78 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Max 1, i860. 
tleman made his words good; finding her again in his garden he 
took his gun and shot her. Can I recover damages by entering 
him in the County Court ?—A Subsceibee. 
[No one has a right to shoot a fowl, or any other animal, 
though trespassing on his ground. He should sue the owner of 
the animal for the damage done by it. No doubt you would 
recover some portion of the value of the hen ; but probably a 
very small portion, as you do not seem to have taken any pains 
to prevent the bird trespassing, even after notice was given. The 
notice given, however, is no bar to your sueing.— Eds. C. G.] 
LIGURIAN BEES. 
[We have received the enclosed from M. Hermann, and insert 
it literally.] 
“ 1 have seen in No. 602, p. 32, of The Cottage Gaedenee, 
some mistake of the nature of bees, concerning the Italish Alp 
Bees. Your corrispondent does mean or consider it almost irn- 
posiblo to keep the Italish Queens pure, or to receive Drones 
in the same year from a Queen received from here. As well as 
I know by my experience, the queens disturbed does seldome 
make Drones in the same year, also the swarms, beseides if the 
year is a very good one. What is the reason ? 
_ “Swarms and disturbed peoples have not the strenght suffi¬ 
ciently ; it is all things nature what the Bees do. In such a case 
the bees have to work for their own subsistance and not for Drones, 
which doe only eat, and therefor they do not make Drone eggs ! 
But if you let show or feel the Queens that she has enough of 
feed and poeple, she becomes lusting (insolent), and lies also 
Drone eggs. If you take an Italish Queen, you must soon 
strenghen her with brood, Bees and Honey (the best honey is 
such which i3 mixed with ‘ Pollen ’ (flower powder). Eating this 
honey, the queens becomes very cnxciouse to lay eggs, feeding 
plenty during 8 days, you can find immediately drone eggs. 
“ To have a resulte it is good to have 2 Queens, one to Drones, 
the other to have for queens education; also to impregnate the 
queens pure their is sure the result 9 times from 10, if their is 
maken like I have said in my little Book ‘ The Italian Alp 
Bee,' § 17 and if you have 1 Italian hives between 50 English 
hives, you may have such a result. 
“ ‘ In that hives, where you havo to impregnate a queen you 
must take care to have also Italish Drones (whitout other Drones) 
and give feeding the hive thinned honey in the early morning, 
befor other Drones had mad their prommenate (commely they 
comes not from itself befor 10 o’clock), and then the queen with 
her ministers immetially make her mating-cxcursions, whilst the 
english Drones are yet sleeping.’ For the nom of the English 
Bee-keeper Gentlemen please to note, that I am ready to send 
Italish Queens pure race to England direct from her, but the 
commission and payments should be made to Mess. Geo. 
Neighbour and Sons, in London, Regent, Street, 149. Also, I 
offer the Beeskeeper my service in every things concerning the 
Bee cultivation, if any of them should lik to hear some thing from 
our Bee company, which is very large. 
“ Also, whoole hives I can send in August, September, and 
October, and March and febrary, if the commission are large 
enough to bo accompagniated by a man.—H. C. Hermann, 
Apiculteur, Tarn-ins, Orisons, Switzerland.” 
Also, their is a difference, if the queen is young, or one-year 
old. A queen in this year born, does lay more seldom Drones 
eggs than such one of one year old. 
AN APPEAL FOR ASSISTANCE-SUBSTITUTE 
FOR GUIDE-COMB. 
Would “ A Devonshire Bee-keeper ” not think of running 
melted beeswax over his bars as a substitute for guidc-comb ? 
The writer has tried this successfully on glass, and does not see 
why it should not be equally efficacious on wood.—A Renebew- 
SHIEE BEE-KEEPER. 
[I have to thank those amongst my brother apiarians who 
have so kindly responded to my “ appeal,” and believe that 
through their assistance I shall now have a sufficiency of empty 
comb. By inadvertently using the term “ guide-comb,” I have, 
it appears, unintentionally misled my Renfrewshire friend; since 
melted wax will not supply the place of comb in furnishing bee- 
boxes, which is the purpose to which I intend applying it. 
Whilst on this subject I may quote a passage from a letter by 
the late Dr. Bevau to my friend, Mr. Taylor, dated Sept., 1851, 
in which he notices a proposition then made by me to use melted 
wax as a substitute for guide-comb. “ I am pleased with his 
(Mr. Woodbury’s) notion of laying narrow strips of wax on the 
bars ; but would, as far as possible, confine this practice to every 
other bar, still adhering to alternate guide-comb.” 
