116 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Felunary 5, 1«9I. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Spring Dwindling. 
^IiLD spring weather following that of a severe winter is the 
best medicine for putting bees in good health and spirits— 
that is, in cases where bees and queen are normally healthy. It 
not unfrequently happens that to appearance they are so, yet 
a daily dwindling of the bees takes place as the spring advances 
instead of getting more numerous. In most cases the fault will 
be found in the queen, for so long as bees’ wings are entire they 
remain healthy, and are able to discharge their duties inside and 
outside the hive ; but whenever a queen is in an abnormal state 
the bees become spiritless and disappear. 
Queens are liable to become unable to perform their maternal 
duties through dropsy, old age, or a chill, especially when they 
have been located in a damp hive. In some cases the ovary 
collapses at an early period of the queen’s life. In some of the 
above cases she may be able to deposit a few eggs, but in others 
none can be laid. An experienced bee-keeper, as a rule, forms a 
good opinion of the state of the hive by the movements and 
appearance of the bees, but the novice can only determine the 
facts by ocular demonstration— even then he may not be experi¬ 
enced enough to decide when a queen is at fault. Sometimes 
queens in a diseased state appear large and handsome, but as a rule 
eggs are either absent in the cells or are few in number and 
irregularly laid, and the bees at all times spiritless and in contrast 
to those having a healthy queen. Whenever the apiarist discovers 
an unhealthy queen it should be removed, and the bees joined to 
those of another hive. 
I do not expect that the coming spring will pass away without 
having its usual average or greater number of swarms leaving their 
hive bodily through one or other of the above causes. Many 
queens are alive above a year old, whilst they and younger ones 
may not have had an immunity from disease in some form through 
the long continued cold. We are justified in bringing the above 
before bee-keepers through the correspondence that has brought 
to light so many cases of abdominal extension or dysentery. 
I entirely disagree with those who maintain that spring 
dwindling is due to the death of the aged bees, because, as already 
stated, bees never fail until their wings give way. Sometimes 
queens suddenly cease to be prolific, and although not barren fail 
to produce as many eggs as will allow a hive to be strong and 
profitable. It is for the bee-keeper to exercise his judgment and 
become acquainted with the fertility and behavour of queen and 
bees, so as to enable him to turn everything to the best account. 
Other causes of spring dwindling are untimely manipulations, the 
cooling of the hive by them or by having it in a damp and other¬ 
wise cold state, which destroys the vigour of the bees, rendering 
them unable to battle with the chilling winds of spring. Irregular 
and untimely feeding, too, also causes bees to fly out and be lost. 
Carbolic Acid. 
I observe in a bee journal that the late Eev. George Eaynor is 
credited with being the first to use carbolic acid in the apiary. 
Carbolic acid was known as a quieter of bees as early as 1840, and 
perhaps long before. The first I observed writing on the subject 
was “ E. S.” between twenty and thirty years ago in the Cottage 
Gardener, and in 1870 he gave a graphic description how to manipu¬ 
late frame hives with it. In 1869 “Apicola” gave the method of 
using carbolic acid by saturating a sponge with it, and placing it in 
the smoker. I was the first to describe the method of clearincr 
supers of bees by its use, and it was not till after then that the 
late Eev. George Eaynor said he had used it for fifteen or sixteen 
years, not forty. The above are the facts, and I think most persons 
prefer them to misleading statements. 
Foul Brood. 
In order to suppress this plague amongst bees do not allow it 
to develop itself, but whenever observed destroy the contents of 
the hive, and put the bees through the “purgatorial” process, by 
putting first into one hive and then into a second, plain boxes or 
straw hives to be used, then thoroughly disinfected, allowing th» 
bees about three days’ occupation in each hive, after which return 
to a clean permanent hive furnished with comb foundation, 
using sulphur fumes in a close chamber to disinfect the infected 
hive, then wash thoroughly with sulphate of iron and lime, equal 
proportions, or with carbolic acid. By stamping out foul brood 
in the first stage whole apiaries may be saved, resulting in the 
owners securing large yields of honey, instead of much trouble, 
loss, and disappointment. 'To search for foul brood is about 
the only justifiable manipulation the bee-keeper may perform.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
SEDUM SPECTABILE AND BEES. 
I AM glad to observe that “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ” has noticed 
my remarks on the above. I fancy he has discovered the real cause of 
the stupifying of the bees on the plant. The effect seems to be most 
marked where there are large beds of the plant, and in all likelihood, as 
your esteemed correspondent says, it is the odour which causes the 
stupefaction of the bees. I hope, as “ A. L. B. K.” suggests, to study 
the subject when opportunity offers, and to observe the habits of the 
bees in my garden, which is apparently a “ happy hunting ground” fas 
these interesting insects.— B. Arnott. 
TEADE CATALOGUES EECEIVED. 
Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie, 4, Quai de la M6gisserie, Paris.— General 
Catalogue of Seeds, Bulls. 
Charles Frazer, Palace Plain Works, Norwich .—Illustrated Catalogue 
of Conservatories, Vineries, and other Glass Houses, 
B. S. Williams & Son, Victoria and Paradise Nursery, Upper 
Holloway.— Catalogue of Flower, Vegetable, and Agrieultural Seeds. 
Benjamin Soddy, 243, Walworth Road, S.E .—Spring Catalogue. 
Wm. Cutbush & Son, Highgate and Barnet.— Catalogue of Florver 
and Vegetable Seeds, 
All 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 
unavoidably. 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 communica¬ 
tions. 
To Inquirers. —We have received several letters too late for being 
satisfactorily answered this week. 
Fumlgrating- {J. F.).—Your letter, like another received on the 
same subject, is a distinct advertisement. See our reply to a corre¬ 
spondent on page 90 last week. 
IVIaidenhalr Fern {J. F. F .).—Now the fronds are brown cut them 
away so as to make room for fresh, keep the plants rather dry fora short 
time, but not “ dust dry,” and when they push fresh fronds you may 
repot them, reducing the balls a little, or dividing them if necessary,, 
using good fibrous loam with a fourth of well decayed manure inter¬ 
mixed. When in free growth, not before, apply liquid manure, taking 
care to use it weak. If the loam be rich omit the manure. 
Grafting- Pear Tree (U. J .').— You may put a graft on each branch, 
cut back if there is room for training the growth, otherwise only 
graft those branches that are best located for affording growths from 
the grafts to cover the space equally at proper distance apart—namely, 
12 inches. It is best to cut off the whole head and put on scions so as 
to form a fresh tree as soon as practicable. The Apple trees that meet 
may have the last year’s growths joined in the manner proposed. They 
will unite freely if care is taken to exclude air by covering the 
junction with grafting wax or clay. 
