September 7, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



225 



running ont. I, being Honorary Secretary at the time, wrote to 

 Mr. Gray telling him the state, and he telegraphed to me to do 

 the beBt I could, whioh I did. I have not noticed Mr. Gray's 

 insinuation, nor two lawyer's letters from different legal gentle- 

 men he has favoured me with, threatening me with all the terrors 

 of the law unless I pay to him a sum of money more than the 

 original value of his honey, and which he has already been paid 

 for. — John Hunter, Baton Bise, Ealing. 



[We must decline inserting more on this subject.— Eds.] 



THE COMPLETION OP UNFINISHED SUPERS. 



A little time ago it was maintained in our Journal that 

 bees would not complete a super from a strange hive, but forth- 

 with carry the contents below. It struck me at the time that 

 Mr. Pettigrew had been misunderstood. At any rate, lest any 

 young bee-keeper should be misled, allow me to say that I have 

 removed several unfinished supers this season from one hive to 

 another with a view to their completion, and have without 

 exception succeeded. In no case were the contents carried 

 below, but the bees took gladly to them and completed them. 



Like everything else success depends upon the way in which 

 the work is done. If an unfinished super is given to a strong 

 stock — either a strong early swarm which has well finished and 

 filled its hive, or to a non-swarmer in a condition to occupy it — 

 according to my experience the bees will set about completing 

 it, provided that it be done during the honey harvest. I began 

 this season with seven stocks on the non-swarming system. All 

 but one Bwarmed and left several unfinished supers on my 

 hands ; yet, notwithstanding, all were completed Bave one, and 

 this last only through the honey harvest coming to an end. One 

 snp»r was worked by three different stocks. 



With the unfinished super I determined to test Mr. Petti- 

 grew's suggestion of filling by feeding. The super waB made to 

 hold 20 lbs., and was not quite three parts full. Two of the 

 combs were nearly finished and sealed, three others were in 

 various states of progress. First I gave the refuse of some 

 drained comb, next a bottle of run honey, and lastly some more 

 refuse. It was all given on the top of the Buper. Not only did 

 the bees proceed to fill the cells, but also to build fresh comb. 

 The fresh comb was, however, of a dark brownish colour, and 

 not such as we like to have in supers. I attribute this to the 

 inferior material out of which the bees had to manufacture it. 



Having satisfied myself that Mr. Pettigrew was right, if the 

 thing was done" in the right way, I gave it up; first because 

 I had other things to attend to, and secondly because I found 

 it would consume more honey than it was worth. For the satis- 

 faction of your esteemed correspondent the "Renfrewshire 

 Bee-keeper," allow me to add that this super is not for sale, 

 and that I quite agree with him in hia view of the matter on 

 that point. 



Further, I have also had supers emptied and the honey 

 carried below, but these were pieces of comb oontaining both 

 honey and brood fixed in supers and given to weak Btocks for 

 that purpose. Stocks weakened by swarming will consume or 

 carry down the contents of their own supers. In conclusion 

 there are three rules to be observed :— 1st, To give unfinished 

 supers only to strong stocks in a condition to occupy them ; 

 2od, To do it at the right time— viz , during the honey harvest, 

 not after it is over ; 3rd, Carefully to fill-up any crevices at the 

 juncture of the super and the stock hive with wedges of wood 

 or strips of paper gummed or pasted.— O. B. 



THE STEWARTON HIVE AND SYSTEM. 



Tour correspondent " Q. B." is perfectly right— the Stewar- 

 ton hive and system of bee-management giveB a large amount of 

 super honey with very little trouble. Combined swarms and 

 non-swarming colonies are generally independent of all feeding, 

 as their owner is of run honey. 



The Stewarton hive is designed for non-swarming purposes. 

 In its natal place swarms are purchased and brought from earlier 

 districts on the coast, and combined to obtain the first and 

 finest clover supers, wrought with 18 inches deep of breeding 

 space, full-sized triple entrances, and carefully wrapped-up 

 supers, in advance of their wants. Such colonies well shaded 

 from the sun rarely swarm ; with restricted space, if the bee- 

 master wishes to increase his stock, they will, of course, give 

 swarmB as readily as any hive. 



The advocacy of an indiscriminate large hive with fixed space, 

 which cm only be made yet larger with ekes, without the means 

 of contraction, at the close of the season, to be employed in all 

 seasons and districts, I regard as an absurdity. The Stewarton 

 during the winter and early spring months possesses the advan- 

 tage of being a comparatively small hive, Btanding in one or a 

 couple of breeding boxes at most, where the heat is better con- 

 centrated and early breeding promoted with the advance of the 

 season. It attains a depth of 18 inches, and an overflowing 

 population to take possession of supers so soon as honey is 



secreted in abundance, and becomes the largest of all hives, 

 possessing facilities for supering and nadiring on ad infinitum ; 

 can be drawn out telescope fashion to focus exactly all seasons 

 and districts, be they good or bad. 



