524 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 9, 1875. 



acnoyiD^, as their bare carriage cost me 18s. Fig. 109, Mr. Har- 

 bison's, is made of pine quarter inch thick, and each section 

 (fig. 110), li deep and CJ inches high. The simplest instructions 

 to make such a super would be to say. Make a box without a 

 bottom of quarter-inch pine 6} inches high, GJ wide, and of any 

 length you please, and cut this with a saw into sections Igths 

 deep. Connect the open end of each section by nailing in a 

 stick five-eighths square, one angle downwards. Now, having 

 arranged the sections close together paste a strip of stiff paper 

 along each side, which will hold all together, as shown at a, 

 fig. 109. The ends may be wood or glass as desired. Each sec- 

 tion should be furnished with a wax guide straight down the 

 middle of the top bar, and if properly managed the bees will 

 fill each section with 2 lbs. to 3 lbs. of beautiful comb readily 

 saleable. The grocer only has to run his knife through the 

 paper strip, and the comb separates without mess or waste. 

 These sections could be made in quantities under Id. each, and 

 when filled would readily find wholesale buyers at Is. Od. per lb. 

 Mr. Isham's supers (fig. Ill) are much more good-looking aiid 

 also more costly. The top and bottom are of wood 6i by 2^, 

 the four sides glass held together externally by tin angles whicU 

 penetrate through top and bottom and are there clinched ; in- 

 ternally a pin through the wood at each corner keeps the glass 

 in place. Nicely filled with comb they must be quite tempting, 

 and would no doubt readily draw an additional 6d. for their cost. 

 Many people feel disappointment at not being able to sell 

 their honeycomb. I have pointed out some of the reasons why, 

 and another is the too high price placed on it : 23. and 2s. Cd. 

 per lb. is all very well if you sell to private customers, but to 

 such the sale is limited, and where much honey is raised whole- 

 sale buyers must be looked to as the great supporters ; these of 

 course must make a profit. Two shillings, or at the most 2s. 6d. 

 per lb., is the maximum price retail for honey in comb in the 

 fashionable quarters of London, and at this price the tradesman 

 cannot afford to give more than ISd. or 18d. For run honey 

 there is no market at the price usually asked. Foreign countries 

 send so much of very fair quality, that until a better system of 

 bee-culture is pursued England is shut out of the market. Nar- 

 boune honey, good-looking and fragrant, can be bought whole- 

 sale at 7<Z. or 8d., and while this is the case English at Is. is not 

 readily saleable. For honey in the comb there is no lack of 

 buyers if produced in a saleable form at a saleable price. 



I have read a good deal of American bee literature, and I have 

 come to the conclusion that in their summers they have many 

 advantages of us, but their winters are sometimes very fatal to 

 bees, quite counterbalancing the summer's advantages. I do 

 not find that generally the secretion of honey is much in excess 

 of what we have here, but it is not wasted so much. There are, 

 of course, exceptional locaUties, such as some districts of Cali- 

 fornia, which are favoured by the goddess Flora, but on the 

 whole I think England could hold its own.— John Hcnteb, 

 Eaton liise, Ealing. 



with a bottle from the top. They have built comb from the top 

 again : it is empty. It is very light and weak in bees, not more 

 than 9 lbs. I do not expect to keep them. Will Mr. Pettigrew 

 say if it will be wise to keep a bottlefull of syrup on all the 

 winter ? I should not like to lose them. 



The two hives have had 2J stones of sugar at 3d. per pound. 

 On November 20th I covered all up for the winter with hay- 

 bands and bags, and put the hives in a bee house. 



I find late-fed swarms fly about very much with the least bit 

 of sun out or a warm day, so I keep them in with perforated 

 zinc. — J. M. 



OUR LETTEE BOX. 



Pullets Moulting in December (E. B. T.). — The only circnmstances 

 nntkr which we can underBtand a pnllet having the appearance uf being 

 moulting now would be from the fact of her being early hatched and having 

 laid, sat. and reared herbrood. Such cases frequently occur in Sunsex among 

 LiijrkiDga; but wo think the Brahma pnllet would not snffcr so much in 

 appearance an<l plumage. Change of locale would throw pullets off laying 

 for a few days; bat a clean-moulted Brahma hen is sometimes difficult to 

 detect among pullets. The head and comb in a ben have a more wrinkled, 

 and po to speaU, eciirfy appearance than those of a pullet. The plumage 

 (new) has more development of qnlll, and is softer and more fluffy than that 

 of a pullet. 



Teal Moulting Partially {R. B. J7.).— The moat probable cause for the 

 unpatisfactory moult of your male Teal is that he was a bird that had been 

 ca?ed Gome time, and consequently weak after moulting. Such a bird would 

 Qnly resume his perfect plumage by slow degrees. 



Corn for Fowls {J. H, D.).— All com for them is better crashed. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



CAMnEN SqCABE, LOKDON. 



