Angnst 9, 18G4. ] 



JOTTENAL OF H0ETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



121 



very seldom cleaned out, and the rabbits are much cleaner 

 than those that are on the close boards, which are cleaned 

 out daily. The boards are 2 inches wide and half an inch 

 apart. — An Amatetjb Fancier. 



BABBITS LOSING THETB HAIB- 

 PALLLNG TO ONE SLDE. 



-EABS 



In answer to " J. I. D." I have frequently had my rabbits 

 rub the fur off their noses, which is owing to their troughs 

 being too narrow, and upon giving them broader ones the 

 fur soon grows again. As to the young rabbits' ears, out of 

 a whole litter which I had at the commencement of this 

 year every one had both falling on one side. The best 

 remedy is to take theta out of the hutch every morning and 

 smooth their ears in the proper position for a few minutes 

 at a time, until you find them remain properly. 



As "J. I. D." says that he is a novice as a rabbit-fancier, 

 I think that perhaps he would like to know that I always 

 offer my rabbits water, and in tins warm weather I find that 

 they will leave their green food for it. "When I first com- 

 menced keeping rabbits many fanciers whom I knew told 

 me that it was useless giving them bran. The consequence 

 was that I found the young ones deserted immediately they 

 were born ; so I gave them bran, and I have not lost a single 

 one, and they are all in splendid condition. If any gentle- 

 man be desirous of seeing them I shall be happy to show 

 them on application by letter to — J. S. Blackett, 7, Canon- 

 bury Lane, Islington. 



PEEPAEATION OP WAX. 



I have failed hitherto in extracting the wax from the 

 empty combs. Will you have the kindness to give directions 

 on this branch of bee-keeping ? — Cavendish. 



[The following directions are copied from " Bee-keeping 

 for the Many." After draining and washing the combs, 

 Mr. Payne says, "Put them in a clean boiler with some soft 

 water ; simmer over a clear fire until the combs are melted : 

 pour a quart or so into a canvass-bag, wide at the top and 

 tapering downwards, like a jelly-bag; hold this over a tub of 

 cold water; the boiling liquor will immediately pass away, 

 leaving the liquefied wax and dross in the bag ; have ready 

 a piece of smooth board of such a length that one end may 

 rest at the bottom of the tub and the other end at its top ; 

 upon this inclined plane lay your reeking bag, but not so as 

 to touch the cold water ; then, by compressing the bag with 

 any convenient roller, the wax will ooze through and run 

 down the board into the cold water, on the surface of which 

 it will set in thin flakes ; empty the dross out of the bag 

 and replenish it with the boiling wax, and pi-oceed as before 

 until all has been pressed. When finished collect the wax 

 from the surface of the cold water, put into a clean saucepan 

 with very little water, melt it carefully over a slow fire, skim 

 off the dross as it rises, then pour it into moulds or shapes, 

 and place them where they will cool slowly. The wax may 

 be rendered still more pure by a second melting and mould- 

 ing." The above is the process we have hitherto adopted, 

 with this exception, that we placed the combs in a covered 

 vessel which we stand in a boiler of water, forming in this way 

 a water bath on the principle of an ordinary glue-pot and ob- 

 viating all risk of over-heating. The operation of straining 

 boiling wax through a canvass bag is, however, so disagree- 

 able and " messy," if we may be allowed the word, that we 

 intend having an apparatus made for the purpose on the 

 plan recommended by the late Dr. Bevan, and which he 

 thus describes in page 259 of the second edition of " The 

 Honey Bee : " — " The kettle I use is in shape like a flower- 

 pot ; the strainer is of the same shape but only half the 

 depth, and it drops into the larger kettle full halfway with 

 an accurate fit. The bottom of this inner kettle is perforated 

 all over with very fine holes, and has a couple of ring 

 handles. The rough combs being placed in the large kettle, 

 water is poured in till it rises nearly halfway up the inner 

 kettle, and the whole is placed over a moderate fire. As the 

 wax melts out of the crude mass it percolates through the 

 strainer and floats upon the surface, tolerably free from im- 

 purity, from whence, when cool, it is taken off in a cake, for 



being re-melted and still further depurated, which may be 

 effected by the same apparatus, varying the use of it a little. 

