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THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 23, 1S59. 
WEAKNESS IN PIGEONS. 
“ I hate some Florence Runts, which have, within two or 
three months, hatched a pair of young ones, and the hen has 
now hatched another pair. The first pair are troubled with 
some complaint which seems to deprive them of the use of their 
legs and wings. They lie about the yard quite helpless. Food 
is put to them, and they eat pretty well. Will you inform me 
if there is any remedy ? and what I can do to prevent the second 
lot from being infected, if it is infectious ? I have had the old 
ones three years, and they did not build all that time, but this 
season they have done so. We feed them on maize, tares., and 
scalded wheat (old).”— Thomas Page, jun. 
[I have no practical knowledge of the complaint from which 
these j'oung Pigeons are suffering; but it seems like leg-weakness 
in Shanghai fowls, and probably arises from then - having outgrown 
their strength, or that their food is too stimulating and not con¬ 
taining sufficient bone-making material. I would advise a change 
of food ; to discontinue the maize and scalded wheat, and to sub¬ 
stitute small beans and barley. Let the Pigeons have old mortar 
or broken oyster-shells to pick up, and put some chalk in their j 
water. I do not think the disease is at all likely to be infectious. 
Possibly the following tonic may be useful:—“ Dissolve half a 
pound of sulphate of iron, and one ounce of diluted sulphuric 
acid together ; when dissolved add two gallons of spring water, 
and let it stand twelve or fourteen days, when it will be fit for 
use.” 11 Dose.—A tea-spoonful to one pint of water given as , 
drink twice or thrice a-week.” If Mr. Page try it, I should like 
to know its effect.— B. P. Brent.] 
BEE-KEEPING IN DEVON.—No. XI. 
AN OMINOUS SILENCE—A CATASTROPHE—BEITISH TALOUR TEI- , 
UMPHANT — ATTEMPTED EXPLANATION—A FORLORN HOPE- 
POLLEN AND PROPOLIS—AN EXAMINATION AND ITS RESULTS 
—A PROPHECY—PROSPECTS OP THE COLONY. 
Shortly after four the next morning T raised the hive con¬ 
taining, as I imagined, the amalgamated bees, and placed it on 
its stand. An ominous silence had succeeded to the roar of 
battle, but I was, as yet, unconscious of the mischief that had 
been done. There was only sufficient light to enable me, im¬ 
perfectly, to distinguish a dark mass which remained behind, j 
and which I set down to the account of the warm summer night 
having prevented all the bees from ascending. Gathering the 
corners of the cloth together with the intention of placing it in 
front of the hive, I was startled at perceiving the dark mass 
gravitate slowly towards the centre. The bitter truth now flashed 
upon me. Last night’s uproar was at once accounted for, and I 
no longer doubted that I beheld the victims of a merciless en- j 
counter. Hurriedly conveying the cloth to a more open space, 
I mournfully examined its contents. There, beautiful even in 
death, lay my much-prized “yellow Ligurish” bees,* some stark 
and motionless, others struggling in the last agonies produced j 
by the fatal poison of then 1 opponents’ weapons. Never was 1 
British valour more completely triumphant—never were foreign 
invaders more ruthlessly expelled. 
Great was my mortification at this unfortunate and most un- j 
expected catastrophe. I had driven a strong stock only ten days 
previously, and united it to an artificial swarm with the most 
perfect success. All my autumnal unions last year were effected in . 
the same manner, and all turned out well, although in no former 
instance had I taken the trouble to remove the supernumerary 
queen. That some of the strangers were bees of a different species 
offered no solution of the mystery, since the great majority dif¬ 
fered in no respect from them English conquerors, and all suffered 
the same fate. 
The only explanation which occurs to me is. that in effecting 
imions of this kind there should be something approaching an 
equality of numbers on each side. In the present instance, the j 
disproportion was, probably, too great: at least ten to one. The 
English swarm weighed 2 j lbs., which would represent from 
10,000 to 12,000 bees, whilst then’ foreign antagonists only pro¬ 
fessed to number 1000 in the first instance, and had, doubtless, 
been considerably weakened by their five days’ confinement and 
travelling. 
One chance yet remained. It was possible, though it appeared 
scarcely probable, that the vengeful weapons of the furious 
* One of the specimens sent to The Cottage Gardener last week was 
of this kind, but the distinctive '‘brick-red” colour entirely disappears 
soon after death. 
