THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— November 4. 1856. 81 
She likes to let well alone. The idea of swarming does not 
originate with her. What inducement has she to leave ? 
Has she not a well-stored and furnished house ? Is she 
not surrounded by a numerous and industrious progeny ? 
while, within these chambers round about her, are there not 
thousands of her offspring waiting the auspicious moment 
that shall usher them into being ? Therefore, although the 
j swarming signal may echo through the hive, and she pro¬ 
ceed even to the gates of her pavilion, a peep at the world 
without does not encourage her to leave her comfortable 
I world within ; and, unless the mighty host by which she is 
| surrounded shall succeed in urging her onwards and up- 
| wards, or the apiarian makes her captive, she will return to 
! her dominions. This feat, however, once accomplished by 
j the “ Bee-master,” whether he does it with a view of seeking 
I for evidence on the point at issue or not, will yield him a sure 
| preventive against all abortive flights.—D. G. M'Lellan, 
Westfield Cottage, Ratherglen, near Glasgow. 
FRUIT-TREES IN ORCHARD - HOUSES. 
There seems, at this moment, to be an active discussion 
going on in reference to the success, or the contrary, of Mr. 
Rivers’ plan of growing Peaches, Nectarines, Ac., in pots in 
orchard-houses. The country is undoubtedly much indebted 
to him for the suggestion, and I feel considerable reluctance 
in saying anything adverse to the plan, or unnecessarily to 
damp the sanguine expectations of persons who are erecting, 
or about to erect, those structures. I have myself had one 
of them for three years past, and I will give the result of my 
experience. I have derived much pleasure from, and have 
devoted considerable attention to, my orchard-house, so that 
it has not suffered from neglect; but it may be said that 
I am only an amateur, and ignorant and inexperienced, and, 
therefore, incompetent to judge in the matter. 
An objection presents itself in limine to the plan, that is, 
that the plants must be cribbed and confined in a pot, and 
must, therefore, partake of that dwarfishness and want of 
strength which are the invariable concomitants. 
The past summer on two Apricots —the Peach Agricot and 
Moor Park —I have bad nothing. On one Peach I have had 
a dozen ; on a second, five ; on a third, three ; on a fourth, 
five; on a fifth, two. On one Nectarine, five; on another, 
two; and on a third, none. This fruit, it must be admitted, 
was of excellent flavour ; but I had not the same number of 
trees in my house which I see some gentlemen have put in 
their orchard-houses. I had only ten trees in a house 
twenty-one feet by twelve ; each tree in a pot of thirteen, four¬ 
teen, or fifteen inches diameter, and to an abstinence from 
crowding I attribute the excellent flavour of the fruit. The 
above result is not, I conceive, very flattering. 
In an old lean-to house, lowered as much as possible to 
adapt it for the purpose of an orchard-house, I caused to be 
built against the back wall, and upon the earLli, two brick 
inclosures, each about four feet diameter, and four feet in 
height, for the purpose of getting nearer to the glass, and to 
serve as a huge pot. In these I planted, three years ago, 
two Noblesse Peach-trees, which have thriven admirably, and 
on these trees, last summer, I had four dozen fine Peaches 
of excellent flavour, and far surpassing in number all the 
fruit on all the trees in pots in both houses. 
If ignorance and inexperience are alleged in reference to 
the pot-trees, the same ignorance and inexperience pro¬ 
duced a different result in the case of the trees against the 
wall grown as above, thus going far to prove its superiority 
in getting fruit. If, therefore, utility and the production of 
fruit are the objects aimed at, I fear that the pot-culture must 
succumb in the contest. I regret to be obliged to say so; 
but I fear it is too true. Still, it is a very valuable and very 
pretty mode of growing fruit. However, with the experience 
I have gained, I shall vary the mode of using my orchard- 
house. I shall plant Peach-trees in the front in the natural 
ground, train them under the glass half the way up, leaving 
the upper half of the glass of the roof to admit the sun and 
light to other trees against the wall at the back of the house. 
I feel persuaded that I shall succeed by this plan, and I hope 
that Mr. Rivers will forgive my want of faith in his plan as 
a mode of growing the largest quantity of fruit, which is my 
object. I shall use the other house still as an orchard- 
house. 
