September 12, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



221 



consciousness that he might have made a better bargain by 

 returning it to its disconsolate owner. 



While it would be impossible to set down any certain time for 

 Air Tumblers to begin performing, I think they make a com- 

 mencement more uniformly when young than House Tumblers 

 do, and in their case the improvement in the amount of work 

 they do goes on steadily increasing with age, until it reaches the 

 full maturity of growth, without any of the spasmodic spurts to 

 which House Tumblers are subject; and not only does the 

 amount of work they do increase, but the more numerous the 

 tumbles become the more cleverly is the performance made, the 

 improvement in style being more particularly noticeable after 

 they have reached the stage at which House Tumblers begin to 

 deteriorate. 



The only reason which occurs to my mind for the difference 

 between the two birds is that the Air Tumbler is by far the 

 gamer bird of the two; that while the House Tumbler gets 

 frightened and overpowered by the weight of tumbling which is 

 upon it, the Air Tumbler through sheer courage learns to catch 

 himself up so quickly that the tumbling proves but little im- 

 pediment to his flight. This does not, however, account for the 

 whole difference, as a House Tumbler will develope into an "in- 

 capable," even if never trained, but only allowed liberty in the 

 open air, and some, even although never flown out of the loft ; 

 such birds never having been under the influence of any great 

 amount of tumbling cannot possibly succumb to that. I 

 may here add that I have experience of never allowing them 

 out of the loft, of giving them entire liberty, and of training 

 them, and of the three ways have found least success in the 

 first, and the greatest in the last. It undoubtedly requires a 

 good deal of attention to keep them in proper condition, but 

 without it the qualities of the best Air Tumblers must remain 

 lid. 



In structural differences there is little to note between the two 

 classes. I find amongst my own birds that the Air Tumblers 

 possess eyes of surpassing clearness in the pearl, decidedly 

 superior to the House Tumblers, but I am told by persons of 

 more experience than myself that this is not at all a general 

 rule. I have also two first-class House Tumblers, a cock and a 

 hen, with drop wings, but do not recollect of having seen a good 

 Air Tumbler with such, and do not think that they would give 

 sufficient power to keep the air and tumble much, as I look upon 

 a drop wing as an indication of a weak wing. 



In my next communication I shall give some notes on the 

 House Tumbler as a bird of the loft or aviary. — Scotch Thistle. 



FEATHEB-EATING PABBOT. 



I have a grey Parrot which has the had habit of eating his 

 tail feathers, and as he is a very valuable bird for his talking 

 qualities, I wish some of your correspondents could inform 

 me of something that would cure him of this evil pro- 

 pensity. He has never had any animal food, but is fed on 

 Canary seed, and occasionally bread soaked in tea or water. — 

 John Stuakt. 



[Should the bird's cage have a wire bottom, let it be taken out 

 at once, and give the Parrot plenty of sand with some small 

 stones in it, so that the bird may pick out some and swallow 

 them, then give a change of diet ; let the bird have some soaked 

 Indian corn, and some fruit and green food, watercresses, &c. 

 You are quite right in not giving it animal food ; a piece of 

 bread dipped into a boiled egg is an enjoyable morsel to a Parrot. 

 If change of food and what we have recommended has no effect 

 on the habit, then make whatis called a " cradle " in the stable 

 and put it on the bird's neck until the bad habit is forgotten! 

 The collar, or cradle, can be made either of leather or pieces of 

 cane fastened with string. It will not in the least hurt the bird 

 to wear it.] 



Opening of the Season — Canary Show, Whitby. — Intending 

 exhibitors at this Show are reminded that the entries will close 

 on the 17th inst., and that the Show will be held on the 24th 

 (see advertisement). W. A. Blakston, Esq., has been appointed 

 Judge. 



DBONE EGGS LAID BY WOEKEE BEES. 



I have a queenless Ligurian stock in which this abnormal 

 state of things exists : hence an interesting question has been 

 raised, Are these drones perfect ? If so, it is proposed to allow 

 the fertile workers to go on breeding, and, if necessary, unite 

 some worker bees to them late in autumn, so as to keep up some 

 kind of organisation and vitality in the hive, supplying drone 

 comb also if necessary. Then, if they survive the winter, we 

 should have a hive of Ligurian drones with which to operate in 

 producing pure Ligurians in the spring before other drones are 

 abroad. Will you kindly give your opinion as to the value of 

 the drones in question, also stating whether you think there is 

 any chance of success in trying the proposed experiment, or if 

 it is worth trying ? 



I have another hive in a perplexing state, respecting which I 

 should be glad to have your opinion and advice. 



