298 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 11, 1877. 



impressed upon me the importance of gentle stimulative feeding 

 in early spring, both with barleysugar or syrup and pea flour, in 

 order to have a powerful army of workers, early swarms, and 

 hives full of hatching brood before the honey season, which is 

 bo short in our cold climate, commences. The stocks of the 

 cottagers near here who cannot be brought to attend to their 

 bees, but who have kept bees, some of them for fifty years, 

 swarmed (where they swarmed at all) in the very midst of the 

 short period of ingathering, some "hanging out " for days, and 

 wasting those precious hours only to be found this autumn not 

 worth the trouble of " taking up." Yet for all that many went 

 down into the sulphurous pit. An old man who has kept bees 

 for nearly sixty years, who likes to walk round my garden and 

 see the tees filling the supers, yet who cannot be brought to 

 employ any new methods, has this year burnt all his bees un- 

 known to me until too late to save them. He tells me that they 

 had done nothing for him for some years now, and that he had 

 given them up in disgust. The first week in July I heard him 

 talking in an excited manner to a neighbour, and as I passed he 

 called out to me to tell me that " The Lord had sent him a 

 swarm of bees." None of his own had swarmed, but a powerful 

 colony had settled on his chimney. The neighbour hived them, 

 and left the skep on the roof. In the evening not a bee was in 

 the Bkep, all were in the chimney, the queen, doubtless, not 

 having been secured at the first. Here the bees remained until 

 during my absence from home last month they were smoked out, 

 a few pounds of honey obtained, and an immense quantity of 

 valuable comb thrown into the " boiling pot," their more lowly 

 sisters perishing the same evening. In contrast to this " wilful 

 sinner" is a young man, an invalid, who has by my directions 

 increased his one stock of the spring of 1876 to five powerful 

 hives, one a bushel skep, into which he placed two powerful and 

 one weak swarms, and from which after driving the bees he ob- 

 tained over 40 lbs. of valuable honey. The beeB were returned, 

 and are being fed-up into a splendid colony. A super of 8 lbs. 

 was obtained from another hive, and now the five are in good 

 condition to pass through a long winter. The next step in the 

 right direction will be the employment of bar-frame hives. My 

 own stocks are now thirty-one in number, only five of which 

 remain in 18 or 20-inch skeps, all the others have found their 

 homes in bar-frame hives, and those of the five skeps will do 

 the same as soon as I can make hives into which to transfer 

 them. — P. H. Phillips, Offley Lodge, near Hitchin. 



BEE-KEEPING IN NORTHUMBERLAND. 



I have three large hives which made over 20 lbs. each on the 

 moors in spite of the weather, whilst the small hives made only 

 from 5 lbs. to 7 lbs. I can safely say that no other hives within 

 ten miles have made more than 7 lbs., hundreds of hives have 

 done nothing, and scores have died out. Such a season has not 

 been experienced for many years. Though the season has been 

 unfavourable I consider that I have been a gainer by increase 

 and improvement of stock, for I have three large hives worth 

 £6 6s. ; three smaller, £i 10s. ; one ditto, i£l os. ; one large hive 

 with bees, given to me for driving them, £1 10s. ; 14 lbs. of 

 fine honey, £1 Is. — total, £14 12s. ; deducting £3 10s. cost, and 

 sugar £3 10s., there remains £1 12s. I am glad to say I have 

 mastered the art of driving and uniting swarms. I have put no 

 lees than seven swarms into one large hive, and they are taking 

 down three pints of syrup a-day, and seem to be doing well. 

 The weather is now beautiful, and the bees are gathering quanti- 

 ties of pollen and taking water from a tub placed near them 

 with a float on the "water. 



I shall be obliged if the following questions be answered in 

 your next issue : — 1, Why do the bees in certain hives refuse 

 Byrnp offered, whilst others take nearly two quarts in twenty- 

 four hours ? 2, Is it not unusual for drones to be flying about 

 on fine days at this late season 1 3, Does the appearance of 

 drones at this time indicate that the queen is not fertile or that 

 the hive is queenless? — Hakdy-ox-the-Hills. 



[Tour correspondent has made a good beginning in an un- 

 favourable season, and from the tone of his letters I venture to 

 predict that his future career in bee-keeping will be bright and 

 successful. In answer to his first question it may be said that 

 the bees of some hives do not discover or find out the sugar or 

 syrup that is placed on their hives. There may be some dis- 

 tance between the bee nest and the Byrup which is not often 

 travelled. In such cases some enticement is necessary. A trail 

 or track of honey, or a bit of comb soaked in syrup and laid 

 between the nest and food, will soon set the bees of any hive at 

 work. No bees refuse syrup properly made and administered. 

 Cold weather may prevent the bees from leaving their warm 

 nest, and drive them back to it after they have begun to take 

 Byrup. The late Mr. Woodbury was astonished to find the bees 

 of some weak hives chilled to death with honey in their hives. 

