26 A 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 29, 1861. 
slaty blue without any other colour, very handsome, and more 
prized than the more common hare grey. These we called Ostend 
Blues, but I have had both colours from the same litter. I sup¬ 
pose these are what your correspondent calls Patagonians, I con¬ 
clude, from their great size; but I do not think the name very 
appropriate. # 
1 8th. The last variety I am acquainted with is that which 1 
kept as a boy in Germany, and is, I believe, the same lately 
mentioned as the Dutch Rabbits. They were rather small, 
healthy, hardy, and prolific, good eating, having a thick loin ; 
generally whole-coloured, as grey, sandy, black, or blue, though 
not uncommon with one fore leg and shoulder white—sometimes 
the white formed a collar round the neck. I do not recollect 
seeing them of any other marking. 
I have heard of Spanish and Russian Rabbits, but I do not 
know anything of them, or if they are at all different, or only 
other names for some of those already mentioned. Your cor¬ 
respondent who has been a Rabbit fancier for thirty years has 
the advantage of me, as he says he has kept ten different kinds. 
Will he oblige by describing those that I have omitted ? and if 
.any reader knows any kinds that I have not named, I should be 
pleased to have a description of them.—B. P. Brent. 
GUINEA PIGS. 
I was rather astonished at the account of the precocity and 
fecundity of Guinea Pigs, as stated in The Cottage Gardener 
of January 22nd. I have kept and bred many Guinea Pigs at 
different times: I never recollect a sow breeding so young as two 
months. The period of gestation has puzzled me exceedingly. 
T am of the opinion that it varies much according to tempera¬ 
ture ; but mine went much nearer two months than three weeks. 
Mine have had from one to five young ones at a birth, though I 
remember a doe my father had many years back had seven or 
eight at a litter, but it nearly caused her death, and all the hair 
tell off her legs and stomach.—B. P. Brent. 
[The number of their litters, and the period of gestation are 
very powerfully influenced by the temperature in which the 
Guinea Pigs are kept. If their hutch is in a heated room, such 
as a stove or warm greenhouse, they multiply most rapidly, and 
..at a much earlier age than if kept in a cold outhouse.— Eds.] 
BEES. 
What ought I to do (if anything can be done), with a common 
.straw hive, a last year’s swarm of good strength, in which within 
this week all the combs but one have been shaken down, and 
-are lying in confusion on the floor-board, with the stored sugar 
drenching the board ? 
Can you tell me how the set of four octagon Stewarton hives 
-are used ? Are the three placed collaterally, and the super placed 
over the centre one ? 
Are bees found to work as well in frame-hives all glass, as in 
.dark ones ?—J. R. B. 
[If your bees are still living you cannot do better than take 
.-advantage of the first fine and mild day to carry out the recom- 
•mendations given in page 98 of our present volume. 
Stewarton boxes are storiflers, and are not intended to be used 
collaterally. 
Bec 3 will work in the light if the direct rays of the sun are 
excluded; but it appears so contrary to their natural habits 
that we cannot believe they will do as well as in the darkness of 
an ordinary hive. 
Poultry advertisements are 3s. 6cZ. for sixty words; and 6d. 
extra for every twelve words above that number.] 
MR. HARRISON’S AMERICAN BOOK ON BEES. 
It is to be regretted that any new publication should have the 
effect of lowering our estimation of the wonderful instinct of hive 
bees. Mr. Harrison, in his work, would seem to rob the bees 
of their virtues, and treats their instinct as entirely mechanical. 
He denies that the queen mother lays eggs in the royal cells, 
and seems to doubt whether she lays drone eggs ! 
It has been clearly proved by all the best writers and close 
observers that the queen mother lays the whole of the eggs in 
a hive, but at different periods of the breeding season, the eggs 
of the males being laid last. The theory of Mr. Harrison 
reduces the hive bee to the level of wasps and humble bees, 
which late in the summer hatch females larger than the workers. 
These lay eggs; and neither of the last two insects lay up any 
store of honey, but remain dormant in the winter—the greatest 
part of them away from the original nest. During the swarming 
season, to show the homage paid to the queen by hive bees, 
frequently two queens leave the hive at the same time. The 
swarms separate, and assemble on different branches or places 
many yards apart, and might be hived separately, but often in 
too few numbers to make two good swarms ; but, if united, one 
queen is selected. 
