391 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Marc n 26, 1861. 
centre to centre of each comb. So satisfied am I of the correct¬ 
ness of this principle that, as I have already stated, if I were 
about to commence bee-keeping, I should adopt 12^ inches 
square as the right size for eight-bar stock-boxes. With supers 
the case is different, as thick combs may be deemed rather an 
advantage than otherwise. Witli respect to the size of the bars 
themselves, I have deviated very considerably from the general 
rule, and have found an advantage in so doing. My bars are 
only seven-eighths of an inch wide, by three-eighths thick. This 
breadth allows five-eighths space between each bar, which greatly 
facilitates their extraction, whilst it admits of a larger opening 
in the crown-board being made available fbr feeding, &c. Your 
correspondent’s observations coincide very exactly with the ex¬ 
perience of—A Devonshire Bee-keeper.”] 
HACHLES AGAIN! 
While pleading for the defendant, at page 296, in the cause 
Milk-Pan v. Straw-Hackle, I regret having inadvertently trodden 
on the toes of the counsel for the pursuer, so as to elicit the shout 
of “ Hackles Avaunt!” and must really apologize for my unin¬ 
tentional rudeness ; my sole wish being to see the old hackle get 
fair play, and, so far as my feeble strength permitted, to give your 
correspondent, in quite a fraternal spirit, a little gentle impetus 
.in what I conceived an “ Upwards and Onwards” direction. 
Having already said a good deal on bee matters in the volume 
now closing, and wishing to reserve a little breath for the coming 
one, I must, after endeavouring to remove your correspondent’s 
fresh difficulties, leave the verdict in the hands of the jury—your 
impartial apiarian readers. His suspicion of my oat-straw 
hackles attracting the Titmice is, I am afraid groundless. Our 
farmers in this quarter are much too sharp fellows to leave them 
any such gleanings. The sheaves are all hand-thrashed, and I take 
care to see that those used for this purpose get a little extra 
flailing. My old enemy, the Titmouse, has been too often taken 
in the act to admit a doubt of his guilt, and the excavations 
round the entrances of my wooden and straw' hives afford satis¬ 
factory proof of the vigour with which he can, and his knowingnes3 
where to peck. Should your correspondent not be mistaken as to 
•the bird, I am at a loss to account for his exemption from attack, 
as, from the days of old Purchas downwards, who testified to 
individuals devouring ten and twelve bees at a time, they have 
borne a prominent place in the black list of bees’ enemies in 
every apiarian work I have seen. Even the late amiable Mr. 
Payne’s milk-pans were no security, as back volumes of The 
Cottage Gardener bear witness : indeed, they have become so 
notorious—quite “habit and reputes”—that I thought he must 
be some briefless barrister in really desperate circumstances who 
would take up their case. As their severest attacks are early, 
perhaps they may breakfast before your correspondent is lip and 
•out in the mornings. 
As to the windy objection. After my hives are duly stored 
for the winter, the board secured on the firm pedestals to be 
described in a coming Number, the stout iron hooks at the 
cornel's in addition to facilitate the weighing, afford a hold for 
a couple of strong cords carried over the top of the hive, thus 
lashing it securely to the board ; the hackle then set neatly 
over, the hedge-shears removing the least inequality, the iron 
hoops previously alluded to tied tightly down over it. So 
secured, I will warrant them to withstand a brush of iEolus’ wing, 
that, sweeping underneath the rim of the pan, would transport 
it and the stone mouldings a considerable distance. The tornado 
of February, 1856, that bereft us here of sixty odd trees, some 
of which had braved the blasts of centuries, did not overturn 
a single hive or hackle, with only the shelter afforded by the 
garden wall in their rear. 
I heartily congratulate “ Upwards and Onwards ” on the 
flourishing state of his stock, which is no more than his care of 
his “ little people ” deserves. His painful mortality report does 
not speak so much either for or against the pan. As another 
exemplification of the carelessness and cruelty of bee-keepers, 
after the honey failure of lust season, allowing their stocks to 
perish from sheer starvation—the severity of the winter being 
by no means the cause but merely their excuse. I do hope we 
j may be instrumental in inaugurating an improved system in and 
around Woodstock ere long ; to aid him in that good work the 
j present writer’s pen in these pages, so far as it can, is at all times 
at his service. 
