March 30. 
the bellows, blowing the burning brimstone steadily into the 
nest, pushing the match forward towards the hole as fast as 
it is being consumed, till the whole is blown into the nest. 
At the commencement of this operation a dismal hum¬ 
ming noise is heard, but only for a few seconds, when all is 
hushed in death. No matter how strong the nests are, so 
much may all be accomplished in two minutes. This being 
done, dig out the nest, and, if not wanted for any purpose, 
smash it with the back of the spade, and the work is com¬ 
plete without a sting; for not one will escape to tell the 
tale. . 
I hardly need say, this business had better be attended 
to after dark. If the nests are not dug out the embryo 
young are not destroyed by the brimstone fumes, and in a 
few days they become numerous enough to attend to the 
wants of the colony. I have sometimes taken a nest 
home, and kept it to watch the young come out of their 
cells. When the nest is large a very considerable number 
hatch daily. For many years past, people finding a wasp s 
nest tell me, as a matter of course; and I, as a matter ot 
course, go and take them. We have had scarcely any heie 
(Hendon) for these two years. Some years they are very 
numerous. The most in number I ever took in one evening 
were eight nests. The above method does equally well lor 
hornets.—W. Burgess, Hendon , Middlesex. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
509 
ought to be taken up: in this case, the stock and second 
swarm should be joined to the first swarm: but as to this, 
see Section 5. 
If the depriving system has been properly managed, 
very little will have to be done in joining, except with the 
stocks which have been allowed to swarm prior to being 
taken up themselves. 
The honey from these old stocks, though dark, and some¬ 
times very much mixed up with brood-bread, is excellent in 
flavour: the best way of dealing with an old hive will be 
detailed in Section 0. 
m. and e. As the bees become less active, the entrances 
should be gradually contracted. 
(To be continued.) 
BEE KEEPING FOR COTTAGERS. 
{Continued from page 491.) 
July. — Not much can be done this month except 
keeping the hives shaded and ventilated, removing supers 
as they fill, and watching for and destroying vermin. 
Fresh supers should not be given after the second week in 
this month, or the hives will want a great deal of feeding in 
October : this chiefly applies to garden counties; in heather 
counties the season (as already observed) both begins and 
ends much later. _ 
As supers are removed, the piece of wood, or stvaw, or, it 
the weather be hot, the piece of perforated zinc, should be 
replaced over the centre hole in the stock: in a good season, 
between twenty and thirty pounds of pure honey may be 
taken by means of supers : this honey is much better than 
that from the stocks, both in quantity and colour, and 
fetches a better price in the market. Early swarms' some- 
times themselves throw oft swarms; these are called Migm 
swarms, and the honey from them virgin honey : they 
should always be returned to the parent hive, or joined to 
a weak stock. , . , , 
August.— The directions for last month must be attended 
to. , • 
m. As the services of the drones are now no longer 
required, and as their consumption of food is considerable, 
the bees proceed to eject them from the hives; once out, 
they soon perish: the numbers lying about frequently 
alarm the inexperienced bee-keeper, who fancies that a 
sudden destruction has come upon his hives. 
e. Begin to prepare for taking up extra hives : ascertain 
which of the hives are strongest and healthiest, for these 
only should be kept. Activity in carrying m pollen, 
vigorous blowing at the entrance, irritability on tapping at 
the hive, a sweet and luscious odour issuing from the 
entrance, resentment of the attacks of strange insects, 
are all signs of health and strength. Where such signs do 
not exist, most likely the stock is weak, or the queen lias 
died without leaving a successor; such hives should not be 
kept, but joined to better hives. 
September, b.— Except in heather counties the honey 
season will now be over, and the bees will scarcely get 
enough to keep themselves: all the hives in the Apiary 
should be weighed, the light ones should be joined on the 
heavy ones next to them, and those taken up should be 
safely stowed away or the bees would scent them out and 
deprive them of their contents. 
The position of the pedestals has already been spoken 
of. Where they are placed in two’s, and the space for the 
third has been filled up, and you have a stock, first swarm, 
and second swarm together, the two swarms may be joined 
to the stock, unless the. stock be four years old, when it 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
* t * We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
Tub Cottage Gardenee. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
The Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London.’’ 
