320 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 28, 1863. 



riae between 4 and 5 A.M., and to listen to the beautiful 

 musie of the feathered tribe ?— the blackbird, with its rich 

 mellow notes, trying to out-do all its neighbours ; thiB black- 

 feathered gentleman is particularly fond of a good feast of 

 Strawberries, and richly he deserves it. Let us therefore be 

 "true protectionists," and preserve both birds and fruits, not 

 forgetting to leave a few for the poor blackbird. 



Old towers, summer-houses, and such places are much fre- 

 quented by owls ; and many a would-be-destroyer of this noble 

 bird has been caught with a pail of water. — John Pebkms. 



VIRGIN QUEENS CAN CERTAINLY PRODUCE 

 PERFECT DRONES. 



Me. Lowe is quite correct in stating that the progeny of 

 virgin queens are generally extremely puny from being bred in 

 worker cells ; but this is also the case with the male offspring 

 of impregnated queens when produced under the same disad- 

 vantage. I know not whether " B. & W." may have adopted a 

 similar precaution ; but in my own case I have taken care to 

 supply the virgin queen referred to in page 270 with drone- 

 combs, and the result is that she breeds as large and handsome 

 drones as can possibly exist under any circumstances. 



With regard to the doubt expressed as to the value of such 

 drones in queen-rearing, I have already proved beyond question 

 by careful anatomical investigation that the progeny of virgin 

 queenB are perfectly capable of propagating their species. As to 

 the details of this examination it is unnecessary to repeat them 

 here, since Mr. Lowe may readily refer to them in Kos. 30, 31, 

 and 37 of the new series of The Jotjenai oe Hobtict/ltttbe. 



In conclusion, I can fully indorse all that he has stated with 

 regard to the apiarian disasters of the past winter and early 

 spring. I believe that in many districts bees have become 

 nearly extinct. — A Devonshire Bee-keepeb. 



BURYING BEES. 



The year before laBt I procured a swarm of bees, and placed 

 them in one of Neighbour's cottage-hives. This hive stands in 

 a wooden receptacle constructed for it, and faces the south. Al- 

 though the bees worked well apparently during the autumn, 

 they yielded me no honey. During the winter I led them, and 

 last year they threw a swarm, which I hived and placed along- 

 side the first-named one. From neither of these hives did I get 

 any honey. In November last a friend advised me to bury the 

 two hives in the ground, and assured me that the bees would 

 require no feeding, and commence breeding much earlier than 

 they would do by any other treatment. I resolved to try the 

 experiment with the " Neighbour's hive," and accordingly buried 

 it about a foot underground. On digging it up about the be- 

 ginning of March, I found that the hive was filled with dead 

 bees, most of them in a state of decomposition, and the comb 

 quite spoiled. Supposing that my ill-success arises from my 

 own mismanagement in some way, may I ask you to inform me 

 how I erred ? That burying the bees, though not, I believe, 

 generally practised, proves in some cases successful, is clear from 

 this paragraph cut out from a newspaper this week. It is the 

 only authority I can refer to in print, though I have on other 

 occasions heard the practice recommended. 



" Btjby youb Bees. — In the fall of last year, Mr. John Fin- 

 layson, of Cumbernauld, who had experienced great difficulty in 

 preserving hives of bees during the winter, resolved to enter on 

 an experiment with the most weakly hive in his stock. This he 

 buried beneath a foot of earth in his garden ; and though the 

 bees in the other hives, which were protected in the ordinary way, 

 all died, those in the buried one were on their disinterment on 

 Tuesday last, found to be alive, and at once commenced to buzz 

 about." — {Scottish Farmer.) 



I have now one hive (last year's swarm), but the bees are not 

 very active. It is fortunate for me that I did not bury both 

 hives. How ought I to proceed to make thiB one hive pro- 

 lific ? — S. Claydon, Lowick, Lancashire. 



[Many years ago several of our contributors tried the experi- 

 ment of burying bees, and generally with the Bame result as in 

 your case. Tery few survived, and those were in a very weak 

 state. Such newspaper paragraphs as you enclose do infinite 

 mischief to the inexperienced by recommending what has long 

 been exploded. Burying bees is quite unnecessary in this cli- 

 mate, and where it is habitually resorted to in order to elude the 



intense cold of northern winters the pile of hives is only par- 

 tially sunk beneath the surface, the projection being well thatched, 

 and every precaution taken to keep them dry by thoroughly 

 good drainage and ventilation/] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Fertilisation of Ego {Eliza).— The probability is that the next day 

 but one alter running with, the Brahma Pootra cock, the egg would have 

 been available tor Bitting ; but certainly all after that date may be employed. 



Bearing Silver Pheasants {J. i"".).— The best bird for rearing Silver 

 Pheasants is a small hen. We do not depend on a Silver hen to sit on her 

 own eggs. They will not always do so, nor are they careful mothers. We 

 have one at the present time sitting close on nothing : she has been thus 

 employed for more than a fortnight. As soon as some of our hens begin 

 laying again we intend to treat her to three or four eggs, but our experi- 

 ence is not much in favour ot her rearing poults. We, however, think her 

 a better bird as a sitter than a common hen in confinement. 



