33 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 13, 1871. 



■weighty. The show of Carje Birds was not very large in nnmhers, hat 

 they were good in quality. 



Dorkings.— CoZo»refi.—l, R. Wood. 2, T. Fox. he, H. LiD^ood. c, W. J* 

 "Woodhouse. Amj variety. — 1, W, J. Woodhouse. 2, No Competition. 



Cochin-Chixas.— B».ir.— 1 and Cup. H. Lacv. 2, H. Linswood. Any variety. 

 —1, H. Lacy. 2. H. Bletsoe. Barnwell, Oundle. 



Brahmas.— Darfc.— 1 and 2. H. Lacy. Light.— l,S. Pares, Poslford, Guildford. 

 2, H. Whiteley. he. E. Smith. 



Spanish (Black).— 1, Newbitt & Co. 2 and he, 3. F. Dixon, 



Hamcurghs. — Gol-den-span(il€d. — 1 and 2, J. RoUinson. he, R. D. Borne, 

 Boston. Golden-pencilled.— I. J. RoUinson, 2, H. Pickles. Silver-spangled.- 

 \, Cup, and 2, H. Pickles. Silver-pcncillcd.~\ and 2, H. Pickles. 



Gk^^.—Black-hreasted.—l and Cup, C. Chaloner, Steetley, WhitweU. 2, W. 

 Boyes. Beverley. Any other Variety.— l, G. Chaloner. 2, Miss SI. Fletcher. 



BkSTA'yts.— Black-breasted Ganie. — 1 and Cnp, W. Grice. 2, Newbitt & Co. 

 he, W. J. Cooke. Wainfleet, Boston : S. S. Mossop. e, Newbitt & Co. ; W. Adams, 

 Boston. Any otlier Variety.—l, M. Leno. 2 and c, H. Pickles. Jic, G. S. R. 

 Cayless ; Newbitt & Co. (2). 



French Fo^-ls.- 1, J. J. Maldon. 2, R. Coney. Alford. 



Ant othf.r Variety.- 1. Cup, and 2, H. Pickles, he, G. W. Thomas. 



Local Class.- 1, H. Man-iott. 2, E. Smith. 7ic, E.Smith; J.Thorpe, c, Mrs. 

 Westmorland. 



Selling Class. — 1, B. Jarvis. 2, E. Smith. 



Ducks (Any variety). — 1, H. B. Bletsoe. 2 and e, W. Duddin!?. 



Pheasants (or other fancy birds).—!, G. W. Thomas. 2, H. Speller. 



PIGEONS. 



Carriers.- B/rt^fc.— 1, Cup. and 2, R. Fulton, c, F. Waddington ; J. C. Ord. 

 Dun— 1, R. Fulton. 2, "Withheld. 



Pouters (Any variety).— 1 and 2. R. Fulton, vhc, T. Hawley. 



Tumblers— -i?77i/57irf.—l, R. Fulton. 2 and c, J. Ford, he, T. Wadflinfrton ; 

 R, Fulton. Any other Variety.—l and Cnp, R. Minnitt. 2, J. Ford, he, W. J. 

 Woodhouse. c, R. Fulton. 



Barbs.— 1, R. Fulton. 2, H. Yarfllev. c, H. Yardlev : S. Waddington. 



Fantails.— 1, H. Yardley, Birmingham. 2, S. Waddington. 



TuRBiTS.— 1, A. Kitching. 2, H. Yardley. c, S. Waddington. 



Antwerps.— 1, H. Yardley. 2. J. Collinsnn. 



Any other Variety.— 1, H. Yardley (\\Tiite Owls). 2. S. Waddington (Ice), 



lie, J. Cross ; S. Waddington ; H. Boyer ; H. Larver. c, J. C. Ord; A.M.Adam, 



CAGE BIRDS. 



Parrot.— (?r(?(/.—L V. Ross. 2. Mrs. Ostler, he, T. Spitins. Variegated.^ 

 1 and he. Miss Jenkins. 2, G. E. Storr. 



