THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 20, 1858. 
some theologians do, when they come out with some out-of- 
the-way mode of expressing a generally-received truth; or 
that there had been another of these mortifying misprints, 
that make havoc of the intended sense, more especially as the 
implied rule of one to six , signifies giving only one inch of 
top air to every six inches of bottom air. Be it understood, 
however, that the writer is referring to the Crystal Palace, and 
to the forcing-house there, so managed that the bottom air 
must pass over the heating medium before getting among the 
plants, and it is not likely that your greenhouse is so con¬ 
structed ; and if it were, we do not think the rule referred to, 
would be the best in your case. 
Wo were among the very first to save fuel, and keep the 
plants healthy, by a great disproportion between night and 
day temperature; but as we could not heat the air before it 
was admitted at the bottom of the sash, we used to give a 
little air early, at the top or ridge of the house, just as you 
will find described in the preceding paragraph, page 333, 
which convinces us that the rule “ one to six ” has reference 
to particular circumstances. 
In a forcing-house we frequently give a little top ah* at the 
ridge, without any bottom air at all ; and in the case of a 
greenhouse, we would do the same in severe weather, and if 
we gave front or bottom air, and had no means of heating 
and moistening the ah* before it entered among the plants, we 
would just reverse the rule, and give six times more at top ; 
or, at least, three or four times more at the top than bottom 
or front. The reasons are these. As heat ascends, the 
warmest part of the enclosed atmosphere, other things being 
equal, will be found at the ridge or the highest part of the 
house. Vapour when heated also ascends, so that the air 
at the highest point is not only the warmest, but most loaded 
with invisible moisture or vapour. When you open a ven¬ 
tilator there, it is true you let out the most heated and the 
most moistened air, along with some collected impurities; but 
it is also true, that when a small opening is made there, the 
dried, cold air, owing to its density, rushing in and down, is 
both warmed and moistened before it reaches the plants, by 
passing through the warmer and moister air that is escaping. 
The same thing does not take place to an equal degree, when 
you open a front sash, unless you can heat and moisten the 
air as it enters; for as the air there, without such means, is 
neither so hot nor so moist as that at the top of the house, so 
neither would the air admitted there be so soon heated and 
moistened, and when admitted in large quantities on a sunny 
day in winter, with a dry, biting frost in the shade, tender 
plants have often suffered greatly. 
You will see something to suit you by analogy in a late 
article on the shrivelling-up of Peach blossoms, and also on 
air-giving in various parts of this work. Now, as to what we 
would do in such a case as yours, supposing that you have a 
lean-to greenhouse, no particular mode of heating the air 
before it is admitted, and the average night temperature from 
40° to 45°. In mild weather, we would give air top and 
bottom every day, and most and earliest at the top. In very 
severe weather, we would give little air at all, and that little 
would be at the top of the house. In a cold sunny frosty day, 
and the sun likely to keep out, we woidd let the fire get low, if 
not out; we woidd give an inch or so of air, when the sun 
raised the house to from 55° to 60°, and if it did not raise it 
more, we would give no more air ; but if it got much higher, 
we would give another inch, and still no bottom air at all, for 
reasons already given. If the wind was piercing and dry, we 
would contrive to shade the house temporarily, before letting 
it in freely among the plants. If we merely wished to keep 
plants alive, such as old scarlet Geraniums, we would not be 
so particular in not giving air, and neither should we shut up 
the house so soon. But, in a growing-house, such as we have 
supposed the greenhouse to be, we should shut up early in the 
afternoon, and very likely sprinkle the paths and floors, that 
the plants might have a moist air as well as a warm one. 
Whenever the sun raises the thermometer to from 35° to 40° 
in the shade, you may give air more freely ; but in all seyere 
weather, and in common circumstances, give little air, and that 
cliiefly at the highest part of the roof. 
You may have wanted a little night fire since you wrote. 
