December 30, 1880. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
605 
he was presented with a testimonial of the value of £500, subscribed 
by noblemen and gentlemen interested in scientific agriculture. He 
was a Juror in the Department of Science and Art at the Great 
Exhibition of 1851, and at the Paris Exhibition four years later he 
was specially sent out by the English Government. After eight 
years’ service as Alderman of London he resigned his gown, very 
much against the wish of his constituents. Mr. Mechi was the 
author of several works on agriculture, the most popular being, 
perhaps, “ How to Earm Profitably,” of which many thousand copies 
were sold. Doubts have often been cast on the pecuniary results of 
Mr. Mechi’s farming, but in his circular made public last week he 
reaffirmed that they were satisfactory, and declared that his failure 
was due to losses on his London business. 
-A New Cross-bred Table Fowl.—T he following letter of 
a correspondent of Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier’s has been published in a 
contemporary :—“ I have long thought whether one could not start 
a new and better race of poultry for table purposes. I farm some 
300 acres of land, and have tried various kinds. Dorkings were 
always favourites ; but though I have had no difficulty of getting 
very large birds, they were undoubtedly bad to rear, few hatching 
out, and some of these dying. I now keep at my farm buildings, at 
GOO feet elevation on limestone, Houdans, about thirty hens at the 
beginning of the season, and here, just where the red clay ends, about 
as many Dark Brahmas. These breeds fit in well. The Brahmas lay all 
winter and the Houdans all summer, and the Brahma hens hatch out 
the Houdans for table. Being able to keep two breeds, and being 
obliged to have heavy fowls here close to the garden, this is the best 
combination I have come across. But Houdans are not so good to 
eat as Game, and I think not as Dorkings. I have tried the Dorking 
and Brahma cross—tremendous birds, and the hens good-looking, but 
the cocks very ugly. Houdan cock and coloured Dorking hens 
made good early-maturing fowls ; and, curiously enough, they were 
all jet black, and of very marked character as to comb, tail, itc. 
The reason of this letter is to ask whether it would not be better to 
cross the Dorking cock with Black-breasted Bed Game hens, inasmuch 
as the latter are said to be so much better layers than Brown Red, 
and therefore more likely to produce a laying as well as a fattening 
breed—a great desideratum.” 
-Malicious Injuries at Poultry Shows.—S eldom has a more 
dastardly act been brought to light than that disclosed last week by the 
examination of the contents of the stomachs of the birds which died 
at the Yale of Severn Society’s Show. On the second day of the Show' 
the occupants of five pens of prize Bantams were observed to be ill, 
and before the end of the Show the birds were all dead. The stomachs 
were sent for analysis to the public analyst for Northumberland, and 
he has reported that the birds died from the effects of phosphorus 
given in the form of paste. A reward of £10 is offered by the Society 
for such information as will lead to the apprehension and conviction 
of the persons who administered the poison. We trust that they may 
be discovered and punished as they richly deserve. 
SUCCESSFUL BEE-KEEPING. 
The recorded results of bee-keeping in Scotland this year are 
very satisfactory and encouraging. The records of such results 
will do good by stimulating the hopes and renewing the energies 
of many apiarians on this side of the Tweed. While the records 
mentioned, coming as they do from three separate counties, main¬ 
tain the renown of Scotland for successful bee-keeping, it is 
to be hoped that they will sharpen the discernment of English 
bee-keepers. Though we have had many unfavourable seasons for 
honey during the last ten years, especially in the midland and 
north of England, let us hope that good seasons and times will 
come, and that we shall be prepared and ready for them when 
they come. In the recorded results we are going to review we 
have a wealth of evidence that bees are wonderfully industrious, 
that bee-keeping is interesting and profitable, and that, though 
much depends on the skill and attention of the apiarian, success 
may be attained with all kinds of hives. The secret of successful 
bee-keeping is very simple. Some days ago I received a letter 
from one of the most careful and successful bee-keepers I have 
ever known. He conveys his secret of success in few words, as 
follows ■—“As for profitable management, the main thing is to 
study bees thoroughly, give them room enough, feed them when 
they require it, and give no more than they need. Bees will 
gather and make as much honey in a flour barrel as in the finest 
bar-frame or Stewarton hive ever made. With fine weather and 
plenty of room bees will work well anywhere, even hanging on 
a tree. 