Parboquet or Lorry.— 1. Miss C. Dows. 2, No competition. 



Canary.- 1, W. Caistor. 2, — Lewis, he. Miss M. Dowsett. c, C. Jackson, 



Canary Mule (Any variety). —1, Mrs. Bailey. 2, J. N. Harrison. 



LiKNET. Goldfinch, or aky ftTHEH English Finch. — 1, J. N. Harrison. 

 2, G. W. Thomas, he, P. Keightley. 



Lark.— 1, J. Eaves. 2, T. Hobster. he, J, N. Harrison. 



Thrush or Blackbird.— 1, J. Brewer, Wormgate, Boston. Extra 1, R. D. 

 Borne. 2, J. E. Greenall. c, Mrs. Ashby; — Muschamp. 



Rabbits.— ,4 ni/ Pure Breed.—}, A. H. Easten. 2, H. Cawood. he, A. H. 

 Easten ; A. Reynolds. Heaviest.— 1, — Taylor. 2, T. Mumby. he, A. Porter. 



The Judces were — for Poultr}j, Mr. Edward Hewitt, of Birming- 

 ham ; for Pigeons and liahhits, Mr. W. Massey, of Spalding ; and 

 for Cage Birds, Mr. J. W. Harrison, of Spalding. 



POULTRY SHOW FOR -WILTSHIRE. 



Pekiiit me to draw the attention of yonr readers to the fact 

 that the principal poultry and Pigeon fanciers of Wiltshire, 

 feeling the need of more shows in the south and west of Eng- 

 land, and believing that a !connty annual exhibition is likely 

 to be better supported and more attractive to exhibitors and 

 visitors than one connected merely with our town, are endea- 

 vouring to obtain subscriptions from fanciers generally and 

 from the local gentry for the furtherance of their purpose. Mr. 

 G. Saunders Sainsbury, of Devizes, Mr. Alfred Heath, of Galne, 

 and Mr. W. H. Stagg, of Netheravon, are being active in the 

 matter ; and Mr. John Marsh, of the Market Place, Devizes, is 

 the Hon. Secretary. Some money is already promised, but 

 more is needed if the show is to take place. It will be to the 

 interest of fanciers of poultry. Pigeons, and cage birds to have 

 such a show established in a county easily reached on every 

 side, and having the large and well-lighted Devizes Corn Ex- 

 change for a place of exhibition. 



My own idea, however, is that the show should move each 

 year, and that Salisbury, Chippenham, Warminster, and other 

 towns might be advantageously visited ; but money, friends, 

 money, or the dream must remain a dream. If subscriptions 

 flow-in in sufficient numbers the show will be duly advertised 

 in this Journal. — Wiltshire Reotok. 



hive. Last year several attempts were made to find eggs in 

 drone comb without success. On the 12th or 13th of June of 

 this year I found one hive had lost its qujeen on her marriage 

 tour ; and the bees of that hive were in a state of great com- 

 motion and bewilderment, running hither and thither, inside 

 and outside the hive, searching for their lost queen. The com- 

 motion and search for lost queens, when there are no eggs in 

 their hives, by the bees, are well known to bee-keepers of expe- 

 rience. Here was an opportunity for the experiment suggested. 

 A bit of drone comb full of eggs and maggots was cut from a 

 hive yet unswarmed. The bit was cut into three pieces, and 

 fixed separately in the queenless, eggless hive. The reception 

 of the eggs hushed almost instantaneously the roar and rush of 

 the bees into perfect quietness and rest. At once the bees 

 commenced to build some royal cells around some of the grubs 

 in the comb thus imported. Daily were those cells examined, 

 and on every examination the bees were found carefully nurs- 

 ing and tending the grubs in the royal cells. In a few days the 

 cells were sealed up, and then carefully guarded by the bees. 

