t 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 12, 1858. 
I 
Niven wrote an article on the very plan in the “ Memoirs ” 
of the Caledonian Horticultural Society about that time. 
Mr. Niven was also, as far as I know, the first author who 
practised and wrote upon the system of growing Tines in 
pots. He was the kindest gardener I met with beyond the 
Grampians : he knew the difficulties of my first start in the 
garden way; and he gave me all the assistance he could ; and 
ever since, his name cheers me when I see it in print. 
D. Beaton, 
Peeony, but much more delicate. Others bore their curiously- 
shaped fruit. 
There is an arboretum in which such trees as are hardy 
here, are planted. The garden, also, contains a good col¬ 
lection of herbaceous plants ; and the display of hardy bulbs 
was particularly fine in the spring,—K arl. 
WARDER’S AND COLLATERAL HIVES. 
NOTES FROM THE CONTINENT.—No. 18. 
BERLIN. 
I ought, before this, to have said a few words about the 
Botanic Garden here. It is situated on a low, marshy piece 
of ground at the village of New Schoeneberg, about a mile 
and a half from Berlin. It was made a royal kitchen garden 
above a century and a half ago, but afterwards changed its 
character: and about fifty years since it rose considerably 
under the able directorship of the celebrated V illdenow. It 
contains a considerable number of houses, most of them old, 
and built upon a bad principle. They are very much crowded ; 
but would give ample accommodation to the plants, were it 
not for the improper system of growing so many examples 
—I must not say specimens—of each species. There is a 
vast collection of plants, most of them in a poor state of 
health, particularly the Orchids and Palms. There is no 
place suited for the latter order. The ugly old barn of a 
place, built in 1828, in which the larger plants are placed, 
being quite unfit for them, and a perfect contrast to the Palm 
House at Kew ; but a considerable grant of money has been 
made for the erection of a new one, which is to be a curvi¬ 
linear lean-to house. The tribe of plants best cultivated here, 
is the Eerns, which I shall reserve for my next letter. 
There is also a very large collection of Begonias, Dr. 
Klotzsch, one of the Professors of Botany at the University, 
having lately paid particular attention to this order. He has 
completely confused the nomenclature of the genus, by cut¬ 
ting it up into more than fifty distinct genera. His distinctive 
characters are only to be discovered by careful dissection 
under a powerful microscope, so that they are not likely 
to come into use, particularly in England. What would 
the English gardeners think of such unpronounceable names 
as Knesebeckia, Mitscherlicliia, Scheidweileria, and the like, 
for their old favourites the Begonias P JB. picta , under his 
new system, would become Cladomischus cvrgyrochromatus ,— 
far too long a name for general use, particularly now, when 
the days are so short: but it may be as well to be prepared 
against the invasion this regiment of names may make upon 
our catalogues, 
Range after range of houses is filled with greenhouse 
plants, with scarcely any arrangement, and still less cul¬ 
tivation, Indeed, it would be impossible to grow them, as 
! they are so closely packed, that, in many cases, one pot 
' stands on the rim of another. One old, upright house, 
eighty feet by thirty feet, and thirty-six feet high, is filled 
with the hoary-looking Eucalyptuses, the graceful Casuarinas, 
1 and other large-growing plants. I wonder that the Casua¬ 
rinas, with their elegantly-drooping Equisetum-like foliage, 
are not greater favourites in your English conservatories. 
Large specimens of them would have a fme effect in the 
Crystal Palace. 
