350 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 15, 1885. 
giving a supply of syrup, his troubles are by no means at an end. 
Insufficient food in winter, coupled with paucity of bees, generally 
cripple a stock to such an extent that the honey harvest is, if 
not over, at any rate far advanced before there is the slightest 
chance of obtaining surplus honey. Such a stock, indeed, drags 
on its weary way, yielding no profit, affording no pleasure, but it 
a perpetual eyesore, reminding the neglectful owner of what “ is 
might have been.”— Felix. 
QUEENLESS HIVE—BEE SLAUGHTER. 
I HAVE had some little doubt as to the state of one of my bee hives 
lately. The one I speak of is a frame hive. It swarmed three or four 
times ; the bees, however, always returned, and it was apparently very 
strong both in bees and honey. It made a sort of attempt at the usual 
time to kill its drones, but in a very mild way, and after a few days that 
ceased. I therefore examined it. I could not find a queen, there was 
no brood, not very many workers, a fair quantity of honey, and a large 
number of fine drones. I suspected there was no queen, but they were 
very irritable, and did their best to sting me and my assistant, but we 
were well protected. 
On October 1st I procured a driven swarm, and joined them to my 
frame hive, taking the usual precautions as to feeding both sets of bees 
and giving a little smoke. The following morning I removed from the 
entrance a large quantity of dead bees, most of them appearing as if they 
had been dead for some days. No dead drones were brought out, but 
dead bees were dragged out all day. 
On October 3rd, at 2 P.M., the drones and bees came out in large 
numbers suddenly, as if about to swarm ; the bees ran about on the 
entrance board, fed one another, and flew out. After a time they gradu¬ 
ally returned. On October 5th the weather was bad, but a few bees 
were still dragged out, though they were settling down. October 9th the 
bees are again dragging out the drones, both dead and alive, in a slow 
way, but evidently more seriously than they did three weeks ago, and 
more bee bread is coming in. Altogether, there is a more business look 
about the bees. The weather is still cold and stormy. Will your 
Lanarkshire correspondent kindly explain the cause of all these pro¬ 
ceedings ? Am I now to hope that I have a healthy queen ? I do not 
like opening the hive if I can help it.—A Bee-keeper in Dumfries¬ 
shire. 
[There is little doubt from the description given that the hive was 
queenless, but the driven swarm now added and carrying pollen indicates 
all is right again. 
The returning of swarms arises from various causes. A common one 
is where many queens are in the swarm; or it may be that the old 
queen, from some defect, does not leave the hive, but is ultimately killed 
by some of the young queens being hatched which were being brought 
forward to supersede the reigning one. 
Bees in queenless hives are sometimes liable to sting on the slightest 
interference. A drop or two of the oil of peppermint is more effective in 
gaining swarms than smoke, which in large quantities injures both bees 
and honey. 
The most successful way of joining two or more swarms together is by 
driving both into empty hives, then, after both are fed, knock them 
together. Where there are combs, one or both of the bees soon empty 
themselves, and, where no scent has been used, often result in one or part 
of both being killed, the conquering bees always managing to cause 
the rivals to disgorge their honey. 
The reason no dead drones were dragged out at first was probably the 
onput bees being killed, and the great rushing out was perhaps because 
the queen was encased—a ruse by the bees, as if swarming, to induce those 
encasing the queen to liberate ber, or it might be simply a rally after the 
battle to put all right, when the slaughtering of the drones and Dollen- 
carrying took place. Sometimes most of the bees killed remain on the 
floor till carried out, which occupies the bees a day or two. Others are 
simply wounded, leave the hive of their own accord, and are never 
observed unless watched for. 
A queenless hive does not always retain the drones, neither does one 
with a young and fertile queen kill them at the usual time. I have one 
of the latter at present, a young and very prolific queen, which is a 
perfect treat to see carrying pollen, as well as to hear the deep hum of 
the drones ringing in the air, reminding us of all the joys of summer 
weather while it is actually winter, snow and hail falling at intervals, with 
9° and 10° of frost at night, but with some sunshine through the day.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ] 
DRIVEN AND FED BEES FOR STOCKS. 
On Sept. 19th I drove from three straw skeps 9i lbs. of bees, and 
united them in a hive 17 by 12 inches. I divided half-pound foundation 
comb over the bars (eleven). The bees commenced on all the bars at 
once, and bave built comb fully half way down. I have given them 30 lbs. 
of best crystallised sugar with nearly its own weight of water made into 
syrup, but for the last two days they are not taking the syrup as freely as 
they did at firot. What can be the cause of this ? I intend to give them 
another 5 lbs. of sugar. Would that be enough to keep them all right 
until spring 1 They are not building comb so fast as they did, but they 
are carrying in great quantities of pollen every dry day. Will bees 
treated in this way throw off swarms next year ?—J. E. 
