458 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



t November 23, 1876. 



mas, I have this day (10th November) anticipated the saint's 

 anniversary by twenty-four hours, and packed-up against rain, 

 and snow, and frost, all ray exposed hives, covering them up 

 with every warm thing I could lay hold of, chiefly old felt 

 drugget, and protecting all with boards and tiles. They look 

 queer; but what of that? as they are out of sight in a sheltered 

 corner of my garden. There let them rest till spring suns 

 once more shine. — B. & W. 



THE WAX MOTH AND FOUL BROOD. 



"Wax moths and the disease of foul brood have been rather 

 prevalent this year. We never noticed so many wax moths 

 flying about hives as we have seen this season, yet we have not 

 found the combs of healthy hives injured by them — i e., by 

 thtir grubs, though these have been frequently found on the 

 boards of healthy hives, generally where the inside edges of the 

 hives touch and rest on the boards. The grubs of wax moths are 

 covered for a time with a downy or wool-like substance. While 

 in I his state, and while growing into it, it is not easy to determine 

 how and by what means they are fed, for the combs above them 

 remain uninjured till the maggots begin to burrow amongst the 

 calls, devouring the wax as they burrow. In eating the wax 

 they leave the pollen, which falls as dust on the boards. The 

 wax moth is a kind of small butterfly of a dirty white or creamy 

 grey coloar, and doubtless has a keen scent for wax. Last 

 summer I placed a hive of combs in a hothouse and another in 

 an open shed. The one in the shed was covered with a piece 

 of cocoa-nut matting. Of course the moths could not penetrate 

 tha matting, hence they deposited their eggs in or on it. Soon 

 it became one mass of woolly maggots. These were given to 

 the hens before they began to feed on the wax. The combs in 

 the hothouse were eaten by the grub3. I do not think that 

 the moth does much harm in this country to healthy hives, but 

 as it is sometimes hatched in all kinds of hives it is well to 

 examine them frequently and keep their boards clean. 



Foul brood was found in many hives this year. I remember 

 no season in which it was so prevalent. The cause of the origin 

 and progress of this malady is still veiled from the most ad- 

 vanced and enlightened apiarian. Every attempt to investigate 

 and explain the mystery of foul brood has been unsuccessful 

 and unsatisfactory. The best that has been done by way of 

 explanation has consisted merely of guess work only. JXy own 

 guessing has gone in the direction of imperffct feeding or im- 

 proper food. One thing is certain — there is no cure for the 

 plagne of foul brood but the removal from the hives of the dis- 

 eased combs (plague spots), or, better still, the removal of the 

 bee3 wholly from their lazar-houses into clean hives. Hives 

 affected with this malady never prosper, but invariably become 

 worse and worse by the multiplication of diseased cells, the 

 stench of which becomes unbearable, of :en causing the bees to 

 abandon their hives in utter despair and go off as swarms ; and 

 sometimes they leave the foul combs and cluster ontheoutsides 

 of their hives or underneath the boards and there build combs. 

 The existence of foul brood in hives may be discovered by'the 

 shape of tbe cell lids covering it, by its smell, and by the con- 

 duct of the bees. — A. Pettigrew. 



BAR HIVES. 



perforated zinc, ^-sized holes. Mr. Cowan's grand supers were 

 so worked. — P. H. Phillips, Offley Lodge, Hitchin. 



In reply to the questions forwarded to me, the hives I use are 

 after the Woodbury principle, 8} inches deep, 14J inches square, 

 insi.le measure; these hold ten frames. Some I have just made 

 with fourteen frames, which I shall try next season. A very 

 large hive would not suit this locality, as it is only a fairly good 

 one for honey-githering. Your correspondent should be guided 

 as to size of hive employed by the amount of pasturage for bees 

 in his particular neighbourhood. Of course other considerations 

 must also be taken into account, such as size of swarm, time of 

 swarming, &c. ; but by all means give the bees plenty of room 

 below if large supers are to be filled, and hava that space well 

 supplied with combs and a reasonable amount of food early in 

 the season by gentle feeding, and, if possible, by the insertion 

 of empty combs where there are vacant frames, so that the glut 

 of the honey season may go to the snpar. All my bees are the 

 common English kind. I hope to give the Ligurians a trial 

 next season. 



Your correspondent, " J. H. E.," asks whether any brood was 

 reared in my supers. Among thirty-three supers only two had 

 a few cells at their base in which the queens had deposited 

 eggs. One of these had but perhaps twenty cells so occupied, 

 after which her majesty had retired ; but in the other (a very 

 large bell-glass, which I had intandedfor competition) the whole 

 of a central comb was appropriated to breeding purposes. This 

 s.iper I had to break up and use at home, employing the dark 

 comb in filling a frame for another hive. The queen dees not 

 entar one out of twenty supers if the slits for the entrances are 

 mide towards the 6ides of the hives, not over the central combs. 

 This next season I shall work most of my BuperB upon sheets of 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Production of Eggs (IF. 0. itf.).— Truly those who write poultry books 

 have much to answer for. If you are never satisfied till yon obtain 150 egge 

 from each hen you will lead a worrying life. It is not to be done. We do 

 not tell you it never happens — we know that it does, but Buch examples are 

 rare occurrences. The great advantage of keeping pullets is, that they lay in the 

 winter if they are so hatched as to arrive at maturity in that season. There 

 is no winter- laying breed; it is a question of age. If birds are to lay at sis 

 months old, and the eggs are wanted in November, preparation Bhould be 

 made early in May, and pullets hatched then put aside for the purpose. By 

 such provision eggs may ba secured through the winter. It can, however, be 

 done only with pullets. After they have become hens they follow the ordinary 

 course of nature, and lay in their natural season. As a rule the older hens 

 are the worse they lay, and if eggs are chiefly wanted we advise yon to keep 

 no birds more than two years old. There is no objection to your feeding, only 

 we think you may advantagously substitute ground oats or barleymeal f or the 

 morning feed of Indian corn. We advise you to discard your hens of 1874. 

