August 5, 1876. 1 



JOUENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



127 



fally convince him aa to the merits or demerits they may 

 posBess. Not so, however, when they are shown in wire cages, 

 for then when properly handled they are ander certain com- 

 mand, and true Belgian position may be the more fully de- 

 veloped. 



I have said " when properly handled." Some may imagine 

 I intend this remark to apply to the birds. Not bo, it is the 

 cages I refer to. The mere fact of looking at Belgian birds 

 upon the stage amounts to very little. They require an at- 

 tentive scrutiny, and each cage should be lifted off one by one 

 steadily and with the greatest care. If upon the first approach 

 to any particular bird you find it exhibit a temporary nervous- 

 ness, or inclined to become fidgety or flighty, leave it alone and 

 pass on to another. The bird will gain a little confidence by 

 the time you next approach it, with your hat off as a matter o 

 course. 



There is a vast difference in the appearance of Belgian birds. 

 Some when at ease and undisturbed will possess good general 

 position ; others require getting into position, and it is some- 

 times necessary to "fiddle" them up somewhat ere you can 

 bring them to your liking. The birds not only require to be 

 looked at in your hands level with your face, but held up some- 

 what higher than your face to see that they are neatly formed 

 from chest to vent, being well braced-up, or as a Nottingham 

 fancier once remarked to me whilst examining a clipping speci- 

 men, "He's a one rapt'n, George." I replied, "Yes, he is," 



for I always allowed Mr. William C of Nottingham to be a 



judge of Belgian birds. I formed this opinion from the time 

 he showed me some cf the best Belgian birds I ever witnessed, 

 at a place known as Robber's Mill, in the suburbs of Notting- 

 ham. It was there I saw the very best Buff Belgian hen I 

 ever have examined, and I believe that the aforesaid William 



C had something to do with the famous Buff cock (the 



Crystal Palace champion of years past), I referred to in a previous 

 chapter. 



But I am diverging somewhat. In picking-out the points of 

 a Belgian you must not only look at the bird straight and up at 

 it, but lower it to your waist, holding the cage in both hands and 

 taking a glance over the bird. By this means you will the 

 better mould the bird's points and positions in your eye, and 

 bo enabled to arrive at the conclusion as to which are entitled 

 to your choice. To some this may appear tedious, but such is 

 the nature of Belgian birds that it is necessary to exercise patience 

 and time. But some birds are quickly decided upon. 



If a Belgian bird becomes suddenly frightened, and during a 

 temporary paroxysm should dash about the cage, that bird 

 requires steadying to its perch and work before its merits can 

 be decided upon. One matter in particular, often thoughtlessly 

 committed by visitors to bird shows, is that of suddenly point- 

 ing the finger close to a cage containing some bird of special 

 merit. I have known serious results and even deaths to ensue 

 thereby. 



It is better when Belgian birds in particular can ba conveyed 

 to an exhibition under the immediate care of the owner or some 

 person deputed to see them safely delivered in the show-room. 

 They would thus escape the ruthless tumbling about they some- 

 times have to encounter whilst being conveyed by rail. I have 

 been concerned frequently by witnessing at railway stations 

 hampers of cages containing birds turned and tumbled about 

 upside down, and any other way, regardless of the frail occu- 

 pants, whilst being transferred from the parcels' van to the 

 platform. — Geo. J. Baenesby. 



THE BEE SEASON. 



The unprecedented wet weather is likely to create a famine 

 among the bees. The accounts that reach me from various parts 

 are deplorable — plenty of bees but no honey. One man from 

 Buckinghamshire, an extensive bee-keeper, although a cottager, 

 tells me he and his neighbours do not know what to do with the 

 bees, and would sell a quantity at 6s. per hivs, for there is no 

 other fate in store for them but starvation or brimstone. My 

 hopes of supers are almost gone. Three weeks ago I had several 

 looking promising, but instead of growing heavier I have had 

 the mortification of daily finding the honey vanishing. How 

 our honey fair and show will come off in September I do not 

 know, although I have heard of some very fine supers filled 

 from the fruit blossoms long ago. Let every bee-keeper look to 

 his swarms and stocks, and feed them where Ught. Few are 

 conscious of the enormous loss of bee life when weather is bad 

 even for a few days. Although there maybe honey in the hive 

 the bees will no'^ let their young mature if no food comes in — 

 that is to say, no'- to the full extent of natural increase, and this 

 is more especially the case with weak stocks which want popu- 

 lation most. As an instance I will mention that in a imicomb 

 hive in which I was carrying out some experiments on the 14th, 

 15th, and 16th of July, I noted twenty cells in which I saw the 

 queen lay eggs, and on the 25th of all these cells but one or 

 two (I was doubtful of the identity of one) contained a tenant. 

