THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



21 



hen 



S^S^or fa «Sft.^«K 



| the Locust, which " A. P." describes as being very rapid, I twenty-five miles from Martaban. The scenery in this 



■*].»* the pig«>V:! d ,, H e 8 trrhe distance at which 



too 



50 obstruct the passag 



are 



ip.iitlo.ag *ooj « r jn t caS es, is 



^ , placed rrona hj g boards, and CA - 



^rSS ^ach the ground. 



f"*~ ' rUCfU /Jo be pi ced wifhin six inches of the 

 RT^ •'*",*£ under the .lighting-board. 



ro0 re healthy at a 



Each hive ought to 



the ifur/ 



Tktl • ill dream of philosophers, Aac 



j, bat tn idle dream oi F r Tfa t ruin may run 



fep^* -^ p ° st be a mtie iower 



•^'^''"hen placed in a shaded corner thrive 



"•"% 1 « 'the v thr ve better where the sun sh.neson 



" Z * ea«r part of the day , for Bees, as every 

 me greaic * j ble tQ car 



H _<l ^5StotaS.WI and cloudy 

 *£*[ e^ : w o « th I hives are much shaded, the 

 wCT iber. »« ce ; lhe groun d before they reach 



^""'f I rae he Apiary should not be so closely 

 *2j ; e Ills toVaile toe Bees to rise off the rest- 

 S?£a i an angle of more than 20 degrees. It may be 

 !Cirk that the excrement of Bees stains linen, and 

 S£«?of this a Bee-yard ought not to be in the im- 

 ^ iuteficiaitf ofadryiug-groaud. 



tt 5*^,^ ofBecs.-Ut us here see what takes 

 •Uce when Bees iwarm. It must be borne in mind that 

 rSnt .warm does, and a second does not leave the hive 

 from want of room. Sometimes (generally about three 

 da« In fore a first swarm is thrown, the Bees set one or 

 more e«8 in royal cells. It is not correct to say that 

 •• the Harm is led off by the queen," for she does not 

 know whither it goe>, though she follows, or rather goes 

 wi b, it. About two-thirds of the Bees and the old queen 

 form* the fir*t swarm. Though eggs are set often more 

 and fometimes less than three days before the swarm 



•i the Ave, yet let us suppose that in the royal cells 

 were deposited eggs on the third day previous to swarm- 

 inf, and on the eleventh day after the queen's will be 

 matured. The one that is matured first may be heard 

 calling if, off," in her cell. Her calling or piping being 

 unaninered, she marches out of her cradle, and com- 

 mences to call, as " peep, peep," or rather " paar, paar." 

 Another queen is matured, and calls " off, off," which 

 sounds seem to astonish the hatched queen, now monarch 

 of the hive. She runs up and down the hive, crying 

 "paar, paar;" that is, in our language, •• Here am I — 

 Where are you ? death or victory." Perhaps one or more 

 m«M are matured, which call " off, ofl*, ,, in their cells. 

 Hating thus called for three nights a second swarm issues ; 

 that it to say, nearly the half of the Bees with the hatched 

 queen leave the hive. While the swarm is in the act of 

 lea*jDg the hive, one of the queens bursts the lid of her 

 all, goa to the outside, runs and flies about the door for 

 the »pice of a few moments, and then goes into the hive, 

 lolly expecting to be "crowned queen over all." If two 

 ihould have left their cells one is put to death ; but if the 

 auing i, continued a third swarm will issue on the second 

 or third day after the second swarm issued forth. It is 

 worthy of remark, that two queens go sometimes with the 

 •~o swar m , but one of course is destroyed. If one 



tfaTot] er n P g ° lng WltU the SWarm ' and sees or is ^en by 



KS«S/T nS a , b ° Ut thc raouth of the M** * 



a mor WTn j Whcn lhe <* ueen of «»e colony, 

 arm or as, » killed all the Bees return. If th« 



or twarra 

 folio 



miiOWi i? eta* Kc, fi i.i ° lclu 'u. ii me 



l^Drol 8 .! 1 ! L ab0Ut .. 1 oclock . to be fecundified. 



The Drones 

 q»eens are 



ab'oT,! ^ qU l te ndl aware that the y°««g 

 ' « of tie hive, "''r"' - f0r a , great ' 19rt of them fly in 



P»r<aeJbv ,11 T f>' lhe queens come out 



* * -Urol to' the " 85 *? T ^ ' ™'* U 



hUariJ iil°^J™ nd '"te", I believe, 



m 



• anion takes nla<-» "«„ .• — b'»«»»i wucre, i oeneve, 

 " itttbe ' fall i„ .°" let, 1 mes the r l«ee.. s do not return ; 



*« «W hive I S"'u'\ ** " ay home - or mis! 