This is the statement of Mr. James Bennie of Carluke, one of 
whose hives with its swarms rose this year to the gross weight of 
474 lbs. These figures were offered to the bee-keepers of Great 
Britain, and comparisons were invited. Mr. Anderson of Dairy, 
who is a well-known and successful Ayrshire bee-keeper, comes 
to the front with a higher figure still—namely, 481 lt)3. from a 
Stewarton hive, and its swarms belonging to Mr. James Crawford 
of Arran. I cordially thank Mr. Anderson for the record of such 
work. Mr. Baitt and Mr. Mann of Perthshire give us the receipts 
of honey and money from a bar-frame hive belonging to Mr. 
Mann. I am glad they have done so. From this bar-frame hive 
122 lbs. of honeycomb in 1-lb. sections and 30 lbs. of extracted 
honey were taken, and 40 lbs. of honey left for the bees to winter 
on. We have here good results from a bar-frame hive. I con¬ 
fess to a little astonishment that Mr. Mann after all “considers 
this has been a poor honey season.” The comb and honey were 
sold for £9 11s. Mr. Anderson speaks of the season as a “ most 
productive one,” and hundreds of Scotch apiarians have found it 
so. We have now before us the record of results most encourag¬ 
ing and satisfactory from three different kinds of hives. I am 
greatly pleased with them all. If viewed in a good light perhaps 
we should find in them more likeness than contrast. 
When the weight of the straw hive first appeared Mr. Baitt 
wrote to me asking or suggesting that the profits or money value 
of the contents be given. He was told that no figures of profit had 
come from Carluke, and therefore I could not give them. When 
the letter of Messrs. Raitt and Mann was published containing the 
money profits of the bar-frame hive, it was sent in a letter to Mr. 
Bennie, who returned it with a reply in which he says, “ I object 
to giving money particulars about my bees for publication, al¬ 
though 1 could tell a far greater fact than Mr. Mann, and plenty 
of other bee-keepers in Carluke could do the same.” This is 
certainly encouraging to all apiarians. Having Mr. Mann’s profits 
before us we may compare the results. Mr. Mann’s hive yielded 
122 lbs. of comb and 30 lbs. of run honey. The comb at Is. 4 d. 
per pound would realise £8 2s., and the honey at Is. per pound 
would raise the amount to £9 125.—only Is. more than was 
realised. The prices obtained by Mr. Mann are rather disappoint¬ 
ing to me, for I was told two years ago that the honeycomb of 
sectional supers was sold at Is. Sd. per pound. If the comb in 
sections 1 or 2 lbs. in weight does not fetch a higher price than 
comb in common supers the introduction of sectional supers will 
be of very little value. The Carluke bee-keepers obtain 1.?. per 
pound for run hoDey and 1.?. 3d. for honeycomb in supers. These 
prices have been obtained regularly for fifty years. 
I now come to the interesting point of comparing the money 
value of the outcome of the Stewarton hive weighing 4S1 lbs., 
and the straw hive weighing 474 lbs. I do not know the weight 
of the hives and bees in either case, but let us suppose that the 
bees and empty hives would weigh in each case 120 or 130 lbs. 
I have no disposition to overweigh or underweigh anything. After 
the weight of hives, boards, and bees have been taken from the gross 
weight one can pretty accurately estimate the weight of honey in 
the contents of the hives. Every 7 lbs. weight of contents yields 
5 lbs. of honey. At this calculation the honey of the Stewarton 
hive would weigh about 250 lbs., and the honey of the straw hive 
about the same. Now 250 lbs. of run honey at Is. per lb. gives 
considerably moie than Mr. Mann’s £9 11s .; and if much of the 
contents were sold as honeycomb at 1.?. 3d. per lb. the bar-frame 
hive would be found farther behind still. If the honey and 
profits of the three hives could be fairly weighed the proba¬ 
bility is great that the bar-frame hive would rank third best. 
Notwithstanding I gladly admit that both Mr. Baitt and Mr. 
Mann are advanced, clever, and successful bee-keepers. In my 
opinion Mr. Raitt has done more to improve the bar-frame hive 
and manage it practicall} 1 - and scientifically than any other person 
in Great Britain. In the excess of his enthusiasm for “ modern 
bee-keeping ” as he calls it, he appears occasionally to go a little 
too far. For instance, he and Mr. MaDn say “that the time for 
pitting straw hives against bar-frames was over long ago.” May 
I ask, How long ago? When and where has the bar-frame hive 
carried off the palm of greatest weight or profit? Mr. George 
Fox of Kingsbridge, Devon, ventured to fit the straw hive at 
the Crystal Palace shows against all comers, and on every occa¬ 
sion he carried off the honours against the bar-frame hive. 
About two years ago Mr. Ollerhead delivered a lecture on bees 
at Wimbledon, which was published in many periodicals. Jn 
this lecture Mr. Ollerhead says, “he prepared twenty hives for 
winter, some of them were bar-framers, some Stewartons and 
