260 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
tact—not to speak of the necessity of destroying so many 
valuable and innocent lives in so disagreeable, a manner. 
I now mentally resolved to have nothing to do with fumi¬ 
gating again—i.e., with a view to saving the lives of bees. 
The brimstone pit is by far the most merciful way of dealing 
with them, if driving will not succeed in dislodging them. 
On examining the hive neither eggs nor brood appeared, 
nor was there a scrap of pollen to be seen (which I much 
wondered at), but I found about 8 lb of very good honey in 
j the virgin comb, which would soon have been eaten by 
the surviving bees, or become the prey of robbers. The 
! 1300 bees which we saved were united the same evening to 
| one of my weak stocks, whom they very beneficially strength- 
j ened, by increasing the temperature of the hive several 
j degrees, and so promoting a greater development of brood 
in a hive that might otherwise have perished, but which 
j yielded me 18-§ lb of honeycomb, and is still (December 19) 
! in prime health. 
In uniting these bees, I was surprised to find how readily 
they were received by the old inhabitants of the hive to 
which they were joined. I used the precaution of inserting 
a bit of perforated zinc between the glass (in which they 
were) and the top hole but withdrawing it in about 20 
minutes, the bees fraternized with all imaginable goodwill. 
I observed that those new bees appeared stupid and indolent 
for a good while after; hut my main object was effected, 
viz., a temporary increase in the heat of the hive,—I say 
temporary, for these bees could not have survived above a 
month I should think. 
I have learnt an important lesson from tins hive’s history, 
that it is not every prime swarm (as such) that is worth pur¬ 
chasing. A prime swarm may have, and often does have, 
an old queen; hence the many casualties that occur in com¬ 
mencing bee-keeping. Another time when I buy a stock, I 
shall be careful to ascertain the pedigree or aye of its queen , 
and shall prefer to purchase a two -year-old stock, provided I 
can learn that it swarmed once the year before, for then it 
must have a young queen; and I would recommend every¬ 
body else to do so too. A Country Curate. 
SHADING BEES. 
I read the theory, and the various reports of practical 
experience, of the numerous correspondents to your instruc¬ 
tive periodical on the cultivation of bees with much interest 
and advantage. I have for some years devoted my attention 
to the subject. My object is amusement, accompanied by a 
desire to ascertain whether these busy little insects can or 
cannot be made a source of profit to the industrial classes ; 
and on that, I confess, I am still undecided. I hope, how¬ 
ever, yet further to develope the subject myself, and to 
witness its development by others; and to effect this I 
know of no better plan than by the experimentors recount¬ 
ing their experience in your paper;—thanks to you for 
opening your pages for the purpose. My object in this com¬ 
munication is to tell your correspondent, “ An Old Bee- 
master,” that his plan of placing hives in situations entirely, 
or nearly, removed from the influence of the sun’s rays, will 
not invariably prove successful. One of the greatest annoy¬ 
ances I have experienced as a bee cultivator arose from 
trying his plan two years ago. I placed a powerful young 
hive under a fir tree densely covered with ivy; indeed so 
sheltered and dry was the situation, that during the heaviest 
storms the rain never moistened the covering. The bees 
, had an excellent and uninterrupted success. They worked 
[ well, and they laboured as hard as any hive in my collection; 
j but, alas! they lost their labour, and they perished in the 
I attempt. Daily, during the months of March and April, I 
J foimd hundreds lying on the ground, under and round 
j about the hive, and even on the hoard with the product of 
i their exertions, but physically unable to convey it to its des- 
| tination. It appeared to me that the moment they left the 
direct influence of the sun they became paralyzed. I daily 
collected them together, and by means of a butter-boat 
literally poured them into the hive through a hole cut at the 
top, by which means, doubtless, many thousands of lives 
were saved. I could not endure to witness my little favour¬ 
ites thus “ wither, waste, and die,” and, therefore, I restored 
them to their beloved sunshine, and there they prospered, 
[.January 23. 