 You will sell them easily. If you want a regular and full supply of eggs yon 

 should be getting them now from pullets hatched in April and May, and if 

 the remainder of your stock was made up of last year's pullets, they would 

 begin laying when the others left off. Ton will not induce laying by over- 

 feeding; you will make fat, which is a great hindrance. We do not care for 

 cinder ashes ; but it is essential the birds should have dry sand or road grit 

 to dust in. It keeps them free from vermin, and no fowl is healthy unless it 

 is clean. We believe you may keep your cook till he is three years old — not 

 longer. We do not quite agree to your theory as to the influence of the age 

 of the cock on the number of eggs. We do not believe it has anything to do 

 with it. 



Crystal Palace Poultry Show. — In the Trumpeter Pigeon Class, Mr. 

 J. Lederer, Liverpool, informs us that he won the cup and first prize, third 

 prize and highly commended, with three TrumpeterB. 



Alexandra Palace Bee Show. — We have a letter for T. W. Cowan, any- 

 one for Mr. J. M. Hooker, but do not know their directions. 



Weight of Hives— Mr. Hale {J. H. Eldridge). — Some bee-keepers 

 weigh their hives with the boards, and some without. The weights given hy 

 Mr. Pettigrew always include the hives, and sometimes both hives and 

 boards. Ordinary hives weigh about 5 lbs., and boards 4 lbs. each. Mr. Hole 

 has been written to, but no answer has yet come. In early summer he 

 informed ns that his large stock of hives (about one hundred) had been 

 reduced to twenty-eight stocks, chiefly by deaths. Whether he tried the 

 experiment promised or not we cannot tell, but fancy that the deaths in hi3 

 apiary interfered with his plans. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Squire, Losdos. 



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



Date. 



9 a.m. 



In the Day. 







°« « . 





a . 





Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



.2 







ter. 



B 9 

 P 



n.2'2 

 S3- 



perature. 



Temperature. 



K 













In 



On 









Dry. 



Wet. 



So 



H 



Mas. 



Min. 



son. 



grass 







Inches. 



deg. 



deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 





29.499 



54.3 



64.1 



NN.W. 



4'.0 



59 S 



48.0 



93.6 



45 9 



0.160 



Th. 16 



29.404 



56.3 



55 



s. 



47 8 



61.4 



49 



87.0 



44.0 



— 



Fri. 17 



29 800 



50 5 



49.2 



W. 



48.5 



57.1 



19 6 



90.1 



45.3 



— 



Sat. 18 



30.059 



51.7 



510 



s. 



47.2 



56.0 



43.8 



62.1 



37.0 



0.170 



Sun. 19 



29 792 



43 



46.1 



w. 



48.4 



56.2 



45 8 



79.6 



42.0 



— 



Mo. 20 



29.729 



43.6 



465 



N.W. 



47.5 



49.7 



43 7 



56.4 



39 2 



0.03S 



Tu. 21 



30.055 



44.9 



; 44.2. 



N. 



46.2 



48 8 

 55.6 



40.0 



53 2 



S5.7 



— 



Means. 



29.762 



50.6 



1 49.4 

 1 





47.5 



45.7 



74.1 



41.3 



1.36$ 



REMARKS. 

 15th. — Rainy^morning, line afternoon, but foggy in the evening. 

 16th. — Very wet morning ; bright and sunny afterwards, and starlight night. 

 17th. — Beautiful morning, but rather cloudy at times during the day ; fine at 



night. 

 18th.— Foggy early ; rain commenced at 11.15 a.m., and continued at intervals 



all day. 

 19th. — Fine morning; pleisant all day, at time3 very bright. 

 20th.— Horning early fine ; but rain began about 10 a.m., and continued more 



or less all day. 

 21st.— Rather dull and damp all day, but not much rain. 



Remarkable change of temperature, especially at the beginning of the week. 

 The mean temperature of tha week has been nearly 12° above that of the one 

 preceaiog.— G. J. Symons. 



CDVENT G1RDSN MARKET.— November 22. 



A general stagnation is experienced in all departments of our Market, an<3 



prices rule somewhat lower. St. Michael Pines are again in the Market, and 



bid fair to be sold at prices this year which will fail to remunerate th© 



growers. Kent Cobbs with a better demand are firm at last week's quotatioD. 



FRUIT. 



d. 



d. 



6 to 5 

 



Apples i sieve 1 



Apricots dozen 



Cnestnuts bushel U 



Currants J sieve 



Black h do. 



Figs dozan 



Filbert* lb. 6 



Cobs lb. 10 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse.... lb. 1 6 



Lemons ^100 6 



Melons each 1 



s. d a. d. 



Nectarines dozen OtoO 9 



OrangeB w 10J 8 111 



Peaches dozen 



Pears, kitchen.... dozen 10 3 



dessert dozen 2 9 



PineApples lb. 2 6 



Plums J seive 



Quinces bushel 



Raspberries lb. 



strawberries lb. 



Walnuts bnshel 6 8 



ditto tf'lOQ 1 6 2 S 



