November 4, 1875. ] 



JOUENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



413 



have made the rash assertion of allotting worker bees uine 

 moutha as their span of life. Why, at this rate a May swarm 

 whose rjueeu lays tvTO thousand egKS per day would increase her 

 subjects in the three summer months to 212, UUU ! AUowiug one- 

 third deaths by casualties, would still give about 28 lbs. weight 

 of bees and brood as the inhabitants of the hive! I believe I 

 have stated that in summer, when bees work hard, six or eight 

 weeks is the limit of their days. Mr. Pettigrew doubtless refers 

 to me as the writer who is responsible for this statement; I 

 accept the responsibility, and I even believe that one or two 

 weeks may be deducted from that short span. 



The substitution of an Italian queen for a common English 

 one has now become one of the commonest of all apiarian opera- 

 tions. I venture to say the experiment has been repeated five 

 hundred times during the season just past, and where three 

 months have elapsed, and the queen proved fertile, none of the 

 black workers remained, [u the case of a Ligurian queen being 

 now introduced when breeding has almcst ceased, black workers 

 will be found in April, but not after the May sun has warmed 

 the bees to activity. Where a stock is queenless over the winter, 

 the workers having no work to do will live longer, but certainly 

 not nine months under any circumstances whatever. Idleness 

 prolongs life in the worker and queeulessness in the drones, 

 some of which I last season kept from September till April, 

 when the last disappeared. I cannot find who has said the 

 young destroy the old bees and push them out of the hive. This 

 is not my statement or experience. 



Many of our best apiarians now use zinc with 3-lGth perfora- 

 tions as adapters between hive and super. I have never heard 

 of an instance of brood being found in the latter when such 

 were used. Can Mr. Pettigrew say it is an uncommon occur- 

 rence when admission is given through a large aperture ?— 

 John Hunter, Eaton Bise, Ealing. 



BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



TuE Committee at their last meeting practically reversed the 

 Judges' decision in regard to Mr. G. Fox's splendid snper, by 

 expressing their belief in the bona fides of Mr. Fox's statement, 

 regret at the Judges' award, and voting to Mr. Fox the silver 

 medal of the Association in acknowledgment of the exhibitor's 

 ekill as a bee-master. The Committee may be congratulated in 

 making all the amend in their power in regard to this unfortu- 

 nate oocurrence, 



HIVE COVERS. 



In answer to the request of " Carolus " I have to say, that 

 though hives are often well protected from the weather by close 

 wooden bee-honses, I have never seen one that I considered 

 convenient. I have seen some very ornamental and costly, and 

 Bome very rustic and ancient. The best I ever saw was a large 



Fig. 88. 



round wooden house, about 11 feet wide and 10 feet high, with 

 two shelves running round it; one shelf about 3 feet above the 

 other. So far as protection from the weather goes nothing 

 could be better, but they are inconvenient in many respects — 

 indeed, all the bee-houses I have seen are inconvenient (in the 

 Way) when the bee-master wants to examine the hives they 

 contain. I examine my bees frequently during the summer, 

 by turning them up to see how they are working and pro- 

 gressing. In this way I ascertain when the hives should be 

 swarmed, supered, and eked. The work is much easier and 



sooner done when they stand singly and separately.l 'All my 

 hives stand singly on three posts, and are covered with roofing 

 felt for the outer covering, and old carpets or cocoa-nut matting 

 under the felt. The felt is waterproof, portable, convenient, 

 and durable. By warming it at a fire when first used it becomes 

 as soft as flannel, and in this state it should be fitted on. Neat 

 straw covers are more pleasing to the eye, and are excellent 

 protectors both in winter and summer, but they are not so 

 durable and portable. 



Fig. 89. 



On paying a visit to Mr. Bagshaw, Longnor, Buxton, some 

 three years ago, I found his hives standing about G feet apart, 

 and securely protected from the weather, each hive being placecl 

 in a neat ornamental wooden house well painted. Eighteen 

 of these small ornamental houses standing in three rows greatly 

 improved the appearance of his garden. These houses are 

 about 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide, with moveable overhanging 

 covers. The covers or lids are as easily moved as felt, and the 

 hives as easily lifted for examination and replaced. Neither 

 wind nor rain can touch the hives inside. The houses are 

 wide enough to hold some warm materials between their sides 

 and the hives, and are deep enough to admit supers being placed 

 on them. If a prize were offered for the best covers, I think 



Fig. 90. 



Mr. Bagshaw'a would easily gain it. At all events I have seen 

 nothing equal to his for completeness, convenience, and dura- 

 bility. The square houses or boxes complete cost ISs. each, 

 and the octagonal boxes 20s. each, made and painted at Longnor. 

 They cost more at Sale, wages being higher there. 



The woodcuts will give " Cabolus " and others some idea of 

 what I have been writing about.— A. Pettigrew. 



