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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 13, 1SG1. 



less when the Judges went round the bird may have been out 

 of condition. 



I agree with Mr Taylor that more time should be allowed 

 for judging such as the Palace Show, where there should 

 be a day expressly for judging, and the birds should be at 

 the Show a whole day previously, as many of them come a 

 long distance, and are so exhausted that it requires a day 

 for them to recover. — Thos. Moore, Fareham. 



DUCKS LAYING BAD EGGS. 



The Duck was hatched last spring, and commenced laying 

 about ten days ago, and has laid half a dozen egg3 and every 

 one of them bad. The whites are bluish, and the yolks are 

 the colour of a sponge, or, if anything, a little darker. — 

 "W. T. M. 



[It may be the result of disease or of improper food. Such 

 things do sometimes happen with first eggs ; and if you can- 

 not attribute it in any way to the former causes, we think we 

 may safely tell you that a little patience will probably be 

 the cure.] 



SITTING HEN EATING HER EGGS. 

 In answer to " J. W.'s " question respecting the hen 

 eating her eggs when sitting, I can say I had one that did 

 so last year. She is a very good hen to lay, and I did not 

 wish to kill her, so I thought I would try to remedy the 

 evil. She used to keep on her eggs for two or three days 

 together, and that was when she ate her eggs. So I thought 

 it was hunger, and I made it a practice to turn her off every 

 morning at feeding time, and I then found she ceased to eat 

 any eggs. I think your correspondent will find that this 

 propensity is caused by hunger through remaining on the 

 nest too long. — Elmwood. 



THE BECENT MILD WEATHER -A CAUTION. 



To-dat has been quite like summer— the sun very warm, 

 scarcely a breath of wind stirring. My bees (five stocks), 

 have been out of their hives quite as numerously as on many 

 days in September. I am afraid it is a bad sign, but should 

 like to know if any of your correspondents have found their 

 bees do the same. — J. W. T., Wandsivorth. 



[Permit me to address a word of caution to the apiarian 

 readers of The Journal of Horticulture. The recent 

 mild weather appears to have stimulated a very rapid con- 

 sumption of the stores in hives intended to stand, the winter. 

 I am almost ashamed to confess that I have already lost a 

 fine stock from sheer starvation, but I deem it right to make 

 my misfortune public as a warning to others. I made up 

 all my stocks to what I deemed a sufficient weight in Oc- 

 tober, and was quite taken by surprise at finding, only two 

 months afterwards, one dead of starvation, and some of the 

 others so light as to necessitate prompt measures to save 

 them from the same fate. The consumption of food by my 

 bees this autumn has certainly been remarkably great, and 

 it has very probably been the same with others. The ap- 

 pearance of this note of warning may save some of my 

 brother apiarians from a similar misfortune to that experi- 

 enced by— A Devonshire Bee-keeper,] 



BEES EEGICIDAL— DRIVING BEES. 

 Some time ago "A Devonshire Bee-keeper" asked the 

 readers of The Journal of Horticulture if any explana- 

 tion could be given by them as to the strange aberrations 

 of regicidal attacks on queens. Now, I dare not venture to 

 explain the cause; but, nevertheless, it does not hinder me 

 giving a few hints of what has come under my own observa- 

 tion. It is a well-known fact that at swarming time bees, 

 which intend doing so, often try to take possession of any 

 weak hives that may be near, and succeed in doing so. 

 The first thing they do after they do gain admittance is to 

 kill the queen. This I have often seen. Since the intro- 

 duction of the Ligurian bees into this locality they have 

 shown their thievish propensities by attacking both the 

 black bees and the weak hives of their own race. About 



a month ago, one day, after" feeding a Ligurian hive, my at- 

 tention was drawn to a black hive, and I saw numbers of 

 Ligurian s marching in and out just as if they were at home, 

 and on drawing the shutters and taking a peep at the in- 

 terior, there were the yellow bees nibbling away at the black 

 at the very top of the hive, and in a few hours the queen 

 was thrown out dead. Might it then not be strange bees 

 that killed the queen, and not her own subjects ? as they, 

 being weak hives, might be easily overcome, and the queen 

 on her return could be easily made captive by a few strange 

 ones. 



