THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



69 



•* 



:=> ,1 water ; hut I recommend 



i*** ""S5 *22 13 "» When I 

 Ji|lf or refined sugar fcourse exclude 



* * than anvthw* el . ^ ^ . d 



So-eBefkeep^M nobetter . Some 



dearer than raw ; but 





better 



•s* 'tsi * ro ° re , exper 



llected from 



£ *£j„f hooey collected . , ong as 7 i>, s . 



rSSc^' W "":MH«ther or Ling-«r, as it 



*- '^ Tel There are various systems 

 ^.o olH He»«6- bj tion t0 any , but I 



* lri !r»»'-^ »>7 he 1,i ; l e - 



— , tl i"h or vour knee, an.l ]>our the 



i, „»* JO" '"' f the - COIJ1 b s , an.l then on the 



55*** tie one.de or f .,-„_ th(J 



■ * "£& bete it reaches the crown of 



lick the liquid off themselves. 



rffeo*« 



into 



*»**• ^.^ nTsuee'ly point'of view this system, 

 ^(..piubl and s e H feeding . for one 



1 ** ">% X^™ hives 5 lbs. each ; that is 



TL L, If Bees are fed every day they 



it OK 



•"'•'""rJhTit causes them to fly about a great 



j^miis to feed in cold weather. 



Ja W^'it is dangerous to 



tL!Z-n no objecMin troughs and cisterns ought to 



rSflwritir. ii ^ in 5 swar T S that haV u T 



wrkii 



* ^ir'Ss d'ointo the boards soup or broth, 

 ut tied A few straws are cut and placed on th< 

 4 niter, to facilitate its being taken ... 

 the Bees from drowning themselves therein. The 



^Md niter, to facilitate its being taken up, and to 

 Xattbe Bees from drowning themselves therein. The 

 Cftrm or maVe ladders of themselves, which reach 



t»c body of the svrarms to the centre of the plates. 

 Uders sate many Bees the trouble of going round 

 by the sides of their hives. It is advisable to feed 



mr .warms in rainy weather, whether they are needful 

 or doc. for B«i,at the swarmin? season, make combs 

 wry tot from sugar or treacle, wax being a secretion of 

 i not of plants. If young swarms are not 

 to daring unfavourable weather, their numbers 

 tereate instead of increase, because they have scarcely any 



osstb to breed in. 



Ipoo the immuring of Bees in winter I did not intend 

 to sjkr 1 remark; but I wrote to Carluke in order to 

 tun if uy one there had buried his Bees in winter; at 

 tk mm time I desired the person whom I wrote to, to 

 Wry two of his hives or stocks — one without food and 

 •olker with 1 sufficient quantity to keep the Bees alive, 

 liatwtr to my letter, my correspondent informs me that 

 •* at mc bere his tried the burying system, and I dare 

 •ayie?erihill;foramanin Cambusnethan (the adjoining 

 ftrtsb) toned one with as much honey in it as would have 

 KgtkBeei »l'"e above ground till the spring : when he 

 Jja it Pit ill the honey was eaten and the Bees were dead." 

 Ttanititioi teaches us that Bees live under the ground 

 tk*7 hawe food, but die when they have none 

 tatt they eat more under than above the ground. 

 J* fcrt and lecond of these are in accordance with com- 

 ***> md the last with philosophy. If Bees live 



fwL } xo ™[ without food during the months of 



ST'J w r ; December » and January, it is but 

 iT™fcMhit they will live four weeks in summer 



kard L»J ] ,rC T n t0 conviction J but it will be a 



(To be continued.) 



DlRA8 ' ffl & TIMBER - FELI 'ED WITH 

 I «.v, ™* ARk 0N IN WINTER. 



