October 10, 1872. ] 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



299 



In taking up the honey the bees will break through the paper 

 and liberate the queen. As this is done when the bees are quiet, 

 the queen will be very likely to be well received. When the 

 queen cage is first removed from the hive, should the hees seem 

 bent on getting into the cage, it is not safe to liberate the queen. 

 When this is the case, all queen cells should be destroyed and 

 the cage returned to the hive and left twenty-four hour's longer. 



I can generally tell by the action of the bees on the cage when 

 removed whether it is safe to give the queen her liberty. 



We will now go back to the hive A, from which the cells 

 were taken. If more cells are wanted, bring back the queen 

 from B to A, and when the cells are sealed over in B, proceed as 

 before. If no more cells are wanted, one should have been left 

 in A to supply the queen. As the season advances and the 

 nucleus hives become well stocked with bees, pollen, and honey, 

 cells can be started in them and as good queens raised as though 

 they had been started in a large hive. This is done by simply 

 taking a piece of comb 3 inches long by half an inch wide from 

 a large hive containing eggs, and inserting it in the comb of 

 nuclei. A piece 2 inches long and three-fourths wide should be 

 cut out immediately under the comb inserted, so as to give 

 room for the queen cells, as they will project below the comb on 

 which they are built. When queen-raising is to be continued 

 for some time, it is also best to supply several of the nucleus 

 hives with drone brood, so as to have drones, should they be de- 

 stroyed in the large hive. 



The way of introducing queens which I have described is Mr. 

 Langstroth's, and although there are other ways, yet for safety 

 from loss I prefer his method. During the season of 1871, 1 in- 

 troduced between thirty and forty queens in our apiary, losing 

 only one. There has been a great deal written of late favouring 

 the raising of queens in full colonies. My experience is that 

 where the nucleus hives are well stocked with bees, brood, pollen, 

 and honey, as long-lived and handsome queens will be secured 

 as those raised in full colonies, and at a great deal less expense. 



The whole apiary can be stocked with young queens in this 

 way the first season, and should any of the stocks prove hybrids, 

 the queens can be changed next season. 



It will pay the bee-keepers to keep a record of the date when 

 a young queen is introduced or succeeds an old queen by swarm- 

 ing, and when three years old replace with a young queen ; for 

 after that age they are less fertile, and may die when it is im- 

 possible for them to be succeeded by a fertile queen. I think 

 many stocks are lost every year that would be saved if attention 

 were given to removing queens after their third year. — J. E. 

 Mooee, Rochester, Pa., U.S. — (American Paper.) 



PETTIGREW'S SYSTEM. 



Last year I tried Pettigrew's plan of very large hives, and 

 hoped to find at least 30 lbs. of honey in each, but, unfor- 

 tunately for me, they were not half full of comb, and contained 

 but little honey. I united three together; the contents of the 

 two broken up were only 11 lbs. and 14 lbs. Will it be safe to 

 leave the united hive, as it is only half full of combs, giving it a 

 good supply of syrup, or will the bees die of cold, or had I not 

 better at once join the bees to my Woodbury stocks ? — H. F. 



[We do not think you must condemn the system of large 

 hives as advocated by Mr. Pettigrew from your experience 

 during one season. We have little doubt, if your whole plan of 

 management were inquired into, that he would say that you 

 have failed to follow his instructions in some important par- 

 ticular. _ As we have had no personal experience of Mr. Petti- 

 grew's hives and anode of management, we cannot say in what 

 particulars you may have erred. Though ourselves preferring 

 moveable frame hives, we have no doubt that Pettigrew's plans 

 thoroughly carried out will be found to be remunerative. Pro- 

 vided you really do feed the united bees liberally, there is no 

 .reason why you should not succeed in keeping the bees alive and 

 vigorous until spring, but you must not expect the stock to do 

 BO well for you next summer as if it were at this time full of 

 combs. It will be advisable to weigh the hive before com- 

 mencing the supply of food, and occasionally as you proceed, as 

 it is probable that a considerable portion of your supplied food 

 will be made use of in the construction of new comb. You 

 must be prepared to administer a great many pounds of syrup.] 



BEES IN HERTFORDSHIRE. 



I have lately taken great interest in the different notes on 

 apiarian matters in your Journal. I am quite a young beginner, 

 and am, therefore, glad of all the information your correspon- 

 dents so kindly give on this interesting subject. I am manag- 

 ing my bees on the system of Mr. Pettigrew, and was, there- 

 fore, rather prejudiced against the bar-and-frame hives. But 

 since reading your paper, and seeing such good results from 

 the bar-and-frame hive, I have made up my mind to try one 

 another year. I am very interested in the letter of Mr. R. 

 Symington in your number of August Sth, and consider he has 



been very successful indeed this season. I should be glad if he 

 would kindly let me know what kind of hive and the size he 

 used. I, like him, am most anxious to see the hive promised 

 by Mr. Abbott. I should also like to hear the experience of 

 anyone else managing their bees on Mr. Pettigrew's system. 



