March 80, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



247 



of the wooden ones, and remove the covering. The wooden 

 slides ought to be removed in the autumn, and the top covered 

 with some woollen material. The bees thus closed in make no 

 attempt at getting out at the door — they naturally draw them- 

 selves to the ventilators, and as the heated air ascends it keeps 

 the bees near them quite comfortable and quiet. A little prac- 

 tice with the sound of the bees gives one a very good idea what 

 amount of ventilation is required. 



These ventilators in the back of the hive are not for winter 

 only ; I use them to a great extent in summer, when they are, 

 in my opinion, a great preventive of foul brood, and add 

 greatly to the weight of supers, doing away also to a great extent 

 with the necessity for nadirs, and preventing clustering outside. 

 Whenever the weather is suitable during the honey season and 

 the hive becoming crowded, the super is put on ; the doorway 

 is then extended the whole width, and the ventilator is drawn 

 — this keeps the stock hive cool. The super or supers are well 

 wrapped up and kept warm, so that comb-building goes on un- 

 interruptedly and with but very few bees, whilst the stream of 

 bees at work is far greater than when the stock hive is over- 

 heated. Such contrivances and the study of the nature of the 

 bee, together with plenty of white clover and bean blossom, are 

 the means whereby we get so fine and so many supers, notwith- 

 standing the calumnious, nay, false accusations made by your 

 esteemed correspondent, Mr. Pettigrew. I may add that the 

 whole of my hives are kept in a bee-house, which is as well venti- 

 lated as the hives themselves, besides being insect-proof. — A 



LiNAEKSHIEE BeE-KEEPEE. 



THE LAKGEST APIARY IN THE UNITED 



STATES. 

 Captain J. E. Hetheeixgtox is stated by the American "Bee- 

 keepers' Journal" to control, perhaps, the largest apiary in the 

 United States. Purchasing his firot swarm at the age of eleven 

 years, with 5 dols. earned for the purpose, he so increased it by 

 purchase and natural swarming that the spring of 1859 found 

 Mm with sixty-four stocks, from which in the succeeding autumn 

 he sent to market 3500 lbs. of fine box-honey besides nearly 

 doubling his stock. When the civil war broke out he left to 

 the management of others three hundred swarms of his winged 

 favourites, and entered the service as a private in the first regi- 

 ment U.S. sharp-shooters, iu which he served till 1S64, when he 

 received his discharge on account of disability, arising from having 

 been thrice wounded, and retired with the rank of Captain. We 

 have said that he has the largest apiary in the United States, 

 and do not think it can be denied. In the autumn of ISSS he 

 had nine hundred hives, and his present number is seven hundred. 

 This honey is all sent to market in beautifully made boxes, never 

 containing more than four pounds each. Many thousands of 

 these boxes find their way annually to the metropolis from his 

 apiaries in Cherry Valley in New York, and always command 

 the best prices. 



MR. PETTIGREW'S BALANCE SHEET FOR 1870. 



My garden is on the immediate south of the black, but not mean 

 city of Manchester. Our position is too near the city for honey- 

 gathering. Hence we send most of our hives of bees four or five miles 

 into the country, where they are placed in cottage and market gardens 

 during the spring and summer months. Any out-of-the-way or rub- 

 bishy comers of such gardens answer well as a stand or home for bees. 

 We gladly pay rent for a small space in such places ; and our items 

 of expense for rent and carriage are alwiiys heavv, and astonish those 

 whose bees are never removed from their own gardens. 



The present year, like 1868 and 1869, has not been favourable for 

 honey-gathering. Owing to the long-continued drought and easterly 

 winds, honey was bat scantily secreted in and yielded by flowers. 

 Easterly winds seemed to prevent or stanch back the secretion of honey 

 which is so abundantly found in the nectars of flowers when the wind 

 is warm from south or west. The month of July, which is usually 

 the best of the season, was this year quite a failure, as hives lost 

 weight then, instead of gaining it, in this part of England. 



In 186S our income from bees was £32 ; espenses, £5 ; profit, £27, 

 In 1869 our income was £43 ; expenses, £13 ; profit, £30. This year 

 our income is £70; expenses, £20; profit £50. Of course, the income 

 is derived from the sale of honey, honeycomb, wax, and hives. Our 

 honey is sold at Is. per lb., honeycomb at Is. 3<7. and Is. dd. per lb., 

 hives in autumn are sold at then- honey value. Our expenses this 

 year were swelled up by these items: — carriage, £5 ; rent, £5 ; empty 

 new hives and boards, £9 ; feeding, £1 ; total, £20. 



But how many hives do you keep ? Last autumn we had forty-two, 

 which were valued at an average of 23s. per hive, which is 7s. a-pieco 

 less than really good hives are worth. Owing to the protracted winter 



and cold spring months five of the weakest hives died, and six or seven 

 more were so reduced and weakened that they never swarmed at all. 

