260 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. r 31 * 1881 • 
attempts in bee-keeping, and while battling ourselves against 
adverse winds and seasons, I have never lost hope that good times 
will come to the apiarians of England. It is well for people who 
are doing what they can to surmount the difficulties of life to 
remember the sentiment and kindly advice of two well-known 
mottots, “Nil desperandum,” and “Wait a wee, and dinna weary.” 
Thomas Carlyle once said, in speaking of hope, that “ from the 
lowest depths there is a path to the loftiest heights.” And some 
other writer says, “Hope is a vigorous principle, animating man to 
do his utmost; and thus by perpetually pushing and assurance it 
puts difficulty out of countenance, and makes seeming impossibilities 
give way.” 
During the last ten years the moveable-comb hive has received 
great attention. Enlargements have heen made, and it has been 
found that protection from cold in winter is necessary, or at least 
beneficial. Hence frame hives with cavity walls are now used and 
recommended by the advanced men of the bar-frame school, and 
which, doubtless, will gradually be adopted and used by all classes 
of this school. As improvements have heen made in the moveable- 
comb hive, and as its mode of management is becoming better 
understood, there is good reason to expect that more satisfactory 
results will come from its use in the future than in the past. 
Amateurs of this school will in the good seasons be encouraged by 
success. It may be fairly stated that the machinery of bee-keeping 
to a large extent is now prepared for work, and awaits only the 
return of honey weather. 
During the past twelve months nothing of special importance 
has transpired amongst apiarians of Great Britain, except the 
prodigious harvests of honey in Scotland. I can think of no 
discoveries that have been made in the habits of bees or in the 
practice of managing them. Much has been said about foul brood, 
and speculations have been rife as to its origin, character, spread, 
and cure. I think I have read all that has been written in English 
on this subject, and I have to confess that my opinion remains 
undisturbed and unchanged as to the incurability of this terrible 
disease—that nothing will save the bees of an infected hive but 
their removal from it. Last year a novel idea was mooted. A 
writer recommended his readers to use watery syrup in feeding 
bees, in order to prevent them from going out for water in incle¬ 
ment weather, and he told them if they do so the lives of many 
bees would be saved. If I remember rightly, from one to two 
pints of water is to he mixed or given to one pound of sugar. Now 
one pint of water to one pound of sugar is very good and acceptable 
food for bee3 at all seasons, and if used in quantity in inclement 
weather it would cause the bees to breed and send them abroad for 
water, the very thing the writer wants to prevent. Such haphazard 
opinions and recommendation are novel enough, and that is all that 
can be said in their favour. 
Another idea is being mooted now—viz., that bees eat honey in 
order to keep themselves warm ; that is to say, if I understand the 
theoiy rightly, that bees eat more honey in cold weather than they 
do in warm weather, and that this extra consumption of food is for 
the production of heat. I remember a shrewd expression of Mr. 
Moses Quinby—viz., that his bees acted differently from those of 
other people, meaning thereby that from his experience amongst 
bees he could not support or confirm statements made by other 
writers. If it is usual for bees to eat more honey in cold 
weather than they do in warm weather I have been misled by my 
bees for fifty years, for I have found that bees consume more 
honey in mild autumns and mild winters than they do in cold 
ones—nay, that the consumption increases with the heat of the 
hives or tbe warmth of the atmosphere around them, and that the 
consumption decreases with decreasing heat or warmth. By re¬ 
moving a hive from its outdoor quarters into a greenhouse during 
winter, I invariably find that the bees eat more honey than those 
out of doors. Strong hives or stocks consume about 15 lbs. of 
honey each from September to March in mild winters, whereas 
10 lbs. will serve them in cold winters. Bees arc nearly motionless 
in cold wintry weather, and in this condition they neither require 
nor use much food. 
Once more let me return to the question of crude and perfect 
honey. “ B. & W.” was asked what kind of proof he wanted that 
bees convert honey crude into perfect honey. Instead of complying 
with this request, he now admits that there is a difference between 
crude and perfect honey, and tries to account for the change in 
another way. He says “ that it seems to be the most easily 
accountable thing in the world. I am fully convinced that evapo¬ 
ration is the chief and perhaps the sole factor in the business, 
although it is, of course, possible that the bees may themselves 
reject much of the honey they have too hurriedly collected (not 
that we hold such an opinion) during the excitement of the period 
of glut, and there may be (probably there is) some chemical change 
perpetually going on, owing to the high temperature of the hive, 
which affects the consistency of the honey and even its quality.” 