■- - tbeb«tV : i , I "' 0Tf> beyond doubt 

 ^K., j, „££!*"• f ° r telUng Oak timber, when 



,W * «o«dofii „^ ! the date cut «» * stone 

 fc »J». -*. ft. .^S? ' S 1316 > S hi ' :h . ^btraeted 

 5L*!! k » quite h.rd'.nl' yea , rs - T1,s tim ber under 

 **"*«««« of ft e ' rV an i s ; T d - as »«y>>. imagined 



"^iU 



hark, which 



S' 44 if " had lT appears as sound » fr«n, 



^ 2 ^^^ r z::^feoniy a _ short tim ' e . the 



•as 



«T2i*« »"'«C 1„ am , m an ol<1 buil.ling in 



5.3 £ in '•« «4L „? ' the date 1035 n: ' 9 c »' »' 



S 3 ^« «» H-« 808 4? aC %- tl ^. subtraeted from 

 •kUtt..'.'" 1 "" 'tabor u„,i;l bark wt,8c l uit e fresh 



5?££ •*•», . r°e de c n a r r a K ,,0 °!u Wa y' and rx " 

 WSl. J ' ng ; but ' h e o">er parts 



^ J? f *d ITJ^ 0»V timber is most 



whether our 



«C'bebarU; n: 

 £ *■* « 2,l Xp "' ence - or n, 



? H "lii " fto.e ti» ,' . 0r n,ere, y did s « by 

 Hfi'T taa I aaU e ' nS 1,OSsib, >' of 'Hue 



*55VI>« 1™ J ha, , been fu '">er eon- 



W * »C ^ "P tia?b f Wh ? haTe had ■"* 



** *.^S: "'«trv r ^ m old buildings. At 



•*$££**!%' Y t S w 0ak "">ber found wITb 

 k^ •* &° ,h »"orked b M r ? P ° rted t0 be quite 



S * i,k <»« b, ? at LiveS r n "» Welsh county, 

 X- "* 6, W "»- ia •2S ,, B tW0 °?k trees, to be 

 "W 12; (r foot ; one ;r rp ° SeIy for <?"« 'o 



*Ni £«£ &« ««& ^ contained 12 ° fee '- 



ft|; ^^«t$^o require hard. 



«- M f oUefe-^y .a very 



1*« 



has been proved by experience that it is hard and souud 

 when felled with the bark on, in winter. 



From these facts there appears little, if any doubr, that 

 Oak timber felled with the bark on is the most durable. 

 — IV. Billbigton. 



[The specimens sent by Mr. B. are perfectly sound, and 

 appear to belong to trees that have never been even 

 squared.] 



Home Correspondence. 



Border Carnationx and Picotees. — For Carnations I 

 would recommend Hoyle'a Duke of Leeds, and Ely's 

 Dragoon, S. B. ; Gregory's Alfred, and Ely's Duke of Bed- 

 ford. C. B. ; Ely's Bright Venus, and Orson's Rob Roy, 

 S. F.; Ely's Lady Ely, Hogg's Lady Stanley, Chadwick's 

 Lucette, R. F. ; Elliot's British Queen, P. F. Hoyle's 

 Duke of Leeds, when run, is more admired by ladies here 

 than when clean — the petals are apparently thicker and 

 more velvetty in the run-rlowers, and their colour very rich 

 and dark. Is this alteration in substance of petal owing to 

 theeffect of light ? This Mower is increased readily by pipings. 

 I have observed that pipings of it in a glass with others are 

 often the first rooted. Dragoon is easily piped, but layers 

 of it will flag unless immediately placed in the shade. 

 Duke of Bedford and Bright Venus seldom run with me; 

 the other sorts will, but in a border this is no objection. 

 They are all good growers, easily propagated, and their 

 price does not exceed, on the average, one shilling per pair. 

 Maud's Rowton, scarlet Make, when run, is a beautiful 

 object in the border ; in the clear flowers the white is not 

 good. Ely's Tree Carnation, scarlet Make, throws up a 

 tall Mower-stalk, from the sides of which spring numerous 

 shoots, all which can be piped. The calyx is often 

 "Wheat-ear." I have seen this variety look very inter- 

 esting and showy when blooming in a greenhouse in win- 

 ter. The following Picotees are suitable for a border. 

 Red— Ely's Criterion, Hardy's Royal Briton, Woolard's 

 Miss Bacon, Hirst's Admiral Sotheron, Banton's Mazeppa. 

 p ur ple — Lee's L«dy Wildman, Pullen's Incomparable, 

 and Lady Peel, Birtle's Lady Fair, Kirtland's Victoria, 

 Jackson's Delight. Rose— Giddin's Hemingford Beauty, 

 Syke's Eliza, Wilson's Fanny Irby. Yellow— Martin's 

 Victoria, Hamburg Yellow. AH these are cheap, showy, 



and readily increased. — O. 



