278 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
but iu name,—where self-constituted architects indulge in 
their peculiarities by clapping Corinthian columns and 
Gothic windows into buildings of a “Composite” order, that 
they are pleased to call houses, where the comfort of the 
dwellers in the attics is sacrificed to the picturesque effect of 
an T- don’t-ki low- how-many-pointed roof, and where stucco 
gentility and “aerial" policemen are the order of the day. 
Of course, under these circumstances, I had to contend with 
the predictions of innumerable prognosticating females. 
First, I was not to liave any honey at all ; then, if I 
should happen to have any, it would taste of soot; then, if 
it did not taste of soot, it would have no flavour at all, and 
| so on. However, I persevered, and the result has been 
honey that lias satisfied all the soothsayers. I send you the 
following suggestions, that have occurred to me in the course 
) of my short experience:— 
As to feeding. —Metal feeders are frequently objected to, on 
the ground of their being cold and slippery for the bees to 
mount. This objection I have obviated by roughing the 
bottoms and tubes through which the bees ascend with sand. 
I wash a little rough yellow sand in different waters till all 
clayey matters are gone, and then dust the clear grit over 
the parts where it is wanted, having first -wetted the part 
with spirit varnish. Upon repeating the process two or three 
times, a good rough and comparatively warm bottom is ob¬ 
tained. My bees certainly objected to enter the feeders 
before I had taken this precaution, but then I used to feed 
them with sugar and beer; whether they would come up 
now for the same beverage I do not know, as I do not use it at 
present, having taken to sugar and water (1 ft to half a pint), 
as recommended by Taylor. I never had any difficulty in 
disposing of sugar and beer at the bottom of the hive in 
saucers, when the weather permitted the bees to be out; and 
I fancy it greatly aids the first swarms, however fine the 
weather may be. 
But why use metal feeders at all? The hell glass, Ac., 
are expensive, and with very little trouble—say getting up 
half an hour earlier three or four times—you can make ex¬ 
cellent feeders for a mere song. Mine may be described as 
follows :—A box of wood, eight inches square and three 
deep, inside measure. The bottom is made of three-quarter- 
inch stuff, shaved away a little at one end, by way of allow¬ 
ance for the incline forward of the hive. The sides of 
quarter-inch mahogany panel hoard. Any wood will, of 
course, do; the drier the better. An inch from the thin 
end of the bottom is a division, running to within 3-lfiths 
of the bottom. 
The tube through which the bees ascend is made of one 
of those tubular German lucifer match boxes, that have 
almost superseded the old chip ones. The bottom of the 
lucifer box is cut out, and the rabbet on which the lid fits is 
fitted tightly into a hole cut in the bottom of the feeders. A 
flat piece of glass goes over the whole. The box is well 
painted inside, and the whole production is rather neat than 
otherwise. It works admirably. You have only to push 
down the glass so as to uncover the inch division, when you 
desire to give more food, and push it up when your object 
is accomplished. There is no doubt about the celerity with 
which the food is dispatched. 
A fork of wood, or a couple of hits of the garden broom, to 
hang on to the edge of the tube, and so down into the hive, 
I have sometimes found convenient for the purpose of let¬ 
ting the bees know what is going on up above. 
As to floats. —I have tried all sorts of things, hut I have 
I found nothing to do so well as thin cork, punched full of 
holes, and dipped once or twice into spirit varnish, taking 
care on each dipping to blow through the holes to clear 
them. It is not always possible to get cork in sufficiently 
large pieces. A needle and thread, however, will soon enable 
j one to surmount this difficulty. 
As to dampness in the hives. —Though I have always carefully 
kept the bell-glasses over the centre hole in my hives, they 
sometimes happen to get very wet from condensed vapour 
inside, which seems to he confined in one place by the pecu¬ 
liar curved formation of some of the combs. A hole about 
a quarter of an inch square effectually carries off such 
vapours, and the straw gradually dries. The hole can be 
made with a penknife in half a minute. I am very particular 
about ventilation; the consequence of which is, that though 
[January 30. 
