January 19. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
311 
commend low, broad perches as the best preventive of this 
affection. It is a fortunate circumstance that its frequent oc¬ 
curence is so easily prevented, when its incurable nature is 
taken into consideration. In fact, so slightly do I think it is 
under the influence of remedies, that I would not give live 
shillings for the best Dorking that ever walked on two feet if 
one of them was thus affected.—W. B. Teoetmeier. Wil- 
lesden, near London. 
BEE-KEEPING FOR COTTAGERS. 
(Continued from -page 272.) 
Coverings and Shades .— For coverings, nothing better than 
common glazed milk-pans, or lids of large brown pans : the 
latter are to be preferred, as having a handle, being glazed 
on the outside, and throwing off the rain more easily. 
They make a neat finish to the hives; by their weight they 
keep the hives steady; and the cost of them, in most locali¬ 
ties, is very trifling. They should be sufficiently large to 
throw the wet well over the floor-board. Where slate or 
freestone abound, a substitute for them might be made, by 
procuring a lump of the required size, flat on one side, chip¬ 
ping away the upper surface to give it the form of a sugar- 
loaf, ami just sufficient of the under surface to make it 
slightly hollow, and so prevent the wet from creeping up 
towards the hives : this, if of stone, would require painting. 
Whatever way be used for coverings, it is necessary that the 
bodies of the hives should also be protected, for on this (as 
already stated in section 1,) success, in a great measure, 
depends; for where the hives are exposed to the sun, the 
bees, by its heat, are inconvenienced in the summer, and 
rendered unnecessarily active, and consequently hungry in the 
winter,so that loss occurs all the year round. The protec¬ 
tion cannot, perhaps, be better afforded, than by using a 
thick straw hackle placed over the milk-pan, worked on a 
hoop of such a size as to fit upon its (the milk-pan’s) edge. 
By leaving the straw of this hackle long enough to reach 
nearly to the floor board an effectual shade is made. We 
have used, with success, a kind of round jacket made of zinc, 
standing upon the floor-board, and covered by the milk-pans. 
A few holes at the top edge of the jacket let out all the hot 
air, the place of which is supplied from the entrance to it, 
which is made about eight inches broad, and six high, and 
is covered by a projecting piece which keeps the alighting 
board, by the hive entrance, quite dry. This jacket may be 
made of oil-cloth, stiffened by ribs of wood. here milk- 
pans cannot be procured, hackles, such as those described, 
if properly secured against the wind, are the best substitutes. 
Adapting Boards .—Several of these will be required; one, 
at the least, for each hive, and each top hive : they may be 
made of pieces of j-ineh mahogany, or pine, some of the 
same diameter as the stock, others ol the same diameter as 
the top hives, each having a four-inch circular hole in the 
centre. 
Water Pans .—Where brooks or ponds are not plentiful, 
water must be given to the bees in the summer months. It 
may be given in any brown shallow pan or trough, filled 
with good sized pebbles and moss, which will act as stand¬ 
ing places for the bees. The water must bo changed every 
day or two. Caro must be taken not to cover over the tops 
of the pebbles, or they will be useless to the bees. Instead 
of using stones and moss, a kind of raft may be made by 
tying or nailing strips of light wood each about one inch 
broad, and an inch shorter than the breadth of the pan, at 
inch distances along two other pieces of wood, each about 
an inch shorter than the length of the pan : this raft should 
be well painted, or the wood will become saturated and 
sink: an adaptation of this raft may be used as a float for 
the feeder to be next described. 
Weighing Machine.—Wo fear that it will be out of the 
power of many of our readers to get this : if sp, they must 
rely upon their hands and judgment in ascertaining the 
weights of their several hives, taking care to under-estimate 
rather than over-estimate; after a little practice, very con¬ 
siderable accuracy of judgment may be acquired: experi¬ 
ments in weighing might be made at first with hives filled 
and partially filled with sand, which might be afterwards 
weighed in the ordinary domestic scales. 
