224 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



f September 7, 1876. 



water after having just boiled-up, for it then nourishes the little 

 birds without heating them. Now and then I give them a sweet 

 almond blanched and reduced to powder, which I mix with 

 their paste. When I perceive the little birds are Bomewhat 

 heated I put in a pinch of the seed of chickweed. This com- 

 position is to be made twice a-day in very hot weather, because 

 everything that goes to the making of this paste soon grows 

 sour. This is, in short, what I use to bring-up little Canary 

 birds by hand. ... If you make use of this last composition 

 you may be assured your little ones will come to good, and if 

 you rear-np forty by hand scarcely one will die." Not a bad taBk 

 certainly for anyone wishing to enter into the pleasure and 

 mystery of Canary-breeding. 



Again : " If it happens that any of your little Canary birds 

 are sick, which is not strange in a considerable number, instead 

 of fair water you may make use of the water or milk of hemp, 

 which is made after this manner : — Take a handful of hempseed, 

 wash it well in spring water, then bruise it with a wooden pestle 

 in another water, and presB out the juice in a white linen cloth, 

 and take it to moisten your composition. This is called hemp 

 water or milk, and nourishes and warms your sick Canary birds 

 better than fair water which is put to the common compo- 

 sitions ; but it is not to be used unless in case of necessity, be- 

 cause it is troublesome to make such water twice a-day, and the 

 little birds that are in health do not need to be much warmed 

 as the hemp water does." 



In speaking of the necessary materials with which the com- 

 position or paste is made the writer says — " As for provision of 

 biscuits it is needless to lay-in any, because they are to be had 

 at all times ; but respecting the simnels a stock of them must 

 be laid-in about Michaelmas, when the pastrycooks give over 

 making of them. You must, therefore, cause several dozens of 

 them to be made according to the number of Canary birds you 

 have. String and keep them in a dry place and give some to 

 your birds the day you give them no seed. They are very fond 

 of it, and it oan do them no harm. BruBh the Bimnel well before 

 you give it them because of the dust that may stick on it. The 

 simnels I cause to be made have more crumb and are not so flat 

 as the others. I cause good butter to be put into them, and a 

 little more salt than is usual in others, and thus they keep very 

 well till the time when new ones are made." 



In the next chapter I will detail the several sorts of food Mr. 

 Hervieux supplied his birds with when pairing, breeding, and 

 when the young are caged. — Geo. J. Babnesby. 



LESSONS FOR COTTAGERS. 



Many ladies and gentlemen have by letters asked me if what 

 is called my system of bee-keeping could be put in little com- 

 pass, so that they could easily and cheaply get the system into 

 the hands and heads of the villagers and cottagers around them. 

 The parties who thus wrote to me are greatly interested in the 

 welfare of their poorer neighbours, and fancy that a few hives 

 of bees well managed would help to uplift them above the diffi- 

 culties of their present position. One cannot but admire the 

 disinterestedness of those who are Booking to promote the com- 

 fort and social elevation of working people by putting them in 

 possession of a perennial source of income and enjoyment. 



From an experience extending over half a century of time, I 

 can say that bees properly managed in rural districts yield a 

 considerable amount of both pleasure and profit; and I hope — 

 nay, I am certain, that as time rolls on and knowledge spreads, 

 many classes of our working population who now waste much 

 of their time and substance in public houses, bring poverty and 

 misery upon themselves and their families, will alter their 

 course of conduct and betake themselveB to pursuits that are 

 commendable, pleasure-giving, and self-rewarding. I know of 

 nothing better, less toilsome, or more remunerating than a few 

 swarms of bees. Yesterday a letter came from a collier in Staf- 

 fordshire who haB, he informs me, taken 90 lbs. of hoaey and six 

 swarms from three hives, and he may get 90 lbs. more from his 

 three first swarms. He readily sells his honey at Is. id. per lb. 



Though anxious enough to help cottagers and others who 

 know little of bee-management, I do not believe that a very 

 condensed treatise on their practical management would go far 

 to accomplish what my friends wish. Very few of the cottage 

 claBB of bee-keepers are seeking information. An example 

 of success in their neighbourhood would awaken an interest. 

 An object lesson or two would soon be copied, and the proBpect 

 of £ s. d. would deepen their interest and lead them on to suc- 

 cess. I have seen many caseB of this kind, and believe that 

 they are now being multiplied very fast. 



Though my book referred to is characterised by the plainness 

 and simplicity of its lessons, I receive many letters from all 

 classes aBking for fuller information on this and that point, and 

 many who well understand the meaning of the instruction given 

 write for encouragement of assurance, that they, mere beginners, 

 can carry it into practice. 



