m 
'WURyAL  OF  Hour  faff LTttR^  And  aoT'i'Aoff  OARDffMk 
July  30, 189«.  ■ 
come  nnder  my  notice  of  the  queen  gaining  access  to  the  supers 
And  spoiling  several  sections  by  filling  them  with  brood.  It  is 
very  annoying  when  bees  are  doing  well  to  have  them  ruined  in 
this  way.  I  have  never  known  the  queen  to  lay  eggs  in  sections 
when  a  single  crate  has  been  in  use.  It  is  afterwards  when  honey 
is  coming  in  somewhat  freely,  and  an  extra  crate  of  sections  is 
placed  underneath,  or  it  may  be  the  bee-keeper  is  labouring  under 
a  mistaken  idea,  and  places  two  extra  crates  on  his  hive,  whereas 
one  would  have  been  ample.  A  few  dull  days  set  in  ;  the 
queen  having  filled  all  the  frames  in  the  body  of  the  hive  with 
tirood,  finds  a  space  between  the  top  of  frames  and  the  partly 
filled  sections,  so  the  queen  at  once  takes  possession  of  them, 
and  is  much  more  likely  to  do  so  when  drone  comb  is  used  for 
supers. 
In  each  case  to  which  my  attention  was  drawn  the  hive  con¬ 
tained  little  drone  comb  in  the  brood  neat.  The  bees,  however, 
had  built  a  quantity  in  the  sections,  and  this  was  an  inducement  to 
the  queen  to  lay  eggs  in  them.  This  may  be  prevented  by  using 
queen  excluder  zinc,  as  I  do  not  think  it  is  any  detriment  to  the 
bees  passing  through.  If  ordinary  care  is  taken  in  placing  the 
empty  crate  of  sections  under  the  one  that  is  nearly  filled,  it  is 
rarely  any  harm  will  happen  to  them.  When  it  does  occur  it  is 
advisable  to  allow  them  to  remain  on  the  hive,  and  when  the  brood 
is  hatched  out  the  empty  cells  will  probably  be  filled  with  honey, 
which  after  being  uncapped  may  be  passed  through  the  extractor, 
afterwards  cutting  the  combs  out  and  melting  them  for  wax.  The 
sections  may  then  have  a  piece  of  guide  comb  placed  in  them,  and 
be  used  again. 
Honeydew. 
This  has  been  very  prevalent  during  the  present  season  owing 
to  the  dry  weather  experienced  throughout  the  country.  Previously 
I  have  not  been  troubled  with  it  except  late  in  the  year,  when  the 
honey  fiow  was  getting  over.  But  many  of  the  hardy  trees  have 
been  covered  with  aphis  for  the  past  three  months,  so  no  wonder 
samples  of  honey  have  been  spoiled  owing  to  the  bees  working  on 
it.  Reports  are  to  hand  from  several  bee-keepers  complaining  of 
the  mischief  wrought  in  their  apiaries.  It  is  useless  extracting  it 
now,  as  it  is  too  late  in  the  season  for  the  bees  to  store  a  surplua 
(except  from  the  Heather),  and  as  the  honeydew  is  doubtless 
mixed  with  honey  the  bees  will  winter  all  right  on  it.  Some 
bee-keepers  have  a  doubt  in  the  matter,  but  I  have  none.  If  the 
sample  of  honey  is  spoiled  in  those  that  have  been  doubled  it 
should  be  extracted  and  fed  back  to  the  bees  in  the  body  of  the 
hive. 
In  this  (Midlands)  district,  owing  probably  to  the  heavy  rains 
experienced  last  month,  it  is  not  so  prevalent  as  in  other  places  ; 
but  during  the  previous  month  the  bees  stored  it  in  quantity,  and 
spoiled  what  would  otherwise  have  been  a  good  sample.  This  will 
be  used  for  autumn  feeding.  During  the  late  spell  of  fine  weather 
a  good  bright  sample  of  honey  was  stored  from  white  Clover  and 
the  Limes  without  a  suspicion  of  the  flavour  of  honeydew. 
Drones. 
