320 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[May 16, 
4 inches by 3, one on the south side and the other on 
the north, I have looked at the bees every day, and 
sometimes two or three times a day since the drones 
were killed, to ascertain the state they continued in 
during the whole winter, and I have never witnessed 
them to be completely dormant even on the very coldest 
days; on the contrary, I have observed those in the 
rear of the combs press forward, and those thoroughly 
warm retire from the centre and take their places in the 
rear while the others acquired warmth in their turn. 
I have never noticed a record of this trait in their cha- 
racter in any of the works I have perused relative to 
bees, but I can vouch for the fact by personal observa- 
tion. Ihave heard that coveys of partridges adopt a 
similar mode of keeping each other warm during night, 
when the country is covered with snow, by alternately 
relieving each other, changing their positions from the 
outer to the inner circle and vice versa. I may men- 
tion that the entrances to my hives front the south, and 
that I have not shaded or contracted them, but have left 
them 21 in. wide and 4 in. deep, all the year round, and 
I never stop the communications betwixt the side boxes 
and the straw hives at any period of the year, as I am 
of opinion that ventilation from the bottom is essential 
to a healthy condition of bees; I am also of opinion 
that any attempt at ventilaion by openings above or 
opposite the combs is decidedly injurious, and that the 
bees lose mueh of their valuable time in endeavouring 
to correct human aid in that respect. I have come to 
this conclusion by observing that the combs in the 
parent hive were all constructed from west to east, and 
in the side box, whieh joined on the east side of the 
straw hive, from south-west to north-east. . When the 
bees became very crowded last year in the side box I 
opened an entrance to it for the purpose of ventilation, 
and on the following day they altered the course of their 
combs, and constructed them from nort! t to south- 
east. I afterwards closed up the entrance in the side 
‘box and they resumed their original course, from south- 
west to north-east, and undid a considerable portion of 
their immediately previous course, throwing an archas a 
support where the courses changed. In making their 
combs last year they covered nearly 2 inches long by 
Tather more than linch broad, on the glass windows 
before they discovered that the glass was a greater con- 
ductor of heat than the matting, but they soon with- 
drew all the wax, and formed arches supported on each 
side of the windows, to secure the combs in the most 
perfect manner. It has been stated that bees could 
never be seen at work in forming combs, but I have 
been fortunate enough to witness mine repeatedly, and 
for four or five minutes at a time carry on their labours 
without paying any attention to my having opened the 
window on the north side. Ihave seen them extract 
the small fragrants or rather scales of wax from under 
the wings of the bees on which the wax was formed, and 
observed them carrying the scales and applying them to 
form the cells; and I have often seen them unload 
others of the pollen and deposit it in the places pre- 
pared for its reception. I am now satisfied that bees 
require very little attention to render them profitable, 
dryness being evidently the most essential object to pre- 
serve them in the best health. It is my intention to 
repeat my experiments in making artificial swarms 
during the ensuing season, and shall communicate the 
result.— John Grant, Woolwich. 
The Nuthatch (Sitta Europea)—This, on account of 
its habits and diet, is deservedly a welcome visitor to 
our gardens. It belongs to the family of woodpeckers 
or creepers, and is about the size of a hedge-sparrow. 
It is tolerably plentiful in some parts of the eastern 
counties, but is unknown in the west of England. It is 
not met with either in Ireland or Scotland, although it 
is found in more northern latitudes on the Continent. 
As it lives chiefly on insects, it cannot be want of proper 
food that keeps it from certain districts, other birds 
nearly related to it being met with in Scotland, Even 
the jarring noise, and the hollow notes of the green 
woodpecker, are heard as far north as the Falls of 
Foyers. Moreover, the nuthatch is very hardy. In 
the depth of winter, when hardly a chirp is heard from 
any of the feathered race, it will utter its notes, sounding 
like pick-chick-a-wick, repeatedly, and make a tappin 
noise while striking forcibly with its beak upon a nut 
placed in the chink of a branch. Hence its name of 
nuthatch or nutjar. It is a question whether this bird 
cracks nuts for the sake of the kernels, or for the in- 
sects or grubs which they may contain. It certainly 
does not store up nuts as some assert, or pilfer them 
from bushes, but merely picks up those laying about ; 
and it is probable that in mid-winter or early spring 
such nuts are more likely to contain insects than kernels. 
