llic Country Gcntlcivoman 



DRIED FLOWERS FOR FASHIONABLE USE. 



DRIED flowers, in their natural colours, 

 have for some time past appeared for 

 sale in the shops. The mode in which the 

 operation is effected is this : — A vessel with a 

 moveable cover is provided, and, having re- 

 moved the cover from it, a piece of metallic 

 gauze of moderate fineness is fixed over it, 

 and the cover replaced. A quantity of sand 

 is then taken, sufficient to fill the vessel, and 

 passed through a sieve into an iron pot, where 

 it is heated, with the addition of a small 

 quantity of stearine, carefully stirred, so as to 

 thoroughly mix the ingredients. The quantity 

 of stearine to be added is at the rate of half 

 a pound to one hundred pounds of sand. 

 Care must be taken not to add too much, as 



it would sink to the bottom and injure the 

 flowers. The vessel with its cover on, and 

 the gauze beneath it, is then turned upside 

 down, and the bottom being removed, the 

 flowers to be operated upon are carefully 

 placed on the gauze, and the sand gently 

 poured in so as to cover the flowers entirely, 

 the leaves being thus prevented from touching 

 each other. The vessel is then put in a hot 

 place, such, for instance, as the top of a 

 baker's oven, where it is left for forty-eight 

 hours. I'he flowers thus become dried, and 

 they retain their natural colours. The vessel 

 still remaining bottom upwards, the lid is taken 

 oft', and the sand runs away through the gauze, 

 leaving the flowers uninjured. 



BEE-KEEPING. 



SWARMINC; AND SUPERING. 



1!V A LAMMERiMOOR BEE-KEEPER. 



THE case of the bees losing their (peen, 

 as described at page 122, will be found 

 by bee-keepers of not unfrequent occurrence. 

 It generally happens in first or top swarms, 

 from the queens being old and their wings 

 worn, so that they are unable to support 

 themselves in their flight. At the same time, 

 the queen may be a first-rate breeder, as mine 

 was, and therefore every attention should be 

 paid to assist her. The swarm alluded to did 

 not attempt to come off again until June 4, at 

 eight o'clock a.m. — a very unusual time; on 

 this occasion, she again fell in front of the 

 hive along with about a dozen of bees. I got 

 hold of her, and as many bees as I could 

 along with her, and put her into a hive. 

 Still enough of bees did not follow her, she 

 being too near her own hi\e. AVhen fairly in, 

 and as many bees as could keep her in, I 



removed her to the place where she was to 

 remain. The hives being those called the 

 "Woodbury" bar frame hive, which I now 

 generally use, I was enabled to give her as 

 many bees as I thought proper, by removing 

 the cover oft' the one she came from, and 

 taking out two bars containing young brood 

 and bees, which I put along with her, and so 

 made up the deficiency. 



Had such a circumstance taken place with 

 the common straw hive, where I could not have 

 taken out the bees and comb, I would have 

 changed the places of the hive, lifting the old 

 hive about 20 yards from her own stance, and 

 replacing it with the new swarm ; and the bees 

 which were out would, when they came back, 

 have remained with the queen, and sufficient 

 would have been left with the young brood in 

 the old hive to hatch them and rear the young 



