216 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AOT> CDTTA&E GARDENS R. 



[ March 17, 1863. 



matting, or boards of feather-edged deal. With a wide over- 

 hanging roof the hives would be thoroughly protected, and I 

 have little doubt that there is no better plan of house or shed 

 for keeping them to advantage. The back of the roof being 

 made to open on hinges is a very great improvement and worth 

 adopting. 



Within the last two or three years I have made use of a large 

 aviary about 25 feet long by 8 feet in width. The front is all 

 wirework, the roof wood or galvanised iron ; the back, sides, and 

 top being quite closed-in. Having discarded the feathered 

 occupants, it occurred to me to make use of the place as a bee- 

 house. Parts of the wirework were cut away so as to allow 

 plenty of room for the free flight of the bees. This has 

 answered admirably in this place, though if it were not for the 

 wire front the rain would probably drive in too much, as in the 

 centre the roof is at least 16 feet in height above the ground 

 floor. I find one very great advantage in performing operations 

 in such a house — the bees do not readily enter through the 

 meshes of the wirework, but they very quickly make their exit 

 thereby, so that they seldom annoy the operator. If building a 

 bee-house, I should be very much inclined to obtain some 

 galvanised wire netting of very small mesh to form the front, 

 cutting away spaces of about 8 inches by 5 for the bees. This 

 would allow of ample circulation of air; yet be of consider- 

 able use in preventing annoyance to the bee-master from his 

 angry subjects. 



BETS E>> BTHDUrGS. 



A Bhort time ago I expressed myself rather adverse to keeping 

 hives in buildings or in rooms in dwelling-houses. Since then 

 I have received a letter from a friend giving an account of the 

 state of his apiary, and speakiDg highly of the success of his 

 experiment in making use of a large glass room originally built 

 for the purpose of taking photographic likenesses. As he is 

 totally unaware of the subject having been mooted in these 

 columns, his opinion may perhaps be the more valuable. I may 

 premise that he is an apiarian of loog standing, and of far more 

 than ordinary science and practical experience. 



After giving an account of the present state of his apiary, and 

 reporting the loss of most of his artificially-formed Liguriaa 

 stocks, he goes on to say, " My great success lias been in the 

 driven cottager's bees, formed info stocks last autumn ; all these 

 are alive and flourishing. They have been all carrying in pollen 

 from the 30th of January and 1st of February, some of them in 

 large quantities. These are all in my glass room, which reaUy 

 makes a first-rate bee-house. The temperature being equable 

 and the room dry, the hives are earlier than any out of doors in 

 my garden. There are seven stocks now in this room a good 

 distance from each other, and there is less hovering and pitching 

 about of strangers than in the garden. The floor-boards are dry 

 and clean, and there has been no moisture on the windows all 

 the winter. I enjoy this room vastly, and wish there were more 

 hives in it." 



So far as it goes this is evidence in favour of placing hives in 

 rooms ; but whether they will do well in this glass house for a 

 permanency remains to be proved. I should fear the beats of 

 summer would be very detrimental to their prosperity, and 

 therefore must defer judgment until the close of the next 

 autumn, when I hope we may have further and corroborative 

 evidence of the suitability of such a plan for keeping hives. 



BEST ASPECT TOE HIVES. 



I do not think a " A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper " can lay 

 down any law as to the most suitable aspect in which hives can 

 be profitably worked. That he is right in his decision that a 

 sheltered north aspect is the best in his own locality or apiary I 

 have no doubt or wish to dispute ; but I am convinced that what 

 would be the best aspect in one part of the country would be 

 the worst in another. So much depends on prevailing winds or 

 draughts of air, or the quarter from which most rain may be 

 looted for, that it seems impossible to lay down any rule for 

 absolute guidance. 



Considerable attention haa been paid by me to this very 

 subject, and I confess that after numberless experiments I am 

 unable to arrive at any fixed conclusion. 



At this present moment I hasre hives facing nearly every point 

 in the compass, and it is extremely difficult to say which are 

 answering best. The finest takes ot'honey I have ever had have 

 been respectively from east, south-east, south, and due west, and 

 with me there is not much to choose between them ; but I 

 ehould in all cases be guided by what is in the garden, or near 



enough to affect the bees by causing rough currents of air, or 

 confining them too closely so as to distre33 them with a too 

 sultry atmosphere. 