*3 «*p« », te ro ?The qu ^, are d ;'r im i' re g"^«i, 



How, R ee » th r "J Ue drones. I learn from the 



Dro »*« ii effected bj t L! ' • tl,at , tlle J «tru, tion of the 

 rr ,h " .for L %rT St ° f c fte "^•«." This 

 "J* UW .he Bee D J"T,T hnn °" ei to d ^- »« 

 ^tdort. The Dr on e s P , °. WOr ' r them, but «hev 

 *; Wl,, .here fr„r" a nT 'T^ ' VOm ** «"»«»• to 

 t h 7 «• ^rtj 1 "" f00d ' l W '*come so weak 



ftl" ooard, but ,„„ : 0m ? " re um,ble to rise off 



«*• koae, bei„, ' °"u ' he g r «ter part die at a dish,,,,,. 



r ,-,_ "6 C . and th(>i-.K„ ll " : "rones in one 



5£r»- T - S • b 5™**f «- -"-■, of the 



5S»iw Wd « on whieV't n S "" 1,ly by ,ifti "S the 

 H22?2*> the kS**« drones are rttling* and 



Ho: 



v<. 



tr:,ii h -o„a A 7 1 :-^ e as 1 \ re '' ,ii >^>t'.ed,,r- 



**^te, 



*^e.,j ':'''" :it 



^^^c n obLt.t°.r e 7" 



praises and re- 



5a,n etree. A 



bbett 

 regard; the growth of 



would observe that this precocious growth is restricted to 

 the first 16 or 18 years of its existence,'and that afterwards 

 its advance is at a very slow rate ; indeed, so much so, 

 that I would venture to predict that the Oaks planted by 

 " A. P." at the same time as his Acacias, though only, as 

 he says, half the size of the latter when twenty years old, 

 will, by the expiration of a like period, be greatly ahead 

 of and nearly double the size of his favourite Locusts, 

 provided his Oaks are fairly dealt with and proper atten- 

 tion be given to their management in regard to thinning, 

 &c. Again, the Acacia, even when full grown, or say when 

 50 or GO years old, rarely reaches dimensions to fit it for 

 general building purposes or where a scantling of tolerable 

 size is required. In Norih America, its native country, 

 in the rich alluvial soils to which it is usually restricted, 

 its average diameter when at maturity seldom exceeds a 

 foot. In this country and climate, even under the most 

 favourable circumstances, it can scarcely be expected that 

 its growth should exceed that of the tree in its native 

 habitats. Besides, though " A. P." would insinuate the 

 contrary, it will only flourish in deep rich soil ; and in 

 addition to a rich soil requires from the succulent and 

 spreading nature of its roots, an abundance of room. If 

 inserted in mixed plantations, in spite of its rapid growth 

 for the first few years, it soon gets overtopped, hampered, 

 and destroyed by its neighbours ; and this happens before 

 it acquires a size sufficient to make a remunerative return. 

 As an intermediate occupant, therefore, it cannot enter into 

 competition with the Larch, which grows even quicker, 

 requires much less room, with the further advantages of 

 a long and straight stem, and which in point of durability, 

 under similar circumstances, is but little inferior to the 

 Locust itself. Upon clays, cold, wet, and tilly soils, it 

 never reaches a useful size, but in a few years becomes 

 stunted and decays at heart. The brittle nature of its 

 branches is also (though " A. P." seems unwilling to allow 

 it) another great disadvantage under which it labours, as 

 it is almost sure to be much torn and injured by the winds, 

 except insituations well sheltered from their effects : this 

 is against its being planted extensively, even as an orna- 

 mental tree, to which, both as regards its elegant foliage 

 and perfumed flowers, it undoubtedly has superior claims. 

 The liking that hares and rabbits have to the bark and 

 young shoots of the Acacia, is also, I may add, another 

 objection to its extensive cultivation ; as where they abound 

 it is impossible to save the plants except by some artificial 

 protection, which, under such circumstances, would 

 become a serious inconvenience. The tree-nails adverted 

 to by "A. P.," I may remark, are not ship timbers, but 

 the wooden pins with which the planks are fastened to the 

 frame of the vessel. Those made of the Locust are found 

 to be of first-rate quality, and are imported into England 

 and other parts of Europe in great quantities, and at a 

 moderate rate, from North America. — P. J. Selby. 



