April 18, 18G5. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAUDENEE. 



315 



the original "sports ? " Ah ! who ? Why I believe that 

 the same Almighty hand that created these beautiful little 

 songsters, created our beautiful varieties of Pigeons in the 

 forms in which we have them, except such as we know to be 

 spurious crosses. 



We know there ai'e many (but a minority), who hold Mr. 

 Brent's theory; but, then, they also think that the huge 

 bloodhound and the Blenheim spaniel are from a common 

 stock. Indeed, I am as little disposed to believe all this, as 

 I am to believe that we are only " improved " monkeys, and 

 that we have rubbed oif our tails by sitting on them till 

 nature declines to take the trouble to grow them. — W. H. B. 



AiS" EGG WITHIIT AN EGG. 



I was induced to address you a few months ago about a 

 black hen which had become white, your remark being that 

 such changes were by no means unfrequent among Spanish 

 fowls. My bii-d, however, is not of Spanish blood, but of a 

 mongrel class, of which I would there were fewer. 



I am now anxious to make known another curious fact 

 which has occurred in another farmer's poultry-yard. A 

 Goose has just laid an egg of the remarkable dimensions of 

 lOJ inches in circumference and 5 inches in length. The 

 egg was kindly brought to me, and I found the outer shell 

 (which had been broken with a view to domestic purposes) 

 contained within it another hard-shelled egg, each egg having 

 a perfect yolk. Together they must have weighed above 1 lb., 

 as I found that the inner one weighed rather more than 

 S ozs. The doer of this strange deed is a venerable bird of 

 seventeen years, is a regular layer, and, I may mention as an 

 amiable trait in her domestic life that, after five of her eggs 

 had on one occasion been hatched under a hen, she readily 

 adopted the young brood, and brought them up. — E. O., 

 Eglingliam. 



COMMENCING BEE-E:EEPING— MAKING 

 AETIFICIAL SWAEMS. 



I AM about commencing bee-keeping, and I do so more 

 paiticularly with the intention of introducing the humane 

 and depriving system among my neighbours. This is a bee 

 country, but, save a solitary glass filled in the gardens of the 

 gentry, the sulphur-pit is the order of the day. I have a 

 Woodbury straw frame-hive, which I hope to experimentalise 

 with, as much to show my neighbours what may and can be 

 done as with any object advantageous to myself. Being 

 practically ignorant I must seek for advice, and I write for 

 information on two points — first, in making artificial swarms 

 with the frame-hive how far must you remove the old hive 

 with the brood in (who are to rear a queen) from its original 

 place ? and if only a few yards, will not all the bees forsake 

 the frame hive and return to the queen and the all-but- 

 empty hive ? Is any particular management required ? 



The next point is this — in order to introduce the humane 

 system I mean to drive the bees from the stalls that are to 

 be taken far and near aU round my neighbourhood, take 

 them home, unite them or not as may be required, feed them, 

 and for half the expense see if I cannot obtain good swarms 

 for the ensuing spring. As this plan became known the 

 owners would look twice before they gave their bees away, 

 and I should find that it would be adopted by all as a matter 

 to then- own advantage ; and thus I should attain the object 

 I had in view, the abolition of the brimstone-pit. — M. D. 



[In making artificial swarms it is certainly well to remove 

 the old hive to as great a distance as may be convenient, in 

 order to guard against its being deserted too completely. 

 This evil may, however, be in some measure obviated by 

 confining the bees* for four-and-twenty hours after their 

 removal, during which period their excitement wiU abate, 

 royal cells will be staHed, and the permanent ponulation 

 win be increased by the hatching of perhaps some hundreds 

 of young bees. When forming stocks with condemned bees 

 in antumn it is necessai-y to unite several in order to insure 

 a sufficient population to build combs freely. The experi- 

 ment is unquestionably very interesting, but we have found 

 m practice that, setting aside the risk of failure, stocks 



* Ample fentilation must of course be a£forded them durinpr their impri- 

 sonment. " *^ 



formed in this way cost just as much as purchased swarms. 

 The best mode of utilising condemned bees in autumn is to 

 employ them in strengthening other stocks which are in- 

 tended to stand the winter. We shall be glad to be informed 

 of the result of youi' operations.] 



BEES NOT WOEKING IN GLASSES— EAISING 

 A SUPEE. 



Can you tell me why my bees will not work in glasses ? 

 These are of all shapes, and generally quite wet inside. 



I have a good stock, with a straw super full of comb. 

 Should I allow the bees to fill the super with honey first, or 

 place a box between the stock and super at once ? Is it of 

 any use giving them extra room when once they cluster 

 outside the mouth of the hive ? or must I either drive them 

 or let them swarm ? — Dumpling. 



[It is not always easy to induce bees to work in glasses, 

 but this reluctance may generally be ov erconie by furnishing 

 them beforehand with some clean worker-comb. Moisture 

 from the heated air of the hive is always liable to condense 

 in the interior of glasses used as supers. If your straw 

 super be of full size, it may not be advisable to raise it on 

 a box ; at any rate you should let the bees take possession 

 of it, and pretty well fill it with honey before doing so. Mere 

 clustering at the mouth of the hive is by no means decisive 

 as to the fact of its being too late to afford bees additional 

 room.] 



BEE-BEOOb DYING. 



The piece of honeycomb which I left at your office is a 

 fair specimen of the condition of a hive which I lately found 

 to contain no live bees. It was very strong in the autumn, 

 and even on March 16th, when I found the bees dead, there 

 were perhaps 3 lbs. or 4 lbs. of honey left, but very dark in 

 colour. Some of the bees were not dead, but in a kind of 

 stupor, from which they did not recover. A great number 

 lay on the floor-board quite dead, and they, as well as the 

 whole of the hive, were of a very dark colour. From the 

 above data can you inform me the cause of death, whether 

 disease, or only a common case of failure ? I am not quite 

 sure, but believe the bees had occupied the same hive for at 

 least three years. — Smith. 



[The comb which accompanied your letter contained brood 

 in various stages, but all in an advanced state of decomposi- 

 tion, and in appearance very much resembling foul brood, 

 to which indeed we were at first disposed to refer it. On a 

 more minute examination, however, we discovered some 

 points of difference, which induce us to believe that the 

 brood died of cold some months ago, and that the bees have 

 since been unable to remove it. With regard to the mortality 

 among the bees themselves, it would appear to have resulted 

 from the effects of the late severe and protracted winter. 

 That the queen remained healthy and vigorous almost to 

 the last may be inferred from the fact that we found eggs 

 in nearly all the apparently empty cells.] 



STEAIGHTENING COMBS IN WOODBURY 

 FEAME-HIVE. 



In your Journal of October 11th, 1864, I mentioned that 

 the combs in my Woodbury frame-hive had got out of the 

 perpendicular, and I was directed to set them straight any 

 warm day in April or May, and set them fast by clips of tin, 

 &c. Now, how am I put them straight ? I fear that if I 

 have to pare them away much I shall destroy a lot of brood, 

 and I do not know the best way of making them fast with 

 these clips when straightened. I have just written to order 

 another frame-bos, and as soon as I have your answer I pur- 

 pose trying the experiment and shifting each frame, as I do 

 it, into the new box. I suppose I cannot do better as a first 

 step, than follow the directions given in the Number for 

 March 7th, headed " Bee-driving in Frame-hives." 



Can I in any way convert a bar-hive, already filled, into a 

 frame-hive without weakening or injuring the present stock ? 

 —A. W. B. 



[Crooked combs shoiild not be pared but straightened. 



