198 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ March 10 , issi. 
of super space above the hive, and perhaps also nadir room below ? 
Would they not have taken to the supers in force, being compelled 
to move up there from sheer lack of space, and given me a splendid 
lot of beautiful honeycomb, especially if I had kept out the queen ? 
I did take a considerable quantity of honey from this stock in 
spite of its having swarmed during my absence from home in 
July, but nothing to what I ought to have got from it. It is 
hardly likely either that they would have swarmed if they had 
taken kindly to a number of supers just when the honey glut 
came on. Moreover, as the young bees issued from the combs 
below, most of these latter would be filled with beautiful honey 
hardly less inferior in quality to that stored in the supers, because 
these combs were all of quite recent construction. Then, at the 
close of the season, when the final plundering took place, any 
hive9 that were deficient in bee bread would have gladly welcomed 
the pollen-filled combs, some of which might have been returned 
to the parent hive in place of some of the sealed honeycombs 
found there. We all know how frequently the supply of pollen 
is deficient in autumn and early spring in some hives, so that it 
has even to be supplied artificially. 
It will be seen that this idea of treating an expanding bar- 
framed hive tallies in the main apparently with Mr. Cheshire’s 
suggestion, but only in the particular case of a superabundance of 
ollen in those combs which are to be “ removed.” I do not 
now if he was thinking of pollen-filled combs or what he would 
recommend to be done with the combs thus removed. The only 
other combs not filled with brood would be more or less filled 
with honey. I hardly think these should be removed. 
However, I ventured to suggest a quite different treatment of 
the hive, and to this I now come. This, too, occurred to me 
in consequence of the state of the pollen-filled stock just referred 
to. It occurred to me that such a hive might be profitably treated 
in the following manner:—First remove all combs that may be 
overfilled with pollen, which (after slinging out all the honey 
that may be found in the open cells) should be put carefully by 
for subsequent use as before mentioned. The bees will first have 
been swept back into the hive after capturing and removing the 
queen, and she must be sought for and destroyed upon whatever 
comb she may be found; at the same time let every semblance of a 
royal cell that may be found in any part of the hive be cut care¬ 
fully away. Next after removing the pollen-gorged combs take 
out in the same way those frames which are fullest of sealed 
broodcomb, to be treated as I shall presently advise. 
By means of this comb-removal the brood nest in the hive will 
probably be narrowed to some seven or eight combs out of, say, 
sixteen. The dummies can then be introduced and all lateral 
comb-making will cease, while the bees will be driven to work in 
such supers as the bee-master may find it good to place over the 
hive, according to the requirements of the particular stock. 
The result of this treatment will first of all be apparent in the 
arrest and defeat of all immediate swarming intentions. In the 
next place the bees, not having any call upon their time beyond 
attending to the brood actually existing in the hive, will, for a 
fortnight at least, have their attention increasingly, and at last 
solely, devoted to the ingathering of honey, which, for lack of 
room below, will all be stored in the supers. At the end of that 
time of course swarming must be looked for as soon as the arti¬ 
ficially reared queens begin to pipe ; but an overhaul of the hive 
and an excision of all royal cells after the issue of the first 
swarm will restore matters, leaving the whole of the bees for 
perhaps another fortnight to the undisturbed collection of honey. 
I presume, of course, that the swarm with its young queen is 
immediately returned to the hive. 
As for the sealed broodcombs which were removed from the 
hive, they can be utilised with much advantage for the strengthen¬ 
ing of some weaker hive, of which there are sure to be some in 
every apiary. Their removal would, of course, be unnecessary in 
any other case save where it is desired to force the bees into 
supers. As the young bees in them would in the course of a fort¬ 
night mostly have left their cells, it is plain that the bees would 
at once proceed to fill these cells with honey as they become 
untenanted, to the diminution of the stores which would otherwise 
find their way into the supers. 
At the close of the honey season it is obvious that in a stock 
treated on this plan—the young queen being ready and eager to 
breed—the bees would require pollen in increased quantities. 
Here, then, it might be advantageous to return some of the pollen- 
filled combs before removed; and these might be substituted in 
place of others that were full of honey.—B. & W. 
by Mr. S. Stutterd of Banbury, who is conversant with the German 
language) started on a little tour into the country districts in order 
to obtain some insight into the mode of keeping bees in Germany. 
