i75 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 12, 1860. 
a separate ladder leading to each, and tlie roof of eacli box so 
low that the lien cannot stand upiight in it. We hope some of 
our readers who have cannibal hens will try this arrangement 
and report the result to us.] 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
DOTTHEL. 
Dottkel are peculiar birds; they come in a day, and dis¬ 
appear in a day. At early dawn on a hill top a hundred may be 
found ; half an hour afterwards there is not one. They are there 
again the next morning. "While most of the birds are becoming 
scarce in England, these become more plentiful. We have now 
ten times as many as we had twenty years ago. They are gene¬ 
rally seen for about three weeks or a month—this year for a few 
days only, but in great numbers. Have any of our corre¬ 
spondents noted it ? 
CONVERTING- AN ATTIC INTO AN AVIARY. 
I have a part of a store-room in the third story of a house 
> partitioned off, which I wish to be converted into an aviary. Can 
i you oblige me by giving me a few directions as to arranging it 
: economically, and what kinds of birds I may put into it ? It is 
j fourteen feet long, eight feet wide, and eight feet high, and has a 
| window facing the east.— Tony Lumpkin. 
[In the first place, take out the window-sash, and fix in its 
i place a wired frame, if projecting with a boarded top to throw off 
: the rain so much the better. Next, see that the floor and skirting 
are properly secured against rats and mice. Then procure some 
long slips of deal, and with long screws fasten them to the walls 
all round the room, passing each screw through a small inch- 
j square block of wood between the lath and the wall, so as to leave 
about an inch space between the laths and the wall. Two or 
1 three such laths may bo fastened round the walls a loot or fifteen 
inches one above the other. Then procure some thick, shrubby 
bushes. I have found gorse or furze the best, and stick them 
i thickly behind these laths, so as to make a thick hedge all round 
the room for the birds to breed in. Nail up also Borne branches 
of oak or white thorn for the birds to sit on, and cover the floor 
an inch thick with coarse sand, and the room is ready for the 
birds. Water they should have fresh and clean to drink, and 
also to bathe in. Good bright canarv-seed in the hopper or 
meat-box; and this should be placed on a stand, to prevent mice 
getting at it if they should happen to get in. A handful of 
groundsel and chick-weed may be thrown daily on tlie floor, and 
moss and cow-hair strewn about for building materials. While 
the birds are breeding they should daily have an egg boiled hard, 
cut up and mixed with bread-crumbs, provided it is home-baked 
bread, or else bun or biscuit. “ Tony Lumpkin’s ” room would 
i do well for one cock and four hen Canaries, or he might turn up 
a number of hen Canaries and any cock Finches he desired to 
breed Mules from. I have bred many in this way with varying 
success, and it is certainly the least troublesome. There are, how¬ 
ever, three dangers—first, from mice; secondly, nowand then a 
bird will take to egg-eating, and it is difficult] o detect the culprit, 
which should be removed; and, thirdly, if insects infest the birds, 
they sometimes increase in such numbers as to kill the birds, or 
at least stop their breeding, and they cannot be got at so well as 
in cages.— B. P. Beent.] 
BEE-DOMICILES. 
Eveeytiiing connected with the history and management of 
the bee seems, in all ages, to be prolific of controversy and con¬ 
trariety of opinions. Even in recent years, and at the present 
time, when more enlightened views are entertained regarding its 
instinct and habits, professed apiarians still entertain the most 
conflicting opinions as to the kind of domicle, or hive, which is 
best suited to its successful and economical cultivation. It would 
not be difficult, perhaps, to account for this. Since the intro¬ 
duction of a more humane system of bee-management, and the 
consequent discarding from the apiary of the old cone-shaped 
straw-liive, apiarians have, in all quarters, been exercising then- 
inventive faculties in endeavouring to introduce improvement 
after improvement, each upholding his own pet theory to the dis¬ 
paragement of every other; so that the tyro in bee economics is 
completely bewildered, and the more experienced cultivator even 
thrown into doubt and uncertainty. 
All forms of bec-domiciles seem to have been tried, and all 
dimensions. The pyramidal form, the conical, oval, cylindrical, 
globular, cycloidal, hexagonal, octagonal, square, &e., each and all 
have had their advocates and partisans. 
