70 
'ME COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[Ocxobeii 31. 
faulty character of the incline is enough, without suffering 
accumulations of mud and coarse herbage to impede the 
passage of the dull water-course. Of course, the active 
allotment holder will consider at this period whether any 
more drainage is necessary; and if so, instantly make up 
his mind resolutely to carry it out by hook or by crook. If j 
ever he drained a piece before, or had to dig a formerly 
stagnant plot, both before and after draining, it will surely 
put him in heart as to the character of the labour involved, 
! to say nothing of the superior produce. 
And now we have to suggest another little matter, which, 
indeed, may be settled in half an hour, and that is, that the 
cottager forthwith decide in his mind how he will have his 
ground cropped in the ensuing year. He can do this over 
his fire-side; and a little discussion with his family will 
serve to expand their ideas with regard to the handling of 
allotments. We consider this absolutely necessary, inasmuch 
as the character of the digging or trenching, as well as the 
amount of manure, depends on the settlement of this ques- 
; tion. 
These things done, let all spare time be employed in 
i digging or trenching every spare plot, throwing all in ridges, 
in order to receive the benefits of a winter frost. As to 
trenching, we advise, that every portion of the garden be 
I trenched at least once in every three years, for we do not 
suppose that the allotment holder can deeply trench every 
portion each season. Let the trenching always be for the 
tap-rooted crops, as carrots, parsnips, long red mangold, Ac., 
or for onions, cabbages, &e. 
If the plot be sour, let him wheel all his cinder-aslies on 
it, or old lime rubbish, sand, or very loose sandy soil; this 
should be put on the ground first, and spread, and then the 
manure. Do not pare the dung, as too many do, into 
■ the bottom of the trench, only as burrows for the earth¬ 
worm, but dig it in with the soil with a deep spit, merely 
casing this over with the under portion. Manure sinks but 
j too fast in many soils; for carrot culture, however, it may 
I be kept deeper. 
After such plans are earned out, the days will have become 
very short, and if the cottager can get a day by chance, he 
should spend it in examining his fences or boundaries, and 
make provision against trespass. In “ trimming ” or re¬ 
pairing hedges, it is a tolerably sure sign of a want of suffi¬ 
cient energy or interest in land to see a cottager year after 
year content to patch his blanks with dead materials. It is 
astonishing what annual labour is thus thrown away by 
many dilatory farmers, without taking a little pains to procure 
a live fence. To the allotment man or cottager then, who 
has a boundary of this character, we say, whenever you meet 
with a decided blank, never allow it to pass during the planting 
season, but instantly plant fresh thorns, taking care to well 
break up the bottom, and to introduce a little fresh soil, paring 
| all the weeds, Ac., into the bottom of the hole. This done, 
a little “ trimming ” or plashing, well performed, will proride 
I a dead fence until the new plants are established. 
Those cottagers wdio keep a cow, will do well to plant 
abundance of cabbages for stall feeding; and this is a good 
period, if omitted previously, to plant a good breadth. Miss 
Martineau confirms this practice, as will be seen at page 
334, Yol. iv., where, in her useful paper, she has shown 
forth some very good practices in cottage economics. Mr. 
Sillet, too, at page 17, of our present volume, has no less than 
seven thousand cabbages as an item of produce sold from a 
small portion of only two statute acres; the profit on which 
altogether he represents as no less than £bl Is. lOd. What 
say our large farmers to this, who say they cannot live in 
| these pressing times on some two or three hundred acres of 
land ? To be sure, there has been a great depreciation in 
the value of farming stock and produce since Mr. Sillet’s 
estimate was formed; still it sufficiently attests what has 
been often asserted by good judges—that with the highest 
possible amount of culture there can be little doubt, that 
; England’s average might in effect be doubled. 
It would appear, therefore, that at no very distant day the 
spade must in a very considerable degree supersede the 
plough, and that a great breadth of present pasturage must 
give way to an extensive cultivation of green and root crops. 
