October 13, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



297 



they differed from the Chittagongs, and should pass under a 

 different name. A committee was appointed, and the name 

 Brahma Pootra given ; it being the name of the great river 

 from the banks of which they came. The name was then 

 established. 



7tb, Weight of cocks, fall-sized, 12 to 141bB. ; cocks, six to 

 seven months, 9 to 10 lbs. Hens when first introduced 9 to 

 10 lbs. 



8;h, I did notice the "pea-comb" on the first birds. It was 

 small. It was not so with all, and yet it appeared different 

 from the comb of the Chittagong. 



9th, There was no degeneracy in the birds of my breeding. 

 I had some specimens larger than the imported birds. I sold 

 no birds until December, 1850. I sold at first at 12 dolls, per 

 pair, and soon after from 15 dolls, to 50 dolls, per pair. The 

 prioe went up as the fowls became better known, and recognised 

 as a distinct breed. 



10th, I bred them eight years, when my health failed, and I 

 was obliged to leave all care for a time. 



11th, There was a tendency to throw dark chickens, but a 

 greater tendency to become lighter, and yet not white like the 

 White Dorking. All breeds of fowls having dark and light 

 feathers can be varied either way to darker or lighter by choos- 

 ing always the darkest or the lightest for breeders. If our stock 

 of Brahmas is pure and they are allowed to breed together 

 promiscuously, the variation in colour will be slight. I never 

 bred to either extreme. — Virgil Cornish — (Poultry Bulletin.) 



THE NEW METHODS OF CONTROLLING THE 

 FERTILISATION OF THE QUEEN BEE. 



Referring to Mr. Dax's method of controlling the fertilisa- 

 tion of queens, Mr. Kohl, a bee-keeper of Arnstadt, Thuringia, 

 makes the following statement. 



" On the 17th June, 1868, Mr. H., a tailor of B , whom 



I know to be a thinking and able bee-master, related to me as 

 follows : — 



"Last July one of my colonies (which are all domiciled in 

 Dzierzon hives), which I had purposely deprived of its queen, 

 hatched out a young one. I instructed my son, a young man 

 nineteen years of age, and by no means inexperienced in bee- 

 keeping, to watch the bees carefully during my absence in 

 church, and to pay especial attention to this particular hive, 

 the young qneen of which I had not yet seen, but whose exist- 

 ence was according to my calculations perfectly certain, and 

 who might possibly take a wedding flight during my absence. 

 Oq my return my son informed me that the young queen had 

 made her appearance on the alighting-board, and had attempted 

 to take wing, but had fallen down and was still crawling about 

 in the sand. I immediately sought for and found her, when I 

 discovered to my extreme chagrin that although her wings were 

 fully developed, she was perfectly unable to fly. From sheer 

 pity I allowed her to crawl from my hand into the hive. The 

 next day she reappeared, repeated her vain efforts to fly, and 

 again fell to the ground. I took her up as gently as before and 

 examined her minutely, but failed to discover the cause of her 

 incapacity. I observed symptoms which determined me to 

 make an experiment with her. 



" For this purpose I confined her under a large tumbler, to- 

 gether with ten drones from another hive. About ten minutes 

 afterwards I looked at her again, and saw, evidence that fertilisa- 

 tion had taken place, and oould only regret that I had not kept 

 a constant watch upon her. I replaced her in her hive, and 

 three days afterwards I satisfied myself that she was still there, 

 and that to my extreme delight she had commenced egg-laying. 

 From that time the colony increased rapidly, and is now one 

 of my strongest stocks, although still retaining the same 

 queeD. 



" After this accidental discovery I made a further experiment 

 in April, 1868, being induced to do so by the possession of a 

 stock which had become queenless during the winter. This I 

 supplied with a brood comb so as to enable it to raise a queen, 

 the fecundation of which appeared possible even so early in the 

 season, since I had already found several drones in another 

 hive. When the young queen had hatched out, I placed her 

 with a few drones under a tumbler, where I left her for a 

 quarter of an hour, and saw that in this case also fertilisation 

 had taken place. Both stocks, with queens which have been 

 fertilised under tumblers, are at this moment in the most 



flourishing condition, as may be witnessed by anyone who likes 

 to pay a visit to my apiary, and to whom I shall have pleasure 

 in opening my hives and submitting them to inspection." 



