;i!)0 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION.— August 20, 1850. 
honey before this? I think the swarm was always a strong 
one.—G. H. R.” 
[The yellow substance on the sides of your bell-glass is 
propolis, a resinous substance which bees collect from trees, 
and use as cement for fixing their combs, and closing up 
apertures in the hive. It is different from wax, not being 
softened by warm water, and gives the hives a strong aro¬ 
matic scent during hot weather. Bees carry home propolis 
on their thighs, as thoy do pollen, and, like that substance, 
it varies in colour according to the trees they frequent. 
Eor dead bees to be cast out of the hive is a common oc¬ 
currence, especially' those of the first swarm of the season, 
in which there are a great number of old bees gradually 
dying off. The bees in your glass were confused by the 
light, and expected easy escape with their dead until they 
came against it, like wasps, who always fly to the top of a 
hand-glass trap. Your hive, being a first swarm, contains an 
old queen, who may have deposited eggs in the queen’s cells 
for brood to succeed her; if so, the bees show signs of 
swarming, which you justly notice by their clustering and 
idleness. That propensity in bees is a great drawback to 
the depriving system, and may account for your bell-glass 
not being sooner filled with honey. If your hive swarms, 
you had better restore the bees to the stock. See our late 
article on this subject.—J. Wighton.] 
DARK-COLOURED HONEY. 
“ On the 29th of July I took the first glass of honey from 
a hive, into which a swarm was put on the 17tli of May. 
The comb is quite free from grubs and farina, but the 
honey is dark and thick, and bad in flavour—like brown 
sugar, in fact. Can you give me any probable reason for 
its beiDg so ?—A. Z., Warwickshire." 
[We know of no flowers that produce honey so bad as 
that you mention; but most probably the darkness of it is 
the effect of honey-dews, which bees collect from the leaves 
of trees. That saccharine substance not only gives honey a 
bad flavour, but sometimes makes it as black as ink; and 
thus renders it, though stored in new combs, only fit to feed 
bees with in the time of need.— J. Wighton.] 
CUTTING DOWN PELARGONIUMS.—EDGING EOR 
PINCUSHION BEDS. 
“ On looking at my bedding-out Geraniums, with the inten¬ 
tion of cutting them down, I found many preparing for so 
good a second blow, that I thought it a pity to do so (Flying 
Dutchman, Lucy, Cuyp, Marginata, Ac.). Please to tell me 
whether I shall be able to have both cuttings from these and 
original plants, or either, in good order for flowering in beds 
next year, if I spare them till late in the season? Both 
books and gardeners seem so much to take it for granted 
that they are to be cut down now, that I fear losing them 
by sparing them. 
“ In your late number it was said, ‘ Pincushion beds’ might 
be edged with bricks. I do not understand how these could 
preserve the circular form in round beds three feet in 
diameter. Are they placed on end or side? I have my¬ 
self somewhat such beds with wire basket-work edging 
round my Standard Roses and flowers within, but these do 
not keep up the mould well at the edges, so I should be glad 
to make some more on your plan if fully understood.— Jane." 
[Yours are not “bedding Geraniums,” but greenhouse 
Pelargoniums. They will give you a second, and perhaps a 
third bloom, and make good plants next year if you do not 
cut them down till October; but you will have a great 
bother to root cuttings of them so late. Many gardeners 
are daft about cutting down Pelargoniums at a given period ; 
we cut them as they “ come from work,’’ from the end of 
April to the end of October, beginning with Alba multiflora, 
and ending with Priory Queen and Alma. One half of the 
books on gardening ought to have been burned at the peace 
illuminations. 
You jump at conclusions, like nine-tenths of the wisest 
people. You never read, as you say, in our pages, that 
pincushion beds were edged with bricks : read the article 
again. Wire edgings, or cast-iron grating-like edgings, will 
not do for such beds at all. Can you inform us what is the 
real use of a wire edging to a flower-bed except to keep the 
rabbits from it? A man with one.arm and a wooden leg 
may edge four or five dozen of l’incushion-beds in on’e day 
if the burnt refuse from a brick-kiln is brought to him to 
tlio spot.] _ 
NEW BOOKS. 
Manual op Domestic Economy.* —This is a very useful, 
cheap book, "containing much practical, good information 
relative to every department of house-keeping and family 
management. The following will serve as a specimen :— 
“ Domestic Expenditure. —The necessity of keeping a 
correct account of income and expenditure cannot be too 
strongly stated. The great advantage of such an account 
in house-keeping arises from the check that it gives to un¬ 
necessary expenditure in little matters ; for it is, in general, 
the numerous small sums, and not the few large ones, which 
take by far the most considerable share of a person’s income. 
The great items arc easily remembered and carefully con¬ 
sidered; but the smaller ones, from their insignificance, 
are often overlooked. There can seldom be either comfort, 
economy, or good management, in a household where 
accurate accounts are not kept. Too much money is spent 
on certain things, leaving others which are, perhaps, even 
more necessary, unpurchased; or, it may be, the latter have 
to be obtained on credit, which is still worse, and tbib not 
intentionally, but merely from the want of accounts, and 
consequent ignorance of the manner in which money has 
been expended. 
“ It is impossible to form estimates for domestic expen¬ 
diture which would be applicable to the various districts of 
this country. The following balance-sheets are, however, 
given as the actual weekly expenditure of two different 
families, and as some guide to the inexperienced. 
“ In laying the first before the public, Mr. Mechi says— 
‘As we are talking of balance-sheets, permit me to lay 
before you the labourer’s balance-sheet. As there are many 
in our towns and cities with tolerably good wages, who 
don’t know how to live, it may be useful: ’— 
A Labourer's weekly expenditure — the family consisting of 
man, wife, and three children; and his total expenditure for 
the year, as compared with his receipts. 
Weekly Expenditure. 
s. d. 
9 4-lb. loaves, at 5d... 3 9 
1J lb. of fat pork, at 6d. 0 9 
1 lb. of cheese. 0 7 
1 lb. of butter . 0 0 
2 ozs. of tea. 0 0 
1 lb. of brown sugar.. 0 4 
1 lb. of soap. 0 3 
1 lb. of candles.0 2f 
Coals and firing .... 0 8 
£ s. d. 
52 weeks at 10s. 11 d. 20 7 7 
Rent. 3 10 0 
s. d. 
Boots for the man, 
woman, and family 0 9 
Clothing for ditto .... 1 4 
Bins, needles, thread, 
&c. 0 1 
C on fin einents ( doctor’s 
fee, &c.). 0 4 
Medical attendance, by 
5s. annual club .... 0 1 
10 If 
£ s. d. 
48 weeks’ labour, at 
8s. 19 4 0 
4 weeks’ harvest, at 
21s. 6d. 4 0 0 
Extra wages by 
hoeing, dibbling, 
&c. 1 0 0 
Wife’s gleaning, 
weeding, &c. .. 2 10 0 
4 bushels of wheat , 
in the garden, at 
10 0 
29 0 0 
Deficiency . 0 17 7 
T20 17 7 
* A Manual of Domestic Economy : with Hints on 
and Surgery. By \V. B, Tegetineier. London: 
Sons. 
£2d 17 7 
Domestic Medicine 
Groombridge and 
