524 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 25, 1874. 



diTfide tbose ten hives again into forty swarms ; if I have a weak 

 hive suffering from robbers I can strengthen it with more bees, 

 and make them fit to rob any hive in the neighbourhood ; if I 

 have a hive of bees perishing with poverty or famine, I can 

 make it the richest hive in the. place, or within many miles 

 around ; I can take a common bee egg, and cause the bees to 

 raise it to be either a queen or a common bee as I please ; I can 

 make my bees rest upon myself or any person near me without 

 offeriug ub the smallest injury ; and 1 can make them fall upon 

 lis witJi the fury of aa many dragons, so that we would be glad 

 to fly with as much precipitation as a few rioters would do before 

 a regiment of dragoons." The above will be a " reel in a bottle " 

 to some ; to the practical bee-keeper it will afford, may be, a 

 hint or two. — A Scottish Schoolmaster. 



[Schirach and Wildman both advocated artificial swarms. 

 "Were they not Bonner's predecessors ? Wildman published his 

 book in 1763.— Eds.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Feeding Duckxings <W. H.).— You are feeding dnckliBga as you feed 

 chickene, and the marvel is they have not all died. Give them oatmeal in 

 a very shallow vessel filled with water. A soup plate, or even an ordinary 

 plate will do. If they are entirely gone off their feed, take a soup plate, cut a 

 sod of grass the size of the bottom of the plate, put it in, put some gravel and 

 some oatmeal on it, and then put water enough to make the raeal swim — no 

 more. They will eat this and will get very dirty, but it will bring them 

 round. Assibted by the water and the dirt the bread may be given with im- 

 punity. If even this will not tempt them, there remaias only one thing. 

 Take some raw meat, horseflesh will do (Ducks rather prefer it), and cut it in 

 strips as nearly resembling worms as powsiblo, put these in water, and if the 

 ducklings look askew at these we despair. 



Hens Laying T^vtce a-day {P. C.).— We do not believe that hens lay 

 twice per day, if we are to understand thereby that an eg£? was laid in the 

 morning, and another in the afternoon. Two may be laid in twenty-four 

 hours, but to make ub believers ten must be laid in sis days. You may think 

 that unreasonable, then we will be satisfied with eight in the time. 



UTrLisiNG Cock Chickens {G. i.).-~"We are almost tired of telling qnerista 

 that the best way to thin out the cock chickens is to kill them. You will not 

 find buyers fur them. When you have killed them you may do as you like 

 with them, or do with them as Sussex housewives do with everything — put 

 them in a pudding. We pledge you our appetite {not a Hmall one) that it is 

 a good dish. Cut them in joints, add two kidneys cut in small pieces, some 

 thin slices of ham, and some oysters if you have them. Put all in a suet 

 crust not two thin, put that in a" basin, tie a cloth over it. boil it gently for a 

 long time. Turn it into a dieh. Then throw open the folding-doors of the 

 dining-room, and announce a dish fit to put before a king. You will tell the 

 truth. Seme people say imagination is better than reality. Just at this 

 moment we do not believe them — 1 p.m. 



Fertility of Pigeons' Eggs (R. W.). — We should have no doubt whatever 

 as to the fertility of the eggs. It does not depend on constant companion- 

 ship. Lime thoroughly slaked and mixed with salt, sand, and gravel, is very 

 good for them. 



Young Canaries Moping. — It mates some difference in the after-well- 

 doing of joung birds whether they leave the nest early, from fright or being 

 disturbed, or whether they remain till they turn out of their own accord. In 

 the former case they shiver about in corners, or sit on the perch the picture 

 of misery, and in the latter they stow themselvci away as comfortably as 

 possible like the pieces in a Chineee puzzle. Once interfere with the arrange- 

 ment and you have some cifficuHy in fitting each piece to its proper hole. In 

 a nice net-t of say four, it is amusing to see a young bird hop on to the side 

 of the nest, give himself a shake, look at the little warm hole he has just va- 

 cated, think twice about the wisdom of leaving it, and then quickly pup back 

 again, apparent Ij fully convinced by his short turvey of the world that there are 

 worse places than home. It may be that youryouog birds are not very stroug, 

 and at their age it is quite common fur them to sleep a considerable time 

 during the day, especially if alone— I mean if the cock be not with them — and 

 unaccustomed to the duty of hunting fur their own food. If the cock be with 

 them he will kef p them awake, and they will keep him awake too. But it 

 may be that they are out of sorts. Blow the feathers from the breastbone; 

 if it be plump they are all right, but if it he sharp, and the bird be wasting, 

 give it a drop of castor oil, and you will hud that when the bowels are put 

 richt the bird will soon pick up its crumbs and be lively enough. — W. A. 

 Blakston. 



Transfebring Bees (H. E., Oldham). — Yonr hive which swarmed May 

 15th, mu^it now be fillinR with brood, which would ho sacrificed if yon were to 

 put the bees into a bar frame hive now. But you might smoke the bees and 

 examine the hive. If the young queen is still hanging fire, and no brood 

 visible, we advibe you to drive out the population immediately. Chloroform 

 and all narcotics are disappointing. There is nothing like driving, a perfectly 

 simple and easy process. Chlor^dorm has a disgustint: effect upon bees, 

 makinir Ihem void their excrement. No one, we believe, who has tried it has 

 ever repeated the pxperiraent. We have tried fumigation with a very effective 

 narcotic — raousepkiu bvhsus, but never shonld think of using it again. Your 

 other stcck which swarmed more recently is just in a condition to be driven 

 and turned out. 



