130 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ August 6, isso. 
t 
comb once attached to them would always after cause trouble. The 
side dummies and chaff box are good. Mr. Clapp was commended for a 
very convenient hive, the frames and body proper of which are in all 
respects the Cheshire hive of 1874. It has a quilt, which is neatly 
held in position by hinged strips. 
Class 7, hives for general use limited to 15s.—Mr. Green was first 
with a well arranged hive, which has two thin division boards stand¬ 
ing against its sides when all the frames are in use. For wintering 
some of the frames are removed, when the division boards are drawn 
towards the cluster. Brads are fixed in the hive front and back, 
which project so little that they do not prevent the movement of the 
frames, but they act as stops for the division boards, between which 
and the hive sides chaff is placed. The door is neatly regulated and 
a porch provided. The crate box above becomes the chaff box for 
winter. Mr. Hooker took second honours with an excellent hive 
having mouth side and front, so that turning the hive a right angle 
will change from one mouth to the other according to season. The 
super case opens to the perpendicular, giving convenient staging 
whilst manipulating. Mr. Hooker showed this hive in the flat with all 
parts ready to nail up, and again in plank with every piece set out. 
No. 19.—Mr. Holland had a lid in central part of super case to admit 
of chaff filling for wintering. No. 18.—Mr. Abbott had a novel super 
case and is good for the money. In Class 8 the efforts of cottagers to 
construct hives from beef boxes, lobster boxes, <fcc., were conspicuous, 
and fully prove that fairly convenient and thoroughly useful frame 
hives may be made by those having a little mechanical tact for about 
2s. G d., or even less. The prizes for supers fell to Messrs. Green, 
Hooker, and Clapp. Mr. Green, instead of the usual wooden strip 
passing under the section box and resting on the hive frames, intro¬ 
duced one of tin, T-shaped, in sections, which is a quarter of an inch 
over the hive top. This saves both in propolisation and in risk to 
bees, and is a decided advance. Mr. Green gave us thumb space 
between boxes, and here Mr. Hooker was before him. We think the 
best combination would be the wooden bearing for the separator, with 
wider tin plate beneath to give a resting-place for the boxes. In this 
we should have the advantage of the two. Mr. Green tightened up 
the crate with a lock spring. 
Honey was nearly all of finest quality and appearance, and the 
Judges must often have been puzzled. Class 11.—Mr. Warren showed 
147 boxes, and Mr. Thorne forty of magnificent stuff, while Rev. E. 
Bartrum came third with three beautiful Stewartons. No. 49 has 
been left too long on one hive, as the capping was unduly thickened. 
In Class 12, mixed supers, the straws were far behind the rest, a fact 
which speaks loudly against fixism. Mr. Thorn stood first, but we 
think he ought to have been disqualified for entering in the wrong 
class; Mx\ Dunman third, and Rev. E. Bartrum fourth, we should 
have reversed. Class 13.—Rev. J. G. Jenkyns showed a beautiful 
super, 3G tbs. nett. Mr. Scott’s glass was artistic. Classes 14 and 15. 
—Thirty exhibits, all excellent, Mr. Cowan sending 48 tb. sections in 
glazed packing cases, which only secured third place. Class 17, 
extracted honey, contained no sample that was unworthy of com¬ 
mendation. The conclusion of the analysis must stand till next 
issue. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
White Grubs Carried out (.Amateur, Warrington ).— Remove your 
super at once or your bees will take the honey down into the hive. The carry¬ 
ing-out of immature bees is a proof that the storing of honey has ceased, and 
that the bees are anxious to get rid of the drone grubs that can never be of any 
future service to them. 
Dwindling Stock of Bees (A Yorkshire Bee-keeper ).—We fear something 
must have happened to the queen of the stock which you describe. This most 
likely occurred in the early spring, and the bees seem to have raised another 
queen who has not turned out well. As you and your friend could see nothing 
of her with all your careful searching it seems not improbable that the hive had 
only a fertile worker in place of a proper queen, especially as you mention 
drones among the few surviving bees. Starvation in the early spring may have 
had something to do with the failure. We have had a dwindling swarm this 
spring of which we almost despaired, but it took a sudden turn in May and has 
wonderfully recovered. Warm weather and abundant honey in the flowers were 
its only cure. We advise you a little later, if the comb is fresh and good, and 
you think it worth while, to add to it the population of two or more stocks 
rescued from the sulphur pit, and to feed them up well at the end of August 
and through September. 
