444 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



'[ June 16, 1863. 



Ducks (White Aylesbury).— First and Silver Cup for the best pen of 

 Ducks exhibited, J. K. Fowler, Aylesbury. Second, F. "W . Fowler. Com- 

 mended, G. Hanks, Malmesbury. 



Ddces (Rouen).— First, J. K. Rodbard, Wrington, Somerset. Second, 

 G. Hanks, Malmesbury. 



Ducks (Any other -variety).— First, T. H. D. Bayly, Biggleswade. 



Geese.— First, J. W. Fowler, Aylesbury (Toulouse). Second, W. Manfield, 

 jun., Portesham and Dorchester (improved Dorset). 



Turkets.— First, Miss Milward, Bristol. Second, W. Manfield, jun., 

 Portesham and Dorchester (Bronze). Highly Commended, Mrs. N. 

 Grenville, Glastonbury (White). 



Guinea Fowls. — First, Miss S. H. Northcote, Upton Pyne, Exeter. 

 Second, H. Adney, Lympstone, Exeter. Commended, S. C. B. Pitman, 

 Taunton. 



PIGEONS. 



Carriers.— First and Second, F. G. Stevens, Axminster. 



Axmond Tumblers. — First, F. G. Stevens, Axminster. Second, F. Else, 

 Bayswater, London. 



Tumblers. — First, F. Else, Bayswater. Second, F. G. Stevens, 

 Axminster. 



Powtehs. — Fiiit, F. G. Stevens, Axminster. Second, R. Fulton, 

 Deptford. 



Busts.— First, F. G. Stevens, Axminster. Second, T. D. Green, Saffron 

 Walden. 



Jacobins. — First and Second, F. G. Stevens, Axminster. 



Fantajls.— First, F. Wey, Beverley, Yorkshire. Second, F. G. Stevens, 

 Axminster. 



Owls. — First, E. Joblin, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Second, F. Else, Bayswater. 



Trumpeters. — First, F. Key, Beverley, Yorkshire. Second, F. G. 

 Stevens, Axminster. 



Bares.— First and Second, F. G. Stevens, Axminster. 



Tuebits. — First, F. G. Stevens, Axminster. Second, E. M. Pierce, 

 Taunton. 



Nuns. — First, Rev. A. G. Brooke, Salop. Second, F. G. Stevens, 

 Axminster. 



Dragons.— First and Second, H. Yardley, Birmingham. 



Archangels.— First, E. M. Pierce, Taunton. Second, H. Yardley, 

 Birmingham. 



Ant Other Variety.— First, F. G. Stevens, Axminster (new variety). 

 Second, E. Pigeon, Lympstone, Exeter (Pouting Horsemen). 



The Judges of Poultry were Charles Ballanee, Esq., of Mount 

 Terrace, Taunton ; and Edward Hewitt, Esq., of Sparkbrook, 

 near Birmingham. The Pigeon prizes were awarded by Dr. 

 Cottle, of Cheltenham. 



B. & W.'s " APIAKY. 



( Continued from page 335.) 



"As to the utility of drone-breeding queens in spring," 

 again Bt which your correspondent " Investigator " decides, I 

 am much inclined to agree with him from my own actual ex- 

 perience this year, although I may yet have something to Bay in 

 favour of them before autumn comes. I have largely tried those 

 drone-breeders, and while fully agreeing with "A Devonshire 

 Bee- keeper," that the drones to which they give birth are 

 capable of impregnating queens, I have found them practically 

 useless. It is a very rare thing indeed to sea drones in an apiary 

 before the middle of April, nor are they usually seen in any 

 numbers till the second week in May. But I presume that the 

 existence of a very small number of vigorous drones would 

 authorise one to expect that the wants of a virgin queen would 

 not pass unheeded : therefore, if I had had no drone-breeding 

 queenB in my apiary, everything would have happened much as 

 it actually has done with me. 



But let me go to facts ; and here I will beg your readers to 

 turn to page 335. My absence from home prevented me from 

 observing anything in my apiary during the month ending the 

 16th of Slay. That day I found everything going on apparently 

 well with all my hives. A, D, E, H, and I, were very populous 

 and active, and pollen was being carried into B and E. These 

 two hives, therefore, had again supplied themselves artificially 

 with queens. The queen of F would be hatched about the 18th 

 of April, and the queen of B about the 24th. The question was, 

 Would they be impregnated by the Italian drones, of which 

 there were then, and still are, about two dozen in E, while, so 

 far as I can tell, there were no other drones in the apiary ?* The 

 only answer I can give is, that on examining E on the 27th of 

 May, I found again a quantity of drone-brood, and plenty of 

 full-Bized drones, pure Italians, but no sign of worker- brood — a 

 drone-breeding queen again. B I examined on the 2nd of June 

 and found all well, with plenty of worker-brood sealed up, but 

 I know not yet whether young bees Bhow any marks of an Italian 

 origin, and, indeed, but few of them can yet be hatched. It is 

 this hive which I have in mind, when I say above, that " I may 

 yet have something to say in favour of" drone- breeders in 

 spring. 



