JULY 28. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
321 
Onions. —These must be looked to at the end, and all 
those which have completed their growth at once bent 
down, and every endeavour made to secure an early harvest. 
We always, although so far north, plant a crop of spring 
Ooleworts in tlio Onion ground after they are removed. 
These Coleworts we use in February and March, and they 
form the connecting link between the autumn Coleworts 
and the spring Cabbage, as far as Cabbages are concerned. 
Cabbages, for the next summer, may be sown from the 
lirst week in August until the third; Cauliflowers , to go 
through the winter, in the last week ; Onions, to endure the 
winter, about the middle ; Spinach, for a full winter’s crop, 
in the first week. I have little more to add at present— 
other ordinary matters will point to their own needs. Let 
me direct attention to the muck heap; I wish I could per¬ 
suade my friends of tile small garden the great importance 
of increasing their attention in this important affair. 
R. Errington. 
APIARIAN’S CALENDAR— August. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper’s 
Guide," &c. 
Joining Swarms to Old Stocks. —A short time before 
reading Mr. Desborough’s prize Essay on the longevity of 
the honey-bee, I had seen a stock of two or three years 
standing, to which a swarm from another stock had just 
been joined, and I was astonished at the quantity of honey 
it had collected only in a few days. This is one of the 
things recommended in the prize Essay, and, perhaps, with 
the advice of retaining stocks of one year old or upwards, 
instead of swarms, when it is absolutely necessary to reduce the 
number of hives in an apiary, may be considered the most 
valuable part of it; for, instead of waiting to unite in the 
autumn, how much better it appears to be able to unite and 
strengthen stocks at swarming tune. No feeding is needed, 
for the hees will work with double energy, apparently, when 
thus united; indeed, the stock above alluded to has done so, 
for I have very lately had another opportunity of examining 
it. The hive itself is full, and a box on the top filling very 
fast. Altogether it weighs as nearly as possible forty pounds. 
Duration of Life in the Honey-Bee. —It is pleasing to 
find that Mr. Desborough has confirmed everything that Dr. 
Bevan and others had already told us; it would be un¬ 
reasonable to expect more than an approximation, for dura¬ 
tion of life is clearly not even always the same, for the 
seasons and weather influence it. 
Marking a Queen. —There is no other way of marking a 
queen, that I am aware of, than either by cutting off one of 
the antenna;, or a small portion of the tip of one wing, which 
has been done by Mr. Golding and others. The hint given 
by the Editor of The Cottage Gardener of the 30th ulto., 
of marking the queen with a streak of white paint across 
her wings, however ingenious, would, I fear, be found not to 
answer the end intended, for any one who has witnessed the 
devotion of her subjects to her, knows they are perpetually 
licking her, and any colouring matter would not, I expect, 
be tolerated for an instant.* 
Taylor’s Dividing Hive. —In my last calendar I gave a 
description of this hive, and at the same time expressed a 
hope, that in my next I should be able to give a favourable 
account of the operation of dividing, which I am now fully 
enabled to do, for it is, indeed, most simple. When all 
things were prepared, it did not occupy two minutes; and so 
little were the bees annoyed by it, that I used no protection 
whatever, either for my face or hands, only taking the 
precaution to take off my coat, and bare my arms to my 
elbows, but even this was unnecessary, and so far from 
having a sting, I did not even hear an angry note. The 
zinc dividers I did not use, neither did I drum upon the 
boxes, both which might tend to irritate the bees. The 
queenless part very soon discovered itself by the greatest 
bustle and confusion possible, which lasted till midnight, 
but the next morning all was quiet, and they set to work in 
* Would licking remove a streak of oil paint? However, cutting off 
one anteuna, if done in several hives, would be good evidence.— Ed. 
C. G. 
right good earnest, carrying in pollen most abundantly, 
which they have continued to do every favourable day since ; 
but not so the half which has the queen, for they have 
shown a degree of sluggishness ever since the operation; 
but as they are rich in honey, as well as pretty numerous, it 
may not be of much consequence. 
The Season. —In some districts the honey harvest has 
been very abundant, in others the reverse, but upon the 
whole I think it may be considered a tolerably good season. 
DOING EVIL THAT GOOD MAY COME. 
By the Authoress of “My Flowers ." 
Do any of my readers remember the sketch of the 
bachelor, John M-, his pretty cottage, and old-maidish 
ways ? Well, I am now going to give them the reverse of 
that pretty picture; I am going to disenchant them as to 
old bachelorism ; and, above all, to point out the sure and 
certain consequences of sin. This is a subject that cannot 
be too often, or too severely, handled. We may be kind to 
our neighbour’s little faults and follies; but we must not be 
kind to their, or our own, sins; and it is most striking to 
observe, how invariably the absence of godliness prepares 
the way for the entrance of unhappiness, though it may be 
“ after many days.” 
For years, John M-had gone quietly and happily on, 
in his comfortable cottage, with nothing, as it seemed, to 
interfere with him; and, for some time after I sketched his 
portrait, he went on in the same way. He was a quiet man ; 
his voice, though a very loud and “ craky ” one, was never 
heard, and he was so embowered in trees, and out of every¬ 
body’s sight, that except one went down to his little cottage, 
and hunted him out, he was rarely to be met with. 
There is, unhappily, upon the Common, near which 
M-’s little cottage is situated, a certain beer-house, 
which has been a pitfall for many a poor, thoughtless soul. 
It was a place, indeed, that never prospered ; first one man, 
and then another took it, and went away ruined, or injured, 
i not because people did not drink, but because there was 
| another pitfall of grander pretensions very near it, which 
! drew off the bulk of the population. This beer-house was 
again untenanted during the past year; and one day, to our 
surprise, a rumour reached us, that John M-had taken 
it. We were, for some time quite sure that this was not 
true; but at last we were obliged to believe it. The fact was 
known, and preparations were making for the event. M- 
was spoken to very strongly on the subject, but he was 
resolute. “ Times,” he said, “ were hard, and people must 
do what they could to get a bit of bread.” His little free¬ 
hold was mortgaged, and he had to pay a heavy sum every 
year. So he was tempted to “ do evil that good might 
come ; ” to give up his quiet home, and worldly respectability, 
to undertake the shocking traffic of a beer-liouse; draw men 
on to ruin; become vile in the eyes of right-thinkers, and 
defy every law of a pure and holy God! This, readers, is 
the fruit of unbelief; the consequences of living very 
decently, but “ without God, in the world.” 
It made us quite sad to see the poor bees placed in their 
new home. They were brought away from the shades, and 
shelter, and flowers, and peace, of their former residence, 
and stuck up in the middle of an untidy, unsheltered, beer¬ 
house garden, with only an old straggling plum-tree or two 
to swarm upon, and no screen, except a straw back, which 
was placed to protect them from the cutting north-east 
wind. Every one foretold the end of M -, and his bees, 
and he was already ashamed of himself, for he got out of j 
every one’s way who was likely to speak out, and pretended j 
not to see, when he was obliged to meet them. I believe, i 
indeed, that no conscience ever needs an accuser; it speaks 
plainly enough its own self; and if we would only do its 
bidding, we should seldom have to sigh and cry for the evils 
we now too often have to deplore. 
M-professed to enter upon his new career with some J 
spirit. He went about very cheerily at first, carried things 
with rather a high hand, and established penny peep-shows, 
in holiday time, which it was thought might overpower the 
less enterprising beer-house in his vicinity. But very soon, 
