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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 20, 1882, 
Take a stock hive in April containing 20,000 bees. In May its 
population will increase to 40,000 ; it swarms twice or thrice, and 
after three months of hard work, the bees numbering 40,000 in 
each hive, weighing 8 lbs. per swarm, look as fresh and healthy as 
ever they did. Hard work, then, does not kill bees nor shorten 
the lives of queens. What, then, causes the loss of so many bees 
in spring and summer months ? Some that are hatched do not 
live and labour long. Thousands and tens of thousands of bees 
die on the very threshold of existence. They are born with 
industrial instincts so strong that they commence working before 
they are fit for it ; they go to the fields before they are well able 
to fly or bear cold or carry loads. Again, thousands and tens of 
thousands of adult bees inured to labour are overtaken on the 
wing by storms of wind and rain, driven to the ground and chilled 
into a helpless condition. In both cases the loss is caused by 
misfortune, not by continuous hard work. Hives are sometimes 
taken to the moors, and there in three weeks 40 lbs. or 50 lbs. of 
honey are gathered, the hives coming back as well filled with bees 
as they were when they went. But if storms visit the bees while 
they are at work on the Heather two-thirds of their number are 
lost. Hives containing 9 lbs. or 10 lbs. of bees have been known 
to lose 7 lbs. in three weeks. We thus learn that storms and 
weather are more destructive of bee life than hard work. 
I now come to the notions of Dr. Dzierzon about prolonging the 
lives of queen bees, and I have no hesitation in saying that they 
are incorrect. He says, “ The question as to whether and how the 
life of a queen may be prolonged was suggested to me by a dis¬ 
pute which had arisen between Miss Titz of Lasswitz, a great 
Silesian bee-keeper, and a bee-master of the name of St. Miss Titz, 
on the occasion of the Neissen Meeting, showed some friends who 
visited her apiary an Italian queen which she stated to be six 
years old, adding that she had succeeded in keeping this valuable 
queen alive so long by keeping her from excessive breeding. 
Mr. St was of a different opinion, maintaining that there was no 
doubt a young queen had been raised unnoticed, as, according to 
his long experience, the life of an Italian queen never exceeded 
three years. He further asserted that eggs became developed in 
the ovary of the queen and pass involuntarily, it being impossible 
for any influence to be exerted on the ovary. In my opinion 
Mr. St is wrong on both points.” On both points I think he is 
right, and the Doctor wrong. A queen bee cannot alter the laws 
of Nature. She cannot determine the number or regulate the 
supply of eggs necessary for a hive. Among enlightened people 
arguments on this subject are unnecessary. When queen bees are 
a few days old they are fertilised for life, and are, according to Dr. 
Dzierzon, capable of laying and distributing in the cells 3000 eggs 
per day in breeding seasons—that is, 125 eggs every hour, or two 
every minute. An extensive experience and close observation have 
led me to conclusions very different from those of Dr. Dzierzon. 
I agree with Mr. St in stating that after impregnation queen 
bees have no power to limit or increase the number of eggs, 
neither have they power to retain them after they are formed. 
The evidence of a lady is not enough to convince us that she 
“ prolonged the life of a queen bee by keeping her from excessive 
breeding.” The word “ natural breeding ” should be here used in¬ 
stead of “ excessive breeding,” for nobody knows that the breeding 
of this queen was excessive. It is stated that the queen that lived 
six years “ was kept from over-exerting herself.” It is really not 
fair to use such words as over-exertion, for who knows what it is 
or how to prevent it ? Queens that lay eggs enough for hives 
containing 4000 cubic inches of space are quite as healthy and 
live as long as those in hives containing 1000 inches of space only. 
The small space given to the one queen does not prolong her life, 
neither does the large space given to the other queen shorten her 
days. In my apiary I have had satisfactory proof that queens 
in small hives lay as many eggs as those in large hives, though 
three-fourths of those laid in small hives are not used. A queen 
bee is very productive. Dr. Dzierzon says, “An empty comb con¬ 
taining six thousand cells is often found full of eggs at the end 
of two days, which shows that a queen is capable of laying three 
thousand eggs a day.” Something is said in the Doctor’s letter 
about a queen being “able to keep back a mature egg in the ovary 
for some time without injury to herself or the egg.” If she lays 
at the rate of 125 eggs per hour she cannot keep them back long. 
