134 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 27. ! 
This is supposing the ground is root-cropped every year, 
manuring heavily, ploughing or digging deep, securing a 
good tilth, and following up high root culture all the sum¬ 
mer. Potatoes we have left out; they are as yet too pre¬ 
carious as a cattle crop. As to the question of mixed crop- 
J ping (which practice is, indeed, capable of great things), we 
j have left it purposely out, as calculations based thereon are 
i apt to be exceedingly fallacious. Grain crops, too, or pulse, 
| although forming at times useful rotation crops, must, we 
fear, be set aside. Where high culture, with root-crops, is 
[ intended, and the cultivator is, as the Yankees would say, 
i “ right down in earnest,” he must get other folks to grow 
his grain—his acre will have other work to do. If any man 
! doubts the possibility of continuing green, or root-crops, on 
a given plot, without the intervention of grain or pulse, let 
him take a lesson from the London market-gardeners ; let 
him call on Mr. Fitch, at Fulham, and ask how many years 
his land has produced astonishing crops of vegetables, with¬ 
out the intervention of grain crops or pastime. 
I have myself grown mangold lifteen years following on 
the same plot, and the latter part of the time quite as line, 
or perhaps finer, than the first; so much for the exhaustion 
of soils. Mangold, of all these crops, seems the most eli¬ 
gible ; it is the heaviest cropper, and the best keeper; it will 
keep well the year round, or very nearly so. Now thirty-five 
tons of mangold, is certainly a goodly stock of roots to carry 
on with (admitting that they will keep the year round, for 
argument’s sake—and we have a root before us now, of 1850, 
which looks as fresh almost as when taken np); we have 
here above two hundred pounds per day of roots available to 
cany out a system. 
But here a slight difficulty presents itself in “ A. B.’s ” 
inquiries. He talks of two breeding sows, a boar, &o., and 
then of porkers, bacon hogs, &c. Now all these extras com¬ 
promise a regular system of store pig-feeding, and so darken 
tli'e subject that no clear calculation can be made. It may 
here be observed, that strong store pigs, of about eight 
months old, would consume some twenty or thirty pounds 
per day, with the addition of a little bran, or some equiva 
lent, in the shape of what is termed “ dry food,” whilst feed¬ 
ing hogs would consume nearly half a score pounds more of 
the roots, and the addition of some good meal to thicken 
the whole. All this, we are supposing, cooked —placing the 
affair independent of any other appliances; still, it must not 
be forgotten that there would be the mangold, or other root 
tops to consume, the house swill, &c. We are not discus¬ 
sing the question which is the best diet, or we should begin 
to talk of peas, barley meal, &c. 
Space will not permit us to follow this discussion much 
farther at present, but we must beg to offer a few remarks 
on some other features in the queries. “ A. B.” talks of a 
couple of breeding sows and a boar. Now the latter is an | 
expensive animal to keep certainly, and would help to 
derange the simplicity of a regular feeding system ; still, if 
persons, circumstanced as “ A. B.,” would secure one of 
capital blood, say Fisher Hobbs’ breed, and was situate near 
numerous pig breeders, such might be made to pay for itself 
and something more. 
As for breeding sows, it would certainly not be advisable, 
under a speculation of this kind, to depend on purchases, 
although both selling and buying must be had recourse to 
occasionally. “ A. B.” should, therefore, at least, begin with 
a good breeding sow—one coming forward for a second 
litter; and when once lie has got established by system, we 
should say, as soon as the litter of pigs is rid of, fatten the 
sow; such hogs feed with great facility, and make first-rate 
bacon. To do this, he must, of course, provide a regular 
succession. 