The first lesson that English bee-keeping cottagers have to 

 learn is this, that bees Bhould.have good houses to live^in, with 



plenty of elbow room for work and expansion. Let them have 

 an intelligent grasp of this idea, and one good season for honey 

 after they have put the idea into shape, and all the rest will 

 follow : they will get on and get up. I use and recommend 

 hives made of straw, for I can find nothing equal to them for 

 health, comfort, and convenience. All handy cottagers can if 

 they like make good straw hives of any size, and those who 

 cannot make or buy them will have to resort to boxes. 



The question of the materials whereof hives are made is not 

 so important as that of size. I have stated this more than 

 once. Mr. M. Quinby, lately deceased, who was one of the 

 greatest and most successful of American apiarists, took pleasure 

 in Btating that plain wooden boxes coBting about 20 cents were 

 as good for bees as more costly wooden patented hives. I 

 fancy he was right, and if I could not obtain hives made of 

 straw large in size I would use cheap unplained wooden boxes. 

 In large grocery establishments we find large empty boxes, 

 suitable enough for bees, are sold at 2d. each. These would 

 certainly be superior to the small straw hiveB bo commonly used 

 by English cottagers, in&Bmuch as bees would have more room 

 in them. With boxes of this kind, containing from 2000 to 3000 

 cubic inches or more of space, any bee-keeper with a little 

 experience might manage his apiary with Buccess ; and, more- 

 over, with a very little ingenuity and modification the boxes 

 could be used as supers, nadirs, and ekes, or made to aot-out the 

 principle of Nutt's collateral hive and the Stewarton storifying 

 one. 



I am certain that when the poor bee-keepers of England 

 come to know and realise the fruits of BucceBB from the use of 

 large hives they will set a high value on their servants, and 

 diligently work-out the details of any system of management 

 they may adopt. And as we all believe in the " good, better, 

 best," let ub hope that working men and women may be led to 

 adopt the system of management which puts moBt money into 

 the pocket with the least possible trouble. 



There are in the habits or natural history of bees some few 

 things which should be understood by all who manage their 

 bees intelligently. In every healthy hive of beea there are a 

 queen or mother bee and workerB which at one time were called 

 neuters, because it was believed they were neither male nor 

 female. But now it is well understood that they are female in 

 character though they lay no eggs. They are produced and 

 producible from the same kind of eggs as queens, but somehow, 

 whioh nobody understands, they are dwarfed into infertility 

 and are smaller than queens. Males or drones are bred in all 

 hives about the swarming season. 



A queen is fourteen days only in being hatched, leaves her 

 hive when only a few days old to meet the drone, and never 

 again leaves the hive but on swarming occasions. The queen 

 lays all the eggs — is mother of the whole community — always 

 goes with the first swarm and lives four years. After swarming 

 and death she generally leaves princesses in royal cells, one of 

 which will be enthroned in her place. 



The working bees are three weeks in being hatched, and though 

 they live nine months only, their history is full of marvels. They 

 struggle into the world without assistance from any quarter, 

 and finding themselves amid a scene of social, active life, 

 they begin at once to push their way in the world. In less 

 than three days they pick-up the acquaintance and companion- 

 ship of thirty thousand fellow citizens, and know every one of 

 them. Weather permitting they survey the country around, 

 notice every prominent object within a radius of one mile or 

 more from their hive, gather honey in forest and field, on hill- 

 top and in valley, and never lose their way home. Their career 

 from the cradle to the grave is one of untiring energy and dis- 

 interested service. Being loyal to a degree they well attend to 

 their queen and meet her every want and wish ; assist in setting 

 her eggs, nurse and hatch all the brood, fetch all the water and 

 bee-bread necessary, and as much honey as their strength per- 

 mits them to carry and store away. They manufacture all the 

 wax into combs after secreting it in their own bodies. The 

 lives of bees are valuablfc — valuable for work in summer and for 

 heat in winter. » 



I lately offered £l 10s. for 100 lbs. of condemned bees. If the 

 offer is accepted the lives of 500,000 bees doomed to die by the 

 fumes of sulphur will be saved. Let thiB fact be told in the 

 cottage homes of England. — A. Pettigrew. 



HONEY AT THE LAST CRYSTAL PALACE' 

 SHOW. 



I have no intention to use the pages of this Journal for any 

 controversy with the Rev. C. N. Gray, but as he has herein 

 reflected on the bona, fides of the managers of the British Bee- 

 keepers' Association I am impelled to reply. In lieu of Mr. 

 Gray's honey being well packed it was Bimply not packed at all, 

 although tha supers were in large cases. After passing through 

 the hands of several Bets of railway servants it arrived as might 

 1 have beek expected— the greater part of it broken, and honey 



