142 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAItDEJTEE. 



[ February U, 1865. 



empty comb taken from one of the light stocks. This 

 comb having then been filled on one side was substituted 

 in like manner for an empty one in another hive, and the 

 process was continued until the approach of evening put a 

 stop to further proceedings. This plan had the additional 

 advantage of enabling me to ascertain by ocular inspection 

 that none of my colonies was in imminent danger of 

 starvation, since all possessed more or less sealed food. It 

 will readily be understood that I filled the combs on one 

 side only on account of the quantity which would have run 

 out had I inverted them with the view of filling the opposite 

 cells. I could not, however, help smiling as I placed comb 

 after comb in the hives, each weighted on one side to the 

 utmost limits of possibility and perfectly empty on the other, 

 bnt every one, nevertheless, asanming a position as truly 

 perpendicular as if adjusted by line and plummet, at the 

 correspondent who was so positive that well-made frames 

 when filled with comb always required bottom guides to 

 keep them in an upright position. 



I may now be allowed a retrospective and, I hope, a fare- 

 well glance at foul brood. It will be remembered that Mr. F. 

 Smith, late President of the Entomological Society, related 

 at the November meeting of that Association, that when he 

 visited my apiary a short time previously he was witness to 

 the re-discovery of foul brood in one of my hives. This 

 notice has produced so many kind inquii'ies that I am 

 induced to forestall a communication which I intended 

 deferring until the spring, and describe at once what 

 actually occurred. Having shown Mr. Smith the manner 

 in which my Ligurians continued breeding late in the 

 season I opened a black colony formed of two stocks of 

 driven bees, furnished with a few pieces of comb, which had 

 been stimulated by liberal feeding to recommence breeding 

 and comb-building, but which I felt sure had by this time 

 discontinued breeding altogether. Inspection proved this 

 opinion to be correct, but it also showed half-a-dozen foul 

 cells, the first I had met with in my own apiary since 

 the preceding spring, and this was the extent of the 

 mischief, since a rigid examination of every one of my 

 nineteen remaining stocks demonstrated that all were 

 perfectly healthy. The half-dozen foul cells were at once 

 carefully excised and the stock removed to a distance, where 

 it yet remains, and where I shall be very curious to see 

 if the disease will re-appear in the spring. I myself have 

 a strong impression that it wiU not, since I think that so 

 trifling an inoculation of the fatal virus (the foul cells them- 

 selves having been excised) wOl, in all probability, have 

 become exhausted during the cessation of breeding usual in 

 the winter season. The only way which occurs to me of 

 accounting for the appearance of this disease in a colony 

 composed of the driven inhabitants of two healthy stocks 

 and furnished only with a few pieces of pure comb is by 

 supposing that the hive (a straw one) into which it had 

 been introduced had not been sufficiently purified from the 

 infection left by its previous tenants. As I find from a 

 letter shown me by my friend Mr. S. Bevan Fox that there 

 is still a disposition to connect the appearance of foul brood 

 with the Ligurians, I may be permitted to point out that in 

 this instance the only hive attacked was a pure black one, 

 whilat the Italians escaped perfectly unscathed. 



I have to thank Mr. Lowe for his kind compliance with 

 the request I preferred in 1863, and which has resulted in 

 hia favouring us with so valuable and interesting an account 

 of his experience of regicidal attacks among bees. I 

 ptirpose taking an early opportunity of complying with the 

 ■wish he has privately expressed, by commenting fully and 

 freely on the tacts he has recorded and the inferences he has 

 drawn from them, but 1 cannot permit a week to pass 

 vitbont expressing my regret at the complete failure of his 

 two Lif^rian colonies. Both queens I believed at the time 

 to bo as good as my apiary could produce, but although I 

 wag then perfectly unaware of it I have now unfortunately 

 too much reason to fear that the bees carried with them the 

 taint of foul brood, and judging from my own experience I 

 cannot divest myself of the idea that this fatal malady 

 may have had much to do with the ill-fortune which haa 

 jnirsncd them. I have, of course, already tendered to Mr. 

 Lowe my best assistance in repairing his loss, and I can 

 only hope that this assistance will be as frankly accepted as 

 it is freely offered by — A LBvoNsniRE Bee-keeper. 



OUR LETTEE BOX. 



PociTRT-KEEpHfG FROM A CoMMFRciAL PoiNT OP V IK w . — We are Tequestcd 

 10 say that Mr. Geyelin finds it impossible to continue answering privately 

 Ihe hundreds of questions put to him from all part^ ot England in reference 

 to pou'liy-keepinij: and egc-preserTinK, as it entails great expense and 

 labour; and as many qucsiions are identical, and require, in order to be 

 answered SLitisfuctorily, an explanation of the Ia>vs of nature which govern. 

 certain a3i:ertained facts. Mr. G. will arrange tJie questions under distinct 

 headings, and give the answers collectively in some of our subsequent 

 >'umbL-rs. The difficulty of answering satisfactorily to himself by private 

 correspondence will be apparent by a few we subjoin under the head of 

 preserving eggs only. 1. How can you tell when a jar is air-tight ? 2. Can 

 you at any period ascertain whether the ytr* continue air-tight ? 3. Are the 

 eggs not ;iftVc'.e£i by the heat TvhiUt packing? 4. Why should epg* be pre- 

 f^crved better in rarified ^ir than by merely packing tht-m In air-tight jars? 

