42 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 8, 1880. 
I am obliged by Mr. Matthews’ letter, though it still leaves me 
in uncertainty as to the age of the young queen at the time of 
fertilisation.—A. P.] 
FACTS ABOUT SWARMING. 
Swarming is natural to bees, and they prepare for the import¬ 
ant event a long time before it takes place. Royal and drone 
cells are built, and when the time draws near such cells are filled 
with brood. Some small hives have been filled with combs with¬ 
out any drone cells ; but in such cases, which are very rare indeed, 
the bees hatch a few drones in worker cells before or at the time 
of swarming. 
Bees swarm in the first case by want of room. The popula¬ 
tions of hives healthy and prosperous rapidly increase from March 
till May or June, when they begin to send off colonies. The 
clustering and accumulation of bees at the doors and outside the 
hives before swarming is of common occurrence in apiaries of 
small hives. In apiaries of large hives clustering is very unusual— 
hardly ever seen. Hence the first swarms of small hives are 
larger in proportion to size of hives than those of large hives. 
Perhaps the difficulty of ventilating hives of great capacity may 
be the cause of this difference. It is well understood that large 
hives yield larger swarms than small ones, though the first swarms 
of small hives are proportionately larger. This is not the case 
with second swarms or casts, for those from small hives are com¬ 
paratively worthless, whereas the second swarms of large hives 
often rise in weight to (50 and 80 lt>s. 
It is noticeable that first swarms generally alight near home, 
and thus their queens can go with them without much fatigue. 
Second swarms with young virgin queens often settle at greater 
distances from their hives. Second swarms are less particular as 
to fine sunshiny weather at the time. Why swarms settle at all 
on trees and bushes near their hives is a question not easily 
answered. They do so from instinct, and in my opinion without 
ulterior intentions. Some writers think that they have ulterior 
intentions, and in alighting on a tree they are simply congre¬ 
gating and resting before they start for a new and distant home. 
I cannot take this view, for very often unhived swarms will hang 
for a couple of days, and when they go they again alight on a 
tree, and go from place to place without finding a suitable abode 
to live and labour in. Sometimes they find an empty hive, 
cavity in a tree or house, before swarming, and go direct to it. 
When swarms alight it is desirable to hive them at once and 
place them where they have to stand, then if the weather is un¬ 
favourable for outdoor work, to give the bees something to do 
indoors. I repeat what was stated lately in this Journal—viz., 
that no money spent in the apiary will secure a greater return 
than what is spent in feeding swarms after being hived. Swarms 
on being hived are placed at a disadvantage and have great diffi¬ 
culties to meet at first. Wax has to be secreted for comb-building, 
and foundations for the combs have to be laid. When this work 
begins more materials are produced than can be used, and hence 
the boards of hives become covered with scales of wax during the 
three first days of comb-building by swarms. As the combs 
enlarge and broader foundations are laid more workers can help. 
The feeding of swarms promotes comb-building and brood-rearing 
to a great extent. After the combs are of some size the bees 
seldom lose or drop the scales of wax. First swarms have preg¬ 
nant queens, and hence it is of great importance to encourage 
comb-building at first in their hives to prevent the loss of eggs. 
The queens of second swarms do not begin to lay for eight or ten 
days after swarming. But even in their case it is advisable to 
feed during inclement weather. Hunger swarms are those that 
are starved out. Having no food and no brood t) attend to 
they abandon their hives in despair, and often die of cold and 
exhaustion. 
Some seasons bees swarm more readily than they do in others. 
The cause of this is unknown. The present season is remarkable 
for swarming. Bees set queens and swarm before they are fully 
mature, sometimes before their hives are filled with combs. In 
four cases this season I have been saved the trouble of swarming 
artificially by finding the swarms hanging on trees near their 
hives. Second swarms, too, are yielded as readily as first swarms. 
