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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[May 5, 1863. 



we frequently shifted stocks from one to the other during the 

 height of the working Beason we never saw on* come back. Will 

 Mr. Pox who has, or had, four different apiaries within moderate 

 distances of each other, favour us with his experience on this 

 point ?] 



I once knew of some hires that were removed six miles to the 

 heather, and in the evening when the proprietor visited the spot 

 where his bees had stood, was astonished to see large clusters of 

 bees hanging on the posts. Of course, this might arise from 

 the bees flying to the same direction they used to stand in, and 

 their coming to the place where they used to work would naturally 

 lead them to their old stand. If spared in health I hope by the 

 end of the summer to be able to come to a decision as to how 

 far they fly, from watching the Ligurians, as I think there will 

 be none in this locality but my own. 



With regard to the honey season, the bees in this locality 

 commence carrying pollen on an average about the 9th of 

 February, but no honey till about the second week of April. 

 They then begin to get a little honey from the blossoms of the 

 gooseberry, &c., always increasing in quantity as the blossoms 

 come out, but never in larger quantities than what is barely 

 sufficient to carry them through with their labours till about the 

 first week of June, or, according to the seasons, varying from 

 the first to the third week ; and they continue from two to three 

 weeks working on the white clover flower, or blossom of the 

 bean and charlock, or wild kail (I do not know the botanical 

 name of the last-mentioned), close to their proximity. So that 

 if that time is wet they produce nothing beyond, perhaps, a few 

 well-peopled hives, but void of honey or combs, as has been the 

 case in 1860-1 and 1862, but in good order for the heather harvest, 

 as we often find the bees producing greater numbers in showery 

 weather than in bright sunny weather when much honey is to be 

 had. The only honey harvest I have had these three years was 

 in 1862, at the heather ; it lasted from the 13th July till the end 

 of August, when my hives made from 40 to 50 lbs. of honey, 

 besides keeping themselves during that time. 



As to their increase and decrease of weight at different periods, 

 I have all along weighed my hives at different times of the day 

 — thug : if we weigh a hive in the morning that is likely to make 

 weight during that day — suppose it makes 5 lbs. — weigh it the 

 following morning and you will find it about one-sixth lighter 

 than what it was the preceding night ; and, again from their 

 great decrease at certain periods — viz., perhaps after one week's 

 fine honey weather when the hives were fa6t increasing in weight 

 and well filled with young brood, &c, the weather breaks and, 

 perhaps, continues broken for a long time. At this time, perhaps, 

 a hive weighs 50 or 60 lbs., one-third, perhaps, consisting of young 

 bees and liquid stuff for their sustenance, so that the honey is 

 immediately sealed and their labours now past on account of the 

 weather. They allow all the young bees to come out and not 

 replacing others, and by the extirpation of the drones, &c, all 

 tending to lighten the hive which truly astonishes many ; but 

 if carefully watched and understood it is easy to understand the 

 cause of some hives making more and losing more at one time 

 than another. — A Lanabkshibe Bee-keepee. 



ASPECT OF BEE-HIVES. 



Me. Bevak Fox has given his opinion in what aspect bees 

 ought to be placed, and no doubt if we had a climate the same 

 as Italy he would be right. I dislike moving bees from their 

 original site, unless to a great distance ; but if the hives during 

 winter and spring were merely turned on their stands to the 

 north, it would save a great many bees from being chilled to 

 death ia cold weather, particularly when snow is on the ground, 

 and the sun's rays begin to reflect more than usual heat. 



In former Numbers of The Jor/BNAi op Hoeticultt/ee I 

 have advocated a south and south-eastern aspect as the best, and 

 in the changeable climate of Great Britain, with our hot sum- 

 mers " so few and far between," I am still of opinion something 

 near the south is the best. 



I once visited an Oxfordshire bee-keeper who changed the 

 aspect of his bees every autumn, and also moved at least half a 

 dozen of his hives several yards. On examining these last im- 

 mediately after, the bees were fighting desperately, having mis- 

 taken other hives for their own, and this continued for at least a 

 week, to the great decrease of their numbers. 



Virgil recommends very properly a sheltered situation, and at 

 midday heat a little shade. But in the last three summers 

 (1860, 1861, and 1862), what shade has ever been required even 



in the southern part of England ? Nevertheless, I have seen 

 terrible effects from a neglect of shade by careless bee-masters, 

 such as the honey running out at the entrance of hives, the bees, 

 in a state of almost madness, flying at every one who came near, 

 and certain destruction by one-half or more of them being 

 suffocated in their own sweets, by the melting of the combs. 

