262 



JOUKNAL OF HOETICULTUEB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ September 27, 1S77. 



In seasons like the present one, when hives are light and 

 easily handled, we shake our bees out of their hives by a speedier 

 process than that of driving. An honr after feeding them th9 

 bees are found setting very loosely amongst their combs. We 

 then lift the hive gently off its board and balance it on our 

 hands in its natural position over an empty hive. By giving 

 the hive a sudden jerk or shake the bees are cast into the empty 

 one. The hives have cross sticks in them, and therefore their 

 combs are not easily shaken loose. Often we cast the bees from 

 their hives by lifting them 2 or 3 feet and letting them drop 

 on the mouths of the empty hives. Both hives and bees are 

 put in motion by the law of gravitation, and when the empty 

 hives stop the full ones, the bees go forward and fall on the 

 bottom of the empty hives. We have not once this year resorted 

 to the driving process in removing bees from their hives, save 

 in the time of swarming. The bees of condemned hives were 

 shaken and thumped out in the way described above. With 

 bar-frame hives whose combs are moveable the bees may be 

 easily and speedily removed from their combs by a handbrush. 

 With such hives both driving and shaking are unnecessary. We 

 would lift the combs out one by one and sweep the bees into 

 an empty hive. After the crown board has been removed ten 

 bars of combs covered with bees may be swept clean by a hand- 

 brush in a few moments. 



After bees are driven oi shaken out of their hives they are 

 generally united to other stockB with a view to make them 

 stronger. This practice cannot be too strongly recommended, 

 and the art of uniting bees cannot be too carefully studied, for 

 bees naturally resist invaders, xai if fighting begin a fearful 

 slaughter takes place in a very siiort space of time. I have seen 

 whole swarms, containing I daresay twenty thousand bees, killed 

 in less than an hour. The bees of the hives receiving the 

 swarms are the butchers in these case3 ; very few of their own 

 ranks are lost in these slaughterings. Failures in efforts made 

 to unite bees result from non-compliance with some necessary 

 preparation or condition. Strategic movements are necessary 

 here as well as on the battlefields of contending armies. If the 

 city is to be invaded the citizens must first be put off their 

 guard ; fill them with hilarity and joy, and put all in a state of 

 excitement and merrymaking. Good sugar syrup given in a 

 warm state will do this. As bees know strangers by smell, it is 

 well to prevent them from knowing strangers or invaders during 

 the uniting process. This is dona- by the presence of some over- 

 mastering substance, such as crushed mint or grated nutmeg. 

 By feeding both swarms with syrup strongly scented an hour 

 before uniting them, and sprinkling all after they are cast to- 

 gether, the union may be effected without the loss of a bee. 

 Careful and wise generalship in the union of swarms will pre- 

 vent all slaughter. The best time to unite bees is after sanset 

 or later in a dark room or cellar, and replacing them in the 

 garden before daylight nest morning. If the hive which is to 

 receive the swarm has no brood in it its bees could be driven into 

 an empty hive and there kept for two or three hours. Mean- 

 while the other swarm could be cast amongst the combs, and 

 afterwards the bees that were driven from them. Tnis is rather 

 a laborious mode of uniting bees, but it is a safe and successful 

 one, for both swarms are cast into the city as strangers and have 

 nothing to defend. A few days ago I had a swarm of bees 

 weighing 4 or 5 lbs., which I divided into three lots with a view 

 to strengthen three hives standing close by. Minted syrup was 

 given to the hives half an hour before the beas were given to 

 them. Two lots were well received, but in the third hive the 

 invaders were attacked at once, and would all have been 

 slaughtered in ten minutes if I had not shaken all the bees out 

 into an empty hive. They were all strangers in the empty hive 

 without disposition to fight. In the empty hive they f ratrrnised 

 and cemented a lasting union, and amid peace and good will 

 they were cast back into the hive of combs from which they 

 were dislodged. — A. Pettigrew. 



