[ August 11, 1892. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
forty years or more. I show all I possess to everyone who 
pteases to call on me, and who, like Mr. Meadows, holds out the 
right hand of fellowship. It was one of the rules of our Society 
(broken through by dealers) that all articles new in idea and exhi- 
bited vt ere to be registered to prevent acrimonious correspondence 
founded on claims of originality. 
Swarming After Drones are Killed. 
Roswell asks if I ever knew a hive of bees to swarm 
after they had killed their drones. My reply is, Yes. He also 
asks if I ever had a natural swarm in August. Again I answer 
xes, and till the 15th of September. 
Superiority of Punics. 
We have had several days’ more favourable weather, but as bees 
do not gather honey until the temperature is at 65° to 75°, and as it 
has seldom been above 50° very little honey has been gathered only 
as much as will put the bees in good trim for the Heather. Indeed 
so bad has the season been that many hives have neither swarmed 
nor gathered as much honey as will carry them through the winter. 
It has also been of poor quality, and by the time it is sealed it will 
not represent more than one-third the bees gathered. In every 
case of weighing they lost one-half during the night that they 
gathered the day previous. Crossed Punics are in every case 
except with crossed Syrians, the richest in honey. One prime 
swarm less than half a mile distant has filled nearly to completion 
eight b lb. supers : its contents being 50 lbs., this is by far the best 
m the district. My first test failed on account of the queen of the 
Punic swarm being a virgin, and the weather being unpropitious 
s le was lost. Ihe contents of a Carniolan swarm pitted against it 
are 4o lbs. This is a superior strain of the first imported Carniolans 
and never sting. Another test is a pure Punic and a pure Carniolan. 
I he former are ahead of the latter with their supers. This strain 
of I rank Bentons Carniolans is inferior to my other strain, and 
sting more readily ; they are, I believe, the descendants of a cross 
of some sort. 
Those who deny the superiority of crossed Punics might as well 
deny their own existence. The pure ones are good, too; but to manage 
em properly, and prevent them causing any annoyance, all super¬ 
fluous queens and queen cells should be destroyed, so that they 
will work with vigour, and prevent robbing, the Punics are no 
worse than other varieties in (his respect, but the number of 
queens aggravate the offence. This is the only fault I can find in 
them, and I state it as freely as I do their virtues. The opinions 
of strongly prejudiced persons can have little weight. 
What Others Think. 
Lately several individuals have spoken to me about the stric- 
tures in another paper. One gentleman brought me three numbers 
of it, to show me, as he said, the spite it contained. I do not 
know why I should be attacked or coupled with “ A Hal'amshire 
Bee-keeper who is personally a stranger to me. A vile accusation 
was printed against me, signed J. D. McNally, the Editors statin^ a t 
the time that “ they did not even know the writer.” The charges 
referred to were publicly apologised for by Wm. McNally of Glen- 
luce as “ being false.” I laid the case before a meeting of the 
C. A. bociety, and Major R. J. Bennett exonerated me from 
every one of the charges. At this stage J. D. McNally, after 
denying being the author of the article, produced a letter from one 
or both of the Editors, urging him on with the disreputable litera¬ 
ture. I care nothing for any of the gentlemen named. I speak 
and write only what I know to be true. I therefore repudiate the 
charges made. It would have saved Mr. Cowan both trouble and 
expense to have procured Punic bees in England, and tested them 
there. I he good or bad qualities of bees cannot be known in their 
native country apart from other bees. We must bring them side 
by side in some place in Great Britain, just what I am doin^ i n 
the interest of bee-keepers, not of dealers, either in Hallamshire or 
anywhere else.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keefer. 
FERTILE WORKERS—THEIR UTILITY. 