and before the end of the summer furnished me with a fine 
swarm. I am convinced that I should have lost my hive, 
had I allowed them to remain in their cheerless and sunless 
position. Then* powers of endurance are unquestionably 
very great, but there is a limit beyond which nothing can 
extend. Do not suppose me to call in question your valued 
correspondent’s communication, or to deny his facts. I 
merely desire to show from experience, that a sunless aspect 
will not hold good under all circumstances, in all situations, : 
and in all seasons. It may be, that “ An Old Bee-master”is 
warmly located in the south of the Island; my habitation l 
is not so favoured: I reside in the county of Nottingham. 
I would suggest that the total seclusion from sun be tried 
with great care and caution, if tried at all; and, particularly, 
that the ground around be closely examined for bees unable 
to land home. Let them be collected together by means of : 
a feather and put into the hive. I will not trespass further J 
on your space; now, if you are not full of correspondents j 
on this subject, and deem this letter worthy a place in your 
paper, I shall have much pleasure in occasionally conversing 
with my brother bee growers, through the medium of The 
Cottage Gardener. A Country Solicitor. 
NATIVE WILD FLOWERS. 
January. 
The floral -wreath of snowy January is not a gay one, the 
wrath of elements seems to stifle for a time the energies of 
the vegetable creation, and to the ordinary observer 
“ Not a leaf or sprig of green 
On ground or quaking bush is seen, 
Save grey-veined ivy’s hardy pride, 
Hound old trees by the common side.” 
While the garden border can boast of its Christmas roses 
and winter aconites, and the conservatory its gay chrysan¬ 
themums and camellias, the hills and hedgerows, when 
uncovered of their snowy mantle, present a bleak and 
barren aspect, with scarcely a single blossom to inrite the 
botanist to a morning walk. Some of the cryptogamic 
tribes are, however, now developing their lovely forms in 
obscure retreats, where the practised eye of the. botanist 
can alone detect them : to some of these interesting plants 
we have already directed attention since the readers of The 
Cottage Gardener have been enveloped in the present 
winter’s gloom; and we shall take an early opportunity of 
calling their notice to other cryptogams hitherto unspoken 
of in these papers, believing that the gardening reader will 
at such a season be more disposed to listen to our remarks 
upon such minute objects, than he would in the midst of 
summer's bloom, when all eyes are absorbed in the admi¬ 
ration of floral fashion. 
It is a true saying of the poet, that “ the daisy never 
dies ; ” and although we cannot claim for this flower a con¬ 
spicuous share in the January Flora, yet a stray crimson- 
tipped blossom of this universal favourite may occasionally 
be observed in the pastures and by the waysides. A more 
conspicuous object is the common furze ( Ulex Europceus), 
which in favourable seasons often produces a profusion of 
flowers in January; and its clusters of golden blossoms, j 
defended by their prickly branches, may frequently he seen 
shining through the melting snow. We need scarcely 
remind our readers that this is the plant which so delighted 
the “immortal Swede” on his visit to England, that on 
first beholding it he fell upon his knees in a transport of 
admiration—feeling, as Haenke afterwards did on beholding 
the Victoria Regina in its native waters, a deep and reverent 
sense of the power and majesty of God, as exhibited in the 
works of creation. Several varieties of this plant are in 
cultivation in gardens. The dwarf furze flowers in the 
autumnal months, in some localities extending its blooming 
season till the present time ; although found in a few locali¬ 
ties in Scotland, it chiefly abounds in England and Ireland. 
In a little work—“Wild Flowers of the Year”—published 
by the Religious Tract Society, which we have quoted more | 
than once with commendation, it is stated that this plant 
“ often grows on high lands ; and the Pentland hills are 
covered with the mountain gorses," a statement which proves 
one of two things—either that the author has never been j 
upon the Pentland hills, or that he does not know the one 
