226 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTTTEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ September 13, 1864. 



comb-building, and by the end of May the two half-oombs 

 that had been cut out were replaced by new ones, whilst the 

 end of June saw the completion of four others in the place 

 that had been vacant during winter. 



The new combs were made in succession, and I daily 

 ■witnessed through the glass the queen depositing eggs in 

 them ; but I was careful not to open the frames lest the 

 brood should be chilled. The first circumstance that at- 

 tracted my attention was the frequent disappearance of 

 larvffi from the cells, which,' however, were not allowed to 

 remain long empty. As soon as they were cleaned out they 

 were again replenished with eggs by the queen. Their dis- 

 appearances were distinctly detected in a comb adjoining 

 the glass, which was made on the 18th of May. Still all 

 seemed to progress favourably till the 26th of June, when I 

 was a little surprised by seeing amongst the sealed brood 

 several cells with flattened or perforated covers. On opening 

 the glass and thrusting the point of my penknife into them, 

 I found, in all of the above character, unmistakeable foul 

 brood, dark slimy matter, identical with what I had seen in 

 the affected hive in October. But yet the bees continued to 

 increase in numbers, and by the end of the first week of 

 July, Huber was fully replenished with comb and so populous 

 as to begin to cluster outside. Being the height of the clover 

 honey harvest I daily expected it to swarm, but in this I 

 was disappointed, and on the 23rd of July the desired result 

 still seemed remote. I, therefore, removed the queen and 

 a portion of the bees from it to a unicomb-hive for the pur- 

 pose of observation, leaving the remainder to raise a new 

 queen from the eggs and larvss, of which they had an 

 abundant supply; but not even one queen could be reared. 

 I therefore ejected the whole of the bees with a view to a 

 careful inspection of all the combs. As I suspected, there 

 were foul cells in every comb ; even amongst the stored, 

 sealed honey there were sealed cells filled with putrid matter 

 rendering the comb quite unfit for the table, and conse- 

 quently showing how improper it would be to give the honey 

 to healthy bees. The queen and the portion of bees which I 

 removed to a unicomb for observation at once commenced 

 their labours, and by July 30th a large portion of comb was 

 furnished with eggs and larva?, which induced me to remove 

 the queen that they might attempt to raise another. The 

 foundations of two royal cells were laid, but only one suc- 

 ceeded, the larvae in the other perished on the eve of being 

 sealed-up. 



In this unicomb I had the opportunity of witnessing the 

 disappearance of a few worker larvae, and now I imagine 

 that the first visible symptoms of foul-brood disease in new 

 comb is the finding empty cells, or cells with eggs newly 

 deposited in them, interspersed among the recently sealed- 

 up brood. The sealed brood in the unicomb generally 

 matured ; but on the 21st of August, three weeks from the 

 period of the old queen's removal, and when the last of the 

 young bees should have left their cells, a few cells still 

 remained sealed. Some of them I opened-up and I found 

 enclosed, as I had in the Huber, dark putrid matter. 

 Others I left undisturbed to see what the bees would do 

 with them, but to-day (September 2nd), these sealed cells 

 have scarcely changed their appearance, the covers are not 

 perforated, and so little are they flattened that simply look- 

 ing at them I would say they contained healthy brood, did 

 I not know it to be otherwise. 



So much for Huber. Let us now return to the common 

 cottage straw hive which I selected along with Huber for 

 experiment, and which was also but not so liberally fed 

 with honey taken from the first diseased hive. Unlike 

 Huber it threw two swarms, one on July 4th, and another 

 on the 12th. Shortly after sending out its last swarm I 

 took it up and found, that out of seven queen cells that had 

 been formed two had come to perfection, the others had 

 proved abortive, or were still sealed and contained black- 

 coloured putrid matter. There was foul brood in every 

 comb, and as in Huber, there were also interspersed amongst 

 the stored honey foul cells full of putridity. The idea pre- 

 sented itself to me that weather influences might possibly 

 have something to do with the state in which I found my 

 hives, seeing that June had been cold and wet, and that on 

 the 30th and 31st of May there had been several degrees of 

 frost. I was most unwilling to admit, if I could find another 

 sufficient cause, that disease had been induced by feeding 



with infected honey. To determine this point I broke up 

 several cottage-hives corresponding to my experimental one, 

 at one, two, and three miles distance, and which had also 

 swarmed about the same time as it; but in none of them 

 did I find a single foul cell. 



