THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
202 
I beg to remark further, that I much object to a round 
stack, in which there is so much deterioration of hay; first, 
by the successive exposure to the wind and rain, after each 
round of cuttings; and, secondly, by the eave droppings 
which descend from the whole circle of the stack soaking 
into the cut surface. Whereas, if made into a long stack, 
however small the quantity, and only one end being cut, 
there is perfect exemption from eave droppings, and the hay 
is consumed before it has been subjected to long exposure. 
I would also observe that I top my stack with straw, as I 
consider that the hay which forms the roof becomes dry 
and flavourless, and is injured by the steam being con¬ 
densed upon it. Rutland. 
TAYLOR’S HIVES. 
May I ask the favour of space to say a word or two on 
the remarks made by a “ Country Curate," in his recent 
publication, as to some of the bee-hives described by me in 
the Bee-keeper’s Manual. The author observes, “ if the 
truth were known, many a complaint has arisen, and will 
yet arise, against even Mr. Taylor’s hives of wood. It 
stands to reason that wooden boxes, unprotected by a bee- 
shed, are both too cold in winter, and too hot in summer, 
for an exposed situation.” If the Country Curate will be 
kind enough to turn to page 42 (4th edition), he will find 
that I have recommended, as a general rule, wooden hives 
“ to be placed under some cover or shed, as a protection 
from wet and a hot sun.” Elsewhere I have directed 
shading and covering. I apprehend the remark is not 
intended to apply to what I have called the “Amateur’s 
double bar-hive,” this being incased throughout. The 
“Single bar-hive” was made to meet the objections raised 
by a few friends to what seemed to them the unnecessary 
trouble of having to remove the outer cases to the boxes, 
previous to occasional inspection. To me the objection 
carries no weight with it; but I can hardly be censured for 
yielding to the solicitation of those who wished for hives 
made without outside covers, the wood being additionally 
thick, as described at page 55. Of these boxes I remark, 
“ those who prefer the shelter of a bee-house can, of course, 
dispense with the stand and roof.” It is an affair altogether 
optional with the proprietor to place them where he pleases. 
The practice of locating bee-stocks in the open air ex¬ 
tensively prevails in many districts ; and it was not long ago 
that the very questionable advice was given by a corres¬ 
pondent of the Cottage Gardener to an inquirer, not to 
erect a house of shed for his hives : why, we we were not 
informed, for the matter to me is one entirely dependent on 
the purse. Among amateur bee-keepers, we must recollect, 
it not unfrequently happens that situation, or other circum¬ 
stances, interpose obstacles in the way of keeping more than 
one or two stocks, when a regular apiary is not thought of. 
In these cases, my hives may often serve as a useful 
substitute. 
I may further just refer to the “ Country Curate’s” remarks 
on my plan of winter screens for bee-hives. When our 
apiarian friends have convinced themselves by experiment 
that confinement in stagnant air, damp, mildew, foul stench, 
and dysentery, are not good tilings for bees, they will pro¬ 
bably be induced to retain them at all seasons above ground. 
To such I would say, that nothing more is needed in winter 
than some mode of warding off the effects of the sun-gleams 
from the entrance to the hives. Our author talks of our 
ignorance on this head. Now this is very easily dispelled 
by the trial of a month, at a moderate outlay; nor should I 
have said what I have done without some kind of warrant, 
if the successful experience or eighteen or twenty years is 
deemed sufficient. It becomes necessary, however, to caution 
your readers against following the advice of the “Country 
Curate," when he suggests a screen made by “a double line, 
stretched on poles, and covered with bass matting, to protect 
several hives at once.” In the first place, such a screen 
would often stand a poor chance on a windy day ; and other¬ 
wise would be merely mischievous. In placing a screen 
before each separate hive, care should be taken to let it be 
so fixed (supposing south to be the aspect), that the greater 
portion of it is on the western side, from which quarter the 
winter rays of the sun proceed. The outer temperature 
being favourable, the bees will always sally forth, in the 
[June 26 . 
middle of the day, at the promptings of nature, returning 
immediately to the hive with great sagacity, chiefly on the 
eastern side, where the screen interposes little or no obstacle 
to their flight. Now a continuous line of screen would 
defeat the main object; for the tenants of several hives 
would become intermixed behind their barricade, and those 
that found their way over or round it, would, in all pro¬ 
bability, never return. Henry Taylor. 
