eptomber 18, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
273 
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BEES AT THE HEATHER. 
A PROPER ESTIMATE OF HIVES. 
Over and over again in these pages has it been stated that 
no tiial is sufficient to test hives and systems of management 
unless in actual comparison in one locality. So satisfied am 1 of 
this, that I have no hesitation in saying that any trials held 
otherwise, and possibly by novices with hives they know little 
about, will end in failure. Such “ trials,” however, may possibly 
open the eyes of those who may have been so misled as to adopt 
the most expensive and most modern of hives and appliances 
under the advice of persons who are but very little removed from 
the novices themselves, and their experience is rather deai-ly 
purchased. I can scarcely point to one invention or improve¬ 
ment that the bee-keeper could adopt safely of which this 
Journal was not the pioneer and the instrument in diffusing 
knowledge and giving zest to bee-keepers who now form the 
centres of associations for teaching apicultui-e. 
These centres of teaching are responsible for many of the 
departures from profitable bee-keeping, thereby causing dis¬ 
satisfaction and disappointment to beginners. This necessitates 
tbe repetition of much that has been previously taught, which 
repetition might have been a^oided had the would-be teacher 
kept more to practice than theory, and continued to teach as the 
veterans in apiculture had taught and fully demonstrated, instead 
of, as has been often done, denouncing the best system and hives 
of which they had no experience, bee-keeping would have been 
more advanced at the present time. If gentlemen who are really 
anxious to teach their poorer neighboui's the profitable and 
humane aid of apiculture (I do not refer to the brimstone pit) 
instead of heai’kening to interested parties as to the great 
utility of their goods, and then recommending the same to 
beginners, who soon find out that they are disappointed in their 
expectations, had taken a run across the border in August and 
visited some of the Scottish moors, where every sort of hive 
stands side by side, from the most primitive small straw hive to 
that of the most capacious and well-made one, or from the 
common packing box to the most elaborate frame or Stewarton 
hive, then they could have witnessed the vaiuous arrangements, 
comparing one with another, taking notes, and weighing which 
had gathered most honey; then they, by ocular demonstration, 
could have not only have depended upon what they saw, but 
their pupils would in turn have depended on their statement and 
been grateful, for the ball set rolling in such a practical way 
could not have ended in other than success. 
In my last article I stated the doings of one hive which, 
though good as an old swarmed stock, is not the greatest 
weight gathered, many hives having far surpassed it; but as it 
is yet too early to give in accurate reports as to weights made, 
I will confine my remarks at present to describing how I found 
my stocks on the 25th August. Apart from my own, however, 
I may make one remark on a Ligurian stock situated near them. 
It was weighed by the owner when taken to the moors on the 
16 ult., and found to be 40 lbs., then on the 30th of the month, or 
in exactly two weeks, it weighed—well, I cannot exactly say how 
much, because as the owner said, “ the hunner lb steelyard 
wouldna play poup tilt.” The above will be a nut to crack for 
those who have had so much to say against the Ligurian bee as 
a bad storer of surplus honey and worker upon the Heather. 
My own hives consist of Stewarton and frame hives. The 
former, true to the right principles of bee-keeping, are supplied 
with supei’s known as Stewarton supers, filled and sealed out to 
the number of two and three, besides the body boxes containing 
a large quantity of honey, while the brood nest is unimpaired, 
containing plen y of brood and space for eggs sufficient to carry 
on the ecoiioir^ of the hive and honey-gathering, though it 
should last for months, with sufficient bees to tide over the winter 
and start under favourable circumstances in the spring, with 
the best prospects for collecting another large harvest of honey. 
In the same enclosure are numbers of straw hives, which the 
clever bee-keeper (knowing the great advantage of large breeding 
space, and preventing it being glutted with honey by tiering) has 
of enormous weight, contrasting greatly with others of small 
dimensions, with every cell sealed with honey, and what few bees 
there are crowded out, fit only to be joined to another stock, as 
they are too few ever to be able to live during winter and start 
afresh in spring ever to be profitable; and though the hive is 
full of honey, an ordinary super from a strong stock will yield 
more honey than it. When the owner is remonstrated for 
halving small hives, the rejoinder is, “ Big enough for my dis¬ 
trict,” a popular error, which we are so anxious to eradicate. 