Mr. Harrison is incorrect when he says that no sovereignty 
is exercised by the queen bee over the workers. He is wrong, 
also, when he declares that the entire economy of the colony is 
directed by the worker bees—the presence of the queen is 
necessary for other purposes than merely laying eggs. The 
time of laying eggs is not entirely controlled by the workers— 
the eggs are deposited by the queen in the royal cells ; and it 
has been clearly proved that more homage is paid to the queen 
mother than that shown merely as the mother of the hive. The 
workers in traversing the combs never, on meeting the queen, 
walk over her person, as they do over that of a worker or a drone. 
I will relate some more facts respecting the homage paid to 
the queen bee, particularly at the time of swarming. 
The great homage paid to the queen mother of the hive at 
swarming is certainly most remarkable, as the workers will 
visit the branch of the tree, or any other spot on which the 
royal footsteps have trodden, for some days after. I do not 
agree with any writer who endeavours to lessen our admi¬ 
ration of the adoration paid to the mother bee: it has been 
immortalised in the Georgies of Yirgil and other great writers 
up to this period. In the unicomb-hive, when the queen bee is 
traversing the combs, the moment she approaches the workers 
invariably turn their heads towards her, and make way for her. 
And how often have I seen a few faithful followers on the ground 
surrounding a queen when she has fallen short in swarming, 
from defective wings or otherwise, twenty-four hours after a 
swarm has issued and returned to the hive! Is this paying no 
more respect than what is mentioned by Mr. Harrison ? The 
whole process of swarming abounds with that wonderful instinct 
and apparent attachment to the queen mother which so peculiarly 
stamp the hive bee.—II. W. Newman, Hillside , Cheltenham. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Black Rot in Spanish—Deficiency of Eggs—Number of Hens for 
a Cockerel [I. R. B.). —We know no disease in fowls called “theblacks.” 
There is a malady to which Spanish are subject, which has been called the 
“Black Rot,” and which is inevitably fatal. No other fowl ever has it. 
As you state the disease from which your fowls suffer derives its name 
from the colour of the head, we are disposed to believe they are suffering 
from indigestion, or frost, or they are crop-bound. The first and last may 
arise from improper food, or improper fending. In both cases you must 
administer castor oil freely. If they are in moderate condition, they will, 
doubtless, lay now, and would have done so before but for the severity of 
the weather. Our own hatched in May have been laying tbe last six 
weeks. As a rule, eggs have been unusually scatce with every one. You 
must give castor oil every other day, and feed well on ground oats and 
bread and beer till the blackness has left the deseased birds. We answer 
your last question in the affirmative, four hens would be quite enough for 
one cockerel eight months old. 
Moisture Inside a Hen-house (Constant Reader, Manchester).— After 
severe frost when a thaw arrives, there will always be an abundant depo¬ 
sition of moisture from the air within any room not heated. We see it 
constantly in the rooms and passages of dwelling-houses. If, however, 
the deposition of moisture continues in your hen-house, unless the weather 
also continues foggy and damp, it will be evidence that the soil is very wet 
and requires draining. 
Poultry by Railway (M. IT.). —There was no fault with the Secretary 
of the Poultry Show at the Crystal Palace. The neglect was at the London 
Bridge station of the railway company. Any one who sustained a loss by 
such neglect should sue the company in the County Court. 
Bird-stuffing (J. Wilson). —Capt. Brown’s “ Taxidermist’s Manual,” 
will suit you, probably. 
Rabbit Hutch (C.A.). —In our No. 431, you will find a drawing and 
directions for making one. In a few weeks more notes upon the subject 
will appear, in due course, in the work upon Rabbits which we have just 
commenced publishing. 
Rabbit Variety (- ).—We know a gentleman whe would be glad to 
have the variety you mention. We shall readily obtain any information 
you need about birds, but cannot venture to recommend any fancier. Any 
gentleman’s gardener would let you have a few cuttings, &e.; but it would 
not do for him to sell you seeds, &c. That would not be just, eilher to his 
master or to the trade. Your other questions will be answered next week. 
For full directions which you need, buy our “ Window-Gardening for the 
Many.” 
