20 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 6, 1876. 



of white comb and fill as many supers as possible, and because 

 the bee3 make a better finish with combs unsealed than they do 

 with Bealed combs. " But how can they fill and finish after the 

 honey season is over?" As soon as all the combs are partially 

 fixed in boxes their lids should be nailed or screwed on, and 

 then placed on the tops of the empty hives containing the 

 swarms. By giving the honey of the discoloured combs to the 

 bees they would soon commence carrying it all into the supers. 

 Thus all the honey gathered into the large hives may be trans- 

 ferred to either large or small supers. " All this is very arti- 

 ficial, and might disqualify for competition." It is artificial, 

 but we are in search of a Bystem that will give the greatest 

 results in super honey for market or home use, and experience 

 has taught that more honeycomb may be obtained from large 

 hives managed on the swarming principle without the complica- 

 tion of supers than from smaller hives supered throughout the 

 season. 



Like the Rev. Mr. Blyth we are on our way for the largest 

 amount of pure honeycomb, and if any of our readers who have 

 hitherto been living in the land of hope will condescend to 

 join us in our march they will be conducted acrosB the frontiers 

 into a land of success. — A. Pettigkew. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Chickens Dying Suddenly (E. L. P.). — Have your chickens the run of 

 the lawn, or only the space enclosed by the coop ? II only the latter they 

 will die as they get older, and they have neither room nor food enough. If 

 they have been kept in let them ont ; the hen need not go with them, and 

 they will do no damage. There is nothing wrong in your feediDg if we 

 except the rice. As they were probably all together, lightning ii it killed any 

 would have killed all. We believe if they have their liberty there will be no 

 return of the mortality. 



Eggs Broken in Laying (Marks, Manchester), — As they are shell-less it 

 is evident that the egg organs are disordered. The hens are overfed. Give 

 them less food both in quantity and quality. Let them have bricklayer's 

 rubbish, and give each a dessert- spoonful of caBtor oil. 



Canaries Failing to Breed (Inquirer, New Ross). — If your Canaries 

 have been properly matched we see no reason why they should not have bred 

 before this. There has been some defect in the mode of treatment to a 

 certainty. There is little chance of the birds breeding this season, although 

 you can further exercise your patience by keeping tbe pairs separated in the 

 breeding compartments until the end of thiB month. If the birdB have not 

 moulted oat of their proper season (the autumn) they should have bred; but 

 if they have been kept in an artificial temperature, occasionally casting or 

 throwing off odd featners, they have not been in condition to breed. In the 

 absence of further knowledge as to your general treatment of the birds we 

 cannot assist you as to how to proceed in the future, although we should 

 have been pleased to have given you assistance. 



Moor Hens, otherwise Water Hens (E. B. M.).— Young Water Hens 

 leave the nest to follow their mother soon after they are hatched, and no 

 doubt they feed upon the same kinis of food as their parents, which con- 

 sists of worms, insects, portions of aquatic plants, mollnsks, and the smallest 

 of fishes. 



Extra Hive Room ( ). — No doubt baes will frequently work down- 

 wards through a hole Bach as you describe, bat we have never found it 

 answer. We prefer the open eke, or better still the use of supers, where free 

 access through wide and extensive openings is afforded to the bees of a stock. 

 Our friend " B. & W." wrote something on this subject not very long ago in 

 this JoumaL We refer yon to his article. 



Bees Swarming Irregularly (Jane M.). — Irregularities in swarming 

 such as you describe are not uncommon with bees. You have treated the 

 two second swarms which issued the same day quite right. We should have 

 done exactly as you have done. Probably the queen of the one which returned 

 was imperfect, or else too quick in her movements for the bees to fiud where 

 she alighted. We ourselves once picked up a queen which the bees had failed 

 to find. 



