September 22, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEK. 



237 



phibious creatures ia oilskins salting barrels of herrings ; across 

 a short drawbridge at the entrance to the harbour; along a 

 narrow street by the river side where, fortunately, we met no 

 other conveyance, or else one or the other must havebeen com- 

 pelled to back out ; up a steep ascent almost on my back, and 

 we were at the ruins of the old abbey on the brow of the hill, 

 forming the south side of the valley of the Esk. A hurried 

 walk round the churchyard which stands on the verge of the 

 cliff, a peep over the edge of the sea, the piers, and the town at 

 my feet, and we commenced our descent, the horse foreshortened 

 till his ears seemed growing in the neighbourhood of his tail. 

 To prevent accident I shored myself up with my umbrella, and 

 got down with no further inconvenience than a strong tendency 

 to slide off my seat. A zigzag crawl up the other side landed 

 me at the door of the Congress Hall, where the Show was held, 

 and as there were a few minutes to spare while the finishing 

 touches were being put to the arrangement of the birds, I oc- 

 cupied the time in inspecting the horticultural department. 



The show of plants was not large, I mean not very large, but 

 there were some lovely specimens, the arrangement being 

 on the whole very good. The centre stage appropriated to this 

 branch had a very imposing effect. There were excellent col- 

 lections of stove and greenhouse plants, ornamental-foliaged 

 plants, small Conifers, Liliums, hardy herbaceous specimen 

 plants in flower or fruit well-fruited Vines in pots, Tricolored 

 Geraniums, Ferns, and a host of other things. On either 

 side was a long table, one for cut flowers, and the other 

 for fruit. Dahlias, Asters, French and African Marigolds (real 

 Jonques), Verbenas, Gladioli, &c, were excellent. A table 

 placed transversely at the end of the Hall was filled with 

 choice bouquets for the hand, ball-room or wedding, while the 

 fruit table was decorated with groups of flowers and fruit in 

 ornamental stands for the dining table. The collection of fruit 

 was splendid, comprising White, Black, and Frontignan Grapes, 

 in single bunches and trays of three ; Pines, Melons, Peaches, 

 Nectarines, Apricots, Plums, in variety ; Apples and Pears 

 without end ; Currants as large as small Grapes ; Gooseberries, 

 and trays of collections. Looking at the fruit I sympathised 

 with poor Eve. The vegetables were first-class, and on a 

 gigantic ssale — Cucumbers 30 inches long, and well grown ; 

 Celery enormous ; Onions, Carrots, Parsnips, Turnips, in per- 

 fection ; Potatoes, of all shapes ; Cabbages, by the cubic yard, 

 I was going to say ; Peas, capital ; ditto Beans, and Vegetable 

 Marrows in all stages. The cottagers' groups, too, were very 

 creditable, and in some cases would not have disgraced a 

 gentleman's gardener. 



The exhibition of Canaries has an interest which attaches to 

 no other show, inasmuch as it is the first of the season, and 

 exhibitors and fanciers in general look to Whitby to mark the 

 advent of youngsters destined to play a prominent part in the 

 Canary world. Last year this was notably the case, but on this 

 occasion, owing to the late mouit, there were not so many new 

 stars discovered. Many of the best of our All-England men sent 

 entries, and before I have a little chat with them allow me to 

 shake hands with them all round. Mr. Moore (old warrior), 

 and your other half, Mr. Wynn ; Mr. Bexson (I've never seen 

 you, and I often wonder what you're like ?) ; Mr. Irons (the 

 crested hen has come out very fresh again) ; Mr. Hawman 

 (what got the Lizard cock ? it wasn't there) ; Mr. Bulmer (she's 

 a bonny little hen, rather small) ; Mr. Simpson, Mr. J. N. 

 Harrison, Mr. Harwell, Mr. Adams, Mr. Burton, Mr. Wales, 

 Mr. Fairclough, everybody — how do you do ? I congratulate 

 you on the opening of the season, hope you have all had good 

 luck. Was it a good show ? Very good indeed, and the ar- 

 rangements not to be excelled. The Jonques were fair birds, 

 but there are better to come. Irons won easily. Simpson has 

 got into a good seam ; his first-prize mealy bird will give you 

 all some trouble this season, if he is only brought out in con- 

 dition to the end. His six Jonques in Class 19 were six very 

 nice level birds. Whitby will hold its own this year. The 

 marked classes contained some excellent birds. Moore's even- 

 marked Yellow is bad to beat, but the colour is not so pure 

 a Jonque as I should like. Adams's two, 32 and 33, were fine 

 lusty birds, of good size and capital quality. I had some diffi- 

 culty in coming to a decision in the Even-marked Mealies. 

