Mareh 20, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
235 
who are beginning bee-keeping, and must therefore ask pardon of 
those readers to whom the advice will be only a repetition of former 
teaching. It may he supposed that a colony of bees had been carefully 
wintered in a bar-frame hive ; that the owner has followed the plan of 
proceeding explained from time to time in the Journal, keeping his 
bees as quiet as possible up to the present time, only seeing that there 
has been a sufficient supply of food within easy reach of the cluster. 
He has paid particular attention to the comfort of the bees by wrap¬ 
ping them up warm, and by narrowing the entrance to the hive in 
order to exclude as much cold air as possible. 
It is now wished to set to work earnestly to build up this colony into 
a powerful army of honey-gatherers. Let him see that his smoker is 
in a clean and serviceable condition, and that he has a good supply of 
properly dried fuel for the same. We use nothing but decayed wood, 
well baked in an oven and then stored for use. Brown paper tied in 
rolls of convenient sizes is also a good fuel for the purpose. Besides 
the smoker a long knife, such as a thin carving knife, is useful to 
have by one’s side for the first inspection of a hive after winter. 
Bees will sometimes throw buttresses from comb to comb, or attach 
the frames to the sides of the hive, and we wish to sever these attach¬ 
ments with as little jarring of the combs as possible. Some syrup 
should be in readiness, made of 1 lb. of sugar to half a pint of water, 
a sprinkle of salt and a dessert-spoonful of salicylic acid solution. 
A feeder which can be regulated to a very small allowance in the 
twenty-four hours will be required. Light the smoker and proceed to 
business. 
Double back the quilts one by one from the front part of the hive, 
standing behind the hive. A few puffs of smoke, delivered on and 
between the combs exposed to view, will send most of the bees to the 
centre combs. We then push back the dummy towards the front 
wall of the hive and gently lift out the first frame. In a similar 
manner we inspect the the next frame. If both are very heavy with 
honey and no brood in them we take away one altogether. We will 
suppose that the bees are wintered on six frames ; we now draw back 
the quilts still more and expose to view the third comb. Here we 
shall doubtless find brood, and perhaps the queen will also be seen on 
this comb. Should there be no brood we must search diligently for a 
sight of her majesty. Few hives with a queen will now be destitute 
of brood, and therefore if no brood appear the presence of the queen 
must be ascertained, and if she be there we must note the effects of 
the stimulative feeding. Should no eggs be deposited shortly we 
must consider that she is old and worn out, and shall have to 
decide upon what is to be done with the stock. But we will suppose 
that when gently lifting the comb from its position there is a densely 
crowded mass of bees on it, and in causing some to move aside we 
see the sealed patches of brood, noting the size of the patch, and 
quickly restore the comb to its position, drawing back the other comb 
or combs towards it, and then replacing the divider. A puff or two 
of smoke drives the bees from off the bars, and we then replace the 
quilts one by one as they were before. We now commence from the 
back of the hive ; having folded back the quilts we draw the divider 
to the back wall of the hive, and as before carefully but quickly 
examine comb by comb until we arrive at the one last examined at 
first. 
By commencing at the front of the hive and re-arranging that 
before opening behind, we keep the bulk of the bees constantly in 
the middle, and allow less heat to escape from the brood nest than if 
the whole of the frames were uncovered at one time during the in¬ 
spection. When handling the entire combs, if there is much honey 
around the brood we use our knife for uncapping carefully a small 
quantity of it near to the sealed larvae. This action has a double 
purpose—the bees are stimulated to action by the removal of the 
honey, which they at once undertake, and at the same time the area 
of brood nest is enlarged, as the queen will utilise at once the emptied 
cell for the deposition of eggs. The constant and regular uncapping 
of honey cells is a potent means of stimulating the breeding powers 
of a colony, but it must be borne in mind that every care is to be 
taken not to expose the brood even for a minute or two to a cold 
wind. It is at this season of the year so easily chilled. Having 
therefore noted the size of the brood nest, the number of frames 
covered by the bees, and the amount of food in the hive, it is well to 
make memoranda of the same in order to refer to them at our next 
inspection. We find nothing better for the purpose than a small 
slate or tablet tacked to the inside of the cover where hives are out¬ 
doors or placed over each hive in a bee house. 
