August 20. 
THE COTTAGE.GARDENER. 
is entirely free from insect enemies. Let, then, every hedge 
be cut, every ditch or other boundary be scoured, all coarse 
herbage, turf, and all from lane-sides or commons,be at once 
] collected in a convenient spot, and charred. Let it not be 
understood that wo are urging a trespass: we only mean 
I collect all that may be lawfully done. The centre of such a 
heap may be the coarsest materials, reserving turfy soils, or 
i weedy materials, to close up the heap when half-burnt. It 
may smoulder for a day or two, and the charred materials, 
wood-asli, Sic., is best preserved dry in some outhouse. 
Thus all weeds will bo destroyed, inseots, Ac., and a most 
valuable material provided for spring cropping. 
Autumn Ceoiting. — Little can be done this way: a 
raised bed, in a warm, dry, and sheltered situation, may be 
sowed in the first week with Bath Cos, Ady’s Cos, and Ham¬ 
mersmith Lettuces, to stand the winter; it should be so 
placed as to receive a few hooped sticks to bo covered with 
anything protective in hard weather. When the plants are 
well up a little charred dust may be strewed through their 
stems. Cabbages to stand where sown, thickly, may be 
sown at the same time. At the end of the month, or be¬ 
ginning of October, some of the Khubarb intended for very 
early work may have the half-decayed leaves cut away, and 
receive a coating of littery dung nine inches deep, to shut 
in the ground-heat. This will produce nearly a month 
earlier than that untouched. 
Onion Sowing. —Every one should provide a bed of 
autumn-sown onions to transplant in the spring; they are 
both useful and profitable. We use the Deptford, and sow 
in the middle of August. Those who have omitted, may 
yet sow in a warm corner on a raised bed. 
Pigs. —During the next six weeks is perhaps the best 
time in the whole year to get forward a good store pig; 
especially in seasons when potatoes are much damaged. To 
enlarge on the benefits of a good hog to the cottager is 
quite needless; everybody knows and admits, that cottage 
economy is incomplete without one, and in country places, 
the man who does not raise a pig is considered within a 
short and easy stage of the poorhouse. 
Much, however, depends on the labourer’s wife as to 
getting a well-fed pig: unless she takes a pride in the affair, 
all will be in vain. A good manager this way will do 
wonders. Every potato peeling, every cabbage leaf, every 
quart of house leavings, bacon water, Ac., is turned to 
account—that is to say, made into bacon. In pig feeding 
there is no greater error than to throw much vegetable 
matter in a reckless way into the pig-sty. Even a hog can 
only do with a given quantity in a given time, and more 
only serves to get the pig in a saucy state—treading under 
foot and wasting much of the food. Whenever pigs are 
thus “ tended,” it is the result of idleness or apathy; it is 
too much trouble to attend to their wants frequently. It is 
astonishing how well-attended alternations of thin, swill, 
and coarse vegetable refuse will get a pig on; and if not 
thus handled, the meal bill will be that much higher. In 
j finishing a pig oil' for the butcher, there is nothing better 
j than peas—whole peas—given between meals. Where, 
however, this is practised, plenty of thin swill should be 
j provided, for the peas will make them thirsty, and, indeed, 
are intended so to do. Added to this—a dry and clean bed. 
1 There is an old saying in these parts, that “ a good bed is 
1 half meat,” and very true it is. IIow well this traditionary sort 
| of practice meets modern and scientific views, as to the benefit 
of warmth to animals ! We need do no more than point to 
it as a great fact. There is little occasion to bar the door 
against the rambling of hogs thus attended, they will be 
quite disposed to pass their time between eating, drinking, 
aud sleeping. This is the way to make plenty of bacon in 
i a little time. 
Let us advise pig-keepers to believe that cleanliness an¬ 
swers as well with swine as with any other animal. Clean- 
! liness and warmth are almost twin brothers. And yet there 
is something more than even warmth in the argument. 