Nuts. — Mr. Borrow, in his " Bible in Spain," mentions 

 a small town near this coast entirely devoted to the cul- 

 tivation, for exportation, of the Filbert. Are Filberts ever 

 imported from Spain, or is it a mistake of Mr. Borrow's ? 

 and is it the large Spanish Nut which is grown in that 

 country, and which is so largely imported into England ? 

 — Totty. [We believe that there are only two sorts of 

 Nuts imported from Spain ; a soft or Spanish Hazel from 

 the neighbourhood of Gijon, and the Barcelona from 

 that of Tarragona. It is probably the latter that Mr. 

 Borrow alludes to.] 



Pine Apples. — Mr. Beaton's objections to the plan of 

 planting out Piues, on account of their fruit ripening all 

 at one time, may, I imagine, be easily surmounted. Most 

 gardeners agree that larger and more robust plants can be 

 obtained in a much less time when they are planted out 

 than when they are under pot culture. The plants also 

 are in a more favourable position for assimilating to 

 themselves the food necessary for the production of large 

 fruit. I have no doubt that all apparent obstacles in the 

 way of planting out Pines will by and by disappear. 

 Those who are afraid of the fruit all becoming ripe at one 

 time would do well to lift the fruiting plants from the pit 

 and put them into large pots ; they might start them into 

 fruit at any convenient time. Mr. Glendinning says, 

 n by planting out Pines we cm have them six feet high, 

 but this is not what we want.*' If Mr. Glendinning can 

 produce plants six feet high, and otherwise proportion- 

 ately well grown, and lift them and fruit them in large 

 pots, as above mentioned, they will no doubt mature 

 larger fruit than if they had been subjected all through to 

 the general routine of pot culture. After the plants have 

 fruited they may be turned out of the pots, and planted 

 out into the soil in the bed. Only one sucker should be 

 encouraged, and in 12 months it will be sufficiently strong 

 to be fruited. — C. Eicing, Bodorgan Hall, Anylcsea. 



Thc Amhcrslia nobilis. — The plant of this at Chats- 

 worth having excited the interest of some of your corre- 

 spondents, I inclose an extract from a work published in 

 1829, describing its situation and appearance when first 

 noticed by an European in 182G. The soil in which I 

 saw it grow is what, in Scotland, would be called a carse. 

 I understood the tree to be confined to the Province of 

 Martaban, and not to exist in any other part of the Bir- 

 mese dominions. The locality is between the 16° and 17° 

 of north latitude, and about 8° north of the limit within 

 which the Durio and Mangosteen flourish ; plants, Un- 

 successful culture of which would seem, like the Vine and 

 Olive in Europe and Northern Asia, to mark a botanical 

 Or at least an agricultural region. My friend Dr. Wal- 

 lich readily found the two trc.s which arc mentioned in 

 the following ex'ract, but he also discovered other speci- 

 mens ; all, however, within the same province. — J. Crate- 

 furd. ** At half-past two o'clock, the tide aiding us all 

 the while, we reached Koquin, distant by computation 



neighbourhood was grand and beautiful, the bauks of the 

 river high, and the country to all appearance peculiarly 

 fertile. Close to the left bank of the river was to be seen 

 a range of mountains, steep, bare, and craggy, rising to 

 the apparent height of 1500 feet. Almost immediately, 

 on the right bank, and where the river makes an acute 

 angle, a number of detached conical hills rose almost per- 

 pendicularly from the plain ; all these last are of a grey 

 compact limestone. We visited the largest, which con- 

 tains a spacious cave dedicated to the worship of Gautama, 

 and which, besides having its roof rudely but curiously 

 carved, contains several hundred images of that deity ; a; 

 good number of them of pure white marble from the quar- 

 ries of Ava. Around the hill is a garden belonging to a 

 neighbouring monastery. The only plant in it which 

 struck us as remarkable, was a tree about twenty feet 

 high, abounding in long and pendulous pannicles of rich 

 Geranium-coloured blossoms, and long and elegant lance- 

 shaped leaves ; it is of the class and order Diadelphia 

 Decandria, and too beautiful an object to be passed unob- 

 served even by the uninitiated in botany. Ilandfuls of 

 the flowers as offerings in the cave before the images of 

 Gautama."* 



Standard Currant-trees. — As a matter of fancy, I have 

 for some years grown Currants as standards ; and observ-* 

 ing the constant crop that clusters round the head, and 

 the little room they require, I potted about this time last 

 year several three-year-old trees, and placed them on the 

 back stage of a greenhouse ; they bloomed and set their 

 fruit well, and ripened about five or six weeks earlier than 

 the out-door fruit. They were trained with small heads, ' 

 and with the ripe fruit were remarkably showy. They are 

 very easy to manage. The cuttings should not be shortened 

 back, but disbudded to the top bud, repeating the dis- 

 budding till it reaches the required height, A plant three 

 years from the cutting yielded in my greenhouse about 

 three pints of fruit. — 31. 



