February 3. 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
353 
become famous, and I am continually asked by my neigh¬ 
bours for eggs, cockerels, and fowls, either as gifts, or to 
sell, or, best of all, to exchange. 
There is nothing very si)eculativo or uncertain in the 
system ; for I find that the siiort-horn blood amongst cattle 
has been chiefly procured among farmers by the same prin¬ 
ciple, viz., crossing the best individual country cows with 
the pure short-liorn bull; following the same rule with their 
progeny and so on.* Indeed, 1 doubt if the short-horn 
itself be a strictly pure breed. 
The English hunter, or carriage-horse, has been gradually 
brought to be what he is by the same proceeding of </ra- 
diudhj improving the common breed of the former with a 
cross of pure blood. Indeed, it is now contended by Hamil¬ 
ton, Smith, and others, that the racer has been made what 
he is by crossing our native blood with foreign high-bred 
animals of ancient stocks. 
On the other liaiid, I am afraid that the general practice 
of breeding exclusively pedigreed stock on both sides will 
not prove a very profitable pursuit; and I am, and always 
was, indeed, anxious to unite the most pleasiu'e with the least 
loss in the schemes which I have laid down for my own fol¬ 
lowing. I believe that it is hard to naturalise, at once, a 
foreign race of any kind of domestic animal. Acclimatiza¬ 
tion is a very diflicult process, and the method above recom¬ 
mended, by giving each year a home-bred motber, has 
natural advantages not to be lost sight of. Somebody, how¬ 
ever, must keep up the pure breeds; and, as a means of 
raising the order of the barn-door fowls of their neighbours, 
this attention to the clioicest sorts is highly commendable 
in the rich. 
There is also another great point in breeding—to have 
some good points of sirailai’ity between the parties to lae 
crossed. A very singular phenomenon connected with the 
subject has been noted casually, and from time to time, 
altliough, from the diftioiilties of the subject, it has not yet 
been thoroughly investigated. In two words, then, th; first 
union appears to exert in the lower animals a certain abidiuy in- 
f lienee over the wlude maternal life of the female. Such being 
the case, it is easy to see tliat many failures, in attempting to 
improve fowls, may occur from not beginning with pullets. 
Nay, it lias been suggested, that even a faint resemblance to 
allied races may be obtained; in this way, and by first mating 
a good pullet with a cock pheasant, it may be expected that 
her next family, though of barn-door origin, will retain 
some traces of the glories of the wild bird. This is the pre¬ 
sent opinion of highly scientific men. As regards the lowest 
classes of animals, the principle may be carried on and im¬ 
proved ; and it opens a wide field of observation to the ama¬ 
teur breeder. Vibcyou.+ 
BEES IN BOX-HIVES. 
As you solicit returns from apiarians respecting their 
success in the past season, if you think the following worth 
insertion it is cheerfully submitted to your readers. Pre¬ 
mising that this district is in close proximity to the moor, 
about two miles distant, where heath is in abundance, also 
being on the border of the South Hams, which is considered 
the garden of Devonshire, as that is of England, your 
readers may fairly conclude we cai'ry on our apiaries under 
very favourable circumstances. 
In the first ])lace, I would merely observe, that with us 
the wooden-bo.xes have not altogether answered as could 
have been wished for, although they did very well for 
summer use; in winter, in spite of every precaution in the 
the way of ventilation, on the most approved principles, 
with bell-glass inserted in tin receivers, the combs be¬ 
came black and mildewed, and the bees severally suffered 
very considerably, or died. fVith the old straw-hives 
♦ The following is from the Useful Knowledge Society’s Work on 
Cattle, page 241, and is from the Rev. Air. Berry’s account of “ Short 
Horns”;—“ A friend of mine had about twelve small, but nice, North 
Devon cows; with these he commenced, twenty years ago, breeding 
with the short-horn bull. He has sinee invariably used these bulls. 
