THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 1, 1857. 349 
minutes I had the satisfaction to see a worker bringing him 
hack by force, and succeeded iu arresting them as the 
worker was flying away with him. He was very lively when 
caught, but this morning I found him dead.” This account 
agrees with what Mr. M‘Lellan lately, stated on this subject; 
therefore there can be no doubt of the esistence of small 
drones, though there may be of the cells in which they are 
bred. 
We still incline to the belief of Key’s and other old 
apiarians that dwarf drones come from eggs laid in the 
cells of workers ; and we may note that we do not rely much 
on the common belief that the cells of bees soon become 
too small, from the skins or parts of the cocoons left in them 
by the insects, to rear full-sized bees. We have had strong 
swarms from combs twelve and fourteen years old. But 
supposing that small drones come from eggs laid in con¬ 
tracted male cells, as these in general are only occupied once 
in the season with brood, and yet become so, what size must 
those of the workers be? According to this notion hives 
about four years old should throw off only swarms of baby 
bees.— J. Wighton, 
ALLEGED CURE EOR THE VINE MILDEW. 
Being an amateur in the cultivation of the Vine, like 
most others I have been occasionally troubled with the 
disease which has been so prevalent. I was led to try a 
solution of the permanganate of potass, and, by syringing the 
Vine and fruit only once, I found it removed all trace of 
disease, and the foliage assumed a far more healthy appear¬ 
ance than it had ever done before. I was then led to try its 
effects on an Hibiscus which was covered with Aphis vas- 
tator, and found it equally successful; so that I consider it 
might entirely supersede the use of the fumes of tobacco, 
and save a great deal of expense and labour also. The 
strength of the liquor of which I made use was half a pint 
of the solution of the permanganate to two gallons of water. 
—W. Bartlett, Pharmaceutical Chemist, 1, Bretten Terrace, 
King's Hoad, Chelsea. 
[Some of our readers may not know that permanganate 
of potash is composed of an acid obtained by combining 
manganese with oxygene, and this acid with potash. It 
may be obtained of any pharmaceutical chemist.—E d. C. G.] 
“ WORDS TO LABOURERS.” 
Under this title the Rev. E. F. Beynon, President for the 
year of the East Surrey Agricultural Association, has 
published an admirable penny pamphlet. That it deserves 
to be widely distributed the following extract will prove 
“ The late Sir Robert Peel (whose father was himself an 
instance of a man who, by his industry, integrity, and skill, 
had raised himself to a high position in society) stated in 
the House of Commons that he knew ten men who were 
receiving twenty-five or thirty shillings as a week’s wages, 
when he was a boy, who were worth, at the time when he 
was speaking, from £50,000 to .£100,000 each. On this 
occasion he also dwelt upon the importance to working men 
of a small saving. * It may be,’ he observes, * the founda¬ 
tion to them of future independence; it may enable the 
father of a family, imitating the honourable example of the 
Hon. Member for Salford [the late Mr. Brotherton, then in 
the House of Commons], to gather that family round him, 
and say, ‘ From these small gains I will lay the foundation 
of a fortune, such as hundreds in Lancashire have acquired 
by their own industry and integrity.’ The great Rothschild 
began by buying prints at Manchester, and ended by be¬ 
coming the principal money power of Europe. But you 
may say to me, ‘ True, but these examples are comparatively 
useless, and do not meet our case; we do not live in a manu¬ 
facturing but in an agricultural district, and do not earn 
twenty-five or thirty shillings a week. Granted, but I will 
tell you of men in your own position and walk of life who 
have raised themselves in a similar manner. On a former 
occasion I alluded to the late Alderman Kelly, who, when a 
boy, fed sheep on the Surrey Hills, and afterwards, by bis 
honesty, industry, intelligence, and skill, raised himself to 
be Lord Mayor of London, and had the honour of receiving 
at the ancient gates of the city, over which he presided, our 
present gracious sovereign Queen Victoria, on her accession 
to the throne. Dr. Lushington, at an agricultural meeting 
in Kent not long since, mentioned the circumstance of a 
gentleman who once fed sheep upon the downs of Lan¬ 
cashire being made a magistrate by the Duke of Portland, 
the Lord Lieutenant, and Avho shortly after received 
the thanks of the magistracy of the whole county for his 
intelligence and zeal. Sir Joseph Paxton, of Crystal Palace 
celebrity, commenced life as a gardener; and the best 
mathematician at King’s College, Aberdeen, at this time, is 
a man who part of the year works in agriculture, and during 
the other part studies in college. Seek then to inscribe 
your name in that golden record of self-made men, a place 
in which none of us can inherit, but all may aspire to attain. 