This year I had two swarms from small hives the second week 

 in June. I put each into a 15-inch (inside measure) straw hive. 

 At the end of the season, when I had driven out all the bees, 

 one hive weighed 49 lbs., the other 47 lbs. This weight quite 

 astonished the people about here, who still use the old-fashioned 

 hives, and manage them in the old-fashioned way. My bees are 

 the black ones. I forgot to mention that besides using bar- 

 frame hives another year, I also intend to have an early swarm 

 of Ligurians from Mr. Abbott, and to thoroughly test Mr. 

 Pettigrew's system, of which I am much in favour. I have now 

 ten good stocks, all of which have been well strengthened with 

 bees, and have enough to keep them through the winter. — 

 M. H. G., Hertfordshire. 



P.S. — I should also be glad to know the names of the pub- 

 lishers of " Langstroth on the Hive and Honey Bee," and the 

 price of it. 



[Langstroth's work is published in America, but may be ob- 

 tained through Sampson, Low, & Co., Fleet Street, or Trubner, 

 Paternoster Row, or, we believe, from Messrs. Neighbour, 

 Regent Street. The price is, we believe, 10s. — Eds.] 



THE RETENTION OF EGGS. 

 Is it known for how long a time a bird possesses the power of 

 retaining its egg? Last summer, from the number of nests in 

 this neighbourhood, the writer was able to study the habits of 

 kingfishers (Halcyon vagans) with more f acility than usual. The 

 movements of one pair excited much interest. On the 19th 

 October this pair were observed to be busily engaged in exca- 

 vating a homo in the back of the turf chimney of an empty 

 cottage. After many days spent in hard labour this was aban- 

 doned; subsequently several tunnels were commenced, in some 

 of them considerable progress was made; then they were in 

 like manner deserted. The seventh resting-place, begun 

 November 26 (there must still be a witchery about number 

 seven even at your Antipodes), was finished, occupied, and 

 therein, on December 24, a brood was hatched. Can there be 

 reason to doubt that the eggs in the ovary of the female must 

 have been in a forward state in the third week in October ? At 

 the close of that month the first egg to be laid must have been 

 ready for extrusion. From personal observation we know that 

 our kingfisher lays nearly every morning till the clutch of eggs 

 is completed ; the number of eggs to a clutch varying from five 

 to seven. Here we have a bird engaged in laborious, almost in- 

 cessant exertion, for quite six weeks, physically in a condition 

 analogous to that of a pregnant animal. Three of the homes 

 excavated and abandoned were so far finished that the chamber 

 was hollowed out, so that a deposit of eggs must have been 

 imminent on three occasions during that period of six weeks. 

 It is well known that the domestic fowl, on a change of quarters, 

 will, in its strange home, sometimes retain the egg for hours 

 beyond the usual time of laying, often depositing what is called 

 a double-yolked egg, but we have to do with the freedom of wild 

 nature. It is easy to suggest that our kingfisher relieved itself 

 by dropping its egg ; obviously that would be opposed to the 

 marked instinct of so persevering and painstaking a nest- 

 builder ; besides, would that mode of acquiring ease be twice 

 repeated by a bird that endured such toil to make a hiding-place 

 for its progeny — toil only to be appreciated by those who have 

 watched its daily work? — (Nature.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Sendtng Eggs to India (TF. M.). — "We have been successful in sending 

 eggs for hatching to Canada and to Portugal. We have never succeeded in 

 getting them in a hatching condition to the East or West Indies. We believe 

 it may be attributed to want of care and precaution, as they were merely 

 recommended to one of the crew, who received a gratuity for his pains, and 

 who most likely put them away in the hurry of sailing, found them just 

 before landing, and said, " He'd be hanged if he had ever been and thought 

 on 'em." We cannot help thinking that with proper care and painstaking 

 they might be successfully taken out. The first thing is to secure very new- 

 laid eggs, the nest to pack them very securely in a basket with thoroughly 

 dry moss, and, most important, to suspend the basket from the ceiling of the 

 owner's cabin by a cord sufficiently long to enable them to swing, and thus 

 avoid the constant shaking of a steamer. 



Quantity of Baeletmeal pep. Fowl (J. D. F. J.). — We are unable to 

 answer your question, hut you can easily test it. Try them first with 1£ oz. 

 per head after mixing. Where they have the advantage of an ordinary run, 

 it seems to us it should be enough for a single feed. The quality of the meal 

 should be considered. An ounce and a half of ground oats, such as they have 

 in Sussex, would do a fowl more good than 8 ozs. of ordinary oatmeal. Try 

 your fowls for a time with the smaller quantity. If they do well, continue it ; 

 if they fall off, add somewhat to the allowance. 



Eggs Broken During Caeeiage (B. TF.).— In every case an egg broken 

 before it reaches the buyer should be replaced, or the amount returned by the 

 vendor. Bought eggs "should be considered to hatch satisfactorily, or, at 

 least, to furnish no ground for complaint f they produce half. There is no 



