July 29, 1880. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
99 
these to Foxgloves and other hardy flowers that are allowed to 
establish themselves among the shrubs in pleasing informality. 
Only brief reference can be made to the kitchen garden, in 
which a choice selection of fruit trees has been planted, and the 
range of glass above referred to erected. The Vines are very 
strong, short-jointed, and full of promise. Laterals are allowed 
to grow down to the ground, and consequently the rods have 
swelled freely to the base. The few bunches which have been 
safely permitted are very line. Foster’s Seedling and Buckland 
Sweetwater have exceptionally large berries ; bunches of Gros 
Guillaume will exceed 6 lbs. in weight, and Black Hamburghs 
and Muscats are also excellent. A well-drained border with 
plenty of water and mulchings of rich manure to the roots, and 
laterals thinly trained 18 inches from the glass, are what Mr. Allis 
rightly considers cardinal points in Grape culture. The Peach 
houses contain healthy trees of the best varieties, some—including 
Plums, Pears, and Cherries—being in pots for present bearing. 
Figs are planted for covering the back walls of the Peach houses, 
those of the vineries being covered with Tomatoes, which are very 
strong, and producing fine fruit of Carters’ Green Gage, the 
favourite variety at Old Warden. 
Outside were full crops of vegetables. Strawberries were 
abundant. For size with high quality Dr. Hogg bears the palm ; 
Sir Joseph Paxton and Omar Pacha were producing an abundance 
of very large fruit; fine also was Bradley’s Amateur, which by 
its firmness is an excellent traveller. As Onion-sowing time is 
approaching, it may be useful to mention that the best in the beds 
sown last August was the old silver-skinned variety, that is usually 
sown in the spring for pickling purposes. The bulbs far excelled 
those of Silver Queen, and indeed all other varieties. When sow¬ 
ing winter Onions other cultivators may well try a few rows of 
the variety referred to. Another simple matter may be mentioned, 
as simplicities are sometimes overlooked by writers on gardening. 
A scarce article at Old Warden was Mint, and, curiously, when it 
was wanted Mr. Allis could not find a vendor. He found, how¬ 
ever, a few sprays, inserted them like Verbena cuttings in pots of 
sandy soil in heat; in a few days they rooted, were topped, and 
inserted again, until he soon had large flat pans full—Mint in 
abundance, and to spare. Those who have large supplies of 
forced Mint to provide in winter and spring should try this plan 
of providing it; it is possible it will surpass all others. Insert 
the cuttings an inch apart in spring, when rooted plunge the pans 
in a convenient position in the garden, and a fine vigorous Mint 
store is provided ready to hand for placing in heat as required. 
Just a word on the gardener’s garden, because it contains 
remarkable bushes of the distinct and beautifully striped old 
Bose Kosa Mundi, which is rarely seen now in such numbers 
and condition, there being hundreds of fine flowers in colours 
resembling clear rose flake Carnation. Behind this pretty cottage 
is what is termed the Warren, some acres of remarkably straight 
and tall Scotch Firs and Larches, with long avenues of Spruce, 
and an undergrowth of Ferns—a cool and delightful retreat. 
I had almost omitted to note that the Warden Pear is reputed 
to have been raised by the Monks of Warden Abbey, a few relics 
of which exist; it is a baking Pear, and supplied the contents 
of the celebrated Warden pies. Under this name baked Pears 
from Warden were hawked in Bedford not many years ago under 
the name of “Wardens all hot.” It may be noted, too, that 
this Pear is the origin of the line “A dainty bit of a Warden pie,” 
in the well-known song of the “ Friar of Orders Grey.” 
This fine old estate is ably managed by Mr. Allis, who was 
formerly gardener at Hartsholme, but is much more than gardener 
at Old Warden— J. Wright. 
CHAPTERS ON INSECTS FOR GARDENERS.—No. 8. 
HEW SERIES. 
