Jnly 13, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



39 



soon as the queen hatches he clips one wing. He then raises 

 a bed of sawdust 3 or 4 feet square, lays thereon a good 

 broad bottom board, and sets the hive on it, so that the queen 

 can crawl back when she comes out. He has tried queens in 

 this way for three seasons, and they are all very prolific. A 

 queen can be introduced from any stock, and in-and-in breed- 

 ing thas prevented. 



honey. I have one stock of Italians that gave me one good 

 swarm and 125 lbs. box honey the first season. The Italians, 

 to be pure, should all have three yellow bands, and some will 

 occasionally show the fourth. — G. M. Dooliiile (in National 

 Bee Journal, American ) 



TREATMENT OF SWARMS AND STOCKS. 



I DID not carry out my plans towards the hybrid stock, still 

 I am obliged for your advice as stated in page 395 of the Jour- 

 nal of June 1st. I begin to hope I am not quite " so timid 

 withal " as you described me, as I have, I believe, properly 

 hived a fine swarm, which issued on the 27th ult., from the 

 hybrid stock. I had never taken one before, and to add to my 

 difficulty it settled in the midst of a currant bush, the end of the 

 cluster resting on the ground. I left them under the bush, 

 after hiving, until evening, and then transferred them into a 

 frame hive, placing them next to the stock in the bee-house 

 ^one of Neighbour's, to hold three hives). The swarm works 

 very feebly, few bees leaving the hive. Is this usual ? They 

 hang in a thick cluster inside, down to the frames ; the cluster 

 seems smaller than when I took them, and I feared some bees 

 might have been lost by going back to the bush next morning, 

 but if so I could not help it, having been much pressed for time 

 when hiving them. I could not put them on their proper 

 stand at once. I thought, perhaps some also might have gone 

 to their old home again, the entrances being so close together, 

 but the stock does not seem correspondingly stronger. Have 

 I made any mistake ? I noticed many drones when hiving 

 the bees, but none leave the hive, and I see no traces of their 

 slaughter. Would they also remain inside ? The stock seemed 

 minus drones after the swarm issued ; now there are many, 

 _ but they may of course have been subsequently hatched 

 'out. 



On the evening of June 28th I found a young queen or prin- 

 cess under the stock ; eha seemed lively, so next morning, after 

 smearing her with honey, I carefully allowed one bee to pass 

 into the glass which covered her, but they began fighting at 

 once ; when they left off I let another one pass up, which 

 behaved very differently, so I introduced about six more, but 

 they worried her instantly, so not knowing what to do, I covered 

 up the glass and left her to her fate, as I did not know bat what 

 she was to have been the new queen, and had missed the hive 

 after her flight. Did I do right in this case ? 



If there is anything more to be done to the swarm and stock 

 I should be obliged if you would kindly tell me, and also if you 

 consider they are going on properly. I put on a bee-dress and 

 gloves when hiving the swarm, but did not "tie down my 

 trousers " as you kindly recommended, and yet I was not stung 

 at all !— C. A. J. 



[The recent unfavourable weather was doubtless the cause 

 of the apparent idleness of the old stock as well as of your 

 oewly-hived swarm, which latter may even perish from starva- 

 tion, owing to the same cause, unless succoured by a timely 

 supply of food. The cluster would naturally contract into 

 smaller dimensions than at first, say the morning after hiving, 

 int it ought to extend rapidly as combs are built, which, how- 

 -ever, cannot be accomplished if food is short. Some bees have 

 probably been lost owing to the delay in putting the hive in its 

 place, and many more are Ukely to have returned to their old 

 iiive. A Neighbour's bee-house " to hold three hives " should 

 never be occupied by more than two at the outside, and these 

 ought to be placed as far asunder as possible. If three colonies 

 must be placed in it, two ought to work from entrances made 

 •at each end, and only the centre one from the front. Drones 

 will show freely enough whenever the weather becomes favour- 

 able. The young queen found on the 28 th was doubtless a 

 •supernumerary princess which had been discarded from the hive, 

 snd upon which all your trouble was of course wasted.] 