 Never did a human mother sit more proudly and complacently 

 over the cradle of her child than did the bees apparently over 

 these royal cells. The time for hatching arrived, but no cell 

 yielded a queen. On the sixteenth day I tore the cells out 

 for examination, when I found that their inmates were a mass 

 of putrefaction ; only one grub had taken the insect form, 

 it was quite white, and smaller in size than the drones in 

 the adjoining cells. It, too, was apparently becoming foul. 

 The experiment, then, was a complete failure, so far as queen- 

 making goes. Why the bees attempted to make queens from 

 such grubs is a question left for wiser heads than mine to 

 answer. I am thankful for the opportunity of recording tha 

 experiment and its results. — A. Pettigrew. 



THE SEX OF EGGS. 

 Me. WooDEnEY, and most other enlightened apiarians, have 

 had, no doubt, on their minds that the eggs of a queen bee are 

 of both sexes, some female and some male, and cannot be 

 altered by the treatment they may receive in their cells. Some 

 excellent letters on the question, written in an excellent spirit, 

 from the pen of Mr. Woodbury, were inserted in the " Handy 

 Book of Bees," and have been read with great interest. Those 

 letters were written to convince the author of that work that 

 his opinions were erroneous on the question discussed. Though 

 the facts and arguments of Mr. Woodbury were weighty, they 

 did not " fully convince " the author of the correctness of 

 Mr. Woodbury's conclusions : hence he suggested an experiment 

 which, to his mind, would settle the question — viz., to put a 

 bit of drone comb containing eggs into a queenless, eggless 



DO OLD QUEENS LEAVE THEIR HIVES? 

 In reference to the article in No. 355, entitled " Queena 

 Leaving their Hives," by " B. & W.," I must admit that if the 

 cases of swarming are correctly reported, they are not only well 

 worth recording, but very exceptional ; but in whatever curious 

 circumstances such strange anomalies occurred, I must entirely 

 dissent from the inference drawn by the writer that the swarm 

 issuing from the driven Ligurian stock was headed by the old 

 queen of the removed hybrid hive, and that, therefore, we have 

 here a proof that queens sometimes leave their hives after 

 becoming mothers on other than swarming occasions. Such 

 a statement coming from so accomplished an apiarian as 

 " B. & W." certainly surprises me, and shows that the 

 " mystery " of the bee hive is not confined alone to non-scien- 

 tific apiculturists. I have been a close observer of the habits 

 of mother queens for many years, and no such occurrence ever 

 took place in my experience, of a mother queen taking a plea- 

 sure aerial trip, and, moreover, I believe it never happens. 



Presuming that " B. & W." witnessed the issuing of the 

 swarms referred to, and that there is no mistake as to this, I 

 would rather seek a solution of the facts on other grounds. I 

 shall, therefore, suppose that when the Ligurian stock was 

 driven it was on the eve of swarming, that it had nearly 

 matured young princesses, and that having received an immense 

 accession of bees belonging to the removed hybrid hive, the 

 first matured queen went off with the swarm on the third day 

 after the operation — viz., on the 24th of May. and the second 

 swarm issuing from the same stock on the 8'h of June, was 

 headed also by a young princess, sister to the former. The 

 swarm issuing from the removed hybrid hive on the 7th of 

 June, on the other hand, would in this way be headed by ita 

 own old queen, which " B. & W." conjectures had gone out on 

 a pleasure trip, and went back to its old site, and, consequently, 

 headed the swarm of the 2ith of May, from the Ligurian stock. 



I venture to make these suggestions to " B. & W.," and he 

 will have it in his power to verify or disprove their correctness 

 by an examination of the hives, if frame hives, or by noticing 

 the progenies of the swarms of the respective Ligurian and 

 hybrid stocks, when, if I am right, the results will correspond 

 to the suggestions now made. — J. Lowe. 



Fehtilising Queens. — Mr. Doolittle communicates to the 

 American Bee Journal a plan of fertilising queens, which he 

 thinks far preferable to any other mode of artificial impregna- 

 tion. The method was practised by a neighbour, and is as 

 follows :— He selects a stock with plenty of the best drones, 

 and sets it fifteen or twenty rods from any other stock, and as 