Your lighting fires during the day would depend, as to its 
usefulness, entirely on the weather. If mild and sunny, there 
would be no occasion for them. If raw and dull, though not 
43 
so very cold, say from 35° to 40° out of doors, then the lighting 
of them would do great good, by promoting the circulation of 
the enclosed air, and enabling you to get rid of any impurities, 
by just removing the top ventilators a little. In all foggy, dull 
weather, a little fire is thus very useful. It will soon change 
visible into invisible vapour. In fact, could you give attention 
and were secure from all danger from frost, we would heartily 
advise you to raise the temperature of your house rather in a 
dull day, than during a dark night, as though the former may 
be dull, it is yet day. In frosty weather, on the other hand, 
and even in forcing-houses, as well as in greenhouses, it is no 
uncommon thing to find the houses warmer at night than 
during the day. You will see in the article to which you 
refer, that the cultivators at the Crystal Palace do not get 
alarmed at 40°, or even 50° difference; and all my practice 
goes to prove that they are perfectly right. In a greenhouse, 
you may have safely fully half that difference. 
The bark for the hotbed had better be watered, if dry.— 
R. Fish.] 
INSTINCT OF BEES. 
We think it is very uncertain, if bees know the exact time 
when a swarm will leave the stock ; indeed, the well-known 
fact, that bees laden with pollen often mingle with a swarm, 
instead of depositing their burdens in the hive, tends to show 
that they were taken by surprise; for if the bees had not 
happened to come home at the time of the swarm’s exit, they 
would have stored.the pollen in the stock, instead of losing it 
amongst the swarming bees ; these, like a healthy stock, con¬ 
sist of bees of all ages, but it is impossible to discover how 
they are governed, or by what rule they leave the hive. 
It is certain, however, that when once a swarm has left the 
stock in the proper way, the bees lose all regard for it; indeed, 
then* instinct seems to forbid them to return to their old home, 
however well stored it may be, even though they be starving 
in a new one. Nay, the law of expulsion acts so strongly 
upon them,, that stragglers left behind, when a fresh swarm is 
removed, often linger for days near the spot where the bees 
clustered. We have observed this when they were hardly a 
gunshot, or even less, from both their old home and the new 
colony to which they belonged. This may seem strange, but 
it accords in part with the rationale of swarming, as also with 
somewhat deficient instinct of the insects in finding out their 
hive when only removed to a short distance. This shows th« 
necessity of allowing fresh swarms time to settle, before they 
are removed ; and these few hints, on the instinct of bees, may 
be of use to some who wish to try the plan of “ putting 
swarms in the stocks places,” with the view of getting more 
bees from the latter. Having so lately spoken on this subject, 
it would be superfluous to say more, concerning the utility of 
it, at present.— J. Wighton. 
CULTURE OF PHLOX DRUMMONDI. 
I have not seen in TnE Cottage Gardener a description 
of the mode hi which I treat the above in my garden. If, 
however, there be no novelty in what I state, my vanity will 
not be hurt, if you commit this to the flames. 
For several years I have converted it into a perennial, by 
taking cuttings in the autumn, and housing them during the 
winter in the greenhouse, and from time to time, while in a 
growing state, using the finger and thumb pretty freely, to 
keep them bushy until the latter end of April, or beginning 
of May, when I plant them out in the borders, where they 
almost immediately begin to flow r er, and continue to display 
their beauty until the beginning or end of December, when 
the severe frost gives them their quietus. 
I have them about the size of two-year old Gooseberry 
trees. 
Last year, owing to the very dry season, they beat the 
Verbenas hollow.—J. R. W., Bolton-le-Moors. 
A Venerable Cherry Tree. —A few days since, a Cherry 
tree was cut down in the grounds of Mr. T. Bunyard, Loose 
Road, Maidstone, having attained the great age of 145 years. 
It w T as 72 feet long, 81 feet through the trunk, and the timber, 
altogether, measured upwards ot 100 feet. 