Our climate in this part of Devon enables us to grow Fig- 
trees to a large size as standards, and perfectly ripening 
their fruit. Apples and Pears succeed remarkably well in 
the gardens of this town (Barnstaple). An example of 
prodigious bearing, in the case of a Pear-tree (Windsor), 
occurred in the summer of 1855. The branches of the tree 
commenced at seven feet from the ground, where the tree is 
about a foot in diameter. It has been planted thirty years, 
and in the summer referred to it produced 5,500 Pears. So 
great was the weight, that, notwithstanding it was supported 
by numerous strong props, the tree was split in two in the 
bole, beginning where the branches spring off, and extending 
for two feet down the stem, leaving a yawning chasm in 
which a man’s hand could be placed. The split portions of 
the tree were afterwards drawn together by strong iron bolts. 
Perhaps this is not unusual; but to me it appeared extra¬ 
ordinary.— Devoniensis. 
ON FEEDING BEES. 
We mentioned, in a former article, that the habits of the 
honey bee were originally more suitable to a warm climate, 
as it is alw'ays gregarious and productive without interrup¬ 
tion. Wild bees all die, except the queens, at the end of 
the season,*and these are torpid in winter, and, of course, 
require no food. Like hive bees, however, they store up 
honey and pollen; but, in both cases, it is only food for 
present use, and not for winter. If apiarians were to keep 
this and other habits of these insects in mind, they would 
see less reason to complain of light hives, and of their bees 
dying in winter. Indeed, it is more surprising they so often 
store up so much, and survive four or five months without 
being able to obtain any fresh supply, especially of pollen, 
which turns mouldy whenever the bejs get close together, and 
leave it exposed in the hives. Tnis is seldom thought of, 
and yet it is often the cause of bees dying, and leaving a 
good stock of honey. At present we pass over pollen, 
which is food for the larva, to notice that of the bees. Our 
bad seasons, and the instinct of the insects to go off in 
small colonies, occasion their being often short of food. 
Strong hives, of course, require none, and the pollen is kept 
in good condition by the warmth of the bees. 
About the middle of October, in warm days, is the host 
time to feed hives short of 14 or 17 lbs. of honey, exclusive 
of the hives and boards, allowing a little for pollen and 
brood, especially in old stocks. We have kept bees on much 
less, but they required feeding in spring; and, when the 
weather was bad, they became weak, and those which sur¬ 
vived were not so good as an early swarm. There are va¬ 
rious receipts for making food for bees, but none is equal to 
honey—lib. is as good as 2 lbs of sugared rriixtures; and 
when it can be bought atlOd.or Is. per lb., it is, perhaps, as 
cheap. Candied sugar is not fit for hungry bees ; it is like 
hard biscuits to those who have bad teeth ; it must be 
softened or melted before they can sip tlie fluid with their 
proboscis. When the food is first offered it is good to drop 
a little at the entrances of the hives, and rap upon them to 
arouse the inmates, who will soon find out tin', chief supply. 
We have often fed bees with about I lb. of brown sugar, 
three-quarters of a pint of ale, and a teaspoonful of salt, 
boiled for a few minutes; but, perhaps, Mr. Golding’s re¬ 
ceipt is better:—One pound of sugar, quarter of a pound of 
honey, one pint of ale, and a teaspoonful of salt, boiled a 
minute, and, as the syrup cools, add Half a glass of wine, and 
a tablespoonful of rum. 
Some novel hives have ingenious feeding-pans, which are 
very good in bad weather; but, in such cases, perhaps Dr. 
Dunbar’s is the best for common hives. Our excellent 
apiarian, Dr, Bevan, gives a good drawing of it in his 
“ Honey Bee.” It is ft -wooden disc- with grooves in the 
bottom, and a funnel high enough to keep in the food 
placed in a hole on the top of the hive, through which the 
bees ascend into the dish, covered with an empty hive. But 
in good weather, and when no strange bees are kept near, 
we prefer feeding in front of the hives, closing the doors of 
the strong ones, except a little opening for air. The food is 
placed in plates, with a few sprays of sticks or litter for the 