We now leave our hive with every facility for increasing in 
strength, since there are plenty of vacant cells at the queen’s disposal 
close to the already hatching brood. We must now employ the means 
at our disposal for quickening the laying propensities of the queen. 
We shall commence by seeing that there are very thick warm quilts 
over the frames, and that there is no escape of heat from the body 
of the hive. Instead of thinking of diminishing the thickness of 
the wrappers it must now be increased, and since there is nothing to 
fear from the moisture engendered in the hive (for a hotbed kind 
of heat is what the brood requires) we are in favour of crown boards, 
or some substitute for the same, during the early breeding season. 
Flat boards are placed over the quilts to prevent evaporation, and 
feed over these boards. 
There are various kinds of feeders (their name is legion), and we 
leave the bee-keeper to adopt one to his own liking. A steady 
gentle supply of food is what is requisite, and so given that there is 
no inducement to robbery offered to the bees from other hives. Care 
must be taken to spill no syrup about the apiary, and to keep all 
vessels containing syrup well covered. Mice as well as bees like 
syrup. The top was knocked off a wide-mouthed bottle containing 
some syrup, and we found three mice in the same. Bottled mice 
preserved in syrup is at any rate a novelty. If bees once learn where 
the syrup is kept, or where it is fed to other hives, it is astonishing 
with what pertinacity they return again and again to the spot, long 
after it has been withdrawn. 
After the syrup has been given to the stock for a week, say at 
the rate of half a pint in twenty-four hours, again examine the hive, 
this time spreading the brood, and gradually continue to do so on 
each examination afterwards. At first only remove the inside combs 
of the brood next to the outside of the same — that is, simply 
reversing their position. This will be followed later on by a greater 
extension, caused by inserting a sheet of foundation between the 
combs already nearly covered with brood, and so proceed until at 
length the greater portion of the body of the hive is converted into 
a brood chamber. But we hope to speak of this more fully in another 
letter.—P. H. P. 
DEATH OF MR. PETTIGREW. 
We regret to announce the death of our old and valued correspondent 
Mr. Alexander Pettigrew, which occurred at Bowdon, Cheshire, on the 
10th inst. As a portrait of this earnest apiarian and excellent man appears 
in our issue of September 8th, 1881, with his autobiography, it is not neces¬ 
sary to repeat here the details of his life. As a gardener he was able, as 
an apiarian successful, as a member of the community one of the most 
worthy. He was from youth to old age an earnest seeker after knowledge, 
and what he acquired he took great delight in imparting to others. He 
commenced writing for the press forty years ago, and continued without 
intermission until within two years of his death. His communications to 
our columns were voluminous and appreciated, and his popular “Handy 
Book on Bees” has passed through several editions. He clung with 
characteristic tenacity to the value of large straw skeps for bees, simply 
because he found they gave him the greatest bulk of honey in return for 
the least outlay in labour, and also because he could always find a market 
for his goods, but latterly especially be admitted the great value of the bar- 
frame hive and the sectional system of management. 
Perhaps no one has done more to advance bee-keeping than Mr. Petti¬ 
grew has during the period indicated. He was a persevering teacher long 
before the art became fashionable, and numbers of persons in this and 
other countries have benefited by his experience, which he so readily com¬ 
municated through the press. He was a forcible and occasionally a 
pungent writer, and if he ever found that he had unwittingly given even 
the slightest pain to a controversialist his letters always showed that he 
inflicted even greater pain on himself. 
Honest and upright in all his dealings, intellectual in character, an 
agreeable companion, a fast friend and a model parent and husband, the 
memory of Mr. Pettigrew will be cherished as of one who endeavoured to 
do his duty and to leave a good name behind him. He leaves a widow, 
with whom we sympathise in the great loss she has been called to endure. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
James Dickson & Sons, 108, Eastgate Street, Chester.— Catalogue of Farm 
Seeds. 
H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley.— Catalogue of Chrysanthemums. 
Charles Turner, Slough.— General Spring Catalogue for 1884. 
W. P. Laird & Sinclair, Dundee.— Price Current of Agricultural Seeds. 
Dickson & Robinson, 12, Old Millgate, Manchester.— Select Farm Seeds. 
*** All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor” 
or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
