322 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
them rests on a piece of turf or other dark body, we say plant 
white and other light-coloured flowers with unsparing hand. 
We should certainly not discard all others ; what we mean, is 
to plant in such a situation more than the usual share of such 
colours, especially if appearance at a distance be an im¬ 
portant point. The same remark holds good to massing or 
bedding-out in flower-gardens where the beds are cut out on 
grass, which forming the base or back-ground, the effect is 
much the same, though in a less degree than the shrubbery- 
border above in the flower-garden. Other circumstances 
render a variety of colours indispensable, but it is to be 
deplored that in the directions generally given as to the 
planting of such beds, the back-ground or rather ground¬ 
work seems to be entirely overlooked; certainly a set of 
geometric figures cut in grass ought not to be planted the 
same as if they were separated by gravel walks; in the 
former case white and kindred colours should be more 
liberally dealt out than in the latter, or, to speak more 
plainly, the colour approaching nearest to that of the gravel 
ought to be most sparingly used. 
While on this subject I may remark, there is only one 
place where white flowers are out of character—that is, in a 
Dutch flower-garden, where the walks intersecting the beds 
are laid with white shells ; in such places the walks generally 
occupy one-third, or even one-half, of the entire area; and 
the bright glare they present to a summer’s sun renders any¬ 
thing more of that colour superfluous. In all such gardens 
we would say, plant deep coloured flowers in greater pro¬ 
lusion ; and if for variety’s sake you must have a white bed, 
edge it with something dark, as scarlet verbena or blue 
lobelia—it will not be so likely to blend with the walks. 
When gravel, sand, brick-dust, or ashes are used for walks, 
we would say, use sparingly those colours approaching 
thereto; if, as we have said above, you wish to introduce one, 
let it have a rim of something blooming the reverse. But 
as this is foreign to the subject we have in hand, we shall 
say no more than again impress on our readers to remember, 
that if they want to make a flower-border (backed by any¬ 
thing except a chalk cliff or white-washed wall) look well at 
any distance exceeding fifty yards, they must plant abundance 
of white and other pale-coloured flowers; and where a great 
breadth of turf separates flower-beds on the lawn, there 
likewise to plant the same colours in as great profusion as 
attention to other matters will allow them to do.—S. N. V. 
EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE. 
Bee-keeping Difficulties. — I have commenced bee¬ 
keeping this year, utterly unacquainted with the subject, 
and entirely directed by The Cottage Gardener. My 
difficulties may be of some guide to you in writing future 
articles. I bought one of Payne’s cottage hives, but for the 
timely advice of a friend I should have placed it on a board 
so thin that it would have warped. I think you give no 
warning against this. Ton direct a glass or small hive to 
be placed on the parent hive in 21 days after housing the 
swarm. You give no reason why it should not be done 
sooner, and whether any harm would ensue if it was done 
sooner. Would placing it on sooner prevent the parent 
hive from being filled ? would the operation in it be sus¬ 
pended, and all the work bo transferred to the upper story ? 
Then you do not say how the glass (if a glass is used) is to 
be covered. Tou cannot take the milk-pan or earthenware 
cover and place it on the glass : the glass would break, and 
would not be darkened enough. Under other advice than 
that cont ained in your columns, I bought a straw cover in 
the shape of a hive, and a circular cover open at both ends to 
stand on the parent hive, and for the first-mentioned cover 
to rest on. There was then shelter for my glass. And my 
pan surmounted all the mass. After a week, I raised my 
glass, and put a small 101b hive between it and the parent 
hive. The glass, full of comb, I found very top-heavy too 
on the empty straw-liive, though I used adapting boards, 
and 1 could not manage to make the two stand very straight, 
then my top straw cover and my circular centre piece were 
not high enough for my two- fold erection : I was in despair. 
