100 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Jttne 14, 1850. 
comes on, the bees retire to the hive under the honey, and lire 
on the stock they have accumulated. 
“Many believe that bees are liybernating animals; but this 
opinion is quite erroneous. They are lively throughout the 
winter; and the hive is always warm in consequence of the heat 
which they generate. The more numerous the bees in a hive, the 
more heat is developed; and hence strong hives can resist the 
most intense cold. It once happened that I forgot to remove 
from the door, which was unusually large, of a hive in winter, the 
perforated plate of tinned iron, Which I had fastened over the 
opening, to diminish the heat in July; and yet this hive came 
well through the winter, although the cold was very severe, having 
been for several days so low as 0°. But I had added to this hive 
the bees of two other hives! When the cold is very intense, the 
bees begin to hum. By this means respiration is accelerated, and 
the development of heat increased. If, in summer, bees without 
a queen are shut up in a glass box, they become uneasy and 
begin to hum. So much heat is by this means developed, that 
the plates of glass become quite hot. If the door is not opened 
in this case; or if air is not admitted; and if the glass is not 
cooled by the aid of water, the bees are soon suffocated.” 
The foregoing extracts are taken from F. W. Gundlach’s 
“ Natural History of Bees,” published at Cassel in 1842 ; and it 
is in reference to them that the illustrious Lisbig declares that he 
is “ acquainted with no more beautiful or convincing proof of the 
formation of fatty matter from sugar than the .... process of j 
the manufacture of wax by the bee, as taken from observation.” 
Will no enterprising publisher favour English apiarians with a 
translation of a work which appears to entitle its author to rank 
second only to the great Huber himself? This is a question that 
may now present itself to many, and which also has been unavail- 
ingly asked by—A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 
HONEY FROM LAUREL LEAVES. 
The fallacies advanced by Mr. Wigliton respecting beeswax 
and pollen have been so ably refuted by “ B. and W.,” that I 
content, myself with cordially indorsing his opinions. 
In answer to his inquiry, “If any of your other readers have 
had their eyes on the Laurels this season?” I would state that 
I have paid them particular attention, and find my former 
statement, that bees are in the habit of “ licking, not sci-aping,” 
the backs of the young leaves, fully borne out. There is also 
no difficulty in detecting “ a saccharine sweetness on applying 
the tongue to the leaves.” 
As your talented correspondent is in some doubt regarding 
the source of this exudation, I transcribe a passage from one of 
my letters which appeared during the winter, and which seems 
to offer a satisfactory solution of the mystery. “ At the back of 
every Laurel leaf, near its base, and on either side the midrib, 
may be found two or three small glands by which, whilst the 
leaf remains young, a luscious fluid is continually secreted.” 
The correctness of this statement may be readily verified 
either with or without a microscope ; and the result of the ob¬ 
servations of others, communicated through The Cottage 
Gardener, would be esteemed a favour by—A Devonshire 
Bee-keeper. 
The last fortnight I have observed bees frequent the Laurels 
in my garden. This recalled to my memory a paper in The 
Cottage Gardener some months ago, which mentioned this 
habit of the bees, and also said that perhaps this spring the 
why and the wherefore might be found out. I have looked in 
vain for any further notice on the subject; and, perhaps, sending 
you an account of what I have seen may call attention to a fact 
which those who know more than I do may make some use of. 
I observed the bees always went to the underside of the leaves, 
near the stem. On examining the Laurel leaves I find all the 
leaves have three, four, or more, oval-shaped, fawn-coloured spots 
about the size of two pins’ heads, generally two opposite each 
other on either side of the midrib, and occasionally one is re¬ 
moved some little way from it. I have watched, audit is to these 
spots that the bees always go, and from them seem eagerly to 
gather something. Some of these little spots I have found 
covered with moisture. 
Tn this year's leaves these spots may be seen as a mark of 
darker green on the upper side of the leaf. In some instances 
I have seen, as it were, the scars of these marks in the leaves of 
last year. Can any of your correspondents say what these 
little spots are ?”—Felixstowe. 
[The spots are glands, which secrete a juice slightly sac¬ 
charine. Some think the bees obtain from it honey; and others 
that they convert it into propolis.— Eds.] 
PRODUCTION OF WAX BY BEES. 
In your last publication, page 143, a respected correspondent, 
“ B. & W.,” makes some sensible remarks in reply to certain 
opinions advocated of late by Mr. Wigliton, and particularly in 
reference to the mode of production of wax by bees. As my 
name has rather unceremoniously been introduced into this con¬ 
troversy, a passing remark seems necessary on my part. How it 
came about I cannot conceive. My memory is none of the best, 
certainly; but I have no recollection of ever having had cor¬ 
respondence with Mr. Wigliton on any subject whatever, and 
most emphatically I disclaim concurrence in his recently-expressed 
views on the points at issue. I would only put it for his con¬ 
sideration, whether mere unsupported words and guesses are 
likely, with intelligent persons, to overturn the deductions of 
experiment and scientific research. 