In hot honey seasons swarms are smaller than they are in worse 
seasons. This is easily understood, for as bees do not sit on honey 
their space is contracted by all the honey they gather and store 
up, and this too contracts the brood combs ; hence hives filled with 
bees and brood instead of honey yield the largest swarms. 
The practice of giving swarms second-hand combs (hiving them 
amongst combs formerly built and used) I have abandoned. If 
the second-hand combs are young and clean they appear to be 
and are of advantage to the swarms at first, and may in certain 
seasons be of advantage all the year through, but generally speaking 
swarms that are housed in empty hives and receive a fair start at 
comb-building succeed better than those which receive combs. 
After these commonplaces let me repeat what I have previously 
said, that age and experience increase my confidence in the swarm¬ 
ing system of management.—A. Pettigrew. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Young Ducks (Alderhurst ).—There is little difference between barleymeal 
and oatmeal, so we employ the first named because it is cheaper. It is not 
necessary to boil it. It may be made into a paste with warm or cold water. 
Feeding Cygnets (K. Y .).—The proper way to feed cygnets is to give 
them bran, oats, and meal in a large fiat vessel, the bottom of which should he 
covered with gravel or a sod of growing grass, the food placed on it, and the 
whole covered with water. Cygnets, and even grown-up Swans, love to make 
“ little dirt pies.” 
Canaries Troubled with Vermin ( Enibrey , Derby ).—Your Canary is 
troubled with the red mites, which is the cause of so much uneasiness at night 
time. Pursue the plan we recommended in No. 1003, page 486, and you will rid 
your Canary of its tormentors. A white linen cloth thrown over the cage at 
night time is a better test to prove that there are vermin than placing the cage 
over a sheet of white paper. But why do either and prolong the annoyance to 
the bird ? At once lay siege to the cage and uprooo the enemy. 
Bees Killing Drones ( Juvenis ).—Your treatment of your bees is quite 
correct apparently. The bees killing their drone grubs is a good sign. They 
have given up further swarming. 
Bees—Dead Grubs (A. Me A .).—The grabs having been simply wrapped in 
paper and enclosed in a letter met the fate that might have been expected. 
They were completely crushed, and it was impossible to examine them. If you 
will send others in a small box as soon as possible they shall have our attention. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51°32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.: Altitude.Ill feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
.2 
*3 
1880. 
June. 
July. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32° 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sun. 27 
30.165 
Ct.3 
68.4 
S.W. 
59.2 
74.8 
48.7 
123.7 
43.8 
— 
Mon. 28 
30.215 
6.5.2 
58.8 
S.W. 
60.0 
74.8 
57.0 
133.7 
53.5 
— 
Tues. 2D 
30.090 
63.9 
58.6 
IV. 
61.2 
78.6 
56.7 
128.4 
52.4 
— 
Wed. 30 
29.814 
60.6 
57.3 
N.W. 
62.3 
79.8 
54.6 
127.1 
50.1 
0.033 
Thurs. 1 
29.831 
G4.2 
60.4 
N.W. 
62.7 
70.2 
58.9 
108.0 
58 0 
0.833 
Friday 2 
29.805 
64.9 
57.4 
s.s.w. 
61.3 
69.3 
49.6 
122.0 
47.8 
0.170 
Satur. 3 
29.702 
64.3 
58.2 
s. 
60.7 
71.4 
55.2 
118.4 
51.7 
0.853 
Means. 
29.925 
63.9 
58.4 
61.1 
74.1 
54.4 
123.0 
51.0 
1.889 
REMARKS. 
27th.—Very bright fine morning, in middle of day some heavy clouds about, fine 
bright evening. 
28th.—Breezy, but very fine warm day. 
29th.—Fine and bright, rather overcast at intervals. 
30th.—Fine bright day, rather overcast in afternoon, beautiful evening. 
July 1st.—Morning damp and rainy, thunderstorms and very heavy rain from 
noon to 2 P.M. In the five minutes between 1.56 and 2.1 P.M. 0.21 inch of 
rain fell. 
