460 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDERER. 
[ November 19, 1885. 
A YEAR’S RECORD. 
The falling leaves as they fall from tlse parent bough, and the dyiDg 
verdure of the fields and woodland glades, give warning that a time of rest 
is near, and that Nature is quietly passing to her annual repose. The 
solitary bee as it leaves its hive and returns with but a slender little load 
gives evidence that even these, the busiest of insect tribes, finding the 
season over in which they are able to gain an increase to their store, are 
carefully husbanding thsir strength in order that another spring may find 
them the more ready to take advantage of its flowers. Not so, however, 
the bee-master, who is indeed at all times busy either schemiog how to 
assist his insect labourers in their toil or planning some new device or 
form in which to take the surplus he hopes to obtain in the future season. 
This is the time when a most fitting opportunity is presented of calcu¬ 
lating the result of the season now gone by before looking far into the 
time which is to come. If—and that it is so there can be little doubt—a 
good nett profit is the aim of the bee-master, now is the time to strike the 
balance? of the year, to correct or to examine causes of failure in the past, 
and to lay a sound foundation for the future. To pass on then let me 
shortly review the year, but before doing so give some account of my own 
experience, not so much because it shows a strikingly handsome profit, as 
that it may prove that an average bee-keeper may from even a small—and, 
alas ! mine is all too small—an apiary gain not only an infinity of 
pleasure, but a good round sum of money as a practical memento of bis 
year’s attention. 
It is impossible to set out in full—in fact, it is not necessary—a de¬ 
tailed account of the capital expense incurred, but current expenditure and 
income are given in detail in order to give those who have no experience 
in such matters some idea of the expenditure and income under these 
heads during the season now almost passed. 
Capital Outlay on Four Stooks, Hives, &c. £11 9s. lid. 
Current expenses, 1885. 
Sections and foundation .. 
Sugar. 
Zincs . 
Qailts and veils. 
Bottles, labels, &c 
Bees . 
Time and interest on money.. 
£ s. d. 
0 12 5 
2 2 6 
0 0 6 
0 2 0 
1 1 7 
1 10 0 
1 12 6 
Income. 
£ s. d. 
251 lbs. Honey sold.. .. 15 10 0 
Prizes.10 0 
£7 16 
£16 10 0 
Nett profit on the year . £9 8 6 
Average per stock . £271J 
Such is the statement of facte, relative to which I may add that in 
certain columns several statements of profits have appeared, hut in not 
one of them did I see any charge made under the head of current expendi¬ 
ture for time and labour expended in management, nor yet a deduction 
made for interest on the money expended as capital outlay. If such 
deduction had not been made in the above statement the profits would 
have appeared greater—viz., £11 Is. instead of £9 8s. 6d. It is, however, 
only reasonable to make a full allowance for time, and to allow such 
interest, as it is but poor encouragement to a cottager to be told he can 
make a certain sum of money if he will count his own trouble and time as 
of no value. Fictitious balance-sheets—and any with such vital omis¬ 
sions must be fictitious—are misleading, and do not prove of the value 
which they might otherwise have been by giving data to which one who 
desires to influence another in the way of becoming a bee-keeper may turn 
for assistance. 
It may be noted that the sum paid for sugar is high, but the explana¬ 
tion is that it is my custom to form sugar-fed stocks early in August, and 
so the consumption of syrup is somewhat greater than would be the case 
if such stocks were formed in September. Another circumstance needs 
some comment, and this time I refer to the price paid for bees. These 
bees, it may be said, are used each autumn to strengthen the stocks for 
another year, because as the non-swarming system suits me best in the 
majority of cases there are no surplus bees taken from honey stocks to add 
to those set apart for the following year. It is, I am convinced, a great 
mistake to be niggardly in strengthening stocks ; the return is such that, 
as far as my experience goes, the somewhat decreased profit of the one 
year is amply repaid by a corresponding increase in the next, and so on. 