I change my floor hoards twice a year, T might as well save , 
myself the trouble. 
As to taking off small hives, dc .—The first portions of honey 
that I took this year, I had the usual amount of trouble ! 
with moving about the glasses from place to place, sweeping I 
off the bees from the honey, exposed by dividing the combs, | 
Ac.; besides flourishing about, for the edification of my 
neighbours, with my coat buttoned close up to my throat, I 
and my body enveloped in yellow gauze, which was terribly j 
close work on a warm summer’s day. However, on the I 
last occasion, my good genius came to my assistance. 1 ' 
thought I would try the plan pointed out in the books for as- I 
certaining where the queen is, by dividing the super from the I 
stock, and seeing which half took the infliction most quietly. \ 
I did so; the stock continued quite happy, so 1 left the 
whole as it was for the night, hoping that the confusion 
which I calculated was taking place in the super would 
become worse confounded by the next morning, and that I 
should have no trouble in bearing off my share of booty in 
triumph. But it happened that the next morning there was 
not a single bee in llie super. 1 at once searched for the 
cause, and found that, in consequence of an irregularity in ] 
the working of the straw, there was a considerable aperture 
in one place between the adapting board and the super, that | 
I had not before perceived (1 keep my hives protected from 
the weather, both sun and rain, by a kind of jacket, made of 
tin, that stands upon the floor-board, which is considerably 
higher than, and entirely surrounds, the stock hive; and being 
covered over with a milk pan, leaves me plenty of room for 
the working of glasses, Ac., inside). The bees finding that 
they were cut off from their queen, made for this aperture, 
and entered the stock from the outer entrance. I have not 
had another opportunity of trying the same thing, hut shall 
certainly do so. It can easily he managed by lifting up the 
super a little on one side, after having divided it from the 
stock. If the plan will always answer, the ingenious trap 
described in one of your former numbers, and the trouble 
incidental to taking jars of honey, may he dispensed with. 
Should the queen happen to be in the upper hive, it will 
soon be discovered, and the attempt again made on another 
day. Site is, however, generally in the brood combs. 
SELECTED LIST OF CHRYSANTHEMUMS FOR 1851. 
OI, 1 D VARIETIES. 
Annie Salter ; pale yellow; very double. 
Beauty; pale lilac; large and fine. 
Campestroni ; purple ; large and fine form. 
Cample de Rantzeau ; bright crimson. 
Defiance ; white ; very good. 
Duchess d'Auninle ; large white ; a fine flower. 
Fleur de Marie ; very beautiful, white ; Anemone-flowered. 
Fomiosum ; white and yellow ; fine form. 
Grand Napoleon ; purple ; rather quilled. 
King of Crimsons ; fine dark crimson. 
La Reine d'Or ; golden yellow ; very double. 
Madame Poggi ; crimson maroon ; fine. 
Madame Mcillez ; pale peach ; fine flower. 
Nancy de Sonnet ; pure white; Anemone - flowered; very 
good. 
Pharamond ; fine, large, salmon coloured. 
Princess Marie ; rosy blush ; fine flower. 
Princess Royal; flue large rose. 
Queen of Gipsies ; dark orange. 
Queen of Yellows ; fine dark yellow. 
Temple de Salomon; bright yellow ; very fine. 
Triumphant ; pink and buff; earl}- bloomer. 
Victory ; fine large white. 
Vulcan; fine dark crimson. 
Zoe ; very large ; rosy blush. 
VARIETIES MOSTLY SENT OUT IN 184Q. 
Agenora; rosy claret. 
Armand Tessier ; rosy purple. 
Barharossa ; huff. 
Belle de Versailles ; creamy white. 
Bijou ; fine violet carmine. 
General Negricr ; orange nankeen; fine. 
Govvain St. Cyr; dark bronzed orange. 
Louis Napoleon ; reddish salmon. 