Finally, on the 11th of August, I put a very strong swarm 

 with a prolific queen into an empty skep, and fed it with the 

 infected honey taken from Huber and the broken-up cottage- 

 hive. On the 22nd I broke it up, and found what I now 

 regard as a sure symptom of disease, empty cells amongst 

 the recently sealed-up larvsa, in which, of course, there had 

 once been larvae, but which had died and been removed by 

 the bees. When the fed diseased straw hive threw its first 

 swarm on July 4th, the flowers were full of honey, and as 

 every bee would be filled with honey taken directly from the 

 flowers, no infection would be carried along with them. This 

 was the case, there was not the vestige of disease in the 

 first cast. But in the second cast I found the brood comb 

 irregularly sealed, and, consequently, I destroyed it with- 

 out waiting for the full development of the disease. 



Vhe conclusions, therefore, to which I have been con- 

 strained to come from these experiments and others not 

 related are — 1. Foul brood is a real disease and not caused 

 by the brood getting chilled. 2. It is infectious. 



Mr. Woodbury appears to have told the simple truth re- 

 specting it, and I verily believe that if I had not been care- 

 ful to employ remedial measures, it would in a short time 

 have assumed the same virulent and malignant type in my 

 apiary that it did in his. The disease may exist from year 

 to year in an apiary where natural swarming only is allowed, 

 by feeding stocks with refuse honey from taken hives. 



I shall be very glad to learn, whether Mr. Lowe has seen 

 anything in his apiary this season to modify his former 

 opinions on this subject. — R. S. 



DOBNEY'S TEA GARDENS, ISLINGTON. 



NEAKtothe "Three Hats," was a place called "Dobney's 

 Tea Gardens," kept by a Mrs. Ann Dobney, where there 

 was a rival equestrian named Prince. These latter gardens 

 occupied the ground between White Lion Street and Win- 

 chester Place, and were established as far back as 1728. In 

 1771 the house was shortly taken for a boarding-school, but 

 it was soon changed to its original place of amusement ; for 

 in 1772 Daniel Wildman exhibited his bees here. This 

 was the advertisement : — 



" June 20, 1772. 

 "Exhibition of Bees on Horseback. 



"At the 'Jubilee Gardens,' Islington (late Dobney's) 

 this and every evening until further notice (wet evenings 

 excepted). 



" The celebrated Mr. Daniel Wildman will exhibit several 

 new and amazing experiments, never attempted by any man 

 in this or any other kingdom "before. The rider standing 

 upright, one foot on the saddle and one on the neck, with a 

 mark of bees on his head and face. He also rides standing 

 upright on the saddle with the bridle in his mouth, and by 

 firing a pistol makes one part of the bees march over the 

 table, and the other part swarm in the air and return to 

 their hive again, with other performances too tedious to 

 insert. The doors open at six, to begin at a quarter before 

 seven. Admittance : Box and gallery, 2s., the other seats, Is." 



OUR LETTER. BOX. 



Crook's Improved Incubator la answer to the inquiry made by a 



correspondent, we can now state that we have seen a very satisfactory 

 testimonial relative to the hatching power of this apparatus. 



Islington Poultry Show— Pigeons at Newcastle.— We have no less 

 than sis letters upon these subjects, and we feel that we shall act discreetly 

 in not admitting any further discussion of the subjects. The Show we 

 hope and believe will be successful, and we think similar Pigeon-judging 

 will not occur. 



Woobbvby Frame-hives (C. F. G., Kirton-in-Lindsey). — Working 

 directions, with dimensions, were giran in No. 56 of this Journal, and in 

 the last edition of " Bee-keeping for the Many." 



Squirrel Shebding its Fur {A Country Clergyman).— The. bald appear- 

 ance of your young squirrel is probably owing to its changing its coat, and 

 it will most likely soon regain its fur. Bread and milk, and nuts are its best 

 food. 



Preserving Gourbs.— "I. B." wishes to know if these can be preserved 

 as a sweetmeat and how. Can any of our readers afford us definite prac- 

 tical information on the subject ? 