British Bee-eeepees' Association. — At the Paris Inter- 

 national Exhibition in 1S78 a large amount of space has been 

 allotted to the above Association, on which their members may 

 exhibit the British apiarian manufactures. 



OUR LETTER BOS. 



Bath, Gbakville, "Weymouth, ant, Ipswich Shows — Mr. Tomlinson 

 informs n", that having sold the birds he intended exhibiting at the above 

 Shows, his entries were not filled. 



Management of Bbahsias {Anxious). — We disapprove your feeding. We 

 dislike sharps, maize meat, and potatoes. The first is not so pood as barley- 

 meal. We never could induce oar birds to eat the second. The third in- 

 variably canse disease of the liver. The grass may lessen these ill effects, 

 and the birds seem to fcnow it. Give them barleymeal slaked in the m ru- 

 ing; whole corn, maize, or barley, or, if you can, kronen scraps at mid-nay, 

 and slaked barleymeal in the evening. You will find them improve in 

 weight, feather, and appearance. No mistake is so great as to feed ou 

 inferior food for economy's sake. If instead of measure you bought your 

 food by weight you would generally see the most expensive food was the 

 cheapest. You can, of cour3e,!try it by weighing, bat a teat is always at hand. 



Take a small quantity of barley and pnt it in water. The expensive, if it be 

 worth its cost, will almost all sink to the bottom; the cheaper will cover 

 the surface of the water with light grains and rubbish. 



Dake Beihsia and Hocdan Ceoss.— " C." asks, to produce good table 

 fowls, whetber to use a Dark Brahma cock for Hondan hens, or a Hondan 

 cock for Brahma hens, having regard both to quality of meat and early 

 maturity for the table, as well as weight ? 



Wasps Esteems Hives (B. S.).— Wasps do not cause bees to leave their 

 hive. Your old hive has been lost from some other cause, probably the loss 

 of its queen. After bses have lost their queen they gradually dwindle away 

 till none remain. Sometimes both bees and queen leave a hive— go off to- 

 gether ai a swarm— from sheer starvation or from the intolerable Btench of 

 foul brood. It is not at all likely that the bees of your deserted hie entered 

 any of your other hives. If they had attempted to do so they would probably 

 have been killed at the door. All you can do to prevent wasps from entering 

 your remaining hives is to contract their doors and thus enable the bees to 

 defend their hives. Wasps never master the bees of healthy hives, though 

 they occasionally enter them when sentinels are not on duty. Ihe bees of 

 healthy hives are so large and courageous that wasps dare not meet or face 

 them iu open combat. 



Weak Hive (Norfolk).— The swarm you hived at the end of August, and 

 which has not made much comb, is very weak indeed. If the few combs it 

 has made are not covered with bess you would have great difficulty in keep- 

 ing ii alive till spring. Your better way will ba to unite the bees of this weak 

 hive to the other hive, for it, too, is doubtless in a weak state by reason of its 

 swarming so late, 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSEBYATIONS. 



Camden- Squabe, Lokdon. 



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



Date. 



9 A.M. 



In the Day. 





1S77 



o|i . 



Hygrome- 



a . 



° H -l 



Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



| 



;ei = 



ter. 



23 a 

 I? 



Eb 5 



perature. 



Temperature. 



S 



Sept. 



S§5>3 



I 



3lG~ 







In 



On 









Dry. Wet. 



3 "3 





Max. 



Min. 



son. 



grass. 







Inches. 



deg. deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 





In. 



We. 19 



80.102 



56 9 53.5 



N.W. 



56.9 



60 2 



52.2 



73.7 



467 



0.040 



Tn, 20 



29.821 



52.2 50.1 



N.W. 



56 1 



55.4 



43 3 



63.0 



435 



0.082 



Fri. 21 



29 732 



43 2 45.3 



N.W. 



54.0 



53.1 



33.6 



10S.9 



347 



0.03S 



Sat. 22 



29 913 



4S.8 45.2 



N.W. 



52.3 



5S.5 



39.9 



108.4 



35 3 



0.013 



Snn.23 



29-S92 



52.5 ! 4S.3 



N.W. 



