278 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, January 20, 1857. 
would need to have been growing for the last three years in 
a pot, and the last season’s growth to be over four feet. 
Ninety-nine Wistarias out of a hundred, if pinched in pots, 
are not worth a groat the dozen. It seldom happens that a 
Wistaria under its. 6d. is worth having as a gift. The fact is, 
people do not yet understand the treatment of this tree. Our 
pillar Wistaria should be pruned exactly like a Pear pyramid 
at Paris. We have not seen a good specimen pyramid Pear 
in England yet to refer to. The end of February would be a 
good time to plant either the Wistaria or pillar Rose.] 
HEATING A PINERY. 
“ I am about to construct a Pinery eighty-six feet long by 
fifteen broad, and to take the third part of that length for a 
succession house by putting a partition of glass between, so 
! as to form the range into two houses; two-thirds of the 
length for the fruiting house, and one-third for the suc- 
i cession house. The bed in the centre will be about eight 
feet wide, and a path, perhaps, about two feet wide, to go all 
j round the house close to the bed. Now, for the best mode 
of heating such a house I am at a loss, consequently I am 
compelled to apply for advice. I should like it to be heated 
with hot water, both top and bottom. How would Mr. 
Rendle’s tank system do as described in The Cottage 
Gardeners’ Dictionary? Should that plan be adopted, 
what sized tank would be required so as to have plenty of 
heat at command ? What distance should the bed be above 
the tank ? and what depth of soil in the bed, as I wish to 
have the Pines planted out in the bed, and not in pots ? I 
should like the whole to be heated with one boiler if 
possible. 
“ Will you also add how Mr. Weeks manages to heat his 
j establishment, either the whole range or one house at 
, pleasure ? Has he a main pipe, and every house supplied 
| from it?”—I. P. 
[If your tank were six inches deep, and the width of your 
pit, with an open chamber of clinkers, &c., above it, a foot 
deep, covered with gravel, and slides communicating with 
that chamber, and means of throwing water over the slate 
covering of your tank at will, we believe it would give you 
enough of bottom and atmospheric heat, the slides enabling 
you to regulate both as you like. A large size of Rendle’s 
boilers would heat such a tank well, and so would one of 
Thompson’s retort boilers, and so would one of Messrs. 
Weeks’ medium size. We have nothing to say on behalf of 
tanks or of pipes more than has already been advanced. 
In many cases we should be but too happy with either to 
; decry the other. For a house of that length, and were we 
i to study simplicity, we would borrow from our friend Mr. 
j Fleming, at least so far:—We would have the boiler in the 
; centre; take three or four four-inch pipes from it for atmo¬ 
spheric heat, and bring them back under the bed for bottom 
heat. By this means no stops or cocks are required. Sup¬ 
posing three pipes were required for top heat, two in front 
and one at the back, and you returned all under the bed, 
you would need altogether more than 500 feet of pipe. If 
i you had a tank three feet wide or so, you would require 
| extra pipes for top heat. You could easily heat one half 
j without heating the other, and you could heat top and 
j bottom separately; but then the expense will be increased 
for stops and plugs, &c. Nothing can answer better than 
! Mr. Fleming’s plan of returning the pipes below the bed. 
J f pipes are used, they must be.rough chambered, as above 
the tank, and the soil must be from fifteen to twenty inches 
deep. 
Mr. Weeks has two main flows and two main returns, one 
for tropical, the other for hardier plants. In No. 380, 
Feb. 19th, 1856, or page 305 of Vol. XV., you will find an 
article on the subject.] 
NUTT’S COLLATERAL HIVE.—MOVING BEES. 
