December 12, 1S72. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



483 



New York complete for 3 dols. 75 cents, if two or more are 

 ordered. It is a moveable comb hive. 



The " Bee-keeper's Journal " itself is sufficient proof of the 

 growing importance of this branch of industry. Four full-sized 

 pages are devoted to bees and all matters connected therewith. 

 The remaining four pages are occupied with agricultural matters. 

 Its cost is very moderate — one dollar per annum, payable in 

 advance. — B. & W. 



HIVES. 



T. have read Mr. Pettigrew's letter on the exhibition of honey 

 and hives (see page 373) with some interest, and I was glad to 

 see him anxious to introduce hives of wood and glass, notwith- 

 standing his expressed aversion to these materials in former 

 letters. Now that he has changed his mind, I may hint that 

 the Stewarton hive is the most profitable as well as most orna- 

 mental hive in use, and that he could not do better thau intro- 

 duce it largely at his show. He might be coaxed to give the 

 " heavy, clumsy, squat, flat bar-frame hives " a fair trial, like 

 other intelligent bee-keepers. I have no doubt but he would 

 find far more utility in these hives than he is aware of, or ever 

 found in the large, clumsy, squat, flat receptacles for every 

 kind of vermin destructive to bees — viz, the very old-fashioned 

 large one-domiciled straw hives used centuries ago. By whom 

 this was invented I know not. I showed to a friend the Journal 

 containing Mr. Pettigrew's letter as well as Mr. R. Symington's, 

 and he at once showed me a number of straw hives more than a 

 century old, which belonged to his great grandfather. These 

 hives measured no less than 2 feet by 1 foot 2 inches. I quite 

 agree with Mr. B. Symington, and I think Mr. Pettigrew will 

 acquiesce, that the invention of large hives is not due to him. 



Notwithstanding the very few hone}' days we had this season, 

 some Stewarton hives near me, and which I sometimes look to, 

 are of the enormous weight of from 100 lbs. to 150 lbs. But it is 

 a matter of little consequence as regards producing qualities 

 ■what the material is ; it is the system, by adding room gradually. 

 This, then, is the Stewarton system, and wood is the best material 

 for the construction. In 1864, with only six Stewarton hives, 

 one bee-keeper cleared no less than £30 sterling for honeycomb, 

 besides a surplus of 30 pints, of 5 lbs. to the pint, of drift honey. 

 — A Lanarkshire Bee-keepeb. 



WINTERING BEES, FEEDING, &c. 



I read with much interest your extract from the Chicago 

 Tribune, signed "Ella." We have no little to thank our 

 American cousins for in bee matters, as witness that most in- 

 teresting and exhaustive of all bee books, Langstroth's cele- 

 brated work, without which no apiariau library can be complete. 

 The idea which "Ella" gets from her "Uncle Jim" on the 

 subject of the ventilation of bees in connection with the 

 wintering of bee hives is very suggestive. I have often thought 

 that bees must be frightfully chilled when a cold north-easter 

 is blowing right into them, if facing that quarter, as not a few 

 of our hives do. This certainly might be avoided by closing 

 the entrance in winter, and, if need be, opening a hole at the 

 top of the hive, covering it with a piece of perforated zinc or an 

 empty hive. I have been trying this plan the last few days, 

 and have observed a marked effect upon the bees. Instead of 

 crowding together as they did when the entrance was open, 

 they spread themselves out as in warmer weather, without 

 seeming to need the fresh air. In one or two cases I have not 

 even opened the top hole, but this only in large hives which 

 contain casts, and are not full of comb. I intend to carry this 

 on during the winter, opening the entrances in warmer weather, 

 ■ and closing them during snow or cold east or north winds, cer- 

 tainly by day. As all my hives are wooden boxes with the 

 entrances let into the floor-board, I have only to draw them 

 backwards an inch or so, as the floor-boards are longer than the 

 hoxes, and they are at once confined. In other cases a bit of 

 wood must be cut to fit the entrance. 



As to feeding bees, I have tried all sorts of feeders, like Mr. 

 Fox, and have found none equal to the bottle-feeder, and yet it 

 sometimes fails. I attribute this partly to the food being too 

 thick or too thin. In the former case it will not run freely, and 

 there is a concavity in the leno covering of the bottle, which 

 prevents the bees from getting at the food. In the latter case it 

 will sometimes run so fast as to flood the hive below and waste 

 itself. But there are other causes of the failure of the bottle, 

 as, for instance, where the bees have to ascend by a hole 

 through a thick roof-board, or where they are too few in num- 

 bers, and the temperature of the hive is too low to induce 

 activity, or, perhaps, the feeder is remote from the spot where 

 the mob of bees are gathered. The only other plan of feeding, 

 which I sometimes adopt, is to fill the cells of a piece of empty 

 honeycomb on one side, and lay it flat near one of the holes at 

 the top of the hive. This must, of course, be covered over 

 with a box or hive of straw. If we could give them a suffi- 

 ciently large piece of comb with deep cells, and fill them all 



carefully as fast as they are emptied, this would certainly be 

 the best of all ways of feeding, as they will take down in twenty- 

 four hours from 10 to 12 lbs. of food. Otherwise it is a messy 

 plan, very troublesome, and it induces a great deal of restless- 

 ness and fighting in the apiary. Still I have had recourse to it 

 this autumn, and with good success. I greatly prefer the bottle, 

 with which I am still feeding when the weather permits — that 

 is to say, whenever the bees are abroad. — B. & W. 