 5. DoL'S it make any difference in preserving eggs wiien a few days old? 

 Meanwhile we are happy to state that Mr. G. has ju>t discovered a siraple 

 and unfailing mode, not only to make the jars air-tight, but also showing 

 .at any time whether they remain fully so, or only puriittUy, full particulars 

 of which we will give in a subsequent Number of our Journal 



Cankeh IK Fowls [Edward Woodcoclt). — Scrape out the canker with 

 lb': n;iilor a sharp knife and caustic it freely, 



Braufokd Poultry Show.— Mr. J. Stevens, of Macclesfield, informs us 

 that the third prize for Spmish Fowls was taken by a pen belonging to 

 himself and not to J. Stephens, Wal-ail. 



PoiLTRY Shows ik Lai^casbihe.— Cun nothing be done to establish a 

 good poultry show in L.incashire, where we have quite as many, if not more, 

 poultry-breeders than any counry in EriglLind ' We have a show at Man- 

 chester c»;uainly, but no one who attended the last could call it a good one. 

 Will nothing rouse the euergies of all these inert breeders!— Game Cock, 

 Wiyan. 



To a Timid Exhibitor.— A word of advice to "A Timid Exhibitor.'* Go 

 boldly into exhibiting poaltty, or, if you keep in that very timid state of 

 mind, ynu never will be succissful. To ease your mind, I wil. slate that I 

 neither breed, exhibit, nor deal in poultry, although I had the honour of 

 representing one of the best yards of poultry in the kingdom, two years 

 back, when I sold all the poultry off tbat this very timid gentleman secme 

 alraid of.— John Douglas. 



PouLTttv Book {M. S.). — There never was a supplement to "The 

 Poultry-Book," A new edition was commenc«d by some one, but never 

 completed. 



La Flf.ohk Fowls (A". 5.).— You will find engravings, together with a 

 full description of them, in Vol. ill., pages 214 and 264, Nus. 65 and 66, New 

 Series. 



Air-tight Jars for PRESERvrao Eggs {A. B.). — Apply to Mr. J. Melville, 

 20, Glaskin Road, South Hackney, London, who is Mr. Geyelin's agent 



Pi'LLetDting with intestines PKOTErDED (i. S.). — ^There is no doubt 

 the cause was a difficulty in laying. The bird was, in fact, egg-bounJ,aad, 

 no assistance being at hand, the egg could not be laid without protrufion. 

 The other fowls would eat ihe egg. under these circumstance?, ae it would 

 be bloody— a great tempt^ition to them ; and tbey would pick and pull at 

 the protruding membrdne, and thereby cause death. 



Poultry-hocse for Cochins ( TT. T.).— All the Cochins prefer (-itting on 

 the ground to roosting on a perch. They always crouch .n corners ; there- 

 fore put your perches in the middle of the h mse. A bou-'C S feet square 

 will roost a dozen. Three laying-bnxes may face the do ir. Two perches 

 may be in the middle, sheltered from draught, and let the corneTs be well 

 filled with dry gravel. If you hive spare room, give them more, and put 

 them on the perches after th^ y are at rest. They will take to them. 



Food for Poultry (Po«/fri/'.— The best food for all fowls is ground 

 oats, mixed with milk. They, however, always w.inta change. You should 

 sit their egg« at ence. Good b irley. well scattered in the grass, ecraps of 

 bread, scraps of cooked meat from the kitchen— all these are good food. 



Weight of Braujuas {C. L.).—V^e have known a Brahma cock and ben 

 to weigh 2" Iba That will not easily be found aga:n. A first-rate Brahma 

 cock should weigh 12 lbs., and a good hen 10 lbs. You wi:l eee joura is a 

 gcod one. 



Parrot St*ooering— HAMBrRcn Cock's Coub Falling Over (J. L. J.). 

 —Give your Parrot no hemp .seed. Feed on bread and milk, and vegetables, 

 Fuch as carrot, &c., raw. If you can get at fresh fruit, give some. Pear is 

 g(.od ; failing that, give apple or orange. Protect it carefully from draught. 

 Give Canary seed moderately. You cannot prevent the comb of your 

 Hamburgh from falling over except by tying up with silver wire. That is 

 hurdly worth doing, as the fault is a disqualifying one, and we fear you 

 will tind it hereditary. Frequent Ume-whiiing, with thick lime, is the be?t 

 remedy for flies. 



Insects on Canaries {W. A. 0.).— Your birdu are infested with bird 

 lice. If not very nnmerouik Scotch bnuff sprinkled on the parts effected, 

 which ore generally under the wings and jointj^, will eradicate tliem. There 

 is also a powder sold by mostchemlsta.wb.ch Is yerj* good, called "Dumont's 

 Insecticide Powder,'* with full directions fur its uto. Examine your cages 

 constantly, and change them for fresh ones. Wath the old ones well with 

 8oap and warm water, and anoint the crevices and doors with rectified 

 spirltrt of naphtha, and expose them some days in the air. The vermin come 

 out at night from the crevices and irriiato the birds; therefore the latter 

 should be changed In the davtime, as they arc then more free from the lice. 

 Girc ihc birds a tepid bath occasionally, and then let them out in a room to 

 dry themselves, 



Caxary Lopiso its Fbatbers (17. Tr.).— Does the Canary hang in a 

 room In the heat arising fiom gas bumerii ? or Is it over-fat? Either may 

 cauR** the unnatural moulting. Feed the bird on plain wholcaomc fool, and 

 lot it buthe daily. A little flowers of sulphur springlcd among its seed 

 m ly be beneficial.— B. P. B. 



Millet (II. H, ^.).— The mllUt used as a bird need Is Ihc soci of Panicum 

 miliaceum. Bemollna Is not a seed, but a coarse kind of wheat mcul made 

 in Kussia from the finest kinds of wheat. 



SwAiiMiNo c. SxoniFTmn.— •* J. E. B." would greatly oblige Mr. W. W. 

 Cooke, Town Lane Uouse, Dunton, near Manchester, if he would favour him 

 with his oddreif. 



