September 16, 1888.] 



THE GABDENEBS' CHRONICLE. 



297 



and 106(3 tons per acre more than we received in the 

 corresponding period last year. 



This large rainfall is, however, not without prece- 

 dent in the neighbourhood of Rothanisted, for in the 

 three months of June, July, and August, 1860, over 

 12| inches of rain was recorded, and in 1S79 nearly 

 16.} inches were measured. 



The characteristic of the present season is that 

 not one week of continuous fine weather has been 

 experienced during the whole of the three months to 

 which we have referred. With the high rainfall has 

 been registered an exceedingly low temperature, an 

 average of 57°'3 only being obtained for these three 

 harvest months. This shows a deficit from the com- 

 puted average of 2°.9, and is in great part due to the 

 comparative lack of bright sunshine experienced 

 during the present summer. 



Although there was an increase of warmth during 

 August from the two preceding months, yet it was 

 of dubious advantage when accompanied by a damp, 

 close, and unhealthy atmosphere, extremely suitable 

 to fungoid growth on the crops. We do not re- 

 member ever to have seen such an enormous quantity 

 of frogs and toads crawling about the fields as in the 

 present season. 



The inclement weather for ingathering has had 

 the result that a very large proportion of the hay 

 crop is of an inferior quality, much being so damaged 

 as to be almost worthless ; though the promise of an 

 abundant aftermath may make some amends, if only 

 suitable weather could be obtained for its successful 

 curing. Peas and Beans have run more to haulm 

 than to pod, and the growth of root-crops, both in 

 the garden and in the field, has been out of propor- 

 tion to the development of the bulbs, which require 

 the moisture to be tempered with bright sunshine 

 for successful growth. 



Potatos have suffered in this neighbo urhood 

 greatly from the superabundance of moisture, blight, 

 and disease, being extremely prevalent. In some 

 cases, at lifting the crop two-thirds of the tubers have 

 been found useless. All outdoor fruit is very insipid 

 and watery, but especially is this the case with Plums. 



Although bad seasons in our own country do not 

 now imply famine or starvation, as formerly — as any 

 deficiency at home can be so expeditiously supplied, 

 and at such a comparatively trifling cost of transit 

 from the most remote quarters of the globe — yet we 

 fear many will feel the pinch of poverty in the 

 coming winter. J. Willis. 



The Apiary. 



BOBBING. 



This will now be the order of the day, if great 

 care be not taken to prevent it. It is mostly allowed 

 that prevention is better than cure in any case, and 

 it certainly is so here, for if once robbing is estab- 

 lished it is difficult to stop it. After such a season 

 as we have had, no stock can possibly be overloaded 

 with honpy, and most stocks are deficient. The 

 first instinct of the bee is to provide for their young 

 for the perpetuation of the race, and to secure this 

 end they will get honey from any source, by fair 

 means or foul. It must, however, be confessed that 

 hunger is not always the cause of robbing, for some- 

 times the strongest and best provided for rob the 

 most — indeed, there are those who pronounce the 

 bee to be a humbug. But to the point. Don't 

 meddle with bees now in the middle of the day, but 

 what you must do, do it towards sunset. Be careful 

 not to spill honey or Byrup about the apiary, for 

 that would doubtless lead to robbing at once. 

 Where feeding is being carried on, take care that 

 the bottles of syrup are well covered up, and that no 

 bees can get to the food except those for which it is 

 inteuded. Fill the bottles in the evening, and the 

 food will be taken down in the night. If after all 

 these precautions robbing is commenced, contract 

 the entrances at once, so that only one bee can pass 

 out at a time, and the guards inside will then be 

 able to do their duty. In bad cases it has been sug- 



gested that the hives of the robbers and the robbed 

 should change places for a little while. The effect 

 is singularly unique for the would be robbers are 

 then stealing I?) from their own hive, and giving 

 it to their weaker neighbours, for amongst bees the 

 weakest ever go to the wall. There are other ways 

 of preventing robbing, but the above are the principal 

 methods adopted, and these and other things are they 

 not written in the chronicles of the bee-keepers? 



A nice little book comes to us from the pen of Mr. 

 J. M. Hooker. It is not very large, but it is full of 

 sound instruction gathered from experience, and 

 written so that he who runs may read. The appliances 

 and the dealers he mentions are at the top of the 

 tree, and the book is thoroughly sound and useful. 

 Though our evils are many this season, wasps have 

 not as yet appeared here. This is not a circum- 

 stance to be regretted. Bee, 



J.WlATnU^ 



FlO. 33.— RHODODESDROX COLLETTIAXUM : HARDY~SHRrB, 

 FLOWERS WHITE. 



Notices of Books. 



The Trees of Commerce. By W. Stevenson. 