We have now, at least, glanced at, and examined most of 
“A. B.’s” points, and answered them to the best of our judg¬ 
ment; if it fall short of “A. B.’s” expectations, we shall be 
sorry; and the only apology is, that “A. B.’s” string of 
questions are not very easily answered in such a way as to 
I cany off-hand conviction. Other correspondents, whose 
i cases are not precisely similar to “A. B.’s,” will surely pardon 
| us for placing him in “ the forefront of the battle.” And to 
i our allotment friends an apology is due, for betaking our- 
i selves to such swinish ideas ; to such we can only sav, take 
care of your roots, dig deep, ridge your spare ground, drain 
well stagnant soils, as soon as you can ; lay down good plans 
for the ensuing year, and then eat your Christmas pudding 
with a thankful heart. Robert Errington. 
APIARIAN’S CALENDAR— December. 
ByJ.H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-keeper's Guide.” 
Our Stocks will require but little attention during this 
month beyond cleaning the floor-boards, and seeing that 
there is neither damp nor mould in the hives ; and if the 
floor-boards are observed to be quite dry, it will be a pretty 
sure indication that all is right within. Stopping up, how¬ 
ever, must not be forgotten when snow lies upon the 
ground, if the bees are so placed that the sun shines upon 
their hives. Shading during the winter months is practised 
by many persons, and is a very good plan; but when we 
come to have all our bees placed in the north, it will be 
rendered unnecessary. An intelligent cottager (and one 
who has been a subscriber to The Cottage Gardener 
from its commencement) brought me a very ingeniously 
contrived littla apparatus for preventing the sun’s rays in 
winter inducing the bees to come out, and at the same time 
preventing the cold winds from blowing into the hives; it 
is a piece of three-quarter-inch deal, three inches wide, and 
two-and-a-half long, reduced at one end (not in thickness) 
so as to fit in the mouth of the hive, and then with a gouge 
the under side is hollowed out for about two inches in length, 
and five-eighths-of-an-inch in breadth, in a straight line 
with the entrance of the hive; another hollow of the same 
dimensions is then made intersecting at right angles the 
one already made, so that if the hive faces the south, the 
bees come out east and west. The under side has this ap- 
v .::: pearance. Care, however, must be 
..taken that this little contrivance is 
q.y. not pushed into the hive beyond 
the thickness of the straw, and it 
j/•>"*'' must also be remembered that it 
•!/' will require to be taken out occa- 
/ sionally to brush away the dead 
i bees that may accumulate inside, 
or the passsge may become blocked 
up, and the health of the stock endangered. 
Shallow Hives. —I am more and more convinced, by 
every year’s experience, that bees do much better in shallow 
than in deep hives, and am now come to the determination 
of altering the form of my Improved Cottage Hives for 
sending out next spring, from nine inches deep and twelve 
wide, which they now are, to seven inches deep and fourteen 
wide. 
Straw Hive with Bars. —I also [think of having made 
a cheap cottage hive of straw, fitted with bars, and adapted 
for working either one large glass, or three smaller ones, 
the exact dimensions of which I have not yet decided upon ; 
the bars in this case will not be so much intended to deprive 
the stock of its honey (for that will be done by storifying), 
as for the purpose of securing a more ready method of 
renewing the combs when necessary; the hive will be very 
simple, and very cheap, so as to be obtained by any cottager; 
1 shall not even incur the expense of a hoop at bottom, for 
I have one of a similar kind in my apiary at the present 
time, which has stood all weathers for upwards of twenty 
years with, only the protection of a milk-pan, and for aught 
I can see will stand for twenty more. The floor-board, .1 
should observe, is only the exact size of the hive, with a lip, 
or projection, at the entrance; this tends very much to the 
preservation of the hive, as well as to the health of the 
stock in winter, the drip from the cover falling quite clear 
of the floor-board. It would be well in all cases to adopt 
this plan; for it would in a great measure prevent the hives 
from dampness and decay. 
Breeding.— Breeding appears to have been going on 
much later this autumn than is usual, for I have observed 
some of my stocks carrying in pollen almost as abundantly 
as in May, and that not from the ivy, which affords both 
honey and pollen in abundance, but from the late-sown 
mustard, which the colour of the bees’ loads indicates ; and 
this unusual circumstance is not confined to this locality, 
for I have heard of the same thing very recently from places 
far distant. 
Yorkshire Honey. —I have just received a specimen of 
I 
