Angast 17, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDBNEK. 



135 



of sugar syrnp, yonr expelled beea would fail in building comb 

 or storing food sufficient for their winter requirements. If 

 you take up any of your stocks, and desire to preserve the 

 Jives of the bees, you must unite them to stocks tolerably well 

 supplied in every respect, making up any deficiency there may 

 be in stores by feeding each stock until it weighs, exclusive of 

 hive and bees, at least 15 lbs. 



4th, You had better wait until you have had more experience, 

 and have become an expert manipulator before you attempt 

 ligurianising your apiary. We know many ladies who, with 

 the protection of a proper bee dress, are clever and fearless 

 operators. 



Lastly, Do not trouble yourself about trying to indoctrinate 

 the country folk with your improved methods of bee manage- 

 ment. The attempt will end only in utter failure ; besides 

 which, it is very doubtful if, with their means and capabilities, 

 their own plans are not the best for them.] 



American hive-maker who has been prosecuted by Mr. Lang- 

 stroth for infringing his patent, and who, having made the 

 journey to Europe for the avowed purpose of collecting evidence 

 which may enable him to defeat that gentleman's claims, is, of 

 course, but too happy both to praise and to purchase a hive 

 which he hopes will aid him in accomplishing his object. Our 

 reviewer spoke only of the bar-and-frame hive as described and 

 promulgated by Major Munn, not as it may since have been 

 altered either by him or by Mr. Pattitt, whose letter is there- 

 fore beside the mark. As the actual facts of the case seem to 

 be perfectly understood on both sides, the correspondence may 

 very well end here."] 



HINGES TO BAR-AND FRAME HIVES. 



The writer of the review of Major Munn'a edition of Dr. 

 Bevan's " Honey Bee " does not appear to understand this 

 " cranky hive," and although a large number have been dis- 

 tributed over the country from my establishment, I venture to 

 think your correspondent has never seen one of them. 



I know nothing whatever of the hive which Major Munn 

 presented to the Apiarian Society, and the hive might have 

 been made by the " cheap country carpenter " at a cost to the 

 Major of £7 or £8, and yet have merited the appellation of " a 

 cranky hive," but I am unable to say whether its bar-frames 

 were hinged or not ; yet I may say that the bar-frames, as I 

 make them, are not hinged to the hive. If they are hinged at 



all they are hinged to the glass observation-frame, into which I , '^•1' ■ . •, , , j ^ , -^ .-; . - 



any one of the combs can be lifted by a brass lifting-rod and I ^""^ '? '" impossible for any gardener to be quite sure that every 



COOKING VEGETABLES. 



Ix reply to Mr. Fish's suggestion that some lady would give 

 a few directions on the best way of cooking vegetables, I have 

 ventured to send you the following : — 



How to Boil Peas to Taste well and Look well. — Put two 

 quarts of hard spring water into a pan that will hold three 

 quarts ; when the water boils put into it as much bi-carbonate 

 of soda as will lie in a saltspoon, and a good teaspoonful o£ 

 common salt. Then remove the pan from the fire until the 

 water ceases boiling, pour in the peas, just shelled, from about 

 half peck when in the pod, not more ; put the pan on the fire 

 again until it just begins to simmer, then remove it to the hob 

 or cooler part of the stove, where it will remain at scalding 

 heat, but not boiling ; there let it remain until the peas are 

 quite tender, which the very hardest will become if allowed to 

 remain long enough. The length of time varies from a few 

 minutes to half an hour or more, according to the age of the 

 peas or the length of time they have been gathered. 



Some little cS.re should be bestowed on the shelling of peas, 



made fast by a thumb-screw, and which can be removed any 

 where for observation and returned to the hive without a single 

 bee making its escape. The frames which I made in 1851 are 

 interchangeable with those made in 1871. 



Again, the frames of Major Munn's are not " triangular 

 frames," the outer case or box being a semi-hexagon, or half a 

 hexagon, into which the frames are made to fit, leaving a space 

 of about three-eighths of an inch all round the frames, which 

 must be of half-hexagon shape, and not triangular ; and " every 

 bar-frame on being raised into the observation-frame," requires 

 to be held in a position by the brass lifting-rod until it is firmly 

 fixed into it by a brass thumb-screw. Two broad zinc slides j 

 are then inserted, the one into the observation-frame, the other i 

 into the hive ; these efieetually close the aperture in the hive 1 

 whence the comb has been raised. 