With each succeeding cross the stock has rapidly improved in every 
essential; the only trace of the Devons I could perceive two years ago 
was a peculiar richness in colour. Here we have twenty years experi¬ 
ment, and continued improvement. I have known him sell heifers to 
jobbers for thirty guineas.” 
t We have written, but cannot find your full direction.—Ed. C. G. 
this was by no means tbe case. Our attention, therefore, 
was turned to adopt some modification of both plans, so as 
to secure the advantages of both; and in this I think we 
have pretty well succeeded. Our box on this plan is of a 
stpiaro description, with under compartments of fourteen 
inches square, and seven deep, with the same amount of 
space over, in wliich are placed the bell-glasses, the opposite 
sides of the under part or store being made of reed, in 
layers, laid horizontally, as in the old straw-hives. Tlie 
swarm that occupied this hive was placed there the llth of 
June, 1851, and has this yeai' produced the following amount 
of honey, leaving a store for winter:—Four bell-glasses 
placed on the 1st of July; on the 2!)th took otf three weigh¬ 
ing about 31 lbs. each, leaving one which, at the present 
time (December), the bees have just began to consume, and 
the stock is above 20 lbs. in weight. A stock in a wooden- 
box of the same form died, and another in an American 
form of wood-box, although having lived through the winter, 
has produced no honey in the glasses on the top, nor 
swarmed ; and of four stocks in the old reed-hives, one only 
has swarmed. The whole of tliese, with the exception of 
the modified hive, being very light at tlie present time, and 
will consequently re(iuire to be frequently fed, when weather 
permits; the heaviest of them being under 20 lbs. I may 
merely add, that although I have been an ardent admirer of 
the wooden-box system, and have pursued experiments in 
testing their capabilities which have cost me many pounds, 
1 have soiTowfully come to the conclusion, that to the 
cottager who is to make keeping bees a matter of £. s. </., 
tliey will not pay, taking cost of box, vicissitudes of seasons, 
Ac., into consideration; and altliough 1 lament that the 
system of keeping bees on the humane principle is not 
more carried out in this neighbourhood among tlie agricul¬ 
tural population, I can by no means, as far as my experience 
goe.s, recommend them to incur the exjiense of keeping 
bees in the modern wooden-boxes but for the purpose of 
instruction and amusement. 
Although I obtained in the glasses of the American hive 
above referred to, 23 lbs. of pure honey, in a good season, 
about four years ago, 1 have not succeeded in taking any¬ 
thing like that amount in any season since that time, and 
1 have been informed by apiarians, that they would not 
put a swarm in a wooden-box under any consideration.— 
Exoniensis, Ashburton. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*t* We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gaedenes. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “ To the Editor of 
the Cottage Oardener,2,Amen Corner, Paternoster Bote, London." 
Miltonia .spectabilis (Amateur, Dublin). —You say your Miltonia 
has two strong shoots from one of the old bulbs ; and you ask if the con¬ 
nection between the young and old were cut through, without more dis¬ 
turbing the plant, would it induce growth in the old bulb ? Of course it 
would ; stopping has the same effect on alt plants; but whether or no 
the old bulbs will be able to make another growth, depends on how the 
buds near their base stand. If these buds are alive they will certainly 
push ; but if they are dead, the old bulb bas no power to move, or to 
make a fresh bud. Young bulbs or shoots of orchids should not be cut 
otf from the plant until the first growth is completed and ripe; but by 
taking a portion of the old plant oft' with a young shoot the separation , 
may be done at any stage of the young growth ; but the first plan is best 
and safest. 
Indioofeka decora (Ibid). —You arc now too late for this season. 
The end of October is the right time to prune this plant, and it ought to 
be pruned like a Fuchsia, and receive more than greenhouse heat all 
through the winter and on till May. This very beautiful plant, which 
will stand out of doors near London, ought to be in a forcing-house, 
such as they put Roses and Lilacs, &e., into, from November to .April; j 
then it will flower all the summer just as Fuchsias do. When a plant 
comes to full size, it may rest all the winter, but it is perfectlp impossible 
to get a s])ecimen of it from a young plant by summer growth. Some of i 
the best of the Peruvian plants lately introduced are in the same predica- I 
ment. They must be set to work just as other plants are going to rest. 
Boronia serrulata (Ibid).—See what Air. Fish said at page I/G of 
our last volume. He gave the best directions for this tribe of any we 
know of. We might throw out some more hints about them, had you 
not overwhelmed us with so much writing at once. 
Flower-garden Planting (C. M. D. and B. S. E.).' — We have 
received your ways of planting No. 3 plan, and shall notice them about 
the end of Alarch, when we hope to have many more trials to record. 
Aza.i,k\ SnBDa (Something pet to learn), —You may just as well try 
to stop the Alarch winds, as expect any improvement from the seeds of i 