Our first call was on Mr. A. Schlosser at Ehrenfeld, near Cologne, 
who was awarded a silver medal at the Congress for his large col¬ 
lection of honey and splendid colonies of bees (to whose exhibits at 
the Show reference has already been made). He is a fruit-grower 
on a large scale as well as an apiarian, and has a commodious 
house and garden. We were at once conducted to his bee-house, 
which is in the form of a cross, having four doors. Each one of 
the four wings projects nearly 11 feet, and is the same in breadth, 
which adding the space of the interior, gives a diameter from door to 
door of about 33 feet. One half the space of the interior is required 
for the necessary manipulations, the other half to the right and left 
is occupied by the hives. The first shelf is about 2 feet from the 
floor, the second tier is the same distance above, and the third is 
2 feet higher. The hives are “ Mehring’s” twin-frame hives, and of 
much the same construction as Dzierzon’s, except that the colonies 
are side by side, not end to end as is the case with the latter. Each 
shelf accommodates four twin stocks, so that the openings are cut in 
the boarding for eight entrances; thus there may be twenty-four 
colonies on each of the eight sides. This pavilion therefore holds 
when filled 192 hives of bees. At the time I was there many hives 
were away at the moors, consequently only a few were to be seen. 
The house is closely boarded and has a tiled roof. There is no admis¬ 
sion of light except when the doors are thrown open. The hives open 
at the back, and are therefore easily manipulated without molestation 
by robber bees. Escape for any bees that are outside the hives is 
found through the open door. 
There is plenty of space to work the extractor in the centre of the 
building. On inquiring if there was an apparent difference in the 
prosperity of the colonies facing the different aspects, Mr. Schlosser 
said that those exposed to the afternoon and evening sun, which 
induced the bees to fly out again, are placed in the most un¬ 
favourable position ; but as long as the entrances are not exposed to 
the direct rays of the sun it makes no difference whether they face 
north, south, east, or west, and the only drawback which he finds 
to his “ pavilion ” is, that when quite filled the colonies are placed 
in too close proximity, which causes the loss of many queens in their 
return from their wedding flight. 
This is an objection that might be expected, and favours our 
English plan of keeping hives on separate stands in the open. The 
German arrangement has an advantage in being able to keep a large 
number of stocks compact in a comparatively small space, and is 
likely to secure them from the risk of being stolen. 
We visited some other apiaries in adjacent towns, but there was 
nothing very special to report, the construction of the hives being 
much the same as those before mentioned. At Zulpich we called on 
Mr. Schmidt, a tanner, who is also a bee-keeper; he received us very 
courteously, and learning that we wished to see apiaries in the loca¬ 
lity, he not only showed us his own, but gave up some considerable 
time in escorting us to others. We learned from him that a bee¬ 
keeper in this neighbourhood had taken 1330 lbs. of honey from sixty 
stocks. This, however, was far excelled by an apiarian in this 
country, Mr. Alfred Rusbridge of Sidlesham near Chichester, who 
informed me at the Dairy Show at Islington that he had taken the 
enormous quantity of 19 cwt. of honey and honeycomb from twenty- 
five stocks of bees. It may be inferred that the quality was fine 
from the fact that his exhibits were awarded two first prizes. I 
may mention as a singular contrast, that in the season previous 
(1879) this gentleman was unable to take an ounce of honey from his 
apiary. 
The past season seems to have been a favourable one in Germany 
as it has in this country, and we mostly found that bee-keepers were 
encouraged by their success. After much interesting conversation 
we took leave of our friend Mr. Schmidt, and on my companion 
apologising for occupying so much of his time, he replied that it had 
afforded him much pleasure to accompany us ; for, said he, “ I can 
work every day, but could not have the happiness of receiving visits 
from English bee friends every day.” We left by rail for Aix-la- 
Chapelle, thence on to Brussels, and spent a day at the Exposition, 
with which we were much interested, but found no exhibits of bees. 
The display of machinery and manufactures was large, and con¬ 
sidering that the Exhibition was purely national it certainly did 
great credit to Belgium, and was well worthy of a visit.— Alfred 
Neighbour, Regent Street, London. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
George White, Carriagehill House, Paisley.— Catalogue of Florists' 
Flowers. 
Cranston Nursery and Seed Company (Limited), King’s Acre, near 
Hereford.— Descriptive List of New Roses for 1881. 
J. Coombs, The Ferns, Enfield, Middlesex.— List of Cuttings for 
1881. 
Messrs. S. Ware, Hale Farm Nurseries, Tottenham.— Illustrated 
Catalogue of Choice Hardg Perennials, and List of Hardy Florists’ 
Flowers. 
Casbon & Son, Millfield, Peterborough.— A List of Zonal and Fancy 
Pelargoniums. 
A GERMAN APIARY. 
After the close of the Exhibition, which has already been de¬ 
scribed, my friend and myself (for I was accompanied from London 
