200 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. r March 10 , imh. 
insufficient, but'were quite withered. (J. E.).— 1, Asplenium caudatum ; 2, Catnp- 
tosorus rhizophyllus. The Orchid is Ansellia africana, the Fern is Davallia dis- 
secta elegans, and the other specimen is a leaf of Dasylirion acrotrichum. 
Moulded Combs—Dead Bees (Comber). — We have submitted your 
query to Mr. Cheshire, who replies thus :—The fact of the pollen being mildewed 
is not serious. As the bees strengthen and the weather grows warmer they will 
remove the refuse pollen and clean the combs perfectly. No doubt you left your 
hive too large. Bees must be confined by a division board or dummy to a num¬ 
ber of combs proportionate to their strength, only so many being given them as 
they are able fairly to cover. The division boards should be either good non¬ 
conductors of heat themselves, or they should be protected by having all the 
space between them and the hive side filled with chaff. This matter we shall 
be very soon illustrating by woodcuts. The fact of dead bees being found in 
numbers on the side frame shows an error or omission. It is usual to cut holes 
through the combs, called winter passages, and by means of these the bees are 
able to condense as temperature falls, the passages giving an opportunity to 
those bees of the side seams to pour through the openings as the others retire 
from them in the act of condensing. These winter passages we have come to 
regard as an old-fashioned expedient which we now, for a double reason, never 
use—an advantage, as this hole-boring is a destruction and loss of many cells. 
First, we use flour cake, and this turned down upon the frames is quickly bored 
away by the bees'as they consume it, leaving passages in the very snuggest part 
of the hive, as we now winter them with quilt and chaff box above ; and, again, 
■we use hives so thoroughly non-conductive that the bees prefer to cluster, not in 
the centre of the frames away from the walls, icy cold as they are in too many 
hives, but against them, and they are always free to pass round the frame end 
from comb to comb. In this way the bees are warmer than they can ever be 
made by the inconvenient and retrograde closed frame ends for the introduction 
of which an effort is now being made. 
COVENT GARDEN MARKET.—MARCH 9. 
TRADE keeps very quiet, supplies being limited, and business the reverse of 
brisk. 
FRUIT. 
s. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
Apples. 
6 to 4 
6 
Melons . 
each 
0 
0 too 
0 
Apricots. 
0 
0 
0 
Nectarines. 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Cherries. 
¥■ ft. 0 
0 
0 
0 
Oranges . 
%>• 100 
4 
0 
8 
0 
Chestnuts. 
. bushel 12 
0 
16 
0 
Peaches . 
dozen 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Figs. 
. dozen 0 
0 
0 
e 
Pears,kitchen .. 
dozen 
2 
0 
J5 
0 
Filberts. 
0 
0 
0 
dessert. 
dozen 
4 
0 
8 
0 
Cobs. 
ft 2 
0 
0 
0 
Pine Apples .... 
%> ft 
i 
0 
2 
0 
Gooseberries .. 
.. i sieve 0 
0 
0 
0 
Plums . 
J sieve 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Grapes . 
ft 3 
0 
12 
0 
Walnuts . 
bushel 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Lemons. 
. V case 12 
0 
18 
0 
ditto .. _ 
V 100 
0 
0 
0 
0 
VEGETABLES. 
s 
d. 
S. 
d. 
S. 
d. 
S. 
a. 
Artichokes. dozen 2 0to4 0 
Asparagus. bundle 0 0 0 0 
Beans,Kidney.... ^1«0 1 0 16 
Beet,Red. dozen 10 2 0 
Broccoli. bundle 0 9 16 
Brussels Sprouts.. J sieve 0 9 18 
Cabbage.. dozen 0610 
Carrots. bunch 0 4 0 6 
Capsicums. 100 1 6 2 0 
Cauliflowers. dozen 0 0 3 6 
Celery. bundle 16 2 0 
Coleworts_doz. bunches 2 0 4 0 
Cucumbers. each 0 6 16 
Endive. dozen 10 2 0 
Fennel. bunch 0 3 0 0 
Garlic . ^ ft. 0 6 0 0 
Herbs . bunch o 2 0 0 
Leeks. bunch 0 3 0 4 
Mushrooms .punnet 1 Otol 6 
Mustard & Cress .. punnet 0 2 0 3 
Onions. bushel 3 6 6 0 
pickling. quart 0 0 0 0 
Parsley. doz.bunches 6 0 0 0 
Parsnips. dozen 10 2 0 
Peas . quart 0 0 0 0 
Potatoes. bushel 3 9 4 0 
Kidney. bushel 4 0 4 6 
Radishes.... doz .bunches 16 2 0 
Rhubarb. bundle 0 4 0 6 
Salsafv. bundle 10 0 0 
Scorzo'nera . bundle 16 0 0 
Seakale . basket 3 0 3 8 
Shallots. I? ft. 0 3 0 o 
Spinach . bushel 3 0 0 0 
Turnips. bunch n 4 0 0 
Vegetable Marrows each 0 0 0 0 
POULTRY AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 
MANURING AND IMPROVING OF PASTURE AND 
PARKLANDS. 
