June 18, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



501 



of moulting improperly, it is not uncommon for them to suffer 

 from loss of voice; a change in diet, witli boiled egg, or 

 white bread soaked in milk and squeezed out, will often be of 

 benefit. 



Colds are frequently contracted by caged birds when exposed, 

 even temporarily, to draughts of air, which is mauifested by 

 frequently shaking the head, and sitting dumpishly upou the 

 perch. Give them an abundance of soft food, also liuseed, for a 

 considerable period. 



Costiveness is remedied by change of food; give them apple, 

 lettuce, chickweed, or celery. Should they have diarrhcra, avoid 

 green food, and give them crushed seed mixed with the yolk of 

 an egg; also give them the seed of red pepper. 



Asthma is also often witnessed about the season of moult- 

 ing, or from taking cold. Give them a moist diet, and the 

 small pods of cayenne pepper [Capsicums] broken into small 

 pieces. 



Epilepstj is brousht about by overfeeding and lack of exercise. 

 It is often fatal. Venesection is recommended by catting the 

 claws sufficiently to draw blood. Give them a moist diet, with 

 Bweet apple. 



Mites are produced by neglecting to cleanse the cage, and 

 by not allowiug the bird to bathe freely. When thus affected 

 the bird will bo observed to pick itself at all hours of the day, 

 and by its being very restive at night, and Hying about the 

 ■cage. 



Cleanse the cage, and dust dry sulphur under the feathers of 

 the bird ; or catch the bird and pin him up in a piece of flannel, 

 with a few drops of spirits of turpentine upon it, taking care not 

 to confine his head. When removed it will be fall of vermin. 

 Kepeat it as often as necessary until all are removed, usually at 

 intervals of a week; three or four operations will be sufficient. 

 Another method is to expose the cage and bird to an intense 

 sunlight ; the mites will then leave the bird and penetrate the 

 crevices of the cage, then remove the bird and scald the cage 

 with water made alkaline with super-carbonate of soda. 



Sore feet is sometimes caused by lack of cleanliness, or by 

 fibres of cotton or wool entwining the feet and cutting to the 

 bone. Remove the offending substance, and anoint with mutton 

 euet. Allow the bird to bathe freely. — James S. Bailey, M.D. — 

 '{American Fanciers^ Journal.) 



FACT VERSUS SPECULATION. 



I AM obliged to "B. & W." for the above heading. It is a fact 

 that I have asserted again and again that honey as formed in 

 tlowers is crude and imperfect, and is swallowed twice before it 

 becomes honey proper. I have asserted in this Joui'nal that for 

 fifty years I have been seeing, handling, and tasting both crude 

 and perfect honey, and that they are not one and the same. The 

 bee-keepers of my native village have been acquainted with the 

 "fact of the difference for more than half a century. It is a fact 

 that I have asked " 3. it W." to put the matter to the test, sug- 

 gesting experiments, which he said he would like to try. If he 

 will put the matter to the test of experiment he will be able to 

 adduce and deal with facts. I will endeavour to do the same 

 when he has told us the theory he says he has to offer touching 

 -evaporation. 



If " B. & W." will not put the question at issue to the test, 

 perhaps some of the readers of this Journal will do so. It is a 

 very simple matter, not very important, and may be settled in a 

 very satisfactory manner in less than twenty-four hours. Given 

 a fine morning with a south or west wiod, filling the flowers 

 with honey, and given a bar-frame hive with oue empty comb 

 only in it. Well, at 8 o'clock a.m. put a swarm into it, and at 

 S P.M. on the same day remove the comb and shake the honey 

 out of it by any process possible. The honey so obtained will 

 be crude, thin, and imperfect, very unlike honey proper both in 

 taste and appearance. 



" B. & W." applauds "Mr. Lowe for the brave and able man- 

 ner in which he seeks to save the good steamer from shipwreck," 

 <tc. Fortunately the vessel has hitherto been sailing in seas 

 often crossed, and not one rock or breaker has been seen by 

 those on board. Mr. Lowe's second letter did not contain any- 

 thing to weaken my positions, and hence I did not reply to it. 

 .But as " B. & W." has revived the question, I may here say that 

 the fact of some bees being hatched on the twentieth day from 

 the egg does not prove that all were. Mr. Woodbury found some 

 iatched on the eighteenth, and Mr. Shearer some on the twenty- 

 fourth day. As to the removal of eggs from some cells to others 

 'by the bees, which Mr. Lowe says never takes place, I have said 

 I have seen it done hundreds, if not thousands, of times. It 

 Mr. Lowe were here this week I could give him proof — ocular 

 proof, that bees do take eggs from worker cells and place them 

 in royal cells. So convincing an instance of it have I now in 

 my apiary, that for some days I have been desirous that some 

 half dozen advanced bee-keepers would call here and see for 

 themselves. Facts will assert themselves and come to the 

 iront. All I ask at present is that apiarians will test the truth 

 of my statements before they attempt to refute them. Then 



we shall have solid facts, not mere speculations, to handle. — 

 A. Pettigrew. 



ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL SWARMING. 



