84 Domestk Notices: — Irelcmd. 



LeuchlancI, in this vicinity, no less than nine pints of honey have been taken 

 this season, witliout destroying these industrious insects. After robbing 

 them of their luscious nectar, it was found advisable to send them to the 

 heather : and it seems they had some prescience of their destination ; for, 

 on examining the hive the other day, it was found to contain an ample sup- 

 ply for the ensuing winter. The honey was taken at three diflferent times, 

 by means of atop which can be separated from the main body of the skep ; 

 under this top a board is fixed horizontally npon the frustrum, with a per- 

 foration in the centre of about sin. diameter, through which the bees pass 

 to the' upper story. The first top which is taken otf contains wax so sub- 

 tile that it vanishes at the touch, and honey as transparent as amber. Bees 

 never begin to breed until they have collected a certain quantity of honey j 

 and the above method, of course obviates that procedure. {Scotsman, 

 Sept. 17.) " 



PhSrmium thiax. — I have two very fine plants of the Phormium tenax, 

 or New Zealand Flax, which succeed remarkably well with me; they require 

 no shelter in winter, and have not even the protection of a wall. It is 

 closely bordering on the sea, and I presume the marine atmosphere tem- 

 pers the adjoining air incumbent over the land. — J. M. Inverness-shire, 



IRELAND. 



Ijandscape -Gardening and Forest-Management. — We d,re glad to learn, 

 that our friend and correspondent Mr. James Fraser, now of North-east 

 Street, Dublin, has publicly assumed the above professions. From what we 

 know of his science and experience, and of his manner, we are almost sure 

 be will be successful ; and of this we shall be the more happy, because, since 

 the death of our lamented pupil and friend, Mr. M'Leish, such a man as Mr. 

 Fraser will be of real public utility. Public tranquillity, personal residence, 

 and the advice followed of a few such men as Mr. Fraser, would soon supply 

 all that is wanted for Ireland, in forest-planting and landscape-gardening. In 

 the midst of these occupations, we hope Mr. Fraser will never forget, where 

 he can do it without giving offence (because, in such cases, advice would be 

 useless), to urge the advantages that would result to proprietors from esta- 

 blishing infant schools on their estates, and, at the same time, parochial 

 schools, so as to elevate the character of the rising generation. We request 

 Mr. Fraser to consider what has appeared on this subject in the Reviews of 

 Slaney, and in other articles in this Magazine; and in our notes from Ger- 

 many, in No. V. of the Magazine of Natural History/, Bavaria and Wur- 

 temberg are entirely agricultural countries like Ireland ; they are exceedingly- 

 poor, but they are almost totally without beggars and criminals, or civil 

 prisoners; the lowest individual among them is enlightened; and the whole 

 are, from all external appearances, happy. It appears to us that these 

 countries are models for Ireland. — Coiid. 



Schools. — By an extract from the Report of the Hon. the Irish Society^s 

 Institution, under the patronage of the Corporation of London, May's.,. 

 3 827, which has been obligingly sent us, we are much gratified to learn that 

 the number of schools and persons attending them are increasing. 



In connection with these schools are also formed school libraries, which 

 have proved eminently usefid both to parents and children ; the latter who 

 can read, thus becoming the instructors of those wlio cannot read. 



There are gi>-ls' schools,as in Germany, in which chiklren are taught theusual 

 branches of education, and also to work; and, what we particidarly admire in 

 the schools established by this Institution, " peculiar religious instruction" is 

 altogether avoided. If the propriety and importance of this exclusion, in 

 every school in every country, were once generally undei*stood and acknow- 

 ledged, it would be easy to spread instruction over the whole earth ; to 

 raise all mankind to a level, in point of general useful knowledge ; to reduce 

 all the living languages of the world to one or two ; to bring into use every 



