THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 29, 1857. 415 
although they have filled a side box, yet they also remain 
between that and the centre hive. I have taken no honey, 
as I am anxious to increase my stock.”—A Subscriber, 
Oswestry. 
[It is rather difficult to learn from your description what 
is the true position and prospect of your stock. You do not 
state what kind of hive it is, but it may be inferred from 
your expression, “ a side box,” that it is a set of collateral 
boxes, placed upon what Mr. Taylor terms a “ doubling- 
board” (“Bee-keeper’s Manual,” p. 74, 5th edition), in 
which the mode of communication from box to box is by 
means of a hollow passage made within the floor-board. If 
our guess is correct we should be inclined to recommend 
taking away the side box or boxes, and compelling the 
family to remain for the winter in the centre or stock hive. 
The blunder, however, must be corrected of “not covering 
the outlet on one side,” which, if the hive is too small, must 
be done by means of a piece of board. If the centre or 
stock box is not well furnished with honey, which the weight 
will tell you, part or the whole of the contents of the side 
box can be given to it by feeding, so as to insure a sufficiency 
till the spring. We are not sure that we understand the 
expression about the bees “remaining between that (the 
centre) and the outer hive;” but, at all events, they must 
be got into one box, closing all openings or communications 
but the central outer entrance door. You are under a 
mistake in supposing that it is “usual” for the shelf to 
have “ a passage in it to pass from one hive to another,” 
though this mode of construction sometimes answers the 
end in view, and is manageable enough with suitable hives.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Hedge at Kew (W. S. IF.).—If you mean the hedge which incloses 
the American garden, it is formed of Yew. 
Large Gourd (IF. M .).—That five feet ten inches in circumference, 
growing in the Grove End Road, is not an unusual size. There are no 
prizes anywhere offered for Gourds or Pumpkins. They are of no use 
except to make into soup, or to be boiled and mashed like Turnips. 
Storing Apples, &c. (It. L. G.).— Your wishes were anticipated 
last week. 
Vines for Greenhouse (C. Bailey, Hampstead ).— Your queries 
were answered at page 352. The initials by mistake are given as to 
“ A. B.” If you need more information write again. 
Names of Plants (IF. S .).—No. 1. Halesia tetraptera. No. 2. 
Euonymus atro-purpureus. (A Constant Reader). —1. Alstromeriapsit- 
tacina. 2. A Franciscea or Brunsfelsia: specimen damaged. 3. A 
Bignoniad, but too imperfect to ascertain even the genus. 4. Diosma 
ericoides. ( J. T. Loxley ).—1. Adiantum pubescens . 2. Cheilanthes 
micromera. 3. Doodia caudata. 4. Asplenium latum. (J. S.). —The 
Star Thistle, Centaurea calcitrapa; rather uncommon. (Wm. C.).— 
Galium saxatile, one of the Lady’s Bedstraws. 
Butterflies (Kate).—' The best book is the quarto edition of West¬ 
wood’s “ British Butterflies.” The insects, their caterpillars, and the 
plants they are found on, are all coloured. A low-priced work with 
coloured illustrations cannot be published. 
Araucaria excelsa (F. E. B.). —This, the Norfolk Island Pine, 
would be killed at Sydenham, though protected by mats in the winter. 
Pampas Grass .—An Old Subscriber informs U3 that a splendid 
specimen of the Pampas Grass, twenty-five feet in circumference, with 
twenty spikes of flowers twenty feet high (1), is now flowering at Chelsea. 
No doubt the warm summer has caused it to flower and grow so beau¬ 
tifully. 
Lawns (T. Spencer ). — There is no separate work on laying out 
lawns. The lawn people in the world are not ripe for such a book, nor 
yet in leaf or blossom, but the buds of such a state of society as will 
necessitate such a book are just beginning to swell. Speculating 
builders have the monopoly of making lawns in our days, and will hold 
it till the second and third generations from London and other large 
towns begin to see the absurdities in the latter half of the nineteenth 
century. 
Gastronema clavatum (IF. J. IF.).—If you bought this bulb on 
the authority of The Cottage Gardener, pray send us the name of 
the seller with your card, and we shall publish his name, but not yours. 
Your bulb has no affinity to a Gastronema. A 48-pot is quite large 
enough to grow and flower five bulbs of Gastronema clavatum for thirty 
years at least. Gaslronemas die down invariably every year. There are 
only two, or perhaps three, nurserymen that we know of in these 
kingdoms who would recognise Gastronema clavatum, even if it were 
in flower. Two or three of our amateur correspondents know it very 
well, and some of them grow and flower it, but there are not ten gar¬ 
deners in Europe who would know it in any stage of its growth. It is a 
rare Cape bulb, not bigger than a large Crocus, and belongs to the Cyr- 
tanthiform, or curved-tubed Amaryllis tribe. Your bulb is some Crinum, 
or perhaps a villanously ugly Ornithogalum. Both kind* soon burst 
their pots. 
