lOi 



JOITENAL OF HOKTICULTTIRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 31, 1865. 



bees held her captive. I removed the cluster out of the 

 hive, when I noticed a bee affix its sting in her body, and I 

 had some difficulty in extricating it, even after the queen 

 was dead. In such encasemeutc as this, the bees not only 

 seize the queen by the wings, legs, proboscis, and antenna.', 

 but sting her most uumercit'ully, and even retain possession 

 of their victim till tUe very juices of her body appear to be 

 sucked away, and when she fails from theii' relentless hold 

 she looks like a withered dried-up carcase which has been 

 exposed to the action of the atmosphere for weeks. 



In 1S5S I tried a similar experiment in this observatory 

 hive by introducing a stranger queen, and the results were 

 almost identical. The cluster formed around the queen I 

 detached from the hive, put it aside unde"r cover, and ouo 

 might roll it about like a ball, so tenacious were the bees 

 around their hapless victim ; and they thus remained al- 

 most like a lifeless mass until I forced a separation, when 

 in this case the queen was found dead in less than half an hour. 

 2nd Question. — To try the effects produced by the junction 

 of swai-ms. On the 1st of October, 1859, 1 had the bees of two 

 driven hives in separate skeps with theii' queens. These I beat 

 out simultaneously upon a cloth, and permitted the conjoined 

 bees with their queens to enter an observatory, in order that 

 I might witness the results. The bees were very numerous, 

 and some time elapsed before all were domiciled. Shortly 

 after, in looking through the glass for the queens, I dis- 

 covered one encased half-way up the comb, with a circle 

 of bees having their heads all du-ected to a central point, in 

 which the queen, from the smallness of the intervening 

 space betwixt the comb and glass, was distinctly seen. 

 She was simply imprisoned, but no attempts were made to 

 Bting or injure her. The othor queen, I discovered, had been 

 arrested on the floorboard, and sui'rounded also by a cluster 

 of bees. This queen I disengaged in oi-der that I might 

 put her in as favourable a position as the other. With this 

 view I introduced her at the top of the hive, and she de- 

 scended on the comb, but she was instantly seized and sur- 

 rounded as before. Both queens were thus under arrest. 

 Meantime the bees got very agitated, and one-thu-d of the 

 entire population rushed out, took wing, and would have 

 entered another driven hive, which happened to be sited 

 near by, had I not anticipated their intentions by shutting 

 that hive up. I immediately, therefore, disengaged the queen 

 fii'st noticed, and showed her at the entrance, when in an 

 instant a rush of bees (bllowed her into the hive, and all the 

 truants on wing speedily returned. Again the queen's pro- 

 gress was obstructed beyond the entrance, and most of the 

 bees clustered outside the hive. By afternoon the bees 

 quieted down, but neither of the queens was yet I'eleased. 

 Next morning, on examining the interior, I found one of the 

 queens at liberty, and the other was extruded dead before 

 the hive. The largest queen was retained. — J. Lowe. 

 (To be concluded in our next.) 



CONDENSED MILK. 



Most American citizens have seen this article retailed 

 from carts at their doors. In appearance it is a thick creamy- 

 looking substance, of the consistency of molasses, which is 

 afterward;? reduced to suitable thinness by the addition of 

 water. The advantages derived from condensing the milk 

 are that it keeps sweet much longer, and ia perfectly pure. 

 This last is not the least desirable quality, for the consumer 

 adds as much or as little water as he chooses. We have used 

 this milk in our family in large quantities for a number of 

 year.?, and find it a very groat convenience as well as luxury. 

 For coffee it is far superior to common milk, and for young 

 children, suffering with complaints incident to them, this 

 condensed milk is invaluable in respect of purity ; swill-fed, 

 or otherwise impure milk is the last thing to give a sickly, 

 teething child. 



The Nev) York Observer contains an account of the process 

 of making condensed milk at Gail Borden's factory, wliich is 

 the one alluded to by us, and for which Mr. Borden obtained 

 a patent several years ago : — 



"The farmers bring their milk daily; it is poured into an 

 immense boiler, the superfluous parts driven off. and the 

 condensation effected in a few hours. The cletails of the 

 process are exccddingly curious and worth studying. Every- 

 thing is condacted with such scrupulous regard to cleanli- 



ness, that the result is irreproachable. Even the large cans, 

 in which the farmers bring their milk, are cleansed by steam 

 before they go back. This prepared milk is sold daily in 

 New York from door to door, as any other milk is, but its 

 chief market is in the army, where it is a great blessing, as 

 you will readily believe. 



