128 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEB AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ Angnst 5, 1875. 



I took the honey from many of them last year, and Bold about 

 twenty to old and young apiariauB. Still I find myself in 

 poBBeseiou of about forty hives, strong in boes, but near the 

 point of starvation. Shall they be fed or removed to the moors 1 

 Fifteen of them were sent off this morning at four o'clock, and 

 before seven o'clock they were placed near the mouth of Wood- 

 head tunnel, on the Sheffield line of railway, twenty-five miles 

 distant, in the midst of heather just bursting into blossom. 

 Fifteen more hives will go to the same place next week. The 

 first week in August in ordinary seasons — »(;., neither early nor 

 late, is the best time to take bees to the moors. They generally 

 come back about the middle of September, when the last and 

 general destruction of drones begins. — A. Pettigbew. 



OUK LETTER BOX. 



Fowls for Eq&-producing [Dilemma). — Supposing the cock and hens 

 you already have ate not related, aud that they are only fifteen months old, 

 we canDot see any objection to thoir serving another year, especially as you 

 keep them only for eggs. But if, as you should do, you rear a few early 

 pullets every year for winter layers, then the new cock, if you decide on 

 baviug one, ehould be of the breed you prefer. You say you have Brahmas 

 and Hamburyhs. The only cock is a Dorking. All your birds are, then, 

 crosfi-breds. Yuu can, if you make a change, have a Brahma cock ; you will 

 then have pure Brahmis aud half-bred Hamhurghs. If you do not care for 

 purity go on with the Dorking. The crosH between the Dorking and Brahma 

 ia an excellent and hardy fowl. We do not think as well of the Hamburgh 

 cross. We repeat we see no objection to your going on another season with 

 thfl birds you have at present. 



TaaiODRa on Fowls' Faces (PouZiry-fcerper). — We imagine your fowls are 

 suffering from poverty and low condition. You do not say whether they 

 have their liberty or what the nature of their run 13. We can hardly imagine 

 a IeB3 satisfactory meal on which to start than slaked bran and hue sharps. 

 Give them a gooti feed of barleymeal or ground oats, give them the same at 

 night, and feed in the middle of the day with whole corn. Of course, this may 

 bo varied or diminished if they have a good run affording plenty of grass and 

 the natural food it contributes. If they are in coniinoment (and if they were 

 not we do not think they would be suffering as you describet, they should be 

 supplied with green food, such as lettuce, t&tj., and large sods of earth covered 

 with growing grass. These alterations will do much to restore them to 

 health. The treatment of the swelled faces will be frequent washing with 

 vinegar and cold water, and castor oil or Baily's pills. You must learn to 

 apportion the food according to the need of the birds. As long as they run 

 after it they want it ; as soun au they allow any (however small the quantity), 

 to lie on the ground unnoticed, they do not require any more. 



Aylesbury Ducks [A. F. J.). — Those hatched on the 20th of June ought 

 to lay in the course of January next. 



Bramley Show. — We decline inserting any more notes on the Rabbit- 

 poking. No one but the Judge or attendant should either poke or handle any 

 Babbit or bird eihibited. 



Felt for Hive-covers {Mrs. A. F.J.). — Boofing-felt as sold is 32 inches 

 wide, and therefore hardly wide enough to cover 18-inch hives, but by using 

 a smaller bit for the back of the hive, and a larger piece to overlap all, a hive 

 can be very securely covered by felt. An uudercovering of old carpet or 

 cocoa-nut matting is an additional protection both in winter and summer. 

 Under a burning sun the felt is rather too thin. It should be put on in a 

 warm state the hrst time, and tied close to the hive. By exposure and use 

 it will become soft as flannel and last a great number of years. 



Removing Stock, E[ive3 {E. H. O.). — There will be no difficulty or risk in 

 removing your eight hives from their present stand to one 30 feet distant, 

 and over a privet hedge 4^ feet high, at the end of September. By lifting them 

 all 3 or 4 feet nearer the place intended for them every week not a bee will be 

 lost. Move all together, keeping their relative positions asalike as possible. 

 If removal by short, . -.i^^an is uot practicable in your case, remove all in Sep- 

 tember at one lift, aii«i lu \.ke some distinct alteration of the doors of the hives, 

 with a view to make tho bees look about them in oomiog out. Your hives 

 that weigh 50 lbs. each have done comparatively well this very unfavourable 

 year. 



Offenstve Smell in Apiary (X 2.).— If the bad emell in front of your 

 bee-houee cannot be traced to anything external, there will be some reason to 

 fear that it comes from disease in one or more of your hives. The odour of 

 foul brood is offensive, and can be easily smolled by those standing in front 

 of hives much affected by it. Hives tiOlbs. weight may be easily turned 

 up and examined. Foul brood is generally found in covered cells, it is in colour 

 pomewhat like thick red gravy from choked meat, and when cut out with a 

 knife its fetid smell asserts itself. It is an incurable distemper, preventing 

 all healthful progress in hives. If you find on eximination that foul brood 

 exists in your hives the sooner you oust the bees from them aud put them 

 into clean empty hives, the better. The worth of the honey in your heavy 

 hives will do more than pay for sugar enough to give the bees for comb- 

 building and winter use. 



Eee-feedeR3(F. W. p.).— We do not think Mr. Pettigrew's bee-feeders are 

 kept auy where in stock. He orders them of any tinsmith. Tell your tin- 

 smith to make a trough 1 foot long, 2 inches wide, and three-eighths of an 

 inch deep, with two partitions in the trough. 