Drone Slaughter— Bees not Swarming (TT.H. Paj/wel. — Drones being 

 useless members of s< cifty after the fertilisation of young queens, they are 

 destroyed by the bees. Those wbicli go with first swarms are also destmjed, 

 heiuii of no use there. Durini,' inclement weather, when hives are threatened 

 with starvation, the bees destroy living drones and tear unhatched onts out 

 of their cells. It is not ea?y to Ksy what was the cause of the twelve drones 

 you have found being killed. Sometimes iu the midst ^f summer, bees, ifter 

 abandoning all idea uf swarmini.'. dcntroy their drones. Your hive that has 

 bt-en reafiy to swarm for a fortnight will probably do .=o a few days alter the 

 wind nhanyes. With an east wind bees are generally reluctant to make ure- 

 parutions for swariniug. With a warmer atmosphere it is quite the c^mtrary 

 — -ihey swarm readily as a rule. But bees have their whims and fancies; in 

 some seasons they ore loth to swarm, and we have known hives ripo for 

 swarming for months and uever swarm. The bees clustered outside their 



hives till they filled almost every cell with honey. There is no accounting for 

 such whims. 



Forced Swarm of Bees (J. D. P.).— The fact of your bees building 

 comb is evidence undoubted of the preseice of their queen. Yonr Sherring- 

 ton bar-and-fraine hive ought to have given you a second swarm such a sum- 

 mer as this. Perhaps it will have done so ere this is in print. We suspect 

 the agitation at the mouth of the hive was only preliminary to this. Yoa 

 need not ftar to take off your supers as often as you please for examination 

 of the stock hive; it will not retard or disturb the bees injuriously if only 

 you are gentle in your movements. A whiff of smoke is an indiepeneable 

 preliminary. Put them aside separately while your examination of the hive 

 takes place, and replace them as carefully. 



Breeding Dogs (C. L. M.).—lt is not advisable to adopt the plan you 

 suggest, but if you have no alternative you must. Perhaps in a solitary in- 

 stance no evil result would ensue. Ko diseases of the kind you indicate need 

 result fr.m the connection. Dip a feather in turpentine and insert it in Iho 

 gullet of the chicken, and repeat the process morning aud evening. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Oauden Square, London. 



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



REMARKS. 



17th. — Very wet in the early morning ; but fine and warm in the after part of 

 the day. As the rain fell before 9 a.m., the amount was recorded 

 against 16th — i.e., in last week's table. 



18th. — Rather dull morning; but much finer in the afternoon and evening. 



19th. — Dull and rather cold morning ; but very plea.sant afternoon and evening. 



20th. — A dull, dark, cold, and comfortless day throughout, but no rain. 



21st.— A beautiful bright sunny day, and not unpleasantly hot. 



22nd. — Rather hazy in the early morning, but quite bright by 10 A.M., and 

 continuing so aU day ; rather hot in the tun. 



23rd. — Fine early, rather cloudy between 11 and noon, but very fine after; 

 wind occasionally rather high. 



2-ith.— Between 2 aud 4 a.m. very heavy rain, amounting to nearly three- 

 quarters of an inch. 

 A week of pleasant dry weather, frequent hot sun, but being tempered by 



northerly winds the air was quite cool; in fact, the 9 a.m. temperature has 



been lower than for a month past. — G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— June 24. 

 Business has considerably improved during the past fortnight, and a good 

 attendance of buyers has been brought together by the large amount of foreign 

 produce now diapoted of by auction m the market at leatt twice, and some- 

 [imts three times daily, consisting of Cherries and Apricots. Some good 

 Cherries are also now coming from Kent and the wcBttru counties, and bring 

 from as. to l"2s. per tieve of 24 lbs. Vegetables are good, though somewhat 

 scarce in consequence of the dry weather. 



FBUIT. 



B, d. s. d. , s. d. a. d. 



OtoO Mulberries ^ lb. OtoO 



2 4 Nectarines doz. 8 18 



one Orat-ues ¥* 100 4 16 



Peaches doz. 10 21 



Pears, kitchen doz. 



0, dessert doz. 



12 PineApples lb. 4 O 8 



16 Plums 4 sieve 



16 Quinces doz. 



6 9 Kaspberriea lb. 



6 6 Strawbenies f^ lb. 10 3 



12 : Walnuts bubhel 10 16 



a 1 ditto ^100 2 2 



Apples 1 sieve 



Apricots doz. 2 



Cherries ^ box 1 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants i titvo 4 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 6 



FUberta iR. 1 



Cobs lb. 1 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse..., lb. 1 



Lemons v 100 8 



Melons each 4 



Artichokes doz. 8 



Asparagus %»■ JOO 8 



Freucb ■ .. 



Beans, Kidney.... ^P- lO^^ 2 



Broad bushel 6 



Beet, hed doa 1 



BroccoU bundle 



Cabbage doz. 1 



Capbu-ums ^100 



C.arottt bunch 



CauiiUower doz. 2 



Celery bundle 1 



ColewortB.. doz. bunches 2 



Cucunit>era each 



picnUug doz. 



Kndivo doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 



Garijc lb. 



Herbs. bnuch 



Uureeradish bundle 3 



Leeba bunch 



VEGETABLES, 



d. 8. 

 0to6 

 



. d. B. 



1 Oto2 



2 8 

 a 

 4 7 



Lettuce doz. 



MuBbroomB pottie 



Mustard & Cre3B..puunet 



OnioDB buahel 



pickling quart IJ 



Parsley per doz. bunchea 3 



Parsnips doz. 9 



Peas quart 1 



Potatoes bushel S 6 



Kidney do. 4 



New ^ lb. 



Radibhes.. doz. buncbee 1 



Rhubarb bundle 9 



Salbiify bundle 1 6 



:^cur?.ouera bundle 1 



Sea-knle basket 



Shallots lb. 5 



Spmach bushel 2 



Tomatoes doz. 2 



Turnips bunch 



I VeKeiablo Marrows ..doz. 2 



