April 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEli. 
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restless and dirtied constantly in the nest. I therefore 
ordered her to lie taken off for five minutes every afternoon, 
as well as for ten minutes in the morning. Still she dunged 
in the nest; and was always standing over, not sitting on, 
the eggs when the room was entered to remove her, and 
the eggs seemed nearly, though never quite, cold. 
On the third day, no chickens having appeared, I turned 
the hen down, and resolved to see how far life had been 
developed in the various eggs. The first two or three had 
dead chickens in them of various sizes; but in the fourth 
a chicken showed faint signs of life. I therefore put the 
remaining eggs under a close sitting hen, anil five chickens 
were hatched out next day, and promise to become large 
birds. 
The second case I will mention is that of a hen which 
had sat some time, and was then sent with her eggs a 
journey by rail, being hand-carried to and from the railway 
station. Every egg produced a chicken. 
The third is respecting some eggs which I sold to a 
gentleman at Liverpool. The box containing them was 
knocked about a good deal in transitu, and four of the eggs 
were cracked. The sound eggs were put under one ben; tile 
cracked ones, covered with collodion, under another. The 
result has just been communicated to me. All the sound 
e o£ s mid two of the cracked ones produced five chickens. 
The other two cracked eggs had chickens in them which 
did not come to maturity. 
The majority of results reported to me by persons at a 
distance to whom 1 have sent eggs by rail lias been, that 
about seven-eighths of them have produced chickens.— 
W. II. Snell, SI. Swilkin 's Lane. 
BEE-KEELING FOR COTTAGERS. 
{Continued from Vol. XT., page 500.) 
October, b. — Almost all labour will now be at an end : 
weak hives are supposed to have been joined, the winter 
stocks alone remaining: these must all he weighed. If, 
after having allowed for the weight of the fioor-board, 
hive, and comb (and comb, it must be remembered, increases 
in weight at the rate of about one pound in each year), 
the hives weigh about twenty pounds each, there is nothing 
further to be done than to keep them dry, warm, and clean, 
through the winter. If they do not weigh so much they 
must be fed until they do. White sugar boiled in water for 
about five minutes after it lias began to boil (in the proportion 
of one pound of sugar to half a pint of water or rather 
more) makes excellent food, and as bees never waste any¬ 
thing) they need not be stinted: all that is given them is 
carried down and stowed away in the combs: the one 
pound of sugar and half a pint of water make nearly one 
pound and a half of food, and costs sixpence or fourpence 
per pound. As the honey is worth much more than this, it 
is good policy, when bees are kept for profit, to induce 
them to work in supers as late as possible, regardless of 
winter store ; and afterwards to feed them up to the required 
weight. All food should be given at the top of the hive in 
fine mild weather, and in as large quantities as possible: 
bees will carry down four or five pounds in a day with ease, 
and as, duriug the feeding, the internal heat, and with it the 
consumption of the hives, is greatly increased, it is desirable 
to get the feeding over as quickly as possible ; it should by- 
no means be delayed beyond the end of tlie month, and 
once over, no more food should be given till March. 
The feeders, or, if the bae-master has not as many 
feeders as lie has hives, the condensers, should be left on 
till the beginning of March, to catch and condense the 
perspiration that will rise from the bees, and that would, 
otherwise (as already mentioned), run down the combs and 
make tlie floor-boards and hives damp and mouldy; the 
worst tilings that can happen to the bees, and tlie cause of 
their frequent destruction, (e.) The entrances may he 
further narrowed. 
Loveuber, December, January, February. —In tlie 
beginning of November the floor-boards should be changed, 
and the entrances narrowed, so that they will only admit one 
oi two bees at once : tlie pieces of wood, about three inches 
square and one inch thick, mentioned in Section 2, should 
now be placed about an inch before the entrances to keep 
ofi the sunshine and all reflected light, which would other¬ 
wise bring out the bees, and tlie cold air would lie the 
death of many of them. These pieces will not prevent the 
admission of the fresh air, which is almost as necessary for 
bees as for men. 
The pedestals must also he examined just below the 
surface of the earth ; if any signs of decay appear in them 
they must be replaced by fresh ones. 
Not much further is to be done till March, except 
looking well to the coverings of tlie Lives, keeping ofi' all 
wet, brushing away the snow from tops, entrances, and 
i fronts of the hives, as soon as possible after a fall, and 
emptying the bell-glasses and condensers (except gallipots 
: or bell-glasses are used, when tlie directions in Section 2 
are to be attended to) about once in a month: some 
recommend that bees should he altogether shut in when 
snow is on the ground, but tlie eagerness of the bees to 
void themselves in the open air, as soon as a thaw succeeds 
a long period of severe weather, is so great, that it seems 
cruelty to do so: doubtless, many will fall upon the rapidly- 
disappearing snow, and perish, but one does not like to 
thwart their natural instincts from a purely selfish con¬ 
sideration ; if many fall, a careful bee-keeper will collect 
them in a bell-glass, and having restored them to life by the 
aid of the kitchen tire, will restore them to their Live; 
unless the temperature be very mild the bees will not 
venture out. 
I As many bees die in the winter months, it will be 
! necessary, every.now and then, to remove the blocks, and with 
a feather, or a thin knife, to sweep the dead bodies and dirt 
I from inside the entrances. The blocks may, with good 
| results, be left out on these occasions for a lew hours: bees, 
as may be gathered from what has been said above, never 
void themselves inside the hive, but take advantage of fine 
mild weather and sally forth. 
Many bee-keepers recommend January for purchasing 
stocks : a few remarks on this subject were made in the 
calendar for April. 
In February, advantage should be taken of fine dry 
days to do what painting is necessary ■ unless everything is 
quite dry when painted tlie paint will peel off; therefore, 
the middle of tlie day (after the sun has been upon the 
hives for some time) should be chosen for this purpose.—R. 
LOULTRY-YARD REPORT. 
SHANGHAE V . SPANISH. 
{Continued from 
FEBRUARY. 
SIIANGHAES. 
One lieu with chickens. 
1 Three others sitting. The 
i invalid dead. 
No. of eggs laid in the 
1 month . 100 
lbs. oz. drs. 
Total weight .. 10 10 5 
Highest weight 
of single egg 0 2 1 
Vol. XI., page 418.) 
MINORCAS. 
Stock remains as before. 
No. of eggs laid in the 
month. 10 
lbs. oz. drs. 
Total weight .... 2 2 0 
Highest weight of 
single egg .... 0 2 5 
i The house is still wanned, ami food and other circttm- 
J stances are the same.— H. II. S., Monmouthshire. 
HARDY BORDER PLANTS. 
PULMONARIA YIRGINICA. 
THE VIRGINIAN LUNGWORT. 
This genus of plants belongs to the Natural Order of 
Borageworts, ami from then - early flowering, the whole oi 
them may be said to be worth a place in every flower- 
garden. This species, in particular, deserves such dis¬ 
tinction, for it is the most ornamental of the whole family. 
It is certainly a very choice hardy border plant, and will 
flourish in any common garden soil, upon a dry bottom, in 
I open, warm situations. It is a native of mountainous parts 