A  general  massacre  of  drones  has  taken  place  during  the  past 
few  weeks.  The  young  grnbs  have  also  been  cast  out  of  the  hives, 
clearly  showing  that  outside  supplies  of  food  are  getting  short,  so 
to  save  themselves  from  actual  starvation  the  worker  bees  take 
time  by  the  forelock,  and  wisely  dispense  with  the  surplus  popula¬ 
tion  of  the  hive.  It  is  also  a  sign  that  those  stocks  from  which 
the  drone.s  are  ejected  have  fertile  queens,  as  a  queenleis  atcck  will 
not  destroy  the  drones. 
As  is  now  pretty  well  known,  the  drone  is  the  male  bee,  and  is 
readily  distinguished  from  the  workers  by  its  large  size,  the  absence 
of  sting,  and  a  much  louder  hum  when  flying.  In  frame  hives 
where  full  sheets  of  foundation  are  used  only  a  few  are  raised  ; 
but  in  straw  skeps,  where  the  bees  are  left  to  chance,  they  some¬ 
times  rear  enormous  numbers.  I  have  seen  a  shovelful  that  had 
been  turned  out  of  a  single  skep.  From  such  a  hive  very  little 
surplus  would  be  stored.  It  is,  however,  advisable  to  have  a  little 
drone  comb  in  all  the  hives,  as  the  bees  will  destroy  the  worker 
comb,  usually  in  the  corners  or  at  the  sides,  and  build  drone  cells. 
They  are  produced  in  about  twenty-five  days  from  an  unfertilised 
egg,  whereas  the  worker  only  takes  twenty-one  days,  and  the  queen 
sixteen  days  from  the  depositing  of  the  egg  in  the  cell  to  being 
hatched  out. 
During  a  spell  of  cold  showery  weather  early  in  the  season  when 
outdoor  supplies  are  short,  bees  will  often  kill  off  all  the  drones  and 
raise  a  fresh  supply  when  the  weather  is  more  favourable.  But 
when  the  white  grubs  are  turned  out  of  their  cells  it  is  a  sign  that 
starvation  is  staring  them  in  the  face.  At  such  times  even  the 
worker  brood  is  turned  out  of  the  hive.  This  usually  takes  place 
late  in  the  season  when  atocks  have  not  been  fed  up  and  food  is 
very  scarce. — An  English  Bee-keeper. 
All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be 
directed  to  “  The  Editor. ’’  Letters  addressed  personally  to 
Dr.  Hogg  or  members  of  the  staff  often  remain  unopened 
unavoidably.  We  request  that  no  one  will  write  privately 
to  any  of  our  correspondents,  as  doing  so  subjects  them  to 
unjustifiable  trouble  and  expense,  and  departmental  writers 
are  not  expected  to  answer  any  letters  they  may  receive  on 
Gardening  and  Bee  subjects,  through  the  post. 
Correspondents  should  not  mix  up  on  the  same  sheet  questions 
relating  to  Gardening  and  those  on  Bee  snbjects,  and  should 
never  send  more  than  two  or  three  questions  at  once.  All 
articles  intended  for  insertion  should  be  written  on  one  side  of 
the  paper  only.  We  cannot,  as  a  rule,  reply  to  questions 
through  the  post,  and  we  do  not  undertake  to  return  rejected 
communications. 
Book  on  Boiler  ynijuirer). — Oblige  by  sending  your  name  and 
address,  also  by  stating  the  extent  of  the  structures  you  desire  to  heat. 
Code  tor  JrudRlns  (F.  P.)  — The  Judging  Code  of  the  Royal  Horti¬ 
cultural  Society  can  be  obtained,  by  post,  iu  return  for  Is.  Id.  sent  to 
the  Secretary,  117,  Victoria  Street,  Westminster,  S.W. 
Zrlses  In  Pots  (A.  L.  It,  Ojwrto'). — All  the  Irises  you  name  may 
be  grown  in  pots,  preferably  piunged  in  some  medium  that  prevents 
worms  finding  access  through  the  drainage.  The  size  of  the  pots  can 
only  be  determined  by  the  size  of  the  rhizomes  or  number  of  bulbs  yon 
wish  to  grow  together.  We  should  think  they  would  all  succeed  much 
better  planted  out,  and  the  Ksempferi  varieties  like  a  damp  position. 