The description given of the bird in the “ Museum of 
Animated Nature” is correct. The plumage above is 
of a fine blue gray. The quills and base of the tail 
feathers, except the two middle ones, black ; the outer 
tail feathers on each side have a black spot near the 
tip ; a black band passes from the bill through the eye 
down the sides of the neck, ending abruptly near the 
shoulders, The throat is whitish, the rest of the 
lumage blue brown, blending with chesnut on the 
Ponka; the bill and feet are black; iris, hazel; sex alike.” 
It has only two toes before, and one behind. It receives 
no support from its tail, when climbing, unlike others 
of its kind ; consequently it cannot ascend trees so fast 
as they can, but it can twist about the latter in all sorts 
of ways, and even descend rapidly, head foremost. The 
most remarkable peculiarity of the nutbatch is its sin- 
gular mode of plastering up with clay, and thereby lessen- 
ng the entrance to its nest in an aged tree, from 
a9 
which the French call it, Pie Magon, or mason bird. 
During the past spring, my attention was attracted to a 
nest of this bird in'the hollow of a tree, the entrance to 
which was so plastered up as to leave only just room 
for the bird to go in and out. The plaster seemed to 
have been at first smooth, and afterwards picked full 
of small holes, as if the bird was sensible that a rough 
surface would be less liable to crack. Some are of opi- 
nion that this plan is adopted to keep the young from 
falling out, but as the bird sits closely, I imagine that 
it is intended rather;for its own preservation during the 
time of sitting. Some evidence of this may be found in 
the fact that, when to get at the nest speedily I sawed 
off the projection with the plastered entrance, the bird 
sat quietly all the time,and remained after the nest 
was exposed; she even allowed me to take her off and 
replace her on the nest, and sat quietly on the nest 
while I nailed the stump on again, There were six 
small white eggs, with brown spots, in the nest, fresh 
laid, so that the extraordinary tameness of the bird did 
not proceed from long sitting. I took away three of 
the eggs, ail found seven more on a second inspection. 
The nest was not made of dry leaves, which the work 
above quoted asserts that bird employs for its nest, but 
of the fine smooth bark of the Scotch Fir ; some of the 
pieces of bark were large enough to be mistaken for 
dry Beech leaves. From other observations respecting 
the nuthatch, it does not appear to be a shy bird, 
though some maintain that it cannot be tamed ; Sir W. 
Jardine mentions a good instance to the contrary, 
Therefore a correct judgment could not be formed of 
its real habits from observing the freaks of an old one 
confined in a cage.—4J. Wighton, Norwich. 
Ulcers in Fir Trees.—In the county of Hants, and 
on the estate of Sir G. T. Gerris, situate about four 
miles from Christchurch, and quently igi 
to the sea, stands a plantation of Firs, Larch, and 
Scotch intermixed. What the age of the trees may be 
I know not, as the facts I am about to relate are from 
observations made during a few casual rambles through 
the plantation in the winter of 1844. But, from their 
appearance, I should suppose them to be sixteen or 
eighteen years old. On entering the plantation the 
most casual observer would not fail to be struck by the 
black ulcerated appearance of the Scotch Firs. The 
are affected, with scarcely an exception; while their 
i thej Laret i „offering scarcely 
a diseased subject. On examination, the trees seem to 
have grown to half their present size unaffected by the 
disease which now so disfigures them ; after which, as 
if some ulcerating matter had entered the tissues of 
the tree and there engendering itself, had destroyed the 
woody layers and tissues of the trunk, producing the 
black unsightly ulcers above alluded to. The last layer. 