 All the others, some of which I had previously seen with larv£6 



were empty, and inspection of the comb convinces me that de- 

 struction more or less had taken place all over the hive, and 

 which I have no doubt will be confirmed a short time hence 

 by the diminished population. 



By means of this same hive I have been curiously noting the 

 transformation oi a stock of black bees into Ligurians. On Whit- 

 Tuesday evening I released into the black stock a Ligurian 

 queen, whose first young bees emerged on the morning of the 

 following Sunday fortnight, eighteen days and a half only having 

 elapsed since the first egg could have been deposited. The fol- 

 lowing day many Ligurians appeared, which they daily continued 

 to do, and the blacks to diminish, until on the 20th ult. I could 

 not find a black bee in the hive, as some of the black queen's 

 eggs had only been hatched six weeks. This time may be taken 

 as the limit of the worker's life in summer. It was also inter- 

 esting to see how the old bees were pushed out in the cold by 

 the more youthful. For several days before the last disappeared 

 the poor blacks were always to be found at the bottom of the 

 comb, being, I imagine, jostled out of place by their stronger 

 sisters. Helping the distressed is evidently not a bee's virtue, 

 unless, indeed, a sister bee is clotted with honey, when self- 

 interest induces them to lick her clean to mutual advantage. — 

 John Hunter, Eaton Rise, Ealiyig. 



DRONE MUBDEE. 



One would fancy that the year 1875 has been one of great dis- 

 appointment and suffering to drone bees. They seldom leave 

 their hives but in fine warm weather, when they take long ex- 

 cursions into the country. Drones travel one or two miles at least 

 farther from home than working bees. The inclement weather 

 has kept them much at home this season. Their lot and history 

 at best are not enviable ; their sufferings and doom, when seen 

 and understood, excite feelings of commiseration. Many times 

 this year have we felt touches of sorrow for poor drones famish- 

 ing together in huddled masses on the boards of their hives from 

 sheer hunger and want. Driven and kept from the honeycombs 

 in their hives by the bees they have been hungered to death. 

 Why they are not killed outright, or more mercifully dealt with, 

 no one is able to say. Some theorist may ask, " Is not murder 

 by starvation resorted to, to save the stings and lives of workers?" 

 It may be so, but so far as we know it has not been proven that 

 bees lose their stings when killing one another. One thing we 

 are sure of is that the bees of one hive have killed an equal 

 number of strangers clumsily cast amongst them without ap- 

 parent injury to or the death of one of themselves. If bees kill 

 bees without apparent injury to themselves, and queens kill 

 queens without suffering, why not drones be destroyed by sting- 

 ing? We are not given to theorising and offering explanations 

 of things unknown, and there are many secrets in bee history 

 yet unfathomed, and many that never can be fathomed; and 

 this slow process of drone-destruction methinks is one of them. 



Even the massacre of drone life before birth though explain- 

 able is a wonderful thing. When bees are short of provisions, 

 when in times of scarcity the bees find that their stores are 

 nearly exhausted, they almost invariably tear the unhatched 

 prone brood out of the cells and cast it overboard. In times of 

 threatened starvation the bees do what they can to stay the evil 

 day by destroying the most worthless members of their com- 

 munity. The loss of unhatched drones in itself may be con- 

 sidered an advantage, but it should be remembered that when 

 bees approach or come to the verge of starvation they wisely 

 refuse to set worker eggs. When bees ready to swarm, so far 

 as numbers go, find their stores nearly all done, and weather 

 unfavourable for gathering more, they generally cast out their 

 white drones and set no eggs of any kind. They are thus cast 

 back about three weeks, and they let weaker hives run ahead 

 and swarm before them. The appearance of white drones out- 

 side of hives in the months of May, June, and July is a most 

 striking indication that their inmates are on the borderland of 

 starvation. 



Many people are now wondering why their first and early 

 swarms are casting out white drones by the handful. If they 

 would but lift or weigh their hives, or otherwise examine them, 

 they would find that they are on the confines of death. Much 

 as one feels for poor drones on seeing them hungered to death, 

 more is felt for the industrious working bees when they are neg- 

 lected and starving. When weather is favourable for honey- 

 gathering, or when they receive kindly and considerate treat- 

 ment in the day of adversity from their masters, bees do not 

 cast out white drones. 



The first day of this month found hives in this neighbourhood 

 in a much more unpromising state than they were on the first 

 days of June and July. We repeat with emphasis the watchword 

 given two weeks ago — viz., " Attention to feeding." Last year 

 we resolved to reduce the number of our stocks to six or eioht, 

 which should be kept always at home for experiment, for what 

 was once a pleasure to us is now a toil, such as taking three 

 scores of hives to the Derbyshire hills. My resolution to lessen 

 the number of our stocks was partially carried into execution. 