If a spring-balance of any kind can be bought, or even 
borrowed, then a tall tripod, with stout poles, about seven 
feet long for legs (like a gigantic milking-stool in form,) 
may be made, broad enough at the base to allow of its being 
placed over the hives, and having a piece of tough wood, 
about six inches square, nailed at the bottom of each leg, to 
prevent them sinking into the ground. Under the top piece 
(which corresponds with the seat of the milking-stool, and 
should be about nine inches square, and three or tour inches 
thick) should be hung a pulley, or, even better, a set of 
pulleys, and to this pulley, or to the lower of the set of 
pulleys, should be hung the spring-balance. Four eyes 
must be screwed into the edge of each floor-board, at equal 
distance from each other, and two pieces of stout cord, each 
from four to five feet in length, with a hook firmly fastened 
to each end of each piece must be provided, and each ot 
these pieces must be run through the ring in the moveable 
part ol' the balance. The method of using this apparatus 
is pretty obvious,'will be detailed in section 4. We are in¬ 
debted to the “ Country Curate,” for this idea of a tripod; 
though his is much more neatly and tastily made than that 
here described, which, however, it is believed, will be found 
equally useful with his. 
Feeders .—As all food must be given at the top of the hive, 
and in large quantities when given in the autumn, large 
feeders arc necessary. The simplest way to make them is 
to take a piece of wood, about eight inches square, and half- 
an-inch thick, and a strip of tin or zinc, equal in length to 
the four sides of the wood, and about four inches deep ; then 
get one of the round German lucifer match-boxes, cut off 
the bottom of it, and make a hole about three inches from 
the edge of the eight-inch square piece of wood, just large 
enough to fit the part on which the lid of the lucifer-box 
would shut; fit this firmly into the hole, and you have a 
tube, up which, when placed over the centre hole of the 
hive, the bees can ascend. Nail a strip of zinc all round the 
piece of wood, take it to the tinman, and get him to solder 
up the fourth side. You will then have a box with a pipe 
standing up in it, three inches from one side, five inches 
from the other, counting from the centre of the pipe. Two 
inches from the side on which you have the five-inch space, 
have fixed another bit of tin or zino running all across the 
box, and to within an eighth-of-an-inch of its bottom ; next, 
procure a piece of thin cork as large as the division ol the 
box in which is the pipe; if a piqce so large is not to be 
procured, stitch several smaller pieces together, cut a hole 
in the centre of it just large enough to fall easily over the 
pipe, bore it full of small holes with%n awl, and burn these 
holes clean with a red hot iron wire, and you will have a 
float; paint the box and the float well inside and out, 
taking care not to stop up the holes in the float; get a piece 
of thin glass rather larger than the box, and you will have a 
feeder as complete and handy as any that can be made, and 
capable of holding four or five pounds of food. To use it, 
place it over the centre hole in the hive, with the narrow 
division towards the back of the hive, slip the piece of glass 
forward, and pour in the food, it will pass under the division, 
and raise the float. 
(To he continued.) 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writersof 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster How, London." 
Cochin-China Fowls (R. P., Ebnstcad).—See what is said to-day 
about their merits editorially. Some of the sisters of the Uorking- 
breasted cock there mentioned, and some of the produce of the imported 
hen, will'll e sold at Mr. Stevens’s Auction Rooms on the 24th instant. 
W. Adams.— The Authoress of“Mv Flowers” offers her grateful 
l thanks, and those of the recipients of the Christmas donation, to “ C.” 
She has presumed to use her own judgment in one case, and trusts for 
forgiveness. The “ Widow Indeed” is so liberally provided for, that the 
half-crown meant for her was added to that of the “ Poor Widow,” whose 
eves rained tears of gratitude for the blessing, for the season was very 
cold and trying. May an hundredfold be returned into that bosom 
which so kindly remembers the poor. 
Guano (Homo).— R. Errington begs to inform this inquirer, that the 
party he alluded to uses about two hundredweight to the statute acre of 
