134 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[May 20. 
they should be removed first, and on the close of the opera¬ 
tion the hoe may be worked through them. If slugs attack, 
apply the mixture which we shall shortly advise. If a por¬ 
tion of the crop has missed, it is well to know, that seed 
i soaked in water, warm as new milk, for nearly 24 hours, 
j and then spread on a damp cloth in a cool closet, until the 
1 first sprout appears (which it will in two or three days), will, 
! if sown carefully, be fit to keep tolerable pace with the rest 
! of the crop. 
j The Swedes will also be up, especially those to remain 
! without transplanting; keep them clear, and single out as 
j directed for the mangold, which latter, we ought to have 
stated, may be thinned finally about eight to twelve inches 
apart: Swedes, finally, seven to ten inches. Clean weeding, 
progressive thinning, and the use of the hoe, must form 
their subsequent culture. As before observed, those cottiers 
or others who intend to follow potatoes or summer crops, 
with Swedes transplanted, must sow accordingly ; success, 
however, may not be expected from a sowing later than the 
first week in June, and, indeed, then the soil must be very 
good. 
Caiuiots. —Those getting in rough leaf must be kept 
1 closely weeded; no plant is sooner injured by weeds than 
tire carrot. By suffering weeds and the plants to wait for a 
timely thinning many a crop is seriously injured. Always 
thin out during dull or showery weather. A bed of the 
Horn kind may be sown any time through June if the soil 
is mellow and rich. 
Parsnips. —Weeded and thinned as the carrots. Final 
distance of the large carrots, four to six inches ; of the 
parsnip, six to eight. 
The various Greens. —This is a various and important 
section, and foremost, as an allotment affair, we must still 
place the green kale. We would have cottagers, and all 
small holders, get in all they can, especially where a cow is 
kept; they are so very hardy, and, if the ground is good, so 
profitable, and, withal, so early in spring produce, that too 
much can scarcely be said in their praise. The thousand- 
head cabbage, too, belongs to the same class, and even the 
Brussels sprouts are useful things. The allotment man 
should plant no greens but what will endure our severest 
winters; dabbling in brocolis, and such like, is too much of 
a gambling transaction for a “ lackland.” Savoys, therefore, 
and others of this section, we pass by for want of space for 
the present. 
Miscellaneous ape airs. —Peas, of course, will have sticks 
as they advance; and what are termed “ticers” (short 
spray) should be placed first, and then enclosed by larger 
sticks. Broad beaus should be well soiled up in the stem 
to prevent wind waving ; and, as they begin to pod at the 
lower tier, the tops may be successively pinched. Kidney 
J beans require a little soil drawn to their stems, and to be 
I kept free from weeds. Runners will want stakes before 
i the middle of the month ; the best may be put to the peas, 
j and those too tall, or lean-of side spray, will do for the Run¬ 
ners. Spinach may be sown for a strong autumn crop in 
the last week; and coleworts from Midsummer until the 
first week in July. A sowing of Lettuces may be resumed 
in the end of the month. As a luxury, a celery trench may 
be planted about Midsummer ; and leeks, planted after the 
I manner of celery, before Midsummer. The last is a proiit- 
I able thing. 
The Onion and Carrot Grubs. —These are two of the 
i greatest pests of the vegetable garden ; and to this day we 
are not aware of any certain cure or preventive. Remedial 
i measures must be mainly relied on. Soapsuds sprinkled 
| weekly on them during June we have known to answer; 
! probably by proving obnoxious to the fiy which blows 
! the eggs. 
Mixture for Seeds, Ac. —We are in the habit of sprink¬ 
ling every seed-bed or drill of vegetables, annuals, Ac., as 
soon as they spring, with a mixture composed of cinder- 
ashes and sawdust, equal parts. The cinder-ashes are clean 
riddled, the mere dust rejected, and all the larger particles; 
indeed, our sample is of the size of radish seed. The saw¬ 
dust is as new as possible. This we have applied to every 
suspicious crop this spring, and such unblemished crops we 
never before saw : we have no loss worth recording. 