In crossing from this house to the next, I passed a pond 
well stocked with North American and other aquatics. Quite 
a little gem in its way, was the Nymphcea pygmcea : its flowers 
not much more than an inch in diameter, were produced very 
freely. They are white, with a slight blush in the centre ; 
and there is no disproportion between them and the size of 
I the foliage. Indeed, it is quite a fairy plant. In the low- 
roofed aquarium, the Victoria was thriving well: and I was 
i lucky enough to see a fine plant of Nymphcea gigantea in 
bloom. Its sweetly-scented, bright-blue flowers, are freely 
produced. Three were open when I saw it, and many more 
I buds were in an advanced state. I was told it had been 
flowering for three months. The leaves were two feet across, 
but I think might be grown much larger. Some Nelumbiums 
were decorated with their rose-coloured flowers, as largo as a 
I am not at all desirous of entering into any lengthened 
controversy with your esteemed correspondent, Mr. AVighton, 
regarding the merits of the different methods of bee¬ 
keeping, and should not have requested space to reply to 
his article at page 52 but from the circumstance that he 
appears to have misunderstood the greater part of my pre¬ 
vious article on Warder’s method, and, therefore (I believe 
quite unintentionally), misrepresented me to a serious 
extent. I will reply to Mr. AVighton’s article seriatim. I 
am perfectly aware that AVarder’s plan of constantly adding 
boxes below is capable of improvement. AVhat was stated by 
me was, that “ Avith slight alterations it was almost iden¬ 
tical Avith the most protitable system.” This I again repeat, 
the alterations required being a decrease in the size of the 
boxes, and the placing them above the stock to receive 
virgin honey AA r ithout brood, instead of below. 
AVith regard to the collateral system, I repeat my con- 
Adction that it is a most unsatisfactory, nay, more, a most 
unnatural and profitless system of bee-keeping. I am not 
wedded to any particular hive, but I am to a particular 
system, namely, the storifying, and I am quite willing to 
stock three hives, one my own pattern bar hive, one Stew- 
arton hive, and one flat-topped straw hive, with swarms next 
season, place them side by side with three collateral hives, and 
wager the hives and contents that I obtain a greater weight 
of produce and one-lialf more virgin honey from them than 
can be obtained from the collaterals. 
Nay, more than this, I will engage with two common 
shilling pails, with the handles knocked off, and holes 
cut in their bottoms, to obtain better results than can be 
obtained by any sAvann put into any collateral boxes Avhat- 
ever. I decline giving the address of my friend avIio has 
made over T50 this year, because he does not wish to be 
dragged before the public ; but, as a proof of what may be 
done, I Avill state that I have received a letter from a 
stranger, Mr. Lavington, of Bishopstoke, who reads The 
Cottage Gardener, stating that he has fi\'e tops of Avhite 
honey in top boxes, without a single grub, averaging from 
eighteen to twenty-five pounds each, and one liundred- 
Aveight of strained honey to sell, and that his set of Stew- 
arton boxes contained eighty-eight pounds the first year. 
AVith these results it is very clear that a large sum may be 
gained by bee-keeping on a right system in a good district. 
AVith regard to the errors Mr. AVighton quotes from 
Warder’s book, I am quite aware of their existence, and 
of more serious ones not quoted; but compare his admirable 
work with others of the time, nay, even Avitlx such late 
Avorks as Richardson’s “ Hive and Honey Bee,” &c., and 
his practical good sense will contrast strongly Avith the 
trashy compilations of men who w-rote because they Avere 
paid so much per page. That in an age not remarkable for 
readers nine editions should be published in fifty-three 
years, viz., from 1712 to 1765, is a pretty good proof that 
the book Avas appreciated. 
In conclusion, 1 must enter my earnest protest against 
the accusation of classing Mr. Golding amongst those avIio 
are “not bee masters.” AVhat I stated Avas precisely the 
reverse. Mr. Golding w r as the first who reduced the bar 
hive to anything like a scientific system, and so firmly am I 
convinced of the correctness of the measurements he has 
laid down, that in my OAvn hives, although I use boxes 
instead of straw, the bars are precisely the size he re¬ 
commends. One proof of Mr. Golding’s practical good 
sense and knowledge of bee matters is found in his opinion 
of collateral boxes, of which he says, page 36, “ I had six 
pairs in operation for some years, but discarded them, finding 
it impossible to keep the qupeu from breeding in both 
boxes.” And he speaks of Nutt’s plans as being “ not of 
much practical utility,” and founded on an essentially false 