On page 112 for August 4th, « A. L. B. K.” seems to have made a 
discovery, and seems to think that the drones produced by fertile 
workers are to mate with queens. F y 6 
• JH 8 ten years since I discovered and published in another 
journal that fertile workers and queens would live peaceably and lav 
eggs side by side. When I made this discovery I looked far beyond 
what our friend suggests for a solution of their use. I asked mvself 
maTintT 8 ^ lf anythiD £ happened to the young oueen while on her 
mating trip, no means were at hand for the bees to requeen themselves? 
beef^^ “a^y observations, and at length came to the conclusion that 
workers Ww/ .^queening themselves by means of fertile 
orkers. 1 have had Punic bees rear so many queens from the eggs of 
fertile workers that I am quite prepared to take my stand on the truth 
° 1 1 ? c °very. one case a number of Punic worker bees entered 
f \-i° C m ■ fi ueen l ess Carniolans and reared a queen from the eggs they 
laid. This queen is in the British Museum. 
If A. L. B. K. will make up a stock of Punic bees absolutely 
queenless, and see that there are some drones in, as these seem to be 
necessary, in as natural a manner as possible, compared with a stock 
that lost its queen on a mating trip, the bees will soon be busy laying 
and rearing queen cells. If any of these seem natural, i.e., not long- 
ones, but just like ordinary queen cells, queens will most certainly be 
ound m them, and not only so, but numbers of worker bees will hatch 
rrom vorker cells. Hence, Punic worker bees have the power to raise 
both queens and drones from themselves. The instinct seems perfect in 
1 umc bees, only partly so in Syrians, and quite absent in our native 
bees 1 cannot go into the matter just now, but should like as many as 
possible who have these bees to confirm my discovery, incredible as it 
may seem. 
I notice, the gentleman who has acquired such a reputation for 
accuracy says these are not a new race, and were known as far 
ack as 188;> ; this was the year Punic bees were first seen alive in 
this country. No other, person, other than myself, has ever imported 
a bee alive from Tunis, and no other person has introduced them 
into this country or America. I sold the first in 1890, after first 
testing them, yet I am now told they are not “new.” What next? 
—A Hallamshire Bee-keeper. 
TRANSFERRING BEES. 
I HAVE a stock of bees in an old straw skep which I should like to 
transfer to a Stewarton hive, as the old skep is very much worn. I 
should, therefore, feel obliged if you would kindly let me know when 
vsould be the best time to make the change and how I should proceed.— 
An Amateur. r 
tj* 3 difficult to advise as to when is the best time to transfer bees, 
this depending upon the state of the queen and the amount of brood 
there may be in the hive. Unless the queen is one of the current year 
she should not be kept. Drive the bees from the straw hive at once, 
then begin at one side and remove comb by comb until brood is seen ; 
put these combs carefully aside upon their edge so as not to crush the 
seals. (Sow lay the Stewarton bars upon their top above two or more 
pieces of tea twine, placing the combs upon them so that they will hang 
in their original position. Catch the two ends of the twine, and tie 
them tightly or till the twine takes a catch of the comb by the dragged 
portions, or lay a bit of thin spale and tie over it. If there is honey in 
the removed combs use it and melt the others. If there is no brood 
turn the bees into the hive without more ado with comb foundation, but 
do not depend upon an aged queen, then feed up. If you have drones in 
plenty you might do worse than try a Punic queen ; I am certain you 
vwll not regret it. I have a great deal more evidence in favour of 
crossed l unics. They are the best wherever they are. I shall require 
another season to prove the pure ones, or perhaps the Heather may do so 
this one. The season could not be worse to test them fairly.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper.] 
i,; *°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 communications. 
Incipient Cucumbers (No Name ).—We have received a parcel 
containing examples of Cucumbers shrivelling instead of swelling, but 
no letter in reference to them. 
Disqualification of Prult (A . JB.). —If the fruit in the collection 
had to consist of the same kinds alone as are mentioned in the preced¬ 
ing classes (as is implied but not stated so clearly as it might be), you 
were rightly disqualified. We doubt if the other exhibitors could have 
been excluded on the grounds you suggest under the somewhat unprecise 
wording of the schedule. 
Parisian Parks and Cardens ( Frenchman ).—We have no doubt 
young English gardeners occasionally find employment in France, in 
fact we know some have done so who knew little or nothing of the 
