318 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 5, 187S. 



During the whole time while these experiments were being 

 made the thermometer ranged from over 70° to over 90° ; and as 

 the colony was never opened when it was not above 90°, and 

 seldom when it was not nearer 80°, there seems no probability 

 that the development of the larvas could.'have been perceptibly 

 checked.* 



No experiments were made by me to determine whether 

 black and Lignrian bees may not slightly vary in the time of 

 their development. 



My experiments on drone eggs unfortunately were not so suc- 

 cessful, and determined nothing more definite than that drones 

 may hatch in about twenty-four days from the egg. 



The experiments above detailed warrant the following con- 

 clusions : — 1. Bees may begin to build a queen cell in less than 

 four days after an egg has been laid in a worker cell. 



2. Queen and worker larvae may have their cells capped at 

 least seven days and fifteen hours after the eggs were laid. 



3. A perfect queen may hatch in fifteen days and two hours 

 from the time the egg was laid in a worker cell. 



i. A queen may hatch iu three or four hours less than ten 

 days after the stock was unqneened. 



5. A perfect queen may not hatch, even under very favourable 

 circumstances, until nearly sixteen days and a half have elapsed 

 since the egg could have been laid in a worker cell. 



6. A worker may hatch in nineteen days and two hours from 

 the egg, and there may be an interval of precisely four days 

 between the development of a queen and a worker. 



7. While most of the workers may hatch in less than twenty- 

 one days from the egg, some may not hatch before the twenty- 

 third day, so that in the same colony there may be a difference 

 of more than three days in the time taken to develope workers 

 from the egg. 



8. The eggs of the queen bee do not therefore necessarily 

 hatch at precise intervals from the time they were laid, any 

 more than the eggs placed at once under the domestic hen 

 hatch simultaneously.— L. L. Langstboth, Oxford, Ohio. 



BEES COLOURING WAX. 



These is a statement by your esteemed correspondent Mr. 

 Pettigrew in your last number which I cannot let pass un- 

 challenged. Mr. Pettigrew says that bees " always temper the 

 colour of the lids of brood cells to correspond with the colour of 

 combs." Now, my experience has been that bees never cap 

 brood cells with new wax, but as the edges of the cells are of 

 extra thicknesB, and contain Buffioient material to form a cap, 

 they simply draw out the edges, and so cover over the cell. We 

 know that the dark colour of old comb arises from impurities, so 

 I cannot conceive that bees should dirty the caps of the brood 

 cells (apparently the only part that is "tempered," according 

 to Mr. Pettigrew) just for the sake of uniformity of oolour. It 

 is true that bees sometimes use grey and dirty materials, but is 

 not that because they have cut up and are using some old oomb ? 

 for as soon as that is exhausted, and " before many inches are 

 built, they nse nothing but pure wax." — J. P. J. 



FEEDING SWARMS IN AUTUMN. 

 The creation of stocks by feeding the bees of honey hives will, 

 I am sure, become more common and popular year by year. 

 The introduction of large hives tends to the adoption of this 

 practice. I lately wrote to a friend who lives in a district in 

 whiob. many bees are kept and well managed, to ask if the bees 

 of honey hives could be bought with money. His answer is to 

 this effect, that all the hives in the neighbourhood were too 

 heavy for keeping, and that the bees were driven from them all 

 and their honey taken. The swarms had been united in pairs, 

 and fed into stocks. A correspondent of thiB Journal has, he in- 

 forms us in last week's number, been giving a united swarm 

 1 lb. of syrup daily, and aBks how long he has to continue giving 

 this to the hive. I think it better to give the syrup in larger 

 doses. After the first two or three days we give 3 lbs. of syrup 

 every night to a large swarm, and often more. A swarm of 

 5 lbs. of bees requires from 15 lbs. to 20 lbs. of sugar boiled in as 

 many pints of water. Twenty pounds of sugar make about 

 40 lbs. of syrup. All this should be given to a large swarm in 

 fifteen days. If given in smaller portions less comb is built, 

 and less food is stored up, simply because the bees consume a 

 great deal themselves during the excitement of feeding. No 

 writer on bees that I know has ever fully made known the 

 great consumption of food by bees in times of excitement and 

 hard work. A strong hive at the swarming season loses about a 

 pound weight every night ; and what is spent in the wear and 



* On the 19th of February a queen hatched in a few houra more than twelve 

 days, after her mother was accidentally killed while I was making some 

 experimental examinations. The colony was a small one, the hive poorly 

 protected, and the weather quite cold the most of the time that she was 

 maturing. On the 22nd of November a perfectly developed queen hatched 

 in a email nucleus in not over Bixteen days from the egg. The days were 

 quite cold and the nights generally frosty. 



tear of a fall day's work no one can tell. In creating Btocks by 

 artificial feeding it should be borne in mind that the bees have 

 combs to build, themselves and their brood to feed, as well as 

 store up food enough for winter. Autumn feeding, we have said 

 again and again, should be speedily done. A fortnight ago the 

 readers of this Journal were informed that I offered £7 10s. per 

 100 lbs. of condemned bees — that is 7s. 6$. per swarm of 5 lbs. 

