July 25.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
259 
were duly cooped, and in a few days the lesser brood went 
over to the larger through some mysterious influences; the 
bereaved mother did not take the matter to heart, and when 
liberated from her maternal cares seemed quite happy. The 
other hen took care of the united families with perfect good 
humour. It is curious that turkey chicks should thus trans¬ 
fer then- affections from one mother to another, and that 
turkey lions should seem to have no objection to admitting 
under then- wings the broods of other hens. Perhaps in 
this instance there was something harsh or forbidding in 
the treatment of the deserted mother, or repulsive in her 
voice, whereas the other hen might have possessed the con¬ 
trary qualities—or it might have been a natural tendency of 
the lesser number to combine with the greater. 
Fowls : Hatching.— The habits, the waywardness, and 
caprices of fowls, are curious subjects of observation, and 
even after much attention are sometimes mysterious and 
inexplicable. We have had two recent cases of perplexity. 
A young Dorking hen, manifesting a strong desire to sit, 
was entrusted by us with eleven eggs, which were placed in a 
nest in a retired corner of an unused brewliouse. She sat 
very steadily, sometimes without leaving the nest for four 
successive (lays. Two of the eggs were accidentally broken 
at an early period; there remained nine to be accounted for. 
Four or live days before the full time of incubation, the nest 
was examined, and seven eggs only were in it; the hen re¬ 
mained on the nest immovably until the full time for the 
appearance of the brood had arrived, when lo! four eggs 
more bad entirely disappeared. There remained one broken 
shell, from which a chick had issued, and two addled eggs ! 
Now, besides the obvious illustration of the proverb, “do 
not reckon your chickens before they are hatched," there 
remains an unexplained mystery, what became of the six 
eggs of which no trace remained ? Did the hen eat them to 
the very last atom, or did a rat or rats remove them from 
under her ? The hen remained on two or three occasions 
so many days without quitting the nest for the corn and 
water which was on the floor beneath, that it is not impro¬ 
bable she had found sustenance from the indulgence of an 
unnatural appetite; yet would she not have left some little 
evidence of her crime in a fragment of shell, a bit of yolk, or 
a feather or membrane of the destroyed chick ? Besides, 
though hens may have been known to eat eggs over and above 
the number which they could properly cover and warm, have 
they been known to eat those which were not in excess, and 
on which they had been patiently sitting ? Rats are sup¬ 
posed to have the power of carrying off eggs unbrokeu with 
then’ mouth and paw or paws ; and hens, which w'oifld resist 
then - attacks on living chicks, might not venture to contend 
with them when stealing their eggs. We have never seen a 
rat where the lien sat. But on the other hand, what then 
became of the eggs, which were of no value to any human 
robber ? 
THE BEE-KEEPER’S CALENDAR.— August. 
By ./. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-keeper's 
Guide," Ac. 
Those persons who, in this unpropitious season for bees, 
have been so fortunate as to get their glasses tilled with 
honey will now be preparing to take them off; but I would 
recommend every one to do it with great caution ; and not 
only first to weigh the matter well in their own minds, but 
also to weigh their hives, and if it can be satisfactorily proved 
that they will contain twenty pounds of honey each when the 
glasses are removed, all well; but if not, let the glass or box 
remain upon the stock hive until the bees have emptied it of 
its honey, — as soon as that is ascertained let it be removed. 
Some persons having found much difficulty in expelling 
the bees from a glass or box after haring removed it from 
the stock-hive, and others who have complained of the time 
occupied in effecting this object, may adopt the following 
very ingenious and useful apparatus invented by Mr. An- 
tram, a clergyman of Devonshire, and which has been kindly 
handed to me with his permission to make it public. It 
is a contrivance for emptying a hive of its occupants; it 
may also be applied to a bell-glass or box, either at top or 
attached to a board on which the removed glass is placed ; 
he calls it his 
Bee Trap ; and it is, he says, “ an invention for taking the 
honey from every description of double hive, which is not 
only simple, but very efficacious, and entertaining to watch. 
