ao 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICUIiTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



[ Jiinuury 3, 1865. 



queen was really amissing, but on secirehing more minutely 

 I discovered a small knot of bees densely crowded together. 

 In tbe centre of this cluster I found the queen, apparently 

 lield a fast prisoner ; so closely packed were the bees around 

 her that it was with the greatest difficulty I could get them 

 disentangled from each other and from the queen, which 

 they adhered to most tenaciously. With a small twig I 

 forced the reluctant bees to quit their hold, aud set the 

 queen at liberty. She moved olf among the combs, and the 

 hive immediately afterwai'ds assumed its usual quiescent 

 state. I greatly r^oiceJ at this discovery, and I imagined 

 that the mysteiy of commotions was now solved. I thought 

 that if the queen was thus surrounded and held a captive 

 by foreign or stranger bees, the agitation got up in the hive 

 was very natural, and what might in the circumstances be 

 expected. But the question arose, Were the bees clustering 

 around the queen really her foes ? Might they not be her 

 friends ? What object had the bees in so surrounding her ? 

 Were they hostile to her, or otherwise ? Is she really seized 

 and held captive by a few stranger bees which may have 

 accidentally found theu- way into the hive, and caused all 

 this disturbance ? or is the cluster composed of her own sub- 

 jects gathered around her on some other grounds, and from 

 other motives than hostility ? On reconsidering this case, 

 and compai'ing it with other instances of commotion, I was 

 far fi'om being convinced that the entrance of strange bees 

 produced on all occasions the phenomena witnessed. More- 

 over, there was something in the circumstances of this hive, 

 and the history of its queen which made me pause before 

 coming to a hasty conclusion on the matter, and though I 

 left it over at that time for further consideration aud re- 

 flection, I could not help entertaining the notion that the 

 age of that queen might have had something to do with 

 the curious phenomena exhibited, and might afford after 

 all a truer solution of the theory of commotions than the 

 entrance of foreign bees. 



On a consideration, therefore, of the whole facts and cir- 

 cumstances connected with the history of commotions, so 

 far as my knowledge then went, I came to the conclusion 

 they were in most part based on the superannuation, de- 

 bility, and incapacity of the queen. When the functions of 

 mother begin to be impaired through increasing age and 

 infirmity, when she ceases to be productive or prolific, it is 

 then, I thought, that the bees instinctively get alai'med for 

 the safety of the hive. The queen moves languidly over the 

 combs ; few eggs are deposited. She is attended stUl by a 

 few bees that seem anxious to prompt her to the office of 

 mother ; but as the brood becomes scanty, and the popula- 

 tion goes down, as the queen becomes weaker and weaker, 

 untU ultimately she can with difficulty hold by the combs, 

 the bees begin to gather around her with anxiety — perhaps 

 to vivify, if possible, her sinking frame ; but nothing can im- 

 part vigour to the feebleness of age ! She remains inert 

 and languid, the bees gradually cluster around her, and with 

 that loyalty and affection so peculiar to them. The queen 

 being thus encased in a knot of her interested and devoted 

 subjects, and isolated from the presence of the general mass, 

 these get alarmed for her safety, and thus the theory of 

 commotions might, I thought, bo satisfactorily explained. 

 The question arises in such a case. Why do the Vjees not 

 avail themselves of the power bestowed upon them by 

 Nature, and provide themselves timeously with a successor ? 

 This is often done, as already illustrated by me in this Jour- 

 nal (September 16th, 1862, No. 77), where I have recorded 

 a beautiful instance of the instinctive foresight in the bee 

 in thus timeously providing against such an impending loss. 

 But though in summer or in suitable seasons this may often 

 occur, yet when the queen gives way, as is often the case in 

 early spring or in autumn, the risk is great of the hive 

 perishing, as the circumstances and conditions of the colony 

 are not then favourable to queen-rearing, aud hence a great 

 number of hives perish at these seasons of the year. — 

 J. Lows. 



(To be continued.) 



formerly in much more general use than at present. Bees 

 theu seemed to prosper with little or no care on the part 

 of the owner ; indeed, many, deterred by superstitious no- 

 tions, never j)resumed to invert a stock even for examina- 

 tion, but allowed it to take its chance nearly or quite as 

 uudistiu-bed as if buried in the depths of the forest. How 

 bees could thus subsist, swai-ming and multiplying their 

 numbers in defiance of the external foos and internal ten- 

 dencies to disease with which they have ever to contend, I 

 presume may bo explained in part, at least, by attribviting 

 their prosperity to the straw hive thus employed. 



Waiving this question, however, for the ijresent, it is ac- 

 knowledged, I Ijelieve, by the leadina; apiarians of the 

 country, that if straw could be advantageously applied, no 

 other available material would siu:pass it. Says the Eev. 

