October 3, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
299 
from the packing, with sufficient ventilation to carry off all mois¬ 
ture as it escapes from the bees through the packing. A narrow 
doorway and a proper ventilating floor, together with what is 
advised above, is all that is necessary to provide or do till April or 
May, or if all is favourable till June. 
RAISING PARTLY FILLED SUPERS ABOVE EMPTY ONES. 
We have advised the placing of empty supers above partly filled 
ones for upwards of thirty years now, and although at times the 
contrary has been successful, still it is not in accordance with the 
best management. It is only a haphazard way. I have scarcely 
ever practised it, and only once did I succeed in getting things 
to my mind when the empty super was placed beneath the full 
one. To be successful the weather requires to be exceptionally 
fine and uninterrupted for some weeks, which is rare in this 
country. Circumstances compelled me to put the empty supers 
beneath the partly filled ones at the Heather this year, which has 
resulted in the bees carrying some of the gathered super honey 
down to the body of the hive, and filling the body boxes 
thoroughly with it and the subsequently gathered honey. I need 
not have expected it otherwise, as the weather never was settled 
during the whole month of August. I give the failure as promi¬ 
nent as my successes as a warning to others. Had the weather been 
fine during the latter part of August, when the Heather was in 
bloom, every available space would have been filled, and the error 
of placing empty supers between partly filled ones and the crown 
of the hive would never have been observed. Experience has long 
taught us that nothing is gained by placing the partly filled supers 
uppermost, but often much is lost. 
THE HEATHER SEASON. 
I have observed “ A Hallamshire’s ” remarks, pages 27G, 277, 
regarding the Heather season. Where I took my bees from the 
7th of July until the last day of August there was not a single day 
upon which rain did not fall. Previous to that the weather had 
been exceptionally fine from April 1st, very little, if any, frost 
until the morning of the 23rd July—a rather unusual occurrence. 
The first six days were dry and warm, but always with rain at 
night. Monday the 12th and Tuesday the 13th of August were 
the most productive of honey the bees had, but rain fell on both days. 
The latter was the day in which the greater gathering occurred, 
and was that when the hive gathered 38 lbs. After the 13th the 
weather gradually became more rainy, and less honey was gathered 
daily. The first week in September was dry and warm, but the 
bloom had nearly gone from Heather, and very little more honey 
was gathered. 
Some people complain they cannot get their bees to take to 
supers. I have never any difficulty in that. The difficulty is to 
keep them in them, and that can only be accomplished when the 
weather is favourable. In such a season as the present has been 
the bees leave supers and store the body of the hive ; the lower¬ 
ing of the temperature is the cause of this, and is explained by the 
fact that supers are extra room ; the bees on the temperature 
lowering retreat towards the brood next and cluster there, and as 
the hive becomes filled draw nearer the doorway. 
My good hives, after the hatching of the brood and other losses 
from consumption and evaporation, &c., stand about 80 lbs. heavier 
than they were when set down, but the supers are in many cases 
unsealed. An octagon hive filled completely four supers, but are 
deficient in weight 25 lbs., and incomplete, although otherwise 
good. My weaker hives have risen in weight from 10 to 20 lbs. 
only, but were capable of rising 50 lbs. easily had the weather been 
settled—a strong argument in favour of having strong hives ; and 
what a boon it would be could we discover some method to prevent 
swarming and still keep the hive in a normal condition. He who 
gives us the information will be a benefactor indeed. 
It is customary for bees to swarm at the Heather even up till 
the middle of September, and rarely will a strong stock supersede 
the queen regnant without swarming. Sometimes very few bees 
leave and may not be observed. Regarding the ripening process,. 
I disagree with many writers upon this question. I always held the 
opinion that extracting the water takes place while the bee i3 
sipping it from the flower while on the wing, and being lighter tha-n 
honey is evaporated from the hive by the heat of the bees, so great 
sometimes this year that I have witnessed the vapour ascending 
from the sides of the hive when rain fell upon them, and the vapour 
issuing from the mouth of hives illustrates my idea. Therefore I 
differ in opinion from “A Hallamshire Bee keeper” regarding bees 
being able to ripen the honey they gather daily, even although ?t 
be greater than the quantity gathered by my strong stocks. The 
more honey a colony of bees gathers in a day the better able they 
are to ripen it—if the term is a proper one, it sounds harsh in my 
ear. In fact, a hive able to gather 33 lbs. a day is better able to 
evaporate the excessive moisture than one able to gather 1 lb. daily 
only. I have repeatedly watched bees storing honey as they came- 
from the fields, and it never underwent any other process than the 
first storing, and the supposition that as the water rose on the top 
of the honey the bees sipped it off, the work of a few seconds only, 
THE PUNIC BEE. 
Although the Punic bees have not excelled at the Heather they 
seem assiduous workers at home, and may by another season prove 
themselves good honey gatherers. 
YOUNG QUEENS. 
It is perhaps not out of place to bring before your readers the 
doings of a young queen fertilised about the 7th September, show¬ 
ing how completely it sets at defiance all the theories of “ breaking 
seals of honeycomb,” “ stimulative feeding,” or “ contracting or 
spreading the brood, &c.” In ten days’ time she laid nearly 30,000 
eggs, the only thing conducive to this is what I have so long 
advocated—namely, having the hive well stored with honey and 
pollen. It would be interesting to know what those think of this* 
that say “ a queen must be some months old before she is at her- 
best.” 
ERRATUM. 
At page 255, second article, last line but one, instead of “several 
ombs,” read “ several hundredweight of wax.”—A Lanarkshire. 
Bee-keeper. 
All correspondence should be directed either to “ Tips 
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 oS 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the 
post, and we do not undertake to return rejected communica¬ 
tions. 
list of Gardeners (J. L. £.).—There are numbers of small 
local improvement societies, but nothing of a general character, though 
you can obtain all the information you require from the “ Horticultural. 
Directory,” published at this office, price Is. ; post free, Is. 3d. 
Bluebottle riles in Conservatory (J. C .).—We can only 
suggest their destruction by suspending soda-water or similar bottles* 
half filled with beer, made very sweet with sugar or syrup, near their 
haunts. The flies, we presume, are attracted by the secretion emanating 
from insects infesting the plants, the flies being very partial to the: 