I would remark in conclusion, that when your correspondent 
I] again swings his flail, let it not be to attempt to thrash into 
“abomination” the unfortunate hackle as in the first instance, 
or merely a few pickles for the benefit of the Titmice as in the 
last ; but rather let his blows fall thick and fast about the 
shoulders of the bee-keepers, the monuments of whose shameful 
neglect they stand. If he inclines to draw a comparison as to 
results, let it in all fairness be between a milk-pan that has seen 
such service as leaking cracks and crevices evince, and the 
dilapidated hackle; or if, on the other hand, it be between a 
ringing pan and glittering hackle, then I suppose we must agree 
to differ as to their comparative advantages, on the footing that 
what may suit in the sunny south will not at all answer in this 
“ land of the mountain and the flood.” Still in all seriousness, 
and while fully sympathising in his search for a cheap handy 
cover, I am much afraid, for the reasons previously given, that 
the milk-pan is not the thing, and expect he will yet find a 
better substitute. Let him carefully peruse his own authority— 
Mr. Payne’s capital little manual, “Bee-keeping for the Many,” 
where, at pages 24 and 26, he will see how that observant bee¬ 
keeper tried to overcome the chilling influences of the naked 
pan in February and March, promoting early breeding with 
haybands; and again, at pages 39 and 44, how in July and 
August he was forced to combat the opposite evil of the hot- 
baking, preventing tlib combs falling, and the hive-juice (not 
“ X’s” pie-juice), running in streams from the entrance by 
shading with fir branches, from all which cares we hackleists are 
entirely exempt. He may also take a glance at the various 
modes of execution meted out for Master Titty at page 22. 
Your other correspondent, “ X,” should not grudge the cheap 
hackle. When they have done good service in the apiary they 
are equally serviceable in the piggery, the only cost being the 
trouble of getting them up. I think too much of my little 
favourites yet to bury them from observation and recollection 
beneath the sod. His turf expedient would be more useful than 
ornamental—perhaps a rendezvous for such cattle as earwigs; 
still, from its protecting effectually from the sun’s heat and 
winter’s damp, is vastly preferable to the milk-pan. 
I had in view the internal dampness of “ A Devonshire 
Bee-keeper’s” hives, and thought possibly it might be partly 
influenced from want of external protection. We know more, 
I am afraid, of humidity here than he in Devon. The masses of 
clouds that come floating fully charged from the western ocean 
are beat up by the high hill-tops of Argylesbire, and discharge 
themselves in such torrents on our unfortunate heads, that we 
have fairly earned the soubriquet of “ the Pluvians,” bestow r ed 
on us by our neighbours to the east. Indeed, the anecdote of the 
herd laddie is too often recalled—when interrogated by the tourist 
“ if it always rained here,” replied, “ No, it whiles snaw's.” 
The pollen collecting of the 3rd of February was fully as much 
a matter of surprise to the writer as to “ A North-Stafford- 
shire Bee-keeper.” It was, unfortunately, of but short 
duration, Jack Frost once more resuming his sway, and we have 
been several times again enveloped with last winter’s familiar 
snow mantle; still the bees embrace every favourable blink to 
be at work. The early supply was drawn, not from spring 
flowers, as we had only then the Christmas Rose in bloom, but 
I should think, from the direction of their flight, they were 
indebted to some early-budding tree. This locality need not at 
all arouse any feeling of jealousy in your correspondent, as our 
swarming season cannot be said to be till the distant Ben Lomond 
doffs his snowy nightcap well on in June, a May swarm being a 
pleasure I have yet to witness. Any isolated cases that ever 
have occurred are duly chronicled for years afterwards amongst 
the remarkable occurrences.—A Renfrewshire Bee-keeper. 
THE CANARY AND THE BRITISH EINCHES. 
(Continuedfrontpage 243.) 
THE GOLDFINCH. 
The docility of the Goldfinch, as well as its pleasing song 
and bright colours, still further enhances its worth as an amusing 
pet. Goldfinches are easily tamed, and become so bold as to scold 
with open mouth and spread wings, and to peck the finger or 
nose of those they are acquainted with, and even to take hemp- 
seed, or some such tempting morsel, from the hand or from 
the lips. 
The first bird I ever possessed was a hen Goldfinch. I was 
but seven years old, and Mary Goldfinch, for such was her 
name, was my constant companion, and she soon became very 
tame ; she would scold and fight me whenever I teased her. If let 
