June 9, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
448 
before they begin, being careful to wash the hands thoroughly 
after handling plants or soil. Some plants are more objectionable 
to bees than others, such as Pennyroyal ; but the roots of most 
plants, as well as the fresh soil, are obnoxious to them, at least 
they resent it by the free use of their stings to such an extent 
that they pursue and attack all who may not be a safe distance 
from the apiary. This causes the timid unhappiness instead of 
pleasure. All work may be (performed without irritating a 
single bee. 
SUPEKING. 
Whenever the temperature rises to 65° or 70° with sunshine, and 
the weather is calm, the clusters of bees will enlarge suddenly 
until the hive cannot contain them, queen cells will be formed, and 
swarming eventually take place. I then allow no loitering, but 
super at once, regulating the space according to the ingathering or 
flow of honey. It is not when bees are crowded in supers that 
the comb becomes coloured, but when they are few. It was 
through observing this in my early bee-keeping days that I was 
induced to use close-fltting dividing boards in supers the flrst part 
of the hive they were used in, and I did not require much 
experience to teach me that allowing bees access to supers from 
the centre of the hive meant spoiling super honeycomb for table 
use, yet this custom is general nearly all the world over. In 1891 an 
American adopted our plan of admitting bees to supers at the 
outsides only, and the practice may, in consequence, soon become 
more general. 
Bee Societies. 
These have benefited dealers more than bee-keepers ; the 
former naturally worked for their own interest, the latter simply 
accepting the statement that it was also for theirs. I am pleased 
to see a contemporary in Scotland taking up the question, and I 
have no doubt good will flow from it. As there is not space in 
one article to discuss the whole question involved in societies and 
shows I will restrict myself to one or two suggestions which I 
brought forward at meeting after meeting of the Caledonian 
Apiarian Society, but to be as often frustrated. 
Exhibiting. 
One question was the encouragement of lady bee-keepers ; 
also, I wished to place the bee-keeper on a small scale equal in all 
competitions with the most extensive. My proposal was simply to 
prevent the bee-keeper on a large scale selecting a dozen or two 
dozen sections from four or five thousand to compete against one 
who perhaps had not more than fifty to choose from. It was also 
meant to encourage a system that would produce honeycomb in 
the greatest purity, and to promote competition with supers of 
sections, or supers proper as wrought by the bees and not selected. 
To prevent selection the Secretary was either to supply stamped 
sections or supers, or stamp those sent before being filled, accord¬ 
ing to the number allowed each competitor. Each section or bar 
of super was to be stamped with the Society’s stamp, and numbered 
1, 2, and 3, so as to make it impossible for the competitor to take 
a section from one number to fill up another. 
Hive Improvements. 
At none of the shows I have attended was there an original 
make of hive. Except those of Messrs. Neighbour and my own, 
all the others were copies of other makers. To prevent that I 
proposed, and it was carried at a meeting, that in the future no 
prizes were to be awarded unless for some distinct improvement. 
The said improvement, along with the other points of excellence 
the hive possessed, were to be written plainly on paper, and placed 
upon the exhibit; but this restriction was overturned by the 
dealers, who should not be allowed to have any share in the manage¬ 
ment of bee shows if amateur bee-keepers are expected to receive 
any benefit from or through them. Some time since there appeared 
in a Kirkcudbrightshire paper a most misleading statement signed 
Wm. McNally, who said that my proposal was th\t “everyone 
should judge his own hive,” a very different thing from my motion. 
—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
Sparrows Eating Bees. 
I HAVE four hives of bees which until recently have done well, 
but within the last few weeks a colony of sparrows which frequent 
my outbuildings have fallen upon them and threaten soon to 
destroy them all by taking them one after another as they gain the 
alighting board to enter their hives, or settle upon the ground in 
front to rest before entering with their loads. Each captured bee 
is taken at once to feed the sparrows’ young. You may imagine 
that with this process going on all day the consumption is enormous, 
and must soon end in the destruction of the hives. I have tried 
various kinds of scarecrows, but the birds are far too tame to take 
any notice of them. Will you kindly suggest any remedy? I 
never heard before of such attacks by birds, but other cases must 
probably be known to you.—B. 
[We have often observed sparrows eating drone and worker 
larvae when thrown out of the hive, and catch an odd bee occasion¬ 
ally when on the wing, but we have never seen the birds take the 
bees as they were entering the hive. If that is the only place they 
catch the bees, guarding the hive entrances with wire netting 
just wide enough to exclude the birds might put a stop to their 
temporary caprice. If that is of no effect, shooting, trapping, or 
catching them with birdlime or other means must be resorted to. 
We should certainly not permit them to continue their destructive 
work.] 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albans.— Cgjpripediums, 
TO CORRESPONDENTS 
•**A11 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 
anavoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on 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- 
rig-s Falling- (<?. T. Z*.).—The samples reached us one post too late 
for examination and the publication of a reply in the present issue. 
The matter shall have attention. 
IVIould In IMCushroom Bed (I7. TF.).—The mould may not be the 
cause of the Mushrooms being spoiled as soon as they appear. You ask 
for a remedy for a disease (if one) that is not before us for examination 
nor described by you, therefore we are not in a position to prescribe for 
the malady. If you forward specimens of the spoiled Mushrooms, and 
furnish particulars of the attack, we shall be pleased to assist you if 
possible. You letter is too brief and vague for anyone to understand 
the case. 
Small Tomatoes {G. G.) —Considering the varieties you name, the 
sturdiness of the plants you describe, and the d ssolved chemical 
manures given, we can only attribute the result to premature ripening 
under intense sun heat in an insufficiently ventilated house. In the 
section supplied we see no provision for ventilation except by raising the 
ridge cap. This is insufficient for Tomatoes and most other crops in 
summer except, perhaps. Cucumbers. A “large handful” of the mix¬ 
ture in 2 gallons of water will produce a liquid of more than twice the 
strength we should like to use. You might have indicated the size of 
the fruits by stating the average number of each variety to a pound. 
