May 13, 1186. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
389 
conducting product of the bees, which they build their 
combs, therefore it is the best thing that can be used, being 
comfortable for the bees to walk on, does not absorb damp, 
and, if a hive is infected with foul brood, only requires to be 
removed by heat and lined anew. All the condensed vapour 
falls through the ventilating floor aud the hive is in the best 
possible condition for health and comfort to the bees, pre¬ 
serving them throughout the year satisfactorily, aud this is 
the best and only way of having the proverbial strong hives 
of bees which are able to collect abundant stores for their 
master and themselves. 
Providing bees with water in a proper way is of greater 
importance, and saves more bees’lives than many bee-keepers 
are aware of. If bees are allowed to find water from natural 
sources many are lost, falling into water, or, what is more 
common, many die in the act of sipping it from places so 
cold that the bees become chilled. To overcome this some 
means^ should be devised to supply the bees with water, so 
that the sun will heat it. As the majority of bee-keepers 
incline to combine the useful with the interesting and orna¬ 
mental, the ornamental crystal fountain as invented by 
“A Renfrewshire Bee-keeper” cannot be surpassed. When 
once the bees find it, it prevents them leaving the apiary in 
search of water, and it whenever the sun shines become 
heated and tempting to the bees. 
In preserving bees lies the secret of success. In addition 
to what has been said on that subject, endeavour to keep 
down every scent of honey, syrup, or comb 3 that is likely to 
attract bees, which incites robbers and may spread disease. 
Hives with common floors turn out all the debris from the 
entrance, which attracts stranger bees, and causes fighting 
and spreads disease. The ventilating floor prevents that if 
the debris is collected on a piece of paper and burned. 
The temporary covering of hives both at home and on the 
moors so as to completely throw the water off is sometimes 
not properly performed. Those who are in the habit of 
sending their bees to the Heather will find the single-cased 
hive handiest and superior in every respect; a mat wrapped 
around them and plenty of dried grass above, placed in an 
uneven manner so as to allow the air to pass beneath an oil 
cover or sheet of metal, not tied with cards, but weighted 
with stones put into pockets, which may be either sewn or 
fastened with hooks. After September neither alter the 
appearance nor site of any hive unless it b 9 some miles 
distant, and even then preserve the original appearance of the 
hive, and on every occasion of removal. Never place hives 
in a line nor equi-distant from each other. Bees have their 
peculiarities not easily explained. They are retentive in 
memory, yet a slight alteration misleads them. This season 
my hives stood in twos, a high hive and a low one together, 
and on each side were low ones. In one of these spaces I 
placed a similar high hive, and although it was 6 feet distant 
from the tenanted high one, it attracted its bees in great 
numbers, so we had to remove it. 
Some things are inexplicable. The memorable bad honey 
year of 1877 will be long remembered as one of the many 
poor seasons for honey. Towards the end of July of that 
year, when I left on Monday for the Edinburgh Show, I 
left between twenty and thirty of the strongest-bred Ligurian 
hives I have ever seen, and on returning on Saturday found 
theni all in a state of starvation, saved only from death by 
the timely feeding by my wife, who detected their state in 
time. There was no alternative now but to feed. To every 
one I gave from 25 to 30 lbs. of sugar within a week, hoping 
this would be sufficient to tide them over till another year, 
which, with the exception of one, nearly sufficed. The one 
referred to excelled every other hive in numbers, which I 
examined after I had given it 25 lbs. of sugar, but not a 
single cell of syrup was to be seen. What they did with it 
and where it went to I do not know, except that the bees 
took it in the first instance, but to what use they put it I 
know not. It got another 25 lbs. (50 lbs. altogether), but 
this time it stored and sealed it properly. 
I note the remarks made by “Felix” in his closing 
paragraph, page 323. I quite agree with what he says. I 
think my life would have been ill spent if bees and appliances 
for their management had been the only good I had done. 
