376 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 19, 1861. 
BEE-KEEPING IN DEVON.—No. XVI. 
APIARIAN DISAPPOINTMENTS—WEAK STOCKS—ENMITY BETWEEN 
THE LIGURIAN AND COMMON SPECIES—A VAGRANT SOVE¬ 
REIGN—A DEFUNCT QUEEN AND A CAPSIZED HIVE—A NUT 
FOR MR. WIGHTON—FALLEN COMB—BREASTING POWERS OF 
LIGURIAN QUEENS—COMB-BUILDING IN WINTER. 
Your esteemed correspondent, “ B. & W.,” having favoured 
us with a statement of how it fared with his apiary in 1860, I 
feel that I cannot do better than follow so excellent an example. 
The summer of 1860 was to me but a continued series of 
apiarian disappointments, to which, however, I need not more 
particularly refer. Ill health and an unfavourable season com¬ 
pletely frustrated my attempts to disseminate the Ligurian 
species of honey bee by artificial means, but at the same time 
furnished such a store of hardly-earned experience as may very 
probably insure future success. 
The close of the season found me in possession of twelve 
stocks, ten of which had Ligurian queens. All were well 
provided with artificial food, but some Ligurian colonies, which 
had been weakened by queen-rearing experiments, were decidedly 
deficient in that grand requisite—population. My intention 
was to strengthen these by adding bees driven from condemned 
stocks, but two or three abortive attempts soon satisfied me 
that no good was to be effected in this way. One cost me a 
Ligurian queen, which was mercilessly slain by the intruders, 
although their own sovereign had been previously removed, 
whilst in others the slaughter was so great as entirely to frustrate 
the desired object. Up to tlii3 time I had disbelieved M. Her¬ 
mann’s assertion that there was an especial enmity between the 
two species ; but now I could doubt it no longer, and was, 
therefore, compelled to let my weak stocks take their chance. 
In addition to the dozen I have mentioned, I had a young 
Ligurian queen in a hive with only a few bees. She had been 
placed at the head of a good stock, hut refused to remain there ; 
and, flying back to the box in which she had been bred, 
slaughtered a young black queen which I had raised for experiment, 
and surprised me a few days afterwards when I found her in her 
old domicile. As she was the last Ligurian I had reared, I rather 
doubted her being impregnated, and therefore substituted a black 
queen in the hive for which she was originally destined, and 
allowed her to remain with the subjects of her choice. Had the 
winter been mild, she might have survived; but as it was, this 
hapless little colony succumbed to the severe frost at Christmas. 
A more serious loss was one of my two black queens, which 
I found dead on the floor-board of her hive on the 27th January. 
I intended uniting her remaining subjects to the next stock ; but 
one of the tremendous storms with which we have been visited 
saved me all further trouble by capsizing the hive, and involving 
combs and bees in one common ruin. 
Considering that two of my stocks are artificial swarms, made 
rather late in a most unpropitious season, and that three others 
(the defunct one being one of these), were made up in the 
autumn, and consisted entirely of driven bees, whilst all had 
been tampered with in every conceivable manner during my 
queen-rearing experiments, I deem myself fortunate in having 
no more extensive catastrophe to deplore. 
Here is a nut for Mr. Wighton to crack, and reconcile, if he 
can, with his unexplainable theory respecting beeswax. On the 
7th of January last—whilst the snow wa3 on the ground, and 
the frost so bitter that the mercury had forsaken the tube of my 
thermometer, and coyly confined itself to the bulb—I chanced 
to observe a number of dead bees at the mouth of my most 
valued Ligurian stock. Dreading, from experience, the effects of 
suffocation in such cases, I thought a change of floor-boards the 
safest and most effectual remedy, and forthwith proceeded to act 
upon the suggestion which had presented itself. Placing the 
clean floor-boards by the side of the stock, I shifted the hive with 
sufficient celerity, believing that the extreme cold would insure 
acquiescence on the part of the bees. What, then, was my 
horror and amazement when an entire comb remained on the 
floor-board* toppling over on one side, and revealing itself 
thickly covered with bees, whilst numbers took wing and dropped, 
chilled to death on the snow! On examination I found a patch 
of sealed brood on both sides of the comb measuring about 
3 inches by 4 inches, and affording conclusive evidence of the 
extraordinary breeding powers of Ligurian queen bees, which 
exhibited such remarkable activity in despite of so inclement a 
* 1 should , 8 A at< L t J lat dds comb bad dropped on the floor-board so 
days before I lifted the hive, although I was not aware of it at the time. 
season. But what was to be done ? I was in the very extremity 
of bewilderment, and for the moment perfectly incapable of 
action. As soon as I could collect myself I determined that 
the comb must be restored to its place at all hazards ; and having 
withdrawn the screws of the crown-board I cautiously slid it on 
one side, following it with a second board, so that no bees might 
escape until I could separate the two over the spot whence the 
comb had fallen. This done, I took out the bar, inserted the 
comb until it rested on the floor-board, and, having steadied it 
by the introduction of a few bits of old comb, replaced the bar 
and the top-board of the hive. I need scarcely add that my 
vexation was extreme at seeing some hundreds of my little 
favouritie3 dotting the surrounding snow in all directions. 