This is the language of uncertainty, showing that the writer is in a 
thicket of doubts and cannot well disentangle himself. I respect¬ 
fully submit that it would be better for “ B. & W.” to abstain 
from offering criticisms on the subject till he is able by fact and 
argument to support his theory. I am not going to argue the 
matter further, but simply say that if I live till the honey season 
arrives, I will before witnesses take a bottle of crude and a bottle 
of perfect honey from a hive, and request permission to forward the 
same to the British Bee-Keepers’ Association for its decision as to 
whether crude honey can be converted into proper honey by eva¬ 
poration. Will the evidence of eight or ten of the leading apiarians 
of Great Britain satisfy our friend ?—A. Pettigbew. 
AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 
The “American Bee Journal ” after a well-deserved successful 
run of twenty years passes into its seventeenth volume as a 
weekly, in which form several numbers have appeared. It 
occupies thus a unique position, which its acknowledged merit 
will, we hope and believe, enable it to sustain with increasing 
advantage to itself and the bee-keeping world generally. Several 
of its correspondents are men of marked ability, while its ex¬ 
cellent editor, Mr. T. G. Newman, needs neither introduction nor 
commendation, since he was with us during a portion of last 
summer. Amongst a long list of subjects treated a few will be 
especially interesting, such as 
FERTILISATION IN CONFINEMENT. 
Professor Hasbrouck has experimented upon this matter as he 
says with success, his plan being in short this. He cuts a square 
opening into a sugar barrel, and into this fixes a sheet of glass, 
and then tubs the queen (she being of the right age), with a 
number of selected drones. They fly together under the glass and 
accouplement takes place. This experiment has been tried again 
and again in other apiaries with uniform failure, and not a few 
have supposed that anxiety to obtain a certain result has in¬ 
terfered with accuracy of observation. This interesting question 
which has so much to do with the production of a superior race 
of bees, besides, if we reach easy and tolerably uniform success in 
it, beiDg an enormous assistance in requeening colonies, is exer¬ 
cising the minds of many progressive American apiculturists. 
Amongst these Mr. G. W. Demaree writes— 
“ In the month of August last I made what I called a fertilising 
cage, provided with a steep glass roof. Thus prepared, I watched for 
a virgin queen, and when she came out to take her bridal trip I 
captured her and placed her in the cage, which was set on top of the 
hive. 
“ First one drone and then another till a half dozen or move were 
put into the cage. The queen appeared to take her confinement 
quietly; inflated to the fullest extent she showed her beauty to the 
best advantage. If you would see a virgin queen in all her glory you 
must look at her when out on her heyday spree. The queen and 
drones flew lively in the cage, but the latter would do nothing but 
beat their cowardly heads against the glass roof, unconscious of the 
presence of the queen. After well-nigh baking myself in the hot sun 
I gave it up and returned the queen to her hive. 
“ Second Experiment and Failure .—The next day I proceeded to try 
the following experiment in hopes of throwing some light on the 
subject. I procured a long pole 16 feet long, to one end of which I 
nailed a strip of wood about 4 feet in length at right angles with the 
pole. Armed with a fine thread 4 or 5 feet long 'I watched for the 
queen, and when she came out I caught her, and by the aid of the 
deft fingers of Mrs. D., one end of the thread was made to span the 
delicate waist of her royal highness, the loop being provided with a 
knot to prevent it from cramping her waist—a performance, by the 
way, that required no little skill. Thus cabled, her wings and limbs 
were left free from incumbrance. The thread was now tied to the 
end of the transverse bar aforesaid, and the pole hoisted a few rods 
from the apiary. The queen performed nicely at the end of the 
thread. There were plenty of drones flying, and soon (I should think 
in two minutes’ time) the air was black with drones circling about the 
fettered queen. Now and then one of them would give her chase, 
but when the thread would bring her to a sudden halt he would dart 
to one side and disappear. Several times a drone struck her with 
considerable force, but would bound away as though suddenly fright¬ 
ened. I watched the proceedings closely, till the queen became weary 
and the drones retired. The experiment proved a failure as to the 
fertilisation of the queen, which I attributed to the fact that the 
queen was somewhat injured by catching hold of a tuft of grass when 
the pole was being elevated. 
“ What the Experiment Suggested .—It is evident from what I saw in 
connection with this experiment that a great number of drones follow 
the queen when flirting through the air while out on her heyday 
spree, and perhaps the swiftest cavalier of them all overtakes and is 
accepted by her. Thus it would appear that Nature in this way 
selects the swiftest specimens of the race to propagate the species. 