Nadiring (Amateur).— If both honey and stocks be wanted from early 

 swarms, hives or nadirs may be placed beneath them as soon as their hives 

 are filled with comb3. The bees readily build combs in the bottom hives and 

 carry most of the honey into the upper ones. The same thing may be. done 

 with stocks that have not become ripe for swarming before the end of June or 

 thereabouts. When the topmost hives are removed for honey their bees are 

 driven into the nadirs. As bees like to swarm, and instinctively prepare for 

 swarming by building drone combs before swarming, it has been found that 

 they very often build too much drone combs in nadirs, especially those that 

 have not swarmed, and therefore eking and supering are preferable in most 

 cases to nadiring. In all cases of nadiring the bees should be made to oat 

 and in by one door in the bottom hive. 



Artificial Pollen (J. F.). — We have never tried this pollen, but it 

 seems to meet with decided favour at the hands of many able bee-keepers 

 who have tried it. We do not quite understand your question. Do you 

 wish to give each hive a separate dole of this pollen ? If you wish to 

 supply it en masse you cannot do better than others do. Take a common 

 straw skep, fill it with fine shavings, and the pollen mixed with it; and pat 

 all under an open dry shed, olose at hand. Try Brown & Poison, and report 

 your experience. 



Driving Bees (Wm. Talbot).— You will do well to turn the bees out of 

 your old hive and put them into a larger one, and the Booner you do it the 

 better; indeed, it should have been done on the 2uth of June before the 

 young queen in the hive began to lay. You will probably find brood in the 

 combs, which will be lost, but this cannot be prevented if you drive the bees 

 now into a larger hive. Drive the bee3 first into a small hive, and then 

 shake them into the larger one. If you have not a small hive to fit, roll 

 some haybands or towelling cloths round the month of the old hive, so that 

 the larger hive may rest on them and not slip over the Bides of the old oae. 

 All that you want is a little more courage. In cases like yours we have taken 

 our coat off and tied it round the mouths of hives to make them fit in arti- 

 ficial swarming. 



Excess of Swarms (Thomas Meattlin).— The Isle of Wight is a good 

 place for bees. From a very heavy hive you had a natural swarm on the 

 18th of May and an artificial one on the 26th of June. Yon have put a 

 super on the old one to prevent it from swarming again, and you intend to 

 super the first swarm by the end of this month. Yon should not have 

 attempted to take a second on the 23rd and 26th of June. On the 23rd the 

 swarms went back to the parent hive because the queen was left behind, and 

 on the 26th you took the queen with the swarm and thus made the old hive 

 queenless, and if the young queen which you took with the Bwarm has not 

 begun to lay the old hive is queenless still. Bat probably she had begun to 

 lay before her removal, and the bees may be now rearing another. It would 

 have been better to have turned out all the bees from old one at the time and 

 taken the honey ; thus you would have obtained two good swarms and hive 

 full of honey. Bear in mind that a second swarm can be taken at one time 

 only — namely, when there are more than one queeu in the hive, or, in other 

 words, at the piping season. You will not get a super filled on the old hive 

 this year, so you may remove it aad put it on the first swarm. Examine the 

 combs of the old hive at once to see if they contain any brood, and if the 

 cells are empty your better plan will be to drive all the bees out and unite 

 them to the second swarm. Beginners run great risks in attempting to take 

 second swarms artificially; not so with first swarms. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 



Date. 



9 AH. 





In the Day. 





1876. 



, a. 



Hygrome- 



"i 



o^ Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



a 



Jane 





ter. 



h 



ped 



E -- 



peratnre. 



Temperature. 



a 



and 









In 



On 





July. 



aSS^ 



Dry. 



Wet. 



5° 



E« 



Max. 



Min. 



sun. 



grass 









deg. 



deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 



We. 28 



SO.12'2 



63 8 



61.0 



N. 



65.1 



83.2 



56.8 



124.2 



56.1 











61.3 



58.3 



N. 



66.0 



73.1 



54.1 



121.1 



62.3 



— 







6J.2 



51.9 



N.W. 



61.5 



72.3 



19.3 



122.9 



46.6 



0.010 







67.5 



62.2 



sw. 



65.0 



72.5 



68.4 



100.2 



57 4 



— 







66.9 



62.2 



s.w. 