of wood formed previous to the breaking out of the 
disease is sound and firm, and has the appearance of 
wood stripped of its bark and left to dry in the sun and 
air. But every layer formed subsequently has been 
destroyed in the vicinity of the first appearance of the 
ulcers (I call them ulcers as not being similar to canker 
iu fruit trees), which as successive seasons furnished 
its stratum of tissues, the diseased matter extended 
itself till, in some instances, wounds six inches in dia- 
meter, and in others extending the whole circumference 
of the tree, have been produced. When the latter has 
been the case (and the instances are by no means rare) 
the accumulation of the trunk and branches above the 
diseased part, previous to a complete circle of the wood 
being destroyed by the disease, has been so great, and 
the original and unaffected portion been so small in com- 
parison, that the wind has broken the tree in two at 
that part, and left a headless trunk to tell the tale. 
The annexed wood- 
cut will convey some 
idea of the way in 
whieh the trees are 
affected, Around 
these ulcers the se- 
creted juices of the 
tree have oozed and 
collected. The vo- 
latile portions have 
evaporated, & large 
lumps of pure resin 
remain collected 
round the wounds, 
like old and dr 
sores. The {wounds 
can be found in al- 
most every stage, 
from the first out- 
break of the little 
running ulcers 
(whieh, of course, 
in the present age of the trees, commence near the tops) 
to the old and spreading sore which has caused the 
destruction of the tree.— Pinus Sylvestris. 
Peaches and Vines, to grow together.—1 have a rango 
of hothouses 300 feet in length and 15 feet in width, 
that were formerly divided with six partitions, and 
heated by the common flue system. Four divisions 
contained Peaches, and three Vines, alternately ; the 
flues and partitions, except one, have been removed, 
the latter dividing the whole length in two, one portion 
comprising 200 feet, the other 100 feet, each being 
heated with hot water from two boilers, the long house 
haying 4 inch pipes, the short one 3inch pipes. The 
whole range is filled with Peaches, Nectarines, and 
Vines of different sorts, the latter comprising Ham- 
burghs, Muscats, Frontignans, Sweetwaters, &e., 
vice ve 
all in full bearing, and most of them old trees 
covering the whole roof alternately with Peaches and 
Vines, just as they occurred before the partitions were 
taken down. All are subjected to the same treatment 
in regard to heat and air, &e., and the whole house is 
loaded from one end to the other with a fine crop 
both of Peaches and Grapes, the Peaches nearly ripe, 
as they have always been in May, the Grapes coming 
inin June, The boilers are placed in the centre of 
both houses, and it so happened that Peaches are 
nearest both fires, and of these the four Peach trees 
in the hottest situation do the best, and produce the 
finest fruit. They are all, however, very fine. I 
keep the temperature from 60° to 70°, and commence 
forcing so as to have the Peaches in bloom by the 
1st of January.—Q. Y. Z. 
Gardeners’ Troubles. —Among the numberless vexa- 
tions to which we poor gardeners are subjected, few 
are more annoying than having one’s choicest Grapes 
totally spoiled in being dished up for dessert by the 
awkward, careless, or malicious handling of a fine lady 
house-keeper, or a greasy cook. You, Mr. Editor, who 
can appreciate the pride with which a devoted gardener 
regards his choicest productions, might easily imagine 
what a man feels when he sees the beautiful fruit which 
has cost him months of unremitting care to bring to 
perfection—noble bunches and noble berries, blooming 
as a newly gathered Plum—ruthlessly divested of a 
shoulder by the aforesaid personage, for her own 
private tooth, or that of one of her fashionable friends, 
or, peradventure, mauled like a piece of raw meat, till 
not a particle of bloom remains upon the fruit, and thus 
sent to his employer's table much in the same state as 
if they had travelled from Portugal packed in sawdust. 
