Aprtl 11.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEll. 
BEES IN AN OLD IITVE. 
A nameless correspondent in your 74tli number, wishes to 
be informed how to act in the matter of his large box-hive, 
; which gave two enormous swarms last summer, and weighed 
at the commencement of winter about 0011), and which he 
1 desires to renovate and alter. The best plan by far, I be- 
i lieve, is that recommended by l>r. Scudamore, of Canterbury 
j (of whose work I spoke favourably on a former occasion, see 
j page 20'!), by which not only will the stock be saved, and 
an early harvest of honey be gathered in, but it may be made 
to swarm twice before the let of June, if the stock be in a 
healthy state, and the queen moderately prolific. 
As soon as the first drone appears in the hive, a swarm may 
be got from it on the first calm and warm day, by turning the 
hive up at night, steadying it on a table, applying a box 
of the same diameter and form to its base, so exactly, that 
not a bee may escape, and tapping lightly, but quickly, 
against the sides of the lower and full box. In a very few 
minutes the queen and the major part of her subjects will 
have ascended into the empty box. Let two sheets of zinc, of 
sufficient thickness, be passed between the boxes, and let them 
be separated. The new box may then be placed on the old 
stand, where, as a new swarm, it will begin instantly to work, 
whilst the old box is removed to a new stand at as great a dis¬ 
tance as possible from its former situation. Of course, if it 
be desirable to hive the driven swarm into any other box or 
hive than that into which it was driven, it may be knocked 
out of it the next day, upon a sheet spread on the ground, 
in front of the particular habitation destined for its reception, 
which must previously be set on the sheet, with one of its 
sides somewhat elevated from the ground by a stick or wedge, 
and the bees will quickly enter into it. 
At the time this operation was performed—let us say it 
was done on the 3rd of May, the drones having appeared 
about a week—there ought to be a young queen in the hive 
within about 15 days of her birth (it may be less or more), in 
which case, as the young queen does not commence laying 
till five or six days have elapsed, it will usually happen, that 
not an egg has been laid in the hive for three weeks, or there¬ 
abouts ; consequently, at the end of that time there will be but 
few unhatched bees of the old brood, and only a few eggs or 
very young grubs in the hive. Now, therefore, is the time 
(as soon as a warm day presents) for forming the second 
swarm, according to the method before recommended for the 
exclusion of the first, when almost every bee will follow its 
young queen, and the hive will be left deserted. Those 
which remain among the combs will be too few to annoy the 
operator, who may proceed to cut out the combs and take 
what honey they contain. 
It may so happen, however, that the hive swarms voluntarily 
before the operator has driven them out by force. In the 
i first instance, so much the better (though let him see that the 
swarm does not perish for want of food, because ot ungenial 
weather) ; in the other instance, some little attention is re¬ 
quired. Supposing, therefore, that a second swarm issues 
(which will generally be the case if the first swarm issued in 
the natural way, though rarely, when compelled to migrate) be¬ 
fore the operator’s assistance was rendered them ; it is clear 
that a third or fourth swarm may he thrown otf within a few 
days, or at all events that a young queen will have been 
laying for a fortnight or more, so that the hive will be again 
filled with brood of all ages. In this case, I believe no rules 
can be laid down for the guidance of the hive owner, as it is 
doubtful whether he could so act, as to ensure at this season 
the attainment of his three fold object, viz.: the preservation of 
his bees, the early harvest of his honey, and the breaking up 
of his hive. What I would advise, therefore, is, that if the 
hive should swarm a third or fourth time, these colls (as 
they are called) be united to some other and weak stock 
when the. new and young queen will yenerally usurp the 
throne of her weaker rival, or be returned to the parent stock, 
(after fumigation of the colt to the destruction of its queen), 
which must he preserved as a working stock till the middle 
of August. It may then be fumigated or driven (as re 
commended before), and the bees so saved be united to some 
other stock ; or, having been strengthened by the union of one, 
or two, or more tribes of expatriated bees, be returned to the old 
hive, after it has been emptied, cleansed, and altered, and fed 
liberally, and treated generously, as f myself did a united 
colony of -preserved bees last autumn, and which are now 
25 
(March 2nd) in full strength and vigour.* I would treat 
your stock, in a similar way, supposing no swarms issued 
after the second, which, however, was thrown off naturally 
after the forcible ejection of the first swarm, because, ten to 
one, the hive will be full of brood of all ages. 