63.5 



80.1 



58.6 



134.2 



56.1 



— 





SO 108 



68.0 



60.1 



N.W- 



61.6 



78.5 



60.4 



123 4 



59.4 



— 



Tu. 4 



30.068 



67.7 



616 



S.W. 



65.3 



71.9 

 76.1 



57.7 

 56.5 



107.8 



56.2 

 549 





Means. 



80.027. 



65.5 



6J.1 





61.9 



119.1 



0.010 



REMARKS. 

 28th.— Thick fog all night and till 9 a.m., then very fine till 5 p.m., when it 



became dull and cloudy ; thunder at 6.10 and 6.35, and storm-like 



during the remainder of the day. 

 29th.— Very fine all day, but looking storm-like in the evening, and very much 



cooler than it was yesterday. ... n 



80th.— Fine, but at times rather cloudy and cool ; slight rain between U p.m. 



and midnight. . 



July 1st.— Dull and cloudy all tbe forenoon, but very fine evening and nignt. 

 2nd.— Rather close and warm all day, though there was but little son. 

 3rd.— Dull morning; very storm-like about noon, but fine afternoon and verv 



fine evening and night. 

 4th.— Dull all day, at times particularly eo, but the evening rather more 



bright. , , 



Temperature very nearly the same as last week, only a few drops of rain, 

 but much cloud. San very powerful on Sunday the 2nd,— G. J. Sxmons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Joly 5. 

 Outdoor fruit is now putting in a good appearance; in fact, the Straw- 

 berries grown near home are now at their height, and are being followed by a 

 large supply out of Kent and Esses. Cherries bid fair to be fight crops, 

 while Raspberries show want of rain. Hothouse fruit is quite equal to the 

 demand owing to the moderate amount of business now doing. Prices 

 generally lower. 



FRUIT. 



B. d. s. d. 



a. d. b. 



AppleB i sieve 1 6to6 



Apriojts bos 1 6 A 



Cherries lb. 6 



Chestnuts buBhel u 



Currants i sieve 



Black do. 



4 



1 6 





 





 dozen 9 15 



pies dozen 9 lo 



Filberts lb. u 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries quart S 9 



Grapes, hothouse lb. 2 6 



Lemons ^ 100 6 12 



Melons each 2 8 



Mulberries lb. otoO 



Nectarines dozen 6 21 



Oranges ^100 6 la u 



Peaches dozen 6 83 



Pears, kitchen .... dozen J 



dessert dozen 



Pine Apples lb. 2 



PlumB.. i sieve U 



Quinces bushel 



Raspberries lb, 6 



Strawberries lb. 4 I 



Walnuts bushel u 



ditto.. ^100 











6 











1 

 



O 



U 



Artichokes dozen 



Asparagus ^ 100 



French bundle 



BeanB, Kidney.... ^100 



Beet, Red dozen 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts j sieve 



Cabbage dozen 



Carrots bunch 



CapBicumff V 100 



Cauliflower dozen 



Celery bundle 



Coleworta.. doz. bunches 



cucumbers each 



Endive dozen 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb- 

 Herbs bunch 



Horseradish bundle 



Lettuce dozen 



French Cabbage .... 



VEGETABLES. 



B. d. S. d. i . 



4 0to6 Leeks bunch 



16 6 I Mushrooms pottle 



0o 1 Mustard & Cress punnet 



6 1 6 j Onions oushel 



16 SO pickling quart 



9 16 Parsley.... doz. buncnes 



Parsnips dozen 



10 2 Peas quart 



4 8 Potatoes ....bushel 



16 2 Kidney do. 



10 4 New lb. 



16 a Radishes., doz. bunches 



2 4 Rnubarb bundle 



4 10 Salsaty bundle 



10 2 Scorzonera bundle 



8 Seakale basset 



6 6 shallots lb. 



3 Spinach bushel 



4 Tomatoes dozen 



6 10 Turnips bunch 



Vegetable MarrowB 



B. d. B. d 

 4 to U U 

 1 

 