Little better, and standing side by side with these, are the 
so-called “ standard hives,” also too small, with the same faults 
as the small straw hives, showing a decided contrast to either 
Stewarton, straw, or large-sized frame hives, bleed it be won¬ 
dered, then, that evils are to be resorted to to manage the mis¬ 
managed hives ? Sections, so greatly applauded by some, have 
never found favour amongst the advanced Scotch bee-keepers, 
are here in different forms, my own hives being covered, and 
some partly covered, half sections, and half boxes. Wherever 
that is the case the supers or boxes are finished before a section 
is entered, while those whole sections the bees pi-efer to cluster 
out, then enter them. Sections, however, minus the bottom, ai'e 
readily taken possession of. Some hives have sections filled, but 
so unwilling are the bees to enter them, that often the best time 
of the honey glut is past before they do so, as the bees require 
to get every advantage, losing no opportunity to enable them 
to come to perfection and attaining to great weights. It will be 
obvious to the merest tyro that anything, however trivial, that 
detains or interrupts the progress of bees should be earnestly 
studied and avoided. I trust that the foregoing, pointing out as 
it does some errors of lee management, will have a salutary 
effect upon the uninitiated to guard against such in the future, 
when they will be able to record success only. While it is not 
so heartsome to record failures, still it is hoped good will accrue 
from it, and be of as much service to the beginner as it has been 
to—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
William Bull, King’s Road, Chelsea .—Retail List of Bulbs and Tuberous 
rooted Plants. 
E. G-. Henderson ik Son, Maida Vale, London.— Catalogue of Bulbous 
Floirermg Plants. 
John Lamont & Son, Edinburgh.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
James Yates, Stockport .—Catalogue of Bulbous Plants. 
Joseph Schwartz, Lyon, France.— Catalogue of Roses. 
Sutton &, Sons, Reading .—Illustrated Catalogue of Bulbs for 1S84. 
Daniels Bros., Norwich .—Catalogue of Dutch Flower Boots, 
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. IVe 
request that no one will write privately to any of our coiTespon- 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions rehit- 
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 throu(gh the post, and we 
do not undertake to return reiected communications. 
Wasp Traps {T. F .).—If these are sold at a trifling cost it is a wonder 
they are not advertised—that is, if the vendor has more than he can dispose 
of privately, hut perhaps he has not. 
Pandanus Veitcliii {F. IT .).—This is a stove plant, and cannot he kept 
healthy in an ordinary greenhouse temperature during the winter. 
Nymphsea alba var. rosea {J. 0 ).—There is no doubt that this variety 
is quite hardy and may be safely grown in the northern counties. Further 
particulars relative to the Rose-coloured Water Lily will be published in a 
future issue. 
Double Begonias (J. J .).—The flowers, though not large, are excellent, 
and the colour is particularly pleasing. You evidently grow these plants 
well, and we shall be glad to have the details of your method of culture 
when it is convenient for you to send them. 
Grubs In Soil {G. C. E .).—Your garden appears to be infested with the 
caterpillar of the common dart moth, which is exceedingly destructive in 
eating the stems of Cabbages, Lettuces, Ac., just at or below the surface of 
the ground. It is very difiicult to eradicate. We have often found it neces¬ 
sary to scrape the soil from the plants and place a mixture of lime, soot, and 
sulphur round the stems. If we were troubled now we should try the effects 
of petroleum, mixing a wineglassful to two gallons of water in which 4 ozs. 
of softsoap were dissolved, and pouring it freely in the soil close to and 
well round the stems. We should first try it on a few 2 flants and note the 
effects. If the jflants showed no signs of injury in three days we should 
