412 



JOUKNAL OF HOBTIODLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ November 22, 1877. 



Bay that there ia no advantage in having hives legs than a foot 

 high. I think there ia an advantage gained in having straw 

 hivea a little more than 12 inches deep. In bar-frame hives 

 there are no cross sticks to steady and support the combs, and 

 very few, if any, of them exceed 10 inches deep. The moveable- 

 comb system or frame hive ia now in the hauda of many able 

 bee-keepers, and doubtless will be well tested and perhaps im- 

 proved in the coarse of a few years. 



The third question cornea to what is termed " Mr. Pettigrew's 

 system of bee-keeping" — a system which I follow and recom- 

 mend, which my father before me followed and improved, but 

 the system ia not oura in any aense by invention. It lived before 

 na and should not bear our name; it belonga to the country. 

 Aa this Kilkenny gentleman wanta to know what our system of 

 bee-keeping is I will try to put it before him in a tangible form 

 and in few words. 



Our aim is to get all the honey and profit possible from our 

 beea. We use nothing but straw hives for stocks and swarms, 

 aa we have found them better for bees and combs than wooden 

 hivea, and far more easily handled and managed. Wooden 

 hives do very well for summer weather and crowded hives, but 

 during the autumn and winter months their inner surfaces be- 

 come wet with the condensed moisture of the bees, and thia 

 condenaed moisture rota much of the comb. The portions of 

 comb thus destroyed have to be taken down and cast out and 

 new comb built in their places. The late Mr. Woodbury, who 

 was an honest and enlightened bee-keeper, saw for himself the 

 evil effects of wooden hives, and afterwards had hi : frame hives 

 made of straw. Some of the bar-frame school have their hives 

 made of straw, and by-and-by many others will doubtlesa copy 

 their example. Combs perish in the presence of moiatire, and 

 even straw hiveB if wet by rain in the winter months wi'.l cause 

 their combs to become mouldy and rotten. All hivas should be 

 well covered and Btind on boards not much wider than theti- 

 Belves, and the boards should be slightly bevelled so as to let 

 the rain that may fall on them ran off and outwards. 



In coming to deal with general management we shall have to 

 touch on swarming, supering, eking, nadiring, feeding, &c, for 

 our system admits and embraces all theBe. 



By swarming we multiply Btocks and obtain hives full of freah 

 sweet combs and youthful queens in them, and have plenty of 

 beea from the honey hivea to strengthen the stocks and make 

 them doubly strong to face and bear the storms of winter and 

 do the work of spring. On the non-swarming principle queens 

 become old and die, combs become black, tougb, and pollen- 

 bound, and the system does not provide a surplus stock of beea. 

 On the swarming principle more bees are produced, more work 

 done, more honey gathered in good seasons, but in unfavourable 

 seasons the non-swarmiDg system has the advantage. Our hives 

 are of simple construction and free from complications, and 

 therefore anawerfor all kinds of enlargement — viz., eking, super- 

 ing, and nadiring. Swarming is an instinct of bees — a law of 

 their existence and well-being. Eking is the only safe mode of 

 enlarging hives to prevent swarming. In hot seasons neither 

 supering nor nadiring does this with certainty. 



We covet and take all the early swarma we can, for early 

 swarms with ua often attain to great weighta and fill large supers 

 in autumn. If the mother hives have had a good turn on the 

 fruit trees they are generally pretty heavy at swarming time, 

 and yield us a good harvest of honey three weeks after swarm- 

 ing. The bees are then driven into empty hives. Thus a hive 

 yields two swarms and a harvest of honey by June. We are 

 well satisfied with 20 and 25 lbs. of good honey from each of 

 our early swarmers. This honey sells readily here at Is. 3d. 

 per lb. Very well, the bees driven from their home and honey 

 commence at once to furnish the new house and make it 

 as comfortable as the old one. These " turnouts," for that 

 is their name, become in good seasons healthy strong stocks 

 for another season. The bees of the first swarm, which yields 

 the largest harvest of honey and honeycomb, are united in 

 autumn to the turnout, and thus it is made very strong indeed. 

 If the weather be unfavourable for the turnouts to commence 

 housekeeping we feed them, and we can well afford to feed 

 them from the proceeds of their own produce. Four pounds of 

 sugar costing Is. made into syrup enables a swarm to make a 

 great deal of comb, and thus make a good beginning in house- 

 furnishing. If the weather be unfavourable for honey-gather- 

 ing before swarming, the parent hivea are too light to yield 

 much honey. In such cases we do not turn their beea out, 

 generally Bpeaking, but occasionally take second swarms from 

 them, for in good seasons they, like first awarmB, become too 

 heavy for stocks. Hives well filled with honey in July and 

 August are not very eligible for keeping. 



In honey seasons almost all the first swarms require more 

 room about a month after they have been hived. If honey- 

 comb be our aim we super; if we merely want a great quantity 

 of run honey we enlarge the hives by ekes ; if we wish to obtain 

 both honey and an increase of stooks we uae nadirs — the nadirs 

 or bottom hives become stocks, and the top ones yield honey. 

 If all our hivea become too heavy for keeping we take the honey 



rom them all, putting two of the swarms into an empty hive 

 and feeding them with syrup into a stock. In such BeasonB the 

 profits of bee-keeping are great. Sometimes we cut large portions 

 of honeycomb from a hive in July, and let the bees fill-up the 

 spaces. We have no hard-and-fast line, often dodge or Btart 

 aside to modify our practice. We frequently turn our hives up 

 to see what the bees are doing inside and what is wanted. In 

 bee-keeping the secret of success is to have good hives. They 

 need little attention and command the interest and attention 

 of their owners. Success produces pleasure, creates enthusiasm, 

 and guides bee-keepers in the right direction. — A. Pettigbew. 



