222 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, July 7, 1857. 
ket, may be made at our stations and settlements, and pro¬ 
fited by as an article of commerce much inquired after by 
licensed victuallers and private families, many of whom are 
accustomed to say, “ What we want is a really good article; ” 
and it seems to be thought that the bottled catsup sold by 
grocers is somewhat inferior, at the same time that the price 
is a shade too high. We might suggest to the enterprising 
parties who should be inclined to go into this department of 
produce, that their apparatus need consist only of a quarter- 
cask sawn in two unequal parts, the larger being supplied 
with a cover, and intended to receive from time to time sup¬ 
plies from the smaller after boiling. The modes of pro¬ 
ceeding with the Mushrooms and with the liquor would be 
j as follows:—Suppose a bushel of Mushrooms to have been 
gathered at one time, the caps having been separated from 
the stalks and rinsed, they would be put into the smaller 
tub in layers, each of which should have a moderate 
sprinkling of rough salt. The liquor and caps together 
would next morning be boiled, in an ordinary boiling-pan, 
until the liquor was heavy enough to float an egg. It could 
either be strained in this condition or put into the larger 
tub, and the straining left until the making was complete, 
or no more Mushrooms could be had, and the liquor in this 
form was to be cashed off and sent away. The spicing 
would not be necessary, and the proper density of the liquor 
being arrived at, its salt quality would secure its preservation. 
The commercial value of such an article is 5s. a gallon in 
England : here it would be Gs., and a few hogsheads of it 
coming from reliable hands would at the present time or 
during the present season fetch this price in Sydney. We 
shall not be considered presumptuous for having submitted 
these remarks upon a commodity which may, indeed, appear 
a small matter, but our commercial production of which 
may serve to enlarge, in ways unseen, our scope for ad¬ 
ministering to the comforts of our sustenance. It is a little 
to be wondered at that, so differently situated as we are 
from the mass of the people of England, with whom the 
practice of eating animal food is more restrained than we 
find here, we are remarkably indifferent to modes of giving 
a piquant relish to our dishes. We may mend in this 
respect, and, in aiming to do so, begin by producing a first- 
rate Mushroom liquor. 
Colonial Raisins. —We have been shown a sample of 
colonial Raisins prepared from this year’s Grapes by Mr. 
Prior, of Maclaren Vale, near Adelaide. The Grapes 
selected are the Muscat of Alexandria, and the clusters of 
Raisins made from them are really of a very superior de¬ 
scription. Their only fault consisted in their not being 
sufficiently dried and pressed. Mr. Prior, however, professes 
1 himself able to fulfil these two desiderata; and should he 
succeed he will certainly have the merit of producing a 
most excellent and marketable article. 
The Opossum Nuisance. —Many parties residing in the 
bush have latterly complained to us of the extensive de¬ 
predations committed by opossums on farms which happen 
unfortunately to be surrounded by thickly-wooded country. 
On moonlight nights especially they pour down in great 
numbers, when neither corn, wheat, fruit, nor vegetables 
escape their attacks, and in many instances the amount of 
damage done is really serious. On the Eish River, for 
| instance, a considerable amount of damage has been done 
by these quadrupeds, where, owing to the disappearance of 
the blacks, with whom the opossum is the principal article 
of food, they have increased to an astonishing extent. It is 
no uncommon thing, so we are told, to shoot forty or fifty in 
one night, and the fear is that, unless some means of ex¬ 
termination are adopted, they will become almost the sole 
| occupants of certain portions of the bush. The matter rests 
in the hands of the settlers themselves, whose organs of 
destructiveness will be stimulated to action by the law of 
I self-preservation .—(Sydney Morning Herald.) 
Early Swarms. — I see an inquiry by “ G. Fry ” as to 
I whether you were aware of any swarming previous to the 
; 11th of May. I beg to state that we had one on the 9th of 
May, and this time three years we had one on the 21st of 
j April, hived on the old principle of the cottage straw hive. 
! — E. H. II., Strood , Kent . 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 
Echeveria canaliculata ( Channelied-leavcd Echeveria ). 
This Crassula-like plant is showy. It is a native of the 
Real del Monte Mountains, in Mexico. Flowers crimson, 
blooming in April .—{Botanical Magazine, t. 498G.) 
Gardenia citriodora ( Orange-scented Gardenia). 
This native of Natal, though known in 1849, was but 
recently grown by Messrs. Rollisson, of Tooting. It is a 
two-feet-high evergreen shrub ; scented, as the name im¬ 
plies ; flowers white, tinged with pink; blooms in May.—- 
{Ibid, t . 4987.) 
Begonia Wageneriana ( Wayener's Begonia). 
Found at Venezuela by Mr. Wagener. It is the Mosh~ 
kowitziu Wageneriana of Klotzsch. Male flowers creamy 
white; female flowers pale yellowish green. Blooms in 
April and May.— {Ibid. t. 4988.) 
Xanthosoma sagittifolium {Arrow-leaved Xanthosoma). 
This is really an Arum from the tropics, and is the Arum 
sagittifolium of Linnseus. It is a native of South America, 
and “ was introduced to the Royal Gardens at Kew, from the 
West Indies, prior to the year 1710. In Jamaica, according 
to Lunan, it is extensively cultivated as an esculent, little, if 
at all, inferior to the Colocasia antiquorum; in wholesome¬ 
ness and delicacy far superior to Spinach; and in this 
respect it may vie with any European vegetable whatever. 
It blooms in our stoves during the winter.” Leaves from 
one to three feet long; flower creamy white; spadix very 
large, and hexangular-netted.— {Ibid. t. 4989.) 
Cypripedium hirsutissimum {Most hairy Lady's Slipper). 
Believed to be a native of Java, and purchased at a sale 
of East Indian plants by Mr. Parker, of Hornsey. It 
bloomed in April, 1857. The flowers are purple and 
green.— {Ibid. t. 4990.) 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
BEES NOT SWARMING AND DRONELESS. 
“ I have two stocks, one an old one which has not 
swarmed for two or three years, the other a swarm of last 
year. They work pretty well. I have been very desirous 
they should swarm, but no symptoms of swarming appear. 
They seem to have no drones; at least, none have as yet 
made their appearance, except one or two little undergrown 
things which I saw crawling about on the ground unable to 
fly. They are tolerably heavy. Now, it strikes me their 
defect arises from a want of fertility in the queens, as pro¬ 
bably they are old. 
“ I think we bee-keepers have yet something to learn in 
their successful management. I have closely observed them 
for years. I have read nearly everything published on the 
subject, and tried many sorts of hives, about which there is 
a good deal of nonsense. The great secret of success does 
not, in my opinion, consist in the material or shape of the 
hive.”— Edward Fairbrother. 
[Families of bees, like those of men, will grow old in time. ! 
One at least of your stocks seems to be worn out, and most 
likely is filled with combs ill adapted for their original pur¬ 
pose—the rearing of brood. You may as well get rid of it 
in the autumn by fuming the hive. We cannot account for 
the other stock not swarming any otherwise than by saying 
that all families do not thrive equally well anywhere. Pos¬ 
sibly the queen may not be a prolific one. In this case the 
absence of drones is not unusual. The stock being a young 
one, it will another season probably have the advantage of a 
changed queen. You are right to gain as much information 
from books as you can; but no author beyond a common 
quack can direct the bee-master to any certain method or 
hive that in all times, seasons, and places will act with uni¬ 
form success. The “nonsense” is with those who expect 
it.] 
