246 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ September 20, 1864. 



perhaps, fearing that the depredations of the miscreants 

 might be extended to her other hives, she determined to 

 consign this one stock, interlopers and all, to the brimstone- 

 pit without delay. The work of destruction was success- 

 fully performed, and the legitimate inmates of the hive, 

 together with their invaders, were consigned to a common 

 death. A few of the latter were carefully collected, and sent 

 in triumph to my friend, who was asked to pronounce his 

 opinion as to what these depredators could really be. He 

 found — listen all apiarians who dread the appearance of any 

 new enemy or scourge in your apiaries ! he found these 

 terrible enemies were nothing less than the ordinary male 

 bees or drones, and that the too-careful owner had sacrificed 

 her best and most prosperous colony. — S. Bevan Fox, 

 Exeter. 



AEE BEES OMNIVOROUS? 



Yot/k article from "Rttby," in the Number for the 6th 

 inst., is, I am afraid, likely to mislead new beginners, as 

 bees do not generally sting when swarming, and it is 

 strange his bees do not frequent the borage, as this is con- 

 sidered one of the best bee flowers. My Ligurians were 

 working on it till 7 p.m., the other day, and the plant is 

 generally frequented so much that the country people say 

 they are like swarming, and, therefore, I intend nest year 

 to plant a larger extent of it. 



You certainly do not mean to say that bees are carni- 

 vorous, and I cannot believe that they either eat the bird 

 or the Chinaman's fowl. I believe they would carry out all 

 the flesh, from the bones that they could, but not eat it. 

 This story is something like giving Pigeons a salt cat, and 

 as a Welsh correspondent some time since stated, their 

 consuming moist sugar given as you get it from the shop, 

 whereas it is very little of it that they consume, but they 

 carry it out. I might as well state they eat oats, as I 

 put a quantity into the feeder to prevent them drowning, 

 and was rather surprised the next evening to find nearly all 

 the oats gone,' and, therefore, the next day I watched them, 

 and was amused to see them very busy bringing the oats 

 out; as they could not carry these sideways they took hold 

 of the thinnest end, and as they came out looked as if they 

 had a long proboscis. 



You had better advise "Ruby" to procure Ligurian 

 bees, as they do not sting so much as the black bees, and I 

 can confirm the statement that they gather from red clover 

 after it has been once cut. — A . W. 



[Although bees are usually very peaceable when swarming, 

 we regret to say that we speak feelingly when we state that 

 even Ligurians will occasionally transgress the strict rule of 

 politeness on these occasions, and we cannot, therefore, feel 

 surprised at a lady declining to run any risk. We have 

 certainly always found bees constant in their attentions to 

 borage when in bloom ; but we scarcely know what to say 

 with regard to the carnivorous, or rather omnivorous, pro- 

 pensities attributed to them. We ourselves saw what we 

 doubt not was fruit juice, stored in their cells on one occa- 

 sion, and we have now before us a letter from the most dis- 

 tinguished hymenopterist in the kingdom, in which he says 

 he has recently observed what to him was "an unusual 

 phase in the habits of the hive bee — a number of bees re- 

 galing themselves on the moisture of a putrid bird. The 

 bird had been cut or torn open, was in a state of advanced 

 decay, and a little rain had moistened the stinking mass. 

 On this fluid the bees were regaling themselves." However 

 absurd it may at first sight appear, the fact that bees will 

 pick the bones of small birds when prepared and presented 

 to them in the manner described by "Ruby," is attested 

 by too many witnesses to be entirely discredited. What 

 becomes of the flesh of the poor little biped under these cir- 

 cumstances is rather a puzzling question, but is one that 

 could be readily solved by experiment, if "R. S.," or any 

 other of our scientific and observing apiarian correspondents, 

 would take the matter in hand.] 



purpose of inducing bees to settle more quickly, has been 

 violently assailed and condemned by various authors, yet I 

 am by no means convinced that the system of "tanging" 

 is so utterly useless as they would have us believe. Two 

 instances have been related to me which occurred this sum- 

 mer. A labourer was at work in a field, and observing a 

 swarm flying across overhead, he began tanging on some 

 implement, and the bees immediately came down and 

 settled on some docks at his feet, where they remained until 

 he went to the village for a hive. Another man was at 

 work in his garden, when seeing a swarm going away at a 

 great rate, he rapped sonorously on his spade, the bees 

 came straight down, and commenced settling on his person. 