" Sudbukt" is quite correct in stating that the Major Munn 

 hive in the Edinburgh Museum has its frames hinged to the 

 hive, and, as the maker of this hive, I had nothing to guide me 

 in its construction but Major Munn's pamphlet of 1851. I 

 attached brass hinges to this hive (the first I ever made), for 

 which I alone am responsible ; but even this did not prevent 

 the combs from being interchangeable. 



Mr. H. A. King, that practical apiculturist of New York, has 

 lately honoured me with a personal visit, and was so much 

 pleased with the construction and arrangement of this " cranky 

 hive," that he purchased one to take home to the New World, 

 where I have not the least doubt but it will prove itself to be 

 worthy of the patronage of the American people. 



Major Munn's bar-and-frame hive was first made in England 

 in 1834, patented in France in 1843, and (from a description 

 in Major Munn's pamphlet of 1851), was first made at Dover in 

 or about that year by — Wyatt J. Pettitt. 



[We sent the above communication to Mr. Woodbury just 

 previously to his death, and the following comment has the 

 additional interest of being the last he wrote upon any subject 

 connected with bee-culture. — Eds. 



" Major Mann's bar-and-frame hive appears capable of as- 

 ■suming as many shapes as Proteus himself. We have ourselves 

 seen and examined it whenever opportunity offered, and cer- 

 tainly always believed that the frames were hinged to the hive, 

 whilst Mr. Pettitt himself declares that they are so in the case 

 of the one first made by him and deposited in the Edinburgh 

 Museum. Of one thing, however, we are quite certain— that 

 they were always triangular, and that they are so represented 

 in Major Munn's pamphlet as well as in every engraving of his 

 bar-and-frame hive which we have met with, and which were 

 all, or nearly all, issued by Mr. Pettitt. Mr. H. A. King is an 



pea is the same age, and a little careful judgment will easily 

 detect what will not boil together ; if there is but a single pea 

 too old it is better left out, as the one pea would spoil the whole 

 dish. 



The cooking of vegetables is almost always considered of 

 small importance, and few persons will give themselves the 

 trouble to do it properly, even when they know how ; and, 

 strange to say, very few of those who do not know how will 

 follow even written directions. They cannot imagine there 

 can be any way but one, and that the way they have been used 

 to. One great cause of failure is from the small quantity of 

 water used ; it is almost impossible to use too much. I have 

 seen cabbage boiled, or rather cooked, and when done there 

 was no water to pour from it ; all that had been put in the pan 

 was gone in absorption and evaporation. Of course it tasted 

 more like cabbage water than cabbage. — Anna. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



LiSKEARD Poultry Show. — We are informed that the remarks of 

 " J. L." on this Show at page 93 are not altogether correct. The Judge 

 on the occasion is well known to be thoroughly competent to undertako 

 that office, and on being solicited to do so declined, because he knew that 

 his son had entered the Game Bantams with which he took first prize at 

 Truro. The Committee, however, importuned him till he did act ; and 

 we certainly do not see any great crime he committed in awarding the 

 prize to bis son's birds, especially as it is not contended that they were 

 not the best in the competition. 



Fowls Eoupy (J. R , Birmingham), — Tour fowls have the roup. Wash 

 their heads once or twice daily with tepid water. Give them every day 

 1 grain of sulphate of copper mixed in oatmeal mashed in ale ; also 

 plenty of green food. Separate those affected from all others. 



Treatment OF Fowls while Moulting (J. G.). — It is not the first time 

 doctors have difiered, and we are happy for your sake that in this in- 

 stance the patient did not die. We are, however, bound to say we be- 

 lieve the bird recovered in spite of your treatment rather than because of 

 it. The writer of the article has, we believe, tried everything mentioned 

 in it on a large scale. 



Points of Lisht Brahmas (Brahma Novice),— Yon have omitted one 

 point which may, and should be black even in a Light Brahma. The plu- 

 mage should be wbite, save the flight hackle and tail. It is a very com- 

 mon thing for these birds to have spotted backs. Such spots must be 

 called blemishes, but they will moult out as the birds become older, if 

 they are few in number. If you intend to breed for exhibition you can, 

 we think, safely do so, or you may show the birds themselves. If, how- 

 ever, the backs are eo spotted as to make them deserve to be called 

 mottled, we should advise you to change the strain, at any rate on one 

 side. The weight you quote is a large one for a bird of the age. We 

 repeat for your comfort, that being chickens it is probable the spots will 

 be moulted out. 



Soft Eggs— Fowls out op Health (W. P. B.). — Your fowls are evi- 

 dently out of health. To make even a guess at the number of eggs you 

 should have, it would be necessary to know the ages of all your hens. 

 According to your description you have none of them so aged as to be 