Pit  for  Hotbeds  — There  is  the  advantage  in  a  6  feet  light 
of  more  space  covered  than  oy  a  5  feet,  but  the  latter  size  is  handier  ; 
yet  we  prefer  6  feet  lights  to  any  others.  The  openings  in  the  walls 
should  be  half  a  brick,  or  what  is  known  as  a  pigeon-hole,  and  these  in 
every  course  of  bricks  up  to  the  height  of  the  side  walls,  which  are 
usually  3  feet  in  from  and  4  feet  at  the  back,  but  this  depends  in  a  great 
measure  for  what  purpose  the  pit  is  intended.  There  is  no  illustration 
of  such  a  pit  in  the  Journal  of  Iforticulture  more  recently  than 
August  7th,  1864  (page  110),  which  gives  particulars  with  references. 
We  will  reproduce  the  illustration  with  relevant  matter  in  an  early  issue. 
Staff  Required  for  Garden  (A.  P.). — For  the  houses  three  men 
would  be  uecesaary  to  have  everything  grown  in  the  highest  perfection, 
combined  with  thorough  cleanliness  and  order.  A  foreman,  age  twenty 
four  to  thirty  ;  wages,  189.  to  20i.  ;  fi[rfct  journeyman,  age  twenty-one  to 
twenty-four;  wages,  I69.  to  18i. ;  and  journeyman  or  improver,  age 
eighteen  to  twenty  ;  wages  129.  to  14s.  per  week  (in  all  cases),  with 
bothy,  milk,  and  vegetables.  If  no  bothy  89.  per  week  additional  wages 
should  be  paid  to  the  journeymau  and  improver ;  4d.  to  the  foreman.  We 
have  in  mind  good  hands,  capable  of  doing  first-class  all-round  work, 
inclusive  of  all  labour  m  connection  with  the  glass  department.  For 
the  lawn  and  flower-garden  portion,  what  is  termed  a  pleasure-ground 
man  ought  to  suilice,  with  the  aisistauce  of  a  lad  at  mowing  rimes.  The 
kitchen  garden  is  too  much  for  one  man,  and  too  little  for  two  ;  but  as 
you  crop  heavily,  and  give  active  assistance,  we  should  apportion  to 
this  department  a  kitchen-garden  man  (the  most  important  of  the 
establishment),  strong,  and  up  to  his  work.  To  asiist  him  and  the 
pleasure-ground  man  on  occasions  of  mowing,  a  strong,  active  lad  or 
young  man  of  sixteen  to  eighteen  years  of  age  would  be  necessary,  at  a 
wage  of  about  loj.  per  week  ;  good  kitchen  garden  and  pleasure-ground 
man  £1.  Thus  six  hands  would,  in  our  opinion,  be  required  to  keej.  the 
place  well,  and  have  everything  up  to  the  mark — high  culture,  thorough 
order,  and  abundance  of  produce.  It  is  presumed  that  the  chief  would 
do  no  inconsiderable  amount  of  the  work,  in  addition  to  supervision,  an(i 
where  there  is  much  running  about  a  youth  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  years 
is  often  as  useful  as  a  man,  and  may  be  necessary  in  your  case,  when 
IOj.  to  129.  per  week  more  expenditure  wi'uld  be  entailed.  In  a  case 
very  similar  to  the  one  you  describe  the  staff  consists  of  head  gardener, 
who  is  in  every  sense  a  worker,  attending  to  plants  in  the  house,  working 
anywhere  and  at  everything  that  needs  pushing  along,  and  he  gets  258. 
per  week  and  cottage,  with  usual  peiquisites.  Foreman  18'.,  and 
journeyman  14.=.  per  week,  with  bothy,  milk,  and  vegetables;  pleasure- 
ground  man  18s,  per  week  and  cottage  ;  kitchen-garden  man  I83. 
per  week  and  cottage  ;  under  kitchen-garden  man  IGs.  per  week 
and  cottage.  Boy,  about  sixteen  years  old,  129.  per  week,  who 
is  a  sort  of  horse  man,  going  with  a  trap  when  required,  and  during 
mowing  attending  to  the  horse.  We  give  this  as  a  matter  of  fact 
analogous  to  your  case  ;  but  there  is  no  church  work,  though  a  great 
deal  of  flower  giving  and  packing  fruit,  but  there  are  only  about  half 
the  number  of  Chrysanthemums  as  in  your  case,  and  the  young  gardeners 
do  the  chief  of  the  work  in  connection  with  the  wall  fruit  trees 
outdoors. 