To discuss the merits and demerits of the various hives which 
have from time to time been prominently brought before the 
public by ancient and modern writers, from the patented bee-box 
of Geddes, in the reign of King Charles II., to Nutt’s “Grand 
Pavilion of Nature,” with its collateral additions, ventilators and 
thermometers; from the excavated trunks in the forest, and 
Warder’s octagon, to the giant tub of Duhamel ; and from the 
open hive of Martin, of Cobbed, to that of the American one 
recently introduced into this country-—to discuss these and fifty 
others would be a work both oi impracticability and supereroga¬ 
tion. I will not, therefore, pursue the varied chimera: which have 
from time to time been broached, nor attempt to discuss the pre¬ 
tended advantages which each apiarian professor claims for his 
own invention. The experienced cultivator well knows, that a 
propitious season, a rich pasturage, a strong and vigorous colony, 
are the real elements of prosperity. There are the contingencies 
which sometimes crown with success a cherished theory, qr a 
favourite mechanical contrivance ; but these advantageous results 
are not because of such theory or contrivance, but in spite of it. 
They are simply adventitious ; for the exterior circumstances, or 
contingencies, being altered, instead of complete success there >vill 
be utter disappointment and failure. 
Such, however, would account for the origin of so many 
varieties of bee-domiciles, and for the alleged advantages whielx 
each artist claims for his peculiar invention. Ear be it from me 
unduly to appreciate the many neat and ingenious contrivances 
which were exhibited—for instance, in the Crystal Palace in 1851. 
Such beautiful samples of mechanical skill are both pleasing and 
instructive to contemplate ; but in estimating the value of any 
article, we must consider its usefulness. We must consider tlie 
cui bono —the end to be subserved ; and if it can be truly said 
that bees may be as successfully cultivated, whether as regards 
increase in numbers or stores in a simple Live of a few shillings’ 
purchase as in the most complicated and costly, then it is quite 
apparent that such elaborate arrangements and appliances are in 
themselves, and in that point of view, useless and valueless. In 
making this statement, however, I do not wish to deprive the 
amateur of gratifying his taste in any way he pleases, however 
costly. All I contend for is, that such complicated arrangements 
and appliances shall not be considered essential in any degree to 
the successful cultivation of the bee. 
What then, it may be asked, are the principles which should 
guide the apiarian in the construction of his hives ? My answer 
is, Simplicity and adaptation of means to the end desired. It 
will be well, no doubt, to ascertain what material and construction 
are best suited both for winter and summer domiciles, so that 
an equable temperature may be sustained as much as possible, 
and the inmates neither adversely affected by the heat of summer 
nor the cold of winter. Wood and straw are the materials gene¬ 
rally used: of (lie two I think that straw, from its absorbent 
and non-conducting qualities, best suited to this climate, being 
less liable to be affected by atmospherical changes; but wood, 
on the other hand, from its applicability to various forms of 
construction, according to the taste and object of the apiarian, 
will always be pretty generally employed. It is quite clear, 
however, that to the ordinary cultivator, w hose principal object 
is profit combined with pleasure, a simple, easily-managed hive 
is best; while to the naturalist and scientific inquirer such ar¬ 
rangements of construction must be sought for as w r ill best attain 
the objects he has in view—namely, experiment and investigation. 
To the former class of apiarians I could recommend no better 
hive than the improved straw hive—cylindrical and flat-topped, 
having a central aperture for supering. This, I consider, on the 
whole, the most useful kind of hive for the cottager; as it is the 
cheapest, the most easily managed, the best adapted for swarming 
purposes, and also for the obtaining of the superabundant stores, 
by means of glass or straw supers. As to size, this must depend 
upon circumstances and locality, and the populousness of the 
colony to occupy it. Au ordinary-sized hive may be reckoned 
about thirteen inches in diameter and eight inches in height, 
interior measure. The size of the supers will also be regulated 
according to season and circumstances. The kind of hives I 
reckon best for the naturalist, whose researches are directed to 
the instinct, habits, and operations of the bee, may be indicated 
from those I employ in my own apiary, of which I may now give 
a condensed account. 