Upon this plan I have since acted, but do not find it always 
effectual in inducing the bees to construct their combs with 
perfect regularity. The tendency they have to lay their foun¬ 
dations on an angular projection is well known ; and for this 
reason the angular edges of the bars themselves appear generally 
to be the cause of deviation. Acting on this hint I have recently 
contrived comb-bars of this pattern T. The surface of the pro¬ 
jecting ridge being coated with wax will, I fancy, induce the bees 
to work their combs in a straight line. 
I intend giving this contrivance a fair trial by hiving my first 
swarm in a box furnished with these bars, but destitute of guide- 
comb. The result, when known, will bo communicated to the 
readers of The Cottage Gardener by—A Devonshiee Bee- 
KEEPEB.] 
THE COATINGS OF BROOD CELLS. 
I eind that “ A Devonshiee Beekeeper” questions my 
previous statement on the larva: of bees not spinning cocoons. 
But what he relates at page 15 is not new to me, nor the remarks 
quoted from Kirby and Spence’s “ Introduction to Entomology ” 
on the subject. I refer him to the Gardeners' Chronicle for 
184-5, in which he may see what others and myself have said 
concerning the coatings of brood cells. However, to save trouble, 
I I give the following extract 
“ The coatings of old brood cells I take to be one of the un¬ 
settled matters. If you put a piece of old brood comb into 
warm water, you may separate it into several layers. The 
structure itself appealing to consist of successive layers. I have 
! just made out five. Now, take a piece of white virgin comb, 
and you will be ready to decide that the cells consist of but one 
! of these layers. Ergo, do the bees recoat them on the emerging 
of each set of brood P From the manner of the adherence of the 
layers, I have my doubts as to their being cocoons of the brood.” 
Those words are not mine, but were inserted at page 295, from 
a letter I had from Mr. Golding. This excellent apiarian ren¬ 
dered Dr. Bevan great assistance with his book on bees, and his 
knowledge of the natural habits of the insects is beyond question. 
Perhaps those come nearest the truth who think that the linings 
of the cells are the old skins or chrysalids of the brood, instead of 
! cocoons, which they certainly do not spin.—J. Wighton. 
[Whether or not the proper term be “ spin,” we will not 
waste time and space in arguing, although Kirby and Spence 
employ it. The only material question is, Do the larva: form 
cocoons ? and every trustworthy observer and all analogy, we 
think, agree in the affirmative.— Eds. 0, G.] 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Drake Persecuting Hens—Owls [Deodar). —We are sorry to say 
there is no remedy for the propensity of which you complain. It is com¬ 
mon with drakes, and the only cure is to kill them. There is a ridiculous 
idea received by some, that it arises from the fact of their having been 
hatched under hens. We do not agree with them. We do not believe 
Owls take the young Pigeons, because we know a place in Suffolk where 
Pigeons and Owls breed in the same barn, and have done so for years. We 
may be mistaken, and if you have reason to believe you suffer from depre¬ 
dations, you may prevent it by placing nets after dark in front of the 
Pigeon-house and disposing them so as to catch anything that attempts to 
enter. Watch the hole at which the Owl enters, and having placed the 
net in front of it, thrust it in with your hand, then withdraw the hand 
gently. The position in which the net will be left will permit the Owl to 
enter, hut he will be unable to return. 
Dorking Cock [E. JV. jV.).—At two years old he is in full vigour, and 
may be well mated with hens of eighteen months old. 
Roup [A Novice, Watford). —Your fowls with rattling in their throats, 
discharge from their nostrils, and swollen eyes, have roup. We have 
repeatedly given the mode of treatment. Buy our “ Poultry Book for the 
Many,” and keep it by you for reference. 
Ants Infesting a Bf.e-house (A Hants Bee-keeper). —If standing on 
legs, tying a piece of wool round each of them will prevent the ascent of 
the ants. Putting gas lime, or guano, on their haunts will drive them 
away. 
Transferring Bees [E. Collins). —We have so repeatedly expressed our 
disapprobation of the practice of transferring bees and their combs from 
one hive to another, that all we can do in your case is to dissuade you 
from any such proceeding, which would most probably end in the total 
destruction of your stock. You had better wait till the swarming season 
before you attempt to people your Taylor’s hive, or any other. Your old 
stocks that forsook their dwelling were, most probably, queenless. 
Straw Bee-hive Maker.— A correspondent, “ W. H. D.,” wishes to 
know the direction of one near London. 
