46 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 12, 1877. 



to attack and destroy her rivals who are still in their cradles. 

 This is at any rate usually the case, though sometimes a second 

 young queen is permitted to escape, and a duel then takes place 

 between the aspirants to the throne. 



Some years tinee an account appeared in your Journal of what 

 I witnessed in my unicomb hive. The eldest princess when at 

 liberty constantly attempted to gain access to the cells of her 

 rivalB, and was as constantly repelled by the workers who had 

 charge of the imprisoned queens. If she came near to the royal 

 cradles the workers seized her by her legs or wings and speedily 

 compelled her to retire. She would then begin to pipe in a 

 clear Bhrill note, and the imprisoned queens responded in hoarse, 

 dull, short notes. 



About a fortnight since the eldeBt princess in one of my hives 

 began piping in a hoarse note before she had obtained her 

 liberty, and, as I predicted, the following day sharp clear piping 

 was audible, showing that she was at liberty, and I could hear 

 two imprisoned queens responding in hoarse notes. Wishing 

 to save the queens without allowing the bees to swarm I opened 

 the hive and removed two royal cells, the only sealed ones which 

 I then discovered, and the young queens were introduced to 

 queenless hives and were well received. I saw the queen which 

 was at liberty, and heard her pipe while the comb was still in 

 my hands. Next day piping was still going on in both keys, 

 and after some trouble I discovered another closed royal cell. 

 This I opened and allowed the queen to walk out ; Bhe was then 

 introduced to a swarm in my unicomb hive. Piping in a shrill 

 note continued in the parent stock during the remainder of the 

 day, but there was no response, as only one queen then remained 

 in the hive. — J. E. Briscoe, Albrighton, Wolverhampton. 



Ceacked Eggs. — It often happens that valuable eggs get 

 cracked in the nest, or before putting them under the hen, or 

 in the incubator. Such may be saved by the application of a 

 little mucilage or liquid glue with a camel-hair brush over the 

 crack, and then rolling the egg in fine plaster of Paris. 



TURNING OUT BEES. 



Last year I made what Mr. Pettigrew calls a "turn-out," 

 but was disappointed in finding a considerable quantity of young 

 brood in the combs of the old hive. What was the reason of 

 this ? The hive swarmed on the 10th of July, but the bees 

 returned and swarmed again on the following day. Twenty-one 

 days after (August 1st) I turned the bees out, and found several 

 combs containing brood varying from the egg to the stage when 

 the brood is still white. According to Mr. Pettigrew there 

 should have been none in the combs but some drones nearly 

 matured. The bees had been hanging out about a fortnight 

 before they swarmed. — C. S. Millard, Notts. 



[We are obliged to Mr. Millard for the above communication, 

 for it gives us an opportunity of explaining what may occasion- 

 ally happen in an apiary. The brood, or some of it, which was 

 found on the twenty-first day after swarming was, we imagine, 

 about six days old, for the brood of working bees is sealed over 

 when it is from eight to ten days old. The young queen had 

 begun laying about the fourteenth day after swarming. Queens 

 are fourteen days in their cradle cells, and generally speaking 

 begin laying from eight to fourteen days after being hatched. 

 In trying to explain the mystery of the case before us we shall 

 give two reasons why young brood was in the hive. One is 

 that the queen which commenced laying so soon after the 

 hive had swarmed was perfect and ready to burst out of her 

 cell at the time of swarming. A matrimonial alliance may have 

 been effected three or four days after her birth. It is j ust possible 

 that both of these events happened, and that the queen com- 

 menced laying at an early day. These things come within the 

 circumference of possibilities, though they rarely happen, for it 

 is very unusual for bees to permit young queens to be perfeoted 

 before the mother queen leaves the hive with the first swarm. 

 If weather prevents bees from swarming (first time) till the 

 young queens are approaching maturity they are torn from their 

 cells and cast out of the hive dead. It is rare indeed that bees 

 allow young queens to come within forty-eight hours of the 

 time of their maturity while the mother queen is in the hive. 



The second reason we have to give of the brood being un- 

 usually early is probably the right one. No history of the queen 

 that went with the swarm has been given ; nothing has been 

 Baid of her doings either before or after swarming. Most likely 

 she was sister (not mother) of the queen left in the hive, both 

 having been produced from the eggs of the old or mother queen, 

 which died about fourteen days before swarmiDg took place. 

 On the supposition that the old queen died when the bees began 

 to cluster outside, it will be observed that swarming took place 

 and egg-laying commenced at the usual times or in the ordinary 

 course of events. All is natural and common on the supposi- 

 tion that the old queen died before the bees swarmed, anofthis 

 is not an unusual occurrence. In Buch cases swarming is post- 

 poned till the young queens arrive at perfection, when " piping " 

 commences. If we had seen the hive at the time we could 



have told with certainty whether the old queen had died or nofe 

 before swarming. The turning-out process is a useful one, and 

 twenty-one days after swarming is the right time for it. Mr. 

 Millard may turn out bees for as many years to come as we have 

 done in the past without finding another case so exceptional. — 

 A. Pettigrew.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Guinea. Fowls [Q. P.). — The time required for incubation is from twenty- 

 eight to thirty days. 



Honey Remaining in Cells (H. T.), — The pressure of the air beeps it 

 in. If there were a small hole made through the bottom of the cell the 

 honey would flow, for then the pressure of the air would be equalised at each 

 end, and the gravity of the honey would cause it to flow. There is a slightly 

 elevated rim round the mouth of each cell, which rim also helps to retain the 

 honey. 