Praise I neither want or like, but I certainly dislike to see 
those who have been bee-keepers only a few years or removed 
from the original system of bee keeping pirating and appro¬ 
priating others’ ideas. 
With the Editor’s permission I may some day give the 
dates of inventions, with inventors’ name, of many of the 
appliances in use at the present time. 
Perhaps the most important instructions I can give to 
beginners is to be careful and get the best-made appliances 
from those with most experience.—A Lanarkshire Bee¬ 
keeper. 
SEASONABLE JOTTINGS. 
Those bee-keepers who made proper preparations in the autumn 
to insure this year’s success will now be rejoiced to see their bees 
busily engaged in supers, divisional or sectional, for no others ought 
to be employed unless there is a special local demand for them. A 
late spring has retarded blossoms, while bees do not appear to be 
many days later than in milder seasons. Last year my stocks were 
supered on the 25th Aoril ; this year supers were placed on the 26th, 
or one day later. All supers were at once taken possession of by the 
bees, and are now being worked most satisfactorily. Honey is 
coming in principally from Gooseberries and Currants, but Apples, 
Pears, Cherries, and Plums are all bursting into bloom, so that in a 
few days a vast field of labour will be extended before the bees. If 
the weather continues fine and not so hot and dry as to parch up 
vegetation the prospect for bee-keepers is a glorious one. The late 
blossoming of the orchards will enable the bees to gather honey in 
greater quantity than is usually the case, the season being extended 
over May until white Clover bursts into bloom by Sycamore, than 
which there is no more honey-giving tree nor any more welcome, 
yielding its rich nectar as it does just when otherwise an ugly hiatus 
would occur between the ingathering from the fruit and Clover bloom. 
Most bee-keepers will by this time have decided whether to work 
for run or comb honey. In the present state of the honey market 
the most advisable method is, I think, to get all in the comb if possible, 
taking care to emploj’' supers of the kind which are most readily sale- 
able and command the highest price. 
Those who employ sectional supers and sections in particular seem 
occasionally to experience no little trouble in fixing foundation 
firmly in them. There is a small machine by which foundation is 
said to be readily and neatly fixed, but as I have never had occasion 
to employ any such mechanical aid in so simple a matter I cannot 
say anything of its merits or demerits. It is not a necessity, and 
should therefore be scheduled with the many other useless and ex¬ 
pensive because not necessary appliances. It may be a help to some 
if I point out a simple, easy, and very speedy method by which 
foundation may be fixed in sections, either whole sheets or starters 
only being used. 
The foundation being cut into pieces of the desired size, take the 
section and hold it top downwards in the left hand, taking care to 
leave the thumb free for supporting the sheet. Now, the piece of 
foundation must be taken in the right hand, and the edge which is to 
be fastened to the section held to a fire until it becomes a little, but 
very little, soft and pliable, then lay it flat along the bottom of the 
section, such bottom being in reality the top when the section is in 
its proper position, and with the thumb of the right hand press the 
tiniest strip of the edge of the ivax to the centre of the bottom piece 
of the section until the wax begins to harden, when the thumb of the 
left hand must raise the foundation until it stands at right angles to 
the bottom. The section may immediately be placed in its natural 
position, and if the work has been done properly no fear need be 
entertained of failure. By this plan no extra wax is used, no material 
wasted, and the sheet is thinned down at the junction, this being a 
good feature in the method. It is very easy when a little experience 
in the work has been gained to fix 100 an hour. It is difficult to give 
instructions so plain in such a matter as to enable all to grasp the 
details, but the general idea will be made sufficiently clear perhaps to 
enable those who desire to do so to attach their foundation more 
firmly and more easily than before. 
Queen wasps are more numerous this year than for many seasons, 
and unless either heavy rains or some other destructive agent destroys 
these pests, weak stocks will have to fight in autumn for their homes 
and stores. They can easily be destroyed, although it seems a pity 
to kill the bright gleaming insects that shine so prettily in the green 
verdure, but they must die or the bees will suffer. 
The question of vessels for our honey will soon again become 