 Our mode of feeding is from the board below the bees, and if 

 some swarm hives are not full of combs their bees do not always 

 come down for the syrup. In warm weather they never fail to 

 take the syrup, but in cold weather some enticement or contri- 



vance is resorted to. Our correspondent's second question 

 touches the appearance of drones late in the season. It is un- 

 usual for drones to be flying about at the end of September, and 

 their appearance at that time generally speaking is an indication 

 that something is wrong — either that the bees are queenless or 

 have an unfertile queen. There is good reason to suspect every 

 hive that has drones in it now; but the existence of drones in 

 some hives may be traceable to special treatment, and five 

 years ago our bees and those of many other apiarians throughout 

 England did not kill their drones till November. The hives that 

 year were full of honey, and why they did not destroy the 

 drones at the usual time I cannot tell. The non-destruction of 

 drones that year till near Chriatmas waB exceptional and extra- 

 ordinary, for our bees were blest and happy with the presence 

 of healthy fertile queens. — A. Pettigeew.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Superfcetation. — We have several communications on this subject, but 

 we do not consider it suitable to our Journal. 



Dressing Babbit Skins (P. O.J- — Take the skin as fresh as possible, and 

 haying mixed a sufficient quantity of salt and water till it will bear an egg, 

 saturate it with alum; put the skin into this blood-warm, and let it lie and 

 soak twenty-four hours ; then take it out, and baring tacked it upon a board 

 (the for inwards), scrape the skin, and a thin membrane will come off ; then, 

 baring warmed up the pickle again, put the skin into it a second time, and 

 let it remain fire hours more; after which take it oat and nail it upon a 

 board to dry (fur inwards), and then rub it with pumice-stone 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.JI. 



In the Day. 







■ 



Hygrome- 



a . 



Sal — 



Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



a 



1877. 





ter. 



=1 



perature. 



Temperature. 



M 



Oct. 









In 



On 









Dry. 



Wet. 



So 



E-l 



Max. 



Min. 



sun. 



grass. 







Inches. 



deg. 



deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 



We. S 



30.005 



45.6 



45 6 



N. 



50.3 



613 



S5 



98.4 



32.0 



— 



Th. 4 



S0.182 



48.3 



46.2 



N. 



49.9 



60.1 



37.1 



S4.0 



33.0 



— 



Fri. 5 



80 451 



50.5 ' 48.5 



N. 



49.9 



617 



40.2 



106.3 



36 



— 



Sat. 6 



30.668 



50.8 ! 47.7 



N. 



49.7 



63.4 



396 



101.2 



33 6 



. — 



Sen. 7 



30.574 



42 8 42.2 



N.W. 



49.3 



56.8 



36.4 



71.2 



31.5 



o.o;s 



Mo. 8 



30.153 



52.2 47.8 



N. 



60.2 



57.4 



43.5 



105.3 



43 5 



— 



Tu. 9 



30.314 



43 3 ' 44.2 



N. 



49.7 



57.9 



40.4 



103.6 



36 3 



— 



Means 



35.335 



48.4 . 46.0 





49 9 s 



60.2 



38 9 



97.1 



85.1 



o.o:s 



REMARKS. 

 3rd-— Fine morning, but rather hazy; rery fine day and starlit night. 

 4th. — Grey morning and afternoon; fine forenoon, evening, and night, 

 5th. — Splendidly fine all day and night. 

 6th. — Rather hazy morning and early evening, otherwise a fine bright day ; 



solar halo at 3 p.m. 

 7th.— Morning grey and hazy ; fair all day, but not much sun. 

 8th. — Rain in early morning, but fair before 9 a.m., rain once or twice, but 



only in small quantities; fine evening. 

 9tb, — Very fine morning, pleasant day, but rather deficient in sunshine; very 



slight shower in early afternoon. 

 Beautifully fine at time3, and pleasant all through the week. Temperature 

 slightly lower. Barometer very high.— G. J. Simons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— October 10. 

 "We hare very little alteration to quote. Business continues quiet. Large 

 consignments of foreign goods are reaching us and are fetching lower prices. 

 Hothouse Grapes are more than equal to the demand. Kent Cobs meet with 

 a ready sale, prices tending upwards. 



FRUIT. 



s. d. s. d. 



Apples A sieve 2 6to3 6 



Figs .dozen 10 3 



Filberts lb. 4 6 



Cobs lb. 4 6 



Grapes, hothouse.. lb. 1 6 6 



Melons each 16 4 



Nectarines doz. 4 18 



s. d. s. d 



Oranges ^HOIO OtolG 



Peaches doz. 3 24 



Pears, kitchen.. dozen 10 8 



dessert dozen 2 4 



Pine Apples lb. 5 8 



Plums ,V sieve 10 12 



Walnuts bushel 5 8 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes dozen 



Beans, Kidney., bushel 



Beet, Red 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 buoch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Lettuce dozen 



Leeks bunch 



d. s. 

 0to6 



Mushrooms .... 

 Mustard & Cress 

 Onions 



pickling 



Parsley.... doz. 



Parsnips 



Peas 



Potatoes 



Kidney 



Radishes., doz 



Rhubarb 



Salsafy 



Scorzonera .... 



Seakalc 



Shallots 



Spinach 



Turnips 



Veg. Marrows.. 



pottle 



punnet 



bushel 



quart 



bunches 



dozen 



quart 



bushel 



bushel 



bunches 



bundle 



bundle 



bundle 



basket 



lb. 



bushel 



bunch 



each 



s. d. s. 

 1 6to2 



2 







4 