While I am writing on this subject I wish to add a few J 
words about my feeding-trough, which was described in your 
74th Number. The “cylindrical tube of zinc ” there men¬ 
tioned, will be better made to descend half an inch into the I 
hive, and to ascend not more than one inch into the feeder; 
and it would be a great advantage and assistance to the bees 
if a tube of wood were made exactly to fit the inner side of 
the cylinder, about the sixth of an inch in thickness. The 
corks or wood affixed to the under side of the perforated 
zinc plate (wood would he better than zinc for this purpose 
;/’ it could be prevented from warping) ought not to be more 
than a quarter of an inch thick, and it ought to be painted ' 
or charred with fire to render it impermeable by the liquor; | 
otherwise it increases in weight, and the plate will be j 
flooded —a thing carefully to be avoided at all times. 
I will say a word about my apiary, according to promise, 
before I conclude, so that I may not trouble you again too 
soon. AH my hives and colonies are in good health — the 
straw hives (D and E) being the most active. The result of 
my winter observation on the decrease in their weight is as 
follows :— 
“A,” 13 th Nov., 19 lb; 13th Feb., 14i lb; diminution, 1) lb per month. 
“b’” 28 th Sept., 2Slb; 28th Feb., lfijlb ; do. lijlb >, 
“C,” 13th Nov., 23lb; 13th Feb., 2l|lb ; do. 1 1-6 lb „ 
By this it would appear that “ B,” which was the most nu¬ 
merous, consumed the greatest quantity of food; but it must 
not be lost sight of that the largest consumption would have 
occurred in October and the early part of November; last 
month it had diminished in weight only 1§ lb, which seems 
to confirm this belief.—A Country Create. 
THE CHOICE OF A HUNTER. 
Ix a paper on “ The Choice of a Hackney,” published in Thf, 
Domestic Economist, we omitted to state an essential quali¬ 
fication which, however, in the eye of every horseman must 
have been fully implied by our other observations ; we refer to 
that sine qua non in a hackney, lean oblique shoulders. The 
shape of the shoulder-blade should be well displayed, and not 
hidden under a mass of useless material which is found in 
heavy-shouldered horses. The withers should be high, and 
should gradually decline towards the back, which formation 
secures a proper resting place for the saddle, and prevents 
it slipping forwards. It also implies an extension of the 
scapula or shoulder-blade, the existence of which very much 
governs the proper action of the fore limbs, and causes the 
animal to be both a good walker and trotter, and at the same 
time secures safely, by preventing the fore legs from being 
placed too much under the body. 
The observations which we have made under the preceding 
head, will very much break the ground for the consideration 
of the other subjects of our notice, and more particularly for 
that which will next engage our attention, viz., The Choice 
of a Hunter. 
Bearing in mind the many desirable qualifications which 
we have deemed essential for the hackney, it will be desirable 
to retain them, or as many of them as possible, in the 
hunter; but, in addition, we must have both strength, and 
speed, and bottom. For the two latter acquisitions, breeding 
is required; and when this is combined with substance enough 
to carry from 14 to l(i stone, we have that magnificent animal 
which no other country in the world can produce, the three- 
parts-bred hunter. 
The old hunter of the last century was a somewhat different 
animal. When the huntsman’s horn was heard at peep of 
day, neither the horse, nor the master, nor the hounds, had 
any idea of a run of some thirty or forty minutes duration, 
during which a distance of ten or fifteen miles might have 
been traversed with the speed of the wind. The hound 
was a larger and slower animal, and consequently the great 
speed was not demanded in the horse; strength and en¬ 
durance being for the most part required. The improvement 
of the speed in the horse and the hound kept pace with each 
other, as they were required to keep pace in the field; but 
* See page 203 of this year’s volume. 