I see that " C. D., Sheffield," complains that it is with 

 difficulty that he can induce the bees to leave wooden hives.. 

 For my part I never found any difference if the weather was 

 at all favourable. I have often driven them in winter when 

 necessity required, and instead of cutting-out combs and 

 brushing the bees into an empty hive when I found them 

 a little dilatory, I simply tied a thin muslin cloth or such 

 like over the mouth of the inverted hive, and placed it before 

 a fire, not too near, for a short time, and then I accom- 

 plished my end easily. — A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 



A NEW BEE BOOK. 



The question has been asked, "Is a new bee book wanted ?" 

 In these days of rapid book-making, there is a great lack ol 

 originality, a new book too often proving but old material 

 dressed up in a new form, and from a want of practical know- 

 ledge of the subject treated of, the compiler is apt to intro- 

 duce absurd errors and exploded theories, of which style 

 "Bee-keeping, by the Times Bee-master" may serve as an 

 illustration, and of such books we hare certainly no need. 



But there is a want felt amongst apiarians generally, of a 

 thoroughly original and practical work on bee-keeping at a 

 moderate cost, embracing what was useful and well esta- 

 blished in the past, together with all the more recent dis- 

 coveries and improvements. The acquaintanceship of " A 

 Devonshire Bee-esepee" with the bee literature of his 

 own and other countries, and, above all, his extensive prac- 

 tical experience of both the British and Italian bee, long ago 

 induced me to express to himself the hope that one day he 

 might be induced to favour us with what I felt sure would 

 prove a standard work on the subject, "the right man being 

 in the right place." This hope it affords me the greatest 

 pleasure to find is about to be realised ; and as the knowledge 

 of our interesting little favourites progresses, that he may 

 be spared to put it through many editions, is, I feel sure, the 

 sincere wish of all the readers of the apiarian corner, as well, 

 as of — A Renfrewshire Bee-keeper. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



"Washing Fowls— Hardening Plumage [H. &).— If dirty the birds shoald 

 be washed, and not more than two days before they go to the show. Peas 

 or Bmail beans will harden a cock's plumage— raw yolk of eggs will do 

 the same. 



Feathers of Spangled Hamburgh Pdlt,et? (Golden Hamburgh). — If 

 you sell all the Spangled pallets that have a few white spots yon will he 

 likely to sell all. They all have them under the bellv and towards the tail. 

 We do not consider them at all important there. "We should think them a 

 defect on the chest or back. The first-prize Birmingham birds were very 

 good in our opinion. We should not consider a few white spots sufficient 

 reason for discarding a hen. Their belly plumage is commonly coloured to 

 hide the white spots. 



Birmingham Prize List.— In the coloured Dorking chicken class Mr. S. 

 Lang, jun., The Shrubbery, Redland, Bristol, should have appeared in our 

 list as ihe owner of a highly commended pen. 



Cochin-China Cockerel (W. 3. Wlieeler). — The thumb mark in his 

 comb is not of the slightest consequence in a stock bird. 



Mice in an Aviary (Ivy Hedge).— The best means of getting rid of the 

 mice is by poison placed outside of the aviary, provided it is not used care- 

 lessly and poison something besides the mice. "We have known many small 

 birds killed by mice daring the night time. Phosphoric paste is tbe best, 

 but it muBt be used very carefully. If the aviary stands by itself zinc 

 18 inches high round the bottom will prevent the mice getting in ; but if it 

 joins a wall or building then the wirework should be made close, so they 

 cannot get through. 



Breeding Ligurian Bees (A. L. B.).~ We should suspect some taint of 

 the common black bee in a Ligurian queen that bred only verydark workers 

 with but one orange-coloured band, and we would not breed queens from her 

 unless compelled to do eo in the absence of a better. 



Removing a Hive to a Distance (H. A. H.).— Secure the hive, one of 

 Neighbour's improved cottager's, with windows, firmly to its floorboard, 

 .cover the entrance and the holes in the top of the hive with perforated zinc ; 

 :tie a cord round it, do not trust it in the hands of railway porters, and let 

 it travel in the same carriage with yourself. 