Removing Bees from a Tree (John Holliday, Silloth ).—To remove the 
bees you must first get possession of the brood comb. You will commence 
operations by driving the bees from their combs by smoke, and as you get 
portions of these somewhat cleared you will cut them loose and remove them. 
The honeycombs should have the bees brushed carefully from them, when they 
may be placed one by one in a pail and covered with a cloth. The combs con¬ 
taining brood will be taken out as they can be reached and placed by themselves 
after all the comb have been taken; the bees will be found hiding probably in 
some unreachable recess, but we can yet get them by strategy. The brood 
combs had better now be skewered together with half an inch space between 
each on wooden skewers, when the whole will be lifted into the hollow in such 
a way that it may by-and-by be easily taken away bodily. The bees are now 
left for the night, or at least for two or three hours. They will as soon as all 
appears quiet return in company with the queen to their brood, in order to give 
attention if needed and keep it warm. The combs, queen, and bees in greater 
part can now at once be taken to the foot of the tree to be dealt with according 
to circumstances. The queen being present, before long almost all will join. 
If it is intended to place the dislodged stock into a frame hive the brood combs 
as taken may be transferred into frames at once if this would not make them 
too large to stand in the tree-hollow. 
Colour Characteristics of Ligurian Queens (S. Wigston ).—Ligurian 
queens differ much in appearance, and it is not uncommon to find sister queens 
produced at the same time and in the same hive extremely unlike. No queen 
should be condemned until her progeny has been seen. Some, although quite 
dark themselves, produce beautiful workers. When first hatched they are gene¬ 
rally much yellower than at a few days old ; but after this, as the abdomen 
extends by an increased development of the ovaries, the previously concealed 
yellow portions of the abdominal rings are brought into view and the general 
appearance once more brightens in consequence. The queen to which you refer 
will no doubt from this cause improve both in size and colour. Pure Ligurian 
workers ought to have three yellow bands, and the brighter these are the more 
handsome would the bees be considered. If the workers should be found to vary 
considerably amongst themselves you may conclude that your queen is hybrid. 
Ligurian queens actively ovipositing are generally somewhat larger than black 
ones. 
Metheglin (Apiator Veins ).—You do not say in your letter to whom you 
refer when you complain of the imperfection of the recipe, but generally it may 
be stated that the proportions of water and honey are immaterial. The more 
water and the less alcohol, the weaker the metheglin. The saccharine matter of 
the honey undergoes fermentation in the presence of the yeast, together with some 
nitrogenous substances contained in the mixture, and alcohol is the result. The 
case of ale and wine furnishes an illustration. Weak worts containing little 
sugar if fermented produce not more that 6 per cent, of alcohol, while sweet 
Grape juice will yield similarly 25 per cent. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51°32'40’' N.; Long. 0° 8'0” W.; Altitude,111 feet. 
date. 
9 A.M. 
In the day. 
Rain. 
1 
1880. 
July. 
1 Barome- 
! ter at 32° 
1 and Sea 
1 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. 25 
29.930 
65.8 
59.0 
S. 
62.0 
79.2 
51.6 
129.1 
48.0 
0.426 
Mon. 23 
30.570 
62.5 
61.4 
S.E. 
62.7 
73.7 
56.4 
126.2 
56.2 
0.496 
Tues. 27 
29.744 
65.3 
60.3 
W. 
62.6 
74.6 
58.7 
131.6 
56.7 
— 
Wed. 28 
29.745 
64.7 
61.0 
s.w. 
62.9 
71.6 
59.8 
109.4 
58.9 
0.160 
Thurs. 29 
29.530 
65.8 
61.5 
s.s.w. 
62.6 
74.1 
50.8 
129.6 
58.5 
0 705 
Friday 30 
29.583 
55.6 
54.7 
IV. 
62.1 
69.3 
53.4 
119.4 
50.3 
0.020 
Satur. 31 
29.793 
60.6 
52.8 
w. 
60.4 
70.0 
47.5 
121.1 
45.4 
0.090 
Means. 
29.700 
62.9 
58.7 
62.2 
73.2 
55.3 
123.8 
53.4 
1.897 
REMARKS. 
25th.—Fine bright warm day, cloudy evening. 
26th.—Heavy rain during the night, close damp day with heavy showers, bright 
hot sun at intervals, heavy rain for short time 9 P.M. 