I should premise, that every extra box or hive must be fur¬ 
nished with a second aperture, never to be opened except 
when the honey is to be taken. Provide a block of wood 
one inch longer, and half an inch deeper than the aperture, 
and three or four inches wide; cut the front to an angle of 
45 degrees, or less, then cut out of the under part a groove 
the exact size of the aperture, thus leaving a thickness of 
half an inch of wood at the sides and top. Get a piece of 
talc or very thin horn (glass is too heavy), cement or gum it 
to a piece of ribbon, which latter fasten to what remains of 1 
the sloping front above; divide the talc into portions about 
■a quarter of an inch wide; a tin bottom should be affixed to j 
the whole, to which the talc must reach, and on which it j 
must rest. 
When you wish to empty a hive place this before the 
opening before-mentioned, and cut off the communication j 
between the hives ; the bees seeing the light will one by one 
push up the small pieces of talc and escape ; the talc falls 
back in its place, thus there is no re-entering, and your hive 
becomes rapidly emptied. There is here no previous re¬ 
moving of the hive or box, no danger of a sting, and no fear 
of robbers ; even if the queen be there, she, finding herself 
deserted by her subjects, will soon depart, and re-enter the 
stock-hive by the accustomed entrance; it acts upon the 
same principle as the old wire rat trap. Two loops of tin, with 
holes through, are added to fasten or suspend it, when there 
is no alighting board. It may be placed on the top of a box, 
but must then have a hole in the bottom, and a slip of tin 
by way of a back; the tin bottom may project a little beyond 
the lower edge of the talc in front, and indeed it is better 
so." 
This useful contrivance I feel assured will be adopted by 
many persons, for it will entirely prevent the tediousness of 
watching a glass of honey until the bees have left it, which 
without this protection is at all times necessary, and more 
especially so when taken late in the season and robbers are 
on every side. I have more than once seen a good glass of 
honey emptied of every drop by them when carelessly left 
by its owner for a few hours; now, with this trap attached, it 
may be left even for days with perfect safety. 
I have just been seeing what to me was a very pleasing 
sight, and would in a measure, lam sure, be so to every' one, j 
it was the apiary of a cottager, consisting of upwards of sixty 
hives, all well managed upon the depriving system, for he 
has not destroyed any bees for many years. I saw some 
beautiful specimens of honey in boxes holding about six 
pounds each, that were taken off about the middle of June ; 
some of them were curiously fine. The neatness and the air of 
comfort pervading his cottage was quite as gratifying to me 
as the sight of his well managed and extensive apiary. His 
bees, without any doubt, were the means of affording him 
many comforts, but there was also another source from which 
they flowed, for upon the table I espied the family Bible, 
which appeared to be but just closed after the morning’s 
gathering around the family altar—for my visit was early. 
I came home much delighted, and, I trust, profited by my 
call; and with the determination of going on to say, as I 
have already done, in the words of the good old bishop— 
Keep bees! keep bees! 
I must still go on to say, that the season here has been a 
very unpropitious one for bees; the sudden changes from 
heat to cold have been very unusual. On the 22nd of June 
the heat was so intense that the bees almost forsook their 
hives for clustering on the outsides; and on the 25th it 
became so cold that a frost at night was anticipated. But the 
season for honey-gathering has not been so bad everywhere 
I am happy to find, for whilst writing this paper a letter 
reaches me from a kindly-disposed brother apiarian in Wilt¬ 
shire, whose name I have never before seen; but who, on 
reading my “ gloomy prospects ” in the apiarian's calendar 
for last mouth, very kindly gives me a most cheering accoimt 
of his own apiary, as well as of those of some of his pa¬ 
rishioners, “ to cheer me,” he says, “ in my gloom.” His 
account is so very different from what I have received from 
many other districts, that for the encouragement of other 
desponding ones I will relate it. 
He says, “ I was in hopes that all bee-masters were re- 