On the subject of the Laurel, I think I have somewhere thrown 
out an idea that bees, probably, obtain from its young leaves a 
portion of propolis.— Henry Taylor. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Ego-rating Hens. —“In vol. XX. of The Cottage, Gardener I find 
‘ North Countryman’s ’ advice for curing this habit is watching the hen, 
and taking away the egg as soon as laid, substituting an egg of chalk. This 
may he all very well on the strength of the old adage, ‘ Prevention is better 
than cure ;’ biit I have no time to watch my hen laying, and want a cure. 
Can you recommend any such recipe 2 I have tried mixing mustard and 
Cayenne Pepper, &c., which I remember was successful some years hack, 
and which I have recommended to friends, who all assure me of its success ; 
but now it appears to fail entirely—my hens seem to eat it with avidity. I 
have tried over-feeding, hut it avails not. The hens lay well. The breed 
is Black Spanish.”—S. II. 
[We have often known a fowl acquire a taste for the ingredients put into 
an egg for the purpose of curing her of the habit of eating it. Over-feeding 
tends to increase the propensity. It induces a fat and loaded inside ; the 
ordinary food is rejected; and, if it can he had, garbage is preferred as 
food. Lacking that, they eat their own eggs, being nice-hungry. Some¬ 
times, however, it is the shell they want: if so, bricklayers’ rubbish should 
be thrown down in their haunts. Few people have time to watch their 
hens. We have not, and therefore we are happy to give you the result of 
our experience. We have had ninny cases of egg-eating ; and though we 
did not cure them, we tired the hens out by laying sham eggs about made 
of a hard material, and by taking care always to have four or five in the 
nest, clean, white, and hard as iron. Chalk will not do, as they pick pieces 
off; hut good composition eggs beat them. They are very inexpensive, and 
may he had at Mr. Baily’s, Mount Street, London. 
Hamburg its (D. B.). —Your queries are answered in a previous column. 
Young Partridges (7 V. J. (?.).—If you never intend your Partridges 
to fly, by all means pinion them by cutting off the wing at the spur, hut as 
low as possible without cutting through the first principal joint. It should 
he done as soon as the wing is thoroughly formed and feathered. If you 
think you would at any time turn them out, he content now witli cutting 
, the feathers. You must wait till they are thoroughly formed and cut down 
to the quill. This will require to be repeated twice every year. Birds do 
not suffer from being pinioned, and it is the most secure plan. 
Bath and West of England Society’s Snow.—An error was made in 
my address, which I think it better to correct. I beg to say that it is not 
Rowdefleid Farm, Devizes, but Rowde, Devizes. — George Saunders 
j Sainsbury. 
Weight of Swarms—Price of Honey ( F. IT.) —As regards the average 
J weight of first, second, and third swarms, it often varies according to 
season, and other circumstances of the stock-hive. The state of the weather 
frequently operates to delay the issue of a prime swarm ; in which case 
accumulated numbers add to its strength, and, of course, in the same ratio 
the subsequent issues are diminished. A fair weight is about four pounds. 
It may he some kind of guide to give the following table from Key’s 
“ Treatise on Bees,” probably a near approach to truth :— 
lbs. oz. dr. 
23,000 Bees, constituting a good swarm, will weigh. 5 0 0 
100 Drones, weigh . 0 10 
290 AVorkers. 0 1 0 
4,010 Ditto (Mr. Taylor says 5,000) . 1 0 0 
1,830 Ditto, a pint in measure. 0 6 5 
AVitii respect to your question as to “ the best way of disposing of honey, 
and what price ought the best virgin honey to fetch,” local circumstances 
must determine. In most districts purchasers arc to he met with at prices 
governed by the demand, and, of course, influenced by the relative pro¬ 
ductiveness of the season. Otherwise, the metropolis presents a con¬ 
stant resource, in the absence of other channels. As to the meaning of the 
term “ virgin honey” it is a somewhat vague one. It is commonly used 
to define the honey of the same season, whether produced from an old or 
new family of bees. Others restrict the definition to honey collected by a 
virgin swarm ; that is, a colony issuing from a swarm of the same year, as 
does Dr. Dunbar. Probably it is not of material importance to reconcile 
such discrepancies, so long "as the main point is understood between buyer 
and seller. 
