October 25, 1877. ] 



JOUENAL OP HORTICOLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



335 



the depth from 1 foot 6 inches upwards, and the height a foot or 

 upwards. In any event there will be a few little holes which 

 should be seen to. It is best to nail a slab over any hole. If 

 the wood is thick this course will be quite sufficient ; if, how- 

 ever, the thickness is only half an inch it is advisable to nail a 

 thin slab along each joint and a thick slab crossways. If a 

 few bands of iron be used it will also strengthen the frame, a 

 necessary precaution if the hutch is ever likely to be removed. 

 The next thing will be to provide a nest place for the young. 

 The way to do this will be to divide the hutch into two parts, 

 one of which should be at least double the size of the other. 

 The partition Bhould be of thick boards, say an inch or 1J inch ; 

 this will be a great strengthener to the hutch itself, and will 

 keep the top in its place, otherwise it will be a little liable 

 to fall in, in which case the front will not open well. There 

 will have to be a hole for the Babbits to get through — a 

 circular one about 5 inches in diameter. The edges should be 

 rounded and tinned to prevent gnawing. The frame will have 

 to be the exact size of the outside portion, the door for the 

 smaller being made small for the purpose of increased warmth 

 and privacy. The floor should be planed as smooth as possible 

 to facilitate cleaning, and the harder the wood the better will be 

 the result. A small rack should be put up at the corner farthest 

 from the Bleeping compartment to hold hay and green stuff. 

 This will keep it clean and dry and Bave a great deal of waste, 

 as the Rabbits do not care about food after it has been trampled 

 upon. The roof should be protected to keep the wet out. A 

 second layer of boards is perhaps the best plan, and the next is 

 to nail a piece of carpet or felt over it. In any case the top 

 should extend a few inches beyond the front to prevent the rain 

 from beating in. 



A shutter should also be constructed the exact size or per- 

 haps a little wider than the front. This can be let down at 

 night or in wet weather, and if a padlock be used will be some 

 protection against biped and quadruped nocturnal marauders. 

 The whole of the outside of the hutch should be well painted 

 with two coats of good brown or buff paint, and the inside should 

 be whitewashed. Both should be renewed every spring, and 

 the hutch will be found to last longer if this matter be well 

 attended to. 



In selecting a place for an outdoor hutch a high fence or wall 

 should be preferred, as by that means both wind and rain will 

 be kept off. A corner at the junction of two high walls is very 

 good.— Geta. 



Importation of Eggs. — Last year the value of the eggs im- 

 ported into England was A'2,612,231, but even this large im- 

 portation failed to satisfy our requirements, and the high price 

 of eggs in the market at the present time Bhows that we can buy 

 more and eat more if we can only get them. It seems probable 

 that substantial help in this as in other matters relating to food 

 supply will come from the other side of the Atlantic. Canada is 

 establishing an egg trade with us which promises to assume im- 

 portant dimensions. Last week one steamer alone brought to 

 Liverpool from Canada 280 barrels of eggs, and there is every 

 prospect of a continuous stream of eggs setting in from that 

 country. The Canadians cannot, in fact, keep up their hens, 

 who lay more eggs than the colony can consume. The market 

 report of the Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator of the 9th of August 

 mentions that eggs were "very quiet," there being really no 

 wholesale trade in them at present. In Ottawa fresh eggs were 

 Belling at 12 cents — that is, 6d. a dozen. Eggs at this price would 

 be a boon to the British housekeeper, and might take the place 

 of meat, in which case there would be less grumbling and gout. 



ARTIFICIAL FOUNDATIONS. 



Oub transatlantic friends quite transcend the British bee- 

 keepers in experiment and invention. Almost every modern 

 invention in bee-keeping is an outcome of American activity, 

 and comes across the Atlantic Ocean to us. While we are hardly 

 half awake to the possibility of improvements the American 

 apiarians compass and perfect them. While John Bull is putting 

 on his boots our friends across the water can travel across a 

 continent. The American bee-keepers have bluer skies and 

 warmer summers than we have, and therefore have greater en- 

 couragements to make exertions and experiments. The exer- 

 tions made do not all end in important discoveries, and many of 

 their inventions are of no practical value. The impressed 

 sheets of wax called " comb foundations " are in my humble 

 opinion the best things that ever came from American bee- 

 keepers to this country, as they are likely to be extensively used 

 when their practical value becomes known. What I now say is 

 nothing more than opinion, for I have not tested by experiment 

 the worth of comb foundations introduced into hives. A few 

 weeks ago I asked Mr. Hunter of Ealing to send me a small bit 

 of foundation comb for examination. As this year's consign- 

 ment had not arrived, he sent me a bit of last year's lot, which 

 came safely by post, and which I admire much. It is a capital 

 imitation of natural comb, so perfect in form and manufacture 



that every apiarian who examines it cannot avoid admiring the 

 ingenuity and machinery which produce it. It is rather darker 

 in colour than natural virgin comb, and I fancy the walls of the 

 cells are slightly thicker and contain more wax than natural 

 comb. In a note accompanying the small piece of comb found- 

 ation referred to Mr. Hunter says that " this is rather a thin 

 sample as readily accepted by the bees, but not so quickly 

 worked-up into comb, the bees having to supplement the supply 

 of wax from their own resources. The sheets are made from 

 4 to 9 square feet to the pound, the heavier furnishing ample 

 wax for the bees to complete the combs." 