 Nine swarms became fugitives and were lost from want of time on our 

 part to look after and hive them. One hive of bees and lots of little 

 presents of honey and honeycomb were given to friends. 



The number of hives kept as our stock this autumn is forty-five, 

 which are in fine condition, averaging Gs. a-piece better than those of 

 last year. If 1S71 be a good honey year they will enable us to present 

 a more favourable balance sheet next time. We value them at 28s. 

 each. We use no wooden boxes of any kind as domiciles for bees, con- 

 sidering them objectionable from almost eveiy point of view. Ex- 

 pensive hives, too, are out of the question, as they consume and waste 

 money and serve no good end to the purchaser. We use nothing but 

 well-made straw hives of large dimensions, which we think answer and 

 look better than any other kind of hive. Our bees are the common 

 sort — the true honey bee — Apis 7neUifiea, which can never be surpassed 

 for industry and real work. Only think of a working man having 

 2,000,000 of servants working for him, and not one lazy creature 

 among them, save a few drones which are produced at certain seasons 

 for important purposes ! We think highly and wish to speak well of 

 our insect servants, for they require but little attention and cost 

 comparatively little for food. What lessons of industry, economy, 

 cleanliness, sociality, contentment, and loyalty are taught by them ! 

 Whoever introduces to the notice of working men anything more pro- 

 fitable or more easily managed than a few swarms of bees wili be haUed 

 as a benefactor. — A. Petti&eew, Busliolmc, Manchester. 



HERMAPHRODITE BEES. 



I ENCLOSE a specimen of a drone which has the peculiarity of 

 possessing part of the worker and part of the drone. You will 

 see that one of the hind legs or tibife is formed like that of a 

 drone, while the other is like a worker, although not quite 

 perfect. The antennaa and proboscis are slightly different, while 

 the eyes are like those of a worker. I shall be glad if anyone 

 can explain this aberration which I have often seen. I have, 

 however, only once met with the black bees spoken of by 

 Huber, it occurred in an Italian hive last summer, and a great 

 many were expelled in one day. I collected a number and stored 

 them in a box for examination, but several earwigs got in and 

 devoured them, although they left untouched a number of 

 workers placed beside them. They appeared to be part queen 

 and part worker, possessing the legs and abdomen of the queen, 

 while other parts resembled the worker, the sting being slightly 

 curved. Bees here are far advanced for the season, and for the 

 past two weeks drones have been flying about. On the morning 

 of Wednesday the 15th iust. the thermometer in a sheltered 

 position stood at 80°, consequently much damage has be'en done 

 owing to the advanced state of things. Kaspberries are com- 

 pletely destroyed, also the most forward Gooseberries, and it is 

 to be feared other fruit blossoms, although not so forward, will 

 fail to set their fruit. — A Lanaekshike I3ee-keepee. 



[We have submitted the bees which accompanied your letter 

 to Mr. F. Smith, the distinguished hymeuopterist, who says: — • 

 " I have examined the two honey bees — one is pure male ; I 

 detect nothing of the other sex in it. The other is as follows : 

 — size of worker bee, antennie and eyes worker. Left anterior 

 leg male, right intermediate and posterior leg both male. The 

 left posterior leg is true worker, having the first joint of the 

 tarsus covered within with rows of stiff hairs. The abdomen 

 has the silky gloss of a male, but is the same size as that of a 

 worker ; at the same time it is of the blunt form of the male 

 at the tip."] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Spanish Hen's Crop (J. S.).— The crop is only the receptacle for the 

 food, whence it passes into the stomach, where it is digested. We cannot 

 pretend to give you the reasons that guided the creation of a fowl, but 

 the crop is a convenient and necessary appendage to an animal without 

 teeth. Your Spanish hen is probably crop-bound. If she is you must 

 pour hot water down her throat until you can foel her crop full, and 

 ascertain whether the lump in the crop softens; if it do not, you must 

 open the crop and take it out. It is not difficult. Pick off some feathers 

 in front, and cut it open with a very sharp knife, remove the undigested 

 mass carefully, sew up the crop with coarse thread, and rub the suture 

 thoroughly with grease. You must sew the crop first, and then the skin, 

 be careful not to sew the two together. Oatmeal alone is better food 

 than it is if mixed with peas or maize. As yon have lost five, your fowls 

 are either poisoned, or there is something very unwholesome lying about. 

 Spanish chickens require no particular food except stimulants at times, 

 and the best of these is beer. The hens should be with the cock a fort- 

 night. 



Cochins' Comij Drooping (James).— The complaint you make is a com- 

 mon one, in many cases it results from over-feeding; thus, you may take 

 a bird with a conib hard and erect as though cut out of a sheet of metal; 

 put him up to fatten, and as the process goes on you will see it first 

 become flaccid, then lop, and then fall over entirely. Much has been 

 said and written about supplying them with bone dust, and thereby 

 affording the material for greater strength ; but we believe it is only 



