FARMERS' REGISTER 



413 



siiiTocalion ; by freezing ilie breath or veporoflhe 

 bees, nrul so ed'eclujilly closiniif all the opcniniis ol 

 ihe hive by ice, that the air t>eromes iiicapable ol 

 eupportinir respiration, anil deaih is the iiieviiable 

 resuii. Where too iDuch moisture exist?, the 

 conibs become mould}', and the bees become dis- 

 eased and unhealthy, and frequently (lerish. li 

 i;old weather continues (or any ureat length ol 

 time, ihe hives should be examineii, and if the 

 bees are likt-ly to die, they must be at once re- 

 moved to a rootri of a moderate temperature, and 

 where the aniiual heat can be gradually restor- 

 ed. Some apiarians are in the habit ol' burying 

 their bees laie in the liill, and allowing them to 

 remain in that condition until the spring is so (ar 

 advanced, that they can gather honey IVom the 

 early flowers lor themselves. Their argument is, 

 that, as neeg duririji: their torpid or inactive sime 

 do not consume honey, by prolotiijing this slate, 

 the danger of siarvaiioi) is avoided, death (rom 

 freezing cannot take place, and if the earth is dry, 

 the combs will not mould so as to produce injury. 

 Mr. Weeks says — 



"A cellar made in the side of a dry hill, so co- 

 vered as to keep out water, is a good storage lor 

 wintering bees. There should be two ventilatois 

 Hi the two most extreme parts of the cellar — one 

 near the bottom and on its side ti> admit pure air — 

 the other through the top or covering to allow the 

 bad air to escape." 



Want of air is the most frequent cause of death 

 to bees, and this danirer of suH'ocation requires to 

 be more carefully guarded against than any other. 

 Dryness is indispensable to health ; and it should 

 always be remembered, that any extra care whicii 

 bees may receive, which is necessary to their 

 salety or comfort, i."? usually amply repaid by the 

 additional quantity and quality of the honey pro- 

 duced. 



FORMATIOnr OF THE LAGOON ISLANDS. 



From the London Quarterly Review — Voyages of the Adventure 

 and Deagle. 



Almost every voyager has been struck with as- 

 tonishment at the lagoon islands — rings of land 

 rising out of the depths of great oceans, and ol 

 which a good idea may be formed from the cha- 

 racteristic sketch of Whitsunday Island in Eee- 

 chey's voyaue. These are admirably described 

 by JNIr. Darwin. 



" The annular reef of this lagoon island [Keel- 

 ing] is surmounted in the <rreater part of its length 

 by linear islets. On the northern side there is an 

 openina, throuiih which vessels reach the an- 

 chorage. On entering the scene was very curious 

 and raiher pretty : its beauty, however, being 

 solely depend»Mit on the brilliancy of the surround- 

 ing colors. Tlie siiallow, siill and c'ear water of 

 the laaoon, resting in iis greater part on white 

 eand, is, when illuminated by a vertical sun, of a 

 most vivid green. This brilliant expanse, several 

 nules in widih, is on all sides divided, either Irom 

 the dark heaving water of tlie ocean by a line of 

 snow-white breakers, or from the blue vault of 

 heaven by the strips of land, crowned at an equal 

 height by tiie to[)s of the cocoa-nut trees. As u 

 white cloud here and there affords a pleasing con- 

 trast with the aztsre sky, so in the h>goqn dark 



bands of living coral appear through the emerald 

 green water. 



•' The next morning after anchoring, I went on 

 shore on Direction Island. 'I'lie sirij) of dry land 

 is o'.ily a few liundred yards wide ; on Ihe lagoon 

 side we have a white calcareous beach, the radia- 

 tion from which in such a climate is very oppres- 

 sive ; and on the outer coast, a solid broad flat of 

 coral rock, which serves to break the violence of 

 the open sea. Excepting near the lagoon, where 

 there is some sand, the land is entirely composed 

 of rounded fragmenis of coral. In such a loose, 

 dry, siony soil, the climate of the intertropical re- 

 gions alone could produce a vigorous vegetation. 

 On some of the smaller islets, noihing could be 

 more elegant than the manner in which the young 

 and lull-grown cocoa-nut trees, vviihout destroying 

 each other's symmetry, were mingled into one 

 wood. A beach of glittering white sand formed 

 a border to these fairy spots. 



" I will now give a sketch of the natural history 

 of these islands, which, (rom its very paucity, pos- 

 sesses a peculiar interest. The cocoa-nut, at the 

 first glance, seems to compose the whole wood ; 

 ihere are, however, five or six other kinds. One 

 of these grows to a very large size, but from the 

 extreme softness of its wood, is useless ; another 

 affords excellent timber for ship-building. Besides 

 ihe trees, the number of plants is exceedingly 

 limited, and consists of insignificant weeds. In 

 my collei'tion, which includes, I believe, nearly the 

 [lerlect Flora, there are twenty species without 

 reckoning a moss, lichen, and fungus. To this 

 number two trees must be added ; one of which 

 was not in flower, and the o:her I only heard of. 

 The latter is a solitary tree of its kind in the whole 

 group, and grows near the beach, where, without 

 doubt, the one seed was thrown up by the waves. 

 I do not include in the afiove list the sugar-cane, 

 banana, some other vegetables, fruit trees and im- 

 ported grasses. As these islands consist entirely 

 of coral, and at one time probably exisied as a 

 mere water-washed reef, all if.e productions now 

 living here must have been transported by the 

 waves ol" the sea. In accordance to this, the 

 Kiora has quite the character of a refuge fijr the 

 desiilute: Prolessor llenslow informs we tfiaf, of 

 the twenty species, nineteen belong to dillereni 

 irenera, and these again to no less than sixteen or- 

 ders!'' — Darivin, pp. 540, 541. 



The explanation of the origin of these island.? 

 most generally received is, that they are based on 

 the craters of volcanoes. When we reflect, how- 

 ever, on their vast number, their proximity, an(i 

 (heir great size (especially in the case of the jiioUs 

 ill the Indian sea, one of' which is about eighty 

 iiiiles in lenirth, with an ttverage widih of only 

 atiout twenty,*) we titrree with Mr. Darwin, that 

 this view can hardly be considered correct. There 

 is anotlier clacks of reels, in some respects even 

 morere maikable than those furminiz lagoon islands, 

 and which rnw be teimcd encircling reels, puch 

 as are meniioned by our tiuthor at p. 555. The 

 moat, as it may be called, surrounding the moun- 

 tainous islnnd Vanikoro, which lifts its head like 

 the castle of some giant of romance, and (i-owns 

 over the spot where La Peyrouse was shipwrecked, 

 is even more than 300 feel deep, though Mr. J>ar- 



* One of the Radack island'' of Kotzebue is Hffy-two 

 miles long hy twenty troid. 



