496 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 16, 1887. 
queen was added last season when all was well. As the supply of food 
ran out feeding was. resorted to, and although not freely supplied I 
believe a sufficient quantity was given. The syrup given was made 
from receipt in Taylor’s “ Bee-keeper’s Manual.” Can it be that the 
young brood was insufficiently 3fed in the early spring, or is there per¬ 
haps some malformation in the queen ? Would it be advisable to re¬ 
move her and place a frame containing newly laid eggs from another 
hive inside ? If you can give me any explanation or advice I shall be 
much obliged. Some of the bees are alive now when being taken to 
post, the swarm to all outward appearance is working hard, and the 
hive is quite sweet.—R. T. 
[The bees sent are evidently not all from the same hive, as several 
pairs were attached to each other by the sting in deadly embrace, both 
having lost their life through the stinging. Then there are other bees 
with empty stomachs that may have died through want or had been 
compelled to disgorge all its honey to a robber bee, and the result would 
be the same. The third and larger number of bees, which may be young 
ones (but have not that appearance), have their stomachs and intestines 
full of pollen. When that occurs, and bees rallying on a day chilly to 
the bees, many (young ones particularly) are unable to recover their 
strength to enabie them to discharge fceces and present the appearance 
you describe. 
“ There is, however, very little honey,” is an indefinite term to use 
to indicate the proper state of your hive. You should have stated, 
definitely the approximate weight, but from what you say we are in¬ 
clined to think the bees lack food, which should be supplied at once 
while changeable weather continues. We do not think that bees would 
suffer now from a scarcity of meat in early spring, although we are 
satisfied that if bees are fed on nothing but sugar for some years, as they 
were about 1859 to 1861, they are weakened, although they do not seem 
to suffer at any other time when feeding does not extend over one 
year. 
There is no necessity to depose the queen at present, but it is ad¬ 
visable to keep nothing but young ones for next year’s work, or even late 
summer or autumn. The bees do not appear to have died from any 
disease further than stated ; certainly neither chloric dropsical fever 
nor the mysterious disease that attacks the bees annually at Greenock 
and other places about this time of the year. Our own apiary has had 
ap entire immunity from disease or mysterious killed bees, but in my 
neighbour’s garden hundreds of thousands have been killed, very 
probably bees from a dwindling apiary about half a mile distant. Cer¬ 
tainly they are neither his own nor my bees, although it is not always 
the invading bees that are destroyed, and hives attacked by them suffer 
much. After bees have been confined to their hives two or three weeks 
during summer through stress of weather, we have seen great numbers of 
worn-out bees deposed in a few hours. When hives are cooled by any 
manipulation or loss of adult bees through a low temperature, the young 
bees are feeble as in your case, and many of them are lost through re¬ 
tarded hatching and general weakness through cold. 
An acquaintance this year added a pretty white comb of worker 
cells to the hive, putting it in the centre. The result was that two full 
combs of brood were chilled and part of the other two through the 
operation. He will not attempt brood-spreading again, although at the 
time he performed it seemed. favourable, the weather suddenly became 
wintry. At the same time we had a Syrian hive requiring more room, 
and we added two combs to the outside, resulting in a large quantity of 
larvae being destroyed. In d future article we will give our advice and 
experience on this point, but we hope the fine weather will soon chase 
away all signs of disease in the apiary, and the bees will fill their hives 
with honey.] " 
DISEASES OF BEES. 
The bees sent to me by “ A. L. B.” were affected with what 
the German bee-keepers call maikranUeit ,• that is to say, “ May 
disease,” from the month in which it occurs. There was a strong 
fcecal odour, the abdomens were distended, and I found the in¬ 
testines clogged with what was evidently a mixture of honey and 
pollen in a state of putrefaction. The disease is supposed to be 
due to the bees gathering pollen which has _ been touched by the 
frost, and, not being able to digest it, this altered pollen collects in 
the intestines and causes death. 
The most efficacious remedy is salicylic acid in the syrup given 
to the bees, as that adid has the property pf destroying germs, and 
so preventing putrefaction. There was no trace of prussic acid, 
and this is so volatile that even a small quantity can be detected by 
the smell, which is like bruised Peach or Laurel leaves. I have not 
yet received any bees from the Geenock bee-keeper alluded to, but 
most likely they were affected with the same disease.— Geo. Walker, 
Wimbledon. 