; What is above all, we do hope to see the day, when no 
labourer’s cottage may be permitted without three-quarters 
I of a statute acre of land attached to it. R. E. 
THE APIARIAN’S CALENDAR.— November. 
By J. IT. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Apiarian's Guide.” 
I hope that by this time many of the readers of The 
Cottage Gat.dener may have adopted the plan of uniting 
bees as directed some short time ago in its pages by a 
“ Country Curate,” and that they will communicate the result 
of these attempts through the same channel. My own bees 
haring neither swarmed nor worked a glass of honey, are 
all tolerably strong, which rendered it unnecessary for me 
to try the experiment, but which makes me the more 
desirous to learn how it has generally succeeded with those 
who have. I also wish that some persons would try the 
experiment of wintering a few of their stock in a northern 
aspect; and by carefully weighing to ascertain if they really 
consumed less honey, and are in April in as good health as 
those allowed to remain in their southern quarters dining 
the winter months. November is a good time to remove 
them. 
A person writing to me a day or two ago says, “ How could 
I best keep the sun off my bees in winter, as recommended 
by a writer in the last number of The Cottage Gardener?” 
I reply in the words of the same writer: “ See Mr. Taylor’s 
Bee-keepers’ Manual, 4th edition, page 147, wiiere he says 
in the case of common hives, as a means of preventing the 
access of the sun’s rays, I have always seen the advantage 
of fixing before each a wooden screen large enough to cover 
the whole front placed one or two feet in advance—acting, 
in fact, as a north front. This does not interfere with the 
coming forth of the bees at a proper temperature, and it 
supersedes any necessity for shutting them up.” It is a 
board eighteen inches square fixed upon a pole, and if made 
to slide upon it similar to a fire screen, all the better. It 
may, I have no doubt, be found a very useful thing in an 
apiary. 
In giving “ a table of the estimated w T eight which should 
be allowed for the comb and bees in hives of the first year, 
and when two, three, four, and five years old,” as I have been 
requested to do at page 408, vol. 4, of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener, there is some difficulty. That the combs in a hive do 
increase in weight every year they are allowed to stand, is a 
fact that no person at all acquainted with bee management 
wall attempt to deny, but the exact yearly increase it is diffi¬ 
cult to ascertain. However, in giving an estimate, it will be 
better to err on the safe side. I would say, therefore, for a 
hive of seven years standing, during the autumn and winter 
months, allow for combs, bees, and stored pollen, seven 
pounds ; for one of six years, six pounds and a half; ior jive 
years, five pounds and a half; for four years, four pounds 
and a half; for three years, three pounds and a half; for two 
years, three pounds; and for one year, two pounds. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE DOYE-COT PIGEONS. 
FIFTH RACE. 
(Continued from vol. iv., page 202.) 
The Pouters : Golumba yuiturosa. —The throat or crop of 
these singular birds is enormously swollen by their power of 
drawing in and retaining a large quantity of air. Those of 
a pure origin are uniform in their colour, the great quill 
feathers of the wing being white, and the female is always 
like the male. 
All pigeons have the faculty of swelling their crops, but 
to a much less degree than the Pouters. We are not aw'are 
of what use this extraordinary power can be to them, but we 
do know that it is frequently attended by disaster to them. 
Their swollen crop obliges them to draw their head back, 
and to remain almost in such a perpendicular position that 
they can no longer see before them, and the bird of prey 
takes advantage of the moment when they thus bridle up 
to fall upon them and make them its victims. This swelling 
also renders their flight heavy and difficult, and deprives 
them of the possibility of rising high, or of going any great 
distance in search of food; and when these pigeons fight, 
and begin to moult, their rough and reddish throat presents 
a disgusting aspect. Another inconvenience, again, common 
to all pigeons that swell their throat is, that, being obliged 
to keep themselves in an upright position as if they were 
endeavouring not to fall forwards, they are, when in this 
