135 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 29, 1859. 
mV of my assailants. Ton minutes rapping dislodged them from 
their habitation ; but (lie moment the two hives were separated a 
fresh body of combatants renewed the assault with redoubled 
vigour. As these bees were to be united to No. T. containing 
the dark-coloured Ligurian queen, it was absolutely necessary to 
deprive them of their own sovereign. I, therefore, knocked out 
the remaining cluster on a cloth, and forthwith arose a cloud of 
armed adversaries, which searched and probed every crevice in 
my armour with their insidious weapons. Unfortunately, T have 
never been able to procure a pair of woollen gloves sufficiently 
thick to be entirely sting-proof, and ere long the back of each 
hand was severely punished. Still .1 persevered, caught the queen, 
and conveyed the hive containing the bees to their original stand. 
As soon as pretty nearly all were collected within, I tied it up ; 
but could not do this so quickly a.s to prevent a rush to the 
entrance and a renewal of the attack, in which every straggler 
appeared to join. In fact, they fought to the last, stung three i 
persons who happened to show in (he garden, although at some 
distance from them, and fully sustained the character, which, it 
seems, they had previously earned, of being the most “ spiteful ’’ 
hive in the apiary. Singularly enough, these bees united very 
peaceably' with those already in possession of No. I.; although, | 
when knocked out of the hive which they bad been tempo- i 
rarily lodged, some of them actually took wing in the dark, and 
inflicted two or three additional stings as a wind-up. 
Another stock having been driven and added to my newly- 
formed colony, No. YI., a liberal supply of food was adminis- I 
tered, and comb-building proceeded with great rapidity. All 
was, therefore, in readiness for the expected royal visitors by the | 
4th of October, when I received the amusing letter which appeared 
in The Cottage Gardener of the 11th ultimo. It heralded , 
the approach of six parcels of bees instead of the two I had j 
ordered. Here, then, was another annoyance. I was only pre- 1 
pared to receive the two which I expected, and was compelled to 
apply to my apiarian friends to relieve me of the others. I have j 
much pleasure in thanking them for, and in recording, the kind- j 
ness I experienced. Every one was willing to assist me, and I 
should have had no difficulty in disposing of the whole. Un- , 
fortunately, however, they did not reach me till the 12th of 
October, when only four survived. Of these, two were despatched j 
to Mr. Tegetmeier, at Muswell Ilill, where they were placed at 
the head of stocks of English bees, and are, I believe, doing well. 
It will be remembered that all my experiments in introducing . 
foreign queens into English stocks, although successful in their 
main object, had been attended by the indiscriminate slaughter 
of nearly all the foreign workers that had accompanied their 
exiled sovereigns. Being very desirous of avoiding this painful 
sacrifice, I again varied nay proceedings. Instead of expelling 
the rightful inhabitants, and introducing the foreigners into a 
deserted hive, I commenced by shifting the combs, bees, and all 
into another box, carefully examining every comb until the queen 
was discovered and secured. Having placed her with a few bees 
and a piece of barley sugar under a wine-glass, as a precaution in 
case of failure, a compartment of the “cassette” was speedily 
sawn off between the double partition ; and a piece of perforated 
zinc having been substituted for the lid, it was carefully inverted 
over a hole in the top of the quecnless hive. Both stocks, having 
been subjected to this process, were allowed to remain on their j 
pedestals till early the next morning ; which, happening to he 
frosty, they were removed into a warm room, where they remained 
about three hours. At the end of that time the Ligurian queens . 
and their attendants were introduced to their future companions ; 
by withdrawing the perforated zinc, and the two hives having 
been restored to their original positions in the open air, were 
soon actively at work without showing the slightest disposition 
to quarrel with their guests. 
Although only two days had elapsed since these unions had i 
been so peaceably effected, circumstances prevented my deferring 
my examination beyond the 14th of October, when I carefully 
inspected every comb. In No. III. were an immense number of 
young bees, and a large quantity of sealed brood, which proved | 
the old ragged-winged Swiss queen to have been amazingly fertile : 
during her thirty-two days’ reign. Her successor was evidently ! 
a fine Ligurian, and “ yellow” beyond all question. 
No. YI. contained a* multitude of eggs and brood in its early 
stages, showing that its unhappy sovereign had been quite as 
prolific during her brief reign as her Swiss contemporary. The 
discovery of a large “yellow” queen in this hive sealed the fate 
of both the deposed monarehs, whose lives were forthwith , 
Sacrificed by— A Devonshire Bee-keeper, 
EXHIBITION OF CANARIES, 
AND BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIRDS AT THE CRYSTAL PALICE. 