But, it may be asked, What has all this to do with Mr. Wighton 
and his unexplainable waxen theory ? In reply, I may be allowed 
to explain that the above-mentioned comb rested on the floor¬ 
board of the hive on the 7th of January, and never having been 
worked down very close, left a space varying from half an inch 
to an inch between its upper edge and the ragged fragments 
attached to the bar. I was soon made aware by the waxen 
laminae which appeared at the hive’s mouth that the bees were 
filling up the vacant space; but it was not until the 8th inst. 
(March) that I was able to take the comb in my hand and 
admire the beautiful and effectual manner in which it had been 
performed. The new work was readily distinguishable from its 
being formed of new wax, and, therefore, much lighter in colour 
than the old comb; but the cells were carried out to then 1 full 
length, and finished in the most perfect manner, so that I could 
not but be astonished at the skill displayed by these little insects 
in performing such an admirable piece of workmanship during a 
season which, by its inclemency, had kept them prisoners within 
their hive. At what a cost of material this had been effected 
may be guessed from the fact, that, although the colony was at the 
outset amply provided with artificial food, a very little remained 
i in store, so that I was compelled to substitute a couple of loaded 
combs for empty ones, in order to supply their present need. 
Whether this fact will satisfy Mr. Wighton, that wax is secreted 
by bees from either honey or sugar, is of course impossible to say. 
Taken in conjunction with other facts, experiments and observa¬ 
tions recorded by apiarian writers from Huber downwards, it 
appears sufficiently conclusive to—A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 
P.8.—I perceive a misprint in my last article on “American Bee¬ 
keeping.” The invention of bar and frames should be attributed 
to the Baron von Berlepscli (not Berlepock), of Seebach, in 
Thuringia. 
OUK LETTEB BOX. 
* 
Foul-try Foods (A Young Amateur). —We know nothing about them, 
and have never seen them advertised. 
Caponisinq (A Subscriber for Three Years). — We cannot give the 
directions you ask for. 
Dorking too Large to Exhibit (C. Hughes) .—There is no limit to the 
size of these birds for exhibition, and we quite agree with you that “ they 
j cannot be too large for breeding for the table.” 
Brahma Pootras (J. G. V.).— They are as good layers and as large as the 
Cochin-Chinas; in fact, they are only a grey-feathered variety of that breed. 
Comb of White Dorkings [H. <$■ M.).— Some of our authorities prefer 
a single comb, and others a double one. It is a mere matter of taste; only 
in exhibiting them the birds in the same pen must be all single-combed or 
j all double-combed. The largest and best-characterised birds would win 
whether their combs were single or double. Their prices vary too much 
with their quality for us to quote any. 
Poultry Mixture (X. Y. Z.).— We know nothing about this food; and 
unless we knew what it was made of should certainly not give it to our 
poultry. 
Ligurian Bf.es—Apiarian Experiments (T V. S., Dunstable).—We have 
transmitted your letter to Mr. Woodbury, who first succeeded in intro¬ 
ducing the Ligurian species of honey bee into this country, and who, we 
believe, intends disseminating them by forwarding fertile queens to all 
applicants, in the same manner as was contemplated last year. Many 
thanks for your kind offer. We shall at all times be glad to receive par¬ 
ticulars of apiarian experiments. 
Bee Pasturage (A Constant Deader). — We cannot do better than 
repeat the advice given by the late Mr. Payne, as quoted by Mr. Taylor in 
his excellent “ Bee-keepers’ Manual.” “I have always found the ad¬ 
vantage of planting in the vicinity of my hives a large quantity of the 
common kinds of crocus, single blue hepatiea, Helleborus niger, and 
Tussilago petasites, all of which flower early, and are rich in honey and 
farina. Salvia nemorosa (of Sir James Smith), which flowers very early 
in June and last3 all the summer, is in an extraordinary manner sought 
after by the bees; and, when room is not an object, 20 or 30 square yards 
of it may be grown with advantage. Origanum humile and Origanum 
lubescens (of Howarth), and mignonette may also be grown. Cuscuta 
sinensis is a great favourite with them, and the pretty little plant Ana- 
campseros populifolium, when in flower, is literally covered by them. 
Garden cultivation, beyond this, exclusively for bees, I believe answers 
very little purpose.” We may add that “the neighbourhood of a large 
town usually possesses an advantage, in the vast number of crocuses and 
other spring flowers which are cultivated in suburban gardens. Arabis 
verna, now in flower, is thronged by bees. 
