THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
452 
| 
September 18. j 
years ago; nor even the Passion-Flower, until Shakspere 
had been some thirteen years in his grave! ” There is much 
i cant in the gardening criticism of painters ; and while “care 
I is bestowed upon costume,” &e., I, for one, feel it unkind to 
j deny to painters the use of the materials which modern 
gardening has provided for carrying out effectively the mere 
ornamental points in their pictures. The scene is stated to 
| be “Lawn before the Duke’s palace;” and why does the 
critic limit the painter to the representation of “ native ” 
dowers there. There is no prettier lawn plant than the 
Fuchsia, and it has been long enough known as a hardy 
plant in our gardens to be a familiar object to every eye. 
The Passion-Flower can boast even greater antiquity. We 
daily see castellated dwellings that speak forcibly of former 
times and of conditions of society widely different from what 
we enjoy, surrounded by gay dower-gardens of bedding 
plants, the offspring of recent years. Here is an anachronism 
in ornamental art, if one is wanted, within the garden-wall: 
and if it is wrong in principle, it is greatly more extravagant 
than the small liberty which Maclise has taken to relieve his 
picture. With regard to your critic’s concluding objection, 
it is not the fact that the season of the “ sere and yellow 
leaf” is inappropriate for representing a Fuchsia in bloom 
in the open air. Neither is it the fact that the Fuchsia was 
not known to Europeans “until some thirtyyears ago” (See 
j Bot. Mag. tab. 97. And the critic may also read the motto 
j on the title-page of that volume). The critic, therefore, 
! fails when judged by his own standard; and I would beg of 
j him to re-read his quotation from Orlando, as an echo from 
j Maclise to himself:—“I beseech you, punish me not with 
j your hard thoughts, wherein I confess me (not) guilty. * * 
; But let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go with me.”—Rus. 
[We do not know what our correspondent means by 
' “ cant in the gardening criticism of painters,” but we do 
j know that no man of judgment will argue that any ana- 
S chronism should be tolerated in historical painting. If a 
j scene of the 16th century be represented, beyond all doubt, 
j the costume, buildings, and plants should be those only of 
1 the same age, and that were known in the same country. 
! To maintain a contrary opinion, is to mainaiu that Othello 
in a turban is not to be preferred to Othello in a perriwig. 
The Fuchsia was introduced in 1788, instead of “some 
thirty years ago, ” as we hastily wrote; but what has that to 
do with Mr. Maclise’s anachronism ? When he paints a fancy 
picture, then let him give the rein to fancy ; but never, when, 
as an historian, writing with his brush, let him give Ophelia 
a wreath of South American orchids, nor even of Fuchsias, 
; though there may be “no prettier lawn plant” than these. 
! When Mr. Maclise pourtrays Ariel, he might, without any 
impropriety, decorate him with dowers of all climes, and 
without any care for when they ■were first known to Euro¬ 
peans, for Ariel might have said with the Fairy— 
“ Over hill, over dale, 
Thorough bush, thorough briar, 
Over park, over pale, 
Thorough flood, thorough fire, 
I do wander everywhere 
Swifter than the moon’s sphere.”] 
HIVES, ASPECT FOR, AND LIMITATION OF 
THEIR NUMBER. 
The aspect of the hives, though the great heat of 
summer is injurious to Bees, yet the sun, no doubt, favour¬ 
ably affects them, as the earlier it comes on the hive the 
j sooner they are out, and secure the morning sun. They 
should, therefore, be placed towards the east, or south¬ 
easterly, the mid-day sun being kept off by a shade. In 
• some places, however, one aspect is best, and in some 
i another. 
! One cause of honey being wasted, and one place being 
more stocked than another, and the bees being starved in 
middling years, as is often the case in middling years 
amongst us, is to be found in the number of hives w hich 
each bee-keeper has. In Germany, I find the number to 
each cottage is by law prescribed, and thus there is an equal 
distribution of hives.—W. H. Mavor, Welton Rectory. 