OUR LETTEE BOX. 



Showing Buck Bantams (.D. E.).— The bird has no chance of success if 

 the white is visible. 



Poultry-Feeding (J. W.).— Discontinue the potatoes, and feed the birds 

 as long as they will ran after their food ; mis but a little at a time, and by 

 observing the consumption closely, you will answer the question better than 

 we can. You should keep them at 2W. per head per week if they have & grass 

 run. 



Magpie Pigeon {Young Fancier).— The head, neci, crop, the scapular 

 feathers, and the tail are coloured — as black, blue, red, yellow, &c. ; the rest — 

 as the wings, the lower part of the breast and thighs— are white, and in the 

 accuracy of their marking their value consists. The scapular feathers being 

 dark overlay the upper part of tho wings, which cause them to appear some- 

 what narrow. They are called, according to colour, Black Magpies or Red 

 Magpies. 



Silkworms (B., Sussex.) — We are not a Tare that silk worms have anywhere 

 in England been reare 1 and managed so as to be of commercial importance. 

 It is not usual to raise the Mulberry from seed. If you do so, the seed should 

 be washed out of the ripe berries, preserved in dry sand, and sown in the 

 following February. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



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



Date. 



9 A.M. 



In the Day. 





1877. 



■ 



Hygrome- 



a . 



°s~ 



Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



'3 



ter. 



3-3 



2*s 



&3 



perature. 



Temperature. 



Nov. 



3So,3 











In 



On 









Dry. 



Wet. 



So 



H 



Mas. 



Min. 



Bun. 



grass. 







Inches. 



deg. 



deg. 







de». 



deg. 



deg. 





In. 



We. 14 



SO 087 



S6 2 



36 2 



W.N.W 



45.1 



49.0 



34.7 



63.2 



80.5 



0.050 





30.296 



510 



50.1 



S.W. 



45.2 



54.4 



361 



68.3 



85 9 



0.031 



Fri. 36 



30.250 



56.1 



55.2 



s.w. 



48.1 



59 1 



50.8 



86.6 



49 3 





Sat. 17 



81.424 



89.3 



S9.2 



N W. 



46.3 



43 



32.9 



61.4 



29.3 







Sun. IS 



SO 134 



43.2 



42.2 



S.W. 



44.5 



61,1 



35.8 



67.0 



33.2 







Mo. 19 



29 923 



41.8 



41.0 



s.w. 



43.9 



48 6 



32.3 



53.2 



27.3 



0.210 



Tu. 20 



29 556 



38.2 



S7.0 



s.w. 



43.4 



48.4 

 51.2 



319 



76.8 



80.6 

 S3.S 





Means 



80.095 



43.7 



43.0 





45 2 



36.8 



67.3 



0.284 



REMARKS. 

 14th. — Very foggy early, fine afterwards, and bright evening. 

 15th. — Much warmer; wet and dull all day. 

 16th. — Overcast in morning, very hot sun a'j midday ; fine night. 

 17th. — White frost in morning, fine day; very foggy evening. 

 ISth. — Fine all day, hut not very sonny. 



19th. — Early morning fine, then dull with steady rain after 10 A.M. 

 20th. — White frost, fiae, cold, bright day ; briLliaut evening. 

 Rather cooler, with frequent ground frosts. — G. J.*Symons. 



COYENT GARDEN MARKET.— November 21. 

 We have nothing of note to report since last week, trade being very quiet ; 

 and though the supply of outdoor goods is shorter, prices remain the same. 



£ sieve 2 



Apricot b dozen 



Chestnuts bushel 10 



Currants J sieve 



Black | sieve 



Figs dozen 



Filberts lb. 



GCobs lb. 



Gooseberries ..A bushel 



Grapes, hothouse lb. 1 



Lemons ^100 6 



d. s.d. 



6 to 5 

 



Melons 



Nectarines .... 



Oranges 



Peaches 



Pears, kitchen.. 



dessert 



Pine Apples .... 



Plums 



Raspberries .... 

 Walnuts.. 



ditto 



each 1 



dozen 



& 100 10 



dozen 



dozen 1 



dozen 2 



lb. 8 



\ sieve 



lb. 



bushel 5 



^100 



d. s. 



6to4 











































a 









 16 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes dozen 



Beans, Kidney., bushel 



Beet. Red dozen 1 



Broccoli bunale 



Brussels Sprouts £ sieve 2 



Cabbage dozen 1 



CaiTots bunch 



Capsicums ^100 1 



Cauliflowers.... dozen 2 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworts doz. bunches 2 



Cucumbers .... each 



Endive dozen 1 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Lettuce dozen 1 



Leeks bunch 



d. s. 

 0to4 



Mushrooms .... 

 Mustard & Cress 

 Onions 



pickling 



Parsley.... doz. 



Parsnips 



Peas 



Potatoes 



Kidney 



Radicbes.. doz 



Ehubarb 



Salsafy 



Scorzonera .... 



Seakale 



Shallots , 



Spinach 



Turnips 



Veff. Marrows.. 



pottle 



punnet 



bushel u 



quart 



bunches 2 



dozen 



quart 



bushel 



bushel 



bunches 



bundle 



bundle 



bundle 



basket 



lb. 



bushel 



bunch 



each 



s. d. s. 

 1 6 to 2 

 2 

 

 4 











6 



6 











