June 24. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
197 
I 
before the 24th ; hut some of them, I am sorry to say, 
from cold, wet weather setting in at the time, and from 
the want of a little food being given to them, which, under 
such circumstances, should always be done, have perished, 
blighting at once the expectations of their owners of the 
large supply of honey which they hoped to gain from such 
early swarms. Other persons are disappointed in having 
swarms from stocks on which they had placed glasses, ex¬ 
pecting them to be filled very speedily. This may have 
arisen, in some measure, from the weather (for in showery 
weather there is a great disposition in them to swarm), but 
principally for the want of a little nice management, for it is 
not simply placing a glass upon a stock that will prevent its 
swarming, but seeing, also, that the bees take to it, which 
the)' may be made to do by placing a few pieces of guide- 
comb neatly in the glass, and then, long before the glass is 
filled, placing a small hive or box between the partially-filled 
glass and the stock hive, and care must be taken that this 
latter receptacle is not too deep. It is better not to exceed 
four inches ; its breadth is immaterial; raising the glass a 
greater distance from the stock hive gives the bees a dislike 
to it, they forsake it, and swarming is frequently the con¬ 
sequence. 
Raising a Stock. —If I had a glass filling well with 
honey, and a disposition for swarming appeared, I should 
not hesitate in adopting “ Miners ” plan of raising the stock 
a quarter-of-an-ineli from the floor-board all round, by three 
or four wedges, for a few days, until a change of weather 
rendered its continuance unnecessary. 
Transferring Glasses. —Those persons whose bees have 
swarmed, and left a glass partially filled with honey, would 
do well to remove the glass from the stock hive and place it 
upon the swarm, where it will, should the weather be favour¬ 
able, very soon be filled ; but it should not be placed upon 
the swarm until fourteen or twenty days after the swarm 
has been hived, for if put on at the time of hiving the queen 
will go into it, and fill the unoccupied combs with brood, 
which will greatly injure the appearance as well as the 
quality of the honey. 
COCHIN CHINA FOWLS. 
I Air rather tenacious of committing to writing what may 
appear in public, but I have been so much interested with 
the remarks and communications in The Cottage Gardener, 
on the subject of poultry, that I cannot refrain from giving 
you my experience in the matter. 1st. I perfectly agree 
with you, that Cochin China fowls arc more profitable than 
Spanish, so much so have I found it, that after a fair trial of 
almost ever)' breed, the Spanish being the last, I have given 
them all up but the Cochin China’s, and now keep nothing 
but them. I have this spring, up to the first of May, hatched 
131 chickens (and the only casualties have been, one with 
the cramp, which I killed, and two or three trod to death by 
the hens, vvhen very young), and disposed of a large number 
of eggs, all from six hens. My stock is composed, partly of 
Mr. Andrew’s breed, and some very fine, heavy Shanghai 
hens, which 1 am crossing with Mr. A.’s cock. “ Amateur,’’ 
in your last part, states Andrews’s breed to be tender and 
small. To the first I can answer I do not find them so ; and 
to the second, I have now chickens hatched the first week in 
February, weighing 9 lbs. per pair. I would also mention a 
fact, which to me is quite a new one ; a pullet of the above 
hatching laid an egg yesterday, .lune 3rd, before she was 
four months old. I begin to think that very early hatching 
is very well for cockerels, but not so for pullets, as by their 
beginning to lay before they are fully developed, must retard 
their growth. Your opinion on this matter will be esteemed. 
(We think early spring hatching desirable. Very precocious 
pullets rarely occur.) I find many of my neighbours com¬ 
plaining of this season being a very bad one. I think the 
contrary, as I believe nothing so fatal to young chicken as 
damp, wet weather. They also complain of gapes, I do not 
know it in my little establishment, neither do I. profess to 
know how to cure it, but contend that prevention is better 
than cure, which if you think rvorth while, I will communi¬ 
cate at some future time, having now written much more 
than intended.—A Subscriber. (By all means.) 