Various {F. J.). — Your question which you now repeat about putting supers 

 on hives before they are full was answered last week. The bees will not use 

 them till the hives are full. You want to know if Mr. Pettigrew ekes or 

 supers when his hives are full. When he wants honey he ekes ; when 

 honeycomb is wanted he supers. You ask if you "could not work with!a 

 shallow stock hive G inches duep and 10 inches in diameter; and when that is 

 full of comb put on an eke 4 or 5 inches deep, aud if the season be fine a 

 second eke; then at the end of the season take away the two ekes and their 

 contents, aud let the stock hive stand for winter." If you were to carry into 

 practice such notions you would soon destroy your stocks. You would get 

 very little honey from the ekes, and owing to the shallow box being filled 

 with honey ihe bees would be starved in it. Bees do not sit on honeycombs 

 in winter. A little experience will soon teach jou how to use a pickle-bottle 

 in feeding; indeed, experience is the best teacher of all apiarian art. Fill 

 the bottle with syrup, tie a rag over its mouth, and invert it over the crown- 

 hole of your hive. 



Cockatoo Moulting (G. S.).— As a rule Cockatoos and other birds should 

 put on a new dress once a-year. However, there is an exception, the Ptar- 

 migan to wit, which in winter is clothed in a white dress, and in summer in a 

 plumage of various colours — black, brown, deep reddish-yellow, and greyish- 

 white. In spring the warm white winter attire of the Ptarmi;,'an falls off, 

 and is replaced by the one of several colours in harmony \uth summer. In 

 the autumn the change in the appearance of the bird to white is caused by 

 the growth of some additional feathers, and likewise a change in the colours 

 of the rest. As your Cockatoo is not a Ptarmigan, aud is not so exposed to 

 excessive cold during one portion of the year, the one dress ought to sutflce. 

 Perhaps it does, for you do not say otherwise. You merely ask the question, 

 " How many times in the year this bird (Cockatoo) ought to moult ?" As we 

 do not know what diet the Cockatoo has partaken of, we cannot, therefore, 

 account for the periodical moulting or loo8ene:^8 of feathers the bird In 

 question has undergone. Probably it may have had food o( a too heating 

 nature, or kept in a room the temperature of which may be several degrees 

 higher during the day than at night time. We have known ill-effects brought 

 about in Cockatoos and Parrots through a free use of meat, which has a 

 tendency to loosen the feathers, especially during warm weather. Such birds 

 should have an occasional shower-bath, which is easily done with a watering- 

 can. A plain wholesome diet is much the best for birds, and ;oa must thus 

 treat it during the moult. During night time throw over the cage a cloth — a 

 woollen material or green baize is beat. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Cajuden Square, London. 



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



REMARKS. 

 28th. — Very fine all day, and splendid starlit night. 

 29th.— Another pleasant bright day. 

 30th.— Fine; rather stormlike about 1 p m., then, fijie; cloudy at nine, bat 



bright afterwards. 

 31st.~A most beautiful day throughout. 

 August 1st.— Rather dull early, but soon cleared off, and was very fine day 



and night. 

 2nd. — Fine early ; rather dull for an hour about noon, then fine, but not 



warm. 

 Srd. — Misty about S a.m., fine by nine, dark soon after noon; a very slight 



sprinkle of rain then, and a rather heavier one about 3 p.m., but fine 



after. 

 A fine bright week, with no rain until the afternoon of Tuesday, when we 

 had the southern limit of a Hertfordshire thunderstorm. — G. J. Stmons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— August 4, 

 A continuance of fine summer weather has enabled the growers during 

 the past week to keep the markets abundantly supplied with soft fruit, which, 

 however, is now beginning to fail off, and we find them substituting Plums, 

 Pesrs, and -■Vpples. Continental supplies are a^aiu heavy, comprising the 

 usual varieties of fruit in season. 



FRUIT, 



Apples i sieve 



Apricots bnx 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants 4 sieve 



Black do. 



Figs dozen 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse.. . . lb. 



Lemons ^ IflO 



Melons each 



B. d. 



Gt 



1 6 

 6 

 U 



1 1^ 

 



8. d. H, d. 



Malberries lb. OtoO 



Nectarines dozen 6 12 



Oranges 1-^100 12 20 



Peaches dozen 6 0" 



Pears, kitchen.. .. dozen 



desiiert dozen 2 



Pine Apples lb. 8 



Plums i sie^e 2 



Quinces dozen 



Raspberries lb. 6 



Strawberries lb. 8 



Walnuts bushel 



ditti* 1?*'100 



1 



18 







4 



5 

 3 

 



9 



1 

 12 fl 



1 6 



VEaETABLBS. 



Artichokes dozen 



Asparagus ^100 



French bundle 



Beana, Kidney i sieve 



Broad i- sieve 



Beet. Red 'dozen 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts i sieve 



Cabbage dozen 



Carrots bunch 



Capsicums ^ I0l» 



Cauliflower dozen 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 

 Cucumbers each 



pickling dozen 



Endive do/.en 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish bundle 



0to6 

 8 

 

 



I 

 I 

 % 6 , 

 4 

 4 



1 6 

 



2 

 8 

 

 6 





 

 

 



u 





 

 

 



Leeks bunoh 



Lettuce dozen 



Maehrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress. .punnet 

 Unions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley doz. bunches 



Parsnips dozen 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Kadii^hes .. dos bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsaty bundle 



Scdrzonera bundle 



Seakale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes dozen 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows., doz. 



B. d. B. d. 

 4to0 

 6 10 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 G 



