August 12, 1880. ] JOl RjS AL OF HORTICULTURE AJS D COTTAGE GAR DEL ER. 158 
or not it will be profitable to produce them is a problem whose 
solution wo leave to time. Some of our well-known authorities are 
advocating the production of soft cheeses in the place of a portion 
of the hard ones peculiar to this country, and it is to be hoped that 
an opening for some of the better kinds will be provided. Made 
for early consumption, the returns will be quicker, and a new element 
of variety will be introduced into the dairying of these islands.— 
(“ Dairy Farming ,” by Professor Sheldon.) 
-Harvest Prospects in the Midlands. —Great delay has 
been experienced in gathering in the hay harvest in Warwickshire 
owing to the wet weather, and in many instances the crops have been 
so damaged that they will scarcely repay the increased labour ex¬ 
pended on them. Wheat has been thrown back considerably by the 
weather, and at present it is hard to say what kind of yield it will 
be. Barley is about an average. Oats are better than last year, and 
promise well. Beans are likewise in better condition, and above the 
average. The harvest will be a late one. Potatoes are a good yield, 
but in some instances the disease has appeared, not, however, to a 
great extent. The root crops are looking well, but plenty of weeds 
are to be found. A few weeks’ fine weather would make a wonderful 
difference to harvest prospects in this district. 
- Bearing Turkeys. — Much of the alleged delicacy of 
young Turkeys is no doubt owing to the degeneracy of the strain, 
the produce of an American cross being always found much more 
hardy. It is, however, quite true that during the earlier weeks, and 
before the young birds “ shoot the red,” as it is expressly called, or 
develope the red carunculated protuberances about the neck and 
throat, they are peculiarly susceptible to wet, so that even one good 
wetting will perceptibly thin a large brood. After that period is 
passed, however, they become daily more hardy, so that they will 
roost in trees during winter if permitted without any injury, unless 
unusually severe frost may cause frost-bitten toes. The period of 
danger being thus limited, it is well worth while to take special care 
while it lasts. Special and ample shelter should therefore be pro¬ 
vided, and if the hens are at liberty they should be driven under it 
on the approach of a shower; by which means, if well fed, the dangers 
of infancy may be warded off. For a period of one to three weeks— 
depending on the weather—the hen should always be confined, the 
Turkey chicks being, however, allowed to run out on the grass during 
dry days. Such management, with plenty of good meal as food, will 
bring the chicks on with little difficulty. Many farmers feed only on 
grain after a week or two, but on such diet the young birds never 
grow large, and rarely show good constitutions. There is another 
thing to be remarked : Many careful observers have recorded that, 
when given the option, Turkeys seem to prefer the leaves of the 
Dandelion to any other green food, and it has been found that such 
leaves liberally given conduce greatly to the health and vigour of 
the broods. The well-known medicinal properties of this plant (em¬ 
ployed in medicine under the name of taraxacum) both as a tonic and 
alterative, make these effects easily understood; and it is therefore 
well worth while to encourage the growth of the Dandelion wherever 
Turkeys are reared. This object, as gardeners well know, is only too 
easily attained in most places ; but even if necessary to scatter a few 
heads of seed over small patches of ground, it will pay well to do so. 
In default of the Dandelion, Lettuce and Onions chopped fine form 
the best substitute. Dryness and cleanliness are, however, the chief 
requisites in Turkey-rearing so far as prevention of deaths is concerned. 
—( Cassell’s Illustrated Boole of Poultry.) 
EXPERIENCES WITH COMB FOUNDATION. 
The report which Mr. Procter gives is very interesting and 
valuable, but it is certainly puzzling to read the very different 
accounts which are given by persons who try these comb founda¬ 
tions. I gave mine honestly some time ago on the invitation 
given in our Journal, nor can I write a word beyond my own 
experience. It is not so promising as I could wish it, for it is 
evident to the simplest understanding that if Mr. Procter’s experi¬ 
ence were general we bee-keepers would find ourselves in a most 
favourable condition for the successful management of our apiaries. 