Artificial Swarming (Rose). — You have done well to swarm your beea 

 artificially, and thus prevent them from wasting their time in clustering 

 about the door of their hive. The swarm we think will be strong enough 

 without the bees of the old stock, though doubtless they would make it 

 stronger. If the stock is heavy now you might succeed in gettiiag another 

 bar-frame hive filled by driving all the bees of the stock into it on the twenty- 

 first day after swarming ; and if you take the honey in the autumn from 

 the other hive, which you have supered.its bees could be united to the second 

 swarm or turn-out. Thus two hives of honey and the super and two good 

 stocks of bees would be obtained. Dahlias are not hurtful to beea. Your 

 success this year will give you courage and confidence amongst your bees. 



Flies in Room (Musca). — Burning coarse brown paper in a room drives 

 some out and stupefies the remainder. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 





Ca 

 Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. 



iiden Square, 

 Long. 0° 8' 0' 



London. 

 W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 





Date. 



9 A.M. 



In the Day. 





1877. 



Barome- 

 ter at 82° 

 and Sea 

 Level. 



Hygrome- 

 ter. 



a • 

 So 



a'Sfi 



Shade Tem- 

 perature. 



Radiation 

 Temperature. 



.9 



July. 



Dry. 



Wet. 



Max. 



Min. 



In 

 sun. 



On 



grass. 



deg. 

 82.0 

 45 8 

 41.6 

 41.8 

 41.5 

 44.7 

 50.0 



42.9 





We. 4 

 Th. 5 

 Fri. 6 

 Sat. 7 

 Sun. 8 

 Mo. 9 

 Tu. 10 



Inches. 

 29 998 

 29.958 

 29 870 

 30.121 

 80.231 

 30.314 

 30.208 



deg. 

 63.6 

 63 5 

 58.2 

 58 5 

 58.7 

 60.3 

 67.1 



61.4 



deg. 

 57 4 

 55.2 

 52.0 

 52.4 

 53.0 

 55.6 

 61.2 



N.W. 

 W. 



w. 

 w. 

 w. 



s.w. 

 s.s.w. 



deg. 

 60.8 

 61.0 

 60.0 

 59.0 

 58.5 

 582 

 59.0 



deg. 

 71.4 

 71.1 

 67.0 

 69.9 

 63 4 

 (97 

 77.6 



deg. 

 62.2 

 49.2 

 46.3 

 44.2 

 43.6 

 48.3 

 83.6 



deg. 

 124.4 

 123.7 

 121.6 

 124 2 

 114.3 

 106 

 121.9 



In. 



0.420 

 051 

 0.170 

 0.090 



Means 



80.100 



55.3 





59.4 



70.0 



45.3 



119.4 



0.731 



REMARKS. 

 4th. — Morning rather grey; fine at midday, and pleasant throughout. 

 5th. — Fine morning ; showers during the afternoon, and heavy thunder be- 

 tween 6 and 7 p.m., with heavy rain and some hail. 

 6th. — Fine morning ; rain at noon ; thunder in the afternoon, but fine night. 

 7th. — Fine all the morning; but severe thunderstorm and heavy rain at 8p.m. 

 8th. — Fine morning ; sharp shower at 1 p.m. and again at 6 p m., but fine after- 

 wards, though cloudy at night. 

 9th.— Fine morning ; rather stormlike in the afternoon, hut soon passing off, 



and fine night. 

 10th. — Very fine all day aud very warm. 



Much cooler than last week, with somewhat frequent thunder. The very 

 low grass minimum on the 4th was due to the heavy fall of hail on the previous 

 evening.— G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN HAKKET.— July 11. 

 Outdoor fruit is now beginning to put in an appearance, but showing at 

 present a light crop aud making good prices. Trade for best goods brisk. 



Apples 



Apricots 



Cherries 



Chestnuts 



Currants 



Black 



Figs 



Filberts 



Cobs 



Gooseberries .. £ 

 Grapes, hothouse 

 Lemons t 



$ sieve 



dozen 1 



lb. 



bushel 



J sieve 3 



j sieve 



dozen 8 



lb. 



lb. 



bushel S 



lb. 2 



^100 6 



d. s. d. 



Melons 



Nectarines ..., 



Oranges 



Peaches 



Pears, kitchen., 



dessert , 



Pine Apples .... 



Plums , 



Raspberries ... 

 Strawberries ., 

 Walnuts 



ditto 



s. d. s. d 

 each S 0to8 

 dozen 12 30 

 & 100 10 



dozen 8 

 dozen 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes dozen 



Asparagus ty 100 



Beans, Kidney . . V 100 



Beet, Red dozen 



Broccoli bunale 



Cabbage ■ dozen 



Carrots bunch 



new bunch 



Capsicums ^100 



Cauliflowers .... dozen 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts doz. bunches 



Cucumbers .... each 



Endive dozen 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunoh 



Lettuce dozen 



Leeks bunch 



Mushrooms .... pottle 



s. d. s. d. 

 3 0to6 

 8 6 

 10 2 

 16 8 6 

 6 

 



Mustard & Cress 

 Onions 



pickling 



Parsley.... doz. 



Parsnips 



Peas 



Potatoes 



Kidney 



New 



Radishes., doz. 



Ehubarb 



Salsafy 



Scorzonera .... 



Seakale 



Shallots 



Spinach 



Turnips 



new 



Veg. Marrows .. 



dozen 



lb. 



J sieve 



lb. 



lb. 



bushel 



#■100 



punnet 



bushel 



quart 



bunches 



dozen 



quart 



bushel 



bushel 



lb. 



bunches 



bundle 



bundle 



bundle 



basket 



lb. 



bushel 



bunch 



bunch 



each 



d. 

 2 too 

 

 4 

 

 

 6 

 6 

 

 2 

 

 6 





 

 



1 



4 

 5 

 

 1 

 1 

 1 





 



