562 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Chap.XLV. 



sorts are the best for the cottager's purpose : to him the cabbage kinds are 

 worthless. 



Potherbs are necessary in a labourer's garden, and a small border should 

 be appropriated to their growth. In this, single plants of mint, sage, baulm, 

 marjoram, thyme, rue, may be planted, and a row or two of parsley should 

 be sown in the autumn of every year ; also a row of leeks. If a tuft of 

 lavender be added it will be found useful, as a scent, among the linen. 



The culture of cauliflower, brocoli, asparagus, artichokes, celery, endive, 

 &c., will be noticed hereafter in the garden of the farm-house. Mean- 

 time we must recommend to the cottager a most useful vegetable — namely, 

 rhubarb. Of this he should possess himself of at least half-a-dozen plants, 

 put in, two feet apart, in any bye corner of the garden. The leaf-stalks 

 from these will afford an agreeable addition, in the shape of a pudding or 

 pie, to the Sunday's dinner, or made into dumplings to carry a-field : 

 thev being as useful, and perhaps even more wholesome, than the best baking 

 apples. 



Growing fruit ought not to be an object with the cottager: trees only 

 damage more valuable crops. But if a single apple-tree be wished for, let 

 it be a lialf-standard Hawthornden Pippin. A hedge of gooseberry-bushes, 

 and a few currant-trees, — particularly of the black sort, — may be planted 

 and trained across the house nearest the garden, but nowhere else. The 

 fruit from these will be useful in the family for either boiling, baking, or 

 bottling. 



ON BEES. 



Closely connected with economical gardening is the keeping and ma- 

 nagement of bees ; the annual profits of a well-managed stock of which are 

 so certain, and so considerable, that it behoves every cottager to keep as 

 many as will at least pay the rent of his cottage. It is matter of 

 astonishment that so few are found in the possession of labourers, see- 

 ing that their first and subsequent cost is so trifling, and their profits so 

 great. Mr. Cobbett estimates tlie value of the honey made by a good early 

 swarm to be worth two bushels of wheat, which, at the present price of that 

 grain, would varv from about fifteen to twenty shillings. To have, there- 

 fore, four or five hives to take every year, would be of great moment to a 

 needy man. 



A bee-house of two or three shelves is the most convenient stance for a 

 stock of hives. The back, ends, and roof should be weather-V)oarded ; the 

 back, down to the ground, so tliat no draught of air pass through beneath. 

 It should be placed in some convenient corner of the garden, and facing the 

 south. Bees like quiet, being easily annoyed by passengers, pigs, or. 

 poultry : no trees or bushes should be very near the front of the hives, as 

 these obstruct their flight home. They are fond of sea-water, and will fly 

 a great distance to obtain it. They drink frequently, and should have, in a 

 dry country, water in a shallow vessel set near the hives ; many lose their 

 lives in endeavouring to drink out of deep vessels. 



A full, healthy hive will throw off two, sometimes three swarms in the 

 course of the summer. The first swarms are always most valuable, because 

 they have full time to collect a stock of honey, which, when taken, is called, 

 or at least sold for, virgin honey — late swarms often require to be fed in the 

 winter. A second swarm, if it be found well filled at the end of autumn, 

 may stand over to be taken at the end of the second year, — they seldom do 

 well if kept longer. Sometimes the first swarm throws off one from itself: 

 this is called a cast, and the honey of this is tlie true virgin honey ; but it 



