Jnly 12, 1854. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



39 



it needs no farther attention. It flowers from June to 

 October. 



Ceocuses. — The bulbs of these should be planted in rows 

 by the sides of walks, 1 foot apart and about 3 inches deep, 

 in October, or in clumps, of three, five, or more together. 

 Planted in sunny situations in shrubberies they add a charm 

 to such places, and will grow well in all soils. Light soils, 

 however, are preferable. They need no care beyond taking 

 up once in three years, and dividing, planting a number in 

 the same place again the same day, and others on hedge- 

 banks, in fact anywhere not much overshadowed by trees. 

 They should be replanted and divided in October. 



Single Blue: Hepatica.- — These, like crocuses, will grow 

 anywhere in open situations, and are increased by division of 

 the plant. They are best divided in autumn after the foliage 

 decays, parting them so that two or three crowns are left to 

 each division, which may then be planted in rows 1 foot 

 apart, and the same distance between the rows. They 

 should be planted so that the crowns are level with the 

 surface. In future years it is only necessary to place a little 

 fresh soil or waste refuse of any kind between the rows, to 

 dig or fork it neatly into the soil, and divide the plants when 

 too large for the allotted space, and replant. They flower 

 early, often in January, and last a long time in flower. We 

 have seen them in April. Crocuses usually flower in March 

 and April. 



BEES IN AUSTRALIA. 

 English apiarians will probably be interested in the fol- 

 lowing extract from the address of Dr. Bennett, delivered 

 before his Excellency the Governor (Sir John Toung), and 

 others, at the annual meeting of the Acclimatisation Society 

 of New South Wales, on Monday, April 4th, 1864.— G. P. B., 

 S-palding. 



"The English-imported bee has nearly driven away the 

 small Australian stingless species, and the recent intro- 

 duction of the Ligurian bee will be a great acquisition to the 

 colonies, being very prolific, and yielding a larger supply of 

 honey and wax than any other species ; and the rearing of 

 bees has the advantage of requiring very little capital, and 

 but a small amount of labour. The quantity and value of 

 the honey and beeswax produced in the colony is very great, 

 and the latter has lately been exported to England at a 

 remunerative profit." 



A footnote in the Sydney Morning~Eerald adds the fol- 

 lowing : — 



"I have been informed that the small black stingless bee 

 in Australia has sometimes been seen in close proximity to 

 the English bee, both having formed their nests in the same 

 hollow of a tree, being only divided by a mud partition. 

 When in that position one or the other lose their brood; 

 they attack each other, and the Australian bee contrives to 

 cut off the wings of the English bee. The honey from the 

 native bee has a more agreeable acidulous flavour than that 

 produced by the naturalised English insect." 



SUCCESSFULLY LIGUKIANISLNG AN 

 APIAEY. 



Having had a beautiful Ligurian queen sent to me last 

 September, I removed the English queen from a common 

 stock of bees in one of my improved observatory-hives, the 

 four sides and the top of which are of glass, and placed her 

 at their head. She immediately commenced laying worker 

 eggs. I examined the combs on the 9th of October, and 

 found many young Ligurians hatched, and the queen still 

 laying eggs. In none of my common stocks could I find any 

 eggs on that day. This, I thought, was a very convincing 

 proof of the great superiority of the Ligurians over the 

 English queens in their prolific powers. The stock passed 

 through the winter in the best possible health. The hive 

 was exposed in an open latticed arbour, without any cover 

 over the glass ; and the thermometer inside of the hive, ob- 

 servations of which were taken three times each day, in- 

 dicated a mean temperature of 3.88° in December, 3.90° in 

 January, and 4.55° in February, higher than the mean tem- 

 perature inside my other hives. 



March 14ft. — I cleaned the floor-board for the first time, 



and only found two dead bees. I had not before seen a 

 single dead bee upon it during the whole winter. 