Spkeicelia eormosissima (C. W.).— This correspondent potted a 
dozen of the old Jacobsen Lily, and set them in the warmest end ot a 
greenhouse at the beginning of last November, and is surprised that 
they have not grown, and asks why this happens ! It was ordained at 
the’beginning that this bulb should rest all the winter, and that lulips 
and Hyacinths should rest all the summer; and none of us can show 
that either section has ever been forced to violate the original hat. 
They are now beginning to move, and will grow on till stopped by the 
frost. 
Ornamental Grasses Grasses are highly ornamental 
according to some; grasses are among the most useful of the vegeta lie 
kingdom, cry others; and, grasses are the most troublesome of weeds, 
according to a third creed. In short, grasses are anything one likes or 
dislikes—a vexed question, which Mr. Wheeler, of Gloucester, or Mr. 
Sutton, of Reading, and the rest of the Grass dealers, are the proper 
parties to decide. Except Brixa major and minor, we have no grass in 
the flower-borders, except here and there a patch of rampas gi iss, and, 
in old gardens, the Ribbon grass ( Arumlo versicolor). 
Berberis Asiatics {Ibid).- We do not know where plants of it are 
on sale. Some one should advertise them, or for them, lhe seeds ripen 
in abundance every year. 
Flower-garden Plan (Moira).—' The plan and the planting are 
both good, and will look much better on the ground than on paper 
Wc have made several such alterations on the original, which looked 
well, but are not so sure of the effect of a duplicate with a leading walk 
between, but it will he very gay. The original was at Dropmore, and 
was published in 1827 . The two centre figures for Hydrangeas and 
white Fuchsias are not at all improvements on the original, and the plants 
for them are not in keeping with that style—they are too high, 
Hydrangeas (fiirf).-They will grow in any good garden soil, if it 
is not chalky, or in peat, or in a mixture of both, and they like very 
rotten dung. Deutxia gracilis is, and Veronica Lmdleyuna is not, 
hardy. American Groundsel will flower the first year from seeds ; but a 
bushel of this seed is not worth three farthings, and it is disgracelul to 
tlie trade to offer such seeds at all, as not one seed out of five thousand 
will produce a double flower worth looking at.—D. 11. 
Stopping the Leader ok Firs of Spruce (Ibid).— Stopping'the 
leaders at any height will never cause one of them to get bushy where 
they are now'bare; but it is a good plan to keep them down, and to 
make them spread on all sides. 
Cuttings ( Carig Cathol) .— Two unsuccessful applications were made 
on your behalf. 
Bees (A Surrey Farmer).— The plan you propose of having your first 
swarms in “Improved Cottage Hives,” and to work these with supers 
and glasses on the depriving system, is very good, only that your hires, 
13 iin. by 11 ill., are a very had, and to the bees an inconvenient size. 
Payne’s Hives, which are 14 in. wide, and 7jm. deep, inside measure, 
are far better, and are, indeed, the best-shaped straw hive of the 
present time. 
Bees-uniting Swarms ( W. G. H.).— It is quite unnecessary to 
destroy either of the queens when you unite two stocks, or two swarms, • 
or a stock and a swarm. The bees themselves will decide which of the 
two had better die for the public good. 
STEpnANOTis FLORinuNDA Seed (Campbell) The sced-pod is of 
no use, and it may be a deadly poison. It is not very usual for seed, to 
ripen here, and some botanist might wish a ripe pod for examination. 
We are not sure of the time required to ripen it. 
Garden Plan (John o' Groat).—We do not recollect the plan alluded 
to Your Strawberries were not nearly ripe at the end of the autumn. 
“ The worst ones seem to do best,” is an index to your complaint; the 
riper ones are not so green and flourishing as the unripe, and they 
do better. 
LANTANA Sellowii (A. «.).—If any scedman sent us seeds in the 
nod or berry, wc would return it instantly, and at lus expense. Of course 
you must ru'li the clusters of berry-like pods before you sow. lhe seeds 
arc small, but the chances are that you have no seeds at all, only the 
seed-pods. . . _ „ 
Verbena-bed against a Wall (H. G.).-f ant Robinson’s Uefi- 
mice at the hack for training against the wall, and let the rest of ‘he bed 
lie mixed. But why refer to anybody in a matter of pure and simple 
fancy ? 
