Journal of the Hoijal Agricultural Society. 79 



usually place their combs north and south, and continue them 

 to within half an inch of the bottom of the hive, which allows 

 a sufficient passage to go to their cells. Suppose, however, that 

 a thoroughfare had been left at the top : I still believe that the 

 bees would prefer getting to their cells by the lower way. Some 

 deny this, and insist that they must find it easier to go down 

 than to ascend with their load, on entering the hive. Judging, 

 however, from the actual fact of their preferring to ascend with 

 their loads, it may be fairly concluded that they even find it 

 easier. It must be remembered that the honey bag is in the 

 hinder part of their body ; and its weight might tend to propel 

 them forward too powerfully when descending. It is also to be 

 observed, that wasps and hornets enter their nests from below. If 

 all that has been said should not have convinced the reader that 

 the natural disposition of bees is to ascend, let him place a bee in 

 the middle of a window-pane, and he will always find it creep 

 upwards before it descends. 



Cossey Hall Gardens, July 25. 1840. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 

 Vol. I. Part IV. ; and Vol. II. Part I. Jan. 184J. 



We noticed Part III. of the 1st volume of this excellent Journal immediately 

 on its appearance (see our Volume for 1840, p. 169.), and the Parts that 

 have since been published are now before us. They abound with excellent 

 articles, most of which may be perused with advantage by the gardener as 

 well as the farmer. An experiment with Poittevin's Manure (desiccated night- 

 soil), laid on at the rate of 36 bushels per acre, proved it to be equal in effect, 

 for the first year, to farmyard manure laid on at the rate of 25 tons per acre ; 

 but whether it will " carry the different crops through the course equally well 

 with the farmyard manure '■ is very doubtful. — An article on the Parsnep, by 

 Col. Le Couteur, shows that the average crop, per statute acre, is from 9 

 to 1 1 tons, but small spots have yielded at the rate of 27 tons per acre ; 

 a quantity nearly sufficient for 10 cows during the six winter months. Pars- 

 neps, if boiled, will fatten oxen, pigs, or poultrj', in an " extraordinary man- 

 ner ;" and they are an excellent preparatory crop for wheat. An experiment 

 is now in progress to ascertain the comparative value of the parsnep and new 

 white carrot. Several experiments with nitrate of soda seem to prove that 

 it increases the produce of the G^ramineae. — An article on Animal Manures 

 contains much chemical and theoretical matter, and also a great deal of a 

 directly practical value. The nature of the manure of animals depends, of 

 course, upon the kind of food by which they are nourished. The most valu- 

 able part of the manure produced by every animal is its urine ; and, in using 

 it, it should either be mixed with water and fermented, or mixed with straw 

 or soil. We shall, however, prepare an article on the subject for this Maga- 

 zine, from the very long, elaborate, and most valuable one now before us. 



From a paper on the Management of Bees, we make the following extract, 

 which we recommend to our correspondent Mr. Wighton : — 



" I have kept bees more than twenty years ; have tried Huish's, Nutt's, and 

 various other plans" i but the one suggested by this industrious insect itself I 