April 20tk. — I commenced my Ligurianising operations by 

 removing the queen out of one of my English stocks, and 

 gave to it two Ligurian combs filled with eggs and brood. I 

 also removed all the drone brood and cells out of thirteen 

 common stocks. 



April 22nd. — ■ Examined the two Ligurian combs, and 

 found no signs of any royal cells commenced (second day). 



April 2oth. — -Examined the two combs and found the bees 

 had about half made a royal cell on each comb, but only one 

 of which contained larvae, the other cell was empty (fifth 

 day). They had also about half made three royal cells on 

 the next comb, which was entirely empty. 



April 27th. — Examined the two Ligurian combs and found 

 the cell containing the larva? enlarged. They had about half 

 made another royal cell on the other comb, and the one pre- 

 viously made was in the same state as it was on the 25th, 

 neither of them contained eggs or larval. The bees had 

 also constructed four more royal cells on the empty comb 

 (seventh day). 



April 29th. — Examined the combs and found the larva? in 

 the royal cell nearly straight, and the bees about finishing 

 the closing of the royal cell (ninth day) . The two cells on 

 the other comb, and the seven royal cells on the empty 

 comb, were in the same state as on the 27th. I put another 

 comb, containing drone and worker brood and eggs, into 

 the hive out of the Ligurian stock, and I also placed worker 

 eggs out of it into the nine empty royal cells, but I after- 

 wards found that the bees removed all of them again. 



This is only the account of the operations with one stock, 

 but the end of it all was, that on the 31st of May I had 

 beautiful Ligurian queens at the head of fourteen stocks, 

 and had also hatched many more Ligurian queens than I 

 required. On that day I made my first Ligurian swarm 

 artificially, a very large one, and that night they had their 

 queen hatched, and have done very well since. 



My great difficulty has been to prevent a single common 

 drone being hatched in my apiary. About every ten days I 

 examined every comb in each hive, and removed all the 

 drone eggs or cells that I found the bees had made. I shall 

 now be able to keep the Ligurians pure, as I have only 

 Ligurian drones in my apiary, and there is not a single 

 common stock within about three miles. Thus I shall not 

 have the same difficulties to contend with in keeping them 

 pure that Mr. Woodbury has, as he is surrounded by com- 

 mon English bees. My old Ligurian queen is the finest and 

 most beautiful one I ever saw, and she has certainly done 

 wonders in laying eggs this spring. By the middle of May 

 I had removed from her no less than twenty-two combs 

 nearly filled with worker and drone brood and eggs, and the 

 hive is crowded with bees quite ready for swai-ming. — Wm. 

 Caee, Clayton Bridge Apiary, Newton Heath, near Manchester. 



TRY A "BEE-BOB. 



Mk. Langsteoth says, " Having noticed that a new 

 swarm will almost always alight where they see a mass of 

 clustering bees, I find that they can be determined to some 

 selected spot by an old black hat, or even a mullen stalk, 

 which, when coloured black, can hardly be distinguished at 

 a distance from a clustering swarm. A black woollen 

 stocking, or piece of cloth, fastened to a shady limb in 

 plain sight of the hives, and where the bees can be most 

 conveniently hived, would probably answer as good a pur- 

 pose. Swarms are not only attracted by the bee-like colour 

 of such objects, but aie more readily induced to alight upon 

 them if they furnish something to which they can easily 

 cling, the better to support their grape-like clusters. By 

 proper precautions before the first swarms issue, the bee- 

 keeper may so educate his favourites that they will seldom 

 alight anywhere but on the spot which he has previously 

 selected. The Rev. Thos. P. Hunt, of Wyoming, Penn., has 

 devised an amusing plan, by which he says that he can at 

 all times prevent a swarm of bees from leaving his premises. 

 Before his stocks swarm he collects a number of dead bees, 

 and stringing them with a needle and thread, as worms are 

 strung for catching eels, he makes of them a ball about the 

 size of an egg, leaving a few strands loose. By carrying, 