THE PROPOSED BEE-KEEPERS’ UNION. 
The British Bee JfyrntU for June 9th contains an editorial article 
on the above headed “ A Word of Caution,” which is characteristic. I 
cite one sentence between two full stops as a sample. “ The document 
is rough in arrangement, slatternly in style, ungrammatical in construc¬ 
tion.” Surely those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. 
Neither myself npr the rest of the promoters profess to be grammarians, 
but I question whether a third standard school boy could be found to 
compose such a slatternly and ungrammatical sentence. It further says, 
“ A singular document, purporting to be a prospectus of a Bee-keepers’ 
Union, has been forwarded to us. It contains no names either of the 
promoters or the secretary ; the name of the printer is also omitted.” 
The “ document ” in question is a draft proof of the prospectus. 
The front page is left blank for title, list of officers, &c. They were 
printed for the private use of the promoters. Not one has been sent 
through the post without my sign manual attached either to it or to a 
letter sent with it. Not one has been sent either to the Editor of the 
British Bee Journal or any director or officer of the Honey Company, 
but several have been sent to prominent members of the British Bee¬ 
keepers’ Association, who profess to be and are considered friends of 
bee-keepers, asking them to join the Council as promoters ; but singular 
to say, all who replied tried to throw “ cold water ” on the scheme. One 
said he did not consider the objects aimed at were desirable or necessary, 
. nor did he think they could be carried out; excepting these, the scheme 
is being received with enthusiasm. 
We are wanting^ to make the Council as representative of the 
twenty-one districts' as possible, and anyone who is favourably disposed 
can have a copy of the “ singular document ” by applying to me. As 
far as I am concerned, I would like to get out of the work if someone 
will come forward to relieve me of it. Neither 1 nor the others have 
any thought of giving it up now. It is hoped to issue the prospectus 
to the public shortly, and those who are willing to do what they can to 
help forward the work'will kindly oblige by applying at once for a draft 
prospectus.— J. Hewitt, Cambridge Street, Sheffield, Hon. Secretary 
pro tern. ...... 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
John R. Box, 118, North End, Croydon .—Summer Catalogue of Bedding, 
Border , and other Plants. 
Ewing & Co., Havant, Hampshire .—Catalogue of Roses, Hardy Trees 
and Shrubs, dc. 
V 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. 
LATE INQUIRIES.—It is necessary to again remind correspondents that 
letters arriving on WEDNESDAY MORNING cannot be answered 
in the “ next issue,” which is then far advanced for press. 
Advertising (M.\ A e »re not able to suggest a course for you to 
pursue. T our proposal has been submitted to the publisher, and he agrees 
^0 do what you wish. 
Small Rhubarb ( Philomelos).—We have not yet been able to identify 
your variety. It is very rich in colour. Can you give us its history ? We 
had the little bundle you sent stewed, and found it a delicious sweetmeat. 
The seedling from it resembles the St. Martin’s. 
Cabbages not Hearting (B.). —The prolonged mild autumn had a great 
ideal to do with Cabbage plants forming flower stems instead of hearts this 
spring, and tlm evil was also no doubt contributed to by the severe cheek 
the plants received in the Winter, and the protracted cold of what ought to 
have been spring—checks to growth predisposing must plants to flower. 
Painting Cucumber House (Cambridge).—If you paint the inside of 
the house in which “Cucumbers are just well established” they will 
jalmost certainly be seriously injured, and may be ruined. We should 
ipush them on quickly, take a good crop, clear them out soon enough in 
the autumn for the house to be painted then, and get dry and sweet for 
'winter occupation. 
Watering Strawberries (Mrs. Mayor ).—Wo do not give liquid manure 
after the fruit commences colouring, as we can get it as large as we desire 
by generous assistance before then in the form of drainings from manure 
heaps and stables, and covering the ground thickly with clean litter for 
arresting evaporation, this also preventing the fruit being soiled by contact 
'with the earth. 
Insects in Strawberry Bed (IF. J. B.,' Wells ).—These are the grubs of a 
Tipula or Crane-fly, the particular species being T. gigantea. Although 
you may not hitherto have observed them, it is probable you will find them 
doing injury at the roots of other low-growing plants. One of the best 
[remedies for these and similar subterranean feeders is gas lime, the uses 
lof which have been explained in a recent number of this Journal. 
