64 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE G1RDENER. 



[ July 19, 1877. 



strong both in population and supplies. It had a yonng half- 

 breed Italian queen of last year breeding as well-marked workers 

 as many an imported queen. This hive was carrying pollen 

 more or less all the winter and very largely in February, so 

 much so that the bees kept up a summer-like hummiDg through- 

 out that month ; nor did the hive cease working like some others 

 in the miserably cold weather of March and April. For all that 

 the hive did not swarm till the 31st of May, at leaBt a month 

 later than it would have swarmed in ordinarily seasonable 

 weather. The swarm, however, was so large that in the course 

 of three weeks with the fine weather of early June it had com- 

 pletely filled its box — a fac-Bi'mile of the parent hive, and con- 

 structed seven combs full of honey, but not all sealed up, in a 

 super. Since then there has been absolutely nothing harvested 

 nor any more comb made. The honey is fast disappearing from 

 all the open cells, and the bees have shrunk in numbers appa- 

 rently to about half what they appeared before ; and yet a 

 quantity of brood must have been hatching every day since the 

 21st of Jane, for I saw quantities of sealed brood in several 

 combs ; moreover there is hardly a drone to be seen in the hive 

 nor in any other part of my apiary save where I have young 

 queens coming on or just winged. I am writing on the 6th of 

 July, in the midst of thundery weather and with quantities of 

 white clover in bloom in our rich pastures, yet the impoverish- 

 ment of the hives continues everywhere. Nor can the weather 

 be complained of, since it has been for the most part bright and 

 hot, though not so hot as in the early part of June. It seems 

 to me that flowers do not generally bear honey in any quantity 

 until the plants that produce them have reached their full 

 prime. This occurs generally in pretty even distribution, all 

 the plants reaching that prime pretty well together. Then, if 

 the weather is propitious, often quite suddenly, the secretion of 

 honey begins, and continues in the case of that particular plant 

 for several weeks at a time. The forwardness or lateness of the 

 season has much to do with the time when this secretion of 

 honey commences and continues. 



Hereabouts we have but two such periods of honey supply in 

 the year. I believe this is the common experience in all parts 

 of England where heather is not found ; and even where heather 

 abounds the duality of the honey seasons usually prevails, for 

 in this case there is commonly a scarcity of apple and other 

 fruit blossoms, and not much honey is collected in May. The 

 clover is late this year — fully three weeks or even a month 

 behind time ; I am therefore not without hopes that we may get 

 a fair yield of honey yet. I have known it come in quantities 

 so late as the first week in August. 



To return to my apiary. The stock which gave me the swarm 

 of May 31st threw off a cast fully equal in size to the original 

 swarm on the 9th of June. This was hived in a box of the same 

 character and size, not bar-framed, and was located in the old 

 stock's place. To my surprise the latter, though moved to no great 

 distance in my garden, and consequently loBing almost every 

 fully-grown bee, recovered population so rapidly that it is now as 

 strong a stock as any in my apiary. I must, however, state that 

 this stock is the one referred to in my communication at page 23 

 of the current volume of this Journal, into which the queen of a 

 neighbouring hive is supposed to have entered when returning 

 home after an abortive attempt to swarm. Certainly a large 

 portion of the returning swarm entered it and remained there. 



It will thus be seen that my best stock has multiplied itself 

 to three, all equally strong in population or nearly so. The 

 Bwarm and old stock are well supplied with comb and honey, 

 while the cast is already three parts full of comb, although 

 sharing the general stagnation of the apiary at the present 

 moment. The swarm and cast too have both supers partially 

 filled by them with comb and honey, but it remains to be seen 

 what my honey harvest will be. As I am shortly leaving home 

 for a month it will be some time before I can report progress. 

 Meanwhile let us hope for continuous fine weather suitable for 

 the ingathering. — B. & W. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



At the Staffordshire Poultry Show, advertised to-day, we see several 

 classes not previously patronised ; among them are Black Cochins and Leg- 

 horns aDy colour. We believe every care will be taken of the birds, and to 

 return them immediately after the Show. 