Pits.— Our correspondent" Economist," who some time 

 ago requested Mr. Paxton's opinion respecting the most 

 economical mode of constructing a range of pits for general 

 purposes, such as for growing Pines, Cucumbers, Melons, 

 &C., also Pelargoniums. Fuchsias, Calceolarias, Heaths, 

 and other greenhouse-plants, is answered in the follow- 



ing : 



Fig. 1. — LONGITUDIN'AL SECTION 



Fig. 2.— Transvkbsk Section.— Scale J of an inch to a foot. 



" The best method of building pits is to construct 

 them of nine-inch brick on bed, and the best mode 

 of heating them is by Rogers' Conical Boiler. In 

 the present case, ** Economist " may build a pit 78 

 feet long inside and 7 feet wide. Cover the pit with a 

 ridge and furrow roof, making the space from the ground 

 in front of the pit to the valley-rafter 3 feet 6 inches, and 

 the back wall below the rafter 5 feet 6 inches — see section 

 across the pit,^. 2. Divide the whole length into four 

 compartments for growing the different sorts of plants, by 

 4J inch brick-on-bed walls. Divide the whole length of 

 the ridge and furrow-roof into 12 bays, having a ventilator 

 in the angle of each pediment, as at d d,Jig. 1. Now, to 

 get to the plants, each light is hinged at the valley-rafter, 

 and fastened with a thumb-button at the ridge-rafter. By 

 referring to Jig. 1, it will be seen that the light or frame 

 leaves the ridge-rafter at a in the direction of b, and lies 

 flat upon the next light at c. Each light may be opened 

 in this way, so that a workman may get to any part of the 

 pit." — Joseph Paxton. 



Charcoal.— Last year I potted two standard Hydrangeas 

 in 16 sized pots, with two-thirds turfy loam, and one- 

 third sifted charcoal ; the drainage, which was three inches 

 deep, I formed of coarse pieces of charcoal : when the 

 plants bloomed, I found the colour of the flowers to be a 

 beautiful bright blue, and so they continued to flower the 

 whole of the season. Every plant seems to delight in 

 charcoal ; since I have laid charcoal merely on 

 the surface of the mould, round the stems of many 

 of my large Orange and Lemon trees, the alteration 

 has been very striking ; the foliage assuming a dark rich 

 hue, and the plants being altogether most luxuriant. ^ It 

 is my opinion that large beds of blue Hydrangeas might 

 be easily obtained by the above treatment.— J. L. Snow, 

 S win ton Gardens. 



Charcoal.— \n the Forest of Dean I observed that the 

 Charcoal «• hearths or floors " soon became spontaneously 

 covered with seedling Willows, of a very vigorous growth. 

 These seedlings made their appearance in about a year 

 after the fires, and I do not recollect any other kind of 

 seed germinating there except the Willows. Some time 

 Hgo 1 saw in the Chronicle observations on a kind of 



shale as a manure. Now in this forest is a kind of blue 

 shale over the stratum of coal, this after being exposed to 

 the atmosphere for some time crumbles down like shell 

 marl. Mounds round some old coal-pits composed of 

 this material were planted with Oaks, which became the 

 most vigorous of any in the forest, and were covered with 

 healthy dark-green shining leaves. The coal shale is a 

 valuable manure and would be useful to farmers, parti- 

 cularly upon light sandy heath and bog soils, and in 

 localities where it abounds the proprietors of coal-works 

 might profit by it. — W. Billing ton, Oswestry, Salop. 



Curl in Potatoes. — Mr. Barnes, at p. 424 of the " Gar- 

 deners' Magazine," mentions that the disease known by 

 the name of "curl" is chiefly occasioned by the use of 

 seed Potatoes not fully ripened. Mr. Dixon has made 

 the same observation in his treatise on that disease. 

 This, however, will not suffice to account for it : for how 

 is it that the " curl" does not affect Potatoes on some par- 

 ticular soils, even when little attention has been paid to 

 the quality of the seed ; while on other soils it attacks 

 them, however well ripened the seed-Potatoes might have 

 been ? The former happens in moorland districts ; the 

 latter on light rich soil near Edinburgh. In order to pre- 

 vent u curl," I have known gardeners at the latter place 

 procure seed from their friends in the Moorlands. If they 

 did not continue to do this, the " curl" would appear the 

 second or third year. This supports the opinion that the 

 disease is occasioned in some measure by the richness of 

 the soil, or rather by its having been long under cultiva- 

 tion. It has been imagined to be owing to the tubers de- 

 caying in the soil ; but this does not explain why some 

 soils affect them and not others. Decayed tops make a 

 good and useful manure for a succeeding crop of the same 

 kind; why then should decayed roots be prejudicial? 

