August 28.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
339 
this text, and carry it out to the very letter. We have before 
stated that from the middle of August to the end of Sep¬ 
tember, is of all others. the best period to collect coarse 
vegetable matters; and it is almost needless to add, 
that anything of the kind increases the bulk and value of 
the manure heap. The very best way, as we think, to manage 
such things, is to char them, or, rather, smother them. 
Such materials are, of course, full of the seeds of weeds, 
and if these are not destroyed, better be without them. It 
so happens that this may be easily accomplished, and that 
without much sacrifice of bulk of material. Let all coarse 
herbage available be got together by the middle of Septem¬ 
ber; and let all the ordinary weeds of the plot be also collected 
and kept by themselves ; let there be also several barrows- 
ful of soil laid close by, ready; any soil will do. Commence 
by making a small bonfire of sticks, Ac., then add successive 
layers of the coarse herbage, until the mass is well kindled; 
and when the whole is piled up, and the process sure, add 
the weeds of the allotment, or garden, and finally a coating 
of the soil, beating the latter quite firm all over. To cause 
the whole to smoulder for a day or two, without bursting 
out, and to guarantee all parting of the interior of the heap, 
a heat of from 140° to 150° is the object sought; this will 
destroy both animal and vegetable life, and cause the 
smouldering mass to become a compost of much value, and 
of by far more bulk and utility than mere wood ashes ; 
which by-the-by require some caution in their use on 
account of their causticity. When the process is complete, 
the whole may either be patted up close to exclude rain, or 
wheeled to the ordinary midden, and be turned with the 
riper portions, for early use next spring. 
Pigs. —Now is the time, or during the next two months, 
in which a cottier, possessing a garden well cropped, may 
make the greatest progress with the least expense. Most 
who are thus fortunately situated, fat, at least, one good hog 
of some twelve stone yearly. Where a man possesses, how¬ 
ever, as much as half an acre of land, something more may 
be done if he is a good cultivator. Of course his principal 
fattening period will be during October and November. By 
the end of September his hog should be large in “ frame¬ 
work ” at least, and roots and surplus stuff thenceforward 
come to hand abundantly. If he finds that there is a pros¬ 
pect of more stuff than one hog can manage, it will be good 
policy forthwith to purchase, if tolerably cheap, two or three 
little half-bred Chinas, or porkers ; these will serve to keep 
him from his bacon rack for many weeks. Such pigs should 
have a little size to commence with, say about three stone, 
and these he may feed with little trouble and expense. We 
would knock up a temporary cover, an old door would do, in 
a warm corner, possessing a sound bottom, and give the pigs 
a dry bed. The mere garbage from the garden, with some 
small Potatoes, would suffice, with the addition of a little 
hard food once a day; the latter might be Peas, given whole 
every mid-day; and plenty of water to drink would com¬ 
plete the diet: above all, insuring them a dry and clean bed. 
There would be no cooking required here, so that the regular 
hog feeding would not be compromised in any way; they 
might form a separate establishment. In a few weeks he 
might kill or sell them, and would have nice pigs of seven 
or eight stone. To be thus successful, however, it is indis¬ 
pensable that the pigs should be of a “ prick-eared ” breed. 
We should prefer half-bred Chinas. By such means, too, 
the manure heap will be augmented—by no means a trifling 
matter. R. Errington. 
APIARIAN’S CALENDAR— September. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-keeper's Guide.” 
Honey Season. — This season may certainly be pro¬ 
nounced a very indifferent one, and in some localities a very 
bad one (in this, Bury St. Edmund’s, especially so), for a good 
glass of honey, or, indeed, a glass of honey at all, has very 
rarely been obtained; and this is attributable chiefly, I ima¬ 
gine, to the coldness and lateness of the spring, which greatly 
retarded the increase of population in the hives, so that for 
the few days early in June when honey abounded, there 
were comparatively no bees to collect it, therefore, those 
persons in whose stocks very early breeding commenced, 
have honey, and only those. A bee-keeper to some con¬ 
siderable extent, residing on the southern border of Norfolk, 
tells us that his whole supply of honey this year has been 
from his May swarms, each of which has afforded him a 
good average quantity, both in glasses and boxes ; whilst 
those of the middle of June will not gather, he fears, a 
sufficient supply for their winter’s consumption. 