(Continued from page 181.) 
In the management of grass land we cannot overlook the great 
variety of soils and climates in which they are found. For 
instance, we have the poor hill pastures on the chalk, limestone, 
sand, and gravel formations ; on the other hand there are the 
alluvial soils of Somerset, with the strong loams or clays of 
Leicestershire and some other counties. In the letting value of 
these pastures and their intermediates there is a great difference, 
probably varying from 5 s. per acre to as many pounds sterling ; 
it is therefore evident that the manuring and management must 
vary greatly. Where there is good natural pasture little manure 
will be required, but it must be remembered that good manage¬ 
ment is the only way the best of pasture can be made to yield its 
full benefit and profit to the occupier. On the other hand, the hill 
pastures will require judicious outlay for manures and improved 
modes of feeding by stock. Under any circumstances where the 
land is thin and poor, manuring and maintaining a full plant of 
grasses should be attended to ; and it is also especially advisable 
that all manuring should be accompanied by mixtures of earthy 
substances as composts, excepting on the steep hillsides, where 
carting of heavy materials would be expensive and often 
impossible. 
The advantage of maintaining a full plant of herbage, even in 
the best pastures, is frequently made a matter of only secondary 
importance. The destruction of the finest and best herbage is 
often caused by the injurious feeding by sheep stock during the 
winter months, and we speak of this in reference to the best 
bullock pastures especially ; we will therefore quote from 
Mr. Lawes’ paper, illustrating the value of the Clovers in the 
best pastures of Leicestershire. He states, “ In my last letter I 
mentioned that through the kindness of Mr. Pell, M.P., I had 
been given the opportunity of investigating the properties of the 
herbage and soil of a rich Leicestershire pasture, and added that 
I proposed in a future communication to make some further 
remarks in illustration of the subject of grass land in general as 
derived from my examination into the properties of this specially 
rich pasture. There is a common saying in Leicestershire, ‘ The 
more white Clover the more beef,’ and it is evident that in the 
pasture which I have had under examination white Clover occu¬ 
pies a very prominent position. It is probable that an increase 
of live weight equal to 500 lbs. is produced upon each acre of this 
land in the six months’ grazing ; but it is hardly possible to form 
any accurate measure of the amount of grass which is consumed 
in the production of _this result. It is also evident that to fence 
off a small portion of the field, and then cutting the produce 
two or three times in the year, would give a false estimate of the 
quantity grown, as well as the quality of the grass which enters 
the animal’s stomach day by day. To meet this difficulty the 
plan was adopted of plucking the produce by hand at intervals 
of a few days, and by this means we obtained a sample which 
fairly represented the character of the food. In our various 
experiments upon fattening oxen we estimated that about 12 to 
13 lbs. of dry food was consumed to produce 1 lb. of increase. 
In the experiments carried on many years ago at Woburn the 
following quantities of food were consumed to produce 500 tt>3. 
increase in a fattening ox :—If ton of Clover hay, 1(3 cwts. of 
corn or cake, and 5 tons of Swedes. The sum of these would be 
about equal in weight to 3| tons of hay. Now, without going 
into the question of how far the grass on an acre of the Leicester¬ 
shire- pasture would be equivalent to the food I have named, its 
consumption at all events brings about the same result so far as 
the production of 500 lbs. increase of live weight in a fattening 
animal is concerned, and we get in the comparison some idea of 
the wonderful qualities of such a pasture as that which I have 
under examination. If it be an accepted fact that the production 
of a large accumulation of food of which the two most important 
elements are nitrogen and potash, and further that a very essential 
plant in a good pasture is white Clover, the question of produc¬ 
ing a good pasture is in a great measure reduced to the means of 
providing the nitrogen and potash at the lowest cost, and to the 
treatment of the land in such a way as to encourage the growth of 
white Clover.” 
Taking this quotation as a whole it is extremely significant, and 
highly suggestive in relation to various points in the establish¬ 
ment of a new pasture, as well as the treatment of old grass 
land. One point seems to stand out in bold relief—that of the 
value of perennial white Clover, if not the actual necessity of it. 
The only question arising in our mind is the desirability of con¬ 
sidering the kind of soil, for when we know the manures required 
to produce it in perfection to be nitrogen and potash we can 
