168 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f August 22, 1889. 
gradually raise it without touching the bees. The level of the 
syrup in the funnel outside is the index of the level inside, so that 
any child can take a can and fill the tin, covering up the funnel with 
a small piece of zinc or tin, and not a bee escapes, nor is there any 
necessity to move the lid of the feeder until it is desired to close up 
the hive at the conclusion of the feeding. This contrivance may 
with ease be attached to the ordinary feeder by those who have 
•experienced a like trouble in former years. 
THE SEASON. 
Results this year seem to have been fairly satisfactory, for while 
white Clover was in bloom the bees had now and then an oppor¬ 
tunity to collect in quantity, although in this district the weather 
has never been so continuously favourable as to admit of a large 
harvest being stored, except in the case of those who took pains to 
always have their stocks in readiness for the honey flow. From 
tiered stocks I have had from seventy to eighty 1-lb. sections apiece 
of good quality, but the largest sized skeps seem never to have 
really appreciated the amount of honey waiting to be gathered ; 
but although not giving any great weight of super honey they are 
heavy and will yield a good return, the honey from the one driven 
a few days ago being of splendid quality and colour. 
SELLING. 
My advice to bee-keepers is to sell their honey as soon as they 
can get a reasonable offer ; but what “ reasonable ” means must be 
left to the individual to discover, because what would be an 
excessively low price in one place seems to be considered a fairly 
good one in a locality less favourably situated for the disposal of 
bee produce. It is a mistake to hold over in the hope of a rise in 
■the market anything of such a very perishable nature as honey in 
the comb, unless in exceptional cases. Neatness, cleanliness, and 
quality are the great essentials to packages of honey, and for a 
good quality, especially of Clover honey, there appears to be a ready 
market at prices varying from Is. to Is. 3d. a pound. These prices 
will leave the producer a large margin of profit on all well-managed 
stocks, and those who have not taken sufficient care to produce 
honey in quantity must, as the result of their prior neglect, see 
their more energetic neighbours making profit while they are 
estimating their loss or vainly attempting to form a favourable 
balance sheet. Run honey should be bottled in vessels with good 
wide mouths, not narrow necks like so many of the bottles of honey 
put up for sale. When the honey is granulated it is most difficult 
to extract it from such jars, upon which the ingenuity of the maker 
seems to have been specially spent in order to prevent the unfor¬ 
tunate possessor from getting out of them with ease and comfort 
whatever for the time being they may happen to contain. Pre¬ 
tentious labels are an eyesore ; prettiness combined with simplicity 
is much more to be admired than a gaudy monstrosity out of taste 
with the vessel and its contents.— Felix. 
PUNIC BEES. 
“ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper,” page 121, asks if I have noticed 
these bees working very early in the morning. I thought that I had in 
my previous articles said or implied as much, when I said that they 
work concurrently with the humble bees ; that is, the pure race. I 
have not had much experience with their crosses yet. They begin work 
at “ peep ’o day,” and before the sun begins to show above the horizon 
they are at full swing carrying in pollen, &e. The best stock of bees I 
have at present is one with a pure mated queen that has built up from 
a two-frame nucleus since spring. 
I have been very busy this summer investigating the reason bees 
swarm. They have repeatedly swarmed without a queen in the 
hive, and they have swarmed time after time with only a virgin queen 
in and no means of rearing a successor. Several times I have removed 
the old queens and a few bees ; firstly, to prevent swarming ; and 
secondly, to make up a nucleus, and in each case they and their bees 
went back to old stock and then led off large prime swarms. Neither 
plenty of space, both below and above frames, would prevent them 
swarming ; but for all that I do know of two plans that will prevent 
bees getting into the swarming fever ” and yet keep them as strong 
as possible. I have also been able to get demonstrative proof of the use 
of fertile workers in the economy of Nature. I have always been sure 
that Nature had a reason for them, but it was not until 1886 that I got 
any indication what their existence was for. Since then I have been on 
the look out for absolute proofs, or the means to get such, and at last I 
have succeeded, thus solving an enigma that has been a puzzle to 
naturalists for 100 years.—A Hallamshire Bee-keeper. 
