October 21, 1889 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
365 
STORING OF HONEY. 
Bees perform this work in a manner so perfect that we have 
only to look into Nature’s larder to see it in perfection, the honey 
being stored and sealed in hermetically sealed cells, so that the 
external air will have no influence on it whatever. The honey 
overhanging the cluster of bees is never allowed in a normally 
strong hive for long, but is either first consumed by the bees or is 
immediately removed to a warmer place in the hive, and this is one 
of the reasons that octagon or round supers are, as a rule, better 
finished than square ones. 
SCREW CAPS. 
Jars having screw caps are, as a rule, greater favourites with 
bee-keepers, especially competing ones, but they are not as made 
the best for storing honey in. The screw is 'never so close as to 
exclude air nor prevent the escape of honey, and honey stored in 
them does not retain its natural consistency, but gets gradually 
thinner the longer it is kept. The same may be said of preserves. 
We have some Morello Cherry jam in them, as well as in tie-overs, 
and in common jelly cans. In every case where the screw caps are 
used the jam is fermented, while that in the tie-overs covered with 
good vegetable parchment is in a good state of preservation. Honey 
sometimes stands a good deal of ill treatment, but it is always 
advisable to do what is right for its preservation until it is eaten, 
although the plan is not popular, 
COMPARISONS AND RESULTS. 
Before closing this chapter it may not be out of place to give 
both sides of the success and non-success of an Arran bee-keeper. 
At one time he was a successful bee-keeper on the Stewarton 
principle, but became a convert to that hive that its inventor said 
of it, “ The hive that was suitable for one locality might not be 
that for another,” a saying not in accordance with facts, nor within 
our experience. This bee-keeper has somewhere about fifty of 
these combination hives, has not a single pound of honeycomb, 
while those having Stewartons almost side by side have a large 
surplus. I have always maintained that there are different systems 
which should be pursued according to season and locality, but the 
proper hive is one that can be easily adapted to both under any 
circumstances, and the hive that cannot be controlled to suit these 
is not the hive, and hives sent out without the vendors being able 
to give proper instructions is a dead score against them. 
BLOW’S PATENT GROOVED SECTION. 
A correspondent has sent me a section grooved for foundation 
marked as above with several queries, one of which, “Is it new ?” 
It is not new ; besides, the groove for foundation was my own con¬ 
trivance in 1802, and I know of others that had their frames 
grooved all round as early as 1874 ; besides, when I made sections 
they were always grooved, and that from the first. I know nothing 
of the patent laws, but I do not think that they will prevent any¬ 
one in the face of the above facts from making, using, or selling 
grooved sections without being mulcted in any tax whatever, as the 
plan is not new, which I am prepared to prove.—A Lanarkshire 
Bee-keeper. 
MR. ALFRED NEIGHBOUR. 
The “ British Bee Journal ” has recently published a portrait of the 
above named well-known bee-keeper, accompanied by the following 
biographical remarks :— 
Mr. Neighbour was born in High Holborn, London, on the 24th of 
October, 1825. He is the son of the late Mr. George Neighbour, and a 
member of the firm of George Neighbour & Sons. His father established 
the business in Holborn about the year 1814 ; and in 1824 Mr. Thomas 
Nutt of Spalding, Lincolnshire, inventor of the collateral and other 
hives, offered him the agency for the sale of these appliances. In 1827 Mr. 
Nutt published the first edition of his work entitled, “ Humanity to Bee?,’’ 
which ran into a seventh edition. Mr. Nutt was in the habit of periodi¬ 
cally visiting his patrons who resided in the neighbourhood of London ; 
and Mr. Alfred Neighbour frequently accompanied him in these excur¬ 
sions, and witnessed his fearless manner in manipulating with bees, and 
thus in very early life acquired a taste for apiarian pursuits. For many 
years a public apiary was kept up by Mr. Neighbour in the Zoological 
Gardens, Regent’s Park. The hives were originally Nutt’s ; at a later 
period the unicomb and other transparent hives were substituted, which' 
proved to be more attractive to visitors. These excited considerable 
interest, and were by no means the least valued objects in the Gardens, 
The Royal princes and princesses were accustomed when children to pay 
frequent early morning visits to the Gardens, and the bee-house came 
in for a share of their attention. On one of these occasions Mr. Neigh¬ 
bour was fortunate to be at the apiary, and had the honour of pointing 
out to them the queen bee, and explaining the mode of working the- 
hives. This apiary was pulled down to make room for the large monkey 
house, and the Council of the Society have not seen their way to eracte 
another bee-hive house in its place. 
