THE COTTAGE GARDENER, AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, November 1], 1850. 
D5 
anil besides the God of Goodness there is another spirit who 
is the cause of sin. This, of course, was Ahriman. They de¬ 
nied emphatically that tire or light was regarded as God; 
hut they affirmed that they considered it as a most sacred 
and holy representative of the Divinity and of his power. 
Compared with other Persians, the Gebrs are described to 
he a highly virtuous people, though oppression lias made 
them crafty; and my experience of the manner in which my 
fattest Turkeys and best vegetables disappeared makes me 
certain that they are not much more honest than the rest of 
the nation. 
“ This garden was appropriated to other purposes. The 
D3th of the month Seller is, from some reason which I have 
omitted to record, very ominous, particularly to any one who 
ventures to pass the day in a house. The whole town is 
consequently on foot, either in excursions or in sauntering 
about the few gardens in the dreary neighbourhood of 
Tehran. By ancient prescription our garden was devoted to 
the women of every rank who chose to make use of it, all 
males being carefully excluded, the Gebr gardeners ex¬ 
cepted, who among Persian women are counted as nothing. 
The garden is occupied during the entire day by three or four 
hundred females—princesses, ladies, and others of infe¬ 
rior degree—who devote themselves to smoking, and eating 
Lettuces, Radishes, if they happen to be in season, or sweet¬ 
meats. The day never concludes without a battle royal, 
hand and tongue, between them and the Gebrs, who, strong 
in their dignity of gardeners to the Vezeer Mookhtar, as the 
foreign ministers are absurdly called,* are unable to tolerate 
the unblushing pilfering of plants, flowers, and fruit of these 
dames, headed hy the princesses, who never fail to put to 
flight the * fire-worshipping infidels.’ That powerful ruler in 
the East Aadet— custom —has given the ladies of Tehran 
vested rights over her Majesty's garden one day in the year, 
which they stoutly maintain. 
“ May 27th .—We had to-day a specimen of the value of 
water in Persia. The two Gebr gardeners, with three Per¬ 
sian soldiers of the guard at the gate of the mission, rushed 
towards the room we were sitting in. One of the former had 
a large bunch of his beard in his hand, which he stretched 
out at arm’s length. One of the soldiers held a handker¬ 
chief to his mouth, as if indicating the loss of a tooth, and 
all had their shirts and inner vests torn open at the neck, 
which among Persians is an unfailing sign of woe, as among 
the Israelites of old. The Gebrs are a stolid, immoveable 
race, but this was an opportunity for emotion not to be neg¬ 
lected. The Father of the beard, as an Arab would say, 
Ardesheer, was spokesman : ‘ Kooshteh shudem, moordem ! 
—I am killed, I am dead ! Is this the way to treat the Ve¬ 
zeer e Mookhtar’s gardener?’ &c. Tehran is dependent for 
its supply of water in part on wells, of which the water is 
exceedingly bad and unwholesome, and in part on various 
katiats which have been conducted into the city. Two days 
and two nights of each week are allotted for supplying the 
extensive gardens and premises of the mission with water 
from one of these kanats. But as the stream enters on the 
north side of the city, while we resided exactly at the south 
side, it has to pass through the ordeal of a mile and a half 
among thirsty Tehranees before it reaches the mission. It 
is consequently necessary to station guards at intervals to 
watch its safe progress through the town. All sorts of schemes 
are in request to waylay the water. When a watchman is 
absent, or remiss, or bribed, the stream is turned out of its 
course, and every one helps himself or fills his cistern. At 
another time everything seems correct; no impediment oc¬ 
curs to the water, yet none of it reaches the mission. The 
cunning Iranees have bored channels underground from 
their houses to the stream, and thus purloined nearly the 
whole of the water. Knowing the urgent wants of the citi¬ 
zens, these peculations would have been overlooked ; but very 
often, as in the present instance, the theft was supported by 
main force, leading to blows and a battle, in which the mis¬ 
sion guards and servants, being the weaker party, generally 
fared ill. Then followed demands for punishment, in 
* “ This name, so full of false pretension, was introduced by the 
Russians, and for no good motive. The word ‘ veneer,’ they said, im¬ 
plied ‘ minister,’ consequently they were veneers. It certainly does mean 
minister, but only a minister of state, which a minister plenipotentiary is 
not. Thus a spurious consequence is acquired, which the English have 
been forced to partake in self-defence.” 
exacting which it was necessary to be pertinacious, if only 
to save her Majesty’s mission from dying of thirst.” 