Often, very often, a queen lays two eggs in a cell, and sometimes 
three are dropped into one cell. In the act of swarming a queen 
has been seen to drop eggs on the flight board. Even if a 
pregnant queen is held captive in the bee-keeper’s hand for a 
short time she lays eggs there. When more eggs are laid in a 
hive than are needed the bees remove them, and some cells are 
not visited by the queen, the bees carry eggs to them. As it is a 
very common occurrence for bees to set eggs and hatch young 
queens to take the place of old ones, I think that the queen said 
to be six years old was younger, and had been hatched unseen 
aDd unknown by Miss Titz, and that the theory of prolonging 
the lives of queen bees is without foundation in fact, and will not 
be seriously considered by practical apiarians.—A. Pettigrew, 
Uou'du/i. 
Bog Heather.— In this district there are square miles of Heather 
growing on bog land, which is generally so wet that sphagnum grows 
plentifully among the Heather roots. Is this Heather likely to be 
good for bees ? Those who live among it say no—that even in 
favourable seasons bees can hardly live on it, so little is the honey 
secreted by the flowers. Have any of your experts at bee-keeping 
any experience of such Heather ? A few miles from here, in the land 
of the Macgregor, enormous honey harvests are secured by the rail¬ 
way officials and others ; but then the Heather grows on dry land.— 
A Northerner. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
Stephen Brown, Weston-super-Mare .—List of Seeds. 
*** 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 Poultry and Bee subjects, and 
should never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended 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. 
Late Cucumbers (F. O ).—Strong plants being provided, and planted 
now in good soil in a dung-heated frame, will, with good attention as regards 
watering, ventilation, and temperature, produce abundantly during the autumn 
months. 
Caterpillars on Dahlias (Alex ).—You had better examine the plants 
carefully and pick off the depredators daily oi nightly. Syinging the plants 
with quassia water might also render them distasteful to the caterpillars, and 
if you spread a, ring of sharp sand saturated with paraffin round the stem of 
each plant and a short distance from it, it will doubtless form a good barrier 
against the maurauders. 
Andromeda (Zenobia) speciosa var. pulverulenta {Olive ).—The 
plant, of which you send a small specimen, is an evergreen shrub bearing the 
above name, and was introduced from North Carolina at the beginning of the 
present century. It is hardy in the south of England, but requires a specially 
prepared border, as it prefers a compost of loam or peat, the latter forming a 
large proportion of the mixture. 
Tomatoes (/. Doyle ).—Secure the plants to the wall, the main or fruit¬ 
bearing stems not being closer than 2 feet. When these have produced four or 
five bunches of fruit stop the leading growths producing them and all other 
growths both above and below the fruit that may be produced. Only the prin¬ 
cipal foliage should be allowed to develope, and this be prevented shading the 
fruit densely. Supply the plants with liquid manure if they need it, as they 
require much support when bearing heavy crops. 
Seedling Raspberry ( Amateur ).—The dates of the two next meetings of 
the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society are July 25th and 
August 8th. If the fruit is carefully packed and addressed to Mr. A. F. Barron, 
Royal Horticultural Society’s Gardens, South Kensington, and a letter is ad¬ 
dressed to Mr. Barron by a previous post, giving particulars of the variety, the 
matter ■null be duly attended to. It will be well to send fruit-bearing sprays as 
well as a dish of ripe fruit of the Raspberry for examination of the Committee. 
Exhibiting Plants ( Exhibitor ).—Unless there is any stipulation to the 
contrary the plants mentioned cannot be excluded from the classes quoted, as 
they are undoubtedly either stove or greenhouse plants. At some exhibitions 
Ferns are sot admissible for competition except in specified classes, and in 
others they are allowed to form part of a collection of stove and greenhouse 
plants. If the condition of the class relative to hanging baskets is adhered to 
with the greatest strictness your Nepenthes would not be eligible. Everything 
in this matter depends on the object of the committee in providing the class. 
Nepenthes are really ornamental-foliaged plants, and most beautiful objects as 
basket plants. We should exhibit the plant. 
Begonias Unhealthy (M. D). —We do not think that either thrips or 
mildew are the cause of the discoloration and shrivelling at the edges of the 
leaves. The injury has been caused by a check which the plants have received in 
some way. An excess of water causing the roots to decay would be followed by 
the results before us, and precisely the same effects would be apparent if the soil 
had at any time been so dry as to cause the roots to shrivel. Further, the leaves of 
these plants almost inevitably shrivel if the plants have been for a time kept in 
a rather close frame or house, and then removed to a structure in which the 
atmosphere is much drier. Many plants are injured soon after their arrival from 
nurseries, because the conditions under which they had been grown were not 
known or followed as nearly as possible in their new quarters. You do not 
state in what condition the plants were when they arrived, nor the treatment 