DERIVATION OF NEMOPHILA. 
“ I am much surprised that it did not occur to your 
numerous correspondents and subscribers to trace the ’ 
origin of the name of the beautiful flower Nemophila, to its j 
being compounded of the verb vepce, nemo—struo, distribuo, : 
to scatter around; and <pv\Aov, plural cpvAAa ; this, I hope, j 
will settle the orthography, and that it will be written ; 
NemophiZ/a. This is quite the nature of the Plant, to dis- 
tribute its branches and leaves.—A New Subscriber.” 
[We think this subject is now exhausted, and we must | 
decline inserting any more communications relative to it. i 
In our opinion, Mr. Beaton’s communication, at p. 241, ! 
“ settled the orthography;” for he there showed, beyond | 
doubt, that Mr. Nuttall suggested the name from nemos, a 
grove; and phileo, to love; because the first discovered 
species, Nemophila phacillioides has “ a predilection for 
woods, in which places only it is found." To argue against 
this fact, reminds us of Cowper’s geologists, who 
“ drill and bore 
The solid earth, and from the strata there 
Extract a register, by which we learn 
That he who made it, and revealed its date. 
Was mistaken in its age.”—E d. C. G.] 
VEGETABLE CULTURE AND COOKERY. 
BALM. 
Although Balm cannot be called a vegetable, in the culi¬ 
nary sense of the word, it is one of those plants which come 
under the denomination of herbs of the kitchen-garden; 
and as I intend to treat of these, whether cultivated as pot¬ 
herbs, or for medicinal purposes, it comes in here in its 
alphabetical order. 
Balm is a medicinal plant, which has long been cultivated 
in gardens for its leaves and young shoots, which are used 
for making drinks said to be beneficial in diseases of the 
head and nervous system; “ sovereign for the brain, 
strengthening the memory, and powerfully chasing away 
melancholy.” The plant is propagated by division, either in 
March or September; the portions chosen being planted 
out in rows, at a distance of a foot apart, in a rather damp 
situation, if such can conveniently be obtained. The 
further cultivation consists simply in keeping the plants free 
from weeds, stirring the soil, and repeating the operation of 
fresh planting every third or fourth year. 
The young leaves and shoots may be used any time dur¬ 
ing the summer and autumn while green; but for the 
winter supply it is necessary to dry them. For this purpose, 
the whole plant must be cut down close to the ground, just 
before it comes into flower, and the stalks tied into small 
bundles, which are to be hung up in a shed, or some other 
shady and airy place, and when they are thoroughly dry, they 
may be kept in boxes, bags, or drawers, till ready for use. 
Balm Wine. —To four gallons-and-a-half of water add 
twenty pounds of lump sugar, and boil it gently for an hour ; 
after which put it in a tub to cool. Then bruise two pounds 
of the tops of Green Balm, and put them with a little yeast 
into a barrel, and when the water in which the sugar has 
been boiled is nearly cold pour it on the Balm. After 
stirring it well together let it stand for twenty-four hours, 
duriug which time it must be frequently stirred; bung it up, 
and after six weeks bottle it off, and put a small lump of sugar 
into each bottle. It improves with age. 
Balm Beer. —Eleven gallons of water and ten pounds 
of brown sugar are to be clarified with the whites of twelve 
eggs, carefully skimmed and boiled till nearly reduced to 
ten gallons. Two pounds-and-a-half of the Flowers of Balm 
being put into a cask, the liquor, when milk-warm, is to be 
poured over them, and four or five tablespoonfuls of thick 
yeast added. The cask must be filled up, morning and 
evening, with what works over, and be bunged up when fer¬ 
mentation ceases. In a month, the beer may be bottled, and 
in two or three months it will be fit for drinking. Half the 
quantity of the flowers will probably be found to be enough, 
if added when the fermentation is nearly over. 
Balm Tea. —This is recommended as a useful, and, to 
many, as a very grateful drink in dry, parching fevers. It 