My own inclinations rather tend to a south-eastern aspect 

 with the shelter of a huilding or some large evergreen shrubs on 

 the north at some little distance. 1£ it can be obtained, a large 

 bush on the south which shall in some measure shade the house 

 about twelve o'clock, is always a desideratum, but it must in no 

 wise interfere with the direct flight of the bees. Probably the 

 most populous hive I have this spring, as it aUo was last year at 

 the same period, is a hive facing due west. Por some years past 

 hives on this same stand have been remarkable forgoing through 

 the winter with large populations, and in good or in tolerable 

 seasons showing considerable returns from their labours. 



It is far from my intention to write against placing bees in a 

 north or any other aspect; all that I wish to contend for, is 

 that the aspect most suitable in one part of the kingdom may 

 not be so in another; and even more than that, a distance of only 

 a few miles shall equally influence the judicious placing of bee- 

 hives. — S. Bey an Fox, Exeter. 



BOTTLE-FEEDING FOE BEES. 



Seeing the above mode recommended in your columns, I 

 have given it a fair trial this year and the last. 



The principal disadvantage I have experienced is often of a 

 morning finding a broad stream of food out from the entrances, 

 and over the landing-boards. At fir3t I concluded that the 

 bottles must have toppled over, or that the double ply of fine 

 cap-net had given way; but on examination the bottles were 

 standing quite plumb and the net all right. Besides the injury 

 this run over the combs and the main body of the bees in the 

 very centre of the hive must cause, tbis stream externally attracts 

 robbers from the strong colonies to the weak ones most in want 

 of food, and I fear the consequences may prove disastrous. I 

 also find feeding in bar-hires, which the most of mine are, through 

 the narrow space betwixt the bars, a very slow proceeding in 

 comparison to that in straw hives — for instance, where the neck 

 of the bottle can be introduced into the hive amongst the bees. 

 With these exceptions, which I trust some of your many con- 

 tributors may assist me to overcome, I otherwise think it a vast 

 improvement over all the other systems I have tried. — W. J. 



[There is evidently something wrong in your manipulation of 

 the bottle, ftither some loose ends of string or net have caused 

 the food to drip into the hive by means of capillary attraction, 

 or the first rush on inverting the bottle has been so copious as to 

 overpower the bees. Test your bottle before again using it, by 

 inverting it filled with water and tied over with cap-net. I£ after 

 being inverted the fluid remain perfectly suspended aE is as it 

 should be, and it will only be necessary when using it to invert 

 it in the first place over the jug or other vessel containing the 

 food, whence it should be carefully and steadily conveyed in the 

 same position to the hive. Bees in bar-boxes may be fed with 

 the Bame facility as those in common hives, if Mr. Woodbury's 

 plan be adopted of allowing a free passage between the bars and 

 crown-boards.] 



Bees is Noeth-Staefobdsrtbe.— Pollen-carrying commenced 

 on February 16th, and was brisk on March 1st and 2nd. — 

 A Soeth-Staotordshire Bee-keeper. 



Presebvtjtg Wooilehs EEOif. Moths. — The simplest and best 

 way of preserving woollens through the summer from the de- 

 struction of moths, is to wrap tbem well up, after brushing 

 and beating them in cotton or linen cloths. The moth can pass 

 neither. Two covers well wrapped around and secured from the 

 air will be effectual. An old sheet will answer. 



OUE LETTEE BOX. 



Dealer is Zoophytes. — Can any of your readers recommend a dealer in 

 zoophyte*, residing on the coast, who is moderate in his charges ? Not 

 a dredger alone, bit one who keeps a stock far sale, andis conversant with 

 their habits. — Evesham. 



Work os Pig boss {Almond). — We know of no other work on the sub- 

 ject except those you name. 



Bees overpowered by Moths (S. E. t Sicaffham). — We have received 

 the tin box containing a mass of cocoons, which 'shall be reported npon as 

 soon as any of the moths arrive at maturity. 



