12 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[April 3. 
ting tendency, excepting when very dry and under a shed. 
Wherever they are placed, let the hives be free from concus¬ 
sions and disturbance of every kind. The best time for dis¬ 
interment is as late in the season as possible. Not earlier 
than settled mild weather in April, ancl on a day sunny and 
warm throughout , as far as can he conjectured. — A Country 
Curate.) 
Such were the directions sent out in the autumn, and the 
results begin to arrive. J. W. Knight, Esq., Weston Favell, 
Northampton, sends the following:— 
I > * 
2 * 
: ~ * 
'd 
Cs-, 
a o' 
1 n 
: 
2 'O ; 
o 
2 w 
^ IU c3 
ce . 
"a 
"S' 
4> 
<u 
u « 
O 
O u 
2-. 
cr o 
*-> ■ 
d o 
I " 
O 4) 
Ki « • 
4) 4) 
c 
O 4> 
U 
■S a S’- 
8« gS 
B « p B 
C £.3 i 
o o 
> ri o | 
’n 
- 
ri P " 
Q B 
J I <0 <fl 
° - 
rC -M 
60 4> fl 
’S3 >. « 
v 
CO rO 
. ^ a 
J5*75 c 
C O cj 
o 
°rt-° 
3^ O 
Z < s ~ 
S.S 
53 * 
.S 
"in 
o I 
a-i . 4) C 
C *- f- +-> 0 
£££1 £ H 
CO • 
£ p 
■P 4J 
£ s 
o S 
‘-i-> *co 
'S d 
p S3 
O o 
u 
s c 
e.s 
13 
° C 
O • 
^ sc 
tec 
tn j- 
£ o 
o cs 
J 
; to 
Further observations, 
One ; a late 
cast, to 
which bees 
from a stock 
had been 
united. 
The queen 
found 
among the 
dead bees 
was a fine 
one. 
Ground 
2 ft. from 
top of hive 
to surface 
of ground. 
Half-inch 1 20 th 
pipe from 
entrance. 
Decem¬ 
ber, 
1850. 
Frosty. 
74 lbs. Gravet Mild. 
The cast being under, 
purchased in the shed, 
hive, I could not North 
tell the exact 
weight of con¬ 
tents. It was 
thought at the 
time of burial to 
be 9 lbs.; on 
weighing the 
hive afterwards, 
the above was 
found to be cor¬ 
rect. 
20th Good; Bees 1) 
March very Comb j 
1815.i dry. | — 
2 
! Not a 
drop of 
honey 
was 
found in 
any of 
the 
combs. 
54 lbs. Bees dead. A large 
portion dead some¬ 
time. Queen and 
a few bees around 
her appeared not to 
have been long dead. 
Four hives, not bu¬ 
ried, lost from 1st 
December to 1st 
March, 3 months, 
44, 75. 4J, 43, or 5lb. 
6 oz. each. The re¬ 
sult of the experi 
ment will not induce 
me again to try it, 
as the consumption 
equals that of bees 
not buried. I in¬ 
duced a cottager to 
place a hive (two 
i casts united) under 
the roof of his cot¬ 
tage to the north, 
j They were placed 
there the last week 
in December, and 
taken away the first 
week in February, 
and in forty days 
lost 10 oz. 
I 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
Tub Cottage Gardener. 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.” 
Glaziers’ Charges (Rev. J. S.). —We think them very high; but 
you can judge for yourself if you consult the prices given in some of our 
advertisements. 
Farming Directions (L.).—If the duty were off paper, so that we 
could increase the number of our pages, we should have room for carry¬ 
ing out your suggestions. 
Garden Plan, &c. (W. J. Jf.). —Your plan is very good. Anoint 
your cow’s teats with common lard. Cows, if kept clean, are not a 
nuisance. 
Fleas in Hen’s Nests (W. A. E.). —Let your box-nests be well 
scrubbed with soap and cold water, and then lime-washed. Are you 
sure that your hen-house is not likewise infected ? 
Raisin Wine. —Take some Smyrna raisins, six pounds to the gallon. 
Let them infuse twelve days, stirring them well two or three times a 
( day. Press the fruit in a hair bag in a wine or cider press. Tun it and 
fill up as it sinks from the fermentation. In a fortnight or three weeks 
' it may be stopped close. 
| Forced Sweet Peas (M.C.E.). —There is a peculiar variety fitted 
for forcing gently, and blooming in pots moderately early. There is no 
peculiar treatment required. Sow them thinly in pots four and a half 
inches wide, and when they are about three or four inches high, trans¬ 
plant them, with the ball entire, into six-inch wide pots; grow slowly. 