Boxes 12 inches deep would require cross sticks, rendering 

 the combs fixtures ; two 9-inch boxes make a better hive. My 

 breeding boxes are 7 inches deep and every comb moveable. 



The object of having supers but 4 inches deep, with bars 

 2 inches broad, is to obtain more massive and richer honey- 

 combs, and the shallowness insures their more thorough com- 

 pletion. Such 20 lbs. supers are considered too large size for 

 ready sale singly, each bar comb being removeable with half- 

 inch screws, and straight guide comb wrought increases the 

 saleableness of boxes and their disposal without any cutting or 

 waste. On young hives I generally use supers 3 inches deep 

 to contain 15 lbs. 



Placing the empty Buper upon the filling one instead of between 

 it and the stock hive is in Btrict accordance with the habits of 

 bees. They invariably store the honey for safety at the point 

 farthest removed from the entrance in the stock hive — the top, 

 brood to the floorboard : hence they elongate the brood combs 

 in a downward, the honeycombB in an upward direction. This 

 can easily be seen on the removal of a central bung from a com- 

 mon skep, when they at once proceed to build the comb upward 

 through the aperture towards the roof of super ; or, to illustrate 

 further, take the case of the strongest colony in my apiary, 

 stocked with first-class Italians the present season, I gave access 

 to a couple of supers for a start. According to common opinion 

 as laid down by your correspondent the bees would have begun 

 work in the upper; but no, they started in the lower box, crowd- 

 ing up into the upper. By-and-by, finding them lying out badly, 

 I supplied three more at once, and they were soon fully occupied. 

 The lowest seen to be sealed-out was removed, still they 

 threatened swarming, and it was not till after they had obtained 

 the maximum of seven 4-inch supers did they settle down to 

 determined earnest toil. 



On my return home after a short absence on 18th August I 

 made an examination of my several stocks. The colony above 

 referred to, on the wrappings being removed, stood 464 inches 

 high from the floorboard, and peopled from top to bottom. On 

 drawing the Bhutters I found the four lowest 20-lb. supers at the 

 bottom of the pile thoroughly sealed out, fifth all but sealed, 

 sixth combed out with thin combs, seventh about half combed. 

 The four sealed ones I removed, which with the first harvested 

 made five supers, leaving the remaining three uppermost on for 

 completion in their respective order. — A Renfrewshire Bee- 

 keeper. 



THE BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



This Association will hold their third annual Show at the 

 Alexandra Palace on the 15th, 16th, and 18th inst., and consider- 

 ing the late brilliant honey harvest a fine show may be expected. 

 Arrangements have been made to give praotical lessons in bee 

 manipulations during the meeting by Mr. Hunter, Mr. Cheshire, 

 and others, for which purpose a large number of stocks are 

 provided, after the use of which the Committee will be glad to 

 supply at a nominal price to those amateurs who may be de- 

 sirous of starting as bee-keepers. 



BEE MANAGEMENT. 



I HiVE bought twenty swarms of bees at Is. each, and I could 

 buy one hundred more at the same price if I would take them 

 up (drive them). They tell me that I shall not keep them alive 

 all the winter, but I mean trying. One man tells me that he 

 has kept bees for fifty years and that he knows no other plan 

 than to brimstone them. Small straw hives only are used in this 

 neighbourhood, but I have had some larger hives made, and 

 when I get my swarms home I shall put two in a hive and feed 

 them. All I want to know is this, Am I doing right or not ? Is 

 half a pound of syrup daily enough to keep the bees ? — W. H. A. 



[You have made a good bargain in buying twenty swarms for 

 20s., and you are doing right in putting two swarms together in 

 hives larger than those in general use. But you must give each 

 hive of beeB 1 lb. of syrup every night for three days, afterwards 

 2 lbs. at least every night for a fortnight. Every hive should 

 have 15 lbs. of sugar made into good syrup in fifteen days. From 

 the syrup thus given your bees will build combs from top to 

 bottom of the hives, and store food enough in them for the 

 winter. Tou are now making a fair and promising beginning, 

 and we wiBh you success.] 



NEW BOOK. 



Practical Bee-keeping. Illustrated, re-written, and enlarged 

 by Frank Cheshire, A.C.P. 

 Mr. Cheshire has long been known as an ardent and scientific 

 apiarian, whoBe name in connection with various inventions 



