THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND GOUNTR 1 
i 
Lens.—A plano-convex glass of nine inches focus is fixed 
in a tube of brass, tin, or cardboard (c), and on each side 
of it a disc of blackened cardboard (b), the same size as 
the lens, each having an opening in the centre a quarter of 
an inch in diameter. This slides in another tube ( l ) 
attached to the woodwork in front of the camera, c is a 
moveable cap for covering the lens when necessary. 
In constructing both camera and lens it will be well to 
remember that a very small amount of light passing else¬ 
where than through the lens will be fatal to the success of 
a photograph.—E. A. Copland. 
(To be continued.) 
Holly Stealing at Christmas. —At Aylesbury Assizes 
William Ginger , aged 21, and William Dukes, aged 18, were 
indicted for stealing twelve branches of a Holly tree, 
growing in the pleasure ground belonging to Hartwell 
House, the residence of Dr. Lee, the said branches being 
worth more than dGl, on the 16 th of December last. A 
second count charged the prisoners with damaging the said 
tree to the extent of more than ^1. The gardener of Dr. 
Lee proved that the tree in question was an old and very 
handsome variegated Holly, which was greatly prized by 
Dr. Lee. It grew up nearly twenty feet high in four stems, 
and was perfect on the 16th of December, on which day the 
two prisoners were seen walking in a parish road close to the 
pleasure garden. On the 22nd it was discovered that many 
of the upper branches had been rudely torn off, and the tree 
entirely spoilt. The gardener, suspecting that he should 
find some of his tree in Aylesbury Christmas market, went 
there, and at two stalls he saw some branches which he re¬ 
cognised, and eventually identified by matching them with 
the broken stumps. Both the persons in whose possession 
these branches were so found stated, and now proved, that 
they had bought them from the two prisoners. It further 
appeared that the pleasure ground in which the tree grew 
was separated from the house and garden by the road in 
which the prisoners were seen, and that it was connected 
with the garden by a tunnel under the road. Mr. Mills 
submitted that the case was not within the Act, as the 
ground was separated from the house and its garden by a 
public road. The Chief Baron having overruled the ob¬ 
jection, as the existence of the tunnel showed that the 
ground in question was occupied with the house, and brought 
it within the words “ belonging to the house,” as laid in the 
indictment, the jury found both the prisoners Guilty, 
whereupon they were both sentenced to imprisonment for 
one month, the learned and amiable prosecutor having re¬ 
commended them to mercy. 
THE STEWARTON SYSTEM OF BEE¬ 
KEEPING. 
[Mr. Wilson has favoured us with the following. It was 
prefaced with some comments upon Mr. M‘Lellan’s previous 
communications, which we omit, because we are all in 
pursuit of truth, and in that pursuit our only footing should 
be upon facts.—E d. C. G.] 
I wish heartily to respond to the suggestion that a 
statement of our practices would be more acceptable than 
such discussions. 
At first the thought of undertaking to give a detailed 
account of our system of management rather alarmed me, 
as I have not much spare time at command, while writing 
to a public journal is something of a task, because quite a 
j new occupation. After due consideration, however, a plan 
has occurred to my mind which I anticipate will give a fair 
idea of our doings, and being spread over a season it will 
cause me little inconvenience. 
My plan is to number three hives respectively 1, 2, 3, 
and at the beginning of the ensuing season to register 
their condition, weight, &c., and report to The Cottage 
Gardener. At the end of each subsequent month till the 
close of the season I purpose to note the particulars of 
management, and the state of the weather during the 
j preceding four weeks; also the weight of each hive at the 
I date of report. By such means the progress of three 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, April 7, 1857. 0 
colonies would be shown, the various manoeuvres incidental 
to our system brought to light, and the results of the 
season’s labours recorded. 
I beg to inform “A Country Curate ” that the bee 
boxes advertised by Mr. Eaglesham I know to be good, but 
two of them are required to form a hive as a beginning, 
and under favourable circumstances several boxes are 
necessary for this purpose. Mr. E. has apparently over¬ 
looked the fact that every person does not know the 
arrangement of a Stewarton apiary, and that bee-keepers 
may be led astray by concluding that one box and one hive 
mean the same thing.—R. Wilson, Stewarton. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
TRELLIS CLIMBERS OUT OF DOORS IN SURREY. 
“ I have a trellis against a wall of my house that I have 
been in vain endeavouring to render gay during the summer 
for some years. I have had an Eccremocarpus scabra, which 
always grows remarkably strong without any blossom worth 
keeping it for. One autumn I cut it down, and the following 
summer it grew about twelve feet high, but as it did not 
produce more than six bunches of flowers I determined to 
let it stand as it was all the winter, which it did without the 
slightest protection, and was never without green leaves; but 
the next summer I had no more flowers than before. I cut 
it down again last autumn, and it is now springing up again, 
but I really think I shall move it. What situation would 
suit it ? I could give it a place more fully exposed to the 
sun ; and would it do to climb up and ramble amongst the 
branches of a tree ? 
“ I have a beautiful Jasminum nudiflorum that has been in 
bloom ever since Christmas day on the same trellis, though 
last season’s flowers are still on it; but being without blos¬ 
som all the summer I want something that would be very 
gay beside it. 
“ I procured a Solanum jasminoides last spring, and it 
grew certainly fifteen feet, but without a single flower. Will 
you inform me how I must prune it and train it so as to 
flower well ? That, also, has stood this winter without any 
protection, and is now beginning to grow again. I planted 
a Ceanothus azureus at the same time, but do not think much 
of it, as, although the flower is beautiful to look into, it is 
not striking at a distance, and does not produce a succession. 
Now, considering the Solanum has stood the winter without 
injury, do you not think I might plant a Fuchsia against the 
trellis with advantage ? A nicely-trained one of the hardiest 
and free-blooming sorts would make a lovely object if I 
could keep it over the winter so as to get it a good size. Do 
you think I could succeed, and if so, which would you recom¬ 
mend, Hailstorm , Exoniensis, or Gigantea ? I think they are 
amongst the most abundant flowerers. Banks' Glory or Nil 
Desperandum are better flowers, but not so free, I think. 
“ I have a Passiflora azurea on a pillar close to the trellis, 
which reached the top (eight feet) last season, but without 
flowers. It has held its leaves quite green all the winter. 
What must I do with it ? It has had no protection. My 
house is on Tulse Hill (Surrey), much exposed, but the 
plants I have mentioned are situated in a recess, so to speak, 
formed by the greenhouse projecting on one side, and a 
portion of the house on the other. The opening is to the 
south—the trellis faces the west.”— Flora. 
[We have seen an Eccremocarpus 130 feet long, and the 
stem as thick as the wrist on outhouses close to the south 
end of the Malvern Hills, and with hardly a dozen flowers 
in a season. It flowers but from three to seven years old, 
and after that it should be renewed from seeds. Ceanothus 
azureus is, without a single exception, the most admired by 
ladies of all the wall-plants they have in England. Fuchsia 
Riccartoni is the hardiest and the strongest of them, or of 
that race of them, but hard winters kill it in England. Any 
others would need thick coverings. Passion-flowers , like 
Solanum jasminoides and most other fast climbers, do not 
flower much for the first three years after planting, and all 
of them require very close pruning till they show blooms 
most freely; then they must not be so hard pruned. Jas¬ 
minum nudiflorum we would remove from the trellis now, and 
take it back in October to bloom. It ought, in fact, to be 
thus moved every year of its life.] 