Continuing our remarks from page 27 on the Hymenopterous 
order, or “ order of bees,” we arrive at the Anthrophila. In their 
characteristics these bees resemble the preceding sections of Acu- 
leata, but we at once recognise their distinctness as a group by the 
peculiar structure of the hind legs. The tarsus, or what we might 
designate by the familiar name of the “foot” of the bee, has where 
it joins the tibia a joint, which is enlarged and flattened into a kind 
of plate. In the wasps and allied genera this joint is merely 
rounded. Bees are evidently provided with this flattened joint— 
which is sometimes thickly fringed with hairs, making it then a sort 
of basket—to assist them in gathering and conveying pollen. But 
the structure occurs in some bees that do not seek for pollen. To 
the apiarian, if not to the ordinary naturalist, the idea of social 
life naturally suggests itself when bees are mentioned ; it is there¬ 
fore surprising to some to be told that of all our British wild 
bees none are really social except the humble bees. Many bees 
have been supposed to live in communities when they are simply 
gregarious—that is, instinct leads them by scores, or perhaps by 
hundreds, to resort to the same wall or the same sandy bank ; but 
each makes its nest apart from the rest, and they never unite for 
mutual defence or help. The first family is that of the Andrenkhe, 
•with a short and flat tongue, and all the species are solitary, con¬ 
sisting of perfect males and females ; being also neither beneficial 
nor injurious to gardening pursuits, and in their habits they 
remind us of the proceedings of some of the solitary wasps. The 
genus Colletes offers a good example of these bees. The average 
length in this genus is about a quarter of an inch ; the thorax is 
downy, and the abdomen ringed with greyish hairs. The mother 
bee makes a burrow or tunnel in a suitable spot, frequently a 
sandbank, occasionally a soft wall; and at the bottom of this, 
which may be 9 or 10 inches deep, a cell is formed, in which an 
egg is placed, with a supply of honey and pollen. Another cell 
is added, then more, until perhaps a dozen have been completed, 
and the satisfied parent departs, having finished her life work. 
The partitions of the cells and the sides are plastered over with a 
gummy substance that is presumed to be secreted by the bee. 
But the question may be put. Each young bee as it emerges 
must travel along the cells of its companions except the one 
nearest the top, do they all emerge simultaneously ? Now, it is 
found that the busy mother takes some time over her operations, 
and therefore the first-laid eggs would be likely to be the for- 
wardest, yet these are farthest from the place of exit. It is 
believed that this difficulty is met thus : Each bee deposits eggs 
that produce male and females, and the latter require the longest 
time to reach maturity. Female eggs are therefore laid in the 
first-made cells, and a batch of male eggs to finish ; the bees de¬ 
veloped from these are soonest out, and leave their cells empty 
for their female companions to pass through. The same plan has 
been noticed in the genus Osmia, but how the sexes manage the 
emergence amongst themselves is doubtful. 
In Sphecodes we have singular little bees, rather wasp-like, 
with red and black bodies. Their burrows are usually in dry 
banks, and they are often seen mixing with colonies of Halictus. 
These are also small and glossy like those in the genus Sphecodes, 
but they are downy or hairy. When these discover a suitable hole 
in a bank, instead of forming a long burrow they will form several 
short ones of two or three cells each opening into this common 
exit. Andrena is a genus that shows some variety of size and 
appearance. Some of these insects are about the dimensions of 
the hive bee, others are much smaller ; they are all more hairy 
than that species. Their tunnels are of rude construction. A. hir- 
tipes is a species notable for the very large size of the pollen 
brushes that adorn the tarsus of the female ; the head is grey and 
black, the thorax black and yellow, and the abdomen black and 
white. The second section of the true bees contains more species 
than the preceding, and in this, the Apidm, we observe that the 
tongue is long, and doubled under the mouth when the insect is 
at rest. The size varies from that of the large Bombi to that of 
the smaller Nomadrn (cuckoo bees), and in habit some are social, 
some solitary, and some parasitic. Many are visitors to our 
flower gardens and shrubberies, and some species have been 
placed on the list of “ garden foes ” because they form their 
nests in branches or in stakes. But the mischief they do in that 
way is only trifling, nor do they often attack wood that is entirely 
sound or healthy. Something may be said, too, concerning other 
species that are known as the “ Leaf-cutters,” and which, by the 
operation of their keen jaws, tend to disfigure various plants and 
shrubs. To commence with the cuckoo bees : there are five genera 
of these, containing; probably about fifty species, and they have 
taken their appellation from a habit that brings them into an 
association with the bird whose peculiar cry suggested the 
popular name. Through their structure these bees are unfitted 
for the digging or boring operations performed by others, and 
they are not as a rule collectors of pollen ; Nature has therefore 
taught them to provide for their young by artifice. Diligently 
and cautiously do they pursue the tracks of the Andrenidse and 
Apidae, and having discovered a burrow prepared and stored with 
food the parasitic or cuckoo bee enters, and deposits its egg or eggs. 
These produce larvae which devour whatever honey and pollen 
is obtainable, and perhaps they eat also the rightful possessor of 
the cell. Mr. Smith, however, an observer whose opinions and 
statements have ever commanded respect, thinks that in nume¬ 
rous instances the bee which had made and stored the cell or 
cells in the burrow, finding that an interloper has been there, 
withdraws without depositing all its eggs, or possibly any ; and 
the cuckoo bee, having placed its eggs in the stolen burrow, closes 
up the opening with clay. Most of these cuckoo bees, being of the 
family C'uculinae, are hairless and wasp-like, banded with black, 
brown, and yellow. 
