258 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c September u, iss?. 
through life we have been struck with the rapid progress of swarm 
hives in good seasons. For two or three days after being hived 
swarms are placed at a disadvantage by having to lay the founda¬ 
tions or beginnings of their combs at mere points, so small that 
few workers or builders can get at them to help. Hence the 
desirability of using guide combs—say a few pieces of artificial 
comb foundation to commence with and build on. In the absence 
of a few guide combs a pound or two of sugar syrup given to 
swarms for one or two nights after being hived helps them very 
much. It is never wasted, and for which there is an ample return 
and great progress made. Notice how fast they work after the 
first few days ; trip up some of the field workers as they hasten 
to enter their hives, and flakes of wax will be seen coming out of 
the rings of their abdomens. Combs are now rapidly built, and 
as rapidly filled with brood ; and there can be no question that 
the cells of young combs give more space for the full development 
of brood, and the combs themselves, being less cloyed and cumbered 
with pollen than older ones, yield greater hatches of brood. By 
the records of experienced men who manage bees on the swarm¬ 
ing principle which have appeared in the Journal of Horticulture 
during the last few years it has been seen that some swarms in 
good seasons have risen in weight to 140 lbs. and 160 lbs., and if 1 
remember correctly Mr. (George Campbell in Aberdeenshire had 
one that rose to 173 lbs. It is seldom that unswarmed hives, 
however, managed to reach such weights. On the swarming 
principle the old stocks and second swarms are not idle in good 
seasons, and they claim a fair share of notice in the account. In 
good seasons and good localities for honey the swarming system 
of management is, in my opinion the best, being, as it is, the most 
natural, safe, healthy, and profitable. 
All this cannot be said in bad seasons and bad localities. But 
my experience leads me to think that taking a run of years—say 
five or ten years, good and bad together, the swarming system of 
management is most desirable and profitable. On the non-swarm¬ 
ing principle there is the fear of losing swarms, and the fact that 
many are lost. Then there is the danger of foul brood and other 
diseases ; accumulations of pollen choking the cells and causing 
slow progress. In bad seasons for honey the non-swarming 
system has advantages in this respect, that the fewer hives the 
bee-keeper has in such seasons the less feeding is necessary, and 
no honey is expended in comb-building. There are no empty 
hives to be filled, and therefore all the honey gathered is used in 
feeding the brood and bees, and in storing for winter food. In 
ordinary seasons such as we often have in Great Britain one can¬ 
not speak with any degree of certainty as to which system is the 
better of the two. Much depends on the objects of the bee- 
master and how he manages his apiary. If he has well learnt the 
art of supering, and aims at a return from honeycomb, the non¬ 
swarming system will serve his purpose best in such ordinary 
seasons. This opinion is held by a great number of intelligent 
and advanced bee-keepers. Much has been said in support of it, 
and very little can be said against it. The danger of losing 
swarms is great, for in such seasons hives are generally full of 
bees whose inclination for swarming is difficult to remove or 
control. The loss of a swarm in such a case and season is ruinous 
to the hive and disappointing to the bee-master. Though we 
have not a word to offer in opposition to the arguments of those 
who practise the non-swarming system in ordinary seasons, we 
prefer and follow the swarming system of management for several 
reasons. 1st, By swarming we have no anxiety about losing 
swarms. 2nd, By feeding swarms for a few days after they are 
hived they soon become equal to hives that do not swarm at all 
for work of various kind. We thus increase our number of hives, 
and derive more profit from the sale of some of them than can be 
done otherwise. But this cannot be done everywhere. 
In ordinary seasons in Great Britain it is understood that we 
have days and weeks of wet weather. Well, in such weather we 
do not hesitate to ssvarm bees that are ready, for by so doing the 
swarms are taken from the old hives where they waste their time 
and consume honey, and made to work and build combs in new 
hives. Both honey and time are thus saved, and combs are built 
of syrup—a very cheap material—and prepared for the reception 
of honey when the weather becomes favourable. It is a nice art 
and a stroke of good policy to get bees to build combs in unfavour¬ 
able weather from a cheap material and filled with rich honey 
afterwards. The time is coming when bee-keepers will know 
better than to allow their bees to remain idle during the summer 
months whatever be the state of the weather. Idleness in a bee 
hive should not be tolerated.—A. Pettigrew. 
