October 18, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OP HOETICtTLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



321 



too'long the combs will probably be attached to the adapter, 

 and a fracture is the consequence. If effected too rapidly, 

 or beyond what the honey season will warrant, a quantity of 

 empty or half-filled combs is the result. A little experience 

 will teach the owner better than any written directions. 



I have had a hive of this construction in pretty constant 

 use for about fourteen years, tenanted by various swarms. 

 I cannot be sure of the quantities of honey obtained from it 

 prior to 185S. In that year a super of 30 lbs. was taken ; in 

 1859, one of 53 lbs., of particularly beautiful honey, and in 

 subsequent 'seasons it afforded results already detailed in 

 No. 1S2 of the present series. 



Mr. G. Fox, the summer after first stocking this hive of 

 his invention, obtained a splendid super of more than 

 66 lbs. It is remarkable that only once have I ever known 

 brood to be found in the super. This may be accidental, 

 but I wish I could report the same of other supers. 



The hive has its faults, the chief being that a bee dress is 

 generally requisite when carrying out any of the before- 

 mentioned manipulations, as well as an additional pair of 

 hands when removing the super. But as a remunerative 

 hive under the management of one who understands it, I do 

 not believe it has any superior, if it has its equal. 



With respect to the second query of " A. K. H.," as to 

 the dimensions of supers calculated to hold from 30 lbs. to 

 40 lbs. of honeycomb, an octagonal super of 13 inches in di- 

 ameter by 8 inches deep, will contain about the latter quan- 

 tity. I am very partial to shallow square supers constructed 

 to carry the same bars, which fit into the frames in use in 

 my frame-hives. These boxes are about 13 inches square, 

 by depths varying from 31- to 5| inches, inside measure, in- 

 cluding the bars. One of these boxes is first given, and 

 when tolerably well filled with combs, an empty one, without 

 the bars, is placed between the stock and the super. The 

 combs are extended into the second box, and here is a modi- 

 fication of the adjusting principle at once. By this plan I 

 have obtained some of my largest and best supers, from 

 54 lbs. in weight downwards. 



The best dimensions for wooden stock -hives are 13 inches 

 square by 8 inches deep. A smaller-sized box would, doubt- 

 less, contain enough stores to carry a colony through the 

 winter; but more than this is required, there must be suffi- 

 cient capacity for the breeding powers of a prolific queen, and 

 the storing of large quantities of pollen. This being deficient, 

 it is useless to expect the bees to confine their breeding 

 quarters to the stock-hive ; but they will ascend for that 

 purpose into the supers. That small stock hives are a great 

 mistake has long been the opinion of — S. Bevan Eox, 

 Exeter.'] 



BEES AEE CAENIVOEOUS. 



In the Number of your valuable Journal for September 

 20th, a correspondent, " A. W.," seems to be quite incre- 

 dulous about my experience of the carnivorous propensities 

 of the honey bee. Since then I have received a strong tes- 

 timony in favour of the correctness of my theory. A lady 

 in my neighbourhood has been most successful in preserving 

 and increasing her stock of bees during the last three incle- 

 ment seasons, when every one else in the vicinity lost all or 

 nearly all theirs. Being anxious to know how she managed 

 her hives, I called on her and asked how she fed her bees in 

 winter. Her reply was, " Almost entirely on meat — any 

 scraps of fresh meat left after our dinner, such as chicken 

 bones, limbs of ducks or other fowls, bits of roast 'beef 

 with the gravy in them, as bees like underdone meat." 

 "Don't you put sugar or something sweet in it?" said I in 

 a rather astonished tone. " Oh, nothing of the kind, but 

 we are careful not to let any salt touch the meat. If there 

 were the smallest grain of salt on it the bees would not 

 eat it." 



" And is this the way you always feed your bees ?" 



" Always ; and my father and my grandfather never gave 

 their bees any other food than meat, because sugar was 

 dear in their time." 



The lady lifted up a hive, and on the floor was a black 

 crowd of bees, in the midst of which could be seen the in- 

 distinct outline of the drumstick of a turkey. The bees 

 were evidently hard at work, though I could, not exactly 

 determine what they were doing, but they were not carrying | 



anything out ; and my friend only laughed at my suggestion 

 that they might so dispose of the meat. 