I do not, indeed, suppose that you will all become lord 
mayors, magistrates, or mathematicians, and if you do you 
will not be freed from work, for you will have brain work, 
than which none is more arduous ; but you may all achieve 
excellence and honour in your own position by integrity and 
skill. Yes, my friends, there is a greatness and a dignity in 
any useful employment, but it is a greatness Avithin you, and 
not without you. True wealth does not consist in riches, or 
power, or rank, or in the three united. As the poet sings— 
* The rank is but the guinea’s stamp— 
The man’s the gold for a’ that.’ 
But he is not worthy of the name who does not use and 
improve the abilities which Providence has given him; and 
the man who does use them, who does rightly employ the 
highest of the gifts of God to man, may look forward to 
attain, in some degree, both a material and moral greatness. 
The steps up Fortune’s ladder to success in life are not so 
numerous or so difficult as to forbid a trial of them. Many 
have trodden them with advantage to themselves and benefit 
to society, and reached a happy termination to their labours 
and their toils; and you, you may do the same. First of all 
you must have self-reliance, and if there be one worldly 
lesson more than another which you could learn to your 
advantage, it is that of dependence upon your own powers, 
under Providence, to achieve your own advancement. The 
next step is industry—‘ the diligent hand maketh rich.’ 
‘ Round swings the hammer of industry, 
Quickly the sharp chisel rings, 
And the heart of the toiler has throbbings 
Thkt stir not the bosom of kings. 
* He the true ruler and conqueror, 
He the true king of his race, 
Who nerveth his arm for life’s combat, 
And looks the strong world in the face.’ 
From D. F. M'Carthy’s Poems. 
Then you must have perseverance—you must persevere in 
the path which you have chosen, and not be discouraged by 
trials. Partial successes only, amidst frequent disappoint¬ 
ments, must be looked for in our passage through a fallen 
world. Next, you must have thrift; be careful how you 
spend and how you pay; [remember the old maxims, ‘Waste 
not want not;’ ‘A penny saved is a penny gained.’ Be 
mindful of the words of the late Sir Robert Peel, that ‘ a 
small saving maybe the foundation of future independence.’ 
John Wesley, in his sermon on the use of money, says, 
‘ Make all you can—save all you can—give all you can.’ 
You must also have temperance. Intemperance, like impro¬ 
vidence, is one of the evil eyes which look upon the labour 
of this country, and is not only the father of that cruel wolf 
which seeks admittance to the poor man’s hearth, viz., want, 
but is the destroyer of a man’s own self-respect, comfort, and 
respectability. You must likewise possess integrity of heart 
both towards God and man; be just and true in all your 
dealings, and commend yourselves by probity of conduct alike 
to all around you, as to Him ‘ who seeth not as man seeth.’ 
The last step of the ladder which, by the divine blessing, 
you may hope to attain is independence. In one sense, 
indeed, it is true that you are all dependent— dependent upon 
the great Creator for the mercies, and bounties, and bless¬ 
ings, which come to you from hour to hour— dependent upon 
your fellow-creatures for the supply of your wants and the 
many comforts of your lives ; but it is equally true that a 
happy competency is most desirable when sought for on 
Christian principles—a competency which, while it renders 