* I did not perceive drones in an v save the drone-breeding hives till the 

 30th ci May. 



Before I conclude this paper I may as well copy from my 

 note-book the remainder of my bee-practice hitherto. Resolving 

 to try once more my luck with the Italians, I drove the whole 

 adult population of A into a hive half full of empty comb, 

 depriving them, however, of their queen (my pure Italian), 

 which I returned to her now-deBerted home, which was set in 

 the vacant place, C. I had previously taken out of it a good 

 piece of comb containing eggs and worker-brood of all age§. 

 This was adjusted in a box and placed over the driven beeB of 

 A, which immediately set to work to repair their queen's loss. 

 C, which was full of brood, is now pretty strong again, breeding 

 fast, and comb-making. The bees of A did so well that I heard 

 as many ae three or four young queens piping in harmony on 

 the 30th of May, and on Monday, June 1st, they swarmed 

 naturally, two young queens going off with the swarm, one of 

 which was, of course, sacrificed. This swarm is now G-. I also 

 succeeded in capturing one other of these, all of them being beau- 

 tifully-marked young Italian queens, which I successfully gave to 

 E, after a grand hunt for, and removal of, their drone-breeding 

 mother. Thus A, F, and G- are supplied with well-marked 

 Italians, all of the same age. I also picked up no less than five 

 dead queens under A, which were sacrificed before I could Bave 

 them. 



Out of D and H (see page 335) I made another swarm on 

 the 27th of May, on Langstroth'B plan, by driving D with its 

 queen and adult population into a box full of empty comb. 

 Then putting D with its brood in place of straw hive H, which 

 was shifted to another stand in my garden. Everything is now 

 (June 6th) going on as satisfactorily as I could wish, my bees 

 Btanding in the following order : — 



Pure yonng Italian 



queen. 

 Born June 1st, 1863. 



D. 



Hybrid Italian queen. 



Born, 1861. 



B. 



Young English queen. 



Born about April 24th, 



1863. 



E. 



English queen. 



Born, 1861. 



Pure Italian queen. 

 Born, 1862. (Late A.) 



G. 

 Pure Italian queen. 

 (Sister to A's queen.) 

 Swarmed June 1st. 



— B. & W. 



Pure Italian queen. 



(SiBter to A's queen.) 



Weak in bees. 



H. 1. 



Box-hive in garden, Strong English queen, 

 now raising a queen (Straw hive.J 



out of D's brood. Born, 1861. 



K. 



Same as J. (Late H.) Eorn, 1861. 



TAKING A SIDE-COMB. 



Surrey Highlander will be glad to know whether one Bide-bar 

 may be safely taken from a well-stocked frame-hive a few days 

 after a swarm issues from the hive. The side-bar was furnished 

 with a sheet of embossed wax, and placed in the hive early in 

 October last, when the bees immediately built upon it. Is it 

 too early in the season now to ascertain whether they have filled 

 the comb with honey ? 



[The comb could be better spared and would be more speedily 

 replaced by the bees if taken previous to instead of after the 

 issue of a Bwarm ; added to which, if any comb be made after the 

 departure of the old queen, and before her successor is impreg- 

 nated, it will certainly be drone-comb. The proposed examina- 

 tion might have been made as early aB April without injury if 

 the middle of a fine day had been selected.] 



DZIEBZON ON FEEDING BEES— THEIB 

 CHARGING SYKTJP INTO HONEY. 



In the following masterly article on bee-feeding, its distin- 

 guished author appears really to have exhausted the subject. It 

 will be perceived also, that he fully confirms the opinions with 

 regard to the change effected by bees in artificial food, which 

 have been so frequently enunciated in the pages of The Journal 

 oe Horticulture bv — A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 



On Feeding Bees. 

 Feeding bees can only be considered a necessary evil, with 

 which the true bee-keeper who always keeps strong stocks has 

 very little to do. He, however, who keeps bees in a locality not 

 particularly favourable to the pursuit will, if he aim at in- 

 ■reasing the number of his stooks, often be obliged to have 

 ecourse to feeding. Now, as last year, notwithstanding Us 

 promising appearance at the commencement, turned out unusually 