" The same process is applied to the juice of Apples, and 

 other fruits, and meats. Coffee is condensed in the same 

 way. Indeed any article of food may be condensed by 

 this summary operation, be reduced in bulk, with all its 

 nutritious qualities preserved, and packed so as to be pre- 

 served fresh any length of time. To make the little cans, 

 holding a pound each, a tin shop is at work constantly, 

 and the workers ai'e women exclusively. They are chiefly 

 American gtiis from eighteen to twenty years old, and 

 as the machinery is driven by water and steam power, 

 they have no heavy work on hand, and the business is ad- 

 mirably fitted for them. They make more than a dollar a-day 

 easily, and the shop makes about 8000 cans daily. A car- 

 penter's shop makes the packing-boxes, and so the entire 

 work from receiving the milk to sending it off, is done in the 

 factory, and this stands on tlie edge of the raih'oad at the 

 depiU, so that all labour of transporting is saved. My visit 

 to this establishment was ver^' interesting and impressive, 

 for I do not recollect ever seeing a factory where so much 

 order, cleanliness, and comfort were combined in a produc- 

 tion so purely beneficial as this. It is the perfection of the 

 art of condensing. 



Mr. Borden can condense 12,000 quarts of milk daily at 

 this factory, and 20,000 in another at Brewster's station on 

 the Harlem Railroad below, and there are four or five others 

 in operation ; one at AVinsted, Con.; one at York, Pa. ; one at 

 Livermore Palls, Maine ; and two in Massachusetts. They 

 will doubtless become more and more numerous as their 

 great advantages and profits become known." — {Scieiiiific 

 American.) 



BANCmiTY IN BUTTEE. 



Your correspondent " Cochin " sends you some butter 

 and wishes you to account for its rancidity. Of course, I 

 cannot do that, but the inquiry has brought to my recol- 

 lection a remedy for the taste of turnips in butter, which 

 m.ay be worth the attention of some of your readers. 



Some years ago on an angling cxcui'sion to the beautiful 

 trout stream, the Washburn (a tributary of the Wharfe), I 

 was driven by a heavy shower of rain to take shelter in a 

 farmhouse, and found the farmer's wife making her butter 

 ready for the mai'ket. On asking her if her butter tasted of 

 turnij)s she said, " Oh, no, my butter never t.astes, I know 

 liow to prevent that." I said, " That is a secret worth 

 knowing. lIow do you manage ? " She replied. " When the 

 milk is brought in fi-om the cows, I have always a kettle of 

 boiling water on the fire, and to every gallon of mUk I 

 put half a pint of the scalding hot water. I carefully stir 

 milk and water together, then set it away, and my butter 

 never tastes of tui-nips. Try the experiment and you will 

 find it answers." — T .G. 



OUK LETTER BOX. 



Brkkdino Dookwino IUntamk (TTi/. N-). — You iniiy breed DuokwinffH 

 from ilie i.Ii-iln you mention ; It is oILcn done to gft tlio' chestnut wing and 

 buddlti. ;iiiil iliu black brcHRt. 



rioKONs AT JKnuL'ucii Siiow.— In your report of the Jedhnrph Show it 

 is htntr.'il tlmt iny Owls wore dinqimliflcMl. but no renrton ia plvpn. 1 entciod 

 u p.iir nf Owlf, and th'- wliilc cock died before ihi; Show, iind not hiivlng- 

 iinother all white, and not wishing the pen to bo vncant (ii8 I was scndioR- 

 Uircti peoH Bhort bosiduH), I sent u white cock with ii black tail. Indivi- 

 dually they lire llrst-clasH hirdK, but not being a niiitch they were disqnuli- 

 li':d. It may have been abKurd ol" me ncndinR thorn, but I would ratJu-r bo 

 thouK-hl abHurd than diHlionept.— J. It. Koiiinhon. 



L(ii'-KAUKi) Uaihuth (A Scgiti>ifir).~[hu points tiro— 1, length of oav; 

 moa-nrin(T iicrocH the head from the tij) of one ear to Iho tip of the oUior 

 -', width, of ear; 3, colour; 4, po«Ilion of carp ; 5, larRcncua of eyo ; (i, oar- 

 ibiKe of body ; 7, flize. You can have •' The Kabbit Hook "Trom our oHtco 

 free by post for Bcven poatugc atanipa; in It you will find much informution 

 you win do well to posiiORg. 



I'AititoT Stkii'I'Iko oi'I' ith FKATHiinH ( jr. JL ir.).— Wo havo repeatedly 

 wurncd our corrcsiiondcritHlhat a Parrot doing this \h sufferinK from intense 

 initation, Induced by over-»thnuIating food. Parrots in a wild state aro 

 Htrict vcKCtariauH, ond to give thctn meat and booc^i wliun ctrnflncd ia to 

 HlimuUte ihem unnaturally, at thn pamo thno that thoy nro deprived of 

 fcxcrclBo in the free air. Feed your Parrot upon bread and milk and frulti 

 only. At the «nme time k'vc it a tepid bulk dally, m we rccomtnondod oo 

 the ocCai-ioD to which jou refer. 