Britons might have respected the sacred person of the foreign 
sovereign, and that, having triumphed over her natural subjects, 
they might elect to transfer their allegiance to an alien queen, as 
soon as they had ascertained that their own monarch was irre¬ 
trievably lost. 
Never did Gaelic clansman or Saxon serf search more per- 
severingly for the body of his slaughtered chief, or thane, than I 
did for that of her Ligurian majesty. Cloths were spread around 
the hive, and every fresh-looking dead bee that coidd be found 
in the garden was picked up and carefully examined. One 
hundred and sixty of “ the yellow Ligurish race ” were discovered, 
and many hundred common bees, but no queen. 
Somewhat re-assured by this unsuccessful search, I turned 
my attention to the bees themselves; but here I found myself 
completely at fault. Rainy weather had set in, and either from 
this cause or from discouragement, none showed outside. At 
length on the fourth day after the arrival of the foreigners, I 
saw three bees convey pollen into the hive. This revived my 
hopes, which were still. further strengthened the next day by 
perceiving upwards of a dozen loads of pollen and some of 
propolis. The day following was wet; but the morning after, 
being fine, I determined upon transferring the bees to another 
box, carefully examining every comb with the view of discovering 
if any eggs had been laid, and, if possible, obtaining a view of 
the Ligurian queen, supposing her to have survived the massacre 
of her subjects. 
The first comb examined was one which, when placed in the 
box, was perfectly empty, but which now contained a quantity 
of honey brought by the bees from other parts of the hive. 
The reason of this was soon evident. In the next comb some 
hundreds of eggs had been deposited; to accommodate winch, 
the bees had doubtless removed the honey r . This discovery' 
redoubled our anxiety to see her Italian majesty ; but she was coy 
and did not show herself till the last comb was extracted, when 
we had a perfect view of her. She turned out to be a true 
“yellow” queen, her abdominal rings being of a bright gold 
colour. In other respects she did not appear to differ much 
from ordinary queen bees, although Mr. S. B. Fox, who assisted 
me in this last operation, thought her rather smaller. 
It will be very interesting to watch the gradual fulfilment of 
the prophecy which accompanied the “little cassette,” and which 
was couched in these words “ So in thirty days all people would 
become yellow, and the English bees by-and-by shall become 
dead."’ By noticing the period when the ordinary -description of 
British bee finally disappears from the hive, some well-founded 
inference may be drawn as to the duration of life of the working bee. 
Although not one of her foreign companions appt ar3 to have 
escaped, I think it will be admitted that her Ligurian majesty 
commences her English reign imder favourable auspices. She 
has full 10,000 loy al British subjects,—all, apparently, young and 
vigorous, not a ragged wing to be seen amongst them. ’ Pollen is 
now (17th August) being carried in with great rapidity ; and if 
her fecundity be nearly as great as is represented “ making every' 
day 1000 to 2000 young ones,” there can be little doubt of the 
prosperity of the colony. That it has an ample store of food for 
use during the approaching winter, will, of course, be the first 
care of—A Devonshire Bee-eeeper. 
P.S.—It is not without reluctance that I again refer to Mr. 
W ighton; but, as I perceive, he reiterates his statement that 
“bees never collect pollen alone,” I am induced to direct his 
attention to the circumstance, that two-thirds of the bees working 
from this artificially-formed stock, return with full loads of pollen, 
at a time when, from lack of honey in the flowers, my hives in 
this locality are rapidly losing weight. Whilst thus stating a 
fact in opposition to Mr. Wighton’s fallacy, I may be excused for 
reminding him that assertion is not argument, nor will reiterated 
assertions supply the place of experiments and facts. 
OUK LETTER BOX. 
Ormskirk Poultry Show.— “ In your report of the Ormskirk aiul 
Southport Poultry Show, the first prize for Golden-spangled Hamburghs 
is stated to have been won by Mr. S. II. Ilyde. This is an error, however: 
as the silver cup for the best pen of Ilamburghs of any variety was awarded 
to my pen of Golden Moonies exhibited in this class.”—W. C. Worrall 
Rice House, Lirerpool. 
Incubator (IF. W. Copeland ).—We do not know where you can pur¬ 
chase one. There were two makers, Mr. Cantello and Mr. Minasi, but we 
are not aware of their residences. If you advertised for one, probably 
you would hare the offer of more than one, second-hand, as bargains. Our 
correspondent requires an Incubator to send to New Zealand, where even 
eggs are selling “lor three shillings a-dozen.” 
