344 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 5, 1861. 
Bcented with a few drops of essence of peppermint. Now lift 
out the frames of comb and bees from either hive, and place 
them within the other, and the operation of uniting them is 
done. There will be no need of looking for either of the queens, 
unless one be an old and the other a young queen, in which case 
the combs should be examined, and the old queen removed or , 
killed; for there will only one remain as soon as the queens come 
in contact. All being scented alike by means of the essence, | 
they will unite with but little contention. 
Now, how shall we feed them so that they will have a suffi¬ 
ciency to winter them, as they have only about 10 lbs. “ Two 
of them are heavy and populous,” and hence ought to spare at 
least a frame each, full of honey. The frames I use hold about 
7 lbs. each : hence two frames added to the duplex colony would 
make their stores equal to 24 lbs.—the requisite quantity in 
general to winter them safely. This method of feeding bees 
saves them labour; besides, bees from neighbouring stocks will 
not be induced to rob them, as when fed as the writer of the 
above article recommends. It will also be observed that this 
writer says that one swarm has from “ 5 lbs. to 8 lbs. of honey— 
about half enough to winter them on.” Where he resides this may 
be true, but in a majority of the northern states it would be 
about one-third, as it is not safe to have much less than 25 lbs. 
—M. M. Baldridge, Middle-port, Niagara Co ., N.T .— (Prairie 
Farmer.) 
[The proposition to make use of the scent of peppermint for 
the purpose of facilitating the autumnal union of weak stocks 
has at any rate the merit of novelty. It is also possible that it 
may not be without its use in some cases, although when bees 
arc once subdued by smoke of any kind, there is little fear of a 
serious quan’el in uniting. What substance may come under 
the denomination of “punk” we have no means of determining, 
but should not be surprised to find it an American synonyme for 
cowdung or something of that kind. 
Our friends on the other side of the Atlantic have, doubtless, 
excellent honey-harvests, although the long winter of the northern 
states is pretty clearly hinted at in the estimate of 24 lbs. of 
honey being required to provision each colony. That their hives 
are larger than our English ones, is also tolerably evident from 
the fact that each comb when full is expected to weigh about 
7 lbs., and that “heavy and populous” stocks, “ought to spare 
at least a frame each full of honey ” without injury. 
Hives having moveable frames are stated to be “ all the rage ” 
in America, and there can be no doubt that bar-hives of some 
sort are absolutely essentials in scientific bee-keeping. Hives 
with moveable frames instead of simple bars have recently been 
highly lauded as facilitating the extraction of combs—not, 
perhaps, without some show of reason ; although any one ac¬ 
customed to the manipidation of comb-bars, may be excused for 
smiling at the trivial nature of the difficulty which is thus sup¬ 
posed to be overcome. On the other side must be set the in¬ 
conveniences arising from the increased size of boxes which is 
rendered necessary by the use of frames, to say nothing of their 
greater cost, whilst back and front windows are rendered almost 
useless from affording little more than an exterior view of a 
wide-barred wooden gridiron.—A Devonshire Bee-keeper.] 
HOW IT FARED WITH “33. & W.’s” APIARY 
IN 1860. 
It is a long time since I have troubled the columns of The 
Cottage Gardener, whence, perhaps, your readers may have 
inferred that, having too sad a tale of disaster as an apiarian to 
communicate, I have on that account continued silent. It is not 
so, however; since, on comparing notes with various apiarian 
friends, I find I have cause to congratulate myself on the 
reasonable amount of success which I have met with. I can, 
indeed, speak of previous disappointments, for never before in 
all my experience as a bee-keeper did a month of May leave me 
so rich in well-stored and well-peopled stock as last May, or so 
hopeful of the coming honey-harvest. My six colonies on the 
1st of June occupied and well filled eighteen boxes and glasses 
between them, in several of which they had constructed a large 
quantity of comb which appeared fairly stored with honey. This 
honey being collected chiefly, I imagine, from the apple blossoms, 
which were magnificently abundant in our orchards. June, 
however, with its almost incessant rains completely changed the 
state of affairs, and left some of my stocks so pauperised that 
I was fain to feed them, when July happily brought with L it a 
fortnight of fine weather of which my bees made the most. A 
considerable quantity of honey was again collected, of which I 
plundered 29 lbs. nett from three hives, the others not being 
sufficiently well off to justify me in taking anything from them. 
Even this was more than my fair share, as I have had to feed 
two of these stocks largely and am doing so still. 
