AaRUBt 25, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



155 



Of Pigeons, the best Carriers were a good pair of Dims, and the 

 winning Pouters were good in limb and feather. Fantails were of but 

 moderate quality, as also the Barbs, bat the Trumpeters were good. 



The Bahbit classes contained some good specimens, notably the 

 Lop-ears, and a handsome Silver-Grey Buck. 



Spanish.— 1, H. Beldon, Goitstoek. 2, H. Sugden, Woodsome Lees. Cochin. 

 China. — Cinnamon or Buff.— I, H. Beldon. Any other Variety. — 1, J. "White, 

 Whitley Netherton. 2, H. Beldon. Game (Black-breasted or Brown Red).— 1, E. 

 Aykroyd, Eccleshill. 2, W. J. Cope. Barnsley. lie, J. Smith. Kirkburton. 

 Polands. — 1, H. Beldon. Brahmas.— 1, E. Leech, Rochdale. 2, H. Beldon ; H. 

 Lacy. Hebden Bridge, c, J. Brooke, Huddersfield. Hamburghs. — Gold- 

 pencilUd.—l, H. Beldon. Gold-spanqled.—l, H. Beldon. 2. J. White. Silver- 

 pencilled. — 1, H. Beldon. Silver-spangled.— 1, H. Beldon. Bantams. — Game. — 

 1 and he, G. Noble, Staincliffa. 2, F. Steel, Halifax (21. Any other Variety — 



1, T. Dyson, Halifax. 2, H. Beldon. Ducks.— Aylesbury.— 1, E. Leech. 2, H. 

 Sugden. Rouen.— \, E. Leech. 2, J. White ; J. Crosland, Huddersfield. lie, F. 

 Brooke; J. Crosland. Turkeys.— 1, E. Leech. Any Breed.— Chickens.— 1, F. 

 Steel. 2, J. Bradbury, Bradshaw, Austonley. c, J. Clegg, Dalton. 



PIGEONS. 



Carriers.— 1. H. Yardley, Birmingham. Pouters.— 1 and 2, J. Hawley, 



Bingley. Tumblers.— 1, J. Hawley. 2. H. Yardley. c, 3. Hawley ; J. H. 



Sykes, Huddersfield. Fantails. — 1, J. Hawley. 2, H. Yardley. Jacobins. — 



1 and 2, J. Hawley. he, H. Yardlev. c, C. Gravel, Jan. Trumpeters.- 1 and 



2, J. Hawley. Extra 2 and he, T. Kaye, Honley. c, J. H. Sykes (2). Barbs. — 

 1, H. Yardley. 2, J. Hawley. c, T. Kaye ; J. H. Sykes. Dovecote (Common). 

 — 1, A. Roberts. 2, J. Hawley. he, J. Hawley ; J. Sykes, Almondbury ; H. 

 Sugden. Extra Stock.— 1 and 2, T. Kaye (Blue Dragoons and Turbits). 



Eabbits.— Buck.— 1, C. Gravil, Thome. 2, Robinson & Glew, Wakefield. 

 he, J. Armitage, Almondbury Bank, c, E. Butterworth. Rochdale. Doe.— 1, C. 

 Gravil. 2, A.Broughton, Dalton. he, J. Armitage ; J. Oldfield; E.. Butterworth 



Judge. — Mr. E. Hatton, Pndsev, Leeds. 



Whitby Canary Show. — Was it not Dickens who, at the 

 close of a preface, said with reference to the familiar cover in 

 which the monthly parts of his works appeared, that he would 

 someday put forth his " two green leaves" again? Whitby, 

 the first Show of the season, has put forth its two green leaves, 

 and I hope it is in the hands of all fancier?. It is an excellent 

 schedule containing nineteen classes of Canaries, three of Mules, 

 and two of foreign birds, for open competitioo, exclusive of dis- 

 trict prizes. The Show is advertised for September 13th — rather 

 early it is true, but it is held in connection with the flower 

 show ; and I can assure exhibitors that, apart from the great 

 care and attention bestowed on the birds (which of itself is 

 one distinctive feature of the Whitby executive), they will be 

 seen by a concourse of visitors such as they will not, probably, 

 greet again on this side of the Palace Show. Now, sirs, what 

 kind of a season have you had? Who is to the front this year? 

 Let us see what you have moulted through for Whitby, and 

 may the best man win. — W. A. B. 



A HUNGARIAN METHOD OF CONTROLLING 



THE FERTILISATION OF THE QUEEN BEE. 



The following article from the pen of Mr. A. Semlitsch 

 is translated from a recent number of the German "Bee 

 Journal : " — ■ 



" Some time ago I was informed by the Chevalier de Azula 

 that Mr. Johann Dax, of Giins, Hungary, had a method of in- 

 suring the fertilisation of a queen bee by any drone which he 

 chose to select, and under his own immediate supervision. He 

 stated that Mr. Dax excised a royal cell the day before its oc- 

 cupant would hatch out, and placing it in a cage permitted the 

 young queen to emerge therein. She was afterwards trans- 

 ferred with a few workers to a suitable receptacle, and a 

 selected drone being introduced, fertilisation was speedily ac- 

 complished. 



