340 
THE COTTAGE GAIIDENER. 
[February 27. 
observed them to-day, for the first time, endeavouring to 
brush the pollen from the anthers of the winter aconite 
into their little baskets,—a very gratifying sight this to a 
devoted apairian. 
Shading Bees. —I read, with much pleasure, the paper 
of “A Country Solicitor," on shading bees, in the 121st 
number of The Cottage Gardener, because his experience 
exactly accords with my own ; for in every case, where I have 
seen it tried, by placing them in the north, it has proved, 
more or less, a failure; indeed, I once saw a remarkably 
fine stock in a Nutt’s hive entirely destroyed by being 
placed in a north aspect for the winter. I believe the only 
! chance of success will be to place the hive which is to be 
j experimented upon in a bee-house, and to let it be a swarm 
of the day in which it is placed in this situation, and not a 
i stock removed from another place. I have already recom¬ 
mended this experiment being tried, and some of my friends 
have agreed to attend to my recommendation, and to give 
me the result, which I hope to be able to give in full, at 
some future time, in The Cottagg Gardener. 
Water. —Water should now be supplied in a convenient 
place nigh to the apiary, but in a place where the sun 
j shines upon it all the day. This is important. I have for 
the last year used a pan of zinc, nineteen inches by nine, 
and four inches deep, with a float of thin wood perforated 
, with holes. The result of my experiments with salt mixed 
with the water, and the preference given by the bees to 
water without salt, I have already stated in a previous 
paper. 
Improved Cottage Hives. — I take this opportunity of 
saying, that my hive-maker has been busily employed, 
during the winter, in getting up a stock of hives, which I 
shall feel much pleasure in directing to be forwarded to any 
persons who will make application to us for them. 
NATIVE WILD FLOWERS. 
February. 
Few and far between, as the stars of a summer sky, are 
(he wild flowers of February. They are unassuming too in 
their aspect, and gain their chief interest by reason of their 
presence at such a peculiarly flowerless season, when the 
melting snow's lay bare a world of desolation and cheerless 
gloom. First on our list of the floral heralds of coming 
spring is the pearly and peerless Snowdrop; that fragile 
thing which peeps from the bare herbage of the woods and 
hedgerow's, craving our pity amid the ruthless bufferings of 
the storm, w'hile its beautiful yet unassuming form at once 
excites our warmest admiration. We prize it as a “ holy 
j thing,” and forgetting not that 
“ A thing of beauty is a joy for ever,” 
we, season after season, keep the little gem in fond remem¬ 
brance, and earnestly watch the dissolving snow-wreaths for 
the first appearance of its “ dangling blossoms.” Much as 
this little flower is loved by every one, it is he alone 
“ Whose pleasures are in wild fields gathered,” 
; that can fully estimate its worth and beauty. lie views it as 
| the “ herald of a brighter bloomand sees mirrored in its 
pale drooping flower a thousand gayer blossoms that will ere 
long be fresh and blooming in the lap of flowery May. 
“ Pleased, we hail thee, spotless blossom,” 
for thou art rich in promise of green fields and flowery 
meads, singing birds, bright skies, and sylvan beauty. Thou 
j bearest the w'eleome tidings of the coming of thy fair sister, 
the Lily of the Vale, and of her meet companions in the May 
wreath, the fair Narcissus by the mirroring waters, and the 
j dancing Daffodil of the woodland glade! But still methinks 
J lovelier than all is thine own modest form,—so pure and so 
graceful thy simple green and white array. Galanlhus nivalis 
is the becoming name by which botanists designate this lovely 
favourite. Although not a rare plant in some districts, it 
is by no means common generally; and its right to a place 
in the British Flora is questionable, and has been questioned 
repeatedly. Certain it is that if it was originally introduced 
at a remote period into this country, it has now acquired a 
prescriptive claim to British soil. The chief objection urged 
! against its being a true native is, that it is generally found 
in orchards, boside old castle ruins, and in woods and bye- 
lanes, often where a cottage has stood, as well as in other 
suspicious habitats. Few, however, of the admirers of 
the Snowdrop whose eyes may scan this page, will care to 
look upon it as the child of another clime; for the writings 
of our native poets, and the earliest observations of our 
woodland wanderings, have taught us instinctively to claim 
it as one of our own wild flowers. Nor will all admirers of 
our native Flora readily accede to the strong disposition I 
evinced by the British botanists of the present day to regard | 
many of the most beautiful wild flowers of our land as ; 
aliens from another clime, — a disposition by no means 
evinced in the same degree by the botanists of any other 1 
age or country. 
The golden glow of the Furze gradually increases in 1 
brilliancy, upon the hills and moorland pastures, during the 
present month; and should the present too genial weather 
continue (I write towards the end of January), we shall very 
soon have a rich display of spring flowers, before their 1 
customary time. The Daisy, the Sheplierd’s-purse, the | 
Chickweed, and a few other never dying flowers, still continue 
to produce a few blossoms as they have done throughout the 
whole winter; but the month must be considered a peculiarly 
barren one for wild flowers, although those that do appear 
are exceedingly interesting,—“ the first offerings of the infant 
year." 
In my last month’s paper on wild flowers, I intimated my 
intention of taking an early opportunity to offer some obser¬ 
vations on the interesting tribe of Mosses, and their cultiva- , 
tion; but in the very same number of The Cottage | 
Gardener in which that intimation was made, a highly j 
interesting paper on the cultivation of Mosses was published, 
which, being from the accurate pen of so excellent an 
observer as my friend Mr. Stark, renders it quite unnecessary 
for me to enter upon the subject. The instructions given 
by Mr. Stark will, I have no doubt, encourage some of your 
readers to attempt the cultivation of these interesting plants; 
and I trust we shall hear how they succeed through the 
pages of The Cottage Gardener. 
G. Lawson, F.E.r.S., F.B.S. 
THE DOMESTIC PIGEON. 
(Continued from page 280.) 
THE DISEASES OF PIGEONS. 
It seems that man, in subduing animals and civilizing 
them, has caused them to partake of inconveniences as well 
as the benefits of this civilization. All domestic animals 
are attacked with disorders, more or less dangerous, un¬ 
known to those which live in a wild state. Horses and dogs, 
and all the different species of cattle, are examples of this. 
Pigeons are even more unfortunate ; for, not being so valu¬ 
able, much less trouble has been taken to study the com- 1 
plaints they are subject to, and to seek proper remedies to i 
recover them. The majority, also, of their diseases are 
considered as incurable ; and the little attempt that has | 
hitherto been made to render them relief is far from being 
satisfactory. 
Moulting. —The most general law, perhaps, that Nature - 
has imposed on animals is, to renew frequently during their j 
life, the hair, or other bodies, which serve them as outward ' 
coverings ; and when this renewing takes place during a j 
certain season, it.is called moulting. All birds moult at a , 
fixed time of year—a little sooner or later according to the I 
species and climate. Pigeons generally begin to moult ! 
about the end of July; and, with some of them, it lasts i 
almost to the beginning of winter. The pigeon that gets 
over this operation of Nature the best, is still in a state of ' 
suffering and weakness for, at least, two months. During I 
all this time its indifference for its mate is remarkable; it is I 
even sometimes carried so far as to make them uncouple. 
Captivity is one cause which frequently renders moulting 
dangerous; the want of exercise and activity makes it 
degenerate into a painful complaint, which the birds sup¬ 
port for some time, but which always ends in death. It 
presents itself with different symptoms, which we will now 
describe:— < 
1st. We perceive that the bird has great difficulty in 
breathing; at every respiration its tail beats up and down, 