French Eggs. — The declared value of eggs imported this year to the 

 30th nit. was £1,434,885, against £510,663 in the same period last year. 



Various ( r. Hill).— We cannot publish Cowan's honey extractor. Write 

 to the special rose nurseries for those you need. The lectures on bees have 

 not been published. 



Bees Casting Out White Drones (Novice).— The grubs are young drones 

 that have been torn from their cells before arriving at maturity. In un- 

 favourable seasons such as the present one bees not unfrequently cast out 

 imperfect drones, and their doing so may be viewed either as a precautionary 

 measure against dreaded poverty and starvation, or as an indication that 

 their hopes and anticipations of future success are somewhat checked and 

 blighted by unfavourable weather. Shall we trace the conduct of bees in the 

 destruction of brood to their wiBdom aforethought ? Premeditation there 

 must have been, followed by united action. Hives that are full enough for 

 swarming and prepared to some extent for Bwarming are often discouraged 

 by a change of weather, and begin to cast out uohatcbedtruod and sometimes 



destroy perfect drones. Such hives are on the confines of poverty, and 

 abandon for the time being the idea of swarming. On a return of fine weather 

 the hopes of the bees are once more exoited, all their combs become filled 

 with brood, and preparations for swarming again take place. This may 

 happen more than once in a season unfavourable* for honey-gathering if arti- 

 ficial feeding be not resorted to. In cold seasons, and also at the end of all 

 seasons, we find that bees kill and cast out drones which are in such times 

 useless members of their communities. It ie doubtless an inBtinct of their 

 economy to do so, and may be viewed as a wise provision of nature. This 

 season one of my hives began to cast out white drones a few days after it had 

 yielded a firBt Bwarm — a moBt unusual occurrence. The swarm of our corre- 

 spondent which was obtained on the 10th of June and housed in a Nutt hive 

 has probably not filled its hive with combs, and therefore is not ready for 

 superiug or entering a Bide compartment of the hive In this part of Cheshire 

 the season has been worse for bees than any we have had for many yearB. 

 The appearance of white drones outside our hives in the middle of July fore- 

 shadow that our sugar basins may be as much needed as our honey jars in 

 the autumn of 1877. — A. Pettigrew. 



Babbits (Lackjieldi. — Buy our Rabbit manual. Toucan have it free by 

 post if you enclose eight postage stamps. 



Dressing Babbit Skins (Small Boy).— Take the skin as fresh as possible, 

 and having mixed a sufficient quantity of salt and water till it will bear an 

 egg, saturate it with alum. Put the skin into this bloodwarm, and let it 

 lie and eoak twenty-four hours ; then take it oat, and having tacked it upon 

 a board (the fur inwards) scrape the skin, and a thin membrane will come 

 off; then, having warmed up the pickle again, put the skin into it a second 

 time, and let it remain five hours more, after which take it out and nail it 

 upon a board to dry (fur inwards), and then rub it with pumicestone and 

 whiting. Hare and other skins may be prepared in the same way. They 

 are always in best condition for preparing in the winter. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8 - 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 



Date. 



9 A.M. 



In the Dat. 







g«co» 



Hygrome- 





o'Si 



Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



.3 





ter. 





R3§ 



perature. 



Temperature. 



W 



July. 



SjIj 





®tt) 







In 



On 









Dry. Wet. 



Go 





Max. 



Min. 



sun. 



grass* 







Inches. 



deg. ' deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 



We. 11 



30.084 



64.0 60. 



N.W. 



61.9 



74.6 



5S.5 



120.3 



50 3 



— 



Th. 12 



29.999 



65.2 57.6 



E. 



61.9 



756 



53.3 



113.0 



48.4 



— 



Fri. 13 



29 779 



64.0 ' 60.1 



W. 



62.0 



75.6 



49.6 



127.1 



47.1 



0.045 



Sat. 14 



29.568 



66.9 63.0 



s. 



