205 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December 29, 1857. 
the yellow and red rays ; and if a certain portion of light be 
reflected with one of the coloured rays, it will decrease its 
intensity; thus red rays with white ones produce pink. On 
the contrary, if a quantity of undeconrposed light be absorbed, 
black is*produced; which, by tarnishing the colour, and making 
it appear darker, generates dark reds, blues, or yellows. The 
secondary colours are produced by one of the primitive colours 
being absorbed and the two others reflected; for example, if 
red be absorbed, and blue and yellow reflected, the surface 
appears green. There are two reasons why a perfect blue, 
yellow, or red, Ac., cannot be seen. The first is, that surfaces 
cannot entirely absorb one or two rays and reflect the others. 
The second is, that when the retina receives the impression 
of one colour, immediately its complementary colour is gene¬ 
rated. Thus, if a blue circle be placed on a perfectly grey sur¬ 
face, an orange hue will be perceived round it; if an orange 
circle, round it will be noticed a bluish tint; if a red circle, 
a green; if a greenish yellow circle, a violet; if an orange 
yellow circle, an indigo; and so on. The ‘ successive' con¬ 
trast has long been known; and it consists in the fact that 
on looking steadfastly for a few minutes on a red surface fixed 
on a white sheet of paper, and then carrying the eye to 
another white sheet, there will be perceived on it not a red, 
but a green one; if green, red; if purple, yellow; if blue, 
orange. The ‘ simultaneous ’ contrast is the most interesting 
and useful to be acquainted with. When two coloured sur¬ 
faces are in juxtaposition, they mutually influence each 
other—favourably, if harmonising colours; or in a contrary 
manner if discordant; and in such proportion in either case 
as to be in exact ratio with the quantity of complementary 
colour which is generated in the eye. For example, if two 
half sheets of plain tinted paper, one dark-green, the other 
of a brilliant red, are placed side by side on a grey piece of 
cloth, the colours will be mutually improved, in consequence 
of the green generated by the red surface adding itself to 
the green of the juxtaposed surface, thus increasing its 
intensity; the green in itsjturn augmenting the beauty of the 
red. This effect can easily be appreciated if two other pieces 
of paper of the same colours are placed at a short distance 
from the corresponding influenced ones, as below :— 
Red. Red Green. Green. 
It is not sufficient, merely to place complementary colours 
side by side to produce harmony of colour, since the re¬ 
spective intensities have a most decided influence. Thus, 
pink and light green agree; red and dark green also; but 
light green and dark red, pink and dark green do not; and 
thus, to obtain the maximum of effect and perfect harmony, 
the following colours must be placed side by side, taking 
into account their exact intensity of shade and tint. 
Harmonising Colours. 
White Light. 
White Light. 
• White Light. 
White Light. 
White Light. 
If attention be not paid to the arrangement of colours ac¬ 
cording to the above diagram, instead of their mutually im¬ 
proving each other, they will, on the contrary, lose beauty. 
Thus, if blue and purple be placed side by side, the blue, 
throwing its complementary colour, orange, upon the purple, 
j will give it a faded appearance ; and the blue, receiving the 
| orange yellow of the purple, will assume a greenish tinge. 
! The same may be said of yellow and red, if placed in juxta- 
! position. The red, by throwing its complementary colour, 
; —green—on the yellow, communicates to it a greenish tinge; 
the yellow, by throwing its purple hue, imparts to the red a 
disagreeable purple appearance. The very great importance 
of these principles to every one who intends to display or 
arrange coloured goods or fabrics was convincingly shown 
by Mr. Crace Calvert, from a great variety of embroidered 
silks (kindly lent by Mr. Henry Houldsworth), calicos, and 
Primitive Complementary 
Colours. Colours. 