LiGUEiAN Bees. — A word for the Italians. I find them very 

 peaceable when compared with the black bees. 1 can open a 

 hive of Italiaus at any time when they are raising brood with- 

 out smoke, and not have one offer to sting me, unless by some 

 mishap I jar them so as to arouse them, which takes consider- 

 able. Basides this you can find the queen readily ; the young 

 bees do not drop from the comb as the black ones do, and as 

 far as my experience goes, they will make one-third more ■ 



HINGES TO BAR-AND-FRAME HIVES. 



Major Munn, in his last communication to " our Journal," 

 says I am " mistaken in thinking that the bar-and-frame hive 

 which he gave to the Apiarian Society was hinged," and con- 

 cludes with the strange assertion, " the triangular hive, there- 

 fore, never was hinged." What I really did say was " his tri- 

 angular ones were merely devised to enable him to lift his 

 combs into observation frames, and so far was he from con- 

 sidering them truly moveable, that he at first fixed them to the 

 hive by means of hinges." 



Now, what are the facts according to the Major's own show- 

 ing? In his last article we are informed "these triangular 

 bar frames were so arranged on the sides of the enclosing 

 outer box as to have an iron rod run through the whole of the 

 eight frames " — that is, if language has any meaning, they 

 were hinged to the bos by means of a continuous pin running 

 through eight or more pivots. In his pamphlet, bearing the 

 date 1851, he describes his frames thus: — " In one of the two 

 ends of the top bar there is a small handle fixed, as at t, and 

 at the other a small piece of brass with a hole in it, as at w. 

 This forms the eye of the pivot for the bee frame to work upon, 

 and has a brass pin run through it when about to be lifted 

 into the observation frame." It thus appears that every frame 

 on being raised for inspection into the observation frame re- 

 quired to be furnished with a complete hinge, and remained 

 fixed until the pin connecting the eyes of the pivots was with- 

 drawn, or the eyes themselves were unfastened. I do not 

 quarrel with the Major for any improvements that may have 

 been adopted in the way of facilitating the undoing of his 

 hinges, but I adhere to the statement that his triangular frames 

 were at first fixed to the hive by means of hinges. I prefer 

 believing my own eyes to any assertion the Major may make, 

 and to show that the position I have taken up is correct, I call 

 a witness who writes under the nom de plume of " Sudbdey," 

 and with whom, perhaps, the Mijor may be acquainted. That 

 gentleman, in the Journal of July 25th, 1867, page 70, re- 

 marks, in reference to Munn's hive, " the only one I ever saw 

 with hinges to the frames is in the Edinburgh Museum." 

 Thanks, Mr. " Sudbuby," for your testimony. You have, then, 

 seen the hive of Munn with hinges, and perhaps others could 

 see it as well as you if they would take the trouble of paying 

 a visit to the Edinburgh Museum, where, if what I called 

 a cranky hive is found to be not worth looking at, a great 

 many other things will be found worthy of study and admi- 

 ration. 



I have no wish to misrepresent the Major's hive as originally 

 constructed, nor to deprive him of the credit of anything to 

 which he is entitled ; but I did, and still do think, that his 

 conduct in altering the text of Bevan without distinguishing 

 what belongs to Bevan and what to himself, and making the new 

 edition of the work an advertising medium for his " bar-and- 

 frame hive," deserves the highest censure. — The Wbitek of 

 THE Eeview op Major Munn's Edition of Dr. Bevan's 

 " Honey Bee." 



A Giant op the Forest. — The New York Times states that 

 a solid section cut from one of the original " big trees " of 

 Calaveros county, California, is in New York, on its way to a 

 European museum. Five men were employed twenty-five days 

 in cutting down this huge tree ; its height was 302 feet, and its 

 largest diameter 32 feet. The specimen was cut at a distance 

 of 20 feet from the base. The stump is covered over, and is 

 now used as a ball-room, being so large that thirty-two persons 

 can dance a double cotillon on it and leave room for the band 

 and spectators. If one has sufficient patience, the age of the 

 tree might be determined by counting the angular rings ; but, 

 to save trouble, it has been already ascertained that there are 

 more than 2500 of them, each representing a year. — {Times.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Me. Jackson, Kiddehbunster [F. H. S. and others). — Yon have all 

 similarly suffered ; it is needless to publish more relative to him. 



Steotid Show. — "I deny that I made any perversion when I said that 

 the cup was given to a lot of second and third-class Rabbits ; ior although. 