[The bees referred to seem to have done fairly well considering the 
very cold and boisterous weather prevailing both in September and the 
present month. The quantity of syrup given is sufficient to tide the bees 
over till spring, but it would be better could the bees be induced to build 
down their combs now, as by that means an excess of drone comb would 
be avoided. The cause of the bees ceasing to feed arises from two causes 
— 1, The extreme cold ; 2, Sitting closely and nursing their brood, 
which the carrying of pollen indicates there is a good deal of it in the 
hive, and, what seems better, that it is a young queen they have at their 
head, which, if so, will do well next season in spite of all any old “ fogey ” 
may say to the contrary. As milder days are to be expected yet keep 
feeding them. The best of all feeders for the purpose is the frame-feeder 
as recently described. Bees both in autumn and spring when sitting 
closely upon brood do not feed rapidly, and will sometimes die before they 
will leave their charge to feed, particularly when the syrup is placed away 
from the cluster. The frame-feeder places the syrup close to the bee=, and 
as it is wood well waxed they feed from it when all other feeders are 
deserted.] 
THE HONEY MARKET. 
I noted the above article on page 327, and although not a bee-keeper 
I should like to say that I have seen exposed for sale in the grocers’ shop 
windows in Lynn sections of honey at 8d. each. It was very good, the 
cells being well filled and the colour grand. For my own consumption 
I pay Is. per lb. for run honey.— Stephen Castle, West Lynn. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Dammann & Co., Naples .—Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable Seeds. 
Thomas Roberts, 112, Victoria Street, Westminster .—List of Stoves ( Illus¬ 
trated ). 
Bandriller, Angers .—List ofFrv.it Trees, Ornamental Trees and Shrubs 
Richard Smith & Co., Worcester .—Catalogue of Stove and Greenhouse 
Plants. 
*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. AVe 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable rouble and 
expense. 
Seedling Primula (J. C.). —The variety is a pretty one, and worth pre¬ 
serving, but it would not possess any great trade value, as there are others 
of similar character. 
Lord Palmerston Peach (F. B., Lankhills).— Although we have seen 
larger fruits, we have no hesitation in saying that yours “ weighing 9 ozs. is 
a satisfactory size for an amateur,” as it is above the average of amateurs’ 
productions in Peach culture. 
Large Tomatoes (E. S.). —Your Tomatoes, borne by plants raised from 
cuttings in October of last year, are larger than those sent by “J. W. L.,” 
but not quite equal to them in shape, firmness, and colour, and had the two 
lots been in competition yours would have had the second place. Your fruit, 
weighing lb., is heavier than any we have received this year. 
Fasciated Tropreolum ( Miss II.). —The name of the plant No. 1 is 
Tropmolum tuberosum, which is quite distinct from T. speciosum. No. 2 is, 
we suspect, an abnormal form of the same, or a seedling variation from it. 
It is much fasciated and very curious. We know of no method of in¬ 
ducing it to flower other than growing plants in a very light greenhouse. 
Perhaps if you were to strike cuttings now and keep the young plants 
steadily growing on a shelf near the glass through the winter they would 
flower next year. If it is a form of T. tuberosum, as we suspect, the dis¬ 
tinctive affix of fasciatum would be appropriate. 
Camellias (W. Kruse). —There are so many superior varieties of 
Camellias that we Buspect it to be quite impossible for anyone to name 
half a dozen varieties that would be universally admitted^ as the “ best. 
Some are best for flowering in a comparatively small state in pots, others 
for attaining large dimensions planted out. The following are good free- 
flowering varieties :—Alba plena and Mathotiana alba, white ; Marchioness 
of Exeter and Sarah Frost, rose ; Madame Lsbois and Bealii, crimson ; 
Comtesse Lavinia Maggi, striped ; and Giovanni Santorelli, marbled, xou 
can exclude any two of these according to the colours you prefer. 
Peaches ou Shaded Wall (J. T. TP.).—If you remove the Peaches it is 
very improbable that you will succeed in covering the space with fruitful 
growths of any other trees you may plant. Victoria Plums would be as 
likely to succeed as any, but there is no certainty about these. Cannot you 
lower the front trellis, bending it over in the form of an arch to the side o 
the walk, securing it there about 3 j feet from the ground, or so that the sun 
would shine over and reach the trees on the back wall ? If you cannot do 
this you might cover the wall with Camellias which grow well in the shade 