(To be continued.) 
Lincolnshire Bee-Keepers’ Association. —The seventh annual 
Exhibition of this Society will be held in the Arboretum, Lincoln, on 
Thursday and Friday, September 21st and 22nd, when numerous 
prizes will be offered for bees, honey, hives, wax, extractors, and 
various apiarian appliances. A silver cup will also be offered for the 
best and largest exhibit of honey taken without destroying the bees, 
the cup to become the property of the member who wins it three 
times. The Exhibition is under the patronage of the Mayor of Lin¬ 
coln, and the Honorary Secretary is Mr. R. R. Godfrey of Grantham, 
who has rendered great services to bee culture by his energetic and 
well-directed labours. 
SUSSEX BEE-KEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
The first annual Show of this Association was held at Horsham 
on Thursday, September 7th, in connection with the Horsham 
Horticultural Show. Although the Sussex Bee-keepers’ Association 
has only been established a few months it has already created a con¬ 
siderable interest in bee-keeping in the county, as the bee tent which 
it was resolved to purchase at the first meeting in April last has 
been sent to the principal flower shows in the county. At Brighton 
the Association held a show in connection with the Royal Counties’ 
Agricultural Show, but unfortunately, the weather being bad, the 
attendance of visitors was small. The Show held on Thursday last 
must be reckoned as a decided success. The liberal prize list brought 
together such a competition in hives and appliances as astonished 
everyone, although there was very little honey shown, and most of 
that was Heather honey. It was evident that the honey season in 
Sussex had been a bad one, and the usual display of beautiful 
sections from the well-known Sussex apiaries were absent. What 
was exhibited, however, was good, and that for sale found ready 
purchasers at good prices. 
The tent in which the Exhibition took place was 70 feet long and 
30 feet wide, and as all the tables round the tent and up the centre 
were well filled the Show was an imposing one. 
The principal prizetakers in the hive classes were Messrs. Abbott, 
Baldwin, Taylor, and Worldridge, the latter also taking first prize for 
the largest and best collection of hives and appliances most appli¬ 
cable to bee-keeping. The principal winners in the honey classes 
were Messrs. T. W. Cowan, M. Freeman, T. Marsh, R. Edwards, and G. 
Green. The competition in the honey classes was confined to resi¬ 
dents in the county of Sussex only. 
The manipulating tent was as usual a great centre of attraction, 
and great many persons witnessed the ease with which Mr. J. 
Baldwin handled the bees. The Judges were Captain Campbell, 
Messrs. J. Garratt, and F. Lemare, and their awards were generally 
approved. 
Amongst the articles not for competition were some beautiful 
sections and bottles of extracted honey exhibited by Mr. J. Garratt 
from St. Mary Cray, Kent. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
j ,Geo. Cooling & Son, Bath .—Catalogue of Bulbs ( Illustrated). 
Wilhelm Buchner, Erfurt, Germany.— Trade Catalogue of Garden 
and Farm Seeds. 
Bruant, Boulevard Saint Cyprien, Poitiers (Vienne, France).— 
List of Plants and Fruit Trees. 
E. G. Henderson & Son, Maida Vale, London, W .—Catalogue of 
Dutch and Cape Bulbs, <f c. 
Jatnes Yates, Underbank, Stockport.— Catalogue of Continental 
Bulbous Plants. 
Barr & Son, King Street, Covent Garden .—Catalogue of Bulbs and 
Plants. 
*** 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. 
Catalogue of Roses {II. K .).—The National Rose Society’s catalogue can 
be obtained post free for six stamps from either of the Hon. Secretaries—Rev. 
H. Honywood D’Ombrain, Ashford, Kent, or Edward Hawley, Esq., Lucknow 
House, Addiscombe, Croydon. 
Urine for Vine Border {J. M. £.).—Both kinds are good (that of which 
you have abundance at your command perhaps the better) when the Vines need 
it, not otherwise. The quantity to be given and the strength depends wholly 
