240 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[January 31. 
goose for laying and sitting, during his whole life. 
Indeed, an old goose is so tough a bird to eat, that 
there is no temptation to kill her after she has 
attained “ a certain age,” which really may exceed 
that in woman. 
Continue the general fattening to poultry as re¬ 
commended in the preceding months. 
Ducks are now going out of season. It may nof 
he useless to mention, that ducks intended to he 
boiled (and served with onion-sauce), should he salted 
a day or two before they are dressed. 
THE BEE-KEEPER’S CALENDAR.— Feb. 
By J. II. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper s 
Guide,” dec. 
Very little attention will he required during this 
month beyond looking to the coverings, and seeing 
that they be all sound, and that no moisture comes 
upon the tops of the hives. Towards the end of the 
month, let the floor-board of each hive be again 
cleaned, and a little food administered should the 
stock of honey be very good; always remembering 
to select a mild day for the purpose. Let the food 
be given, if possible, at the top of the hive; if at 
the bottom, not till after sunset; carefully stopping 
up the entrance of the hive, and removing the vessel 
in which the food was given before sunrise the next 
morning; for the appearance of the aconite and 
crocus will not only delight our eyes, and gladden 
our hearts, but they will also arouse our little fa¬ 
vourites to life and activity; and, as the supplies of 
honey from these flowers, at this early season, will 
be very small, sufficient only, perhaps, to create a 
desire for a larger quantity; the feeding-pan, there¬ 
fore, if allowed to remain at the bottom of a weak 
hive, will be resorted to by all the bees of the apiary, 
causing much fighting and loss of life, and very 
probably the destruction of the stock in which it had 
been placed. By feeding at the top, all this may be 
avoided; not only the trouble of removing the feed¬ 
ing-pan every morning, but the danger and loss cer¬ 
tain to arise from fighting. 
In my last paper, I promised my cottage friends 
an account of the sum, in one year, made by a cot¬ 
tager, living in a village in the northern extremity 
of the county of Suffolk. The man is a shoemaker, 
living in a very small cottage, but with ground suf¬ 
ficient to place from 30 to 40 stocks of bees. I should 
first say, that, some years ago, he had occasion to 
call at my house, and, finding me in my garden with 
my bees, and seeing they were managed in a differ¬ 
ent way to what he had usually seen, he asked me 
some questions relative to my manner of treating 
them; and, from the nature of the questions, I felt 
induced to shew him some glasses then filling with 
honey (for it was June), and told him, in a few 
words, my method of management; and, although he 
had never possessed a hive of bees, he went away 
fully determined that, as soon as he was able, he 
would procure a stock or two. I neither saw nor 
heard of him for seven or eight years; after which 
time, having some business at Bury, he called on 
me to thank me for the instruction he had received 
from me ; and, also, to tell me what he had made of 
his honey that season (this was at the end of Oc¬ 
tober). He told me that the situation in which he 
lived was an excellent one, having, immediately to 
the south of him, several hundred acres of heath, 
covered with ling, thyme, furze, broom, &c.; and on 
the north, cultivated land, where mustard and large 
quantities of white clover were grown; that he ge¬ 
nerally kept tlurty stocks through the winter; that 
he used the improved cottage hive, 9 inches by 12, 
as figured in page 209 of the first vol. of The Cot¬ 
tage Gardener, and placed upon each the small 
hive, 8 inches by 7, figured in page 305 of the same 
volume. He also told me that each stock filled him 
one of these small hives, and some stocks two ot 
them; that he was careful to have these hives made 
very neatly, each one holding from 8 to 10 lbs. 
of honeycomb; and that, upon finding his stock ol 
honey so large, and of such excellent quality, he re¬ 
solved at once upon taking it himself to London; lor 
which purpose he hired a light cart, and at the west 
end of London offered Ms little hives ot honey from 
door to door, which sold as fast as he could well 
offer them, for from 2s to 2s 6d per lb., and some 
even for more money. For a small hive of fine 
honey of 81bs. he would readily obtain a sovereign ; 
so that, in all, he received a little above L40 lor his 
honey, the produce of his bees for one year. 
Now, is not this account sufficient to induce every 
cottager who reads it, at once to do his best in ob¬ 
taining a stock or two of bees ? and should he, in 
the first year, clear only 40s, even that trifling sum 
would be an agreeable addition to his little income. 
MY FARM-YARD. 
The month that is now approaching is a busy one 
with the dairy-farmer; and witli the holders of small 
plots of land it is a perplexing one as well. The 
grass has not yet made any growth. The little hay 
rick is beginning to look very small. The store ol 
roots has diminished in such a manner that you 
seem quite to grudge each basketful ol “ wurtzel 
that your cow eats. However, “ better times (I 
hope, in every sense of the word,) will soon an'ive. 
When once January is passed, we look forward to 
long days, bright sun, and green fields. 
There are several methods of managing a dairy 
by which money can be made: namely—making 
butter, making cheese, fatting calves, buying cows 
in calf, and selling them with the calf at their side. 
Each farmer has his own pet system. The one gene 
rally followed by those who have only a few cows is 
the first one; and, therefore, I will make a few re¬ 
marks on butter making, which will apply equally 
to the owners of one or fifteen cows; but we will sup¬ 
pose a dairy to consist of six. 
It ought to be arranged that one cow calves every 
two months, by which means you have always highly 
coloured butter, as the milk from a freslilv-calved 
cow is much more yellow than when it is “ older.” 
If possible, in such a sized dairy have three Al¬ 
derney cows. The cream which rises from their milk 
is always rich, and of a good colour; but butter 
made from the Alderney cow does not keep as long 
as from any other cow. 
At this season of the year, cows are under shelter 
during the night, and are not milked till after six in 
the morning. 
The milk should be carried to the house as quickly 
and quietly as possible; and immediately on its 
anival should be strained into pans, from which has 
just been poured boiling water. By adopting this 
plan, the cream rises quickly, and in a greater 
quantity. 
The Devonshire method of “ setting” the cream is 
certainly the best, especially in winter, provided you 
have a stove on which you can scald the milk ; but 
it does not increase the cream sufficiently to make 
an extra fire answer. The way the “ west country 
folk” manage is this:—When the milk has stood 
12 hours, in shallow tin pans, it is placed on a stove, 
