218 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 3, 1860. 
MR. ARCHER’S SILVER-PENCILLED 
HAMBURGH S. 
Mr. E. Archer, of Malvern, has sold the whole of his cele¬ 
brated stud of Silver-pencilled Hamburgh fowls to W. H. Kerr, 
Esq., and Mr. Geo. Griffiths, of Worcester. 
I should mention that they will be exhibited at Preston and 
Liverpool by Mr. Archer, he having entered them previous to 
the sale taking place.— G. Griffiths. 
ANDALUSIANS. 
In No. 582 some questions are asked respecting Andalusians, 
and in the footnote some surprise is evidenced at the curious 
production of blue birds from the mixture of white and black 
ones. I think it is in my power, as an old breeder of (what we 
in Devon call) Minorca fowls, to, enlighten the questioner re¬ 
specting this breed. 
By Minorcas is invariably meant birds without any white in 
the face, only the earlobe being so, and, of course, very round 
and Hamburgh-like. We never had the slightest stain on the 
faces of either the blue, white, or black till within these dozen 
years, except in isolated places, and the presence of it was never 
thought anything else but a fault. Well, to the point, as to the 
mode of producing the whites and blues. The black Minorca 
will often sport a white chick, and a blue one also, however 
carefully bred; but some never do, and I must confess that I 
have had misgivings of those that do, because a white bird of 
any breed will be sure, with a black hen, to throw some very 
light birds. I have known a White, single-combed Dorking 
cock produce, with a black Minorca hen, the most perfect blue 
hens ever seen, with most marvellous combs. 
The common plan of breeding the blues in this county, 
where they are numerous, is to mate the white and black, as 
Mr. Hartley has done. This mode of producing blue fowls is 
not at all uncommon —vide what was said in The Cottage 
Gardener, No. 581, page 105, on “ Duckwing Game.” Blue 
Bantams are spoken of as sports of white and black. 
With regard to the present manufacture of Andalusians, I am 
at no loss to satisfy your correspondent, and, should he wish it, 
my address is at your office. 
To show your readers how startled I was at the Taunton 
Show some four years since, on exhibiting the best pen of Blue 
Minorcas I ever saw, to find the prizes given to very mediocre 
white-faced birds, I made a great stir at what was considered 
a dishonest judgment; and on ventilating the subject it was 
found that nobody knew anything about this breed. It is very 
curious to look back and see the discrepancies, vide “Letter 
Box,” December, 1857, page 172, “Some white in the face.” 
Vide July 13th, 1858, page 231, “ No white face.” Vide my 
reply, July 20th, of the same year, page 249, which is, with¬ 
out writing any more, as good a reply as I can give to the 
inquiries of Mr. H.—W. H., Exeter. 
P.S.—In reply to an inquirer after “ White Spanish,” they 
are to be had in this neighbourhood, All the prize birds, I 
believe, without any exception, have been bred within seven 
miles of my house. 
' ARTIFICIAL SWARMS. 
Since Schirach’s discovery of working bees and queens being 
of the same sex, and that on the accidental loss of a queen the 
bees can rear another by merely enlarging a cell in which there is 
a worker’s grub, to allow more room for the growth of the insect, 
apiarians have been led to make artificial swarms by removing 
part of the bees from the stocks to hives containing bits of brood 
combs, to enable them to rear queens, and thus begin fresh 
colonies ; but, as I mentioned in my last paper, the plan can only 
be successful at the time when drones are plentiful. I paid some 
attention to this curious part of the history of these insects some 
years back, especially after reading the Rev. E. Scudamore’s little 
treatise on making artificial swarms. He speaks, however, more 
strongly on the plan of forcing bees with their queens from the 
stocks into empty hives than the other just noticed. Eor instance : 
At page 35 he says, “It is usual when bees have swarmed 
naturally, to expect a second swarm about the ninth or eleventh 
day after. The same length of time, or rather longer time, may 
be allowed to pass by before one attempts to make the second 
swarm artificially. The stock may bo ready for that purpose 
even earlier than this ; but there are reasons why it is better to 
delay this second operation till about the fourteenth or sixteenth 
day after, or even a day or two later, if the weather be suitable.” 
This is not sufficiently explained : but the reason of the delay is 
to give more time for the brood to be hatched in the stocks. 