Use rich light soil, and water freely when the plants are a foot high till j 
! they flower. Place three feet high twiggy sticks to them, dressed up j 
neatly, so as to form compact plants. Any London seedsman would fur¬ 
nish you with the right variety, as well as the seed of that pretty plant 
! Saponaria calabrica. If you fail in obtaining them, write to Mr. Ap- 
i plebv, Pine-apple Place Nursery, Edgeware Road. 
Various Queries ( Percy A. Rcboul). —We cannot make out by your 
description what your first plant can be, you call it an Acacia, with 
flowers like a Chamomile. Such an Acacia we never saw or heard of. 
Pray send a small branch with a flower, if possible. By your description 
of your second plant, we think it must be Aloe margaritacea, the Pearl 
Aloe, but we cannot be sure without a specimen. Your rose-tree is 
covered with insects [what kind?] and you ask if smearing it with sw'eet 
oil would injure it. We judge it would. We have seen apple-trees quite 
killed by painting them with oil to kill the mealy bug. A safer and cer¬ 
tain remedy, if your tree is infested with white scale, is to wash the 
entire tree with strong soap-water, made in the proportion of one pound 
1 of the coarsest brown soap dissolved in five gallons of hot water, to be 
applied moderately warm, about 90°. 
Verbena Seed Sowing ( Guillaume ).—Any light sandy soil, with a 
little leaf-mould, will do. Only slightly cover the seeds, and place the 
pot or pan in a hotbed. We cannot see why yours did not come up if 
the seed was genuine. 
Azalea and Rhododendron Seed (Ibid). —Sow in shallow pans or 
pots, filled with peaty soil, somewhat rough,’to within one inch of the 
top, which inch should be filled with finer; water them well, and allow 
them to drain; press down their surface gently with a round board ; 
then scatter the seeds regularly ; dust over with a very little fine sandy ( 
heath mould ; press again gently, and keep the pans in a close dark 
frame or pit shaded, and if there is a little heat, all the better. When 
the plants can be handled, prick them out into other pans, keep them 
close, and expose to the open air gradually. Sow now. You must cal¬ 
culate upon several years elapsing before you get flowering plants. 
Abronia umbellata (Ibid). —This may bloom the first season from 
seed, if you sow it early in a hotbed. 
Erratum at foot of page 352, vol. iv.—Mr. Fish noticed this at the 
time. It is merely a misprint, and the contents almost sufficiently cor¬ 
rects it. The Lantana Sallowii will not be luxuriant unless in peaty or 
heath soil. 
Epacris Plant (Prester John). —The points drooping, if not the 
result of being dry, we can scarcely resolve the question, unless it be 
owing to bright sunshine after dull weather. Perhaps, however, it is 
dying. Examine its stem at the bottom, they generally decay there first. 
If not, to be sure your plant is watered, set it in a tub to soak, and then 
shade a little. 
Cutting Down Epacris (Ibid). —You must not cut to the surface of 
the pot, but only to the surface of the base, say an inch from it of the 
last year’s shoots. 
Azalea macrantiia purpurea (I. V.). —We should say, from the 
appearance of the half-dead leaves, that the plant is in rather too large a 
pot, the temperature too low, and the thrips have been very busy. Sy- j 
ringing with clear soot water and very weak tea, made from laurel leaves, 
will help to stay their ravages ; but your chief means of safety consist in 
giving the plant a higher temperature and using the syringe freely. 
When you use the soot or laurel water, lay the plant down, that it may 
not have its soil saturated. The high temperature and moisture will 
cause most of the leaves to fall, but you will have fresh ones, which you 
must endeavour to keep clear of such almost imperceptible vermin. 
Nerium oleander (Ibid). —The treatment has often been given. You 
are quite wrong ; when growing, it can scarcely have too much water, 
and it will stand the highest temperature you can give it in the green¬ 
house ; rich soil. The shoots made this year, if matured, will bloom | 
the next. 
Cliantiius puniceus (A Lover of Ferns). —This should not be cut 
down late in the autumn, but when it has done flowering. Under the 
best management in a pot, it is generally short-lived. As it propagates 
