May 29, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
433 
I have received numerous communications from apiarian readers of 
the Journal of Horticulture, as to my experience of Ligurians as con¬ 
trasted with our brown bees, but I have little to add to the remarks 
given in page 116 of my bee book. I have now no Ligurians in my 
apiary, and I have good reason to add that it is very unlikely I shall ever 
have any again. They winter badly, are more liable to dysentery than 
our browu bees, are of decidedly less value as honey-gatherers ; are more 
troubled with the swarming mania ; are much addicted to robbing other 
stocks, even when a honey glut is on, in preference to gathering stores in 
the natural manner abroad ; are more revengeful under provocation. In 
fact, their ferocity makes them a nuisance in the apiary and to neighbours 
as well. Often hath the complaint been made to us by some rustic 
neighbour, “ Please, sir, one o’ yer yaller bees jest hev stung our Sal, or 
Tom, and she (or he, as the case may be) had to stop t’ ome all day (from 
school) in eonsekens.” 
The worthlessness of Ligurians as a honey-gathering variety has been 
long recognised by most of the leading practical apiarians of the day— 
apiarians, that is, whose business it is to raise honey for the market, and 
who do not raise Ligurians for sale. “ I cannot at all imagine,” said a 
visitor in looking over an apiary of brown bees last season, “ how it is 
that your brown bees get so much more honey than my Ligurians. It 
was just the same at Mr.-’s apiary where I called yesterday. It is 
really very remarkable.” And yet the gentleman was a philosopher too. 
I know of two highly prosperous apiaries in this county where the 
supering sy-tem is followed, one of which is situated some twenty miles 
distant from my place, the other ten. Not a Ligurian is in either. 
Neither ot the proprietors court publicity. The former wrote me last 
autumn that, one of his brown stocks had yielded the splendid harvest (in 
supers) of 124 lbs. of houeycomb, while several others gave supers of 50 
to 60 lbs. each. 
It is to be feared that Ligurians have done much to make bee-keeping 
unpopular. To an unprofessional they are so much more difficult to 
manage than our indigenous variety of the Apis family. That this 
opinion is not shared by all I well know. An enthusiast (who had 
Ligurians for sale—but this is by-the-by) at a certain bee show in this 
county some two years since, after referring, xotto voce, compassionately 
to a' friend on our lamentable ignorance on the subject, he sententiously 
assured us at parting “that not only do Ligurians gather more honey 
than 1 lacks, but, sir, their honey is of a much better quality too 1 ’’ Could 
the force of folly any farther go ? 
We have at various times received letters from bee-keepers, thanking 
us for cautioning them at the outset of iheir career against Ligurians, and 
contrasting the results in their apiaries of brown bees with those of 
Ligurians in their neighbours’ apiaries.— Author of “Bee-Keefing 
Plain and Practical.” 
SUPERING HIVES—VICIOUS BEES. 
For more years than I need name I have kept bees, but only lately 
have I tried bar-frame hives. There are various points on which I, and 
many like me, would be very glad to have some information. Only one 
question now, What is the best way to put supers on bar-frame hives ? 
A few days ago I put on one—twelve 2 lb. sections, but by the time I 
had the quilt off I think the bees were more savage than I have ever 
seen bees before. I did not like my surroundings at all, and duly 
considering my two eyes and 20,000 bees cum talibns I was glad to 
finish and heat a retreat as quickly as possible. We do not like old 
friends suddenly changed in that way, and stinging arguments are to 
most of us objectionable. Perhaps I ought to write to Ihe Bee Journal, 
but as I see it only occasionally, and yours regularly, I thought I might 
trouble you. Moreover, the information sought, if given in the Journal 
cf Horticulture, will probably reach the class of persons I have especiady 
in view.— Philokepos. 
[Your correspondent “ Philokepos ” wishes to know the best way to 
put supers on frame hives. The question itself is simple, but judging 
from the tone of his letter the answer requires amplification. Many of 
the modern bee-keepers and dealers in hives are comparatively ignorant 
of the science of apiculture, through which they have condemned some 
of the best properties in hives, and have introduced and advocated 
questionable changes apart from the recognised system of scientific 
apiculture, as, for example, in the Stewarton hive wdth its slides. By 
their use the quilt can be put on and taken off without a bee escaping 
or being irritated. Moreover, by their use the supers escape the invasion 
of the queen, and draught is prevented frum passing up through brood 
nest, as well as the vitiated air which discolours the comb, while the 
operator can place supers with an entire immunity from stings, and no 
superfluous queen-excluder is necessary. 
