162 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
June 
this purpose—that from a fir-tree, perhaps, is the 
best as well as the most durable. I have more than 
once seen the combs of a newly-hived swarm so 
heated by a July sun as to fall from the top of the 
hive, and the honey to run in a stream from its 
entrance, consequently the stocks were ruined. 
The Season. —Although stocks are generally very 
populous, there has been at present very little honey 
stored, and swarming is much later than usual; this 
appears to be general, which several letters now 
before us tend to confirm, among which is one from 
that veteran in apiarian knowledge, Dr. Bevan. 
Writing from Wales, on the 31st of May, he says, 
“ My bees are all in full vigour and very populous, 
but have stored but little honey, and have not yet 
swarmed.” And a friend, writing from London on 
the 4th of June, says, “ In this neighbourhood bees 
never were so scarce, and many old bee-masters have 
not a single stock left.” A clergyman, from Col¬ 
chester, of a still later date, writes to us, saying, 
“ During the last two years at least two-thirds of all 
the stock-hives in Colchester have perished; I have 
lost upwards of 30, and am now almost bankrupt, 
but as great a lover of bees as ever.” As great a 
lover of bees as ever! yes, neither time nor ill success 
has ever in a single instance, within my knowledge, 
at all abated the interest excited by our little favou¬ 
rites in those who have entered in earnest into their 
management and habits. I could adduce many cir¬ 
cumstances in addition to the one already mentioned 
to establish the truth of this observation; let two 
suffice. The venerable Dr. before mentioned is at 
the present moment removing from Wales, the scene 
of his active life, to the place, I believe, of his nati¬ 
vity—certainly the place of his early life (Hereford)— 
to end, in all probability, his days, and amongst the 
few things he considers worth bringing with him are 
his bees. And, again, a very highly respected 
friend, who has all his life been a bee-keeper, and 
who has, both by his careful observation of their 
habits and by his valuable publications, done much 
for the furtherance of apiarian science, is now fixed 
in the centre of London, where the attempt to keep 
bees would be altogether impracticable. Still, how¬ 
ever, the interest which lie feels in their management 
is as much alive as ever, and is fully exemplified in 
his keeping a man almost constantly employed in 
making hives for the purpose of presenting to his 
apiarian friends in different parts of the kingdom. 
1 can speak to this circumstance with much pleasure, 
for I have myself been a recipient for many years of 
all his inventions, many of which are far superior to 
anything of the kiud I had ever before seen. 
EXTRACTS FROM A NOTE-BOOK. 
In my late remarks upon pruning ivy , I advisedly 
used the words, “ cut from me,” but omitted to say, 
why from me, which is important; for, however sharp 
the knife, the usual cut off towards you endangers 
dragging the ivy from its hold on the wall, which if 
once done, even in a small degree, there is great risk 
of the next high wind tearing it off piecemeal. I 
have seen as much as twenty yards on a screen wall 
brought down all at once from this cause, and only 
replaced by copper wire and the use of suitable nails 
and staples. In reference to copper wire, I find it 
the best agent for numerous purposes of tying up, 
and in none more so than binding young fruit, 
rose-trees, &c., to the stakes; when wanted to remain, 
using a substance of wire according to size of trees. 
It is flexible and resists all effects of the weather. I 
am so partial to the use of this wire that, when thin¬ 
ning my grapes, I take a coil of the fittest size, and 
after stretching it to its utmost (after the manner of 
bellhangers) I cut it into various lengths, place 
these lengths upon a convenient board of portable 
construction, and after thinning a bunch, the 
shoulders of which require support or expansion, 
I take a suitable length of the wire, bend it at each 
end, and by hooking one end into the shoulder, and 
hanging the other end upon the parent branch, 
rafter, training wires, or anything most suitable, I 
get through the operation of tying up much readier, 
and more to my satisfaction than by the use of bass 
strands, string, or anything else; and after the 
grapes are gathered, the wires, being preserved and 
sorted, will do again for years. I fancy I have some 
pretension to teach upon the subject, from having 
built a greenhouse in the middle of a large town, the 
sun not reaching it until 11 o’clock, and the vines 
having to run up a trellis 10 feet high before enter¬ 
ing; and when I was told by some experienced grape 
growers I should not get a berry, yet out of which 
small house I cut, the seventh year after planting 
my vines, 312 bunches of good eatable grapes—and 
though late (for I used no firing) some of them deli¬ 
cious—and sent as presents to my friends in a 
triumph. I had only seven rafters, and the sorts 
were, Black Hamburgh, White and Grizzly Fron- 
tiguac, and White Muscat of Alexandria; some of 
this latter scarcely got ripe. Whilst on the subject 
of vines, I will mention a little matter that cannot he 
too much known, although of no use this year. 
Speech ley (with whom I was personally acquainted) 
is very diffuse upon the subject of vine bleeding; and, 
even after his application of sealing-wax, bladder, 
searing, &c., leaves the malady without cure; where¬ 
as an amateur friend told me of a very simple 
remedy, which I have uniformly found efficacious, 
and it is this:—Take equal parts of old cheese and 
unslaked lime; work them w r ell together iuto the 
consistency of putty, when, after cutting the bleed¬ 
ing vine at the injured place quite smooth, with a 
slope, so as to bring all the sap vessels equally under 
the operation, place a sufficient quantity of the com¬ 
position upon the end of your thumb, and, by a 
strong pressure thereof, work as much of the com¬ 
pound as possible up into the sap vessels at the cut, 
and in a few hours I have always found the bleeding 
to cease. 
Fumigating a vinery or greenhouse I have always 
found best and most effectually done, when small, 
by the fumigating bellows. Charge the chamber of 
the bellows with tobacco-paper or the coarsest tobacco 
(leaves of your own growing and drying are cheapest 
and best); put a bright red hot cinder from the fire 
upon the top of the charge when in the house; blow 
gently until the fire gets hold, and then puff away 
as long as you can remain for the smoke; then, hav¬ 
ing a suitable aperture near the floor, puff away 
through the same; and half a pound of tobacco will, 
if well applied, completely fill the place, so as the 
plants therein cannot at first be seen, and every 
green fly will be past recovery. Of course this 
should be done after the sun has left, and the house 
shut up for the night as close as possible. If rain¬ 
ing, the better, as many chinks in the glass will be 
then closed up by the water. 
And as to heating amateur greenhouses and vine¬ 
ries, however much may have been said upon the 
Polmaise principle, I strongly incline to an opinion I 
have recently formed, of the complete efficacy of 
Walker's Selffeeding Stove. A friend of my ac- 