The year itself has, on the whole, been favourable, hut one great draw¬ 
back has been the often repeated changes from hot to cold ; one day 
bright genial honey weather, the next borrowed as it were from early 
spring. Around the district swarms have been numerous, but the yield of 
honey has not been anything more than ordinary. One thing is most 
satisfactory, and that is that my own stocks—two large Pettigrew’s and 
two bar-frame hives—have all yielded a weight of honey nearly equal, and 
so the profit does not arise from one stock done a prodigious amount of 
work so much as from a general efficiency. And this must be the one 
great aim of all, the constant care of everyone who has bees to manage— 
to keep up all stocks to the highest point of excellence, not to allow the 
slightest deterioration, and if any becomes perceptible at once to set it 
right out of the profits of the year. Until the stock is of the same value 
as it was at the preceding year’s valuation there can be no profit. Many 
complaints have been made of honeydew having been collected in some¬ 
what large quantities, and so the quality of the honey deteriorated, but 
this misfortune was here escaped, and the honey was of a good uniform 
quality, and in my opinion, if anything rather above the average in this 
respect. For the year now fast speeding on to its close we may well be 
very thankful, and if in the future no more adverse time shall fail upon us 
we may rest assured that the harvest will be greater still each year as it 
comes that though the price of honey wiil go down the larger quantity 
gathered by each s'ock on the average, taking the country through, will 
bring up the profit to the same satisfactory amount as it was in the days of 
clumsy devices and bad management, when where one man kept bees on 
intelligent principles ten beep them now ; when bees by their thousands 
were stifled to rob them of their store ; when that store was presented for 
sale in unwholesome form contaminated with bee bread and brood ; when 
but a few men were able to point with pride to their better system 
and management, and could with pride and just pleasure consider 
themselves to be almost, shall I say, the sole representatives and supporters 
of a just, reasonable, and humane system of management, whereby, 
although their store is taken, the hives are spared and kindness takes the 
place of heartless cruelty.—F elix, 
Bees and Bee-keeping. —An essay on this subject was read at the 
Wakefield Paxton Society’s meeting on the 7th inst. by Mr. Frank Eccles. 
a young and enthusiastic apiarist of Newmillerdam, who in the course of 
a very practical paper showed the method he adopted for successful and 
profitable bee-keeping. The essay was made more interesting by a large 
number of appliances, the use of each being clearly explained, also speci¬ 
mens of the various kinds of bees which are kept, and the recommendations 
they severally possess being fully treated. A hearty vote of thanks to Mr. 
Eccles brought the meeting to a close. To judge by the interest shown in 
the essay the number of bee-keepers in this neighbourhood will no doubt be 
increased.—H. C. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Ernest de Schampheleer, 32, Rue de la Station, Wetteren, Belgium.— 
Catalogue of Fruit Trees, Boses, and Ornamental Trees and Shrubs. 
Ketten Freres, Luxemburg.— Catalogue of Boses. 
Robert Owen, Castle Hill, Maidenhead .—Pocket Guide and List of Tube¬ 
rous Begonias, Pelargoniums, Chrysanthemums , cfic. 
*** All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor’’ 
or to “The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg cr 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix lip on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended 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. 
Address (G. Beading). —The address you require isM. Louis VanHoutte 
Royal Nursery, Gendbrugge, Ghent, Belgium. 
Fungus on Chrysanthemums (C. E. M.). —We have referred the matter 
to an expert, and will give you a reply in the next issue. 
Distilling Water (C. S .).—We are not able to state any special “ econo¬ 
mical method of distilling water on a large scale,” this not being a horti¬ 
cultural question. 
Peach Trees Diseased at the Roots ( John Boulder). —You are quite 
right in your opinion as to the cause of your Peach trees failing. The soil 
you have sent is permeated with the mycelium of a fungus as thoroughly as 
a brick of Mushroom spawn, and this in all probability is due to the leaf soil 
and perhaps decayed wood which were mixed in the border when it was 
made. The only cure is to remove the soil entirely from about the roots 
and have it replaced with some of a more loamy description mixed with 
chalk, lime, or lime rubbish. 
Free-growing Grapes [C. G. S .).—Three varieties of Grapes that grow 
well, bear freely, and are as little liable to “disease ” as any others, are the 
Black Hamburgh, the most useful black Grape for summer; Foster’s 
Seedling, of which a few Vines will suffice; and Alicvnte for late use. 
The fruit of this is by no means equal in quality to Mrs. Pince’s Muscat 
or Lady Downe’s Seedling, but the Vine is a more certain bearer. If 
one end of your house is warm enough you might try a rod or two of 
Muscat of Alexandria, which is by far the best of all white Grapes. It is 
for obvious reasons impossible for us to recommend dealers. 
Good Rhododendrons (J. TP.).—The following are twelve excellent 
hardy, free-growing and flowering varieties that will probably suit you:— 
Charles Dickens, scarlet crimson ; Charles Bagley, cherry red ; Countess of 
Normanton, white, mauve blotch; Fastuosum flore-pleno, pale lavender, 
semi-double; Joseph Whitworth, lake, with cluster black spots; Lady 
Armstrong, pale rose, pink-spotted; Lady E. Cathcart, bright roBy carmine, 
dark blotch; Michael Waterer, brightest scarlet crimson; Mrs. Thomas 
Wain, pale rose, brown blotch ; Mrs. John Clutton, white, good ; Mrs. R. S 
Holford, salmon pink, beautiful; and Sir Thomas Sebright, purple, brenze 
blotch. 
