480 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 11, 1874, 



Biibstaiice not honey, which, after deposit in the cells by day, 

 thev re-swallow and convert into honey in their Btomaehs at 

 night time or otherwise. I noted in a recent number of the 

 Journal the sanae repetition of the statement that bees manu- 

 facture honey. It is a pure assumption — nothing more. No 

 doubt bees re-swallow oftentimes the honey they have collected 

 in the day, but what they re-swallow is honey, and not the sweet 

 and merely crude syrup which Mr. Pettigrew avers, and they 

 re-swallow it for no other purpose than to transfer it from one 

 cell to another. Such is constantly done to make way for the 

 qneen's convenience when she wants to lay, or to store and seal- 

 np for winter use. Mr. Pettigrew's assertions to the contrary, if 

 repeated a thousand times, will not disprove what all trustworthy 

 apiarians, so far as I know, have uniformly stated and believed. 

 — B. & W. 



Ipswich Podltrt and PiCiEon Show will be held in con- 

 junction with the Suffolk Great Agricultural Exhibition, and 

 the East of England Hnrticultnral Society's Summer Fete, at 

 Ipswich, June 25t.h and 26th. Mr. E. Hewitt has consented to 

 act as Judge. Spacious marquees will be erected. There are 

 twenty-six classes for poultry, with first, second, and third 

 money prizes, and various specials. Entries close on the 

 13th inst. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Books (TF. I. St. A.). — Jacques's work is not to be had. We shall publish 

 portioDs of it weekly. 



Chicken's Excrements GLuxiNons (H. C, Dover).— The chicken is not 

 in health. Give Home castor oil, and feed on cooling food; gipe lettuce, grass, 

 and slack ground food. Lubricate the colon with castor oil, iuTodiiced by 

 means of a feather. Cut off the feathers about and near the hinder part. 

 Eab the whole of it with oil. Give a teaspoonful of castor oil intemaUy. 



Fowls' Necks Bare f-B. W. R.). — We have very often anawared a similar 

 query, and have always begun by asking auother — Are yonr fowls at liberty ? 

 We do not believe in a natural loss of feather, and when fowls shut up to- 

 gether become bare in spots, it is because they pick each other. We should 

 not hesitate to put a naked-necked hen en eRgs. Her feathers would grow 

 during incubation. We have never known this loss of plumai^e when hens 

 are at liberty, and although they submit to the operation, and stand quietly 

 while it is going on, we do not believe they invite it. We do not believe in 

 any interchanwe of attention, such as we see in horees and donkeys in fields 

 or on commons, where one nibbles his friend just where he himHelf would be 

 nibbled. The fowls want something they cannot get in confinement, and we 

 Buppope the feathers are the nearest substitute they can find. If you can 

 turn them out, give ihem their liberty. If you cannot, and they arebrcody, 

 pnt them on egua. Rub the bare spots with npermaceti or with sulphur oint- 

 ment. Their feathers will come asain. At this time of year fowls of certain 

 breeds, especially Spanish and Crtve-Coeurs, if in confinement, eat their 

 feathers, but we have not found Brahmas given to it. They only eat them at 

 this time of year; after they have moulted they do not interfere with each 

 other. 



Crowle Poultry Show. — Messrs. Newbitt have written to ns criticising 

 our reporter's notes, but we can only insert a part of their letter. They say 

 the second prize Spanish at the above Show was not " overdone " iu the 

 " get-up ;" adding that it is very annoying when at a show to be defeated by 

 inferior birds, but it is doubly so when ill-reported of. 



PiGM\ Pouters and Isabels (Alpha). — This small variety of Pouters 

 varies very much in colour. Some are like their larger brethren in shape, 

 others are bare iu the shank. The coloxu-s are red, or black, or blue, some 

 fawn-coloured, Kome white. Isabels, we believe, are so called from their 

 colour, which is light fawn with white bars. They are simply one variety of 

 Pigmy Pouters. Breed these small birds as like the full-sized Pouter as 

 possible; the nearer the resemblance in shape, &c., the greater their value. 



Pigeon Laying Soft Eggs (P. H.).— Separate the birds for a fortnight ; 

 give the hen a dose of castor oil, no Indian corn, but peas. At the end of 

 the fortnight put her hack, and let her have some old broken mortar to peck 

 at. Give a second dose of oil if needed. 