 L. L. Langstroth, on page 331 of his "Hive and Honey 

 Bee : " " Straw hives have l^een vised for ages, and are warm 

 in winter and cool in summer. The difficulty in making 

 them take and retain the proper shape for improved bee- 

 keeping is an insupportable objection to their use." Mr. M. 

 Quinby gives his experience as follows : — " A few years since, 

 in connection with a pai-tuer, I purchased twenty-two straw 

 hives. These, with forty made of wood, equally as good in 

 respect to the number of bees and stores, were placed in one 

 yard. As the swarming season approached, the straw hives 

 indicated the strongest colonies. The first five swarms were 

 from these hives ; and when seventeen had issued, thirteen 

 had come from them. All sent out swarms but two or thi'ee, 

 while fully one-third of the wood hives faUed to swarm at 

 all through the season. Here was an advantage in swarm- 

 ing, greatly in favour of straw hives. We kept some of these 

 hives several years, which continued to maintain, in this 

 respect, their superiority. Since our trial of them I have 

 inquu'ed of many who have had them in use, and all testify 

 to theu- early swarming. I think it would be safe to give 

 eight or ten days at least as the average time that these 

 will swarm before others." 



The superior value of early swarms will not be questioned. 

 As swarming generally takes place in the height of the 

 honey harvest, when a strong colony will often collect 3 lbs. 

 per day, it follows that a gain of ten days in time is equiva- 

 lent to 25 lbs. or 30 lbs. of honey, which is again virtually 

 equivalent to nearly as much in the surplus-boxes to be put 

 on after the hive is filled. 



STRAW BEE-HrVES. 

 A COBSS8PONDBNT of the Dollar Newspaper (American), 

 thus sotH forth the advantages of straw bee-hives : — 



Straw as a material for bee-hives seems to have been 



OUE LETTEE BOX. 



Estimate of Poultry-Hodse (Inquirer). — The best mode for you to 

 proceed will be to ask of one or two builders what they woald build such, a 

 structure for. No professional architect would give an estimate without 

 examining the locality. 



Spanish Fowls (Black Spanish).— They require little ran. and do well 

 in conlinoment, laying freely. No fowls will, however, do well on a brlclc 

 floor. You must remove it, and substitute good hard beaten earth. The 

 run in front must ba provided with bricklayers' lubbHh, gravel, grass, and 

 earth, the lighter the better. Spanish do not sit. If they did, the space 

 you mime is not largo enough to rear chickens, bust and any kind of light 

 dry earth would be far better than hay. They require a dust bath daily. 



FATTENtNO DoRKiNos {T, CaUlin).—'Wc advise you to buy Mr. Baily's 

 book on fowls. It can be had at our office price, including po«tago, 2s. 2d, 

 fowls whilst fattening should have little or no room, and not much light. 

 They should be kept quite clean and fed throe timo« per day. Only as 

 much at each meal as they will eat up clean. Ground oats mixed with 

 new milk Is the best food. They should fatten in a fortnight or, at most, 

 three weeks. 



Satinbtte Piokonh (J. Devonshire). -'We believe Mr. H. Noye Is the 

 same as tho Mr. Noye who has advertised In this Journal. 



Artificial Swaums— Steaw Hives— Fkkdino (A Novice). — All the in* 

 Rtruclions you require for making artificial swarms were given by Mr, 

 Woodbury in No. 161. We do not think it advis-.ble to paint straw hives, 

 which should be carefully protected from the weather by sufficient external 

 coverings. A clamped platform of any convenient size may be readily fixed 

 on the top of a bell-ehiipcd slraw-hive by means of common mortar tough- 

 ened by tho addition of n little cowdung. I( three or four wood screws are 

 inserted on the underneath wide of the platform, and loft with their heads 

 projecting about half an inch, they will become imbedded in the mortar, 

 and, in conjunction with the uneven aurfdce of tho hive itself, will keep oil 

 flrni. The hole in tho centre of the platform should be 3 or 4 inches in 

 diameter, and a corresponding hole may be readily cut in the hivo itnclf, by 

 mean* of a sharp pen-knife, us soon as tho mortar is set. Feeding bees 

 always excites their appetlto for more; but wo never noticed that the 

 admiration of barley-sugar caunod them to seek water with espoclal avidity. 

 The barlcy-Biignr barricade was suggcMted by Mr. Taylor many years before 

 " The Times* Uce-mnstor " wan heard of, but we have m;vcr tried it ourselyeB 

 We should deem the weight of your slocks perfectly satisfuctory. Aspect 

 Is certainly not of itrltniiry iuip'jrtiince. CondenscU nioislun' at tho hivo*B 

 month Is tho usual indication of a thriving and populous colony. There Is 

 no doubt ft« to the preference manifcBted by boos for simple syrup over tho 

 . bacchanalian abominations advocated by most of tho writers of bcc-bookn. 