Mb. Lowe has given a very timely and sensible eautiou with 

 respect to the feeding of bees in your recent number. I am one 

 of those unfortunates who have lost not a few valuable hives 

 owing to the fact he mentions — namely, that bees will die even 

 in the midst of plenty, if they happen to be clustering in a part 

 of the hive remote from such stores. Therefore I strongly re- 

 commend that every hive should receive a few pounds of food in 

 the early part of November, and even later, should the weather 

 permit. This they will take care to store away within easy 

 reach. — B. & W. 



THE SILKWORM DISEASE. 



At the congress of silkworm breeders lately held at Roveredo 

 this subject attracted much attention, being of the greatest im- 

 portance to French and Italian cultivators, mostly small farmers 

 and country schoolmasters. The disease has now been raging 

 for some years, and experiments have been tried to check it. 

 Professor Pasteur, a French breeder, advised the breeding of 

 healthy moths. "Healthy parents," said he, "will produce 

 sound eggs, and these vigorous moths." His advice was followed, 

 and a successful result obtained. Six hundred pairs of healthy 

 moths gave healthy eggs, and these healthy worms. It was now 

 necessary to separate moths attacked by the disease from the 

 healthy ones, thereby preventing the mixture of eggs of diseased 

 parents with those of a healthy stock. 



To obtain this result, the well-known Italian silkworm breeder, 

 Susani, has adopted an ingenious proceeding. He puts a male 

 and female moth into a little tulle bag about 4 inches long 

 and 2 inches wide. Two bags, after being closed, are tied to- 

 gether, and suspended on a wire in the same way that a printed 

 sheet is hung up to dry. After the female has deposited 

 her eggs on the tulle, both moths, which, as is well known, 

 soon die, are taken out of the bag, put into a mortar - , and 

 crushed to powder. Distilled water is then poured on this 

 powder, and a drop of it examined under the microscope. If 

 the drop appears clear both moths were healthy, and it is right 

 to conclude that the eggs are healthy. Should, however, a 

 glass-like crystalline body of oval form be observed in the drop, 

 the eggs are doubtful, and are collected separately; if two such 

 bodies appear, the tulle bag with the eggs is at once burned, 

 and the water collected in a separate vessel. The water, accu- 

 mulated from one thousand examinations, is once more tried by 

 an experienced microscopist, and his calculation must corre- 

 spond with the above figures. Susani employs twenty-five girls 

 during the whole of the winter for these examinations. They 

 are said by an observer to be very clever at their work. Each 

 girl makes two hundred examinations daily, and there are some- 

 times as many as 500,000 bags at a time hung up in the large 

 room in which the examinations are carried on. This tedious 

 proceeding has proved very effective, and Italy will be able in 

 time to free her soil from the ravages of this disease. By allow- 

 ing only healthy parents to propagate offspring the spread of the 

 disease will be prevented. 



The next congress of silkworm breeders will take place in 

 1874, at Montpellier (Herault) ; we notice among the names of 

 the committee those of Professors Dumas, Pasteur, Haberlandt, 

 Cornalia, &c. — (Land and Water.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Berwick Ornithological Association. — We are glad to find the Show 

 was well attended. The report and prize list arrived too late for insertion this 

 week, but will be given in our next number. 



Christmas Books (Mrs. L.). — The two books you have been recommended 

 are very suitable. Give "Anecdotal and Descriptive Natural History" to 

 your ten-year-old friend, and "Fairy Mary's Dream " to her who is five years 

 older. They are published by Messrs. Groombridge & Sons, and are well 

 illustrated. 



Elsham: Show (G. James). — "Write to Mr. Waters, Secretary of the Elsham 

 and Brigg Poultry Show, Elsham, Lincolnshire. 



Cameridge Poultry Show. — The Secretary has forwarded us the follow- 

 ing corrections in the prize list: — Cochins, any other variety but Buffs. — 

 First, H. Lloyd, jun.,Handsworth; second, R. S.S. Woodgate, Pembury, Ton- 

 bridge Wells; third, S. Salter, Oxford. "In your report you state that the 



prizes for Pouter hens were all given to Whites. This is incorrect, as my first- 

 prize hen was a Blue; and although entered in the catalogue as over one year, 

 her age in reality is only just six months. — W. R. Rose, Cran-sley Hall, near 



Kettering." Mr. Massey writes to say that the cup for Carriers was not taken 



by Mr. Cant. It was awarded to his (Mr. Massey's) Black Carrier cock — 



pen 344. With great pleasure we hear i'rom Mr. H. Gill that he has received 



his Golden-spangled Hamburgh. The delay was caused by a railway accident 

 and loss of the direction-label. He pays a well-merited tribute to Mr. Met- 

 calfe, the Secretary, for the great care he took of the birds. 



