April 10, 1884, ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
293 
When a start is decided on warm the food slightly. Do not give 
the first bottle till the evening, because a rapid supply of syrup given 
to half a dozen stocks on a warm day would be almost certain to 
induce a tendency to rob all round, and this should be veiv carefully 
guarded against. The following morning remove the bottle, whether 
the food is all taken or not, and substitute the slow feeder. Another 
thing must not be overlooked. Any weak stocks must be left unfed 
till all the others are well accustomed to the feeding-bottle. If a 
weak stock is fed at the same time as strong ones, probably it will 
be attacked and the food taken from it as rapidly as given, in which 
case it is almost impossible to preserve it. The feeder should also 
be carefully guarded against bees reaching it from the outside. 
About half a pint of syrup should be given as rapidly as the 
bees will take it on commencing to stimulate, after which we think 
the best guide as to quantity is one pint (or 1^ lb.), given at such 
a rate as will occupy seven days in taking the whole. Three and a 
half ounces per diem may not seem a great quantity to maintain a 
large colony of bees, but it must be remembered that by the time the 
stocks become strong there will be a natural income in addition from 
Gooseberries, &c., so one pint is abundant food for a week. If there 
is much sealed food in the hive a comb may have the cappings 
removed, and if placed in the centre of the bees they will at once 
take the honey to another part of the hive, leaving the cells ready 
for eggs. 
When stimulating is successfully started the increased warmth 
of the coverings about the feeder becomes very perceptible. The 
bees constantly crowd round the source of supply, and are always on 
the look out for the food. The entrance to the hive must be con¬ 
tracted to about 1 inch, and every means be taken to add to the 
warmth of the coverings. There is no need for ventilation after 
February is passed, and crown boards may be used with advantage 
over the quilts. 
There is always a difficulty in improvising an efficient feeder. 
High-priced ones are only used by the few, but a very effective article 
may be made at a nominal cost and with little trouble as follows : — 
Take a common pickle-bottle holding about a pint, cut a square of 
very thin zinc (the thinner the better), mark on this a circle the size 
of the bottle mouth, and with scissors cut the zinc so that the parts 
projecting beyond the circle may be bent down the neck of the bottle 
and tied on with string. Three small holes punched in the zinc will 
give about the right quantity of food. If a thin board the same size 
as the top of the hive has alj inch hole cut in its centre, is laid over 
the quilts with a half brick or other weight on each corner to keep 
it dovm, a capital feeding stage is formed, and it only needs a small 
piece of glass for slipping over the hole when removing the bottle to 
make it complete.—W. B. C., Higher Bebington. 
LIGURIAN AND SYRIAN BEES. 
The debate originated by “ W. B. C.” and carried on by others on the 
inferiority of the Ligurian bee as a honey-gatherer appears to be of national 
interest to English bee-keepers and of serious moment to all. If the 
Ligurians are unsuited to the English climate—for, as I understand it, 
“ W. B. C.” does not dispute their value in countries where the honey 
flow is lengthy—by all means let us face the truth, or in a few years’ 
time we shall repent the obstinacy in acknowledging an error which 
many of us do not like to own. On the other hand, if those who find 
Ligurians profitable will give accurate details of the manner in which 
they have proved themselves ahead of blacks, we shall have done 
something towards arriving at the truth. 
The recent contributions on the point are against the Ligurians, but 
“ Hallamshire ” brings a new element into the argument by his advocacy 
of the importation of the Syrian bee. When looked at with an unbiassed 
eye I fear his warm commendation of them will not hold good. “ W. B. C.” 
has not tried them, others have. The “American Bee Journal” has a 
very clear and—being from the pen of Mr. Doolittle—I may add faithful 
article on the subject. It is on page 132 of the present volume, but being 
three columns in length I can only quote small portions of it. “ I had 
one colony of Syrian bees during 1883, and three till after the honey 
harvest of 1883 with their increase, and from all I did not get 50 lbs. of 
honey, and I had to feed each to get them prepared for winter. The same 
number of Italian colonies gave me 500 lbs. during the same time.” So 
much for yield. Mr. Doolittle then goes on to speak of the propensity 
these bees have for keeping fertile woikers, “ that the apiarist would 
suppose they had a laying queen, and is deceived until the chance of 
getting the colony into condition is passed.” 