Early Breeding. —In our fitful climate this is a most 
important thing to effect, and every possible means for 
promoting it should be used. Therefore, in addition to 
what I have already said in the calendar for last month, viz., 
leaving the stocks rich in store, as well as in bees, I would I 
now say, keep the stocks as cool as possible till the end of 
February, and if, as has already been said, that cold retards 
the hatching of the brood, warmth may be supposed to pro¬ 
mote it. I would therefore recommend, where it is at all 
practical, at the end of February to increase the temperature 
of the hives, by defending them externally from the cold of j 
March and April, by any means that may the most readily be j 
had recourse to for the purpose; perhaps binding the hives 
neatly over with hay-bands would be as little trouble and 
inexpensive as anything. I intend, for the sake of experi¬ 
ment, to place two or three hives in a greenhouse, in which 
the temperature will never be suffered lower than 32° ; and 
in March and April uniformly eight or ten degrees above that 
point. 
Shading. —It is very desirable to shade the hives from 
the winter’s sun, for the bees are not unfrequently tempted 
thereby to leave their hives, never to return. 
Stocks for Next Season. —The time will soon arrive for 
setting apart stocks to stand through the winter. Each one 
intended for this purpose should be made to weigh from 
twenty to twenty-five pounds, and the bees of all weak or 
very old stocks, the hives of which are decaying, so as not 
to stand with safety through another season, should be 
driven to those that are the least populous in the apiary; for 
it must be remembered, that not only a good store of pro¬ 
vision, but that a large quantity of bees also, is necessary to 
secure success for another year. 
Driving. —For performing this operation, as well as for 
almost all others, I very much prefer the middle of a 
bright day to any other time. The process is very simple, 
and may be effected in a few minutes. I very much wish 
that I could persuade all ray cottage friends to adopt it, 
instead of the cruel and wasteful method of “ burning;" for 
in weak stocks the bees themselves are frequently of as 
much value as their little store of honey and wax, and by 
joining them to other stocks, very considerable advantages 
arise. My method of driving is this: On a bright day, 
between eleven and one o'clock, turn the hive from which 
the bees are to be driven bottom-upwards, in a shaded 
corner of the garden, and place upon it a hive of the same 
size; see that they fit closely; and to make the junction more 
complete, tie a cloth round the hives where they meet. 
Then, with two sticks, keep up a gentle but continuous 
tapping upon the sides of the inverted hive for about ten 
minutes; the bees will by that time have left it and gone into 
the upper one. Having ascertained that fact, take it im¬ 
mediately to the place where the driven hive was taken from, 
and place it upon the same floor-board; carry the driven 
hive fifty or sixty yards away, and place it upon a fresh 
floor-board: the few bees that remain in it, as well as those 
that are out at work, will return to the driven bees. All is ' 
now finished until an hour after sunset (except emptying 
the driven hive of its store), when two sticks may be laid : 
upon the ground about eight inches apart, opposite the | 
stock to which the driven bees are to be joined; then 
with a smart stroke dash out the bees between the sticks, j 
and instantly, but very gently, place the stock they are 
intended to enter upon the sticks; leave them for the 
night, having first defended them from rain should any 
fall, and in the morning, an hour before sunrise, replace the ; 
stock in its original position, and all will be peace and i 
harmony. Here then will be an increased population—a 
stock thereby enabled to stand through the winter much 
better, and to send out a much earlier swarm (if swarms 
are desired) than if the union had not been effected. 
Wasps. —It will be well to destroy wasps’-nests in those 
localities where they are to be found. For myself, 1 have j 
seen only one worker-wasp this summer (now the 12tli of 
August), a most unusual thing; and I have always found j 