 The cake of wax just referred to is now put into the upper 

 kettle, and water to the depth of a few inches into the lower ; 

 the wax is then slowly melted again, when it will drop 

 through the strainer and swim on the surface of the water, 

 the impurities falling to the bottom. Having been separated 

 from the water and any still remaining impurities scraped 

 off, the wax should be again re-melted with just water 

 enough to avoid burning, and poured into the moulds, the 

 latter having been previously rinsed with cold water to 

 prevent the wax from adhering to them. The moulds should 

 then be placed near the fire and covered over to let the wax 

 cool gradually, or the cakes will be liable to crack. This 

 last melting should be conducted over a very gentle fire — 

 such as wood embers and the like, or the wax will suffer 

 materially in colour, fragrance, and tenacity."] 



DEPEITLNG STOCES. 



One thing I wish to know is, I have worked my eight hives 

 on the depriving system, from six I have taken over 30 lbs. of 

 honey each, and the bottom hives are full, may I take 10 or 

 12 lbs. from them during the present week ? — J. N., Wands- 

 ivorth. 



[If yours are large-sized frame-hives we deem it rather 

 advantageous than otherwise to remove the two side combs 

 during winter, provided there be ample stores in the other 

 combs. It is well when breeding is proceeding rapidly in 

 the spring to fill up the vacancies thus made with empty or 

 fall combs according to the necessities of the case. "Under 

 any other circumstances than those above indicated we 

 should say, " Leave well alone."] 



EOOES AGAIN! 



And why not? Surely smaller subjects have a great deal 

 written upon them. There are my good friends the apiarians 

 of this Journal; what a small subject they have to write 

 about, and yet they go on and on each week — writing about 

 what ? — A little gadfly-looking insect, that stings me, and 

 makes honey which is so sweet that I abhor it. But, pray 

 good bee-lover, despise me not, and be not angry with me. 

 I do not understand your hobby, so know not the pleasure 

 it affords you. After all, ignorance is the great foe to enjoy- 

 ment. A man does not know and so he does not enjoy. To 

 wit, there round my garden walks a high wrangler from 

 Cambridge, who ascends, indeed, with ease the heights of 

 mathematics, and sees much to love in them ; but he 

 saunters round my flowers, knowing nothing about them, 

 and, therefore, he receives little or no pleasure from what 

 to me are sources of infinite delight. For, as saith Words- 

 worth — 



41 To me the meanest flower that blows can eive 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 



Then, again, I have a visit from a wise florist who revels 

 in my roses : he understands, and, therefore, loves and re- 

 ceives pleasure from them. But I presently point out my 

 fowls to him, that noble-looking brave-faced but not cruel- 

 eyed Game cock ; those high-bred elegantly-shaped Game 

 pullets, whose plumage, like the dress of a true gentlewoman, 

 is so neat and yet so telling. My flower-loving friend has 

 no eyes for the birds, he has no ears for such a subject as 

 poultry, and merely observes—" Those birds of yours seem 

 very slim and can't have much worth eating on their bones." 

 Tes, ignorance is the greatest foe of all, mark my words, to 

 enjoyment. So I say, Good readers learn, love to learn; and 

 the more you learn, the more you get to understand every- 

 thing in Nature, the more enjoyment you will have ; you 

 will possess " the harvest of an observant eye," that richest 

 of harvests. 



I have been watching for some months my sable brothers, 

 the rooks. Last May I watched them in a peculiar way — one 

 eye shut, the other looking along a gun-barrel ; but I en- 

 deavoured to kill them outright, using a full charge and 

 taking aim at a vital part, the head killing them " as if I 

 loved them," slightly to alter old Izaak Walton. 



Now I believe a rook baa a conscience or something akin 