The value of these wax foundations to the bees and bee-maBters 

 is still, of course, au open question, and doubtless various and 

 differing conclusions will be come to by apiarians when extensive 

 experiments are made with them. All I can say at present is 

 that I have formed a very favourable opinion of them, and that 

 if the bees take to and adopt them readily they will be useful 

 in many ways, especially in Bupering. But comb foundations 

 meant for supers should be made of wax well bleached, and 

 made as white as possible. We all know that wax, like flax, is 

 bleachable. If bees readily adopt comb foundation bee-keepers 

 will find it an easy matter to entice their bees to commence 

 work in supers. A few large pieces of foundations fitted in 

 supers and running from tops to bottoms will serve to draw the 

 bees into them as Boon aB the hives on which they may be 

 placed become full. For swarm hives meant for stocks comb 

 foundations of a darker colour, or made of wax not so well 

 bleached, may be used. For swarm hives nothing but bee comb 

 foundations should be introduced, and for supers nothing but 

 drone comb ; the reasons for so doing are easily understood. 



By using two or three sheets of foundations in swarm hives 

 it is likely that all the eggs queens may lay after swarming may 

 be set for brood. When Bwarms are placed in empty hives the 

 bees have not cells enough for the eggs laid by their queens, 

 and almost invariably place eggs in cells before their natural 

 foundations are well laid. The walls of the cells in Bwarm hives 

 are frequently built up and around the eggs placed on their 

 foundations, and doubtless if artificial foundations answer the 

 end for which they are made eggs will be set in them before 

 they are completed. I will not venture to say more about these 

 American sheets at present. My object in noticing them now 

 is to help Mr. Hunter in calling the attention of bee-keepers 

 generally to them. According to the statement made by Mr. 

 Hunter in this Journal a few weeks ago the price of these sheets 

 of comb foundations is very moderate indeed — 2s. (id. per pound 

 if I remember rightly. My wax in the lump and unbleached 

 Bells readily at 2s. per pound. If it be found by experiment, 

 ample and satisfactory, that bees readily adopt the artificial 

 foundations and work them up into combo, we may safely predict 

 that they will be extensively used by the bee-keepers of Great 

 Britain and a very good account given of them. — A. Pettigkew. 



LIGUEIAN BEES. 



My experience of Ligurian bees is not very great, extending 

 only over the past season, but during that time I have en- 

 deavoured to make myself as much acquainted as possible with 

 their - peculiar excellencies or deficiencies. A Ligurian queen 

 was Bent to me by Mr. Abbott towards the end of May. From 

 a very large skep, holding about a bushel, I drove a swarm and 

 introduced the stranger queen to the driven stock. She was 

 received amicably, and at once proceeded to depoBit eggs in the 

 thousands of empty cells. Nine days after a powerful swarm 

 was led-off by the Ligurian, and it joined itself to another 

 swarm from a neighbouring hive. By casting all the bees upon 

 a white cloth a yard or bo in front of a bar-frame hive I managed 

 to catch both queens under wine-glasses. I returned the black 

 queen to the hive whence she had led the swarm, and to make 

 all sure I placed the Ligurian for twelve hours in a cage and 

 inserted it between the frames. She was duly released, and 

 next day had deposited lots of eggs. Young Ligurians appeared 

 twenty-six days after at the mouth of the hive. I had seen 

 them first on the combs twenty-two days after the insertion of 

 the queen. Gradually the powerful black colony died-out, and 

 the third week in August none but yellow bees inhabited the 

 hive excepting a few drones, which were soon after expelled. 

 Meantime the Ligurian princess was proving herself a worthy 

 successor, and young bees hatched-out after all those which 

 must have been the progeny of the pure queen appeared to me 

 to differ nowise from their older relatives either as to size or 

 colour, although the young queen must have been fertilised 

 by a black drone. Both hives made honey while the sun Bhone, 

 and I was able to take a Bectional super with five sections com- 

 plete, and two nearly filled but not sealed, from the bar-frame 

 hive before the honey season ended. Weight of seven sections 

 16J lbs. Every frame, ten in number, was filled with beauti- 

 fully built comb, started upon a guide of worker pattern mid- 

 rib 4 inches deep. These combs are perfection for the extractor, 

 all straight as a line. Four were taken but and given to a 

 weaker stock, and I have kept my yellow-jackets busy fixing old 



