86 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 26, 1877. 



machines for making comb foundation are too costly for me, or 

 I should very much like to have three or four intermediate be- 

 tween worker and drone size, and so aspire to eventually breed 

 my "worker bees as large as present drones. What a "wonderful 

 lot of flowers might then be brought under contribution to fill 

 our supers ! I commend the idea to those bee-keepers who 

 have leisure and money to carry it out. — John Hunteb, Eaton 

 Rise, Ealing. 



FEEDING SWABMS AND COMB-BUILDING. 



As the present season has been unfavourable for bees in many 

 parts of England, late swarms are not in a good condition for 

 winter. No one can say what the weather may do for bees in 

 August if they be taken to the moors. Strong hives have been 

 known to gather from 50 lbs. to 60 lbs. each on the heather; in 

 some few eases more than 60 lbs. in very fine seasons. But as a 

 great number of Eaglish bee-keepers do not remove their hives 

 to the heather, I deem it well to suggest that prompt and 

 proper attention be given to the feeding of late swarms which 

 are intended to be kept for stocks. 



Idleness in a bee hive during the summer months is the 

 mother of mischief. While bees have a disposition to build 

 combs and multiply population it is a stroke of good poUcy to 

 keep them pretty fully employed at this work. This can be 

 done by artificial feeding in unfavourable weather. A few 

 pounds of sugar made into syrup will be of far greater service 

 to swarms now than it would be at a later period of the year, 

 for every square inch of comb built now will yield a hundred 

 bees (two sets of brood) by September. It is of very great im- 

 portance to have swarm hives well filled with combs and brood 

 now if strong stocks are wanted for another year. Later in the 

 season bees are less inclined to build combs and multiply num- 

 bers. Artificial feeding then is more likely to cause the bees 

 to elongate their cells, and thus thicken their combs for store 

 room for winter food. If artificial treatment be necessary to 

 prepare stocks for winter, the sooner it is resorted to the better 

 for the reasons now given. 



Late feeding is less productive of comb and brood, and is 

 attended with greater risk. There is the risk of cold inclement 

 weather destroying bees in fetching water for their young, and 

 also of chilling the brood in the combs. By feeding swarms 

 now they may be converted into valuable stock hives. Syrup 

 well administered will cause the bees to recommence comb- 

 building, and as comb-building progresses so will the population 

 of hives. Six or eight combs well filled with brood in August 

 will fill a hive full of young bees by the end of the month, 

 making it a strong and eligible stock for another season. A 

 young and energetic farmer said to me the other day that 

 " manure is the honestest thing in the world ; that money is 

 honest, but manure is honester be cause it yields a larger return." 

 I turn from this clever and successful farmer to the bee-kesperB 

 of England, to remind them that sugar properly given to bees 

 is a good investment, and will in time yield a large return. 

 Generous feeding in seasons of scarcity not only prevents dis- 

 appointment and lose, but puts beginners on the high road to 

 success. — A. Petiigbew. 



BEE-KEEPING. 



Last September I drove twenty-four hives and made them 

 into twelve, and fed them to the weight of 25 lbs. to 35 lbs. This 

 spring I drove sis swarms ; the other six I put bell-glasses on 

 9 inches across. One glass I have taken off with 10i lbs. of 

 honey in; three more I have are not quite sealed-up. The other 

 two have partly filled their glass, and have left it by swarming; 

 and ten or twelve stocks I fed, six I drove, and two swarmed, 

 making twenty in all. Six I drove twenty-one days after swarm- 

 ing, the others I have left with glasses on ; but I am very pleased 

 to state that I found no young beeB in any of my hives but one, 

 and not many in that. Now, I should like to drive my twenty 

 stocks the latter end of this month and feed them up, and then 

 in September I shall be able to get some cff of my neighbours. 

 This year I mean driving one hundred stocks and feeding them 

 np to fifty, for I can get plenty of beeB by paying Is. per hive. 

 The worst job I have to do is to get the bees out of the glass. — 

 W. H. Attwood. 



A Snail Coffined in Wax. — In a chapter on the ingenuity of 

 bees I stated that I was not sure whether I had seen in my early 

 days a dead snail coffined in wax in one of my father's hives. 

 About a fortnight ago I found a dead snail in one of my own hives, 

 not coffined but covered with wax. It was daubed over with wax 

 and slightly sealed to the board on which it lay. I look on this 

 fact as a confirmation of what some have said in illustration of 

 the wonderful sagacity and ingenuity of bees. — A. Petiiqbew. 



OUR LETTER BOS. 



Driving Bees (J. H., Sussex).— If your object is to get a large harvest of 

 honey this year yon cannot do better than drive the bees from the old hive ' 



and nnite them to the second swarm, and feed them into a stock strong 

 enough for winter, and drive the bees from the first swarm hive into the nadir 

 below it. This can be easily done, and yon need not trouble yourself to find 

 the queens. When the bees of the old hive are united to the second swarm 

 ODe of the queens will be destroyed ; it does not matter which, for both of 

 them are young. The best time to unite the swarms will be about the end 

 of August, when most of the brood of the hives will then ba hatched. Tom- 

 attention to feeding during the spring months has been followed by com- 

 parative success in the present season. 



