THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 
284 
Cabbages. —If any hard white cabbages remain, 
they should be cut, and given to the cow or pig. 
They will produce sprouts which will be extremely 
useful. 
Lettuces. —It will be advisable for the cottager to 
sow a little Bath coss and the Hammersmith cab¬ 
bage lettuces in a warm nook of light soil. The first 
week of September is the proper time, provided the 
soil is good. These will make small stiff plants 
before winter, and, if covered up with dry litter as 
soon as frozen, they will keep through the winter, 
and will produce fine heads in May. 
Pickles. —Our allotment friends must now begin 
to think of their pickles, and amongst them we think 
that cabbage, onions, and nasturtiums, will prove the 
least expensive and most useful. The nasturtiums 
must be gathered once a week or so, and care must 
be taken to pick them clean before frost can seize 
them, for they are easily spoiled. 
Hedges. —Any arrears of dubbing should be at once 
brought up, and we advise a general clearing of all 
boundary fences before the days get too short. The 
dubbings and all the coarse weeds or other refuse 
may then be got together on a spare bit of ground, 
and burnt, or rather charred. The residue may then 
be stored away in any dry corner, and it will be found 
useful in the ensuing spring to sow in drills with root 
crops, especially carrots or turnips. 
THE BEE-KEEPER'S CALENDAR.— Sept. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keepers 
Guide,” do. 
Depriving. —The time has now arrived for the final 
deprivation of bees, and where it has been found 
necessary to place two or three receptacles for honey 
upon the stock hive, the uppermost one may certainly 
be removed, and generally the one next to it; but 
the greatest caution must be exercised in taking any 
more, for twenty pounds, at least, of net honey must 
be left in the hive for winter store, and should the 
hive itself not contain that quantity, the box or boxes 
must be left on, and removed when emptied by the 
bees some time between December and March ; cer¬ 
tainly not later than that time, or the queen may 
possibly go up and deposit eggs in the empty combs. 
The method of getting the bees out of the glasses or 
boxes has already been given at page 105. 
Drone Killing. —The bees have been later this 
year in killing the drones than they usually are, 
which I believe may be considered as a proof that 
the honey season has also been later. The work of 
slaughter was commenced with me on the 26tli of 
July, and is now (August 10th) going on most furi¬ 
ously. 
Bees Prognosticators of the Weather. —I am 
not aware that bees have ever been placed in the list 
of those animals which are said to foretcl the changes 
of weather, as many animals of the feathered and 
insect tribes are; but in my opinion they stand 
foremost of the weather-wise. A nice observer, by 
looking at them in the early morning during the 
working season, will very soon be able to form an 
opinion as to what the day will be, and that almost 
to a certainty; for they will sometimes appear slug¬ 
gish and inactive, although the morning is very 
bright and showing every appearance for a fine day; 
but the sun soon becomes clouded, and ram follows. 
And, again, the morning may be dull and cloudy, 
and sometimes rain may be falling, when they may 
be observed going out in considerable numbers, and 
as sure as this is seen the day becomes bright and fair. 
Union of Stocks. —Those persons who happen to 
have very old stocks which are worn out, either by 
the decay of the hive which contains them, or by 
the blackened and almost useless state of the combs, 
from having brood hatched in them for many years, 
may unite them very safely to swarms of this year, 
or to stocks of two or three years standing, in the 
following manner, and for which I am chiefly in¬ 
debted to that excellent apiarian, Gelieu. The opera¬ 
tion is performed very easily, and without danger. I 
have frequently accomplished it without any protec¬ 
tion whatever. The proper time for effecting these 
unions will be either at the end of September or very 
early in October. Those stocks which are in sound 
hives, and the combs not much blackened by time, 
but upon weighing are found to require four or five 
pounds of honey to carry them through the winter, had 
better have that quantity supplied to them now; while 
those that are in bad condition, both as regards hive 
and combs, as well as those requiring eight or ten 
pounds of honey, had better be united to Other stocks, 
for to feed them will be too troublesome, as well as 
too expensive. The manner of procedure is thus: 
upon a fine morning commence by blowing a few puffs 
of tobacco-smoke with a pipe in at the door of the 
hive you intend to clear; then turn up the hive, and 
place it upon its top upon the ground, and give it a 
little more smoke sufficient to force the bees to retire 
within the combs; then proceed to cut out all the 
combs in succession, with the knife described at page 
217, beginning with the smallest, sweeping the bees 
witli a feather off each piece back into the hive, 
placing the combs one after another into a large dish, 
keeping it at the same time covered with a napkin to 
prevent other bees coming to it. The last comb will 
be found tire most difficult to come at, being com¬ 
pletely covered over with bees. This operation may 
be performed without gloves or any protection what¬ 
ever; the only weapon required is a pipe or a cigar. 
The combs being thus all removed, the bees remain 
as completely destitute of food as they were on the 
day of their swarming. Replace the hive upon its 
hoard, in the spot it occupied when full, and leave it 
till the evening, by which time the bees will be clus¬ 
tered together like a new swarm. During the whole 
of the day, which is supposed to be a fine one, they 
occupy themselves with the greatest earnestness 
cleansing their house and removing the little frag¬ 
ments of wax that have fallen on the board, that any 
one who did not know it had been emptied would 
take it for the best and strongest of the hives. Just 
before dark, when they are all quiet, blow a little 
tobacco-smoke in at the door of the hive it is intended 
for the deprived bees to enter, and which should be 
its next neighbour, either on the right hand or the 
left, then, turning it up and resting it upon the ground, 
sprinkle it all over with honey diluted with a very 
little water, especially between the combs where the 
greatest number of bees are seen. Five or six table 
spoonsful generally suffice, but at times more may be 
required. If too little be given, the new comers might 
not be well received—there might be some fighting; 
and by giving too much the risk of drowning might 
bo incurred; the sprinkling, however, may cease when 
the bees begin to climb up and shelter themselves on 
the sides of the hive. Then take a table-cloth, spread 
it upon the ground, and with a smart and sudden 
shock throw upon it the bees out of the hive that 
i was deprived of its combs in the morning, and imme¬ 
diately place the hive that has been sprinkled, and 
! which they are intended to enter, over them, raising it 
! a little on one side with a wedge. They will imuiedi- 