52.2 



55.3 



43.6 



99.8 



39. 3 





Mo. 24 



3V56 



51.8 ! 47.9 



N.W. 



52.0 



59.0 



41.6 



100.9 



35.9 







Tu. 25 



30 217 



47.6 45.0 



W. 



51.0 



57.1 

 53.1 



36.1 



9L1 



31.3 



S3.2 



0.032 



Means 



29.971 



51.3 43.0 





53.5 



43.0 



92 3 



0.225 



REMARKS. 

 19th.— Dull and grey all day and all night ; no sua at any timi during the 



day. 

 20th. — Doll and rainy at times, very dark all day till 5 p.m. ; after that time 



much finer. Corioas radii from the moon between 9 and 9.5 p.m. 

 21st. — Very bright morning, short sharp shower at 1 p.m., hail at 2 15 p.m. ; 



fine afternoon and evening. 

 22nd. — Very fine and bright all day, but rather cold. 

 23rd. — Doll morning, but soon clearing off; dartfor a short time about noon, 



but fine afterwards, thoagh cold. 

 24fch. — A very fine autumnal day, dry and bright, but rather cold. 

 25th. — Hazy in early morning, bright forenoon, rather doll in afternoon, and 



hazy after sunset. 

 Temperature generally about 1° lower than that of last week, partly owing 

 to the absence of sun, and partly to the prevalence of north-westerly winds, — 

 G. J. Sraoss. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— Septembeb 26. 

 A vert general decline has taken place in the value of foreign good?, 

 owing to the large quantities reaching as consequent upon the high prices 

 realised last week, otherwise there is very little alteration to quote. Kent 

 Cobs have sold well, and with a good supply have maintained their value. 

 Trade generally quiet. 



FETJTT. 



Apples i sieve 



Apricots dozen 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants i bieve 



Black | sieve 



Figs dozen 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries ..£ bushel 

 Grapes, hothouse lb. 



Lemons 3*100 



Artichokes 



Asparagus 



Beans, Kidney.. 



Beet. Red 



Broccoli 



Brussels Sprouts 



Cabbage 



Carrots 



Capsicums 



Cauliflowers — 



Celery 



Cole worts doz. b 

 Cucumbers .. 



Endive 



Feonel 



Garlic 



Herbs 



Lettuce 



Leeks 



dozen 



13- 100 



bu>hel 



dozen 



bnnile 



£ sieve 



dozen 



bunch 



=£•100 



dozen 



bundle 



uncb.es 



each 



dozen 



bunch 



lb. 



bunch 



dozen 



bunch 



d. s. d. 

 6 to 3 6 

 





















 







i 



6 



6 



I 



* 



10 1 



Melons 



Nectarines .... 



Oranges 



Peaches 



Pears, kitchen., 



dessert 



Pine Apples .... 



Plums 



Raspberries ... 

 "Walnuts 



ditto 



each 1 



dozen 4 



& 100 10 



dozen 3 



dozen 1 



dozen 2 



lb. 5 



J sieve 10 



lb. 



bushel 5 



V10J 



d. s. 

 6to4 



VEGETABLES. 



d. 



U too 



Mushrooms .... 

 Mustard & Cres3 

 Onions 



pickling 



Parsley doz. 



Parsnips 



Peas.l 



Potatoes 



Kidney 



Radiihes.. doz. 



Rhubarb 



Salsafy 



Scorzonera .... 



Seakale 



Shallots 



Spinach 



Tarn ps 



Veg. Marrows.. 



pottle 1 

 punnet 

 bushel 



quart 

 bunches 2 



dozen 



quart 

 bushel 3 

 bushel 5 

 bunches 1 

 bundle 

 bundle 

 bundle 1 

 basket 

 lb. 

 bu-hel 2 

 bunch 



each 



d. s; d 

 6 to 2 

 2 

 

 4 

 

 



1 



5 



7 

 1 

 1 

 1 

 

 

 Q 

 4 

 



D 