The Great Exhibition of 1851 offered the first opportunity for the- 
competitive display of hives. Side by side with the late Mr. John 
Milton of No. 10, Marylebone Street, Wimpole Street, Messrs. Neigh¬ 
bour exhibited living bees in glass hives, and a collection of bee furni¬ 
ture. It was at this Exhibition that a French exhibitor, M. Debeauvoys, 
was awarded the first prize for his vertical frame hive. This was the 
earliest frame hive brought to this country, excepting Huber’s leaf hive, 
which differs in construction from that technically known as a frame 
hive. The moveable comb hives then constructed in England were those 
of Dr. Bevan, Mr. Golding, and Mr. H. Taylor, which had top bars only- 
The combs had to be severed from the sides of the hives whenever 
required to be drawn out and inspected. The success attending the 
Great Exhibition induced other exhibitions to follow, and at Dublin,. 
Edinburgh, and at Paris, the firm of Neighbour & Sons received many 
prizes for their collection of miscellaneous appliances. 
Mr. Neighbour was very closely acquainted with Mr. Henry Taylor 
of Highgate, author of the “ Bee-keeper’s Manual,” who frequently was 
a guest of Mr. George Neighbour at Dorking, whither the latter gentle¬ 
man had retired when he was released from business ; and in conse¬ 
quence of this intimacy Mr. Neighbour had many opportunities of 
improving his knowledge of apiculture. 
In consequence of an offer from Mr. Hermann in Switzerland to send 
over a Ligurian queen bee to be placed at the head of an English stock,. 
Mr. Woodbury was induced to avail himself of the offer, and at the- 
same time Mr. Taylor persuaded Mr. Neighbour to make application for 
a queen ; the two queens aarived simultaneously. Mr. Woodbury was 
successful in joining his queen to an English stock. This was the com¬ 
mencement of a new era in bee-keeping, and with the introduction of 
the Ligurians to this country there sprang up an acquaintance between 
Mr. Woodbury and Mr. Neighbour which continued till the death of the- 
former in July, 1870, at his residence, Mount Radford, Exeter. 
Soon after the introduction of the Ligurian bee, Mr. Langstroth,. 
the American apiarian, published his work, “ The Hive and Honey Bee,” 
which described his invention of hives on the bar-frame system, and at 
the same time bar-frames were also brought to notice in Germany by 
Baron von Berlepsch, who made improvements on Dr. Dzierzon’s method. 
Mr. Woodbury was not slow in estimating the value of this invention,, 
and, in adapting the combs of his bar hives to it, he constructed what 
he termed “ a compound frame,” which consisted of a frame with open 
top and shoulders on each side of which the bar rested, whilst the comb 
as taken from the hive was suspended vertically within the frame. 
Messrs. Neighbour, who were the first vendors of Woodbury hives, 
resorted to fixed frames as originally p’anned, and which have been in 
use ever since. The second London International Exhibition was held 
at South Kensington in 1862, at which Messrs. Neighbour exhibited 
living bees and hives. The space awarded was in the Agricultural 
Annexe, a location not nearly as good as that in the first Exhibition 
of 1851. 
Mr. Neighbour in recent years has been much engaged, with the aid 
of Mr. Duncan Keir of Scotland, who was introduced to Mr. Neighbour 
by “The Renfrewshire Bee-keeper” (J. M. McPhedran, Esq.), from 
whom also many valuable hints were given to assist the enterprise, in 
packing and forwarding humble bees to New Zealand during winter, 
and whilst in a torpid state. These bees were much needed in the 
colony for the fructification of the Red Clover, the blossom of which is 
inaccessible to the ordinary honey bee. The importation of Cyprian, 
Syrian, and Holy Land bees has also claimed much of Mr. Neighbour’s- 
attention. Mr. Frank Benton, who, as is well known, has made a- 
temporary home in Cyprus and Syria for the purpose of procuring- 
queens from native sources, was accustomed to forward small colonies 
of these bees to Mr. Neighbour to be refreshed at his apiary, and re¬ 
shipped to Mr. D. A. Jones in Canada. Some of the earlier consign¬ 
ments were very satisfactory, but, owing to a change in the packing the 
business became so discouraging (but a few queens survived) that it was 
discontinued by him. Mr. Neighbour was the first to introduce the 
Carniolan bees into this country. He continues to cultivate and recom¬ 
mend them for their docile qualities. At the Swiss or German depart¬ 
ment of the Exhibition Mr. Neighbour purchased the impressed metal 
plates for makiDg wax foundation. Many castings were made from the 
original and disseminated to various parties. From the foregoing it wilL 
be seen that Mr. Neighbour has enjoyed unusual opportunities of 
becoming acquainted with the leading apiarian celebrities of the day ; 
among others the Rev. William Charles Cotton, M.A., rector of Frod- 
sham, Cheshire, and Dr. Coster of Hanwell. 
In 1880 Mr. Neighbour attended, in company with Mr. S. Stutterd, 
the translator of Dr. Dzierzon’s book, the German meeting of bee- 
masters at Cologne, at which his firm were exhibitors, and received from 
the hands of the Burgomaster at the public distribution of prizes the- 
State silver medal. He had the pleasure of being introduced to most 