No. 2 of Messrs. William Rider & Son's Timber 

 Trade Handbooks, may serve fairly well the purpose 

 for which it is designed, that of " giving, within rea- 

 sonable limits and in a popular form, an account of 

 the trees that yield the staple of this trade." The 

 scope of the work is limited, Mahogany, Teak, 

 Greenheart, and fancy woods in general, being 

 omitted, whilst a considerable space is devoted to 

 the etymologies of names. The absence of an index, 

 makes the contents appear more meagre than they 

 really are, ten species of Oak, for instance, being in- 

 cluded under " The Oak." The botanical portion of 

 the work is professedly taken " almost exclusively " 

 from Loudon's Arboretum, a work of compilation 

 now out of date, and the preface acknowledges 

 the author's indebtedness to Laslett's Timber and 

 Timber Trees, in which the botany is lamentably 

 incorrect : but, though the book is much smaller 

 and makes but little pretence to completeness, 

 it is rather difficult to see a distinct ration d'etre for 

 it, since the appearance of Mr. Laslett's work. The 

 trade names are carefully given, and misprints, such as 

 " C. Bankia " (p. 125) for C. Bauhin, are com- 



mendably few. There are, however, some few state- 

 ments to which exception may be taken, and some 

 remarkable omissions. Bog Oak certainly shows 

 the indigenous character of the tree ; but there are 

 certainly no fossil Oaks " in the limestone known 

 as Portland stone " (p. 12) ! The Dutch Elm 

 (p. 35) is hardly a variety of Ulmus campestris, 

 and it is to be regretted that the author has 

 not distinguished between the characters of the 

 timber of U. campestris, With. ; and U. suberosa, 

 Moench. The omission of all mention of the 

 use of Elm wood for coffins is remarkable. Is 

 any part of St. Leonard's Forest in Hampshire 

 (p. 47), or does Fagus Dombeyi, really takes its name 

 from " Dombey, near Concepcion " (p. 51) ? The 

 name " tulipwood " for the timber of Liriodendron 

 may prove as misleading as the vague " whitewood " 

 or the inexcusable "yellow Poplar;" and it is note- 

 worthy that the Sycamore is called " Plane " in 

 Scotland, as well as in America (p. 118). The total 

 omission of so useful a wood for ornamental carving 

 as that of the Spanish Chestnut ; the wholesale con- 

 demnation of British-grown Scots Fir as " not of 

 much value " (p. 161), in spite of the splendid spe- 

 cimens exhibited at the Edinburgh Forestry Exhi- 

 bition ; and the absence of any reference to the 

 future of home-grown Abies Douglasii, strike one as 

 mistakes, for the second of which our northern 

 foresters are perhaps to blame, since the carelessly 

 grown pit-props put upon the market have too often 

 led to needless foreign importatior. The bad effect 

 of the general headings to the sections of the book, 

 and the absence of an index are seen again in the 

 difficulty of collecting the notes upon the " White 

 Cedar " (Cupressus thyoides, L.) of the Eastern 

 United States (pp. 217, 220, 221, 224), the wood of 

 which is now of considerable importance to our 

 brewers. Finally, one would like to know the 

 histological evidence for the following astonishing 

 remark on Fraxinus americana (p. 32) : — 



" The wood is undoubtedly inferior to that of 

 European growth, and if, as contended by Darwinian 

 students, it is merely a variety of an original stock 

 akin to that of European growth, the inferiority can 

 only be traced to its acquiring in some degree the 

 habits of an aquatic plant, by which the fibrous 

 system has gradually declined in favour of increase 

 of cellular tissue until the change has become 

 radical." 



RHODODENDRON COLLETTI- 



ANUM.* 



This (fig. 38) is a small-growing hardy shrub, in 

 habit resembling B. ferrugineum and hirsutum. It 

 was first described by Aitchison and Hemsley, hav- 

 ing been collected by the former botanist in the 

 Kuram Valley, Affghanistan, at heights of 10,000 to 

 13,000 feet. The plant in question flowered on the 

 rockery at Kew during the last season. The leaves 

 are coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate ; the flowers are in 

 clusters, white, rather less than 1 inch long ; the 

 tube of the corolla hairy inside. It is an interesting 

 addition to the group of dwarf hardy Rhododendrons. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



THE WHITE BEAM TREE (PTRUS ARIA). 

 This extremely hardy tree is valuable for planting 

 in many situations where others would fail. In 

 hilly, wind-swept places it seems especially at home, 

 for, however, exposed it may he, it retains its erect 

 position, and the symmetry of its head. I have a 

 specimen, now about 15 feet high, growing on the top 

 of a bank, with a full exposure to the north and north- 

 east. Several other trees which have been planted 

 on the same site have gradually died out, but this 

 continues to make progress— growing at the rate of 

 about 18 inches a year— and is in a thoroughly healthy 

 condition. Being deciduous, it of course forms but 



* Rhododendron Collettinnum, Aitchison and Hemsley, in 

 Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. rviii., 1831, p. 75 ; and vol. 

 x\x., t. 20. 