'•Following these instructions I performed several experi- 

 ments last spring, but was in every case unsuccessful. Having 

 occasion early in the autumn to proceed to Penkafeld, in Hun- 

 gary, I resolved to extend my journey to Guns. Here I found 

 Mr. Dax, who received me cordially and imparted much in- 

 teresting information collected by him in the course of forty 

 years' practical experience in bee-culture, besides allowing me 

 to peruse a manuscript treatise embracing his observations 

 and opinions, under the head of 136 questions and answers, 

 forming literally a bee-keeper's catechism. 



" It follows that the pure fertilisation of queen bees, and the 

 best means of securing it, soon became the subject of con- 

 versation, and he unreservedly described his mode of accom- 

 plishing that object. As he generously allows me to make this 

 information public, I now do so for the benefit of bee-keepers 

 generally. The importance of the discovery, if it should prove 

 reliable, induces me to publish it at once, although I should 

 have preferred testing it first more thoroughly myself. The 

 few experiments which I have been able to make failed, as it 

 seems to me, only because the weather was so cold that I could 



not prevent the embryo queens from becoming chilled in their 

 cells ; but that it is possible, by using the requisite precautions 

 to procure the fertilisation of qaeens in the manner described 

 by Mr. Dax, I consider unquestionably true. I now proceed to 

 details. 



" We require for our purpose in the first place, an ordinary 

 pipe-cover made of very fine wire. This is fastened t- a small 

 piece of wood less than a quarter of an inch thick, and thus be- 

 comes a regular queen-cage. The wood must, however, be 

 sufficiently large to entirely cover the feeding-hole at the top of 

 the hive, and must also have a circular aperture which will 

 permit a queen cell to pass easily. Another thin bit of wood is 

 also required, to which a royal cell is fastened by means of 

 melted wax, and this, being laid on the queen cage with the 

 royal cell passing through its central aperture, closes it entirely. 

 We next require a piece of perforated zinc 6 or 7 inches square, 

 and lastly a glasB box 6 inches square by 7 inches high. This 

 is entirely open at the bottom, and has small openings at the 

 top for ventilation, as in a lantern. Through one side of the 

 frame of this glass case is passed a pointed wooden skewer, on 

 which we can easily hang a bit of honeycomb. These are all 

 the materials required. 



" If a hive contain many royal cells we must note the date 

 on which each becomes sealed over, and on the seventh day a 

 queen cell must be cut out and fastened with a little wax to the 

 covering board, which must be put over the opening of the 

 queen-cage with the cell projecting inside, taking care that suf- 

 ficient space is left to permit the queen to crawl out. We then 

 open the feeding-hole at the top of the hive from which the 

 cell has been taken, and put the queen-cage over it, allowing it 

 to project into the hive as far as the wood to which it is fastened 

 will permit. A piece of paper should then be pasted over all, 

 so that no heat may escape, and a blanket may be laid upon 

 this. By raising this blanket and the bit of wood to which the 

 cell is attached we can readily ascertain whether the queen has 

 emerged from it or not. We then wait until the fourth or fifth 

 day, or, in short, the first fine day after the third, which is the 

 day on which queens usually take their wedding-flight. The 

 little cage is now raised with all the bees which adhere to it, 

 the feeding-hole covered with the perforated zinc, and the glazed 

 box, which must be furnished with a bit of honeycomb, placed 

 on the top. The bees and queen are then introduced through 

 the ventilator at the top into the box to the number of at least 

 one hundred, and if those adhering to the cage are not sufficient 

 the perforated zinc must be slightly drawn back until enough 

 have ascended. The glazed box is then darkened, and between 

 the hours of eleven and three a drone is added, when you may 

 watch their intercourse. If this does not occur on the first 

 day, which, however, is generally the case, before three o'clock, 

 it will take place the next day about the same time. 



" Mr. Dax assures me that having tried this process many 

 times, he has almost always succeeded with the first drone, but 

 that the second never failed. 



" In addition to the undoubted veracity of Mr. Dax himself 

 there are other good reasons for presuming that a properly con- 

 ducted experiment would ensure a successful result. Why 

 should not fertilisation occur within the hive itself ? Because 

 in the crowded condition of the colony it evidently could not be 

 effected without a disturbance and commotion endangering the 

 life of the queen, and under these circumstances it has been 

 provided that natural instinct should compel the queen to leave 

 her hive for this purpose. Even if the bee-keeper should inter- 

 fere by catching, confining, and removing the queen, she would 

 still be in a state of alarm and endeavour to effect her escape 

 and return to the hive — excitement and distress subduing 

 every other passion or natural impulse. Whether a queen thus 

 removed be liberated in a roomy chamber and permitted to fly 

 amidst workers and selected drones, or allowed to take wing in 

 the open air, restrained only by a silken filament, the desired 

 result will rarely be attained ; but UDder the treatment pre- 

 scribed by Mr. Dax she becomes neither alarmed nor excited, 

 being born in a state of confinement, and when permitted to 

 mingle with a few workers she feels free and at her ease, and 

 readily yields to her natural impulse to provide for the increase 

 of the little colony. If then a mature drone be introduced, 

 fertilisation is almost certain to follow, because from the small 

 number of workers present (clustered also for the most part on 

 the inserted honeycomb), no interference or commotion need 

 be apprehended. These are the reasons which induce me to 

 look with confidence for a successful result." 



The above process certainly appears by far the most likely of 

 any that have yet been devised to secure the desired end, and I 