 Bexson's bird, 41, was the nearest to the type, but second and 

 third were nice birds also. In the Ticked classes the first birds 

 were good, and very cheap at the catalogue price — plenty of 

 quality. With the exception of Irons's Buff Hen I cannot 

 praise the Crests — there was too much " coppy " in some of 

 them. The crest is imported from other varieties, I admit, but 

 breed out the distinctive features of those varieties a little more 



before calling them "Norwich." You know as well as I do 

 that a Norwich bird is not a foot long, nor does it stand nearly 

 as upright as a Belgian. Belgians were very backward in con- 

 dition. No 76 made one demonstration of what he was capable 

 of doing, and then rolled himself into a ball, the picture of 

 misery. Bnlmer's Hen, No. 78, and Bexson's 81 were most for- 

 ward in the Buff class, and performed best. The Yorkshire 

 were as usual mixed up with Norwich birds, some of which 

 would not have disgraced Class 2. The winning birds were 

 lengthy and symmetrical. Irons had it all his own way in 

 Cinnamons, especially in the Buffs, Bexson not being in such 

 form as last year, and Moore not making any decided mark. 

 The Lizards were certainly not the best which will be sent out 

 this year; but 117 (James Taylor) was a bird above the average, 

 and Mr. Harrison had a useful one in each class. Greens were 

 poor excepting the first, which was well through, and of good 

 size and colour. Atkinson generally hunts up one or two good 

 Greens. 129, Mark Burton, will see abetter day. Judging the 

 Mules resolved itself into a mere question of condition, none 

 being through the moult. The district prizes were well con- 

 tested, Mr. Simpson and Mrs. J. Wilkinson exhibiting birds of 

 superior quality. 



Another month will find us in the middle of the show season, 

 at a time when birds look their best. In this district, Scar- 

 borough, North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, Darlington, Thirst, 

 Stockton, Stokesley, Newcastle, and other shows follow in quick 

 succession. They are all under the management of enthusias- 

 tic fanciers, and deserving of strong support. At most of them 

 I shall if all be well be present, possibly at all, and hope I shall 

 see large entries of first-class birds. — W. A. Blaksion. 



SWARMING. 



In my remarks on swarming, in page 54 of " our Journal," 

 I stated that I had never seen an old queen, that was prevented 

 by unfavourable weather from going off with a swarm, destroy 

 her own royal offspring in the cells in which they were matur- 

 ing. Whilst doing so I had no intention of affirming that 

 such an occurrence had not been observed by others. Mr. 

 Taylor, in his manual on bee-keeping, when speaking of the 

 issue of a swarm being prevented by weather, remarks, " The 

 reigning sovereign will avail herself of this compulsory deten- 

 tion in severally destroying the young princesses as they are 

 matured. An old queen is permitted by the bees to do this, 

 but it is otherwise with a young one till a later stage." In 

 this account of the matter other authorities agree, but I am 

 not satisfied with the grounds on which their conclusions are 

 founded. Huber, in one of his experiments, placed three royal 

 cells in a hive containing a fertile queen, which were imme- 

 diately pounced upon and pierced by the jealous sovereign. 

 In another experiment immediately after the departure of a 

 first swarm he found seven royal cells " close at the top, but 

 open at the side, and quite empty." 



Now, it was natural to conclude that these royal cells had 

 been destroyed by the old queen, but perfect evidence of the 

 fact is wanting. They might have been destroyed by a young 

 queen which had escaped from her cell. That young queen 

 might have gone off with the swarm, or fallen a sacrifice after 

 her work of destruction in a mortal struggle with her own 

 mother. It does not appear that the old queen was seen to 

 destroy the royal cells. She might or she might not have done 

 so ; and this is what I would like to know, Whether any apiarian 

 has had indubitable evidence of the queen, through swarming 

 being delayed, deliberately setting to work to destroy the royal 

 cells of her maturing offspring ? That a queen introduced to 

 a hive containing royal cells will destroy them, or that royal 

 cells introduced into her hive will be torn open by her, is suffi- 

 ciently proved by the experiment of Huber first referred to, 

 and I can also imagine circumstances in which she would 

 destroy cells tenanted by herself. For example, if she were 

 removed a couple of days from her hive, and again restored to 

 her dwelling, the destruction of royal cells might take place. 

 This was inferentially proved by me in the course of last 

 summer. On July 23rd a Woodbury box threw a large top 

 swarm. The swarm was located in a common straw hive for 

 thirty hours, and placed at some distance from the parent stock. 

 Then about sunset the bees were all shaken out on to the ground, 

 and made once more to re-enter their hive. As soon as settled 

 the central hole of the parent stock was opened and the skep 

 containing the swarm placed over it. I argued that the queen 

 would probably remain in the skep for a day or two before 

 descending to the parent stock, and that if she did she would 



