weeks after the first swarms leave them, put these turn-outs 

 into empty hives, and take the honey from the stocks. Thus 

 two or three swarms are obtained, and honey in quantity early 

 in the season. The reason why the twenty-first day after 

 swarming is named for turning out the bees is this, that then 

 the brood is hatched, and the young queens have not begun to 

 lay. The only sacrifice made in this turning-out process is the 

 loss of the old combs. But as a set-off against this loss we have 

 from 20s. to 25s. worth of honey from each stock hive, and if 

 the turn-outs fill their hives with combs they are generally quite 

 as valuable for keeping as the old ones would be. It is a great 

 thing in bee-keeping to have hives filled with young sweet 

 combs. 



On the non-swarming system of management combs become 

 old and black, queens become old and may die when there are 

 no eggs in their hives. In honey seasons non-swarmers are 

 generally too full of honey and too scant of bees for making 

 eligible stocks for another season. 



Mr. B. — But do we not get more supers filled with honey on 

 the non-swarming principle than on the multiplying one ? 



Mr. P. — In seasons unfavourable for bees more supers may be 

 obtained from hives not allowed to swarm than otherwise, and 

 doubtless there may be other points on the side of non-swarm- 

 ing which I cannot at this moment think of; but taking one 

 year with another, the swarming mode of management is in- 

 comparably better than the noi>-swarming one. In favourable 

 seasons for honey-gathering best first swarms will rise in weight 

 to upwards of 100 lbs. each, second swarms and turn-outs to 

 GO lbs. and 70 lbs. each. 



Mr. B. — I think you have said enough to induce me to adopt 

 the swarming system, which will enable me to increase the 

 number of my stocks and have my bees in modern and commo- 

 dious hives. I should like to have your opinion of the various 

 kinds of hives in use. I wish to get the best kind for my swarms, 

 BO that I shall not need to change them in a year or two. 



Mr. P. — Directions will be given for both modes of manage- 

 ment. On the non-swarming system supers should be placed 

 on hives about a week after their combs are covered with bees — 

 that is, about fourteen days before they become ready to swarm. 

 Guide-combs should be placed in the supers to induce the bees 

 to commence work in them as soon as placed on the hives. By 

 the end of this month some hives will be ready for supering. 

 Supers holding about 10 lbs. of honeycomb are more saleable 

 than larger ones. Straw and wood supers are more easily 

 managed and kept warm than glass ones, and we can sell them 

 of late quite as readily. Glass supers require a very warm 

 covering of cotton wool, or woollen cloth ; and when very large 

 glasses (crystal palaces), are used as supers, it is desirable to 

 induce the bees to build the combs in them both upwards 

 and downwards. 



If the weather is unfavourable for honey-gathering — prevent- 

 ing the bees from getting supplies from fruit-tree blossoms, they 

 should be fed more diligently and liberally than they were 

 last month, for now both more bees and brood need nourish- 

 ment. As stated last month, bees without food in stores will 

 not continue to sit eggs. If the weather be fine, and the bees 

 gathering enough for their wants, they will continue to breed; 

 but if cold weather set in when they have nothing stored up, 

 they decline to sit eggs, and sometimes cast out half-hatched 

 brood. 



It is well known that I use and recommend straw hives of 

 considerable dimensions. They are beautiful and cheap, better 



for health and honey, and more easily managed than wooden or 

 complicated hives. The teaching of experience will lead all 

 honest practical apiarians, seeking great results, to use straw 

 hives of simple construction, large size, and beautiful build. 



Next month will be one of great activity. Few practical in- 

 structions are needed for April. — A. Pettigkew, Sale. 



CRYSTAL PALACE BEE AND HONEY SHOW. 



In common with many of my bee-keeping brethren, I offer 

 my congratulations to the promoters of the forthcoming Show 

 at the Crystal Palace. I trust that it will be worthy of the place 

 and of the country, and that those who have the management 

 will endeavour to make it a truly national event ; for then it 

 will give an impetus to bee-culture in many a remote district. 