NOTES OF A VISIT TO MACROOM, IN THE 
COUNTY OF CORK. 
A few days since I was obliged to make a journey to the 
western part of the county of Cork, and it being a district 
but little known, I app: chend, to the readers of The Cot¬ 
tage Gardener, this notice of the plants I remarked in one 
day’s stroll, over the wild hills and bogs of that country, 
may prove interesting. 
The mildness of the climate is such, that many plants 
seen ordinarily but in greenhouses, flourish all the year 
round in the open air. Myrtles, Geraniums , and many 
similar ornaments of our more northerly conservatories 
live the winter through without protection from the severest 
weather. Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and other American 
plants flourish, as if spontaneously, in the loose peaty soil. 
Unfortunately, a very few only of the gentry devote much 
care or attention to the cultivation of garden flowers. 
The wants of a poor and unemployed peasantry engross, 
with justice, their first attention. The principal source of 
income to the farmers, is from the supplying of butter to 
the Cork Market, which the rich pasture lands yield abun¬ 
dantly. Along the road from Cork to Macroom I passed 
many a cart piled with butter-firkins; and I may remark, 
that except in the roofless farm houses which I occasionally 
noticed, I did not see those indications of poverty we are 
accustomed to associate with the “ wild Irish.” The country 
people were, for the most part, well clad, and beggars were 
not numerous. It may be that the poor had emigrated, or, 
it may be, they were shut up in workhouses ; I only say I 
did not see them. Poverty is a very relative term; and, 
perhaps, a Lincolnshire farmer would consider himself a 
poor man in circumstances that would indicate wealth to a 
fanner of the county I speak of. But I know this portion 
of the county of Cork, poor as I believe it is, may be con¬ 
trasted favourably with other parts of Ireland; and, at all 
events, your columns are not intended for a discussion on 
the poor laws. 
The very first wild plant I remarked in walking across a 
marshy field, was the beautiful Pinguicula grandijlora. This 
lovely flower is found wild only, I believe, in the west of the 
county of Cork, and it would well repay a botanist the jour¬ 
ney from home to visit this gem of our native plants in its 
only habitat. I remarked it in many places ; and even when 
not in flower, it is at once recognised by its pale, fleshy 
leaves spreading close to the ground, generally on a little 
elevated hillock of soil, which it appears to have formed for 
itself, the better to display its brilliant purple blossoms. 
From the centre of the leaves arise from one to three, or ! 
sometimes four stems, about five or six inches long, each 
bearing a single blossom, which your readers, who may 
never have seen the plant, may resemble to a dwarf Gloxinia. 
A bribe of a penny a plant to a country lad procured me a 
basketful of plants, which I hope will grow in the mild ; 
atmosphere of a garden frame, and I shall be very happy 
to exchange plants with any of your readers, for specimens i 
of the rarer British alpines or orchids, and for that purpose I 
I enclose my address. 
The next plant which attracted my notice, was the well I 
known London-pride ( Saxifraga umbrosa ), covering the rocks 
in all directions, and now in full bloom. Its favourite \ 
locality appeared to be the fissures of rocks, from whence it 
extended its trailing branches for a considerable distance | 
around. Close by this, and contrasting well its blue-bells j 
with the pink flowers of the London-pride, grew in great 
profusion the Scilla nutans. This pretty flower, not very 
common, I had never seen in such luxuriance, nor its colour 
so bright a blue. 
A rare plant, though not attractive, save to a botanist, the 
Euphorbia hibsrnica, was very abundant. It grows in woods, 
and also in pastures, and forms a large clump of yellowish 