 The offer was accepted and the bees sent. One or two lots did 

 not arrive safely, but the great bulk came all right. Having so 

 many to feed at the Bame time we have been using dripping- 

 tins and pie-dishes of various sizes and complexions as feeding 

 troughs. Those that hold most syrup are the best for the bees, 

 for I find that the swarms that have the largest doses have 

 done better than the rest. All are doing well, but those that 

 had the largest dishes under them are now fully fed, and about 

 as perfect and excellent stocks as the eye of man ever looked on. 

 — A. Pettigrew. 



BEES SWARMING WITHOUT A QUEEN. 



Last year I had a very large swarm which I tried to prevent 

 swarming, so as to obtain as much honey from the bees as I could. 

 I cut out the queen cells onoe in every eight days, and put on 

 one of Mrs. Parnam's non-swarmers so that the queen could not 

 escape. The result was the bees swarmed three timeB and re- 

 turned to the hive. The next performance was, they gathered 

 on the hive and remained overnight, covering three sides of the 

 hive. The next day at ten I went out to take a look at them, and 

 it was my last look ; for, while standing there viewing them, they 

 started in a body, rose 50 feet in the air, and disappeared in thirty 

 seconds. I opened the hive, and there was my queen all right. 



This year I had a swarm become queenless ; I opened the 

 hive to see if they were building queen cells, and found in one 

 drone comb that every cell on one side was being prepared for 

 queens, and was supplied with queen jelly. One cell was com- 

 pleted, which I cut open and out came a queen as lively as a 

 cricket. I put her in the hive, but she never laid. — M. O. Hazen 

 (in Prairie Farmer). 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Lumps on Hen's Toe (Amateur, Bury). — If small cat them off with a 

 sharp knife. Dari is useful as a change of food. 



Fowls' Wings Drooping and Dving (Firle). — They are fed too generously. 

 Having three acres of grass to range over they need, except in days of froBt 

 and snow, only a little whole corn (no buckwheat), in the morning, and a 

 little soft food when going to roost. 



Goat-keeping (A Fifteen-years Acquaintance). — In our twenty-sixth 

 volume is all that we could glean about the subject. The great obstacle iB 

 the need of a buck goat. 



Wax from Old Comb (M. J. P.). — Thi easiest way of extracting wax from 

 old combs iB by boiling them in clean water. First press the combs into 

 little bulk, then put them into a bag made of thin towelling or cheese-doth, 

 tie the mouth of the bag tightly, and let all boil over a Blow fire for twenty 

 minntes. Ail the wax in the combs will come to the surface, and may be 

 easily skimmed off and put through a strainer. In cleaning the utensils 

 afterwards uee plenty of soda, which destroys the adhesive power of the wax. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



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



Date. 







9 A.M. 









In the Day. 







1876. 



■ & 



Hygrome* 



8* 



o— . 



Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



.9 



Sept. 



Barom 

 ter at 3 

 and Se 

 Level. 



ter. 



no 



sis 



perature. 



Temperature. 



K 



and 

 Oct. 



Dry. 



Wet. 



Max. 



Min. 



In 



sun. 



On 



grass 







Inches. 



deg. 



deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 



We. 27 



29 611 



56.7 



55.3 



N. 



67.3 



59 6 



64.6 



86 5 



55.2 



0.043 



Th. 28 



29.413 



60.0 



68.0 



s. 



57.0 



66.8 



53.0 



106.2 



47.6 



0.178 



Fri. 29 



29.6SG 



55.0 



51.9 



w. 



66.9 



610 



47.6 



109 8 



44 1 



0.016 



Sat. 80 



29.570 



64.3 



52.6 



N. 



66.4 



57.3 



46.8 



63.4 



42.9 



0.514 





29.826 



65.2 



51.2 



N.W. 



54 8 



61.2 



52.3 



101.4 



51.0 



— 



Mo. 2 



30.197 



62.9 



47.8 



S.K. 



54.1 



56.5 



40.8 



83.8 



87.8 



o.oio 



Tu. S 



29.871 



55.0 



53.0 



N.E. 



53.2 



68.0 

 61.9 



49.5 



99.2 



45.2 

 46.2 



0.080 



Means. 



29.737 



55.6 



52.8 





65.7 



49.2 



92.9 



0.791 



REMARKS. 

 27th.— Very damp and dark all day; heavy shower at midnight. 

 28th.— Fine at eight, rain at nine, pouring at 9.80 a.m., and very dark; mid- 

 day fair ; evening and night wet. 

 29th. — Very fine morning and forenoon, bat rain at 1.30, lunar halo at 9 p.m. 

 80th.— Rainy and very dark all day and all night. A most miserable day. [day. 

 Oct. 1st. — Dull morning, fine before noon, and very fine all the reBt of the 

 2nd.— Pleasant day though rather cool. Min. temp, fell to 87.8°. 

 8rd.— A bright pleasant day, the sun at times very bright, less fine towards 

 dusk, and slight rain in the evening. 



Atmosphere generally damp with frequent rain, temperature lower especi- 

 ally the maxima.— G. J. Svmons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— October 4. 

 A quiet trade doing, with prices inclined to he lower. The supply of 

 Peaches has fallen off, and fair samples are now making good prices. We are 

 still mainly dependant upon France for best Pears, the sorts now coming 

 being Duchesse d'Angouleme. Louise Bonne of Jersey, and Beurre d'Amanlis. 

 Kent Cobs have experienced a further fall this week. 