HOW LONG ARE YOUNG QUEENS IN 

 EMBRYO ? 



I have read with very great pleasure the various letters 

 which appeared in your columns from the pens of the " Devon- 

 shire Bee-keeper " and Mr. Pettigrew on the question " How 

 long are young queens in embryo?" The "Devonshire 

 Bee-keeper " maintains that sixteen days are required for 

 hatohing, while Mr. Pettigrew holds with equal tenacity that 

 fourteen days only are necessary for this purpose. I have to 

 congratulate both writers on the fine spirit they show, the 

 evident love of fairplay which characterises their letters, and 

 their earnest desire to arrive at the truth ; and while each 

 holds to his own opinion with great firmness, yet I believe 

 great good will be the result by leading others to examine for 

 themselves. 



I was anxious to know the opinions of other authors on 

 this rather important matter, and referred to Langstroth " On 

 the Honey Bee," where, at page 46, he says, " The respective 

 stages of the royal bee are as follows : she passes three days in 

 the egg, and is five a worm. The workers then close her cell, 

 and she immediately begins spinning her cocoon, which occu- 

 pies her twenty-four hours. On the tenth and eleventh days, 

 and a part of the twelfth, as if exhausted by labour, she re- 

 mains in complete repose. Then she passes four days and a 

 part of the fifth as a nymph." It is on the sixteenth day, 

 therefore, that the perfect state of queen is attained. But at 

 page 06, where he speaks of artificial queen-rearing, he says, 

 " In from eleven to fourteen day3 they are in possession of a 

 new queen, in all respects resembling one reared in. the natural 

 way." So that Langstroth and the " Devonshire Bee-keeper " 

 are agreed as regards rearing by the natural way. 



I then opened a somewhat portly volume, Huish on "Bees: 

 their Natural History and General Management," but his 

 chief object i3 ovidently to treat with scorn and contempt the 

 various opinions advanced by Huber, who, perhaps, has done 

 more than any other individual for the advancement of apia- 

 rian soience, and who has been very properly named " Prince 

 of Apiarians." According to Huish the egg of the queen 

 takeB about twenty-two days from the time of its emission 

 from the ovarium of the mother queen until the insect arrives 

 at its maturity. See page 80 of his work. 



Having now had considerable practical experience, and de- 

 voted much time to the study of this branch of rural eoonomy, 

 as well as from frequent observations made in the rearing of 

 queens, both naturally and artificially, I am convinced that, as 

 a general rule, the time occupied in hatching id nnder sixteen 

 days. 



I will now place before your readers my latest experiment on 

 this matter. Being desirous to introduce fresh blood into my 

 apiary, which all bee-masters should occasionally do, I applied 

 to a friend, Bome thirty miles distant, to see if he could accom- 

 modate me with a frame containing eggs, in order that I might 

 raise for myself young queens. This he willingly aooeded to, 

 and on the evening of the 17th of August my longed-for 

 treasure arrived, and on the following day, the 18th, was trans- 

 ferred to a hive which contained neither queen nor eggs. On 

 the 23rd I found six cells completely sealed over. Again on 

 the 26th I had another inspection, and found two cells addi- 

 tional, or eight in all. Next day, the 27th, I was under the 

 necessity of going to Arran to take Borne honey from my hives 

 there, and during my absence I left them under the charge of 

 a friend, in whom I had confidence, and whom I will now allow 

 to speak for himself. " Early on the morning of the 29th (or 

 the eleventh day) I opened your hive containing queen cells, 

 and to my great surprise found two cells empty ; one of the 

 queens I found running stealthily along the combs, the other, 

 as was to be expected, I found dead on the bottom of the hive. 

 On the following morning, the 30th (or the twelfth day), I 

 found two more hatched, one on each side of the comb, both 

 alive, but one of them, being weakly, soon died ; the other was 

 engaged in a violent and murderouB attack upon the cell 

 nearest maturity, and the inmate of which was dragged out 

 dead about midday. An hour afterwards the sixth left its cell 

 strong and healthy. On September 1st (or the fourteenth day) 

 the seventh and eighth made their appearance, and, taking all 



