COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
August 28. 
and vegetables, tliat are vouchsafed to us this season. It is 
also pleasant to bear that the crops in Spain and Portugal 
are already secured, and are excellent both in quantity and 
quality; that the reports of the crops in Germany and Den¬ 
mark are satisfactory; and, above all, and before all, that 
the Wheat crops in America are now safe, and for extent of 
acreage, abundance of yield, excellence of quality and 
condition, are unprecedented in the agricultural annals of 
the United States. 
William Keane. 
THE APIARIAN’S CALENDAR.— September. 
By J. II. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper's 
Guide.” 
Autumnal Unions.— The end of this month will be the 
most proper time for effecting autumnal unions, the ad¬ 
vantages as well as the necessity of which cannot be too 
much insisted on ; for weak stocks kept through the winter 
are worse than valueless, they require much trouble and 
expense, and after all are good for nothing. To effect 
unions, the parade of fumigating apparatus and materials, 
puff-balls, bellows, perforated zinc, &c., are unnecessary,—a 
little tobacco and a pipe is all that is required. Geiieus’ 
method, which I have adopted successfully for many years, 
is performed easily, and without danger. I have frequently 
accomplished it without any protection whatever. He says, 
“When the swarms have not been able to lay up a sufficient 
provision during the fine weather, I weigh them at the end 
of the season, and knowing the weight of each empty hive, 
I can tell exactly the quantity of honey they have in store. 
If they are three, four, five, or six pounds too light, I 
preserve them by making them up to from fifteen to twenty 
pounds by feeding. When the swarms have only about one- 
third, or one-half of the quantity of honey which would 
suffice to feed them, I might keep them alive by giving 
them as much more as they require. I have frequently 
done so, but this plan costs too much honey, and gives too 
much trouble, and, therefore, I generally join them into 
one. For this purpose, I leave the heaviest swarm untouched, 
and in the morning of a fine day in September, or the 
beginning of October, I commence by blowing a few whiffs 
of tobacco-smoke with my pipe in at the door of the hive 
of the lightest swarm, then turning up the hive, and placing 
it upon its top on the ground, I give it a little more smoke 
to prevent the bees from becoming irritated, and to force them 
to retire within the combs; I proceed to cut out all the 
combs in succession, beginning with the smallest, sweeping 
the bees with a feather off each piece back into the hive, 
and then I place the combs, one after another, into a large 
dish beside me, keeping it, at the same time, carefully 
covered over with a napkin, to prevent the bees returning 
to their combs, or the smell of the honey attracting others 
that may be flying about. The last comb is the most 
difficult to come at, being completely covered over with 
bees; I detach it, however, in the same way as the 
others, but with greater precaution, sweeping the bees off 
very gently with the feather until there is not one left on it. 
This operation I perform without gloves or any other 
protection, armed only with my pipe; and for ten times that 
I treat them after this fashion, I seldom receive one sting, 
even when I act unassisted. 
“ The combs being all removed, the swaim remains as 
completely destitute of food as it was on the day of its 
emigration, and I replace it on its board in the same spot 
it occupied when full, and leave it till the evening, by whicli 
time the bees will be clustered together like a new swarm. 
During the whole of the day, which I shall suppose to be 
fine, they occupy themselves with great earnestness cleaning 
their house, and making such a noise in removing the little 
fragments of wax that have fallen on the board, that any 
one who did not know that it had been emptied would take 
it for the best and strongest of the hives. Before night, 
when they are all quiet, I throw a few whiffs of smoke in at 
the door of the hive which I mean my deprived swarm to 
enter, and which should be its next neighbour on the right 
hand or the left, then turning it up, and resting it upon the 
ground, I sprinkle it all over with honey, especially between 
395 
the combs where I perceive the greatest number of bees; 
five or six table spoonfuls generally suffice, at other times 
three or four times as many are required. If too little were 
given the new comers might not be well received, there 
might be fighting; and by giving too much, we run the risk 
of drowning them. One should cease sprinkling when the 
bees begin to climb up above the combs and shelter them¬ 
selves on the sides of the hive; this done, I replace the 
hive on its board, raising it up in front with two little bits of 
stick, so as to leave a division of an inch between it and the 
board, to give free access to the bees; I also spread a table¬ 
cloth upon the ground before it, raising and fixing one end 
of it upon the board by means of two bits of stick that are 
placed as a temporary support to the hive ; I then take the 
hive that was deprived of its combs in the morning, and 
with one shake throw the bees out of it upon the tablecloth, 
which they instantly begin to ascend, while, by the help of a 
long wooden spoon, I guide them to the door of the one 
that is placed for their reception ; a few spoonfuls of the bees 
raised and laid down at the door of the hive will set the 
example, they enter at once, and the others follow quickly, 
flapping their wings and sipping with delight the drops of 
honey that come in their way, licking and cleaning those 
first inhabitants that have received the sprinkling, and with 
whom they mingle and live henceforth on good terms. 
Next morning early replace the hive, remembering to put 
it a little to the right or left, that it may stand precisely in 
centre of the place they both occupied before the union. I 
have frequently united three swarms in the same manner, 
and with the same success, taking care to empty, in the 
morning, those on each side, and to make the bees enter the 
middle one in the evening, after it has been sprinkled with 
honey.” 
I have adhered strictly to these directions, except in 
“ raising and fixing the tablecloth to the board.” Making 
the bees ascend, I have always found to be a slow process; 
but placing the hive they are are to join over them when 
heaped upon the cloth is much quicker, and equally suc¬ 
cessful. 
Old stocks that are rendered weak by swarming, or by 
having too much honey taken from them, may be united in 
the same manner, with this difference only, that double the 
quantity of honey should be used in sprinkling. 
LINARrA VULGARIS var. PELORIA. 
This variety is a very striking and singular looking flower. 
It is a labiate runaway to a regular round corolla, containing 
five male organs, as in common with a Pentandrious plant. 
Yet, it is nothing more than a mere variety of the Linaria 
vulgaris, or common Toad Flax. 
What a puzzle for a young botanist, who had never seen 
or heard of it before, to find such a plant in a wild state. 
How he would puzzle himself about it—finding a common 
Toad-Flax-looking-plant, with a round tubular corolla, con¬ 
taining five stamens, and five spurs or nectaries! He might 
possibly guess it to be only a variety of the Linaria vulgaris, 
from the habit of the plant ; and, at any rate, he would find 
a very rare addition to his stock of knowledge. I have not 
seen a specimen of it for the last twenty-six years, even in a 
cultivated state, until the Editor of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener kindly put this into my hands on the 8th of August, 
1855. It is, certainly, said to be found in sandy fields about 
Clapham; and in a wood, in Lincolnshire. This may be so, 
yet it is a very rare plant to see anywhere, either in a wild 
or cultivated state. This need not be so, if amateurs and 
gardeners were a little more notice-taking about rare and 
curious plants, minding where they planted such things, and 
taking care to get duplicates of such rare and beautiful 
varieties. 
There is nothing, I believe, so pleasant as visiting a gar¬ 
den, whether it be filled with choice and curious plants, in 
the mixed style, or the showy and w'ell-blended beds, filled 
according to the bedding-out system. Each is beautiful, 
and each requires thoughtful skill to keep it up to the mark 
of excellence. 
I am running away from the Linaria vulgaris and its 
varieties, for it has several varieties. The parent is a 
very beautiful plant in itself; its large yellow flowers make 