The top cover hung on the glass, and would not reach the 
centre-piece. I covered the glass with brown paper, and 
pegged a piece of matting round the gap. Again I mounted 
[August 22. 
my pan on the top. I am in mental fear of a high wind ; 
my fabric is rather shaky, and far from perpendicular. There 
I shall leave my erection for the present. But, to my great 
consternation, I see in a recent number of your paper that 
sometimes a third hive must be placed ! I really must serve 
an apprenticeship to a skilful architect before I dare venture 
upon such a Tower of Babel. Why not empty the glass and 
put it oji again, instead of piling mountain upon mountain ? 
Next, I want to know how I can tell when a glass or small 
hive is fit to be removed and the honey abstracted ? You 
say when the “ cells are all sealed up,’’ but that is Greek to 
a novice. How can I tell by looking through three of four 
inches square of glass into my small hive when that event 
has happened? I think you direct no glasses or hives to be 
added after July. But provided those already placed on 
being not quite tilled, how long are they to stand into the 
autumn? When is the parent liive to be left by itself? 
Should more than one swarm be taken from any stock during 
one summer ? I suppose, after taking a swarm, if you do 
not wish to take a second, a glass or small hive should 
immediately be put on the parent hive. I do uot think of any 
other difficulty at present, but when I do I shall not fail to 
consult you, as I am sure that the difficulties of the pupil 
are useful to the teacher when expressed to him, as they 
inform him of points which require explanation, but which, 
from being familiar to him, never occurred to him as being 
difficulties. Some people say it is best not to use glass at 
all on straw hives, but only on wooden ones, as glass does 
not stand steady on them. Is it so ? I have not tried 
wooden boxes on my parent straw hive. I do not think I 
shall venture to touch my Babel till I hear from you, fearful 
of an upset, and not knowing whether my glass will be fit 
to remove when I do look at it. If the bees work away 
quietly, I shall let well alone.— Sigma. 
[In reply to the above, it was not considered necessary to 
give the thickness of the floor board: common observation 
would suggest that a half-inch board would not be sufficient 
to support a weight of, perhaps, from 40 to NO lbs. If the 
moveable top of Bayne’s Improved Cottage Hive is taken off 
in less than 18 or 21 days, there is danger of the combs in 
the hive falling, by having their hold to the top of the hive 
loosened before they are firmly fixed to the sides, especially 
if the weather be very hot; and, again, the bees would not 
have established themselves sufficiently in a shorter time in 
the hive so as to commence working in the glass. For the 
best kind of cover to a glass, see The Cottage Gardener, 
vol. II., page 42. A box of wood deep enough to cover 
the glass, and to rest upon the adapting board on which the 
glass is placed, will do as well. When the 101b hive was 
put between the stock hive and the glass, the adapter on 
which the glass and its cover rested should have been re¬ 
moved with them, and a fresh adapter put upon the top of 
the stock-hive for the 10 lb hive to stand upon, which would 
have rendered “ brown paper and matting unnecessary.” 
The glass must not be taken off until the cells are sealed 
up; in some hives, and in some seasons, the increase of 
bees is so rapid, that they will be seen clustering at the 
mouth of the hive before this is done, although a small 
hive has been supplied; in this case a second small hive 
must be given between the two receptacles for honey already 
on the stock-hive, or a swarm will be the result. A glass 
must not be taken off and another put on ; the bees will not 
go up into it; but a small hive must again be placed next 
the stock-hive. Either a glass, a box, or small hive, is fit 
to be. taken off when the combs are all sealed up. In The 
Cottage Gardener, vol. II., p. 105, the cells next the glass 
in the small hive are the last that are sealed up, so when 
you see that done, the hive is ready to be taken. The time 
of the final deprivation must vary with the season—this year, 
say the last week in August; but first ascertain if the stock- 
hive contains 20 lbs of honey, if not, leave the glass on until 
the bees have emptied it. When a stock has swarmed once, 
all the room you can give them will not prevent a second, 
nor, perhaps, a third swarm. See The Cottage Gardener, 
vol. II., p. 104.] 
Double Flowers. —Reading with some degree of interest 
an article of your’s of last Thursday, relative to the pro¬ 
duction of “ double flowers,” and agreeing with you as I do 
on the generality of your remarks, 1 was at the same time 
struck with one relative to the culture having little or 
