January 13, 18G3. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAOE GARDENER. 



41 



strong on the 1st of October that I determined to put on a 

 small glass super, with a little empty comb in it, to see if they 

 would deposit any honey, which they were then collecting in 

 great quantities from the ivy. I took a small quantity from the 

 super on the 7th October; but it tasted so strong of the ivy 

 that a very small bit nearly made me sick, and I did not dare 

 to touch it again. Have any of your correspondents noticed a 

 similar nauseous taste in honey taken so late ? 



The doings of this third swarm the nest season (1832) will be 

 particularly noticed hereafter, because it shows that in some 

 localities second and third swarm*, although small, as the one 

 referred to was, can be hived by themselves and expected to do 

 well that and the following season, notwithstanding the state- 

 ments to the contrary contained inmost books on bees. Of the 

 other stocks and swarms I have nothing particular to note. 

 The autumn of 1861 found me with fifteen hives — the six stocks 

 I commenced that season with, and the nine swarms. I im- 

 properly deprived two of the stocks of most of their stores in 

 August. They were not able to replace their store, did not 

 prosper after, and died the following winter — a caution to me 

 for the future. These two deaths, together with that of the 

 second swarm previously referred to, left me with twelve stocks 

 to commence the season of 1862. The results of the year 1S62 

 shall be given in another communication. — A Sueeey Bee- 

 keepeb. 



IN-DOOE APIAKIES, AND BUN AWAY 

 SWAEMS. 



In reply to the queries of " A Noeth-Staeeoedshiee Bee- 

 keeper "'in No. 92, of the 30th of December, 1862, I have the 

 pleasure of sending the following remarks : — 



Erom what experience I have had of keeping bees within 

 doors, I have no hesitation in recommending this mode to any 

 apiarian not possessing a regular bee-house. lis formation may 

 thereby be saved (and they are in too many instances anything 

 but ornamental structures), should he have a spare room or 

 closet in his dwelling or office-houses ; or a staircase window 

 may be turned to good account for a like purpose, always pro- 

 viding that the situation be dry, quiet, cool, and airy, and the 

 hive brought to within an inch or two at farthest of the external 

 atmosphere, otherwise dysentery would in all probability set in. 

 Even the village cottager, who has but his garret, may there 

 place his bees beyond the reach of depredators, independent alike 

 of either milk-pans or straw-hackle ; if unlathed so much the 

 better, as then there is no obstacle to his fitting at once his box- 

 front to the bevel of the roof, an entrance-slit being cut in the 

 boards, to which the slates are attached to tally with a corre- 

 sponding one in the box, over which a slate can be raised by a 

 couple of wedges three-quarters of an inch thick at outer end. 

 This admits of space enough for the bees crowding in at the 

 approach of a shower. Should the box be placed half-way up 

 the roof, and top and bottom furnished with bar and slides, or 

 like convenience, he may super, nadir, or work collaterally to his 

 heart's content, only taking care that the skylight be so far 

 moveable as to admit of the exit of any bees escaping during such 

 operations, as they fly to the light. The cottager may thus very 

 simply establish an apiary ; and I have seen that apartment con- 

 verted into an extensive aviary for breeding canaries or other 

 birds ; and should the two be combined he could in his leisure 

 hours survey the operation of his bees through the window of 

 his hives, solaced by their pleasant busy hum and the merry 

 song of his birds. 



I have found bees thrive as well, if not better, 20 to 30 feet, 

 or even 40 feet, from the ground with a north aspect, than in 

 my Gordon-hives at as many inches when due S. or S.E. How- 

 ever, our situation is not an exposed one ; and, in addition, the 

 force of the northerly blast is broken by old trees beyond the 

 garden wall. At such an altitude the bee-keeper is of course 

 necessitated to work exclusively on the depriving or other plan 

 to prevent swarming. Were they to issue they would generally 

 be lost, either from flying a long distance before settling, or 

 alighting on a tree-top. 



" A North-Staeeordsheee Bee-keeper " wishes to learn the 

 history of an observatory-hive to which I some time ago made 

 allusion, to detail which in a measure involves a description of 

 its predecessor from whence it sprung, and which will equally 

 serve his purpose. In close proximity to a little press containing 

 the boxes of a vagabond stock, located for many years in our 



roof (a description of the working of this and other roof-hives 

 your correspondent will find in The Cottage Gaedeneb, No. 

