December 3, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
505 
man need hesitate to buy one, for he may confidently expect 
a speedy return of this outlay, with good interest for his 
money. 
There is yet another way, which may with advantage be 
mentioned, as giving good results, although in this case half 
a swarm can only be taken, and room on one side of the end 
hive is necessary to allow a slight displacement of 8 or 4 feet 
at the least. Let us take our three stocks again, and explain 
the plan, which is well known amongst bee-keepers, and has 
been considered a valuable one by eminent apiarians. From 
one of the stocks—not being the one which gives room for 
displacement—drive out all the bees and the queen, and these 
being placed in the old position, form the swarm. We have 
then a hive, as before, of comb and brood and honey. The 
next thing is to place the end stock on a new stand, not less 
than 3 or 4 feet from the old one, and then place the stock 
from which all the bees have been driven on the exact posi¬ 
tion occupied by the stock which has been removed some feet 
away. This operation should only be performed on a warm 
sunny day, when many bees are on the wing, as the object is 
that the bees returning home may enter the hive—placed in 
the position of the one they left when they went to work— 
remain in it, and raise a queen while sufficient bees are left 
in the removed stock to hatch out its brood, which will soon 
make the hive so populous again that scarcely any reduction 
will be perceived. The same operation can then be performed 
with the stock which has not been moved, and so on until 
the bee-master is satisfied. Second swarms will issue from 
each of the stocks, but these should be returned a few hours 
after their issue. This will prove, in the hands of capable 
men, a safe substitute for the other and more usual methods 
of forcing swarms, and will also, by reason of only taking 
half a swarm from each stock, insure a surplus of super 
honey. 
One word of warning must be given with regard to artificial 
swarming, and that it that it is better to err by being a week 
too late than a week too early. No stock should be compelled 
to give a swarm until the bees are numerous, the brood is 
filling nearly every comb, and drones are hatching out; and 
it is safer to leave too many bees in the old stock than to 
leave too few. If the weather is unfavourable the swarms 
must be fed, and occasionally the old stock may require a 
little assistance, as there are many hungry mouths to feed, 
and, for some days, few labourers to gather food. Assist 
Nature when possible, but remember that if man interferes 
with Nature’s laws he alone is responsible for the success or 
failure which rewards his efforts.— Felix. 
GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF BEES AND HIVES. 
( Continued from page 482.) 
In addition to large hives with plenty of bees being two 
essentials towards profitable bee-keeping, equally so are the two 
following—viz., young fertile queens and new combs. After these 
four cardinal points come the questions of quantity and quality. 
The first of these is sure to follow when the foregoing essentials 
have been rigidly carried out. Quality ought to be the primary 
object, to obtain which there need be little or no sacrifice as to 
quantity by adhering to the rules I have so often laid down, and by 
taking the advice of “ Felix ” to study economy. Bee-keepers 
will at once recognise their true position on the question of profit 
and loss by keeping a strict account of expenditure and income, as 
well as proving that a first-class sample of honey or honeycomb is 
as easily produced as an inferior one. Finding a readier market 
and a .higher price consequently is the thing that will place the 
higher figures on the right side of the balance sheet. Not only is 
it desirable, but it is absolutely necessary in many cases, to shift bees 
from one place to another, particularly to the Heather, even though 
it should be at a distance of 100 miles or more, where rail or 
steamer is available. There is a demand for Heather honey when 
white or Clover honey is unsaleable, and bee-keepers will naturally 
turn their attention to securing that which is in demand. 
Whatever the advantages may be that we claim in double-cased 
and broad hives, these in some cases must be relinquished in prefer¬ 
ence to the more handy single-cased ones or the double-cased 
narrow ones, twelve of which occupy less space than a dozen of the 
double-cased brood hives will do. When we take into consideration 
that hives of the narrow type cost on an average 5s. each in 
taking to and bringing from the Heather, the great saving effected 
will be apparent. The ease in handling is also sufficient for every 
one to adopt single-cased hives, which are easily protected during 
summer by mats suspended loosely on the sides and packed above 
with hay, or rather long grass, so as to encourage the filling of 
snpers. Hives protected in this manner and covered on the top 
with a piece of oiled paper to throw off the rain cannot be surpassed 
by the more costly double-cased hives. Placed in a suitable bee- 
house or proper made outside cases, single-cased hives are in this 
way cheaper, more easily and better protected, and are easier of 
manipulation than the large double-cased ones. There are many 
more advantages that can be claimed for single-cased hives, which 
the bee-keeper will soon find out if he adopts them. 
The yield of honey is greatly increased by husbanding and 
utilising comb from the preceding year, such as partly filled supers 
or combs in frames or straw hives built by condemned bees. It 
must be observed, however, that combs built the previous year, 
though filled rapidly by the bees, do not possess the same degree of 
purity as combs built the current year ; for dripping or extracting 
purposes, so long as no brood has been reared in them, they are 
excellent. To maintain a good standard in the quality of honey 
the combs ought to be thoroughly sealed before dripping or 
extracting, and to obtain the greatest quantity a good supply of 
built-out combs should form part of the stock, obtained as mentioned 
above. Before removing to the Heather, adding young queens and 
joining two or more hives together will have the same effect; 
while the more empty comb the greater will be the ingathering of 
honey. Hives so treated will be in the best possible condition to 
stand the winter and commence anew as the days begin to lengthen, 
which has a positive beneficial influence on stocks by the necessary 
agitation in keeping up a uniform degree of temperature in carrying 
on the internal economy of the hive, even while the temperature 
stands at zero. It has always been observed that hives breeding 
early in January are more healthy than those that perforce have to 
delay till March. 
The great question in successful bee-keeping is to keep strong 
hives, preserving them in that state by carefully avoiding every¬ 
thing that disturbs and causes loss of bee life ; and the best way of 
securing that is to follow closely the foregoing instructions, and let 
all manipulations be as few and far between as possible. The fields 
furnish flowers and the honey which the bees collect ; the more 
numerous these are in the hive the more honey will be collected 
and stored in the proper place. It is but a poor expedient having 
to invert hives for the purpose of getting supers filled, and points 
either to a poor district or something radically wrong in the 
management.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Benjamin Field, Swan Place, Old Kent Road, London .—List of Horlicul- 
tnral Sundries. 
Hogg & Wood, Coldstream and Duns .—Catalogue of Nursery Stock. 
*** 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 correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and thuse 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. 
Books (C. E .).—We do not know a pronouncing dictionary such'as you 
require. In the “ Cottage Gardener's Dictionary,” published at this office, 
post free 8s. 3d., you will find brief cultural directions, and the names of 
the plants are accented as a guide to the pronunciation. A temperature 
that does not fall below 48° will suit your Pelargoniums. 
Cactaceous Plants (D .).—Write to Viccars Collyer & Co., Leicester, and 
to Mr Boiler, Woodfield Nursery, Harrow Road. 