STUPEFYING BEES WITH CHLOROFORM. 
White the practicability of stupefying bees is now gene¬ 
rally known, tlie method of administering it is not, I find, 
so universally understood. That none of your readers may 
remain ignorant on this point, so pregnant with humanity to 
bees, I feel desirous to make known the system I pursue. 
Towards dusk saturate with three tea-spoonsful of chloroform 
a piece of sponge not larger than an egg, place the sponge 
within the hive to be stupefied, close the entrance with a 
handkerchief or anything handy; in a few minutes a mur¬ 
mur will be heard, which gradually increases until it be¬ 
comes a roar. This, again, gradually subsides until all is 
quiet and still. At this stage tap the hive, that the bees may 
fall from among the combs. Let matters remain as they 
are for ten minutes, then lift the hive, and you have the 
bees all prostrate on the board. Should any yet remain 
among the combs, and not to be knocked down by tapping, 
replace the hive until they are. The queen will be found nine 
times out of ten lying on the top: she seems to be the last to 
fall. Place an eke around them, and when they begin to show 
signs of returning animation sprinkle them freely with honey, 
or a strong syrup of sugar and water; lift the hive with 
which they are to be united, set it over them, resting on the 
eke; previously, however, remove the stupefied queen, to 
save fighting. The bees above, attracted by the scent, will 
descend, and lick their sweetened, slumbering brethren; 
while they, as vitality returns, ascend, and with their new¬ 
found queen and fellows dwell in peace and unity. 
In the morning remove the eke, and restore matters to 
their pristine state. Although the season is advanced, it is 
not too late, in cases of emergency, thus to unite bees ; and 
it will be to the advantage of every apiarian who may have 
light or weak hives in his apiary to unite them with stronger 
and heavier ones. One strong hive is worth three weak 
ones.—D. G. M’Lellan. 
CHLOROFORMING BEES.—TAYLOR’S HIVE. 
the thought that 
I have been in 
slumbering genius 
It pleases me mightily, 
some degree the means of arousing the 
of the West. This thought pleases me, I say, notwithstand¬ 
ing that that awakening is accompanied by signs and omens 
well fitted to make the souls even of stout-hearted men to 
quake and fail within them, for straightway he cries, “A 
tilt! atilt! Oh, who will tilt with me?” Erstwhile inhaling 
copious draughts of ether (not chloroform), his stature 
towering, he runs a tilt with me. Alas, poor me and all 
before him! And shall I tilt with him ? the prize so great, 
the danger so tremendous, i’faith so will not I. I am not 
bold enough to meet within the lists a denizen of that 
classic spot where jousts and tourneys have become as house¬ 
hold words since Eglingtoun did gather there bis knights 
and squires, and dames, and ladies fair, his “ beauty and his 
chivalry.” Yet stay, I do bethink me. The tournament 
was but a sportive jest—a thing of fun and frolic. This, 
then, to which him of the western ilk now defies me, may be 
of a kindred stamp. So, Mr. Wilson, there is my glove. And, 
first, for chloroform. It is no new thing for me to listen 
to tirades against the application of chloroform to bees; but 
these have generally proceeded from the lips of those 
apiarians who follow a certain system simply because it was 
the custom of their grandfathers, and with whom novelty 
and everything subversive of rule and order are held to be 
synonymous. I do not say my learned friend belongs to 
this Adamic or Metliuselan class; he merely runs a risk of 
being so considered. Chloroform is a great discovery of 
modern date, and it has abundantly experienced the cruel 
treatment such things invariably receive. Scoffs and sneers, 
the twin offspring of blind prejudice, are the heralds of 
their advent. If it were needed, I believe that Mr. Beaton 
will soon be able to give confirmatory testimony to this, for 
it cannot be that that discovery of his, touching the propa¬ 
gation of Geraniums, will be an exception to the rule, and 