“I have a Nutt’s collateral bee-hive, which I purchased 
in May of this year. I could not get a swarm until the 
j 26th of June, on which day the bees were placed in the 
i centre box. On the 9th of July, perceiving that they Were 
clustering very much about the entrance of the box, I placed 
a bell-glass over the centre box, into which they immediately 
went; but, finding they left it at night, I put some wool 
over the glass, whereupon, on the 30th, they remained, and 
were soon busy constructing their combs. On the 31st of 
July, as they seemed still much inclined to hang at the 
entrance, I removed the slide which separates the centre 
from the side box ; they immediately took possession, and 
there, also, have left a large comb, though, as it was then 
late in the year, they did not deposit any honey there. It, 
however, had the desired effect of checking any disposition 
to swarm. On the 13th of September, having reason to 
suppose the bees had laid up sufficient for their support 
during the winter months, and observing that the glass 
where they had commenced their operations on the 30th of 
July was filled with combs, and that the combs were for the 
most part supplied with honey, I, with some little trepida¬ 
tion, being a beginner, took off the glass, and earned it a 
distance of thirty or forty yards, resting it on four bricks; 
but, finding the bees did not quit speedily, and supposing 
the queen might be with them, I replaced the glass about 
1 p.m. Two hours after I again removed the glass, and 
placed it as before, not a single bee on either occasion at- ; 
tempting in the least to molest me. In a quarter of an hour 
every bee but two had quitted; and, much to my satisfaction, 
I carried off the spolia optima. All the bees are now in the 
centre box. I have, up to this time, left the bell-glass over 
the aperture which communicates with the top of the centre 
box, thinking thus to encourage ventilation, and to prevent 
damp forming within the centre department. I have also 
left the aperture open between the centre and side box. My 
first query is, Had I better insert the slides between these 
two apertures, or either of them, or leave them as they 
are ? My second is this—There is a feeding drawer at the 
back of the centre box. AVhen it is opened to place any 
food therein the zinc slide which covers the opening in the 
floor of the centre hive at the back falls down, and the bees 
at once rush out. Is there no remedy for this defect? I 
think of purchasing another hive in the spring. Would j 
you recommend Neighbour’s improved cottage hive, price j 
35s., or one of Taylor’s single bar hives at 52s.? The non¬ 
killing system is utterly unknown in these parts ; and, as I 
hope to introduce it among my parishioners and neighbours, 
you will, I doubt not, be the more willing to impart the 
desired information.”—A Devonshire Rector. 
[You appear to have managed your Nutt’s hive judiciously 
on the whole; but the period is arrived when greater care 
is requisite to keep up a due degree of warmth, as brood will 
soon be present in the family box. AVhen this is the case the 
glass super should be closed at the top, aud the communica¬ 
tion with the side boxes cut off'by the insertion of the slides. 
This latter precaution ought to have been taken early in 
the winter, as extra space is not then needed. AVe are not 
particularly fond of Nutt’s hives, and dislike his plan of 
feeding in a drawer, into which the bees are apt to get, and 
become chilled. However, the zinc slide mentioned need not 
be removed, except when wanted in the spring or autumn 
in fine weather. It is rather a difficult matter to recommend 
any particular kind of hive, so many circumstances must be 
taken into the apeount, saying nothing on the score of cost. 
Much must depend upon position, whether within a building, 
a bee-liouse, or in exposure to weather in the open air. AYe 
are not very friendly to the latter when there is any alter¬ 
native. The non-killing system is compatible with almost 
any description of hive properly understood, and the cottager, 
with a two-shilling hive, can as readily obtain the honey by 
fumigation as by suffocation, adding the displaced bees to 
some stock in need of additional population. As respects 
Mr. Taylor’s single bar hive, alluded to by the “ Devonshire 
Rector,” the author himself does not place it foremost in 
the list of hives explained and illustrated in the last edition 
of the “ Bee-keeper’s Manual,” where it is only named as an 
expedient to save a little trouble and expense, and in the 
absence of a bee-house, which latter is always desirable for 
wooden boxes of all kinds. Either Neighbour’s cottage 
hive, or Mr. Taylor’s straw bar hive, with its moveable top, 
would doubtless answer, placed within a house or bee-shed 
at a moderate expense. AVe trust neither the “ Devonshire 
Rector ” nor any other of our correspondents will be guilty 
of attempting to remove a family of bees, with its combs, ! 
from one hive to another, in the manner detailed by Mr. 
Shirley Hibberd in our publication, page 213. At no time 
