December 10, 1885 . ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
527 
ones are selling at 2s. 6d., so will home honey keep tha 
ascendancy over any foreign samples we have ever tasted. 
PACKAGES FOE HONEY. 
These seem to be attracting the attention of both bee¬ 
keepers and manufacturers, and while I agree with “ Felix ” 
on the point of utility I am inclined to think crystal orna¬ 
ments might become too numerous in the house. We want 
people to consume many pounds of honey annually ; we also 
want something very light and unbreakable. Tin has these 
properties; but irrespective of what scientists say, the obser¬ 
vant housewife discovers that where honey is stored in tins 
there is always some of it offensive-looking close to the tin, 
which to eat would be folly. Glass is clean and pretty-looking, 
but is heavy and brittle. I do not put the same value upon 
the elegant package as many do. I have often thought of con¬ 
venient light and cheap packages, but could never fix on one 
that would be approved of. Skins of various sorts I have 
thought of, but I have never been able to reconcile myself to 
them when associated with honey. I contrived a honey sack 
of common calico waterproofed and lined inside with white 
paper firmly attached to the cloth by a special paste; into 
this bag I put the honey, tied it, and found that it answered 
the purpose well, especially that of sending honey cheaply to 
a distance. The above description will perhaps induce some 
one to improve on it, and send out a really useful flexible 
sack. 
EACES OF BEES. 
I am sorry I am unable to give an accurate comparison 
of the different races of bees in one apiary, and under the 
same conditions, because the pure black bees have in many 
places disappeared. It is only when at the Heather that com¬ 
parison can be made. The crossed Cyprians have this year 
again surpassed everything. Twenty-five pounds (what was 
believed to be common bees) was the highest make, but the 
crossed Cyprians rose 40 lbs. This weight was attained by 
^ s ^ ra ^ n - I'h 0 more remarkable because two 
of these stocks belonged to different persons to whom I 
gave queens last year. 
s ^ oc k my own that swarmed late in June gave me 
the highest yield, while its swarm, though three weeks 
k 0 ^ 111 d others, weighed, bees, honey, and combs, 100lbs. 
nett. The Carniolians came hard behind, and perhaps would 
have equalled, if not surpassed, had they been on same 
footing at the start. It is now eight years since I had these 
Cyprians from Mr. A. Neighbour, and they have always 
excelled. Through ill health I lost both my first imported 
bynans, as well as the later imported Cyprians, which 
prevented me proving earlier their character and good 
points ; but the past summer afforded me ample oppor¬ 
tunity of testing the temper of the Syrians, and the autumn 
brought proof of their eagerness to breed and work. So 
late as November 25th I observed them collecting water, and 
although through the lateness of my Syrian stock I had not 
the opportunity of determining their honey-collecting powers 
during the height of the season, yet I found nuclei gathered 
m proportion equal, if not more, than hives of supposed 
natives. As I have some half a dozen stocks of Syrians in 
excellent condition, and judging from their anxiety to work, 
I am in hopes that they will prove themselves excellent 
honey-gatherers, but I expect a tussle with them on the 
score of robbing and stinging. They are perfectly harmless 
when left alone, but interfere with them it requires a steady 
nerve to handle them. This spirit appears to make them a 
formidable foe to all vermin about the hive. The earwig 
that associated itself so much with the common bee dare not 
venture near a Syrian. While manipulating a hive lately 
the earwigs ran all about, but none preferred to enter the 
hive. One I observed at the corner of the alighting board 
eyed the bees with a thievish suspicion, turned, and fled. 
Another, less lucky, stood in the run of the bees. One flew 
out, and without a seeming slackening of speed, picked it 
up and flew off with it. 
CALMING BEE3. 
The most satisfactory way of calming vicious bees is to 
keep strangers from the apiary. Frequently they are attacked 
and stung, which aggravates the bees the more. Be familiar 
with them, and if any attempt to sting turn calmly aside, 
but immediately return to the hive. Let them feel your pre¬ 
sence by touching the hive cautiously and gently. If the bees 
rush out a little carbolic acid will cause them to retreat, 
when more freedom may be used, which should be repeated 
at intervals until they are subdued. I never failed in sub¬ 
duing the most spiteful hive by this treatment if I except 
the Syrians. 
