430 



JOURNAL OF H03TICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ November 29, 1877. 



In making choice of a bird for singing do not pick one with a 

 drooping tendency. The best sign of health is compactness of 

 plnmage. The throatB of birds when singing should be expan- 

 sile, a3 Mr. Varley Bays " those can warble best which have this 

 property highly daveloped." — George J. Babnesby. 



Birmingham Columbarian Society. — The members of this 

 Society announce that their Show of Pigeons will be held at 

 the "White Horse Hotel, Congreve Street, on December 3rd, and 

 to which they invite all fanciers visiting the Cattle and Poultry 

 Show. 



BAR-FEAMED HIVES AND THEIR 

 MANAGEMENT. 



No person of intelligence with an average amount of time at 

 his command who has tried fully and fairly the system of bee 

 management which encourages the use of bar-framed hive", 

 will ever return to the old-fashioned system of straw skeps. 

 The advantages of the new and more scientific principle are so 

 many and so obvious in comparison of the other — as they have 

 been again and again stated in these pages from the days of 

 Mr. Woodbury, its first great advocate here, down to our own 

 times — that it seems scarcely necessary to repeat them ; and yet 

 as there is a constant accession to the number of readers of this 

 Journal from among persons who are novices in bee-keeling, 

 and inquiries are being continually made for information on 

 this subject, I purpose to go into the matter from the beginning. 

 I am the more induced to do so because our friend Mr. Petti- 

 grew in a recent number, at page 411, when asked for informa- 

 tion on a branch of this Buhject — namely, as to " the best size 

 for a strong stock in winter, and what height for a frame hive," 

 dismisses the subject with an answer which is by no means 

 complete, and which in fact deals somewhat slightingly with 

 the whole question, th.3 truth being that Mr. Pettigrew knows 

 very little practically, as he has often admitted, of this now 

 favourite and increasingly adopted mode of bee-niaoagement. 



As I have said before, so I say again, that Mr. Petti^rew's 

 system both as to his use of straw hives and his method of 

 management is excellent in its way, and admirably adapted for 

 the one object he has in view — namely, the takmg from his 

 bees the largeEt possible quantify of honey without particular 

 reference to its quality. There is nothing new or special in 

 Mr. Pettigrew's system, as he himse.f candidly states, except 

 that he finds a much larger hive than is commonly used in tae 

 country to be in every way better and more profitable in hie 

 own locality. Some of us think that he rides his hobby of big 

 hives somewhat " to the death," as for instance when he insists 

 upon their being equally adapted to all places alike, whether 

 the honey pasturage and supply be good, bad, or indifferent. I 

 do not suppose he exactly Knows the meaning of the word 

 "illogical" when he applies that epithet to the statement that 

 "large hives are best for good neighbourhoods and rich pastures, 

 and email hives are beBt for unfavourable localities for honey." 

 ThiB self-evident axiomatic truth surely needs no proof. If all 

 places were alike in excellence and productiveness of pasturage 

 then the biggest of big hives "for ever;" but where, as in my 

 own case, the pasturage is scanty and unproductive, such very 

 large hives like Mr. Pettigrew's are worse than useless. I have 

 abundantly proved it to be true. 



Be it remembered that the dispute is not as between straw and 

 wood as materials for hives. Straw is a moBt excellent material, 

 and far better than wood, in all places where the hives are 

 exposed to severe cold, save only where proper precautions are 

 taken to protect wooden hives. This can very easily be done by 

 a variety of contrivances, such as by covering with other boxes 

 and filling the interstices with chaff or sawdust, or protecting 

 with old carpet jackets, &c. If this care be taken I can see no 

 sort of difference in the intrinsic excellence of the one material 

 over the other; I mean simply as to which is best for the com- 

 fort of the bee. I once thought that hives of straw were drier 

 than hives of wood. I have long given np that notion, except 

 in the case of quite new wooden hives. It is the habit of bees 

 to smear over everything with a kind of varnish of propolis. It 

 matters not, therefore, whether a hive be of straw or wood. 

 After the first year's use any moisture the bees may occasion 

 inside the hive will have precisely the same effect on the combs 

 in the one ease as in the other. It will run off from the sideB 

 downwards equally in both cases. In both cases it will affect 

 the combs for harm exactly in the same way. If the hives are 

 equally well peopled, equally well protected from external 

 damp, equally well situated bo as to be affected alike by any dry 

 currents of air, they will pass through the winter precisely as 

 well in the one hive as the other. That is the result of my own 

 experience of more than forty years as a bee-keeper. Therefore 

 I say that on the score of dryness there is not a pin to choose 

 between wood or straw. I have seen straw hives with the 

 oombB as damp and mildewy ae in any wooden hives I ever saw, 

 and the latter hives I find practically quite as excellent domi- 

 ciles for beeB aa anything that could be wished for. The one 



advantage of straw over wood is, that it is both warmer in 

 winter and cooler in summer. But this advantage is far more 

 than counterbalanced by the superior handiness and durability 

 of hives of wood, whether they be hexagonal, square, or oblong 

 in 6hape. The latter always retain their form, whereas after a 

 time the best-made hives of straw give way more or Ibbs, and 

 are then almost useless where accuracy of measurement is 

 wanted.— B. & W. 



Dorset Poultry, Pigeon, and Cage Bird Show ought to be 

 attractive and 6ucce6Bful, for nearly £300 in prizes are offered, 

 including thirty Bilver cups and pieces of plate. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Ckystal P Alice Poultry Show [E. Cm>»»\— The prize-list was ce itainly 

 not clearly worded, and was liable to be mistaken. 