Then as to stinging. “ The 10th of December being warm, I to out 
two frames to feed them. As Mr. Carrol wrote me that I would have less 
difficulty in handling the Cyprians if I used no smoke, I placed the 
6moker, well filled and lighted, on top of next hive. I had not got the 
quilt half off before two dozen bees darted at me.1 allowed 
two or three to sting my hands while I watched them. Some of them 
would bite half a dozen times before they would sting.” Then smoke 
w T as tried till it rolled out of the entrance; “it helped some, but still I got 
twenty.five stings ”—which is not a pleasant picture, I think “ Hallam- 
Bbire” will admit. If Syrians in the hands of such an able bee.master 
as Mr. Doolittle are unmanageable and profitless, surely it is fair to 
suppose the generality of English bee-keepers will be better without them. 
But to refer to “ Hallamshire's ” own letter. Would he give particulars 
of the case that he can cite, in which £20 profit was made in one year 
from one stock ? Was it in comb or extracted honey ? How much from 
the parent stock, and how much from the swarms ? 
I have some recollection of a statement of the sort in print; but as I 
believe the bulk of the profit was derived from the sale of swarms or 
queens, and was, if I remember rightly, in 1881, when all stocks—black 
or yellow—gathered enough to winter upon, I presume “Hallamshire” 
refers to some other colony, for profit derived from the sale of swarms 
does not touch the question, except in an adverse way. Moreover, such 
isolated instances give a fictitious colouring to the craft which is hardly 
advisable. 
To hark back to the original point. By all moans let bee-keepers 
thankfully and industriously use the columns of the Journal of IJorii- 
culture to sift this question thoroughly, giving the Ligurian due justice 
where facts bear out theory; but carefully weighing his gilded and 
specious appearance and amiable manners against the more sober and, I 
venture to think, more substantial qualities of the hitherto abused black. 
—K. B. K. 
At page 253 “ Hallamshire ” speaks of the Syrian bees having realised 
all his wishes, and cites a case where £20 profit has been made in one season in 
this country from one stick, another where the increase was £7, and each 
gathered sufficient to winter on, while twenty black stocks failed to swarm, 
and had to bo fed to winter. Was the above profit made from honey alone, 
or by rearing queens and selling: them at high piices? and were the blacks 
and Syrians treated alike ? If by uniting the two extremes a Syrian 
queen mated with a black drone is so successful as honev-gatherers, may 
not the same be said if a Ligurian queen wa3 mated with a black drone ? 
More particulars are required on this subject, as few bee-keepers would 
object to investing 22.?. in a queen if there were a prospect of realising 
£20 profit in one season. “ H lfamshire” has now a good opportunity of 
bringing the merits of the Syrians before the public by competing in the 
“ Blythe competition,” the O'ject of which is “ to show the relative merits 
of different systems of bee-keeping, and to prove to the cottager that bee- 
keep ng, if conducted on economical principles, is highly remunerative to 
kee-keepers.” Any bees are eligible.—A. Tyke. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
E. H. Krelage & Son, Haarlem, Holland .—List of Coloured Plates of Plants, 
Flowers , and Fruits. 
llawlings Bros., Old Church, Romford .—Catalogue of Dahlias. 
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. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in 
tended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Label in Glass Tube (C. Ashforth ).—No doubt the label was good when 
you sent it off, but it was useless on arrival here, as the glass tube was 
smashed to atoms. The method of enclosing paper labels in glass tubes is 
not new, Mr. Cannell of Swanley among others having them in use. 
Pear Blossom on Young Wood (P. G .).—Although not frequently seen 
because of overcrowding of the growths in summer and close pruning in 
winter, it is yet not by any means an uncommon occurrence for blossom buds 
to form on wood of the previous season’s growth. We have gathered some 
of the finest of Pears that were produced in the manner indicated. 
Magnolia conspicua [Aurora). — This is no doubt the name of the 
Magnolia to which you refer. It has flowered freely in March near London 
this year, and the trees were and are yet strikingly find conspicuously 
beautiful, and all the more effective when seen against a background of 
evergreens, and in the twilight. Light yet rather firm soil is the best adapted 
for this Magnolia, and a sunny position, as under those conditions it grows 
sturdily, and the wood ripens well. In rich soil or damp positions the 
growth is oiten too succulent and immature for yielding a profusion of 
handsome and delicately fragrant blooms. We never feel it a trouble to 
answer inquiries that may benefit our readers. 
