JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTITEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 9, 1863. 



cottage-hive very properly. They may, probably, yet do well. 

 Your bee-house 6eems a good one. 



2. You had certainly much better have left your beeB to their 

 own devices ; but the reason of your failure was, that the queen 

 did not accompany the driven bees. When you nest attempt 

 an operation of this kind, take care to drive out all the bees so 

 as to make sure of the queen ; then put the depopulated hive 

 in the place of another strong stock, which muBt be removed to 

 a new position, and if altered in external appearance so much 

 the better. The returning beeB will raise a queen from the 

 brood left in the depopulated hive, and you will have succeeded 

 in making a strong artificial swarm. 



3. We never had two swarms issue at the same time and unite 

 together, and, therefore, have no practical experience on the 

 point. Many bee-books give directions how to act, but we think 

 we Bhould follow your example and leave them together, adding 

 a super or some other temporary enlargement to the hive. 



4. We cannot tell why your bar-hive swarmed. BeeB are apt 

 in this matter to exercise some of the capriciousnesB attributed 

 to their sex — 



" If they will, tbey will you may depend on't, 

 11 they wo'n't, they wo'n't, and there's an end on't," 



unless they are in a moveable comb-hive, in which case it is 

 easy to examine every comb of the depopulated Btock to ascer- 

 tain that no queen iB present, and cut out every royal cell. This 

 done, return the swarm by knocking the cluster out on a table 

 close to the front of the old hive (which may be raised a little 

 from its floor-board to admit of more rapid ingress), and re- 

 place the super, which may probably be completed before royal 

 cells are again constructed, even if the intention to swarm be 

 not altogether frustrated. 



5. There ia little objection to bees working upwards as well 

 as downwards in a super ; but if you desire to prevent it, the 

 cells should be scraped off as soon as formed. 



We really see no reason why you should be disheartened. 

 Honey can be had from swarma as well as from supers, and if 

 during some seasonB you find the latter too troublesome, you 

 have only to accept the good the gods Eend you in the Bhape of 

 BwarmB, the bees of which may be expelled by driving, and 

 added to other hives in the autumn whilst their stores are ap- 

 propriated by the apiarian.] 



DARK LIGURIAN DRONES. 



I OBSEETE a statement concerning dark Ligurian drones that 

 appears in the Journal of the 26th ult., in reply to a correspon- 

 dent " J. L.," to the effect that the purest Ligurian queens will 

 occasionally breed dark drones, which in turn may be the fathers 

 of a more than ordinarily handsome Ligurian progeny. Tins 

 precisely tallies with my experience, which, with your permis- 

 sion, I will proceed to narrate for the information of " J. L." 



I commenced the season of 1862 with a stock of Ligurian 

 bees procured from "A Devonshire Bee-e\eepeb," in the 

 autumn of the previous year. The workers of this stock were 

 handsome, well-marked, and presented that transparent appear- 

 ance so characteristic of the Ligurian bee ; and yet the drones 

 were uniformly of a dark colour, and, except from their superior 

 Bize, were scarcely distinguishable from the ordinary black 

 drones. This stock throve amazingly during the spring of laBt 

 year, bo that in May they completely filled the* twelve bar and 

 frame hive into which they were transferred from " A Devon- 

 shire Bee-eieeeb's" apiary. On June lBt, 1862, 1 took three 

 artificial swarms from this stock, following the directions given 

 in the pages of The Jouenal op Hobticulttjee. These stocks, 

 with the aid of a little feeding, have survived the winter, and are 

 now in a very thriving state. However, the distinctive charac- 

 teristics evinoed by them are sufficiently remarkable to be worth 

 recording. 



Wo. 1 haB a population of which a few are pure LigurianB in 

 appearance, others precisely resemble the ordinary black bee, 

 whilst the majority are hybrids, being but faintly tinged with 

 the orange-coloured bar or stripe on the back which distinguishes 

 the Ligurian variety. I conclude that these bees are the progeny 

 of a pure Ligurian queen with a black drone. The " cross" 

 appears to be a very good one, for they are now busily storing 

 honey in a large glass super placed over the hive about a fortnight 

 ago, and are far in advance of some black hives over which I 

 placed supers at the same time. 



No. 2 has a population in all respects Bimilar to the ordinary 

 black bee. This apparent anomaly can be accounted for only on 



the supposition that the bees which clung to the two combs 

 taken from the parent Ligurian stock, in order to form the 

 artificial swarm, destroyed the two queen-cells that were upon 

 these combs and raised a queen from the worker-brood of a 

 comb taken from a hive of black be n s, and which was added to 

 the artificial swarm in order to strengthen it. The queen of 

 this hive, as I have ascertained by inspection, is an ordinary 

 black one, as waB alBO that which headed a swarm from it last 

 autumn, and which I returned at once, only for it to issue forth 

 again on the following day in my absence and be lost. 



