September 23, 1875. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



283 



wingg, until it reaches the vent. But modern fanciers arc not 

 so particular as to feather aa are many of the older fanciers, or 

 else we should see less of the dingy reds and yellows, many of 

 the latter almost mealies, and of the former strawberries. 



Where are the beautiful Blue Jacobins? One never sees 

 them now — no, not with all the prizes that are offered for good 

 birds, nor do we see those deep rich yellows. Where are they ? 

 Can no one be tempted to breed up again these fine old sorts, or 

 are we really, as an excellent fancier over eighty years of age 

 said to me. "Sir, where are the fanciers? — there are plenty 

 of exhibitors." And so there are, and yet some very good 

 fanciers are, I am glad to say, still taking a delight in breed- 

 ing and keeping their birds ; but I am sorry to find that in the 

 majority of cases having obtained a pair of good birds they are 

 sent about the country from show to show until they are worn 

 out. No doubt there are good birds still in existence in the 

 hands of private fanciers, who love their birds too well to send 

 them about to shows and on long journeys, and possibly ere 

 long we may see some of the tiue old sort of Jacobin, true in 

 form, feather, and colour, perfect types of the breed. Higher 

 prizes will not improve the breeds, nor do cups for the greatest 

 number of prizes won by one person, as this is quite a mistake, 

 and only leads to the borrowing of birds, even pairs being made 

 up in such manner simply for the purpose of winning a few 

 shiUinga, and not for the honour of having bred and reared the 

 winners. When it comes to this we shall have better birds, and 

 I am afraid not until then. — H.ibrison Weir. 



PROFIT AND EXPENSE OP REMOVING 

 BEES. 



A COKRESPONDENT, " C. P. F.," wishes to know " where the 

 nearest heather is from Hinckley, Leicestershire, and what 

 arrangements are generally made for placing hives on or near 

 the moors, together with the expense. Would it pay to take 

 half a dozen hives thirty or forty miles to the heather in the 

 proper season? I am asking this as information for another 

 year. What weight of honey would a super hold containing 

 200 square inches?" As the questions of " C. F. F.," touch a 

 subject of interest to many readers, it may be well to answer 

 them here instead of through the " Letter Box." 



I cannot tell our friend how far Hinckley is from a good 

 field of heather, but fancy he will easily ascertain this from 

 some of his neighbours. I remember passing a considerable 

 breadth of heather in Warwickshire some thirty years ago. I 

 am better acquainted with the localities farther north, where 

 heather abounds. There are magnificent seas of heather in 

 Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, and the more 

 northern counties. In the most southern counties of England 

 — viz., Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, and Devon, I believe 

 heather in abundance may be found. Bagshot moors are within 

 an easy distance of London bee-keepers. Nothing need be 

 said of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales where heather super- 

 abounds. The Cheshire and Derbyshire moors are within 

 fifteeen miles of Manchester, and to these we are indebted for 

 our heather honey. 



Aa to arrangements and expense of placing hivea on the 

 moors, it may be well to confine my remarks on this point to 

 my own experience. This year I took thirty-two hives only to 

 the moors. In former years I took twice that number. I pay 

 a greengrocer Is. for taking a load of sixteen hives (that is id. 

 per hive) to Manchester, a distance of five miles and a half. 

 There the hives are taken from the cart and put into the luggage 

 van of a passenger train, and carried up the Sheffield line of 

 railway, nineteen miles, to Woodhead for 3(Z. per hive. The 

 hives are placed within the company's line or outside of it 

 under the care of the stationmaster. Crowden station is two 

 miles nearer Manchester, and there I have placed hives every 

 season for fourteen years. Both are excellent places for heather, 

 but not better than many others on the GIossop (Duke of Nor- 

 folk's) moorr. I prefer them for convenience, being able to 

 place the hives within forty yards of the stations' platforms. 

 No rent or charge is made by the stationmasters at Woodhead 

 and Crowden. AU that the bee-master can do is to remember 

 that one good turn deserves another. The expense of carriage 

 home from the moors is about Id. or Id. more per hive by the 

 railway, aa they are considerably heavier when they return. 

 They go in lots of fifteen and sixteen, that number being as 

 many as the greengrocer's cart and the guard's van will take at 

 once. They return in lots of thirty hives, aa I engage an 

 empty van, called " a dummy," on purpose, fill it at the station, 

 and have it attached to a returning passenger train from Sheffield. 

 The thirty hivea are mot at Manchester by a lurry or plant van, 

 which brings them to Sale. The expense of thirty-two Lives in 

 going from Sale to Woodhead and back, a distance of twenty- 

 five miles, including carnage and all gratuities, is less this year 

 than 50s., considerably less than 2s. per hive. 