Lat.6P82'40" N.; Long. 0- 8' Q" W.; Altitade. Ill feet. 



Is' 



HONEY SEASON NEAK LINCOLN. 

 I HAVE been looking around at several bee-keepers, cottagers, 

 &c., who keep bees, and I find by examining their hives that 

 only one swarm of this season has sufficient honey stored up to 

 keep it through the winter, and it was a swarm that took pos- 

 session of a hive where the bees had died last winter. It is full 

 of clean combs. I have seen a great many altogether ; not one 

 of them had filled a hive with comb, and all are weak in bees. 

 Old stocks are better than swarms. I think they have a little 

 left of what they gathered from the fruit trees in spring. From 

 what I have heard and read this is the worst of all years of 

 late. I fed my swarm in the summer, and in September it was 

 39 lbs. weight, now it is 38 lbs. 



I have joined several casts to swarms, and in only one did I 

 spread the bees on a sheet to catch the queen. I brought her 

 home and kept her seven days in a super with half-a-dozen of 

 my bees, and fed them with sugar. I saw them feed the queen. 

 On the eighth morning she died. 



If " B. & W." and Mr. Lowe are right, I think bee-keepers 

 might turn the bees out from old stocks twenty days after 

 swarming instead of twenty-one days, as recommended by Mr. 

 Pettigrew; even a day would be a gain to the turn-outs. If all 

 is well I shall have some to do next season and I will try one, 

 but I have never doubted Mr. Pettigrew's word. 



The swarm and a half that I joined together on the 9th of 

 September have done well. I added another to them in the 

 last week of September. On October 21st hive and bees weighed 

 2.J lbs., I ceased feeding ; and on November let and 2nd the bees 

 brought out some young white bees, so I replaced the feeding- 

 bottle in the top of the hive and I have not seen any since; they 

 are a very strong lot. 



Another hive I have been unfortunate with. The brood comb 

 that I put in with a piece of string fell on to the floor-board, and 

 most of the new comb with it. It was so heavy with honey that 

 I expect it has covered some of the bees up, I have not been 

 able to feed the bees from the bottom since. I have fed them 



EEMAEK8. 

 Fine morning but very cold, and very slight showers of sleet at times 



all the latter part of the day. 

 2nd. — Snow 2 inches deep had fallen before 9 a.m., and as it continued to fall 



more or lees heavily theie was an additional depth by 9 r.ai. oi 



li,^ inches, making a total of 4J inches. 

 Srd. — Fine morning, but snowy at intervals all day ; another three-quarters 



had fallen during the night. 

 4th. — Snowing fast all the morning; extraordinarily dark for a short time 



between 2 and 3 p.m.; 2 inches more of snow was measured at 9 p.m., 



when it was still freezing. 

 5th. — Briglit and sunny nearly all day, but the snow still lying and the air 



frosty out of the sun. 

 Clh. — Another and Hlill heavier fall of snow during the night, 3 inches being 



measured at 9 a.m.; snow fell at intervals all day; the wind was rather 



high, but frosty. [again at night. 



7th. — The snow still frozen ; and though the day kept pretty fair, snow fell 



The principal feature during the past week has been snow, which in the 



aggregate baa been nearly a foot deep, and still lies to a depth of about 



4 inches. — Ct. <T. Sv.mons. 



COVENT GAKDEN MARKET.— December 7. 

 The heavy fall of snow has checked both business and supply, and, aa 

 frequently happens just before Christmas, trade is at a standstill. 



Apples i sieve 



Chestuuts bushel 12 



Figs doz. 



FUberts, Cobs lb. 



Grapes, hothouse lb. 



Lemons T*100 



Oranges ^ 100 



d. s. d. 

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1 



2 







1 



4 



.\rticboke3 dozen 8 Oto6 



Beans, Kidney.... 1 sieve 10 2 6 



Beet. Kcd dozen 10 3 



Broccoli bundle 9 16 



Brussels Sprouts.. ( sieve 2 6 



Cabbat,'e dozen 10 2 



Carrots bunch 4 8 



Capsicums af 100 I 6 2 



Cauhllower dozen 2 6 



Celery bun.Ue 16 2 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 2 4 



Cucumbers each "8 9 



pickling dozen 10 8 t> 



Endive dozen 10 2 



Fennel bunch ii 8 



Garlic lb. G 



Herbs bunch n 3 



Horseradish bundle 4 



VEGETABLES. 

 , d. 



Leeks banch 



Lettuce dozen 



French Cabb.ige 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress punnet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley.... doz. bunches 

 Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Radishes.", doz. bancbes 



Salsafy bundle 



Scorzouera bundle 



Seakale baski-t 



Shallots 111. 



Spinach bashel 



Tomatoes dozen 



Turnips bunch 



a. d. 

 



4 too 

 1 

 1 

 3 

 

 5 

 

 4 

 4 





 

 

 

 



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