The quilt, as the pages of this Journal can prove, was the idea or 
inven ion of “A Renfrewshire Bee-keeper,” Mr. Lanestrotb, and myself 
a quarter of a century since, hut its use was in combination with slides, 
which have been condemned by s<>me bee-keepers, but in my opinion 
are very necessary, not only in the Stewarton but in frame hives. 
My frame hives have lateral slides, which give me complete control 
over my bees, especially if a little carbolic acid is used. In hives with 
drawing slides, such as in the Stewarton, a great mistake is having them 
made too slack ; the bees fill the opening with propolis, and then the slides 
become unworkable. They should be made neat-fitting, then there is no 
difficulty in working them. The propolising of the slides was the only 
objection the modern bee-keeper had, but unfortunately, with the badly 
made white pine frames and very objectionable narrow top bar quilts, 
were 100 per cent, more propolised than slides ever were, which when 
removed so irritated the bees, that not only is it inconvenient, but highly 
dangprous manipulating such hives. 
When supering hives the first thing to observe is that the day is 
warm and bees getting honey. If at all cold they sting readily, and do 
not forget to do so. If quilts are on have a sponge or a wing saturated 
with carbolic acid, raise the quilt gently at one side, rubbing the tops of 
the bars slightly with the acid (the bees retreat from it) ; repeat the pro¬ 
cess as the quilt is raised. When removed place the supers on the top 
of the hive and cover well ; but before placing the supers it would be 
advisable to have thin adapting boards underneath them and on the top 
of the frames, with openings at the outside combs only. Better still if 
these adapting boards were in pieces ; but best of all if there was a lateral 
slide for every frame, which may be close, or just as much open as to 
allow insensible upward ventilation, when not a bee can escape. The 
quilts are then neither gnawed nor propolised by the bees, and the bee- 
rna-ter need have no fear of infuriating them, because the quilt can be 
removed or placed at any time with pleasure, and not a bee escapes.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper.] 
FOUL BROOD. 
I AM sorry I have to again trouble you. Last autumn I asked if some 
of your correspondents could give me through the Journal a receipt to 
cure foul brood in bees, and one or two were inserted, which I put in 
practice and carried out to the letter. I was, however, again disappointed 
the other day by finding several cells still in the hive containing foul 
brood. Will you kindly tell me wbat I had better do with them ? I am 
spraying them with salycilic acid, and they are all fairly strong, one or 
two covering ten frames.—F rederick Bull, Gardener, Brymbo. 
[Salycilic acid is a better preventive than a cure, and is only suc- 
cesstul in the treatment of foul brood in the hands of the experienced. 
The best and most satisfactory treatment now, seeing that the hives are 
pretty strong, is to swarm them when ready. After three weeks separate 
the remaining bees from the combs, put the bees into a clean new hive, 
or one that has been disinfected, then consign the combs to the melting 
pot, and subject the hive to the fumes of sulphur after it has stood in 
a moist place (with a temperature of not less than 60°) for at least eight 
days. After that again disinfect with a solution of salycilic, carbolic 
acid, or permanganate of potash.] 
FERTILE WORKERS AND QUEENS IN WORKER CELLS. 
“A Lanarkshire Bee-Keeper” (page 392), gives his testimony as 
to queens and fertile workers living peaceably toge’her. Perhaps he has 
not read the account of my experiments in the “British Bee Journal” 
pages 66-7, vol. xi., where I introduced black queens to colonies having 
Syrian fertile workers, and had black wotkers and Syrian drones hatching 
side by side for six weeks after, which must be taken as conclusive evi¬ 
dence of the fact. Mr. B. F. Carroll, of Texas, U.S.,has been writing this 
year in the “American Bee Journal,” and “Gleanings in Bee Culture,” 
giving evidence to the same effect, but he does not appear to have made 
a conclusive experiment to settle the point, and may have read or heard 
of mine, which of course I cannot say ; anyhow, I believe I was the first 
to discover or satisfactorily settle this interesting and valuable, fact. No 
doubt “ A. L. B. K.” will be interested to hear that I can bear testimony 
to queens being reared in worker cells as he describes, having seen several 
of them, and curiou-ly enough I mention this fact in the “British Bee 
Journal ” for May 15th, page 167—the very date his is published in this 
Journal.— John Hewitt, Sheffield. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
W. P. Laird & Sinclair, Dundee .—Catalogue of Florists’ Flowers. 
*** All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor” 
or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Ilogg 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 reiected communications. 
Peach Tree Unhealthy (E. T. J .).—There is little doubt that the root- 
action of the tree is defective, and whether it is planted out or in a pot 