Treatment of Driven Stock (S. TV. Fenn).—Yoa say that on the lft-b, of 

 July you drove a swarm of May 25th which you found three parts full of 

 brood, and you ask if you were to let it staad without any bees (old one3), 

 whether "the young would come off all right and do good." They may per- 

 haps do well enough, hot it is a risky thing to do. It would have been much 

 better had yon put this hive, empty of old bees but full of young brood, in 

 the place of some other strong hive in the middle of a fine day, shifting the 

 strong hive to another stand some distance off. We would advise you not to 

 drive your other swarm so late in the year, and in such a had season too. If 

 you have resolved to do it for some reason not stated you had better wait till 

 the second week in August, and then feed both hives liberally; bat do not 

 treat the brood as yon did before, if there should happen to be any, or yon 

 will certainly lose the hive. In such cases it is of cen a long time before the 

 young bees find out their want of a queen, and when they set about repairing 

 their loss there is often no suitable brood to work with. Not only so, much 

 of the young brood perishes for want of attention from the nursin? bees 

 that have bsen removed, atd the whole hive suffers from corrupting brood 

 dead in the cells. Certainly no worse way of treating your begB could you 

 have adopted.— B. & W. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Sqcaee, London. 



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



Date. 



9 A.H. 



Ik the Day. 







.3 



Hygrome- 



c • 



="S^ 



Shade Tern- 



Radiation 



.3 





agaj 



ter. 



IS 



3:0 



peratnre. 



Temperature. 



s 



July. 











In 



On 









Dry. 



Wet. 



So 





Max. 



Min. 



sun. 



grass- 







Inches. 



deg. 



deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 



We. 18 



29.869 



62.2 



54.2 



s.w. 



59.0 



69.0 



52.6 



121.0 



49.9 



— 



Th. 19 



29.851 



63.0 



57.9 



s.w. 



60.1 



73.1 



56.0 



123.3 



54.6 



013 



Fri. 20 



29 932 



60.8 



51.0 



w. 



60.9 



7i.3 



54.9 



122.9 



59.2 



— 



Sat. 21 



3'.C4l 



62 3 



54.8 



w. 



61.0 



72 



484 



121.0 



44.3 



— 



Son. 22 



29-823 



62.6 



57 6 



s.w. 



62.0 



t7.8 



54.2 



8>.9 



49.1 







Mo. 23 



29.668 



65.2 



61.0 



s. 



61.9 



71.3 



58.8 



102.8 



53.8 



0.496 



Tu. 24 



29.584 



63.4 



57.3 



s. 



61.9 

 61.0 



73.2 

 71.0 



55.1 



122.0 



53^ 

 50.8 



— . 



Means 



29.824 



62.9 



56.3 





54.3 



113 7 



C.511 



EE HARKS. 

 ISth. — Windy and rather cold, hut very bright all the forenoon ; rather lesB 



so afterwards, but fine all day. 

 39th. — Fine bat rather dull at 9 a.m. ; slight shower at noon and again in the 



evening ; a dull and almost sunless day. 

 20th — Very fine morning, rather dull about 2* p.m., but as a whole a very fine 



day, and a starlit night. 

 21st. — Fine morning and a most beautiful day throughout. 

 22nd- — Rather grey and dull till noon; flue .afternoon and evening, though 



looking stormlike at 8 p.m. ; fine after. 

 2iJrcL — Doll morning, showery day, and wet night. 

 24th. — Not very bright early, bat very fine after, and splendid evening. 



The temperature of the week very like that of its predecessor, but weather 

 beautifully dry and pleasant generally, only one really wet day. — G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— July 25. 

 A vert heavy supply of gools this week, and all makiog fair prices. The 

 late rain has completely damaged the Cherry crop, samples from all parts of 

 the country arriving in very bid condition. Strawberries are nearly over 

 Currants plentiful; a good crop, especially Black. 



Apples 



Apricots ... 

 Cherries . . . 

 Chestnuts . 

 Currants.. , 



Black ... 



Fies 



Filberts 



Cobs 



Gooseberries .. £ 

 Grapes.hothouae 

 Lemons 



i sieve 



dozen 



lb 



bushel 



i sieve 



£ sieve 



dozen 



lb. 



lb 



bushel 



lb. 



¥"103 



FRUIT. 



s. d. s. d. i 



OtoO I Melons 



16 3 Nectarines 

 3 1 j Oranges .... 



I Peaches . 

 4 6 ! Pears, kitchen, 

 dessert 



each 3 



dozen 6 

 v 100 10 



dozen 8 



dozen 



dozen 



lb. 2 



Plums i sieve 



f» Raspberries lb. 



3 6 4 6, Strawberries .. lb. 



2 8 Walnuts- bushel 5 



6 10 i ditto ^100 



VEGETABLES. 



d. S. d 



0to8 



20 



16 



3 



4 



5 12 Pine Apples 



SO 











5 







Artichokes dozen 



Asparagus #■ 100 



Beans, Kidney.. ^103 



Beet. Bed dozen 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts J sieve 



Cabbage dozen 



Carrots bunch 



Capsicums & 100 



Cauliflowers — dozen 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts doz. bunches 



Cucumbers — each 



Endive dozen 



Fennel buo ch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Lettuce dozen 



Leeks bunch 



Mushrooms 



Mustard & Cress 

 Onions 



pickling 



Parsley.... doz. 



Parsnips 



Peas 



Potatoes 



Kidney 



Radishes., doz. 



rhubarb 



Salsafy 



Scorzonera .... 



Seakale 



Shallots 



Spinach 



Turn-its 



Veg- Ma-r ows.. 



pottle 1 



punnet 

 bushel 

 quart 

 bunches 

 dozen 

 quart 

 bushel 

 bushel 

 bunches 

 bundle 

 bundle 

 bundle 1 

 basket 

 lb. 

 bushel 2 

 bunch 

 each 



d. s. d 

 6 to 2 















c 







1 



4 

 5 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 

 

 

 4 

 1 

 