Wintering Pit (Crux ).—You cannot do better, as you propose, than 
copy the structure at page 24 of “ Greenhouses for the Many,” omitting 
the side aisles. If you lower the walls, however, you must sink the 
path deeper, or you will not have head room. Use a furnace and flue 
certainly. 
Insects (Reldas). —Your fruit wall wants repointing, so that the 
woodjice cannot harbour in the crevices, for there are broods of these 
vermin which consume your fruit. A brood or two of chickens turned 
into the garden will soon clear the foot of the wall from such of these 
pests as harbour there.—W. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
October 1st and 2nd. Worcester. Sec., Mr. G. Griffiths, 7, St. 
Swithin Street, Worcester. Entries close Sept. lgth. 
October 7th. South West Middlesex Agricultural Society. 
At Gunnersbury Farm, Ealing. Sec., J. Gotelee, Hounslow. 
October 8th. Bucks Agricultural Society. Sec., Mr. Charles 
Fuller, Chiltern House, Wendover, Bucks. Entries close Sept. 24. 
October 8th. Bridgnorth. Sec., Mr. R. Taylor, Bridgnorth. 
Entries close 1st of October. 
October 28th and 29th. Dorsetshire. Sec., G. J. Andrews, Esq., 
Dorchester. Entries close October 14th. 
November 30th, and December 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Birmingham. 
Sec., John Morgan. Entries close the 2nd of November. 
December 1 6th and 17th. Nottinghamshire. Entries close No¬ 
vember 18th. Hon. Sec., Mr. R. Hawksley, jun., Southwell. 
December 30th and 31st. Burnley and East Lancashire. 
Entries close December 1st. Secs., Mr. Angus Sutherland and Mr. 
Ralph Landless. 
January 1st, 1858. Paisley. Poultry, Pigeons, and Fancy Birds. 
Sec., Mr. W. Houston, 14, Barr Street, Paisley. 
January 4th, 1858. Kirkcaldy Poultry and Fancy Bird 
Show. Sec., Mr. Bonthron, jun., Thistle Street. 
January 9th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, 1858. Crystal Palace. 
ham. 
January 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd, 1858. Nottingham Central. 
Sec., Mr. Etherington, jun., Notintone Place, Sneinlon, near Notting- 
February 3rd and 4th, 1858. Piieston and North Lancashire. 
Secs., Mr. R. Teebay and Mr. H, Oakey, Preston. 
N.B.— Secretaries will oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
AMERICAN HEN-HOUSE. 
“ A fowl-house,” says Mr. Browne, “ should be dry, well 
roofed, and fronting the east or south; and, if practicable, in 
a cold climate; it should he provided with a stove, or some 
other means for heating, warmth being very conducive to 
health and laying, though extreme heat has the contrary 
effect. The dormitory, or roost, should be well ventilated 
by means of tw r o latticed windows at opposite ends of the 
building; and it would be desirable to have one or more 
apertures through the roof for the escape of foul air. The 
sitting apartment, also, should be ventilated by means of a 
large window in the side of the house, and holes through 
the ceiling or roof. If kept moderately dark it will contri¬ 
bute to the quietude of the hens, and thus favour the process 
of incubation. The sitting room should he provided with 
boxes or troughs, well supplied with fresh water, and proper 
food for the hens during the hatching period, from wdiicli 
they can partake at all times at will. The laying room in 
winter should have similar boxes or troughs containing old 
mortar, broken oyster shells, soot, brick dust, gravel, and 
ashes, as well as a liberal supply of proper food and drink. 
The perches, or roosting poles, should he so arranged that 
one row of the fowls should not rest directly over another. 
They should be so constructed as to enable the fowls to 
ascend and descend by means of ladders or steps, without 
making much use of their wings ; for heavy fowls fly up to 
their roosts with difficulty, and often injure themselves by 
descending, as they alight heavily upon the ground. 
“ We have a hen-house 20 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 7 
feet high to the eaves, with a roof of a 7-foot pitch, a chim¬ 
ney top, a ventilator on the peak, 12 feet in length and 1 foot 
or more in height, and openings in the gable ends for the 
admission of fresh air. In the easterly end there are two 
doors, one leading into the laying apartment and loft, and 
the other into the hatching room. Jn the same end there is 
also a wooden shutter or blind, which may be opened when¬ 
ever necessary to let air or light into the roost. In the back, 
or northerly side, there is a large lattice window, 3 feet apart 
above the floor or ground, 4 by 12 feet, for the purpose of 
affording fresh air to the sitting hens. In front, or south¬ 
erly side, there is a large glazed window, 4 by 12 feet, and 
another on the southerly side of the roof, of a corresponding 
size, designed to admit light and heat of the sun in cold 
weather, to stimulate the laying hens. In the southerly side 
there are also two small apertures three feet above the 
ground or floor, for the ingress and egress of the fowls. 
These openings may he provided with sliding shutters, as 
well as with ‘ lighting hoards,’ inside and out, and may be 
