386 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 18. 
alive into Europe; but before reaching Ivnowsley the hen 
died. She differed from other hen pheasants, in having 
brilliant spangles on her back. Her remains have passed 
into the hands of the Liverpool Corporation, with the rest of 
the Ivnowsley Museum. From observing its natural affinity, 
j Lord Derby determined to place the surviving cock with a 
common pheasant hen. It cannot he doubted that these 
two species are as radically and primitively distinct, as the 
jackdaw and the rook, or the rabbit and the hare; still, half- 
bred young were produced. Next year these half-bred hens 
were placed with the original Japanese bird, and again young 
were obtained, still nearer approaching to their Asiatic 
parentage. The catalogue of the Ivnowsley sale gives a 
table of these various degrees of consanguinity, the nearest 
being scarcely, if at all, distinguishable by the eye from 
genuine and thorough-bred Versicolor pheasants. The 
various degrees, too, as far as was tried, were capable of 
interbreeding both with each other, and with either parent 
stock. Those, howevei - , most approaching to the common 
sort, were not further cultivated, but were turned off into the 
woods. Those which take most after their exotic ancestry 
are, it may be supposed, of considerable value, both from 
their rarity and their interest. 
This is only one of the many problems which might have 
been worked out, had not the course of nature, and the hour 
which comes to all men, abruptly terminated the many inte¬ 
resting inquiries that were dependent on the life of the noble 
lord. It would indicate an unwise, perhaps an irreligious, 
temper to express regret at changes which the course of 
time brings about. To different men, different pursuits and 
a different career is allotted. All cannot be statesmen, all 
cannot be naturalists or cultivators of the elegancies of life, 
j Enough, if what a man puts his hand to do, he does it with 
J all his might, and in a worthy spirit. Of the late Earl 
i of Derby it may be said, that his princely menagerie, now 
dispersed, was no show affair for ostentation’s sake, but that 
he cultivated it and studied it, with the diffident and cautious 
spirit of a learner, to the very last. His mind was clear to 
observe, and quick to appreciate, the value of facts that 
would have escaped ordinary lookers on. He was ready to 
communicate, and liberal in bestowing, both his knowledge 
and his superabundant specimens to such persons as, in his 
discretion, he deemed worthy of the favour. And though of j 
late years much withdrawn from society by age and grievous 
bodily infirmity, his amiability and cheerfulness caused a 
deep regret at his loss. “ Dear Lord Derby! ” feelingly 
wrote one who knew him long and well, “ he never made an 
enemy, and never lost a friend.” D. 
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE 
MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 
By Henry Wenman Newman, Esq. 
SWARMING. 
(Continued from page 375.) 
I omitted to mention, one of the symptoms of a swarm 
being ready in some of the hives is, when scouts are seen 
busy at an empty hive going in and out. If the hive has no 
vestige of old combs, it is a most favourable sign ; but, fre- ■ 
! quently, when old combs are left in a hive, bees will come to I 
j plunder them, even although they contain no honey. I have 
I known many swarms enter the leads of an old church ; in 
this case nothing but the fumes of tobacco will displace 
| them. By the way, the smoker will be pleased when it is 
told him that in all dangerous operations there is nothing so 
good a preventive of stinging as a cigar, or a tobacco pipe, in 
the mouth of the operator. 
One swarm I had in 1847 went off with two queens, one 
of whom fell short on the ground ; she had but a very few 
followers. On taking her up, I found that she had defective 
wings. I tried to place her in two hives which had not 
swarmed, but she was rejected by them all. I then tried 
her with the new swarm, but they would not receive her. I 
then returned her into the original hive where she came 
| from, and she remained at the entrance of the hive a long 
| time, with a large crowd of bees round her; after a long 
consultation the bees let her drop from the bunch of bees, 
which did not hurt her; none of the strange bees whom she 
was placed before attempted to do her much harm. 
The same year I had a swarm came off and settled on a 
tree, they did not remain long, but went back to the hive. I 
suspected they had lost their queen; the second day my man 
found her dead body, surrounded by about a dozen bees; 
and some bees visited the spot for three or four days alter ! 
Such is their veneration for their queen. 
In a newspaper I saw an account of a swarm which came 
off on the 31st March. On particular inquiry, I found out 
by a letter from the owner to me, that the bees had deserted 
their hive, having had their combs destroyed by moths. 
In all the matters concerning swarming, the bee-master 
ought to be as cool and collected as possible, for the bees 
will seldom sting at this time; and, as I have observed 
before, 1 find it the best mode, having a large garden, to 
place the swarm within a yard or two of the place where 
they settle ; as, by these means, scarcely a bee is lost, and 
their labours are not interrupted by removal to a distant spot. 
The earliest time I ever knew of a swarm in Gloucester¬ 
shire was the 30th April, and the latest the 15tli July. In 
the Island of Jersey I was present at a swarm coming off on 
the 1st August. 
It is of little use to place hives in the garden in time of 
swarming. I have often had several empty hives placed in 
trees and bushes when my bees have been ready to swarm, 
but have never once found them to take possession of one 
of them. I have often seen bees looking out for a place 
during swarming, or, what some writers term sending out 
“ spies and quartermasters.” I had an old hive full of combs, 
which was deserted ; the bees came about this for several 
days, but, strange to say, after all a swarm went off, and 
they alighted on the under part of the stand, and never 
entered the hive at all. 
I have never yet, as far as my own experience goes, found 
a swarm go off to take possession of some hole or corner, 
without first settling, near the parent hive, on some tree or 
bush; nor can I learn from auy bee-keeper that they ever 
did. I had a stock of my own which once deserted the hive 
and took possession of a chimney. I had been playing tricks 
•with them, by cutting out nine-tenths of their combs. 
The swarming generally commences about the middle or 
end of May, when the country is in all its beauty and clad in 
its loveliest attire. It ought to end by the middle of June. 
“ Oh month of many blossoms, thou dost come 
In all thy summer beauty, like a bride 
Whose hair is wreathed with roses ; the gay hum 
Of bees doth greet thee; thou hast well supplied 
The busy labourers with a countless sum 
Of flowers, expanding now on every side 
To thy sweet breath, in garden, mead, and vale, 
On mossy bank, wild heath, and wooded dale.” 
J. Day. 
A few years ago a swarm came away from one of my hives 
and settled on the branch of a high tree. After a great 
deal of labour and time they were hived, but appeared very 
restless. Next morning I visited them early and found 
them working, but on looking under the hive, I found two 
young queens lying dead, which the bees had killed and 
thrown out: consequently no less than three queens went 
out with this swarm ; it is quite plain, therefore, that during 
the swarming season a plurality of queens is permitted by 
the bees. 
I firmly believe that the swarming is the grand marriage- 
day of the queen, and that she is so surrounded by guards on 
this occasion that it is next to an impossibility to discern 
the rites. When a queen has fallen short in swarming, you 
generally find her surrounded by about from twenty to thirty 
working bees, who will not desert her: the rest of the 
swarm search often in vain for her, and after a while return 
to the old hives. On one occasion, when a man in my 
employ, by accident, trod on a queen which had fallen short, 
and killed her, I discovered, three days after, a few bees in 
a cluster on the ground, and on examining it, I found the 
dead body of the queen which had been accidentally killed. 
DRESSING OF AURICULAS. 
This is not like dressing of dahlias, for there is no 
disguising. It is simply placing the pips edge to edge, 
which extends the truss to its full size, whereas, if they 
fold over each other, half their beauty is destroyed ; 
still it is far better to adjust the pips as they open. 
