414 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 29, 1857. 
ever succeeded, either at Tottenham or elsewhere, in obtain¬ 
ing comb of such a degree of whiteness. 
The box I have received had the combs unfortunately 
broken in travelling, otherwise I should certainly have re¬ 
tained it for inspection. 
It is hardly necessary to state that the honey also is of a 
very superior character, being remarkably clear and colour¬ 
less ; and the entire box does not contain a single grub or 
cell filled with bee bread. Since writing the above I have 
received a letter from Mr. Eaglesham, who informs me that 
“ the box was a fair average one as to colour. There were 
scores of equal quality and larger boxes taken in this locality 
this season.” 
RESULT OF PLACING THE SWARM IN THE 
SITUATION OF THE OLD STOCK. 
Those bee-keepers who were readers of The Cottage 
Gardener some five years since must recollect the suggestive 
and interesting letters of a contributor who signed himself 
“ A Country Curate.” This gentleman, who is now in 
Australia, was a strong advocate for the plan of placing the 
newly-hived swarm in the situation of thejdive from whence 
it issued, the advantages claimed for the plan being that it 
depopulated to a greater extent than usual the old stock, 
and so prevented casting , and correspondingly strengthened 
the new swarm. To these advantages another may be added, 
namely, that if good-sized pieces of guide-comb are fixed to 
the bars of the hive, and the swarm placed in its position as 
soon as the queen has taken possession, the bees will go to 
work directly, and collect a considerable proportion of honey 
and bee bread the first day—no small advantage if the two 
or three subsequent ones happen to be unfavourable, the 
swarming day of a first swarm being always favourable. 
With regard to the influence of the plan in preventing 
casting , my belief is that it does so generally, but not in all 
- cases, for this season I have had a cast from an old stock 
that had been shifted after swarming.— W. B. Tegetmeier. 
ORIGINAL DOMESTIC RECEIPTS. 
Pumpkin Batter. —Wash the pumpkins clean, take out 
the seeds, and scrape the inside out with a strong iron spoon. 
Boil till soft, and rub it through a coarse sieve. When 
strained put into a kettle and boil slowly all day, stirring 
it often. Put in a large handful of salt. When nearly done 
add a pint of molasses, or a pound of brown sugar, to each 
gallon of pumpkin. Before it is quite done add allspice, 
cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, one or all, as you may fancy. 
Put it into jars when done—large ones are best. Tie it up 
tightly, and it will keep until April or May in a cold place if 
you scald it when spring comes on. It is a good sauce for 
table use, and is always ready for pies, with the usual addi¬ 
tion of eggs and milk. It is much less trouble and far bet¬ 
ter than “ dried pumpkin.” 
To Bake Apples. —Gouge out the eyes and fill them with 
sugar ; set the apples in a pie plate, pour in a tea-cupful of 
water, and bake. Eat with cream and the juice found in the 
dish when done. 
Delicate Cake. —Add to the whites of sixteen eggs, 
beaten to a stiff froth, three-fourths of a pound of Hour, one 
pound of sugar, ten ounces of butter. Flavour with lemon 
or rose water. 
Ginger Cookies. —One cup of sugar, one of butter, one of 
molasses, one table-spoonful of ginger, one of cinnamon, and 
two tea-spoonsful of saleratus dissolved in three table-spoons¬ 
ful of hot water. Bake quickly. 
Rye Drop Cakes. —One pint of milk, three eggs, one 
table-spoonful of sugar, and a little salt. Stir in rye flour 
till about the consistency of pancakes. Bake in buttered 
cups or saucers half an hour. 
Honey Cake. —One cup of nice sugar, one cup of rich 
sour cream, one egg, half a tea-spoonful of soda, two cups of 
flour. Flavour to the taste. Bake half an hour. To be 
eaten while warm. 
PROPOLIS. 
Bees do not secrete propolis as they do wax; it seems to 
be a tenacious substance which they collect from trees or 
plants, and carry home on their thighs as they do pollen. 
But the pellets of the propolis are not of so fine a ball shape 
as those of the latter, and vary in colour from pale ash to 
yellowish red, which may be owing to their being mixed 
with dust or farina from the bees. We cannot state -with 
certainty how they collect propolis. Some assert that bees 
gather it from Poplar buds and the gummy ones of Horse 
Chestnuts, &c.; but we never observed them about these, 
nor extracting it from the buds of any other trees. They 
certainly gather something from the young shoots of com¬ 
mon Laurel, which may be material for secreting wax. 
In hot weather propolis emits a strong scent from bee-hives 
very like that from Scotch Firs during hot sunshine; but 
it cannot be the resin which oozes from those trees, for, un¬ 
less the bees mixed it with pollen or something else, they 
could not free themselves from a substance so adhesive. 
When bees enter the hive with propolis others readily take 
it from their thighs. Besides, bees collect propolis in dis¬ 
tricts where none of these trees grow; therefore other trees 
or plants must contain it. It seems to exude from them by 
heat, and does not .melt in boiling water like wax. Pro¬ 
polis may be called the cement of bees, for they varnish 
their cells and fill up all little crevices in their hive with it. 
Perhaps without a portion of that tenacious substance they 
could not make their combs ; at least, it gives the whole of 
their structures a firm texture. Unfinished cells are very 
brittle; and we suspect that when combs collapse with heat, 
while other hives in the same degree of heat are not affected, 
the mishap may be owing to a deficiency of propolis in 
the combs. The term is derived from the Greek, and means 
“ protection of the citytherefore we give this opinion with 
some confidence.— J. Wighton. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
PARTIAL FAILURE OF POTATOES. 
“ In a field this year I planted the following sorts of 
Potatoes:— 
“ 1. Champion. 2. Regents. 3. Goldfinders. 4. Fluke 
Kidneys. 5. Lapstones. 6. Axbridges. 
“1, 2, and 3 yielded a very fair crop ; 4, 5, G entirely 
failed, not through disease, but simply from not producing 
any tubers. Can you give me any reason for this?”— 
H. n. e. 
/ 
[We cannot assign any reason for the failure of 4, 5, and 
G Potatoes if the soil in the field was of equal quality 
throughout, and the Potatoes were all planted at the same 
time, unless the seed of 4, 5, and 6 was of very inferior 
quality. Had it sprouted, and the sprouts been removed ?] 
COLOUR OF WALL BEHIND WHITE FLOWERS. 
“ I have a fine Hoya bella trained to the back wall of my 
stove, and as the wall is -whitewashed, and the flowers 
nearly the same colour, I have a difficulty in seeing them. 
Can you suggest some method that will remove the diffi¬ 
culty, or name some colour to paint the wall that would be 
a good contrast with the leaves and flowers ? ”— Blurton. 
[As white flowers agree with every shade of colour in the 
spectrum why not colour the wall with that which pleases 
your own eye best ? Black and green agree very well, and 
black is the contrast to white. Mix lamp-black with a little 
whiting, and colour the wall a very dark grey behind the 
Hoya,~\ 
AN APIARIAN DILEMMA. 
“ Will you give me a little advice as to the management 
of my bees under the following circumstances? Last Fe¬ 
bruary a strong hive was sent to me. I had a bee-liouse, 
but no bees. The shelf, as I suppose is usual, has a pas¬ 
sage in it for them to pass from one hive to another. I 
was ill at the time they arrived, and they were placed within 
the house. The hive, however, was rather small, and did 
not cover the outlet on one side ; the consequence has been, 