 Early 6warms are destroyed first, as the combs melt much 

 sooner than those of old stocks. 



Those hives placed under high walls are generally affected by 

 heat first, and the real safeguard against being surprised in one 

 of our hot summers, similar to 1846, or July, 1859, is a wooden 

 bee-house, which shades all the hives at noon ; and these bee- 

 houses have their disadvantages also, by harbouring spiders and 

 other troublesome insects, and also being, in fact, too much 

 shaded in our cold, wet summers. 



On the whole, the best safeguard is constant attention, and 

 bees require constant looking-after. In the spring and autumn 

 the worst enemies are those of their own species which acquire 

 predatory habits and fly a long distance to plunder their weaker 

 neighbours, and this propensity to plunder is one of the few 

 bad qualities they possess, and most difficult to be overcome. — 

 H. W. Newman, MilUide, Cheltenham. 



Cooking Hams. — A ham of 10 lbs. should be boiled slowly in 

 a pot without a cover, and that for the space of nearly two and 

 a half hours. To ascertain if sufficiently boiled, try if the skin 

 will come readily off, and if so, it is fit for use. Before sending 

 it to table, the ham is generally subjected to a little ornamental 

 dressing. We do not refer to the ornamenting and covering of 

 the bone with a net or cut paper, but the browning where the 

 skin has been removed. There are two ways of doing this. In 

 the one, you cover the surface with bread crumbs, and keep it in 

 the oven until it attains the proper colour. In the other, you 

 sprinkle sugar on the ham, and pass a red-hot iron over the 

 surface, and thus impart to it that rich glossy brown which so 

 many admire. — (Scottish Farmer.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Shakghae Hens Dying (D. B. Shirley).— There is no doubt about the 

 case. The hens going on to ihe nest, ana. dying without laying, is always 

 an unmistakeable intimation that they are what is termed " egg-bound." 

 The egg-passage is in such cases usually encumbered with fat, the passage 

 16 rendered by the pressure too narrow for the egg to pass, and inflam- 

 mation and death ensue. Ton will see in onr Number for April 21st how a 

 Duck ought to be treated under similar circumstances. Treat your hens 

 the same and reduce their food now, for prevention is better than having 

 to cure. 



Incdbatob. [A. A.).— We know of no maker of incubators now. An 

 advertisement might bring one forward. Gas or argand burners con- 

 nected with a hot-water apparatus were employed in them. They were 

 expensive, and soon given up by those who bought them. 



fiGEoNS in a Gakret ( Woodpigeon).—K.evp Pigeons in a pigeon-honse, 

 and not in the garret of an inhabited house ; they cannot fail to be dis- 

 agreeable. Pigeons of different varieties do breed together 



Feeding Bees {A Reader, Dumbartonshire). — Whe-'r^ the holes in the 

 perforated zinc become closed it should be removed, ..nd a clean piece sub- 

 stituted ; but we have never found this to be the case whilst regular feedmg 

 is in progress and the bees take the food freely. If there be sealed honey 

 in a weak hive feeding is, of course, not absolutely required, but may be of 

 service in the spring by promoting egg-laying. In early spring bees appro- 

 priate syrup bur, slowly, and in very cold weather leave it quite untouched. 



Peotecting BELL-GJ.ASSES — Uniting Stocks {Qardenia). — Bell-glasses 

 require to be kept warm by being enveloped in flannel or some other good 

 nonconductor, but need not be fixed with putty or any other cement. We 

 advise you to write to Messrs. Neighbour & Son, 149, Regent Street, 

 London, respecting your second query. In any case killing bees is a 

 wanton waste of valuable life, since, by means of driving, the inhabitants 

 of condemned stocks can always be advantageously employed to strengthen 

 those intended to stand the winter. 



Choice of Hives {J. W.I*., Derby).— For ordinary bee-keeping a flat- 

 topped straw hive, with central aperture for feeding or supering, in other 

 words, one of Payne's improved cottage-hives, which are supplied by 

 Messrs. Neighbour at half-a-crown, will answer as well as any. But for 

 experimental and scientific purposes we recommend the Woodbury frame- 

 hive, which may be had in straw at a moderate price. 



LONDON MARKIETS.- 

 POT/LTBY. 



-Mat 4. 



Strong chickens are comparatively plentiful, and afford proof of the mild 

 winter we have had. Fowls are, and will be scarce, but we think there is 

 every prospect of a good supply during the season. 





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