Pure Breeding (Kendalian).— The question you ask is a vexed one as 

 opinions vary very mucb. Are the hens lajing now ? If they are it is safe to 

 doubt their eggs at any rate until the end of the laying, whereas if they were 

 now put to the cock you wish to breed from, no other allowed to ran with 

 them, and they are only at the beginning of the laying, the later eggs may 

 in our opinion be trusted. But seeing the time of year, the few birds that 

 are laying, and the time that mu,t elapse before they can be hatched 

 " chickens of 187<f," we advise you to take some that are not laying, to put 

 them with their intended partner, and to set the eggs after the first four 

 or five tbey each of them lay. We believe then yon will have the strain you 

 v* ish for. 



Wasps (C. A.).— The annoyance from the nest of wasps in the wa'l of one 

 of your bedrooms must have been great, but as the lives of working wasps 

 are very short, like those of working bees, it is to be hoped that the°annoy- 

 ance is at an end. Though working wasps live but a few months their queens 

 live longer, and singly nestle and hjbernate in some protected corntr. A. 

 great number of queens are bred in autumn in every nest of wasps, and 

 probably those bred in your wall have already gone to hybernate elsewhere. 

 By closing the outer entrance to the nest your house will not be invaded next 

 year by wasps. This sea^onhas been rather cold and unfavourable fur wa->ps. 

 But few queens in the north were able to establish nests, hence wasps 

 have not been numerous. Next spring boys and girls should be offered Gd. 

 for every queen wasp caught and killed. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat.51°32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8 0" W-; Altitude, 111 feet. 



Date. 



9 A.M. 



In the Day. 





1877. 



. 3 



= =„> 



Hygrome- 



a . 



= B~' 



Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



a 



ter. 



— a 



m 





perature. 



Temperature. 



« 



Nov. 













In 



On 









Dry. 



Wet. 



So 



tH 



Max. 



Min. 



Bun. 



grass- 







Inches. 



deg. 



deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 





29 805 



39.5 



37.5 



s.w. 



4J.0 



52.0 



34.7 



51.3 



29.2 



0.210 



Th. 22 



29 211 



48.2 



44.7 



S.W. 



44.2 



54.9 



39 



83.1 



38 7 



0.130 



Fri. 23 



29.564 



44 39.5 



N.W. 



44.0 



49.0 



42.0 



82.1 



S7.1 



0.010 



Sat. 24 



29.491 



37.9 1 37.5 



N.E. 



42.1 



43.1 



32.4 



44.2 



28 2 



0419 



Sun. 25 



29735 



37.1 



34 5 



N.W. 



41.8 



44.3 



S6 1 



72.4 



30.9 





Mo. 26 



29.954 



36 1 



36.0 



S.W. 



40 2 



46 6 



31.2 



70.0 



26.2 



0.2SS 



Tu. 27 



29.324 



49.3 



4S.4 



S.W. 



42.0 



52.0 



35.3 



58.2 



33.2 

 31.9 



0552 



Means 



29.588 



41.7 39.7 





42 3 



48 8 



35.8 



65.9 



1.669 



REMARKS. 

 21st. — Fine morning, cool, rain began at 10a.m., wet and dnll afterwards; 



very wet evening. 

 22nd.— Fine morning with hot sun, heavy showers during the day ; high wind 



at night. 

 2Srd. — Fine bright day; lightning at 7 p.m. ; lunar halo at 10.80 p.m., cold 



starlight night ; thunder at night. 

 24th. — Dark but floe morning, rain commenced at 11a.m. and lasted nearly 



all day ; very wet afternoon. 

 25th. — Fine cool day ; starlight night. 

 26th. — "White frost in morning, and very fine ; dull afternoon, rain began afc 



4.30 p.m. and continued the rest of the day. 

 27th. — Damp but fine morning, cloudy afterwards ; heavy rain from 5 to 



7. SO p.m. ; very fine after 10 p.m. 

 A wet week, with frequent high wind.— G. J. S?mons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— November 28. 

 Our, market is still very dull, and will be till a week or so before Christmas. 

 Prices remain the same. 



VEGETABLES. 



dozen 2 



Artichokes. 



Beans, Kidney., buuhel 



Beet. Red dozen 1 



Broccoli bundle 



Brussels Sprouts j sieve 2 



Cabbage dozen 1 



Carrots bunch 



Capsicums ^100 1 



Cauliflowers.... dozen 2 



Celery bundle 1 



Coleworts doz. bunches " 



Cucumbers .... each 



Endive dozen 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Lettuce dozen 



Leeks bunch 



9 



2 6 







0to4 

 

 S 



Mushrooms .... 

 Mustard & Cress 

 Onions 



pickling 



Parsley.... doz. 



Parsnips 



Peas 



Potatoes 



Kidney 



Radishes., doz. 



Khubarb 



Salsafy 



Scorzonera .... 



Seakale 



Shallots 



Spinach 



Turnips 



Veg. MarrowB.. 



s. d. s, 



1 6 to 2 

 2 

 

 4 



2 

 dozen 



6 



pottle 



punnet 



bushel 



quart 



bunches 



quart 

 bushel S 

 bushel 5 

 bunches 1 

 bundle 

 bundle 

 bundle 

 basket 

 lb. 

 bushel 

 bunch 

 each 