Ward's Cases. — In your observations on Ward's 

 Cases in a late Chronicle you mentioned that one objection 

 to them is the dimness arising from the condensation of 

 the moisture on the inside of the glass. This reminds 

 me of a fact which I once met with in a scientific period- 

 ical, where it was stated by a correspondent that, having 

 a window in which a single pane was fixed in a metal 

 frame, the rest of the sash being of wood, he observed in 

 winter, that while all the panes fixed in the wooden sash 

 were frosted, that one surrounded by the metal frame re- 

 mained clear from dimness. The only satisfactory explan- 

 ation given referred it to the different conducting powers 

 of the wood, glass, and metal ; the latter being a better 

 conductor of heat than the glass, because the channel of 

 transmission, in equalising the temperature outside and 

 inside the window, thus received the deposition of 

 the redundant moisture in preference to the glass which 

 it surrounded ; and, in like manner, the glass being a 

 better conductor than the wood, received the deposition 

 of moisture in preference to the latter which surrounded 

 it. The panes fixed in wood became frosted, while the 

 one in metal remained clear and dry. If this solution be 

 correct, it points out a method of obviating the deposit 

 of moisture on the inside of the glass of Ward's Cases, 

 without having occasion for a door or other opening. 

 The instances appear to be analogous. The moisture 

 held in suspension at a higher temperature begins to be 

 deposited as that temperature becomes reduced. If the 

 glass itself be the channel of communication through 

 which the reduction of temperature takes place, the depo- 

 sit will be on the glass ; but if the glass be fixed in a 

 frame of metal, bearing a proper proportion to the extent 

 of glass, the function will be removed from the glass to the 

 metal, and the former will remain dry and clear. — J. H. 



The Constitutions of Plants. — The popular opinion 

 that plants become naturalized, that is, adapt themselves 

 to our climate, is a great error, and productive of much 

 loss. The Dahlia, Heliotrope, Marvel of Peru, Potatoes, 

 &c, are just as susceptible of frost now as when first 

 introduced. When we hear of plants becoming hardy, 

 as it is termed, it will generally be found that it is our 

 ignorance, in not being sufficiently acquainted with their 

 local habitat, an instance of which may be adduced. The 

 Aucuba japonica, coming from a hot climate, fvas treated 

 accordingly, by being placed in a stove, forgetting that the 

 altitude of a country has great influence. The winter in 

 Japan is very severe ; India in general is very hot in the 

 plains, whilst in the mountainous parts it is very cold '. 

 therefore, the Berberis, and other plants introduced from 

 Nepal, are quite hardy. I could give several other in- 

 stances, but sufficient has been given to enable us to 

 arrive at the conclusion that plans retain their original 

 constitutions unchanged. — J. R. A 



Cut Wood to have Wood. — 1 have no ordinary satisfac- 

 tion in acceding to your wishes of laying before you the 

 result of my planting in North Wales, as 1 am thoroughly 

 persuaded that the mode of pruning which I have adopted 

 has increased the bulk and improved the quality of the trees 

 which have been subjected to annual pruning. 1 began 

 planting as far back as 1804, in a most mountainous dis- 

 trict, and a soil most ungrateful. As soon as the trees 

 were removed from the nursery, I commenced pruning 

 them, cutting two, three, or four branches, which I have 

 continued annually, with a strong knife, close to the stem, 

 beginning invariably at the top of the plant and descending, 

 so as to leave the leader without a rival and balancing the 



* M I showed thc dry specimens of thi* plant to my friend Dr. 

 vVallicb, on his arrival at Rangoon, about four months after- 

 wards, and he s icertained that it constituted a Dew genus. 

 He afterwards examined it in p. rson on th£ spot, transferred it 

 to the Botanical Garden at Calcutta, and described it under the 

 name of Amberstia nobilis. in compliment to the Countess of 

 Amherst."— Crawfurd's Embassy to the Court of Ava, 1826. 