EXHIBITION OF HONEY AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 
The National Co-operative Flower Show was held in conjunction 
with the Festival at the Crystal Palace on Saturday last, August 17th. 
A section of the Exhibition was devoted to honey and vax, the 
British Bee-keepers’ Association giving silver and bronze medals, and, at 
the request of the Co-operative Societies, appointed the judges in this 
department—Mr. John M. Hooker and Mr. Alfred Neighbour. The 
following are the awards : — 
For the best collection of comb and extracted honey, staged on a 
space of 6 feet by 2 feet 6 inches.— First prize, of 60s., Mr. Baldwin, 
Bromley. Second, of 30s., to Mr. Cudd of Chislehurst. Third, of 20s., 
to Mr. Dance of Halstead, Essex. The first and second taking the 
medals of the B.B.K.A. 
For twelve 1-lb. sections of comb honey.—First, of 20s., to Mr. P. 
Hills, jun., Great Baddow, Essex. Second, of 15s., to Mr. Thos. Duncomb, 
Horsham, Sussex. Third, of 7s. 6d.. to Mr. S. Bai'ey, Horsham. Fourth, 
of 5s., to Mr. Baldwin. Fifth, of 2s. 6d., to Mr. H. Kerridge, Ipswich. 
Highly commended, Miss A. M. Runcieman, Chelmsford, Mr. Potter, 
Braintree, and Mr. Geo. Cole, Braintree. 
For twelve 1-lb. glass bottles or jars of run or extracted honey.— 
First, of 20s., to Mr. Wm. Nott. Second, of 15s., to Mr. Wm. Newman, 
jun., Great Baddow. Third, of 7s. 6d., to Mr. A. Jones, Gloucester. 
Fourth, of 5s., to Mr. Prentis, Grays, Essex. Mr. P. Hills, jun., highly 
commended. 
For the best British wax from the exhibitor’s own hives.—First, of 
10s., to Mr. Thomas Dance. Third, of 5s., to Mr. H. Kerridge. 
For honey in applied forms.—First, 10s., to Mr. H, Kerridge, for 
mead. Second, of 7s. 6d., to Mr. Dance, for mead. Third, of 5s., to 
Mr. H. Kerridge, for vinegar made from honey. 
The comb honey in sections, with the exception of the first three 
prize lots, was not so good as we should have expected to have seen it. 
Exhibitors have yet to learn how to get the corners filled. 
The exhibits of extracted honey were a very fine lot, for the most 
part beautifully clear and bright coloured. The exhibits of honey were 
sent from Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Kent, Essex, Norfolk, 
Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, and were a great improvement for quality and 
quantity on former years. 
Thanks to the British Bee-keepers’ Association this industry is now 
better understood, and purer honey is now obtained, than was formerly 
the case when the wasteful practice of smothering the bees and draining 
the honey from the broken combs of honey and brood altogether. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIYED. 
E. P. Dixon & Sons, Hull .—Autumn Catalogue of Flower Roots. 
Dobie &; Mason, Deansgate and Oak Street, Manchester.— Catalogue 
of Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocus, Spc. 
Sutton & Sons, Reading .—Catalogue of Bulbs, 18S9. 
B. S. Williams, Upper Holloway .—Catalogue of Bulbs, Fruit Trees, 
Roses, §c. 
John Peed & Sons, Roupell Park Nurseries, Norwood, S.E .—Bulb 
Catalogue, 1SS9. 
J. Carter & Co., High Holborn .—Bulb Catalogue, 1S89. 
° 0 S 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 un¬ 
avoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended 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 communica¬ 
tions. 
Judging- Plcotees (J . IF.). — The schedule you sent has not helped 
to elucidate matters very much, as the class provides for “ Pinks and 
Picotees,” and if we remember rightly the former were not mentioned 
in your previous letter. However, the principle upon which you acted 