This Show, which took place on the 19th, 21st, 22nd, and 
23rd inst., was, we are pleased to say, a great improvement on 
that of last, year. 
'lhe first class tor Jonqup Norwich Canaries mustered twenty- 
live entries. First Prize (No. 15), Mr. F. Willis. Second 
(No. 1), Mr. T. Banfather. Very Highly Commended, No. 16. 
Highly Commended, Nos. 6 and 7. Commended, Nos. 10. 11, 
13, and 17. ’ 
Class II. Mealy Norwich Birds .—First Prize (No. 26), Mr. 
W. Aldis. Second Prize (No. 29), Mr. E. Hawkins. Very Highly 
Commended, Nos. 30 and 31. Highly Commended, No. 27. 
Commended, Nos. 32 and 36. These classes were designated 
very superior, and they were, indeed, excellent—far superior to 
last year, the birds being all very good and characteristic of the 
breed. Mr. Mackloy’s birds were shown in cages, which set the 
birds off to great advantage. 
We are sorry we cannot speak in the same praise of the Belgian 
Canaries , or, as they are here designated, Belgiums. Through 
the whole six classes they were, in general, very inferior, and it 
must have been very difficult for the Judges to select birds that 
had any pretence to fancy properties. Belgian Canaries are 
divided by fanciers into two distinct fancies, the Erect and the 
Hooped or Bowed birds. But few of these Belgian Canaries 
could be considered types of either variety, they being of an in¬ 
termediate form. Many, indeed, were but halt bred. The Erect 
birds being very small, and the Hooped ones not sufficiently 
bowed. No. 37, Mr. Cole’s, Highly Commended bird, was pretty- 
hut small. No. 39, Mr. W. Jamson’s, was, perhaps, the most 
hooped. No. 54, Mr. W. Young’s was the most characteristic of 
the Belgian fancy ; but it was in bad feather, and much incon¬ 
venienced by its long nails. 
Buff Belgians were a slight improvement on the Yellows. 
No. 59, Mr. Ilton’s first-prize bird was rather small. No. 60, 
the second-prize bird was a very rough one. 
Variegated Belgians would have done well in one class. No. 
89, Mr. Judd’s bird, was as good as any; very long and of good 
form. No. 80, Mr. O. Nicholson’s first-prize bird was good, but 
too round-shouldered for an Erect bird, and not bowed enough 
for the Hooped fancy. No. 88, Mr. Hawkins’s first-prize bird, 
was, perhaps, the most erect, but it was small and hollow 
between the shoulders. 
Classes IX. and X., for Crested Canaries, were filled with very 
excellent and regular birds of strongly marked Belgian properties, 
and liai ing beautiful even crests, the feathers of which fell evenly 
over the eyes and beak. They seemed a new variety, very dif¬ 
ferent from the old crested birds (a few of which were to be seen 
in the variety class), and they were generally' admired, though we 
heard many ladies express their dislike to the bunched-backed 
Belgians, which some of the fancy call fine chiseled shoulders. 
The Lizards, in Classes XL and XII., were regular in cap 
and rich in colour, but almost wholly without spangles. Nos. 
104 and 106 were very light, almost blue. Nos. 124 and 125, 
First and Second Prize Golden Lizards, were very rich in colour. 
No. 128, Mr. Judd’s bird, though rather broken in cap, was the 
only one that showed the requisite spangles on wings and tail, 
and was consequently sold. 
Mealy London Fancy were very pretty birds, but their beauty 
was much marred by many of them having had their quill 
feathers knocked out, and which had come light. 
The ,Tongue London Fancy were in much better feather, and 
very handsome ; but we looked in vain for the spangled shoulders, 
black legs, and dark down which these fanciers set forth in their 
rules as additional beauties. Mr. Ilook’s first-prize birds had 
certainly some approach to spangles on the shoulders, but most 
of the birds seemed to us to he bred too low in colour, not 
having black enough. Mr. Hook was First in both class, Mr. 
Waller Second and Third, and Mr. Paice very 7 Highly Com¬ 
mended. 
Classes XY. and XVI. contained the Mealy and Jonque Gold¬ 
finch Mules, of which there were twenty of the former and eight 
of tlxe latter. Many of them were very handsome and regularly 
marked birds. No. 159, Mr. Lingard’s bird, had First Prize. 
No. 162, Mr. Stevenson’s, Second, for Mealies. Mr. W. Arthur’s 
birds (No. 147), were very Highly Commended. No. 146, Highly 
Commended. Mr. II. Marshall’s (No. 160), Commended. Mr. 
H. Wardle’s bird (No. 163), was well worthy of notice, being 
quite clear white, with the yellow mark on t he wings, and we could 