Bees certainly attack soft fruits. I have known them 

 totally destroy two crops of ripe Peaches, and to cause much 

 trouble in a vinery by joining in the depredations of the 

 wasps. 



Bees are very capricious in their tastes for flowers. I 

 have a hedge of Globe Fuchsias crimsoned over with blos- 

 soms, which resounds all day long with such musical hum- 

 ming, that I put it down as a first-rate bee-pasture ; but on 

 close examination I did not find a garden bee on the whole 

 hedge — the songsters were all of the wild furry family. 

 This puzzles me much. Honey for one should be honey for 

 all. I feel rather disappointed in my Fuchsia hedge, from 

 which I had expected great things for my bees. — Ruby. 



BEE-KEEPJjN t G. 



Bee-lceeping. By "The Tuies" Bee-hastek. With Illus- 

 trations. London : Sampson Low & Co. 



This is a superfluous and Jesuitical book— superfluous 

 because it contains nothing useful that is not to be found in 

 recent cheaper works ; and Jesuitical, because whilst it pro- 

 fesses to obviate " the obscurity and complexity of bee books 

 in general," all its practical portions are pure and simple ex- 

 tracts from those very books. That our readers may judge 

 for themselves on this point it will be sufficient to state, 

 that the body of the volume contains 224 pages ; of these 

 nearly 50 pages are a reprint of the letters in the Times, and 

 more than 70 pages are verbatim extracts from the works of 

 Bevan, Taylor, and others. Not 30 pages are original. 



We take leave to correct one of the many unfounded and 

 reckless assertions in which the writer indulges. In page 142 

 he states that Mr. Woodbury has " patented " a hive, and 

 insinuates over and over again that that gentleman exposed 

 the Bee-master's errors because he did not notice this hive. 

 It is more than probable that every apiarian reader of this 

 Journal knows this assertion to be untrue, and will disbelieve 

 the ungenerous insinuation : nevertheless it may not be out 

 of place to mention that to our certain knowledge Mr. Wood- 

 bury has no pecuniary interest in the sale of any of the 

 hives which have been named after him, nor has he ever be- 

 nefited, or sought to be benefited, a single penny by his 

 apiarian inventions. 



With two further observations we leave the volume. We 

 have no intention to criticise the Times for rejecting Mr. 

 Woodbury's reply to the "Bee-master's" letter; but the 

 " Bee-master," acting as judge in his own cause, says that 

 reply was rejected "very properly." We must therefore 

 observe, that at the Entomological Society, " Professor West- 

 wood and the Eev. Hamlet Clark (two disinterested judges), 

 regretted the diffusion of so much error in a leading journal, 

 and the unfair treatment to which Mr. Woodbury had been 

 subjected." 



Lastly. The "Bee-master" recommends a lady, if she 

 finds a toad in her apiary, to "empty on him a snuff-box 

 fall of strong snuff," adding, as if it was a jocular treatment, 

 " he will reflect a few days before he returns to his old 

 quarters." Now, we ask of our readers, whether ladies or 

 gentlemen, not to adopt such a cruel treatment, for it insures 

 torture and a lingering death to the toad. 



BEES, BEE-HIVES, AND BEE-MASTEES. 



On Tuesday the 11th inst., a lecture on the above subject, 

 being the first of the winter course of lectures in connection 

 with the Liverpool Young Men's Christian Association, was 

 delivered at the hall of the College, Shaw Street, Liverpool, 

 by the Eev. J. Cumming, D.D., of London. 



The Eev. E. W. Forrest presided ; and after calling upon 

 the Eev. Mr. Forfar to open the proceedings by a prayer, 

 briefly introduced the rev. lecturer, remarking that they 

 must all be much surprised at the versatile talent of our 

 lecturer, whether discoursing about the Pope, or descanting 

 upon the economy of the little insect which he will bring 

 before our notice this evening. 



The Eev. J. Gamming, who was enthusiastically received 

 by the very large audience that thronged the hall, said they 

 would no doubt be surprised at the subject announced for 