Why is it that such men as Mr. Cheshire and even Mr. Raitt have 
had to try, and are still trying, all sorts of experiments to strengthen 
comb foundation ? They, like myself, have been disappointed 
again and again. The combs we have used have “sagged” and 
continue to do so. Crooked combs, curling corners, breakdowns 
have with the majority (so far as reports have come in) occurred 
again and again, and hence at the cost of much trouble and 
labour and expense recourse has been had to every sort of device 
for remedying the evil by the adoption of strengthening materials 
of every imaginable kind. It can be no fancied difficulty which 
has given rise to all this inquiry and trouble. The fact remains, 
that while some apiarians like Mr. Procter have been greatly 
successful, others, “ the majority,” among whom I must reckon 
myself, have been met by difficulty and disappointment. It may 
be—it must be—that there is something in the mode of manipula¬ 
tion or the character of the comb foundation itself, or some other 
treatment still a secret to the apiarian world, which leads to the 
success we are told of. This we want to get at, and he would be 
a real benefactor who should plainly and minutely describe how 
after seven years of comparative failure (see page 107) he at last 
attained that perfect success which is described. Are we all mere 
blunderers ? It is very certain there can be no confidence or 
more general adoption of comb foundation till our practical diffi¬ 
culties are removed. We are not throwing out mere ideas, but 
stating facts within our experience.—B. & W. 
EXTRAORDINARY SWARMING-. 
Mr. A. Pettigrew has forwarded us the following letter 
accompanied by his reply : — “ Mr. J. Greatorex, farmer of 
Stretton, a little village close to Burton, started this year with 
one stock very well up in bees. Swarm No. 1 came May 20th, 
No. 2 (or cast) June 3rd. No. 1 swarmed June 7th, and cast July 
3rd, while the swarm which came from No. 1 (June 7th) itself 
threw off another July 2nd, which, however, returned to the hive. 
He has thus increased his one stock to five, and would have had 
six had not one swarm returned.— Charles Young.” 
[Though bees swarm readily this year everywhere, the above- 
mentioned instance of a swarm from a virgin hive probably stands 
alone, and should be remembered. As such superabundant 
swarming weakens hives we trust Mr. Greatorex will feed all his 
five hives into good stocks and carry them well through winter. 
—A. P.] 
REVIEW OF BOOK. 
The Bce-heeytcrs' Manual, by the late Henry Taylor. Seventh 
Edition. By Alfred Watts. London : Groombridge and 
Sons. 
The name of Henry Taylor was at one time very familiar 
among apiarians, and the “ Bee-keepers’ Manual,” of which he 
published six editions in his lifetime, was regarded as the most 
authoritative guide to those who were about to enter upon the 
pursuit of bee-keeping. Many changes have taken place, and 
great progress has been made in apiarian science since Mr. Taylor 
wrote, and it was necessary for a work of this kind if it was to 
keep pace with the times, and to be of good service as an in¬ 
structor, that it should be very much amplified. The construction 
of the work is the same as it came from Mr. Taylor’s hands so far 
as the subject is treated under the heads of Summer, Autumn, 
Winter, and Spring Management, and this is a method we like ; 
but in addition to this the whole subject of bee management has 
been gone into upon modern principles, and all the various forms 
of wooden and straw hives together with all modern apiarian 
apparatus are fully treated upon. We consider this edition of 
Taylor, under the editorship of Mr. Watts, as good a manual for 
the bee-keeper as is to be found in the language. 
BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION’S SHOW. 
SECOND notice. 
English comb foundation brought but two entries, which appeared 
in the catalogue ; Messrs. Raitt and Neighbour, the former with sheets 
of great finish, being placed first. Mr. Abbott staged flat-bottomed 
thick foundations, the cell walls of which on the opposite sides of the 
sheet do not stand in that beautiful relation to one another which 
they occupy in natural comb, and which has been followed in every 
other specimen of foundation we have seen. The cottagers’ classes 
for honey were all good; Messrs. Skinner, Walton, Freeman, and 
Sells were well to the front. The American thin flat-bottom founda¬ 
tion for supers exhibited by Messrs. Newman & Son of Chicago was 
of wonderful regularity, and in sheets 36 inches by 16 inches. 
With extractors Mr. Cowan was again to the front, winning with a 
machine which perfects his invention of last year. The combs are 
reversed automatically, and the gearing which effects this is as simple 
as it is ingenious. The driving pinion and the pinions which reverse 