O.s the 5th inst. I swarmed artificially a very strong hive. 

 During the (Jth and 7th the bees in the mother hive seemed 

 very excited, hanging in a large mass in front of the hive. On 

 the 8lh a second swarm issued from it, strong, and yet leaving a 

 large number in the mother hive. Now, this second swarm 

 issued three days only after the first swarm had been artificially 

 taken off. How is this to be accounted for ? Does it not show 

 that royal eggs had been laid for some ten or eleven days before 

 the first swarm was taken off, and that the young queens 

 hatched on the 7th (say), led off a swarm on the 8th '? If so, is 

 this not unusual '* Although the hive was full of bees, and, 

 indeed, overflowing, and although the weather for a week or 

 more before the first swarm was taken was warm, the hive 

 failed to swarm naturally. I cannot explain it in any other 

 way, for I presume such a thing as a swarm going off without a 

 queen is unknown. — W. E. M. 



[The conduct of your bees on the occasion referred to is very 

 unusual, if you succeeded in taking the queeu from the old hive 

 with the artificial swarm. If the bees in the swarm did not 

 return in great numbers to the old hive, where did the large 

 mass hanging in front of the hive come from ? Bees do not 

 hang out after either natural or artificial swarming. It is most 

 unusual for hives to send off second swarms three days after 

 artificial swarming. We have never before known such a 

 case. Doubtless the young queens had been in their cells ten 

 or twelve days before you swarmed the hive artificially, if it was 

 really a second swarm that issued three days afterwards. If 

 the old queen had never been removed, or if she had returned to 

 the old hive, it was in reality a first swarm you speak of as a 

 second. The whole affair is so extraordinary that we are strongly 

 inclined to believe that your second and natural swarm contains 

 the old queen, or otherwise both swarms have young queens, the 

 old queen having died previous to swarming. Did you see the 

 old queeu in the first swarm, or hear the young ones piping after 

 it had been removed ? We fancy something will become evident 

 to you explaining the whole mystery.] 



QUEEN NURSERY. 



I HEREWITH send you a description of a queen nursery that I 

 have used for the past six years, and found it to be very useful, 

 especially when one has more queen cells than nuclei. 'To make 

 the cages, use a round stick, about li inch in diameter; saw 

 into pieces 1^ inch in length ; into these blocks bore three- 

 quarters-of-an-inch holes three-quarters of an inch in depth ; coat 

 the inside with beeswax to prevent the wood from absorbing 

 the honey from the sponges. Take painted wire cloth, cut into 

 pieces 3t by 41 inches ; roll this around two of the blocks, tack- 

 ing one end fast. Put a division lengthwise of an ordinary 

 frame of whatever hive you use, 4 inches below the top piece of 

 the frame, then halfway between the division and top piece pass 

 a wire clear around the frame, and the same way below the 

 division piece and above the bottom piece of the frame. The 

 wire is to hold the cages upright. 



If the queen cells have been started from larviP, on the ninth 

 or tenth day cut out and transfer to the cages by pinning into one 

 of the blocks ; put a sponge saturated with honey in the other 

 block. To get bees into the cages, dip the queen cell into honey 

 and lay it on the top of the frames, and when six or more bees 

 have clustered on it place in the cage, and fasten by pressing in 

 a tack. Set the cages into the frame, the cell pointing down- 

 wards. Place the frame in the centre of the populous stock, 

 which must be queenless. As fast as the queens hatch remove 

 the cells and put in a sponge with honey in their place. When 

 queen cells are started from the egg do not transfer until four- 

 teen days old. 



All that is required to hatch the cells is heat. During warm 

 weather the cages may be placed in a honey-box and set on top 

 of the frames. I have frequently had them hatch in the house. 

 Keep them in any jdace you find most convenient, only keep 

 them warm enough. 



Now for the best plan to introduce the virgin queens. I have 

 succeeded frequently in taking the queen as soon as hatched, 

 and placing her on the comb among the just-hatching workers ; 

 frequently have had her killed. The beginner, I think, will 

 succeed best by using the cage the queen is hatched in. Place 

 the cage, with the queen and bees in it, between two brood 

 combs of the hive or nucleus ; let it remain there at least three 

 days, then remove one of the blocks, and in its place tie two 

 thicknesses of newspaper wet with honey or sweetened water; 

 replace the cage in the hive, and the bees will gnaw her out in 

 a short time. I have had young queens make their "bridal 

 trip" the same day they were released. I have used an arrange- 

 ment by which the queeu could fly from the cage in the open 