63.6 



69.8 



59.8 



110.8 



57.6 



0.705 



Son. 15 



29.210 



643 [ 59.4 



s.w. 



62.4 



69.5 



55.8 



119.2 



55.8 



0.178 



Mo. 16 



29.359 



60.7 1 58.2 



S.B. 



61.8 



63.3 



54.4 



98.8 



50.6 



0,396 



Tu. 17 



29.483 



60.2 57.4 



S.W. 



60.1 



63.6 



55.0 



84.0 



52.0 



— 



Means 



29.640 



63.6 1 59.4 





62.0 



70.3 



64.5 



110.5 



61.7 



1.824 



REMARKS. 



11th. — Dull and stormlike all the morning and till past noon, after that fine 

 and pleasant all day. 



12th. — Fine but rather overcast at 9 a.m. and till noon ; the alter part of the 

 day very bright, with fine evening and night. 



13th,— Beautifully bright with nice breeze all day. but rain at 10.40 p.m. 



14th. — "Wet at 9 a.m., fine before noon, but showery after, and a very wet 

 night. 



15th. — Rain in early morning, fair at 9 a.m. ; sunshine and showers alter- 

 nately all day, the rain at times very heavy; thunder about 2 p.m. 



16th. — Fine early, but rain began before 9 A.M., and continued all day and 

 night except in the evening. 



17tb. — Ball, grey, showery day throughout. 

 Mean barometer rnnch lower than during the preceding week. The mean 



9 a.m. temperature abc it 2° and the night temperature 9° higher ; but the 



sun temperature is 9° less, the rain was both frequent and heavy, and in 



the early part of the week thunder was heard almost daily, — G. J. Simons. 



COYENT GARDEN MARKET.— July 18. 

 The late rainB have damaged tbe outdoor fruit very much, most of it 

 arriving in very bad condition, and causing prices to fall. There is still a 

 good demand for first-class goods, such a^ Peaches, Nectarines, Pines, Melons, 

 and the higher qualities of Grapes. Trade steady. 



Apricots Hi i". 



Cherries lb. 



Currants £ sieve 



Black £ sieve 



Figs dozen 



Gooseberries....^ bushel 

 Grapes, hothouse.. lb. 

 Lemons ^100 



Artichokes 



Asparagus 



Beans, Kidney.. 



Beet, Red 



Broccoli 



Brussels Sprouts 



Cabbage 



Carrots 



Capsicums 



Cauliflowers — 



Celery 



Coleworts doz 

 Cucumbers .... 



Endive 



FeDnel 



Garlic 



Herbs 



i Lettuce 



Leeks 



dozen 



19-100 



■^ 100 



dozen 



bun ale 



4 sieve 



dozen 



bunch 



^100 



dozen 



bundle 



bunches 



each 



dozen 



buocb 



lb. 



bunch 



dozen 



bunch 



. d. b. d. 

 6 to 8 

 3 10 

 4 





 12 

 4 6 

 8 



b. d. s. d 



Melons each 8 Oito 8 



Nectarines doz. 5 20 



Oranges ^ 1C0 10 16 



Peaches doz. 8 0"' 



PineApples lb. 2 



Raspberries lb. 6 



Strawberries lb. 6 



Walnuts bushel 5 





 5 

 1 

 1 6 



8 



VEGETABLES. 



d. 8. ( 

 0to6 



Mushrooms .... 

 Mustard & Cress 

 Onions 



pickling 



Parsley.... doz. 



Parsnips 



Peas 



Potatoes 



Kidney 



Radiahes.. doz. 



Khubarb 



Salsafy 



Scorzonera .... 



Seakale 



Shallots 



Spinach 



Turnips 



Veg. Marrows .. 



pottle 



punnet 



bushel 



quart 



bunches 



dozen 



quart 



bushel 



bushel 



bunches 



bundle 



bundle 



bundle 



basket 



lb. 



buehel 



bunch 



each 



s. d. s 

 1 6 to 2 

 2 







4 











6 



i; 

 o 







