THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 10 , 1858. 
107 
of my mishap, but, putting a bold face upon the matter, and relying 
on a constitutional immunity which 1 enjoy from the worst con¬ 
sequences of bee-stings, to attack the fortress with “beaver up.” 
Drawing on my gloves, and bearing with me the necessary imple¬ 
ments, 1 proceeded to the garden, followed at a respectful distance 
by my admiring friends. Conscious that my only chance of 
safety lay in taking the enemy by surprise, I conducted my opera¬ 
tions with such rapidity, that the investment was completed before 
the garrison had sufficiently recovered from their astonishment to 
make a sortie in force. Only a small company of sharp-shooters 
escaped ; and these, overlooking the enemy at their gates, attacked 
the more distant spectators with such vigour, that a loud outcry 
soon announced their precipitate retreat, which, however, was not 
effected without loss, one of their number being severely wounded 
in the neck. 
Having completed the eircumvallation, the usual result speedily 
followed, and 1 had the satifaction of administering to the neces¬ 
sities of the wounded man, who, having anointed the injured part 
with a little honey from the now abandoned hive, appeared to 
derive considerable solace from the copious use of the same remedy 
applied internally. 
Now for the second hive. I had noticed that this was a 
decidedly strong and vigorous colony, and 1 freely confess that 
it was not without some misgivings that I advanced to the 
attack. The result verified my worst anticipations : the garrison, 
in this case, was on the alert, and a great number escaped, who 
instantly commenced a terrible onslaught upon the besieger. 
Still the battle was not entirely lost, and the assault might 
probably have been successful, had not the cloth slipped ; and the 
number of active defenders of the fortalice being instantly quad¬ 
rupled, I was fain to cover my face with my hands, and make a 
hasty retreat, leaving both artillery and baggage in possession of 
the enemy, who so pressed their advantage, that the retreat was 
speedily converted into a rout; and, my hat becoming displaced, 
the now-attacking force charged right gallantly into my hair, 
and, shrieking their shrill war-cry in my ears, “ fleshed their 
maiden swords ” in my unprotected scalp. In far less time than 
it has taken to relate it, I found myself a fugitive from the “ well- 
fought field,” as well as the unenvied “ hero of a hundred ”— 
stings!—A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
PRUNING PILLAR ROSES. 
“ I take the liberty of referring to page 398, Yol. XYTII., 
where you give me instructions about pillar Roses, and desire to 
give you a report, with a view to further advice. 
“ Felicite Perpetuelle. —This Rose has thrown up six shoots, 
about seven feet long, besides several shorter and weaker ones. 
“ Ruga. —This has not grown quite so vigorously as the above, 
having thrown up but one vigorous shoot, with several short and 
weak ones. 
" Jules HJargottin and William Griffiths. —These have bloomed 
profusely, giving a good second crop of flowers; but they have 
not grown above a foot of new wood. 
“ The favour of your further advice as to pruning will be 
highly valued.”—A Novice. 
[Prune all these Roses at the end of February, and prune them 
thus :—Three of the strongest shoots, and all the weaker ones, of 
Felicite Perpetuelle cut down close to the ground, and the 
other three shoots down to four-feet lengths ; and at the end of 
twelve months cut down the last three close to the ground, even 
if they have each made shoots fifteen feet long. Cut the whole of 
Ruga down to the ground ; and do not spare the annual growths 
of these two, until each of them makes a growth of fifteen feet in 
one season ; then cut that growth to five feet, and call the five 
feet permanent shoots. Cut the strongest shoots of Jules Mar¬ 
gottin (one of the very best of our Roses), and of W. Griffiths , to 
the four lower eyes of the young wood of last summer, and all 
the weaker shoots to two eyes, unless they are on their own 
roots ; if they are, leave twice the number of eyes. If you are 
on the north side of Derby, it would be better to prune all these 
Roses now, and all other Roses which are not the right thing as 
regards health, except the Teas, free Chinas, and Noisettes : the 
reason for leaving the latter unpruued is, that if the winter is 
mild they might make a fresh growth, which could hardly escape 
the cold, cutting winds and late spring frost. To make sure of 
these free and fickle Roses, they should not be pruned until the 
beginning of April, nor until they have fairly started into growth. 