Chickens Remaining with their Mother (6*. L,). — In the winter 

 chickens should remain under a rip with the hen longer than in the spring 

 or summer. In the spring six weeks are long enough. In the summer 

 still less time will do. The hen is wanted principally at night to cover the 

 chickens and keep them warm, and as the nights become short and warm 

 chickens are less dependant on the mother. Yours will therefore do very 

 well. Chopped pieces of cooked meat are very good. Instead of putting 

 the hen with ducklings under a coop, shut her in an old pigstye or some 

 such place, and she will do very well. Ducklings are not active enough to 

 be under a rip, and webbed feet ate not favourable to confinement. They 

 willnot do by themselves at three days old. Cochin pullets under favourable 

 circumstances lay at from sixteen to twenty weeks old ; Game and Dork- 

 ings from six to e ght weeks old. 



Dice on Fowls (J. i>.).— Yours seems a singular case. We have never 

 known one in which dust did not destroy these pe&ts. If you will put heaps 

 of dry dust, the finest you can, add thereto black sulphur at the rate of 

 1^ lb. to the bushel, and place the whole so that the heap shall be in the 

 6un, we think you will be free from torment. It is the law of nature that 

 all birds shall use the bath— some water, some dust— but both for the same 

 purpose, to rid themselves of vermin. If you know of a spring; that runs 

 across a lane in a tolerably quiet neighbourhood, and winds and frets its 

 little way over, around, and among gravel stones, you will in the middle of 

 the day find it full of small birds washing with might and main, till at last 

 they are all a like colour, disappearing in the thorough wetting. If you are 

 a sportsman, or if you are an observer of the habits of birds and fond of 

 natural history, you will find at midday, on the dusty banks, pheasants 

 and partridges basking, with one wing up and their feathers open. They 

 are not content with half measures; they fidget and scratch and twist till 

 they are half buried. When you have disturbed them you will find each 

 was half buried in the finest possible dust, and the clouds that fly from them 

 as they take wing will show how thoroughly they enjoy their bath. It is a 

 necessity, and it accomplishes for them that which you want for your 

 chickens. In a very wet season, when there is hardly a dry place to be 

 found, all these birds are infested with lice ; and if there be a beetling bank 

 intersected by the roots of old trees, you will see by the works they have 

 lound it out, and, although no sun penetrated, they have dusted there. If 

 the remedy we have suggested fails, then lime-white the houses thoroughly, 

 especially the corners, new gravel the floors, and close them against the 

 poultry. Let them for a time seek fresh roosting-places and scatter them- 

 selves about. If that will not do oil their feathers on the crown, unde** 

 their wings, and on the back. This is the last remedy, as it spoils the plu- 

 mage for a time. Feed them lightly on ground food, and if you hive used 

 rice or meat discontinue both. 



Chickens Dying Suddenly (T. G. $ Co.). — Your chickens pick up 

 something that kills them. We know no disease that would kill them as 

 rapidly as you describe. 



Hens with Wounded Backs (O. T.).— Separate the cock from them 

 until their backs are healed. Dress the wounds with merely a little lard to 

 excluue the air. 



Poultry Losing their Feathers {L. T.B.)* — We are afraid you are 

 like many of our friends — you are killing your fowls with kindness. The 

 Spanish lose their feathers either from internal heat from over-feeaing, or 

 from diseased insides : they pick the feathers one from the others. The 

 origin of the Dorking disorder is the same. As these things exist in your 

 yard, and as we will engage the nearest farmyard is free from anything of 

 the sort, we advise you to do as they do. Cease to overfeed; that disorders 

 the birds, and from repletion they do not seek the natural fuods and medi- 

 cine the earth teems with on its surface. Do not take so much rare of them . 

 Let them rough it, forget to feed them sometimes, and give tnetr meals so 

 that they mu.it seek tnem. If they have been fed from any vessel, remove 

 it at once and le them pick everything from the ground. If one hen in 

 particular pecks the feathers of the others remove her, as they soon acquire 

 bad habit3. 



Apis dorsaia f W.).— Except as a matter of curiosity, it would be absurd 

 to import this Indian honey bee even if it were practicable, as, unlike our 

 domestic bee. Apis mellifica, it is very confined in its geographical range, 

 requiring an Indian climate. — W. 



Fallen Combs (JL 67. P., Sudbury).— The best plan would he to invert 

 the hive during the middle of a fine day and replace the combs in their 

 original position, supporting them on either side, and at their originaL 

 distances apart, by inserting strips of old comb about half an inch wide 

 between each. Then lay three or four strips of the same material, cut 

 sufficiently thick to keep the combs in firm contact with the top of the hive, 

 transversely across them; and, covering the whole with the floor-board, 

 invert it and put the htve in its place. If you cannot manage this the 

 fallen combs must be taken away and the stock liberally fed, in order to 

 enable the bees to supply their place as soon as possible. 



Undulated Euphemia (A Great Lover of Jiirds).— Canary seed is the 

 usual food for your birds. When they have young add boiled egg, millet 

 and mawseed, and let them have a bunch of long grass, when in seed, hung 

 up. Place in the cage, at one corner near the top, a small box about 

 5 inches square and 4 deep, with the nest already shaped, composed of dry 

 mosB, grass, and wool, similar to what canaries build with, with some loose 

 in the cage. See our Journal, New Series, No. 50, "The Breeding of the 

 Australian Grass Paroquet in England.'' 



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