110 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 24, 1857. 
HOO-SUNG, 
This is a Lettuce-like plant from Shanghae, 
seeds of which were sent from thence in a letter 
by Mr. Fortune, and received at the Garden, 
January 9th, 1845. 
It is possibly the Youngia dentata of De Can¬ 
dolle, or Prenanthes dentata of Tbunberg. 
Stems cylindrical, two to three feet high, erect, 
light green, with a green succulent pith, which is 
the part used. Leaves denticulate, or slightly 
serrated; the lowest oblong and tapering to the 
base, the uppermost stem-clasping, somewhat 
i lanceolate, and taper pointed without being acute. 
The flowers are small, yellow, in panicles slightly 
drooping. The plant is tolerably hardy, and may 
he cultivated in the manner of Lettuces. Mr. 
Fortune recommends it to be planted “ in rows 
thinly, say one foot and a half between each 
plant. It is fit for use when the stem has grown 
to its full size, which is early in the spring at 
Shanghai.” He also states that it is a vegetable 
much esteemed by the Chinese, and refers to the 
following 
“ Mode of Dressing the Moo-Sung .—Pare off the 
outer skin, cut off the leaves, and take the stalk ; yv\ 
either simply boil it with salt and eat it with \\\ 
pepper, or stew it with a few spoonsful of soup, \\ 
or with a little soy, salt, and pepper. The last is \ \ 
the preferable way of dressing this vegetable.” 1 
It would probably form a good preserve, similar • l 
to that made of the stems of Lettuces when run- \ 
ning up and before they become hollow.— (Marti- \ 
cultural Society's Journal.) \ 
I 
BEE’S WAX, AND THAT FROM 
IRISH PEAT. 
Every one knows that bees store up honey in 
cells of wax, but except the curious none in¬ 
quire how they get the wax to make their combs. 
The fact of there being no visible signs of bees 
taking wax into the hive led our best writers 
to think that they secrete wax, which oozes out 
i through the pockets or segments in their abdo- 
! mens. This is beyond a doubt, for when bees 
cluster to make combs some of them may be 
seen with pocketsful of wax in the shape of 
small scales, some of which often fall on the 
floor of the hive. We noticed this some years 
! back, and also may have said that bees eject 
| wax from their mouths when making cells in 
strong colonies without clustering. We state 
this with confidence, but not so that bees collect 
wax from plants, and that it is refined in their 
bodies by a process beyond our power to ex- 
| plain. Mr. Taylor called our attention to this 
some years ago, and we said in our previous paper on 
Propolis that bees may collect materials for secretion of 
wax from plants. During summer they may be seen on the 
| young shoots and under sides of the leaves of common 
| Laurel, which may contain vegetable wax. We state this in 
order to call the attention of others to this hidden process 
i in the history bees. 
That certain plants contain wax is beyond doubts—it is 
! extracted from them in America as an article of commerce; 
but we cannot point out the difference between that and 
bee’s wax. There may be some analogy between the oil in 
i animals to repel water, and wax in vegetables for the same 
purpose. 
Though out of place, we may mention that, perhaps, 
| mildew first begins to grow upon wax, or bloom on 
leaves and fruit, for we never observed that pest on 
; bunches of Grapes, or father berries, which had lost their 
bloom, either before or after maturity. But this is a gar¬ 
dener’s affair, and we have to state that when bees eject 
I OO-SUNG. 
wax from their mouths there seem to be no scales of it j 
on their bodies as already noticed, but if there were 
any their size must prevent them from being drawn or 
sucked inwards to be afterwards deposited. Therefore 
we may conclude that bees have the power either to eject 
wax from their mouths or through the segments in their 
abdomens. 
Since the above was written we have seen very fine 
candles made of wax extracted from Irish bog peat. Perhaps 
the wax was in the trees and plants, and did not lose its 
property when they decayed and were converted into peat. 
As peat is the first stage of coal formation it may be cu¬ 
rious to ascertain if the wax is lost or dissolved by the heat 
and great pressure which convert peat into coal. If not, 
there may be also wax in coal, although it is mixed with 
other resinous substances which make it inflammable, and 
the quantity of wax must vary in proportion to that existing 
in the trees and vegetable substances before they were con¬ 
verted into coal. Irish bogs may contain the remains of 