But before this, most probably, the bees would have swarmed 
twice in the natural way, and have added but little to the store of 
the stock since they began swarming. Therefore, though the 
writer states that “ this is the proper time to take possession of 
the whole contents of the hive,” meaning after the bees were 
forced out of it—perhaps the honey in the old combs would hardly 
fetch 8d. per lb., while that from fresh swarms managed in the 
usual way fetched double that sum : besides, if the season is bad, 
the bees deprived of both their stock of pollen and honey could 
not collect enough stores for winter. But supposing it otherwise, 
still Mr. S.’s plan is not so good as the cottagers’ of drumming 
the bees into an empty hive, to be replaced after a part of their 
store is taken. I may have spoken of this favourite plan of bee¬ 
keepers in heath districts before, but may not have mentioned 
that it is somewhat like the Greek method—I mean the bar-hive 
of which Huish speaks so highly and professes to have invented ; 
but I have heard that he only improved what he borrowed from 
an old writer. However, in the first place the combs are cut out 
by turning up the hive : in the other they are attached to bars at 
the top of it. 
With regard to making artificial swarms. After the experience 
of years I see no reason to modify my remarks on this subject in 
Morton’s “Encyclopaedia of Agi’iculture,” published in 1848. 
Under the head of “Bee,” page 213, I state that “artificial 
colonies may be made without queens by merely putting a part 
of the bees into a hive in which there is a bit of comb containing 
workers’ eggs, confining them for a day. From one of these they 
rear a perfect female, or queen, by widening and lengthening the 
cell to complete the growth of the insect, whose cell is not 
inverted but in the same position as those of the workers.” Some 
recommend this plan when bees cluster and lie idle outside the 
hive, especially before the first swarm. Such experiments, how¬ 
ever, are but hazardous, and at best only make weak colonies. 
But the question is, What is gained by premature separation ? 
If done in bad weather there is, perhaps, an injury; for what use 
are bees in an empty hive at such a time ? If the weather were 
good a few days might be sometimes gained; but when the 
unnatural disturbance of the time and the uncertainty of success 
are taken into consideration, we think the scheme is best let 
alone. Indeed the practical bee-keeper has more reason to com¬ 
plain of the propensity of bees to increase colonies, which prevail 
so powerfully that a strong stock will sometimes throw off four 
or five swarms; while the first of these may cast off two also , 
during the season ; and we have known an instance of the original ; 
head bee of a hive having established three in one season.— 
J. Wighton. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Food Given to Poultry. —Would it not, tliink you, he desirable that 
exhibitors of poultry at shows, should (as is done in the case of cattle), 
be required to state what different kinds of food have been used, for the 
purpose both of instructing the ignorant how great size in poultry may be 
attained, as well as of checking the practice of using unnatural and 
extravagant food, such as beef, &c., which the Judges, one would think, 
would discountenance as much as possible ?—G. M. 
Detecting the Sex in Eggs {Investigator). —We never yet met with 
any one who could foretel what sex the chicken would be that was to be 
produced by an egg; yet the opinion that it could be so foretold is as old as 
the days of Horace. He says in his Satires, Lib. ii., Sat. iv. 
“ Longa quibus facies ovis erit, ilia memento, 
Ut succi melioris, et ut magis alma rotundis, 
Ponere : namque marem cokibent callosa vitellum.” 
That is, “ When you would feast on Eggs, select the long ones; they are 
whiter, sweeter, and more nourishing than the round, and would" pro¬ 
duce cocks.” 
Francis, in giving the translation in verse, writes thus— 
“ Long be your eggs, far sweeter than the round, 
Cock-eggs they are, more nourishing and sound.” 
To show how poets as well as doctors differ, he adds in a note. “ This 
precept is contradicted by experience. The round are male eggs, and 
their shell is harder than that of the long.” 
Erratum. —In last week’s paper on the “ Old and New Year,” for 
“throwes” read “throes,” 
Apiary near London [A Hertfordshire Bee-keeper). —If you inquire of 
some of the dealers in honey they will, perhaps, be able to inform you where 
you can get the information you require. You can obtain “ Bee-keeping 
for tbe Many ” by calling at our office, 1G2, Fleet Street. 
Removing Bees (Zeno).—Suspended in a box as you suggest, with the 
bottom of the hive closed, it might be removed to any distance by rail. A 
child playing in the front of a hive would be liable to be stung ; but merely 
passing in front of the hive will not irritate the bees. You may bring home 
the stock now, or at any time ; but if you wait until early spring, about 
March, you will be sure then of the bees having survived the winter. 