Artificial Swarming (H. Paiine). — The breakdown of the combs in your 

 hive was a great misfortune. If the hive had had cross-sticks, very hard 

 drumming would not have detached three centre combs. 1, If weather be 

 warm neither stock nor ewarm will need feeding 2, If bees enough were 

 left in the old hive it will recover. 3, No evil of importance will result from 

 cutting through the brood if the cut parts are covered with bees. 4, No 

 chilling could take place during the operation. 5, Wo cannot say whether 

 the lifting of the hive will loosen more combs. A great deal depends on the 

 condition of the combs, and whether they are fastened to cross-sticks. Let 

 some one raise the hive perpendicularly, so that you can look up into the 

 hive without shaking the combs. G, The bees will not like'y bring out the 

 tape you nsed in trying to fasten the combs in, but are rather likely to seal 

 it to the combs. 7, Tour friend can rid his garden of coltsfoot by forking it 

 all out, and if more come from seed treat it in the same way. No other treat- 

 ment is so certain as this. 



Preventing Swarming (C. T., Sa1isburij).—We should not be surprised 

 to hear that your bees hive swarmed in ppite of your arrangements before 

 this can be in print ; but your making them pass upwards through a Neigh- 

 bour's hive into the open air may possibly answer your purpose. If so, no 

 doubt the queen will ascend in due course and breed there. In this case you 

 have only to follow the example of " B. & W." in the recent treatment of his 

 supers, as detailed in these pages, by which he baa made sundry artificial 

 swarms with much success. Should your bees meanwhile swarm naturally, 

 you have only to take off the Neighbour's hive and put them into it. We do 

 not quite maJce out your after-intentions, supposing they should not swarm. 



Napiring (A. H J.). — In nadiring hives with a view to separate them, and 

 thus swarm them artificially, the queens are not sought for. If they happen 

 to be in the nadirs at the time of separation we may consider ourselves fi'r- 

 tunate; for it ia well the queens go with the nadirs or hives partially filled. 

 II the queens are left in the old stocks, the bees of the nadirs will make queens 



for tbemselvea. and generally a great quantity of drone combs; hence the 

 detirabihty of Laving the old queens in the hives that are being filled with 

 combs. In your cape the hives tbould be cut asunder, and placed on tepaiate 

 bnards and t-tands, leaving it to chance where the queen goes. In all cases of 

 nadiring the bottom door only t-hould be open. 



Treatment of Weak Stock iA'oz'zcc).— You eay your straw hive is very- 

 weak in bees. If so, you can now hardly expect a swarm from it that will do 

 you any good, as it is petting advanctd in the season. You mifjht better buy 

 a swaim, and po furnish your wooden hive with tenants, and the sooner the 

 better. ^ ee that it be a large swarm. But if you prefer it, you can do what 

 you propofe— namely, put jour wooden box under the hive. In this case do 

 not remove the hive to another stand. You must stop up all openings in the 

 straw hive, and let the bees go in and out of the lower hive. If your bees 

 multiply sufficiently, and the teason is a good one for honey, they will build 

 cnmt'fi in the hive below, and you can then decide what to do ultimately ; 

 whether to plunder the upper or the lower hive, and make the one or the 

 other the future home of the bees. Should they preferto swarm, you can put 

 them in the wooden bos and separate the hives. 



Babbit Scurfy (C. JJ.),~lhe best treatment yon can adopt is to use 

 sweet oil in the ears. You can put it in with a feather or a camel's-hair 

 brush, "tt here the scurf appears rub the fur and skin with cocoa-nut oil. 

 Use a piece of sponge for the purpose, and it is better. Your flesh should 

 not come in contact with it, lest the skin ehould be broken anywhere. Give 

 some old carrots, or green food thoroughly dry, that has been for seme hours 

 exposed to the air. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Oamtikn ^^qhahe London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0° 8' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



REMARKS. 

 3rd. — Much cooler day ; dull and overcast. 

 4th. — Hot, fine, sunshiny day. 

 5th. — Very warm bright day ; cloudy evening. 

 6th. — Fine morning; overcast and dark afternoon ; heavy rain commenced at 



7.10 p.m. 

 7th. — Beautiful day, much cooler. 

 8th. — Slightly overcast at times, but fine day. 

 9th. — Very fine, and rather hot. 



Temperature about the same as last week. Barometer rather high. Air 

 remarkably dry, as will be seen from the following figures, which show the 

 humidiry of the air at 9 a.m. eachday ; an atmoephere saturated with vapour 

 being represented by 100, and an absolutelv dry one by u. June 3rd, 73; 

 4th, 56; 5th. 48; 6th, G2; 7th, 77; 8th, 56 ; 9th, 45. From this it wiU be seen 

 that on the 5th and 9th the air contained less than half the amount of mois- 

 ture which it is capable of containing. — G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— June 10. 

 Markets continue well supplied, and a steady trade is goingon. Hothous& 

 fruit is good, and quite suflicient for the demand. Foreign importations- 

 heavy. 



FRUIT. 