 Mr. Barnes speaks of "curl" being caused by the 

 over-ripeness of seed-Potatoes, and yet says that — 

 •» all Potatoes that are meant for seed should be ripe 

 and hardened by the sun and air." He further 

 observes that 4 * all kinds of seed may be over-ripe— that 

 is, lose a considerable quantity of its properties." He 

 complains of the plan of planting Potatoes late, without 

 stating what has generally led to it. He must be aware 

 that when the late kinds of Potatoes are planted early, 

 for instance, about the latter part of May, or 1st of June, 

 especially on light land, they are apt to make what is 

 called a* second growth. To prevent this, the Norfolk 

 farmers defer planting their Potatoes until the 1st of June, 

 in order that the tubers may not be prematurely ripened 

 by the Midsummer drought ; otherwise they would 

 send forth many more little Potatoes, to the serious injury 

 of the main crop. In this case the first-formed Potatoes 

 are hard and fibrous, and the small ones produced from 

 them, and attached to them by shoots, are small, and fit 

 only for pigs. — J. Wighton, Cossey Gardens. 



Pine Apples.— Although I have not been engaged in 

 Pine grcwin" for nearlv five years, I am much interested 

 in the culture of that" delicious fruit. Mr. Murray says, 

 that he " adopts the large-shift system to a much greater 

 extent than is recommended by Mr. Glendinning, and 

 proposes to carry it still farther next year." In a leader 

 it is stated " that this is a certain precursor of getting rid 

 of potting altogether." I quite agree with this remark, 

 and have little doubt but that the natural system, (as it 

 may be termed,) in time, will be generally practised. I am 

 the more satisfied of this from having had some experi- 

 ence in the growing of Pines without pots for several 

 years, and shall here give you a short account of my pro- 

 ceedings and success. About ten years ago my employer 

 caused two Pine-houses to be built ; the pit for the Pines 

 was about two feet deep, with a hot-air chamber below 

 heated by a flue. Being fully aware th»t a dry heat would 

 not answer, I had l«rge pans placed along the top of the 

 flue to be kept filled with water, and had also water dashed 

 along the floor of the chamber every morning. There were 

 ventilators from the outside to admit cold air into the 

 lower pa it of the chamber, and also ventilators in front 

 and back of the pit, connected with the hot air chamber, 

 so as to admit the hot air into the house when required. 

 In March I prepared my bed for the Pines and turned 

 out one-year-old plants ; they had been growing the first 

 5 months without pots in an old Pine pit ; they were after- 

 wards potted into rather a targe shift, where they remained 

 until I turned them out into the new pit in March follow- 

 ing. They grew \ery strong, and a few began to show 

 fruit about the middle of May, and continued doing so up 

 to the middle of July, when all had shown fruit; they 

 swelled off very well, and produced fruit from 3 lbs. to 5 lbs. 

 avoirdupois ; they chiefly consisted of the Queen, Globe, 

 Enville, Jamaica, Otaheite, and Montserrat. 1 continued 

 the same plan the year following and with the same suc- 

 cess, with the exception of a few of the Providence that I 

 planted amongst them ; these did not fruit until the suc- 

 ceeding year, when they produced fruit double the size of 

 the others. After this I was determined to try the natural 

 system eutirely in one of the houses. In March I planted 

 strong suckers of the above-mentioned Pines, alternately 

 with the Providence, the former to be fruited off the 

 second "year. I cleared the plants away as they ripened, 

 to make room for the Providence, which require a year 

 longer to produce fine fruit. I succeeded in this equally 

 well ; the smaller sorts fruited the second year and were 

 cleared away ; the Providence grew very strong and began 

 to show fruit about the beginning ot April. The third 

 year, when I left my situation, I was informed that they 

 produced very fine fruit, weighing from 8 lbs. to 11 lbs. 

 From the experience I have had of this system I have not 

 the lea«-t doubt of tts success ; and had I to grow Pines 

 again, I have so high an opinion of it that I should never 

 grow a Pine in a pot. Many Pine-growers imagine that 

 there is a difficulty in getting them to fruir, but I found 



