102 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Angxist 4,1887* 
W/ 
HE) BEE-KDEPER. 
m 
NOTES ON BEES. 
THE WEATHER. 
July has been less favourable for honey gathering than 
June was. The much-needed refreshing showers that fell 
Juring the former month lessened the honey yield, hut 
has done much good to crops and vegetation in general. 
The temperature of July was high, and it has been alto¬ 
gether a pleasant month in the north, and although it 
yielded less honey than June much was gathered, and in 
well managed apiaries there are large quantities of honey 
of the finest quality. 
THE HEATHER. 
The Heather is early and promises well. I took a 
few Syrian hives to the Lead Hills on Wednesday the 
20th ult., and never witnessed bees work better than they 
did that day, but I regretted to observe that a frost on the 
morning of the 18th had completely blackened the haulm 
of the Potatoes in the district. I shall take the main 
stock of our bees to the Heather by the 27th, giving them 
one to two covers of supers according to their strength, 
which, with a week’s fine weather, the bees will nearly 
fill; afterwards, the weather being favourable, I shall 
attend daily to their wants until the honey flow ceases. 
All my hives are extra well in numbers, so that it is 
impracticable to join two or more together, and all must 
go as they are. The ventilating floor and slight openings 
between combs prevent smothering or overheating, which 
causes foul brood, and care in packing and driving the 
horse will prevent combs collapsing. I shall veil myself 
before the bees are let loose, so that they will not be 
irritated, and to prevent a rush when opened I shall hold 
carbolicised feathers or paper close to the entrance, but 
keep it from the alighting board. A mat or piece of 
sacking will be hung loosely round the hive, and supers 
well covered with soft material, over which a galvanised 
sheet of iron bent and held in place by wire, so as to 
form a half circle, completes the dressing and protecting 
<pf our hives. The nights being colder than in July 
ventilation will not be so necessary. 
DISEASE OP BEES. 
I am obliged to Dr. G. Walker, Wimbledon, for bis 
trouble to ascertain the cause of the death of the bees 
bent him in May, but the malady bad passed away before 
I had his request for more dead bees. I failed to pro¬ 
perly understand Dr. Walker’s reply regarding the 
frosted pollen being the cause of the disease. Will he 
therefore say whether he meant pollen that had been stored 
during the previous summer and frosted during winter 
was the cause of the disease, or was it pollen gathered 
from flowers that had suffered from frost during May ? 
If he meant the former then I cannot agree with him, 
because the bees would die earlier in the season and 
would not appear during May at all, as by that time many 
hives suffering from the disease end of May had no pollen 
In their hives that had been gathered in the previous 
year. If, however, he attributes the disease to the pollen 
of flowers blooming and frosted in May, then it is 
reasonable to suppose that frosted pollen injures adult bees. 
Then to get at the bottom of the problem we must 
take into consideration both the time and how the bees 
die. They leave the hive apparently in good health to 
forage for honey and pollen. I cannot say how many, if 
£ny, die in the fields when in search of provisions, but I 
have witnessed many die immediately they returned from 
the fields with their burdens the moment they alighted 
on the landing board. They seemed to be attacked at 
first by paralysis, then two or three convulsive fits ended, 
their lives, and hundreds die in a short time. The only 
examination or test I ever made was a simple dissection. 
In every case their intestines were filled with a greenish 
matter, which I had some fears that the bees had been 
indulging in something oozing from coppered ships which 
were lying in the harbour. 
I think there is a great deal of misunderstanding 
amongst bee-keepers respecting what are diseased bees. 
When many dead bees are around, which sometimes 
perplexes and vexes the owner, it is imagined that some 
fatal disease has attacked their hives, when in reality no 
disease exists, the suspected bees being nothing more nor 
less than bees of hives in an unsatisfactory state either in 
some apiary near or may be bees located in the roof or 
other part of the building whose stores are e\hausted or 
queen gone. At all times of the year in some place or 
other there are stray swarms which annoy other bees. 
There can be no mistake in identifying bees suffering 
either from that May disease or what I termed chloric 
dropsical fever; but it is not only a mistake, but mislead¬ 
ing, to describe all bees that are found dead as diseased 
ones, and bee-keepers would do well to examine carefully 
and minutely all bees found dead in numbers, but not to 
become alarmed at the occurrence, as many dead bees at 
a hive is more often a sign of health and strength than 
disease. 
HONEY FAIRS. 
What are bee-keepers thinking of the abundant har¬ 
vest of honey, and what steps do they intend taking to get 
it disposed of? Will the Honey Company purchase and 
pay a fair price in ready money for all the honey, which 
is enormous this year? Or will they and others concerned 
give the honey fairs a trial without prejudice, and so help 
the bee-keepers of Great Britain, which they profess to 
do, to dispose of their large quantities and fine qualities 
of this year’s honey ? 
Ti ere is the B. H. C. on the one hand, ostensibly for 
the sole purpose of benefiting bee-keepers, and on the 
other the B. B. K. U. for the same purpose. Would it 
not be wise for the promoters of both schemes to shake 
hands and give the latter a fair trial, which will prove its 
efficacy ? My opinion is that honey fairs conducted in a 
proper manner would do more good for bee-keepers in one 
season than all the exhibitions have done during the past 
decade. I trust that Dr. Walker will take this view of 
the matter, and take the initiative, along with Mr. Hewitt, 
before continental bee-keepers get the first opportunity.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
HEAVY HONEY YIELD. 
I DO not know if the following will interest your readers. I copy it 
from the Dumfries and Gallon-ay Standard of July 23rd, 1887 :— 
“ The Reverend Mr. Taylor, Kirk Andrews-on-Esk, one of the best 
known and extensive apiarists on the Borders, has remarkable experiences 
to record. From his apiary of over twenty hives he has taken G70 lbs. 
of honey. The present is the most fruitful season in his whole 
experience, and the month of June of this year has been the finest of 
honey gathering he ever remembers. One of his hives, which consists of 
a swarm put into an empty hive on the 18th of June, has yielded 
already the extraordinary amount of 84 lbs. of honey, and it has at 
present a quantity ready to be taken oil. During the eight days from 
June 26th to July 3rd this hive increased 55 lbs., an average of nearly 
7 lbs. daily. 
Another hive on June 12th weighed 79 lbs.; on the 18th, 100 lbs.; 
19th, 106 lbs.; 20th, 109 lbs.; 21st, 116 lbs.; 22nd, 122 lbs.; 23rd, 128 lbs.; 
24th, 134 lbs.; 25th, 140 lbs.; 26th, 146 lbs.; 27th, 151 lbs.; 28th, 156lbs.; 
29th, 162 lbs.; 30th, 167 lbs.; July 1st,' 173 lbs.; 2nd, 178 lbs.; 3rd, 
186 lbs.; 4th and 5th, 185 lbs.; 6th, 189 lbs.; 7th, 197 lbs.; 8th, 204 lbs.; 
9th, 206 ibs., being a total increase of 127 lbs., there being a decrease on 
4th and Etk of July.— A Northern Bee-keeper. 