It is also a safe plan to cut them in pretty close, and to watch 
them at the end of May, when, if they are making some very 
strong shoots, they should be stopped when they are from six to 
nine inches long. It is never a good plan to allow any bush Rose 
to make very long shoots early in the season.] 
PLANTING BULBS. 
“ I have several bulbs of six different Tritonias,— viridis, con- 
color, crocata, Ihieata, miniata, rosea. Should I put them into 
the open ground now ? or should I wait till spring ? or pot them 
now, and keep them to bloom in the greenhouse ? In what soil, 
and at what distance apart, should I plant them ?”— A Regular 
Subscriber. 
[About London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, or any other known 
parts on the face of the earth which have nearly the same climate, 
the pretty little bulbs you mention would pay best to be grown 
and flowered in pots. But they ought to have been in the pots 
seven weeks ago, and to be now plunged, to the rim of the pots, 
in coal ashes in a cold pit, from which frost could be kept by a 
liberal covering on cold nights. No place is one quarter so good, 
for all the Ixia bulbs and their relations, as a cold pit, till they 
begin to throw up for bloom in the spring ; then, out with them 
into the front shelf of a cosy greenhouse; or, if preferred, out of 
the pots into the border in front of some kind of house facing the 
south, with something to throw over them when the nights are 
cold.] 
HOYA CARNOSA SEED. 
“ I have a Iloya carnosa, which has blossomed twice this year, 
and which has produced one seed-pod from the first bloom. Two 
or three year*; back, I had a dozen or more seed-pods. Will you 
tell me if this Iloya can be propagated by seed ? and, if it can, 
whether there is any chance of a variety.” — J. Elax. 
[The seeds will grow easily enough ; but there is no chance of 
the seedlings varying from the type ; nor would there be any merit 
or improvement, if they did. There is no Hoya yet like the old 
carnosa, when grown first-rate, with a thousand clusters of 
flowers overhead, and a drop of honey hanging from at least 
10,000 of the flowers. We did once see it so, and only once. 
It was planted in a rich new border, at the back of a large stove. 
The back wall was fifteen feet high and forty feet long, and two- 
thirds of all this brickwork was covered with the good, honest, 
old Hoya, and trained horizontally, as regularly as the joints of 
the bricks.] 
INTERPRETATION OE EXHIBITION RULES. 
“ There is this proviso in the programme of a Chrysanthemum 
Show,—‘ Plants exhibited in pots other than those in which they 
are grown will be disqualified.’ Now, plants in Class 3, in eight- 
inch pots, and having bottom holes three inches in diameter, were 
plunged, fed, and rooted, in a fifteen-inch pot, until the show 
morning, then the surplus roots were cut off. Do they come 
within the proviso we have in our schedule, as enclosed ? ” 
[If the Chrysanthemums were cultivated in fifteen-inch pots 
until the morning of the exhibition day, and then had their roots 
pruned so as to enable them to be thrust into eight-inch pots, 
they were disqualified by the preceding proviso. But, if they 
were cultivated throughout their growth in eight-inch pots, though 
some of the roots grew through the drainage-liole, we do not 
think them thereby disqualified. We have seen Chrysanthemum- 
pots plunged in dung, so that the plants were fed by nourish¬ 
ment from that dung penetrating through the sides of the pots, 
and from the roots rambling into the dung over the tops of the 
pots. This would not be a disqualification either, under that 
proviso.] 
“ 1 Class 4.—Twenty-four cut blooms, not less than twelve dis- 
•tinct varieties, and not more than two blooms of one variety. 
“ ‘ Class 5.—Twelve cut blooms, distinct varieties. 
“ 1 Class 6.—Six cut blooms, distinct varieties. 
“ ‘ Any member exhibiting in Class 4 shall, if he also shows in 
Classes 5 and G, exhibit distinct varieties in each class. ’ ” 
“ Does the wording of the above classes mean, that if I show 