COTTAGE BEE-KEEPEES. 
I quite agree with the remarks by “ Felix” on cottage 
bee-keepers, but with all the cottager has to contend against 
he will survive the longest. It is the true lover of Nature 
that is really the bee-keeper, and will keep bees for nothing 
but the love of them. The mercenary bee-keeper will sooner 
or later go to the wall. There are hundreds of cottager bee¬ 
keepers who thoroughly understand apiculture yet cannot 
explain it by writing, and could not even take a third-class 
certificate at the examination of the British Bee-keepers’ 
Association, yet could give any of its first-class experts a 
salutary lesson in thelart, as has been their wont. The true 
bee-keeper is not only a lover of Nature but is also a true 
lover of his fellow creature, and it is my lot to be acquainted 
with gentlemen bee-keepers whose bees do not only give him 
much pleasure, but many a poor invalid shares with him 
the bee treasures.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
THE BLIGH COMPETITION. 
WHAT HAS IT PROVED TO BEE-KEEPERS? 
This scheme originated with the Hon. and Eev. H. Bligh offering in 
November, 1881, a prize of £10 to that bee-keeper who could show the 
greatest nett profit in bee-keeping from a capital of £2, so as to be able to 
show cottagers what the modern system of bee-keeping would do for 
them. The idea was favourably received, the £10 increased to £20, 
divided into six prizes, but the promoters made it a condition that only 
members of the British Bee-keepers’ Association, or of county associations 
in affiliation with it, were to be allowed to compete, thus showing their 
anxiety (?) at the outset to get hold of the most profitable system. 
Only experts were requested to compete, of which seventeen entered, 
including Mr. C. N. Abbott, who, with nine others, failed to show at the 
finish ; only three out of the remaining seven kept within the limit of £2, 
the first prize going to a committee member of the B.B.K.A., who helped 
to select the judges, and exceeded rule 6 (which limited the outlay to £2) 
by £1 7s. 4d., while another one made nearly double the amount of 
profit, whom they disqualified for breaking rule 6, though the published 
diaries do not show that he did so more than others. It appears also 
that the first prizeman inspected his apiary on behalf of the B.B.K.A. in 
his absence, and thus saw what he was doing. When he saw that he 
was thrown over he claimed the first prize through his solicitor, when 
the Committee, composed of the first prizeman and two of the judges, 
parsed the following resolution—“ Eesolved unanimously, That the Com¬ 
mittee, having appointed judges to award the prizes in the Bligh Com¬ 
petition, and having no reason to doubt either their competency or in¬ 
tegrity, regard their decision as final.” 
In the same issue of the “ B. B. J.” which reports the above, is a 
letter from one of the judges, who says—“ Eule 6 certainly was impro¬ 
perly worded, and we must ask pardon of those competitors who were 
misled, and thus, perhaps, kept back from a higher place in the prize 
list.” A correspondent had asked, as there was to be another one, for 
the proposed rules to be submitted for criticism, so as to have them 
perfect, as what was the use of rules if not enforced on all alike ? This, 
however, was never done, though the Editor of the “B. B. J.” for 
October 15th, says—“ The rules were again considered by the Committee, 
and subjected to public criticism. Various suggestions were made, and 
several improvements were proposed and accepted.” I challenge him to 
prove where the slightest alteration was made in the rules, though they 
received the condemnation of all intelligent persons. I had intended 
entering myself, and working skep and frame hives in combination, had 
the rules allowed me to do so. However, thirty-three entries were made, 
of which number only nine have tnrned up at the finish. Of course these 
show a most wonderful profit account. Kemember they had two good 
summers, aDd only a mild and dry winter between ; but comb honey is 
valued at Is. 6d. per pound, and each section called a pound whether it 
contains ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, or sixteen ounces of honey ; ex¬ 
tracted Is. Id. per pound, and bees 4s. even at the end of August, when 
they can be bought at Is. per pound, and nothing deducted for time or 
lab iur, although rule 5 says the time occupied at each visit to the apiary 
shall be recorded. If this has been done the Judges have carefully with¬ 
held it from the public, as no trace of it is in any of the accounts. These 