The Manure-hear.—L et us again advise the cottager to 
give his manure-heap a coating of soil at least once a month. 
This, after all, is the most useful fixer of the ammonia, and 
within reach of everybody. Any loose soil will do. 
And now let us again advise the holders of small plots to 
take heart and persevere. Industry is, perhaps, the most 
honest thing amongst the sons of men. Well directed it 
can scarcely fail. And here the cottager has an advantage 
over the farmer; the latter must pay others to do the labour ; 
the allotment bolder or cottager lias it in his power to pay 
himself. R. Errington. 
AriARIAN’S CALENDAR— June. 
By J. JI. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-lceeper's Guide." 
By the time this paper meets the eye of our readers, the 
most busy and interesting month with Apiarians will be nigh 
at hand ; swarming in some localities will have commenced, 
and will be anxiously looked for iu all ; that is, where 
swarming is allowed, or wished to take place, and where it 
is not supers will be filling with honey. 
Artificial Swarms. —The present is a good time for ob- j 
tabling artificial swarms, and where “ Taylor’s Bar Hives ” 
are used, the process is very simple, and may be thus j 
effected:—From ten to twelve o’clock, on a bright morning, 
remove the board from the top of the parent hive; select a 
bar, the comb on which contains both eggs and brood, and 
if a royal cell all the better, but this is not important; place 
the bar with comb in some convenient place, so that it is 
neither bruised nor separated from the bar ; then turn 
up the parent hive, after having fastened down the top, and 
placed the one intended for the new swarm upon it, observ¬ 
ing that the junction is perfect; then, by a continuous gentle 
tapping upon the parent hive for a few minutes, a portion of 
the bees will have ascended into the empty hive; remove 
the parent hive 60 or 100 yards, placing it upon a fresh 
door-board, and place the new hive exactly in the place of 
the old one, and upon the same door-board; and, as quickly 
as possible, open it at top, and introduce the bar of comb 
filled with eggs and brood into its centre; replace the top, 
and endeavour to have the exterior of the hive as little 
altered in appearance as may be; it will then be found that 
the few bees driven into the new hive, with the number j 
returning to it that were out at work, with some that may 
come from the parent hive, will altogether make a fair-sized 
swarm. The parent hive will, in all probability, give another 
swarm in about fourteen days. 
Queenless Stocks. —It is not at all unusual at this season 
to see the bees of some hives, although possessing a good 
store of honey, quite inactive, carrying in no pollen, and 
basking in the sun at the mouth of the hive, but still giving 
smart resistance to a robber, if be ventures to make an entry: 
this arises from the old age or death of the queen ; and, if 
the bees are numerous, will go on in the same manner nearly 
through the summer; but, if the numbers be few, robbers 
will attack them, and little or no resistance will be offered, 
but frequently the bees themselves will assist in carrying ofi’ 
the store to the pirates’ home, where the queenless bees will 
meet with a ready welcome. 
Remedy. —The best method to adopt, in such a case, is to 
introduce a piece of comb from a stroug hive which contains 
both brood and eggs, and the bees will very soon make a 
queen, and ultimately do very well. In Taylor’s bar-liive 
this process is very easily effected, by merely taking a bar of 
comb from one hive and introducing it into another, or a 
piece of comb with eggs and brood may be fixed in a bell- 
glass, and placed upon the queenless hive. 
Swarming. —From the dull and cold weather of March and I 
April (and even of May thus far), many stocks are become | 
weak and feeble, and numbers have entirely perished, there- j 
fore swarming, generally, must be later than usual ; and j 
those persons who are wishing to prevent it altogether must j 
not be satisfied by simply placing boxes or glasses upon j 
their stocks, but they must, also, see that the bees take j 
possession of them, and the best method to secure this is not 
to put the supers on until the bees begin to be a little j 
inconvenienced for want of room; and then, by placing a j 
bit or two of guide-comb, as before directed, into the super, j 
the bees will enter it at once and commence working. 
I attended at a sale of bees in a village a few miles from 
Bury St. Edmonds, on the 6th of May, for a friend who was 
anxious to increase his apiary; there were sixteen stocks 