The fantastieal taste of some of these ladies, too, would 
amuse, if less annoying. I once saw a London house- 
keeper who. had the arrangement of a large dessert at a 
private féte, cut a hole in the crown of a fine Melon, 
and then she cut a shoulder off a fine bunch of Grapes, 
and stuck the piece into the hole in the Melon! thus 
disfiguring two handsome fruits:‘to make one ugly mon- 
strosity. Nor is it Grapes alone that suffer from the 
prigging propensities of the persons I am alluding to; 
for manya time the finest Peach, Plum, or Pear, graces 
the housekeeper’s cupboard instead of the master’s 
table, for which it was intended, Having seen some 
service in gentlemen's families, I can speak from ex- 
perience on this subject, and therefore so far as ma; 
be to prevent such practices, I would suggest that gar- 
deners be in all families authorised to dish up their own 
fruit. Not that I would sanction the interference of 
the gardener in the planning or arrangement of the 
dessert, which is strictly the housekeeper's province ; 
I would merely allow him. to place upon the dishes all 
the fruit of his own produeing which the housekeeper 
might require to make up such dessert. his arrange- 
ment would prevent many heart-burnings, and would 
enable gentry to see their fruit in the state in which it 
ought to appear.— Fisitator, 
Wireworm and Mustard Secd.—l beg to inform 
* M." that white Mustard-seed sown on the land is no 
eure for the wireworm. I have now a field of Barley 
suffering from the attacks of that pest where white 
Mustard was sown last summer. The most effectual 
remedy I know is 13 cwt. of soda-ash applied broadcast, 
on an acre of land. The following memorandum may 
be interesting. Mr. Palmer, M.P., read at a late meet- 
ing of the ingdon Agricultural A iation extracts 
from a letter on the use of soda-ash for killing wire- 
worm, as follows :—“ The way I use soda-ash is to sow 
it broadcast ; I have never found it fail. The Jast year 
I had a failure of Beet.carrots, which I attributed at 
the time to the season, but upon examining the soil 
carefully I found wireworm. As it was to be Wheat 
this year, and my last sown Wheat, I mixed it with 
soda-ash. , It is now growing faster than any Wheat 
upon the farm, and not a blade missed. Until I adopted 
the use of soda-ash, I suffered sometimes to the amount 
of 607. in a field. The discovery was accidental ; I had 
sown a headland with it as a fertiliser, on the principle 
laid down by Sir H. Davy that all alkalies were stimu- 
lants to plants: it certainly improved the crop, but 
upon the whole I considered it a failure. The following 
spring it was Turnips, and a man hoeing them asked me 
if anything particular had been done to the headland ? 
I asked him why? Hè said there was not a plant at- 
tacked by wireworm, and the rest of the field had 15 at 
a nest. I then determined to try it upon another field 
which was full of wireworm ; I have never seen one in 
it since. In the following year I had 25 acres of Oats 
attacked most generally. I happened to have a cask by 
me, and ordered it to be sown. From that day the 
ravages ceased, and within a week the whole field had 
changed its colour to a vivid green, I have since ceased 
to consider it as an experiment, and always have a cask 
by me ready in ease of any appearance of the wireworm 
and have not a patch as large as my hand from 
wireworm on my farm.” It may be applied broadeast 
on a fallow, with the seed, or on the growing crop, at 
the rate of 1 cwt. per acre ; and in addition to its effect 
on the wireworm (which are found to be kept off by it 
for three years), it invariably acts as a good fertiliser. 
As it is a very powerful alkali, gloves must be worn by 
the person sowing it, to prevent any injury to the 
hands."— F. R. L., Andover. á 
Canker and Brown Scale.—The following communi- 
cation on the canker in fruit-trees and the brown scale 
has been handed me by an intelligent gardener in tbis 
plaee, who has had considerable experience in the 
matters to which it refers, aud who desires me to trant- 