HARDY PERENNIAL PLANTS. 
No. 1. 
BENTSTEMON GENTIANOIDES AND ITS VARIETIES. 
The now prevailing system of flower-gardening, namely, 
that of filling the beds and borders of the flower-garden 
with plants entirely of one kind, or of one colour, has tended 
in a great measure (somewhat unjustly) to render those 
plants, commonly termed hardy perennials, comparatively un¬ 
popular, and in many cases where they are grown they are 
not found to receive the attention which they deserve; for 
although it must generally be acknowledged that, as a whole 
for general effect and display, they cannot be placed on an 
equality with those by which they have been superseded, 
yet there are many, under proper treatment and care, placed 
in a situation suited to the development of their floral 
| beauties, which would be found to possess qualities which 
merit equal attention with more tender plants, and would be 
found to furnish as great an amount of satisfaction and 
' pleasure. To direct to these the attention of the amateur, 
from time to time, will be the object of the writer of this and 
succeeding papers. 
Every one at all acquainted with flowers, is well acquainted 
■ with the effect produced by a bed of the scarlet I’entstemon, 
gentianoides coccinea, in full bloom, or of a single specimen 
among others in the mixed borders; for all the varieties of 
gentianoides are well adapted for bedding purposes. The 
situation which suits them best should be open and well 
drained; the soil in which they delight is of a light loamy 
! nature, neither of a sandy nor clayey tendency; the propaga¬ 
tion of all the Pentstemons is of a very simple and easy 
I nature, as cuttings of the young shoots readily strike root, 
: and soon form flowering plants; they may also be easily 
raised from seeds, although they do not always come true, 
! they possessing a sporting tendency ; and to those who have 
time and opportunity, a rich harvest might easily be gained 
by hybridizing the various kinds together. Much has 
already been achieved by this process, and much remains 
still to be attained. The following is a list of the best and 
most distinct kinds, selected from above twenty acknow¬ 
ledged varieties. 
P. gentianoides yiyantea elegans, scarlet, two feet high; sen! 
out in 1845 ; flowers very large ; much superior to the old 
coccinea. 
P. gentianoides splendens. This fine variety partakes both 
of the purple-crimson of the old gentianoides, and the scarlet | 
of coccinea ; two feet high ; a fine variety. 
P. gentianoides Morrisonii, somewhat similar in colour to 
splendens; very large; a fine variety. 
P. gentianoides Me Evanii , raised in 1847 ; of a light red 
colour, with white throat, and dark markings; the most 
compact growing kind of the gentianoides section; deserves 
extensive cultivation for bedding purposes. 
P. gentianoides Skinnerii. This fine variety is but little 
known. It was raised in 1848, by Mr. Skinner, gardener to 
Mrs. Watson, of Rye, and sent out in 1849. It is of a bright 
scarlet colour, witli a very large conspicuous pure white 
throat; very distinct. 
P. gentianoides alba, white, but of rather straggling growth, 
but valuable on account of its colour. 
P. gentianoides variabilis , Salter’s. New; colour rose; 
throat white, changing in the autumn and under glass to a 
greenish-white, edged with cherry; very novel, good habit; 
height two feet. Joseph Henry Knight, Battle. 
FEATHERS. 
“ Which is the heaviest, a pound of feathers, or a pound 
of lead ? ” is an old puzzle for boys and girls beginning to 
learn their avoirdupois. There can be no harm in making 
light of things whose very lightness constitutes their merit 
and their value. In most objects weight is synonymous with 
excellence : the chaff is blown to the winds, the grain 
remains, samples of which may be tested by weighing equal 
measures of one against the other. Gold is notoriously 
ponderous; and so ponderosity becomes, even in figurative 
speech, an expression for worth. Light characters are con¬ 
trasted with men of weight; and the lives of most men, 
when tried in the balance by what they ought to be, kick 