To understand the position of affairs properly it will be neces- 

 sary to be particular as to details. The colony, a black one, a 

 first swami of last year, occupies a Taylor's bar hive. At the 

 end of May this year it was in a strong and vigorous state, but 

 about the beginning of June the queen seems to have died, as 

 soon after the hive was observed to be retrograding. On June 

 22nd a carefulinspection was made, and neither queen nor brood 

 in any stage was found. On July 3rd, through the kindness of 

 a friend, I obtained a closed Ligurian queen cell with a small 

 piece of comb attached. It had to be brought several miles and 

 afterwards kept artificially warm for several hours before it 

 could be introduced to the bees ; but they took to it at once, 

 brooding over and covering it, and showed by their increased 

 vigour and energy that a new era had dawned upon them. On 

 July 8th I removed the piece of comb and cell, and found it 

 empty. The queen was evidently hatched, and this was con- 

 firmed also by the continued zeal and activity of the bees ; but 

 on July 13th my garden was submerged by the floods which 

 prevailed over Lancashire, and being from home my apiary w r as 

 almost ruined. On returning home in the evening I found this 

 young Ligurian queen and about a third of the bees had been 

 saved in a singular manner. The hive, when floated from its 

 stand by the water, had been tilted over on its side, causing a 

 piece of glass which covered the crown hole to slip off. The 

 queen and part of her subjects escaped through this hole and 

 were found clustered outside. I got them under the shelter of 

 an empty straw hive, and there being no brood in their own 

 hive, I removed the bars and combs, and carefully dried them 

 as well as the hive itself; and the second day after the disaster 

 I restored the queen and bees to it, together with the remainder 

 of another stock whose queen, with the greater part of the bees, 

 was lost in the deluge. The two lots united made but a weak 

 swarm ; however, I commenced to feed sparingly but frequently, 

 so as to stimulate them in their unfortunate condition. Three 

 weeks after the mishap I began to look for young Ligurians, but 

 it was not till the morning of August 17th that I found one in 

 front of the hive dead, which on examination proved to be a 

 small drone raised in a worker cell. Next morning above a 

 dozen of the same sort were found in the same place. This was 

 ominous, as it indicated an unimpregnated or otherwise drone- 

 breeding queen ; but at noon of the same day well-marked young 

 Ligurian workers appeared, and these have increased rapidly 

 every day since ; but the small abnormal drones are still being 

 ejected, apparently as they emerge from the cells. They are 

 evidently not allowed to take wing, but are ruthlessly expelled 

 as they appear. Had these only been produced it would have 

 been easily accounted for, but the partial aberration is myste- 

 rious, and in my experience unprecedented. — J. B. 



[We much doubt the success of your scheme, although we 

 should be extremely glad on scientific grounds if you would 

 carry it out. Your only chance of success lies in keeping up a 

 sufficient supply of worker bees all through winter and early 

 spring, and keeping them up to the breeding point throughout. 

 Your second case of perplexity is a very interesting one, but 

 evidently you have a very fertile and valuable queen. The fact 

 of her breeding drones so early in her life, and at the same time 

 producing workers in abundance, is a proof of her excellence 

 in our judgment. We should advise this hive being carefully 

 tended and fed. Your loss from the deluge reminds us of a 

 similar loss which Dr. Bevan, at the age of ninety, experienced 

 during a flooding of the Wye at Hereford some twenty years 

 ago.] 



BEE-KEEPING, 1872. 



The account of the present bee season given by "B. & W.' 

 in your issue of August 1st so nearly describes our case, that I 

 feel somewhat consoled to find that we beginners have but 

 shared the fate of experienced bee-keepers. Our bees have 

 swarmed with equal persistency. A succession of cold, wet, and 

 windy days, which kept the bees prisoners while their numbers 

 were hourly increasing, was followed by a warm gleaming day, 

 when out came the swarrn, and no super, whether large or 

 small, straw, wood, or glass, proved lastingly attractive to them. 

 We have no reason to complain with regard either to healthi- 

 ness or population ; they increase abundantly. 



At the close of last season, by dint of uniting several stocks, 

 we reduced our number to ten hives, all strong and healthy. 

 They kept well through the winter ; one showed signs of weak- 

 ness in the unseasonable month of April, but a little timely 

 feeding soon brought it round. 



In spite of the winterly weather in the spring all the stocks 

 seemed active and thriving, and by May 28th seven were work- 

 ing in supers. But alas ! our hopes were soon destroyed ; one 

 after another came swarm upon swarm, though beautiful pieces 

 of comb had been made in the supers, and in some a few cells 

 of honey were sealed over. The swarming continued through- 

 out June ; at last we hived some bees in empty supers, placing 