In a recent volume of The Cottage Gardener I explained 
the relative position of these six colonies in my bee-house. They 
still occupy their relative positions, the only change being that 
the left-hand stock on the lower shelf threw off a natural swarm 
(which I had encouraged it to do) on the 15tli of June, so that 
here a new queen takes the place of the old one. The other 
stocks, so far a3 I know, are under the same government as 
before. The swarm was put into a “ Tasmanian” hive, but the 
bees all died of starvation, I fear, about Christmas. I rather 
suspect the queen must have perished (probably of old age) 
some time before, as this swarm never did much, and took the 
food with which I supplied them reluctantly, nor could I find 
her among the dead. One of my original six is also weak in 
population, owing to my neglect in feeding them sufficiently 
early in autumn, in consequence of which many of the bees 
perished. They are active still, but evidently weak in numbers. 
All the rest are in good condition ; but owing to the lateness of 
the season I have seen pollen carried into one hive only as yet, 
and that not before the 18th inst. (Eebruary). Three of my 
queens must be old, and ought to be destroyed this summer.— 
B. & W. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Cochins Excessively Fat ( Fat Cochin).— You feed them too nourish- 
ingly; and although you do not mention their diet, we at once recommend 
you to give them chiefly boiled potatoes, with a very little barleymeal 
mixed with it. Do not give them satisfying meals even of that, and let 
them have a good run and plenty of green food. The killed pullet being 
internally fat “to an intense degree” tells that strong measures are 
needed to save the others. 
Egg-harvest.— Deodar says, “ Perhaps ‘Amateur’ (atpage325), would 
inform us what sort of hens his arc, how many cocks he keeps, and what 
sort of place they are kept in, &c.” 
Comb op the White Dorking (IV. II. Ileywood). —We believe we are 
quite justified in asserting that all combs are correct for Dorking fowls. 
Our best judges are of that opinion. The poultry world has its fancies 
nevertheless. The single is preferred in Grey, the double in White, and 
the cup is disliked in all. In our opinion the comb is quite a secondary 
point, and if we got large size, square shape, clean legs, good claws, and 
good carriage, we should care little for comb or colour. You must 
advertise for an exchange. 
Hens Eating their Eggs, and Laying Away ( Cock-a-doodle-doo ).— 
First, as it is believed hens eat their eggs to form the shells of others they 
intend to lay, and as it is fair to believe they would not do so if they had 
the material at hand, we advise you to supply them with bricklayer’s 
rubbish scattered or thrown in heaps about their haunts. Find out their 
laying-places, and put some hard sham eggs in their nests. Let two or 
three lie about, they will get tired of pecking at them, and they are so like, 
that even the cook may be deceived. Provided it is on our own premises, 
we care little where our hens lay; but we confine them if they lay for the 
benefit of our neighoours. Hens are not the only things that will have 
their own way, and they will. 
Bath and West op England Poultry Show (J. H. S.). — The highest 
prizes are £4. The entries close May 1st. 
Ducks (C. S. I .).— The Aylesbury are larger than the Rouen, the former 
are white, the latter are exactly like the Wild Duck. The Muscovy is 
larger than either, but its flesh is coarse and ill-flavoured. 
New Depriving-hive (A. M, V.).—' The same objection was raised by 
“ A Devonshire Vicar,” in our present volume, and considered by us 
at some length at the time. 
Mouldy Combs (A Constant Subscriber, Burstall). —The recent long-con¬ 
tinued wet weather is, without doubt, the cause of mouldy combs in nearly 
every hive. If the colony is a strong one, the bees themsc Ives will remedy 
the evil. A clean and dry floor-board will be a great assistance, but all 
interference beyond this had better be avoided. 
1 
LONDON MARKETS. —March 4. 
POULTRY. 
There is still a supply muoh below the average and a small trade. Prices 
are maintained. 
Each— s. d. s. 
Cock Turkeys. 0 0 to 0 
Hen do. 0 0 „ 0 
Large Fowls. 6 0 ,, 6 
Smaller Fowls. 4 6 ,, 5 
Chickens . 3 6 ,, 4 
Goslings . 7 G ,, 8 
Ducklings. 4 6 ,, 5 
• I Each— s. d. s. d 
0 Pheasants. 4 0 to 4 6 
0 Guinea Fowls. 3 0 ,, 3 G. 
6 ( Grouse ... 0 0 ,, 0 0 ’ 
0 \ Pigeons. 1 2 „ 1 3 
0 ; Hares. 3 0 „ 3 3 
0 j Rabbits. I 4 ,, 1 5 
0 I Wild ditto. 0 8 ,, 0 9 