27th.—Very fine day, hot sunshine, high wind, calm evening. 
28th.—Warm dull morning, slight showers, very little sunshine, good deal of 
cloud. 
29th.—Dull morning with heavy showers and high wind, bright sunshine in 
afternoon, very fine evening. 
30th.—Dark rainy morning, showery during the day, sunshine at intervals, 
gusty wind, rain in evening. 
31st.—Cool in morning but very fine and bright, cloudy in middle of day, clear 
evening. 
A very wet week ending a wet month. June and July of 1880 have been even 
more rainy than June and July of 1879. The following are the figures :— 
1879 1880 
June .. 4’76 4’04 
July .. 4T7 5-10 
Total in two months .. 8 - 93 9 14 
—G. J. Symons. 
COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— AUGUST 4. ’ 
GREEN Plums and Apples are now the main supply of our fruit market, the 
former showing signs of heavy crops. Grapes from the Channel Islands are 
now reaching us in large quantities, prices being low. Vegetables are plentiful, 
with but slight alteration. 
FRUIT. 
s. 
d. 
S. 
d. 
fl. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
| sieve 
2 
6 to 4 
6 
Nectarines. 
dozen 
2 
OtolO 
0 
Apricots. 
box 
i 
0 
2 
6 
Oranges . 
W 100 
4 
0 
12 
0 
Cherries. 
Ib. 
0 
4 
1 
0 
Peaches . 
dozen 
3 
0 
10 
0 
Chestnuts. 
bushel 12 
0 
16 
0 
Pears,kitchen .. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Figs. 
dozen 
2 
0 
4 
0 
dessert . 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Filberts. 
^tb. 
0 
0 
i 
0 
Pine Apples .... 
tb 
1 
0 
3 
0 
^ tb 
0 
0 
1 
0 
Plums . 
i sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Gooseberries .... 
I sieve 
2 
6 
4 
0 
Raspberries .... 
^tb. 
0 
3 
0 
6 
Grapes . 
lb 
1 
6 
3 
0 
Strawberries .... 
lb. 
0 
6 
I 
0 
Lemons. 
%>100 
6 
0 
10 
0 
Walnuts . 
bushel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
each 
2 
0 
4 
0 
ditto . 
100 
0 
0 
0 
0 
VEGETABLES. 
S. 
d. 
S. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
Artichokes. 
dozen 
2 
0 to 4 
0 
Mushrooms . 
dozen 
1 
otol 
6 
Asparagus. 
bundle 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Mustard & Cress .. 
punnet 
0 
2 
0 
3 
Beans,Kidney.... 
& lb. 
0 
6 
0 
9 
Onions. 
bushel 
3 
6 
5 
O 
Beet., Red. 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
pickling. 
quart 
0 
0 
0 
9 
Broccoli. 
bundle 
0 
9 
1 
6 
Parsley. doz. hunches 
6 
0 
0 
0 
Brussels Sprouts.. 
i sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Parsnips. 
dozen 
1 
2 
0 
Cabbage . 
dozen 
0 
6 
1 
0 
Peas . 
quart 
0 10 
1 
8 
Carrots. 
bunch 
0 
4 
0 
6 
Potatoes . 
bushel 
8 
9 
4 
0 
Capsicums. 
W 100 
1 
6 
3 
0 
Kidney. 
bushel 
4 
0 
0 
0 
Cauliflowers. 
dozen 
0 
0 
8 
6 
Radishes_ doz.bunches 
i 
6 
2 
6 
Celerv . 
bundle 
1 
6 
2 
0 
Rhubarb. 
bundle 0 
4 
0 
0 
Coleworts_doz. bunches 
s 
0 
4 
0 
Salsafy. 
bundle 
i 
0 
0 
0 
Cucumbers. 
each 
0 
4 
0 
6 
Seorzonera . 
bundle 
i 
6 
0 
0 
Endive. 
dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Seakale . 
basket 
0 
0 
0 
a 
Fennel'. 
hunch 
0 
3 
0 
0 
Shallots. 
w tb 
0 
3 
0 
0 
Garlic '. 
V tb. 
0 
6 
0 
0 
Spinach . 
bushel 
8 
0 
0 
0 
Herbs . 
bunch 
0 
8 
0 
c 
Turnips . 
bunch 
0 
4 
0 
0 
Leeks. 
bunch 
0 
0 
4 
Vegetable Marrows 
each 
0 
2 
0 