Everybody knows that the skin ol' animals performs import¬ 
ant functions. When a pig rubs himself roughly against a 
| post or tree, some extraneous matters require to be dis¬ 
lodged. l’iggy’s want of philosophy is supplied by that 
! intuitive kind of knowledge called instinct. Stoppage of the 
| pores of the skin produce itching ; itching drives the pig to 
rubbing, having no hands; and rubbing removes the scales 
330 
of dirt, and the pores gain their liberty. Let every pig-sty, 
we say, be not only swept out, but washed down once a-week, 
at least. R. Eeeington. 
THE APIARIAN’S CALENDAR,— September. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author o/“ The Bee-Keeper’s Guide." 
The Bee Season. —In this locality (Bury St. Edmunds) 
I am sorry to say the bee season has been a very bad one ; 
indeed, unusually so. I have not myself obtained one really 
good glass of honey, nor have 1 heard of but one having 
been obtained by any other person, and the stocks, espe¬ 
cially those that have swarmed, I fear, upon examination, 
will bo found very deficient in store. Their attack upon the 
fruit, even so early as the cherries, was a pretty sure indica¬ 
tion that little or nothing could be obtained by them from 
the usual sources, and they are now to be seen in large 
numbers both in the grocers’ and confectioners’ shops, 
where they die by hundreds in a day. This all tends to 
show that there is poverty at home, and that nothing can 
be obtained in the fields. 
North Aspect.— The reports which I have received 
from persons who, at my recommendation, have placed 
their bees in a north aspect, arc altogether in favour of it. 
The bees have worked more steadily, and swarmed quite as 
early, and the extremely hot weather at the beginning of 
July, which melted the combs, and even destroyed many 
newly-hived swarms that were placed in the south, did not 
at all alfect them. One gentleman especially, in this neigh¬ 
bourhood, who at my suggestion removed all his bees to a 
north aspect, speaks of the advantages arising from it as 
very great indeed, and certainly he has obtained more honey, 
and of a finer quality, than any other person I have yet 
heard of this summer. Another writes to me, saying the 
advantages of a north aspect this summer have been im¬ 
mense. In winter we well know its advantages; the only 
doubtful period is the early spring, when a little sun induces 
the bees to leave their hives, but by a little good manage¬ 
ment any ill consequences likely to arise from it may be 
prevented. 
Stock Hives. —It will be necessary to examine all the 
hives that are intended for stocks at the end of the month, 
and to make up by feeding each one that has less than 
eighteen or twenty pounds of honey to that weight, or to 
unite the bees to other stocks and take their honey. It will 
be found very troublesome, as well as expensive, to keep 
second, or even late prime swarms that are not made up to 
the above weight. 
Stands. —The end of the month will be a good time to 
examine the pedestals upon which the stocks are placed, for 
it is not unusual to hear of a stock being destroyed by the 
pedestal decaying just below the surface of the earth, so 
that by a strong wind, or anything accidentally going against 
it, it is brokon, and the combs by the fall so misplaced as to 
render the stock of little or no value. 
POULTRY OF THE GALA ISIS AND THE 
ARDRESIS. 
(Concluded from paye 325,) 
Amidst all this utter confusion of the different races of 
fowls, I have in vain looked out for any new or distinct breeds. 
Traces of almost all the recognised varieties are abundant, 
and present themselves in obstinately marked family 
characters ; — Gold - pencilled llamburghs, Chitteprats, 
Cuckoos, Game Fowl, and even Kurakins, but not the least 
bit of novelty. The nearest approach to it are some hens, 
to be seen in various villagos, of a peculiar colouring, which 
might be called Robin-red-breasts, and which look as if that 
feature might be made tolerably permanent, by careful 
breeding, if one could lay hands on exactly the right cock 
to suit them—for I have not seen this marking in any male 
bird. The tail, back, head, neck, and hackles, aro pure 
white ; the breast and fore-part of the belly, of a rusty rod. 
This has a very droll effect; as when seen from behind, and 
when seen in front, they would hardly be taken to be the 
same birds. 
The fowls of the Calaisis are undersized; for then 
