August 15, 1S72. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



141 



Being conscious that a great many people who have not time 

 to attend to the higher classes of fancy Pigeons, and have not 

 any inclination for the homing birds, yet greatly enjoy a flight of 

 performing Tumblers, which give no more trouble than common 

 Pigeons and add a pleasant feature to the home round which 

 they circle — it would, considering these things, be a useful and, 

 I believe, profitable thing for fanciers to cultivate the flying 

 and tumbling birds ; and it would be a comfort to be able to 

 purchase birds which were as true to their name of Tumblers as 

 apparently they were a century ago. This perhaps would best 

 he done by an infusion of Scotch House Tumbler blood ; this 

 would be better than too much of the Roller strain, as the House 

 Tumblers, such as I have seen, are better shaped, smaller, and 

 without the objectionable feathers on the legs, which wholly 

 destroy, if long and large, the dapper shape of the Tumbler. 

 Another point would be to cultivate white wings, as they twinkle 

 in the sunshine, and altogether give the birds a pleasanter ap- 

 pearance in the air. A dark- winged bird looks like a jackdaw; 

 even one in a flight, to my mind, mars the appearance of the 

 whole flight. Lastly, I would say that the Pigeon fancy wants 

 to move on in the direction I have indicated. — Wiltshire 

 Rectoe. 



APIABIAN NOTES. 



Since I last wrote we have had a fortnight of very remarkable 

 weather, but quite in harmony with the previous weather cha- 

 racteristics of the year. One fine hot week following Sunday 

 the 11th has saved my apiary and given me some 50 lbs. of honey 

 in supers. There would have been more but for the continued 

 determination on the part of my bees to swarm. The last of 

 the season issued on the 28th July, a monster swarm ; but during 

 my frequent absences from home I feel sure I have lost many 

 swarms this year. Virgin swarms, too, have been common. 

 Of such I have had at least two. A fine one out of an Italian 

 stock was discovered to-day in an old pollard; and a swarm of 

 the middle of June is now piping in my bee house (August 5th). 



The mention of piping recalls an occurrence which proves 

 that this note proceeds undoubtedly "from liberated queens — I do 

 not say in every case. "We started for a three-weeks holiday in 

 Cornwall on the loth of July, taking with us an Italian swarm 

 of no great size, which had issued on the Friday previous. It 

 was a second swarm, and had been re-hived on the Saturday 

 into a small box containing several combs of last year's con- 

 struction. My boys had a fancy to try the effect of a sojourn 

 among heather on a colony of bees, which certainly could not 

 lave collected honey enough to maintain themselves at home. 

 They travelled beautifully by rail and omnibus some 150 miles, 

 and after an incarceration of about fifteen hours were liberated 

 at Kynance Cove at about 1.30 p.m. on the 16th. It was during 

 the journey in the train that we distinctly heard the young 

 ■queen piping. Only once before had I reason to believe this 

 an actual fact from personal observation ; this was when I was 

 ■watching a young queen which was perambulating the combs just 

 after the issue of a second swarm. I saw her suddenly stop on 

 the edge of a comb and fan her wings for a few seconds, and 

 simultaneously I heard the sound of piping close to my ear. 

 Roth the fanning of her wings and the piping ceased instant- 

 aneously as she rushed off with the same hurried movement as 

 before. 



But what of our travelled bees ? They were a source of much 

 interest to us from first to last, although their e.nd was sadly 

 tragic. Tour readers must know that Eynance Cove, within 

 two miles of the Lizard, is one of the most romantic spots in 

 the south of England. It is surrounded on the land side by 

 high downs of table land enamelled with wild flowers of every 

 description, including several varieties of heather, one or two 

 peculiar to the Lizard district. Not five minutes had elapsed 

 after the liberation of the bees before we discovered them hard, 

 at work chiefly on the wild thyme, of which there is a vast 

 •quantity for miles around. Being very pure-bred Italians there 

 was no mistaking our little friends. Gradually they extended 

 their flight up the gorge which terminates in the cove, and over 

 the brows of the surrounding hills, and before evening had 

 become quite at home as 3 they had been bom and bred there. 

 Strange to say, however, we very rarely saw any of them after 

 the first day or two in any of our rambles, but we had evident 

 proofs of their activity and the success of their foragings, in the 

 Tapidity with which they filled their box and also a small super, 

 which they completely filled with comb and partially sealed up 

 ■with honey by the eighteenth day, when we prepared for our 

 journey home. Including box and contents of the super, they 

 had gained about 15 lbs. in weight. 



The question now was whether to plunder the hive of its 

 honey and leave the bees behind us to recover themselves, as 

 they doubtless would before autumn, or to attempt their return 

 home. The purity of their Italian blood decided us to try the 

 latter course, although with many misgivings ; for it is an easy 

 thing to transport bees in autumn or in spring when the combs 

 are tough and breeding has ceased or hardly begun, but far 

 otherwise in the heat of summer under different circumstances. 