 He was obliged to run for it, to the shelter of a tree. The 

 whole swarm followed him, and clustered on the branches, 

 from which they were hived. 



I have proved that the report of a gun will bring down a 

 fly-away swarm. Many years ago I hived a large swarm in 

 a unicomb-hive. At twelve o'clock on the following day the 

 bees suddenly rushed out of the hive, and mounted over 

 some very high trees growing on the old city wall and em- 

 bankment which separate my garden from that of the 

 bishop's palace. The bees settled in a low bush about fifty 

 yards off from where they started. They were secured and 

 placed in a different hive, and seemed quite contented ; but 

 the following day also about, twelve o'clock, they again left 

 the hive, and pitched high up among the branches of one of 

 the trees. With great difficulty I brought the swarm down 

 by sawing off a branch, and the bees were hived as before. 

 Fearing they would play me the same trick, I thought of 

 trying the effect of firing a gun, and I was curious to observe 

 the result. Loading my gun with a heavy charge of powder, 

 and placing it within reach, I waited for the next exodus, 

 and it came as I expected, about ten o'clock the following 

 morning, when I happened to be in the garden. A sudden 

 well-known rush and roar, and the air was filled with bees, 

 which gradually massed nearer together, and mounting 

 higher and higher, were already on the point of disappear- 

 ing over the tops of the trees when I fired. In an instant, 

 quicker than I could have believed possible, down came the 

 entire swarm, and settled within three yards of where I was 

 standing. I suspect in this instance that the violent con- 

 cussion of the aii- produced the result, and in tanging, it is 

 probable, that if productive of any effect at all, it is the vi- 

 bration of the air to which that is to be attributed. 



Several other instances have occurred in the course of my 

 apiarian career in which the old-fashioned practice of tang- 

 ing has appeared to have been instrumental in causing 

 swarms to settle quickly, and it seems to me, that after all 

 that has been written and said against the practice, there 

 really is some good ground for the popular idea concerning 

 it. — S. Bevan Fox, Exeter. 



"TANGING" SWARMS. 

 Although the general custom which prevails among 

 country bee-keepers of beating some instrument for the 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Marking Fowls [Fair Play).— Marking -with a string or wire round the 

 leg is the mode adopted where Ducks run together in Buckinghamshire, or 

 Turkeys in Cambridgeshire. It is far more effectual to mark in the web of 

 the wing, either with a piece of coloured worsted, or to burn holes with a 

 hot knitting needle. We prefer the latter method, aa the marks are never 

 obliterated. They be made thus — ... . * . I '. '. • '. 



Colour of Cochin Legs {Exhibitor). — The legs of all Cochins should be 

 yellow, but there is with them in- age a certain change, as becoming grey 

 with the human being. Nothing would excuse blue or green legs, but 

 practised judges and breeders will not look for bright yellow in adults. As 

 well might you expect the bloom and freshness of twenty on the cheek that 

 has been visited by the winds of heaven for fifty years. In fowls, as men, 

 age is the gradual wearing out of vitality, and it shows itself not only in 

 loss of vigour, but the freshness of colour also trades. You must also bear 

 in mind that in all adults this is the season of moulting. All strength and 

 vigour are devoted to the reproduction of plum ige— every external is dead 

 or dying. It will help you if we repeat, birds of the year must have yellow 

 legs. There is latitude for adults. 



Treatment of a Weak Swami ( W. J. r.).—lC the bees in the strayed 

 swarm are tolerably numerous, all that is necessary is to feed them liberally, 

 and this should be done at once. The best mode of administering the neces- 

 sarv amount of food is by means of an inverted pint bottle, the mouth of 

 which should be tied over with a bit of cap-net, or open canvass, sucb as is 

 used for wool work, and inverted through an opening in the top of the hive. 

 This bottle should be filled every evening until the nett contents of the hive 

 reach at least 15 lbs. 



Honey DAltK-coLouREn (Lcitjhlon £■). — The dark colour of your honey 

 this year is owing to some peculiarity of the season, and its effects upon the 

 pasturage. It does not arise from any fault or disease in the bees them- 

 selves, nor are you by.any means the o::ly one to complain. 