Red 
Blue 
Green 
Orange 
Yellow } Indigo 
orange J s 
Greenish j vioIet 
yellow J 
Black 
White 
f Light blue "l 
< Yellow > 
(Red J 
f Red 
j. Yellow 
(Blue 
f Blue 
< Red 
(Yellow 
f Red 
< Blue 
(Yellow 
f Yellow 
< Blue 
(Red 
j 
) 
paper hangings; which demonstrated, that if these laws are 
neglected, not only will the labour and talent expended by 
the manufacturer to produce on a given piece of goods the 
greatest effect possible be neutralised, but perhaps lost. It 
was clearly demonstrated that these effects are not only 
produced by highly-coloured surfaces, but also by those 
whose colours are exceedingly pale; as, for example, light 
greens, or light blues with buffs, and that even in grey 
surfaces, as pencil drawings, the contrast of tone between 
two shades was distinctly visible. The contrast of tone or 
tint was most marked when two tints of the same colour 
were juxtaposed : audit w'as, therefore, the interest of an 
artist to pay attention to this principle when employing two 
tints of the same scale of colour. From the ‘ mixed con¬ 
trast’ arises the rule that a brilliant colour should never be 
looked at for any length of time, if its true tint or brilliancy 
is to be appreciated; for if a piece of red cloth be looked at 
for a few minutes, green, its complementary colour, is gene¬ 
rated in the eye ; and, adding itself to a portion of the red, 
produces black, which tarnishes the beauty of the red. This 
contrast explains, too, why the tone of a colour is modified, 
either favourably or otherwise, according to the colour which 
the eye has previously looked at: favourably, when, for 
instance, the eye first looks at a yellow surface, and then to 
a purple one; and unfavourably when it looks at a blue, 
and then at a purple. Mr. Crace Calvert also showed that 
black and white surfaces assume different hues according to 
the colours placed in juxtaposition with them. For example, 
black acquires an orange or purple tint if the colours placed 
beside it are blue or orange; but these effects can be over¬ 
come, in the case of these or any colours, by giving to the 
influenced colour a tint similar to that influencing it. Thus, 
to prevent black becoming orange by its contact with blue, 
it is merely necessary that the black should be blued ; and 
in such [proportion, that the amount of blue will neutralise 
the orange thrown on it by influence, thus producing black. 
As an instance, to prevent a grey design acquiring a pinkish 
shade through working it with green, give the grey a greenish 
hue, which, by neutralising the pink, will generate white 
light, and thus preserve the grey. Mr. Crace Calvert, after 
explaining the chromatic table of M. Chevreul, which 
enabled any person at a glance to ascertain what was the 
complementary colour of any of the 18,480 colours which 
M. Chevreul had distinctly classed in his table, stated that 
it was of the highest importance to artists to be acquainted 
with these laws in order to know at once the exact colour, 
shade and tint, which would produce the greatest effect when 
placed beside another colour; and that they could save the 
great amount of time which, no doubt, the great masters lost 
in ascertaining by experiment those laws, which they could 
now learn in a few hours by consulting M. Chevreul’s work.” 
BEE-KEEPING. 
PECULIARITIES IN AMERICAN FLOOR-BOARDS— 
PROPOSED PUBLICATION OF LIST OF BEE 
BOOKS. 
There are some very remarkable modifications of the 
ordinary floor-board used in the States that I do not re¬ 
collect having seen described in any English work, and 
which I think will be interesting to most bee-keepers. I 
may premise that wooden hives are largely employed; some¬ 
times resting on the floor-board, as is customary in this 
country, and in other cases suspended by the sides, and 
having the floor-board attached by hooks and staples. In 
the cases where the hive rests on the board, the latter is 
sloped or chamfered away from the centre on all sides, so 
as to permit any internal moisture to drain away readily. 
The boxes have at each corner a small iron leg three- 
eighths of an inch long, by which they are raised that dis¬ 
tance from the floor-board on every side. The hive, in fact, 
is open below all round; four holes are sunk in the floor in 
such places that, by shifting the hive an inch or less, the 
short iron legs are received into them ; and then the hive 
rests on the board in the ordinary manner, having only the 
usual opening in front. 
The advantage which this arrangement is supposed to 
yield is protection from the attacks of a species of Wax 
Moth, or Miller, as it is termed in the States. As the grub 