However, we got them quite safely over three-fourths of the 

 journey ; but as we approached home the weather became op- 

 pressively hot, and I became aware that the poor bees were 

 suffering greatly from a peculiar hissing sound that issued from 

 the openings. At last a stream of honey was seen issuing from 

 below, which told its tale of disaster. About half a pint of honey 

 was thus lost ; but what troubled us most was the loss of our 

 little favourites, whom we found for the most part drowned in 

 their own sweets. As it was Saturday evening when we got 

 home, there was no help for it but to drown them aU in water. 



The lesson of this story is manifest; — namely, that bees will 

 travel well even in summer, provided they are not overloaded 

 with brood and honeycomb. The packing of a wooden box hive 

 is very simple. A few screws at bottom, securing the box to its 

 board, and a thorough ventilation by means of the entrance way 

 and one or more holes at the top, covered over in each case with 

 a piece of perforated zinc, the whole tightly corded — this is 

 all the care required, beyond some personal attention on the 

 journey to see that they are within reach of air, and are not 

 unnecessarily knocked about. Straw hives are not so easily 

 transported, but require some management. In this case we 

 would have the hive, board and all, tied up in a sack, taking 

 care to leave a large hole free in the bottom board as well as in 

 the top, only covered over with perforated zinc carefully nailed 

 to both top and bottom boards. The common skep might 

 perhaps dispense with any hole at top, but we cannot speak here 

 from experience. In this case we should have two large holes 

 covered with zinc in the bottom board. 



I will only add, for the information of any persons who are 

 looking out for a summer or autumn place of retreat, that 

 Kynance Cove is very accessible by rail as far as Penryn, and 

 thence by omnibus to Helstone and the Lizard. Very clean 

 though humble lodgings and good attendance, with all the neces- 

 saries and even luxuries of life, can be had at Mrs. Jane Oliver's. 

 Both trout and sea-water fishing are to be had within easy 

 reach, but not at the Cove itself. The scenery of the coast is 

 fine beyond description. Very fine ladies and exquisites would 

 probably soon spoil their complexions, their gloves, and their 

 tempers there. For health, commend me to the air of this part 

 of Cornwall, which is moderately bracing and by no means 

 relaxing. — B. & W. 



SUPEKING. 



I have been a bee-keeper in a small way, and at intervals, for 

 nearly thirty years. I have now five hives standing in a row, 

 three on separate stands, and two on the same board, and aU some- 

 what close together, as my space is very confined. It is of these 

 last two I am about to write. One, a, is a hive of three years' 

 standing ; the other, b, is a decidedly large swarm which came off 

 from one of the other three at the end of May. Some weeks ago 

 I took from a a small glass super holding 6 lbs. of honey, and put 

 in its place the only available thing I had for the moment at 

 hand — an earthenware jar, in fact a leech jar. A few days ago 

 I took tbis away as it was fuU, containing about 5 lbs. ; and 

 having in the meantime procured new glasses, I put one on 

 again. The swarm e, having rapidly filled their hive and hang- 

 ing out in large clusters, evidently required more room. As the 

 hive was of the common shape, with a round top, I proceeded to 

 cut out from the centre, with a sharp carving knife, a piece about 

 3 inches in diameter, and put on a small glass super, placing 

 over this, to exclude the light, a straw hive. On examining 

 them a few days afterwards I found that while the bees wera 

 busily working in the glass, many of them had escaped from 

 under it, as it did not fit closely on the uneven top, and they were 

 beginning to work in the straw cover. Taking this off and in- 

 verting it, I placed a small glass with a small piece of comb in it 

 over the cluster of bees, and they went up into it very readily; 

 first covering it with thick paper to exclude the light, I placed 

 it on the board as close to the hive as I could. 



As, in spite of my endeavours to prevent it, the bees still 

 persisted in working in the straw cover, they were at the same 

 moment at work in three different places, and you will presently 

 find that they did so in a fourth. 



On the same day that I took the jar from a I took this outer 

 glass from e filled with honey. Until I read " Bee-keeping 

 for the Many " I had always placed such glasses on the top of a 

 box under an adjoining shed, lifting up one edge sufficiently to 

 aUow the bees to escape ; this, your book says, they will do in 

 ten or fifteen minutes. I have never yet found this to be the 

 case ; on the contrary, for the most part they take a longer time 

 than this to apparently realise their separation from the hive, 

 and to prepare to return to it ; and not until evening do I find 

 the glass anything like empty, and even then some few bees 

 linger behind, and have to be displaced with a feather. In this 

 case I adopted the recommendation in your book, and placed 

 the jar and glass each on three inverted garden pots, and left 

 them as usual for some hours, hoping then to find all going on 

 well. But alas ! What did I find ? Both fuller of bees than 

 ever, and all but empty of honey. Barely 1 lb. was left, when I 



