THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION, May 5, l nr,7. 
00 
NEW BOOK. 
The Vegetable Kingdom."' —One of the most desirable 
objects to bo kept in view by the author of any elementary 
work on scienoe is to divest if us much as possible of the dry 
technicalities und jargons of its definitions and descriptions, 
AVe are quite aware that to do this is very difficult, and to 
some minds it is an impossibility. Many of the most cole, 
bratod of our men of science—men the deepest skilled, most 
learned, and most practised—never could explain themselves 
popularly, nevor could place before a pupil in familiar 
language the knowledge they wished to impart. Others, on 
the other hand, can detail the most abstruse facts and doc¬ 
trines of science in the plainest household words, and write 
them down, as it were, with a sunbeam. Among the latter 
wo say, without any fear of contradiction, is the author of 
the work now under notice. Most persons who have ever 
thought about the botanical arrangement of plants have con¬ 
sidered the Natural System as far too difficult to be acquired 
by any one unable to devote his life to the study. Such 
opinion was justified by the dry husks with which they over¬ 
whelmed that study, and its best refutation is in this work 
by Mr. Hogg. Where a familiar word could be used it is 
used; the arrangement adopted is the most unexceptionable; 
the descriptions of the different orders are clear and simple; 
the illustrations are excellent and numerous, and the notes 
upon each are copious, useful, and highly interesting. 
Wo are glad to see from the advertisement that a work 
capable of so much utility is being published, in weekly 
numbers, at a price which brings it within tho reach of every 
one. We shall recur to it next week, and will then publish 
some extracts and specimens of the illustrations. 
DOODIA ASPEKA RAISED FROM OLD SPORES. 
As I only receive your invaluable publication monthly I 
did not see what you stated respecting the Fern Doodia 
aspera till the beginning of this month. I immediately 
communicated with the young lady from whom I had the 
piece of frond, who told me that this, among a lot of other 
Ferns, was brought from India seven or eight years ago, and 
was, with the others, arranged between the leaves of a book. 
As soon as I received the piece of frond (it was not more 
than one inch square) I sowed the seed in a pot, and 
covered it with a glass, and plunged the pot over a hot-water 
tank. The glass was not once removed till the young 
seedlings were fit to transplant, which was about six months 
after sowing. Occasionally, when the top of the pot ap¬ 
peared a little dry, I watered over the glass, the soil being 
thus kept moist by capillary attraction. I pricked out about 
thirty of the small Ferns, and threw the remainder away. 
Not a single other Fern came up among the Doodias, 
although there are several kept in the same stove that shed 
their seeds, which vegetate in every direction, as well in 
the pots among other plants as in the crevices of the walls. 
There was no plant of Doodia in the house nor in the neigh¬ 
bourhood. I think I can safely say there was not one within 
a hundred miles. , At all events I can positively assert 
that there was not one within thirty miles from where the 
seedlings grew.—A very Old Subscriber. 
POWER OF BEES TO PRODUCE HEAT. 
Some few months ago I reported in The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener, under the head of the Power of Bees to Generate 
Heat, a circumstance which occurred in my apiary on the 
1st of December, 1856, and ventured to theorise thereon. 
The Editor suggested the propriety of bringing my opinion 
to the test of experiment, which I attempted to do by fixing, 
as was suggested, a thermometer in one of my hives. The 
results I purpose now to give, premising that, although I 
can scarcely say I have obtained that which I sought for 
* A Natural History of the Vegetable Kingdom and its Products. 
By Robert Hogg, Esq., author of “ British Pomology,” &c. W. Kent 
and Co., London. 
without throwing myself op on to the charge of jumping 
hastily at conclusions, yet 1 have obtained proof somewhat 
calculated to confirm that opinion—evidence that it j i not 
altogether an erroneous opinion. 
The thermometer was placed in the hive (a. stray/ one) on 
Christmas day, and the observations, carried on until the 
16th of February, 1857, during which period I, perhaps 
selfishly, exceedingly longed for 1!D or 22" of frost, without, 
which my theory could not be accurately tested. In this 
desire, it will be seen, j was not indulged, as it will be 
noticed below that the greatest cold experienced here during 
the afore-mentioned interval was considerably less than 
that. 
From December 25th to the -‘list inclusive the average 
temperature outside the bee house was, dropping fractions, 
61 °, within the hive 45°, excess J I"; from January 1st to 
January 61st, outside TV', inside 51°, excess 16°; from 
February 1st to 16th, outside 87 u , inside 55°, excess 18-'. 
On the 18th February the inside temperature rose to 70'', 
and ever since has ranged between that and 80A That 
which 1 consider as being confirmatory of my opinion now 
follows. It occurred on the 4th and 5th January. The 
observations of these days stand in my note-book thus :— 
4th. 8 a.m., outside 81° ; 
inside 48° 
4 p.m. „ 81 
n 1 : 
» » 
„ 80 
„ 40 
H „ 
„ 27 
„ 42 
5tli. 8 a.m. 
„ 20 
„ 44 
4 p.m. 
„ 80 
„ 44 
11 „ 
„ 28 
„ 44 
This is the only time the temperature of the hive descended 
so low, and any further descent the bees seem immediately 
to have checked, as it will he observed that, although the 
external air became colder, the internal air increased in heat. 
The greatest cold experienced here during the preceding 
period occurred at 8 a.rri. on the 27th December and 29th 
January, the thermometer outside showing in both cases 18*. 
On the first date in the hive it showed 47°; on the latter 
48°. The lowest in the hive, as before stated, was 40°; the 
highest 91° at 2 p.m. on the 26th January. The two ther¬ 
mometers never at the same moment indicated the same 
temperature, but they were on two occasions within 9° of 
each other: — 
January 2, outside 41°; inside 47°. 
17, „ 46 „ 49 
That the foregoing thermometrical observations will not be 
devoid of interest to some of your apiarian readers is rny 
belief; it is my hope, also, that they may induce some of 
them to bring forth from the treasury of their experience 
facts calculated to prove or disprove the theory I formerly pro¬ 
pounded touching the sagacity the beers manifest in shaking 
their torpor off, and disseminating a genial warmth through¬ 
out their domicile in seasons of intense external cold. 
Allow me, before closing this paper, to express how delighted 
I shall be to see the “ British Apiarian Society” duly formed 
and established. A society of the kind indicated is what v/e 
apiarians want, and what I have long wished to see set 
a-going, and I hope, with your assistance, such will soon be 
the case. Such a society formed, its members maintaining 
a frank and ingenuous correspondence with each other, 
either publicly or privately, readily undertaking comparative 
experiments for the solution of any difficulty connected 
with the physiology of the insect, or even, a3 you say, with 
the “ view of determining the relative merits of hives,” must 
undoubtedly lead to the rectifying of much error, and to 
the profitable management of this most interesting insect.— 
D. G. M‘Lellan. 
GROWING WINTER LETTUCES UNDER 
BELLGLASSES. 
I beg to place before the readers of The Cottage Gae- 
dener a brief note on raising Lettuces under cloches 
(bellglasses). 
I called the other day at Withington Hall, the seat of J. 
Gegg, Esq., situated six miles from Macclesfield, and I was 