2nd.—Quite like a warm April day, sharp showers with intervals of sunshine, 
overcast evening. 
3rd.—Rain in morning and very heavy thunderstorm 6.16 to 6.40 P.M., with 
excessively heavy rain. 
Temperature near the average, rainfall owing to the thunderstorms con¬ 
siderably above it.—G. J. Symons. 
COVENT GARDEN MARKET.—JUDY 7. 
THERE areunmistakeable signs of the London season being over, prices falling 
considerably during the week, especially among best goods. Vegetables are in 
plentiful supply. 
FRUIT. 
Apricots. 
Cherries. 
Chestnuts. 
Figs. 
Filberts. 
Cobs. 
Gooseberries .... 
Grapes, hothouse 
Lemons. 
Melons . 
Asparagus. 
Beans, Kidney. 
BrusselsiSprouts.. 
Cucumbers. 
s. 
d. 
s. d. 
j 
. 
d. 
8. 
a. 
} sieve 
2 
6 to 4 6 
Nectarines. 
dozen 
8 
( to] 2 
0 
box 
i 
0 
2 6 
Oranges . 
100 
4 
0 
12 
0 
box 
i 
6 
2 6 
Peaches . 
dozen 
3 
0 
in 
0 
bushel 12 
0 
16 0 
Pears, kitchen .. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
dozen 10 
0 
12 0 
dessert. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
l?Ib. 
0 
0 
1 0 
Pine Apples .... 
V lh 
1 
0 
3 
0 
$> ft 
0 
0 
1 0 
Plums . 
1 sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
i sieve 
6 
0 
8 0 
Raspberries .... 
If* ft. 
0 
0 
0 
0 
^ ft 
1 
6 
3 0 
Strawberries .... 
ft. 
0 
6 
1 
0 
IfriOO 
6 
0 
10 0 
Walnuts . 
bushel 
0 
u 
0 
0 
each 
2 
0 
4 0 
ditto . 
& 100 
0 
0 
0 
0 
VEGETABLES. 
s. 
d. 
s. d. 
s. 
d. 
8. 
d. 
dozen 
2 
0 to 4 0 
Mushrooms . 
pottle 
1 
Otol 
6 
bundle 
0 
0 
0 0 
Mustard & Cress.. 
punnet 
0 
2 
0 
3 
V ft- 
0 
6 
0 9 
Onions. 
bushel 
o 
6 
6 
0 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 0 
pickling . 
quart 
0 
0 
0 
9 
bundle 
0 
9 
1 6 
Parsley. doz. bunches 
6 
0 
0 
0 
J sieve 
0 
0 
0 0 
Parsnips. 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
dozen 
0 
6 
1 0 
Peas . 
quart 
0 
10 
i 
o 
bunch 
0 
4 
0 6 
Potatoes. 
bushel 
3 
9 
4 
0 
W 100 
1 
6 
2 0 
K idney. 
bushel 
4 
0 
0 
0 
dozen 
0 
0 
3 6 
Radishes doz.bundles 
1 
6 
2 
6 
bundle 
1 
6 
2 0 
Rhubarb. 
bundle 
0 
4 
0 
0 
bunches 
2 
0 
4 0 
Salsafy. 
bundle 
1 
0 
0 
0 
each 
0 
4 
0 6 
Scorzonera . 
bundle 
1 
6 
0 
0 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 0 
Seakale . 
basket 
0 
0 
0 
0 
bunch 
0 
3 
0 0 
Shallots . 
$* ft 
0 
3 
0 
0 
o 
fi 
0 0 
bushel 
3 
0 
0 
0 
. bunch 
0 
2 
0 0 
Turnips . 
bunch 
0 
4 
0 
0 
bunch 
0 
0 4 
Vegetable Marrows each 
0 
2 
0 
3 