No. 3 has a population of remarkable purity and beauty, and 

 which must be the progeny of a Ligurian qu; en with a dark 

 drone of the parent stock. I propose taking two artificial 

 swarms from this stock as soon as the weather is sufficiently 

 genial to afford a fair probability of success. It thus appearB 

 that my experience is entirely in accordance with your remarks 

 respecting the dark-coloured Ligurian drone ; nor do I think 

 that " J. L." need be under any apprehension that the beauty 

 and purity of his Ligurian stock has been deteriorated by an ad- 

 mixture of black blood, because the drones of the stock do not 

 present that golden appearance which a perusal of Hermann's 

 book on " The Italian Alp-bee" may have led him to anticipate. 

 — Reciob. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Ducks' Eggs Unfertile (J. Consttnit Reader).— Your gardener is right, 

 a pan of water is all that is necessary for the well-doing of Ducks, unless 

 they are wanted to breed. In that case, they must have water IS inches 

 deep. The lack of if not only causes unfruitful eggs, but often ruins the 

 drake as a stock bird. If the eggs were unfruitful, they would not be rotten, 

 but would be what are called clear eggs— that is, such as would be laid by 

 hens or Ducks that had been kept away from the male bird. No amount 

 of sitting spoils them, and atter sis or seven weeks they will remain 

 apparently as fresh as the day they were laid. The propensity you name 

 is not confined to drakes reared under a hen, nor did we ever hear it ended 

 in consumption. 



Management of Cochin-China Chickens [A Young Beginner).— Its 

 allow our chickens to remain under the hen, but we are careiul to remove 

 the empty shells. Assuming that all eggs are put under the hen at the same 

 time, there will be only a few hours' difference in the coming-out of the 

 first and the last. This will be made a greater certainty if they are sub- 

 mitted to the water test a couple of days before the time of silting expires. 

 The good eggs only will be kept, and the hen will not be divided in her 

 atteniions between the chickens and the bad eggs which she believes to be 

 good. "When the hen is off her nest, take a pail three-parts full ot warm, 

 not hot, water, and place all the eggs in it. They will, of course, swim. 

 After a few minutes the chickens wiil feel the warmth, and give notice of 

 it by kicking about. Every egg that has life in it will be in motion, and 

 will travel about in the most grotesque manner. Ten minutes are long 

 enough, and as a rule those that remain motionless at the expiration of 

 that time may be rejected. This process also facilitates hatching. Your 

 leeding on chopped eggs and scalded oatmeal and barleynieal is very good. 

 You may add a little bread and milk, and to early chickens, in very cold or 

 damp weather, you may give beer instead of water to drink. Cochins do 

 not care much to perch. They will, however, use low perches. Perching 

 is more likely to produce crooked breasts than roosting on the ground. If 

 fowls that adopt the latter have them, it is natural to them. 



Food for Poultry Fattening (6V. J.).— The cheape.-t and most advan- 

 tageous food to Ut-e for fattening every description of poultry is ground 

 oats. These must not be confoundea with oatmeal or with ordinary 

 ground oats. The preparation of them is peculiar to our great poultry 

 county— Sussex. The whole of the oat is ground to a fine powder ; nothing 

 of any kind is taken from it. It requires a peculiar stone, dressed in a 

 peculiar manner, to p epare it ; but, when properly ground, one bushel of 

 the meal will more effectually fatten poultry than a bushel and a half of 

 any other meal. Mr. Agate, of Slaugham Mills, near Crawley, deals largely 

 in it. The greatest point in fattening poultry is to feed at daybreak. 



Points in Silver-spangled Hamborghs (Gallus).—A\l chickens do not 

 moult their tail-ieathers the first year. AVe think if all the Hamburghs in 

 a class had red deaf-ears the Judges wouldbe justified in disqualifying them 

 all. There are degrees in combs. A single comb would be as fatal as a red 

 deaf-ear; but where other points are good a small hollow must be over- 

 looked. No crooked or lopping comb can be tolerated, nor'can a faulty or 

 deformed pike. The lacing of the wing, although desirable, may be want- 

 ing, but the barring must he perfect. The tail should be white tipped with 

 black ; failing perfection, the nearest approach must be chosen. Mis. 

 Pettat shows the best Hamburgh cocks we ever see. You are right as to 

 the lacing of the wing. It is most difficult to get without smudging the 

 tail. 



Canary Hen Not Mating (Kendal).— Your bird is barren, and it is 

 useless to keep her with cock birds any longer. There are no means of 

 making her breed. 



LONDON MARKETS.— June 8. 

 POULTRY. 



The supplv gradually but slowly increases. If trade were as good as it 



mostly is in June, there would be hardly enough, and prices would bi 

 As it is, they are lower than they were at this time last year. 



high. 





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