 Like the great Christmas Cattle Show, it will be sure to attract 

 visitors from far and near; many will return to their homes 

 with fixed impressions of hives, supers, &c., and wiU tell to 

 their less-favoured friends, who were not able to visit London, 

 the wonders they have seen ; for I have no doubt, if the season 

 be propitious, there wiU be some wonderful productions in the 

 way of supers, i-c. I hope there will be plenty of space allotted 

 for the Exhibition, so that visitors need not be constantly 

 obliged to be on the move, but may be allowed some reasonable 

 time for inspection. When a person is deeply interested in 

 anything, is just mastering the details, and has some faint idea 

 of how such-and-such a thing was done, but still has not quite 

 clear views about it, what can be more tantalising than to be 

 told that he must "move on '? " 



If the Exhibition be carried out in a national spirit, it wiU serve 

 as a model for local shows ; if not, and there be a manifest leaning 

 to any particular class, it will be sure to cause annoyance and 

 ill-feeling, and the great'objectof the Exhibition will be frustrated. 

 If all kinds of hives have a place for competition—" a fair field 

 and no favour " — no class of hivists can be dissatisfied, and I am 

 inclined to think that the skilled apiarian who pins his faith to 

 the much-despised straw skep of large size, will not have to nail 

 his colours to the mast it profit be taken into consideration. 

 On this point there is great diversity of opinion, therefore let 

 each hive stand on its own merits ; but I cannot help thinking 

 that, as the schedule now stands, the straw hive is all but thrown 

 overboard. . 



Undoubtedly the schedule published has been scanned with 

 great interest ; it wiU be freely and fairly criticised, suggestions 

 will be made, and I trust, before the last schedule is sent out, that 

 the originators of the scheme will weigh well what outsiders 

 have to say, retain the good, and cast the bad away. It will be 

 impossible to draw up a list of prizes to please everyone, but it 

 is quite possible to draw up one that will meet with general 

 approbation. 



With regard to the prizes, I think they are cut up too smaU ; 

 I think some of them ought not to come under £5. For a small 

 local affair it would be all very well. No doubt the majority of 

 exhibitors will be amateurs, who will think more of the honour 

 of winning the prize than of the mere money value ; at the same 

 time, there are many amateurs who would compete for £b, who 

 would not take the trouble of sending their produce or stock to 

 London for a chance of winning only £.2 ; for although some, 

 who have large apiaries, by sending hives, supers, &c., and 

 entering for competition in several classes, may net a consider- 

 able amount, yet it must not be forgotten that there are many 

 enthusiastic bee-keepers who possess but few hives, and could 

 perhaps only compete in one class. Therefore it appears to me 

 that the owner of a small number of hives will be at some 

 disadvantage. 



There is one class that I think ought to be expunged from the 

 list— Class Q. I cannot see why there should be a prize for 

 honey because it has been extracted by a slinger, when it is ad- 

 mitted by one of its advocates that machine-extracted honey, 

 though a little more in quantity, is a little worse in quality. 

 If anyone who has an interest in selling the machine will give a 

 prize out of his own pocket for extracted honey, no one has a 

 right to say a word against it; but I think money ought not to 

 be voted from public subscriptions for that purpose. I have 

 nothing to say against the extractor, and should approve of 

 giving a prize for the machine if it does its work well; that 

 would be quite sufficient to encourage its introduction where it 

 is not at present used. 



I consider the prizes for the miscellaneous class on the whole 

 good ; but I have some misgivings about the essay department. 

 On all hands it is admitted that the fertilisation of queens by 

 selected drones is a matter of uncertainty, and those who have 

 taken the most pains to ensure certainty have failed. If the 

 writer of the best essay advances some clever theory, which on 

 paper seems conclusive, but which may never have been tested, 

 Is he to have the prize ? I think to no one ought this prize to 

 be awarded unless he can prove, without the shadow of a doult, 

 that this (to me impossible feat) is possible. With respect 1o 

 the other essay, the man who can convincingly point to the 

 cause and prevention (I prefer Mr. Pettigrew's phrase to tho 