The cottagers on the skirts of moors in England and Scotland 

 generally charge from (id. to Is. rent per hive, and are very 

 pleased to earn money so easily. The bee-keepers in the ueigh- 



boui-hood of Middleton, near Manchester, engage a carter to 

 take their hivea to the moors near Mossley and Greenfield, 

 place and cover them, and bring them back at the end of the 

 season at 28. Gd. per hive. The cottagers there charge dd. per 

 hive only. 



"Does it pay?" "Is it worth the trouble and expense to 

 take bees so far in this uncertain climate?" I have found it 

 profitable, and all the apiarians I know who keep bees for 

 profit find that there is, taking a run of years, much gained by 

 taking bees to the moors. The most I have ever known a 

 single hive gain on the heather was 70 lbs. This season many 

 of the large hives or first swarms gathered and stored-up about 

 50 lbs. each in fifteen days. Thirty of my hives came home 

 about 1000 lbs. heavier in all than they wore when they went to 

 the moors. In former years I have taken stronger hives to 

 the moors than I did this year, but owing to the weather being 

 so unfavourable in July for bees, they had to a lamentable ex- 

 tent ceased to breed. Their brood combs— indeed, all their 

 combs, were nearly empty by the 14th of August when the 

 weather became favourable for honey-gathering. The bees having 

 but little brood to attend to and plenty of empty combs, very 

 speedily gathered great stores of honey ; really they poured it 

 into their hives during the last fortnight of August. 



I kept twelve hives at home this year, and during the 

 heather season they have been kept aUve with sugar. After 

 July bees gather very little honey from clover, though the 

 weather may be fine. Those who remove their bees to the 

 moors have three chances or seasons of honey gathering : first, 

 the fruit trees; Isecond, the clover; third, the heather. My 

 profits for the last six or seven years have been mostly realised 

 from the heather. 



While I am pretty constantly advising the apiarians of 

 Great Britain to keep atrong stocks, I humbly confess that I 

 need lecturing on this point, for every season I have ample 

 evidence that from strong stocks or early swarmera only great 

 results are obtained. While some of the early swarmers and 

 early swarms gathered 10 and 50 lbs. each, the later and weaker 

 swarms would not gather more than 20 lbs. each, and the 

 trouble and expense of removing and managing the one is aa 

 great as the other. 



A super containing 200 square inches will I think, hold 

 7 or 8 lbs. of honeycomb. One of my swarma filled a super on 

 the moors which weighed 28 lbs. 



In stating the expenses of my bees above I have omitted 

 my own railway fares, which are about 3s. Qd. a journey to and 

 from the moors. — A. Pettigkew. 



HONEY SEASON IN CHESHIRE. 



At the beginning of the season I had only two hives of bees 

 in IG-inch straw steps of the Pettigrew pattern. The bees did 

 very well on the fruit and sycamore blossom, and I drove a 

 swarm from No. 1 hive on the 15th May, and one from No. 2 on 

 the 29th May. I had a second swarm from No. 1 on the 28th 

 May, and a second swarm from No. 2 on the l(jth June. I drove 

 out the bees from stock hive No. 1 on the 5th June, and from 

 stock hive No, 2 on the 19th June. By this means I increased 

 the number of my hives to six, all in new clean 16 or 18-inch 

 skeps, having taken the honey from my two stock hives. During 

 July the;weather was wet, and occasionally I had to give my 

 bees a few pounds of sugar to keep them from starving, but 

 clover was plentiful and they did not require much feeding. I 

 took my six hives to the moors on the 2ud August, all feeling 

 light, although three of them werelstrong in bees and comb. 

 The weather was good in August ; and when I brought my hives 

 home on the 8th September they weighed respectively 90 lbs., 

 88 lbs., GO lbs., 52 lbs., 46 lbs., and 32 lbs., including hives and 

 boards. 



The following is the nett result of my honest harvest for the 

 year— 92 lbs. of run honey and 34 lbs. of honey in the comb ; 

 besides which I have sold two of my hives for £2 each, and I 

 have two good stock hives which I am keeping for next year. 



In taking the honey from my strong hives I joined the bees 

 taken from them to those in the weaker hives, and by that 

 means made the latter very strong in bees for next season's 

 work. I feel sure that my success is to be attributed to the use 

 of large straw hives, and taking the hives to the moors when 

 the clover season was over, and giving the bees five or six weeks 

 more of a season on the heather. — E. Thobp, Sale, Cheshire, 



LIGURIAN BEES. 



Aa a bee-keeper for the last twelve years may I reply to " A 

 YouNQ ApijIbian," page 217 ? In the spring of 1870 I purchased 

 from an importer six Ligurian queens, and introduced them to 

 black stocks, and every year since have purchased a further 

 supply. I have now ninety stocks of bees, black and Ligurian, 

 in my apiary, and from careful observation I am convinced that 

 the Liguriana are one-third the best ; they swarm earlier, they 

 breed later, and are more prolific. I have every year repeatedly 