 5S9, 10th of January, 1S60), was a little half staircase window 

 facing the north, there serving the purpose of a press, and into 

 which I resolved to place a stock. In order to bring the in- 

 mates nearer the outside, I removed some 3 inches of mastic 

 plaster, then a pair of thick shutters, the fruits of the window- 

 tax blockade, and cutting an entrance through the centre of the 

 bottom of the frame placed on a shelf flush with the sill. On the 

 7th of June, 1859, I had a small first swarm (2 lbs. 14 ozs.), in a 

 Stewarton-box, and on the 30th of the Bame month I hived another 

 a large swarm (5 lbs. 11 ozs.) in another Stewarton, and placed 

 it underneath the preceding. The united colony wrought well — 

 quite equal to any of my other strong stocks, the beginning of 

 September finding them with three boxes full, the nett contents of 

 which weighed 43 lbs. 13. ozs., having previously yielded a hand- 

 some two-guinea super. I removed the lower box-comb so soon as 

 the inmates had ascended for the winter, and instead introduced 

 an eke: this box was returned the following season as soon as they 

 required room. Beginning of March, 1S60, I again weighed the 

 hive, and found the nett contents 33 lbs., or a deficiency of 

 10 lbs. 13 ozs. against the six months' keep of this strong colony. 

 That Beason was inferior to its predecessor, but, doubtless, 

 partly owing to its immense population, the hive yielded a super 

 rather heavier than in the preceding seasons, and now, having 

 fairly outgrown my space in height, 1 resolved to appropriate its 

 contents ; but, fearing a large part of the population would 

 return to the window and be troublesome, although united 

 to another stock at a different stance, I put a young queen 

 and a small body of workers in the empty observatory in its 

 stead, and, after a hunt through the remaining five compart- 

 ments of the Stewarton, at last secured and destroyed the old 

 monarch, and united her subjects with those of the observatory. 

 The nett contents of the three upper boxes containing the honey 

 weighed, after the bees were removed, 49 lbs. 7 ozs. 



I fed the large population of the observatory liberally with 

 the inferior part of the contents of their old hive, and an abun- 

 dant supply of sugar syrup. Comb-building went on briskly in 

 the full light, and as the season advanced I had a good opportunity 

 of observing the effect of the lowering temperature or the 

 inmates till it reached the extreme point of 25° of frost on the 

 memorable morning of the 24th December. Contrary to my ex- 

 pectation they came through in fine order, and were kept regularly 

 supplied with food till the spring was far advanced, when a 

 long tack of northerly wind caused me to cease feeding during its 

 continuance, fearing to disturb them unnecessarily, and trusting 

 to their surplus store. In this I quite miscalculated, for to my 

 no small chagrin I one day found all still, the bees packed-up 

 between the combs, and after sweeping them off the comb saw 

 that not a cell contained food. Had I then the experience I 

 accidentally became possessed of last spring, that the majority 

 of the population of a hive when in that benumbed, starved, and 

 seemingly dead condition for a short time, may he resuscitated 

 by being brought in contact with a gradually increasing tempe- 

 rature, this observatory-hive might still be in full operation. 



Your Staffordshire correspondent's remaining query as to 

 how vagrant swarms prefer a high situation, such as a roof 

 church-tower, &c, can only be accounted for by their known 

 instinct in dispatching scouts so soon as swarming becomes 

 imminent, to select some suitable situation to which the young 

 colony may migrate, and that the above or some hollow tree 

 is the only place with a sufficiently contracted entrance to 

 exclude marauders to which they can gain undisturbed ad- 

 mission, besides, as your correspondent suggested, possessing 

 an equable temperature, to which may be added the suitable 

 considerable bevel of the roof, removing all dampness and 

 debris. It is singular the predilection bees have for such a 

 situation ; more particularly when once a swarm has established 

 itself, others are sure to follow. I have often watched with 

 interest the daily increasing surveying-roof party of scouts, 

 the invariable precursors of a swarm. If they suddenly cease 

 their visits it may be concluded they have come off and been 

 captured ; but should the space contain in addition the empty 

 comb of a defunct colony, they will even abandon their new hive 

 after working therein. That bees in 6uch situation thrive and 

 prosper is undoubted ; aided doubtless by generally selecting a 

 north aspect, their dormancy is more complete, and the drain on 

 their store at a minimum, so that they rarely perish from starva- 

 tion. I have myself measured stretches of comb in one roof 

 extending to 6 feet in length ; in another a few miles distant 



