34 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 0, 1800. 
imported queens be purchased to a greater number than one or 
two, and where there is one hive only have none at all until the 
beginner has gained some experience. 
Although I do not agree in all “ A Hallamshire Hee-keeper’’ 
says, still his advice on the question of raising queens is good, and 
the bee-keeper who follows it will be the gainer. Nearly forty 
years ago I discovered that bees, queens and drones, that were re¬ 
tarded in hatching, were more or less deformed externally, the 
•wings being the first to suffer, the other members also being more 
or less defective, but never turned my thoughts to the probability 
that the internal organs were similarly affected. About the same 
date I discovered that when there was much pollen in the hive, 
such as is the case when the bees are at the Heather, they were 
liable to abdominal distension, and that they wintered better on 
pure sugar syrup, although the latter was better for breeding pur¬ 
poses. “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper ” is therefore in error when 
die says, “ It was Heddon who started the pollen theory.” Long 
before Heddon was heard of in this country, and perhaps before he 
kept bees, I observed and recorded the fact that when bees had 
access to pollen, such as I have stated above, bees were liable to 
abdominal distension, but not to what I term dysentery, this latter 
being happily more rare than the various forms of abdominal dis¬ 
tension, and is perhaps not what the Americans speak of. I quite 
agree with “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper ” that a chill to queens 
while in their cells will injure them permanently ; but how does it 
come that, under the natural system of swarming, the queen cells 
are indifferent stages just at the time when a prime swarm leaves, 
which reduces the temperature greatly in the hive ? yet we have not 
■experienced that the queens were impaired thereby. Doubtless the 
■bees cluster round the royal cells, and so locate the heat necessarv 
for the full development of the queens ; so that although the 
general temperature of the hive is reduced, that of the non- 
•conducting waxen cells of the queens is not. I have not had a 
case of dysentery amongst my bees for years, and yet I form my 
next year’s stocks from nuclei by dividing a natural swarmed hive 
into as many as a dozen nuclei, about the ninth day after the 
prime swarm. 
Selectinw Royal Cells 
It is impossible to tell by appearance of the cell whether the 
•queen will be a good one or not. I have had queens raised in 
common worker cells, and have had them frequently built upon the 
face of the comb, that did not show the slightest projection, and 
these queens turned out profitable. When I have a choice of 
royal cells I prefer those that show a good deal of red between 
the sealing and cell proper, rejecting those of a white appearance, 
believing them to be defective from want of sufficient heat for 
their full development. While I am convinced that all bees suffer 
from too low a temperature while in the metamorphosing state, I 
cannot think that they will be seriously affected while the tempera¬ 
ture they are exposed in is not under GO’, or even less. If “ A 
Hallamshire Bee-keeper ” can convince us to the contrary he will 
confer a favour on many besides—A Lan.vekshire Bee-keeper. 
(To be continued.) 
BEES ON THE NON-SWARMINC SYSTEM. 
Like “ Felix,” I am inclined to think that the non-swarming system 
is the best for a large yield of honey, especially in some localities where 
the honey harvest is over by the 15th of July, as is the case in our dis¬ 
trict. As soon as we hear the reapers in the meadows we know the honey 
season is near its end. Under these conditions to keep our bees from 
swarming is the best, but in localities where white Clover abounds and 
the honey harvest is much longer, the swarming system may answer 
very well.. In both systems one thing is absolutely essential—to have our 
hives strong enough to take advantage of the first flow of honey, and 
this may be done by having the stocks strong in the autumn by driven 
bees, by uniting after the honey harvest is past, and in spring if found 
weak by joining to nuclei in spring, and by giving plenty of good syrup 
to last through the winter well into spring. On the non-swarming 
■system great care must be taken with strong stocks in spring, when 
mauys.young bees are coming forth and honey is coming in freely, by 
giving plenty of room just as they want it, and by judiciously supply¬ 
ing supers. If honey is abundant, as soon as one crate of sections is ! 
half completed put on one more, and so on possibly a fourth. The bee¬ 
keeper must use his judgment so as to have most of them completed. 
If run honey is wanted the doubling system answers well, and if the 
extractor is kept at work when the honey flow is on a good harvest may 
be had, but where time is precious as the bars are sealed they may be 
taken out and extracted at pleasure, empty ones taking their places, but 
it must be remembered in all cases that sealed honey is mueh the best, 
both in quality and as food or medicine, as the case may be. If the 
above hints are followed out, in most cases the swarming fever will bo 
prevented. This is the course that I have pursued, and have rarely 
failed. 
A bee-keeping friend of mine who follows the non-swarming plan, 
and has succeeded well, told me some time ago whenever he tried to 
prevent his bees swarming he had in no case failed. Some bee-keepers 
have tried the non-swarming system, and failed simply because they did 
not attend to the wants of the bees in time to prevent the desire to 
swarm. We must prevent the swarming impulse, and we shall mostly 
succeed ; however, such has been the experience of—A Howdenshiee 
Bee-keeper. 
BEE QUERIES. 
Perhaps you will kindly allow me, through your columns, to put a 
few queries before your correspondent, “ Lanarkshire Bee-keeper,” 
regarding his cheap hive, instructions about which appeared in the issue 
of January 10th, 1889. I should be obliged if he would inform me (a 
novice) whether 14 J or 14| inches is the correct length of the top bars in 
connection with the above hive ? How is the doorway to the hive con¬ 
structed ? What depth ought the division to be for the sections, and is 
the same depth suitable for small supers ? Which kind of wood is 
recommended for making the hives ?—J. D. L,, Nurthwmberland. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Gr. Bunyard & Co., Maidstone.— Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower 
Seed.9. 
Armitage Bros., Nottingham.— Catalogue of Vegetable and Flovo.r 
Seeds. 
Harrison & Sons, Leicester .—Seed Catalogue, ISOO. 
John Peed & Sons, Pkoupell Park Nurseries, London.— Catalogrie of 
Seeds. 
AVilliam Barron &; Sons, Elvaston.— Catalogue of Forest Trees and 
Cover Plants. 
Barr & Son, 12, King Street, Covent Garden .—Bescrigdive Catalogue 
of Seeds. 
E. P. Dixon & Sons, Hull .—Catalogue of Garden and Farm Seeds. 
John Walker, 7 and 8, High Street, Thame, Oxon.— Catalogue of 
Garden and Flower Seeds. 
All correspondence should be directed either to “ The 
EniTOR” or to “The Publisher.” Letters addressed to 
Dr. Hogg or members of the staff often remain unopened 
unavoidably. 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. 
Address (^Agriculture'). —Messrs. Balliere, Tindall A Cox, King 
William Street, Strand, London, is the address you require. 
Cryptomerla Japoalca (F. L .).—Thanks for specimens, but we 
do not think they are uncommon, at least in the south of England, 
Fung^us In TCushioom Beds (Z. A. IF.).—We suspect the 
peculiar growths had their origin in the manure and not in the soil, but 
if all the manure was from the same source and similarly prepared the 
fact that one bed should be free and another infested is a little 
mysterious. 
French Marigolds (V. Y. Z .).—There are specially good selections 
of both the tall and the dwarf strains, and neither one nor the other 
can, as such, be relied on to produce the best exhibition flowers. You 
had better try both, and you might, do worse than procure stuail,packets 
of seed from two or three sources. 
