160 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ February 24, 186*. 



be detrimental to the well-doing of the young brood, I have this 

 winter tried a mode of ventilation which appears to have 

 answered admirably, by keeping perfectly dry the interior of 

 thoBe hives to which it has been applied, whilst breeding seems 

 in no way to have been affected by it. 



" My apparatus consists of a square wooden frame an inch 

 deep and of the same internal dimensions as the hive to which it 

 is to be applied. A half-inch slit extending, nearly its full length, 

 is made in one of the sides and covered with perforated zinc. 

 This frame is inserted between the hive and its crown-board 

 with the perforated slit at the back, and ventilates the whole 

 hive when thus applied in the most complete manner without 

 producing any current of cold air which is likely to prove 

 injurious to the prosperity of the brood. As far as my ex- 

 perience extends at present, it has been completely successful 

 in preventing the accumulation of moisture in the interior of 

 wooden hives. — A Devonshire Bee-keepeb."] 



FERTILE WORKERS— "WOODBURY UNICOMB 

 HIVE. 



I iooked at my two artificial Ligurians on the 2nd of Feb- 

 ruary. In No. 1, which I think has had no queen, and which 

 had drones when I last looked, I again saw the droneB, but 

 no queen and no young brood. I then examined No. 2, and 

 found the queen had begun to lay eggs ; a piece about 2 inches 

 square was sealed-up, others were in the grub state, and there 

 were some new-laid eggs. 



I did not look at the old hive ; in fact, they terrify me, as 

 they make an attack whenever I go near them. They are very 

 strong. I will let No. 1 go on as it is. Do you think the bees 

 (if it really is the workers that have been laying the eggs pre- 

 viously) will begin to do so again ? 



What is the best kind of glass hive for enabling one to see all 

 their operations, and where could I obtain one ? Where could 

 I procure perforated zinc, which would allow the bees to pass 

 through, and prevent drones and queens from doing bo ? 



In taking off supers, or, in fact, doing anything to bees, I find 

 that if I take them into a dark room with only a candle burning 

 anything can be done to them, and they never offer to fly, if first 

 given a few puffs of smoke from a lighted piece of cotton rag. It 

 is a good plan, especially in winter, as it can be done any day. 

 I did mine that way on the 2nd. I do not think mine have 

 any chance of being able to get at any flowers this month. It 

 has been a very stormy winter all through. Last night (February 

 4th) we had a perfect hurricane of wind and rain, with loud 

 peals of thunder. — Aiex. Sheabeb, Tester Gardens. 



[It would really appear that the drone eggs in No. 1 must 

 have been laid by fertile workers. If this be so, we can see no 

 reason why they Bhould not resume egg-laying as the season 

 advances. We are glad to learn that you intend continuing the 

 experiment, which is a very interesting one, and one which we 

 hope will not escape the attention of our able correspondent 

 Mr. J. Lowe. 



The hive which will best meet your requirements is the 



WOODBUEX UnICOMB-HTOE, 



in which you can readily place either No. 1 or any of your stocks 

 which are in Woodbury-hives. It is fitted for the reception of 



comb attached to bars ; and, having outside Venetians, or sun- 

 blinds, instead of the usual opaque shutters, the bees work in the 

 full light of day, and therefore continue their operations un- 

 disturbed when subjected to examination by the apiarian. It 

 was a hive of this description tenanted by Ligurians, which 

 excited so much admiration in Messrs. Neighbour's stall at the 

 International Exhibition. These gentlemen manufacture and 

 supply them at various prices, according to the kind of wood 

 employed, and the degree of elaboration required in their work- 

 manship. 



We do not know if perforated zino is manufactured of the 

 description you require. Any ironmonger would probably make 

 the inquiry for you. The perforations should be three-sixteenths 

 of an inch in diameter. 



We have often operated within doors when compelled to do 

 so during winter, and consider it the best mode to adopt in very 

 cold weather.] 



THE COMMENCEMENT OE THE BEE SEASON. 



It is recorded by Bonner the celebrated Scottish apiarian, 

 that when the opening spring showed the first farina-laden bee 

 enter his hives, he was so overwhelmed with joy that he made 

 the day on which this occurred a regular holiday, and was in the 

 habit of calling his family around him to celebrate over a glass 

 of his home-brewed " metheglin," the happy event ; and to 

 " rejoice with him and his faithful servants at the return of the 

 salutiferous season." Some of our modern apiarians, perhaps, 

 will smile at old Bonner's practice, but the enthusiastic can 

 easily appreciate the feelings which prompted these manifestations 

 of pleasure on such an occasion. There are many circumstances 

 which combine to produce such kindred emotions in all of us. 

 The opening spring is a cheerful season. It is emblematic of 

 youth, of promise, of hope. The long night of winter with its 

 gloom and its darkness, is coming to a close ; and spring, full of 

 returning life, wakes up and resuscitates from their temporary 

 slumbers ten thousand forms of animal and vegetable existences. 

 Already the sweet liitle snowdrop, impatient of delay, has un- 

 folded its pure white charms, and the crocus in some localities 

 begins to expand its gaudy petals ; and here and there along 

 our garden-borders may be Been life pushing upwards to the 

 light of heaven, while by the southern wall, and throughout the 

 more sheltered grounds, the peeping buds of green proclaim that 

 youthful nature is again reanimating each but-recently-withered- 

 looking form, with signs of returning life. Beast, bird, insect 

 and plant, all seem to rejoice in the first faint forecasts in the 

 season's future ; and the apiarian is not the last to hail with 

 joyous welcome the evidences of all this, by seeing his little 

 favourites shaking-off the dull lethargy of a long repose, and, 

 bristling with renewed life, again commence the busy labours of 

 another season. 



I have often thought that it would be very interesting to 

 know the exact periods when the variously-situated apiaries 

 throughout the country commenced and closed the operations 

 of the year. I have no doubt that the differences in point of 

 time are considerable, arising principally from varieties of 

 climate in the respective localities, and partly, no doubt, from 

 the nature of the pasturage afforded. I imagine there may be a 

 difference of some weeks in regard to the advancement of bees in 

 spring, between the northern and southern parts of the United 

 Kingdom. I observe from Mr. Woodbury's notice in No. 97 

 of thiB Journal, that bo early as the 29th of January his hives 

 were described as being in full activity, and that pollen was 

 being freely carried into most of them. Such an announce- 

 ment as this strikes us northerners with astonishment, and shows 

 the advantageous start the apiarians in the southern parts of 

 England have compared even with those situated like myself in 

 the central division of Scotland, where we have at this season so 

 much cold, wet, and wind as to preclude the bees altogether 

 from showing themselves, even at the entrances to their hives. 

 It is true that the present winter has been unusually mild ; 

 the thermometer averaging higher than ordinary. Notwith- 

 standing, such haB been the extraordinary character of this 

 extraordinary winter — bo unusually mild, yet withal wet and 

 windy, that I have seldom or never Been a season so unpropitious 

 in this respect — that in my apiary at least the bees have scarcely 

 ever been permitted to venture abroad, but have been kept cIobo 

 prisoners for the most part, I should say, from October onwards 

 to the present time ; and there is not yet any apparent prospect 

 of a change to the better. 



