75 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 4, 1858. 
The writer states, “ that one of the greatest objections to 
the common hives is the absolute impossibility of taking away 
| the honey, without destroying a quantity of combs.” But this 
may be also applied in some measure to all hives, perhaps the 
Polish one the least; indeed, to his own hive with a moveable 
top, where the combs are cut out, for the honey cells exist in 
those to a considerable extent, and in general to the bottoms 
of several of the side ones ; in fact, on the edges of all the 
combs. After the honey is taken away, the brood, if alive , 
must be cold, until the hive is placed “ bottom upwards ” 
under an old stock, in order that the bees may descend to 
nurse them, clean the cells, and collect the honey that happens 
to be left; which is the grand feature of the writer’s plans. 
But he seems to overlook one very important point—Where is 
the cottager to find stocks to nurse the brood in the new hives, 
after the bees are destroyed; for those may be double the 
number of the old ones ? It may also be observed, that the 
operation is performed at the end of the season, when the 
nights begin to be cold, and the bees draw close together, and 
leave part of their combs uncovered ; therefore, the brood in 
those palmed upon them must perish.—J. Wighton. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
A GREENHOUSE CHIMNEY SMOKING. 
“ Will you kindly assist me in my trouble with my green¬ 
house ? It is a lean-to, facing the south-west, heated by a 
| flue, which has a good draught, with the wind in any quarter 
but the south and south-west, and then we are literally 
I smoked out. The chimney has been raised to factory height, 
j and all to no purpose. The furnace is placed in a shed at the 
west end, with a good rise in the flue from the fire grate into 
the house ; then it takes a level course along the centre of the 
house for sixteen feet, turns (say four feet) at the end, and 
returns on the same level, until it arrives at the furnace-end 
of the house, and instead of going into the back wall, it 
takes a sloping direction up the end, until it arrives at the 
chimney, which is in the front of the house, not the back, as 
is usual. Is this the fault ? or would a damper in the flue be 
of use?”— Yale oe Belvoir. 
[Were we within visiting distance we would look at your 
house. See what lias been said on heating by flues lately. 
Try and get an intelligent gardener in the neighbourhood to 
look at your arrangements. Are you sure that your furnace- 
bars are at least two feet below the bottom of your flue P 
Even before raising a factory chimney, it would have been 
i better to sink the furnace-bars another foot. Your flue enters 
| at the end, why have the chimney in front ? That necessitates, 
! w r e presume, another crossing. The damper will regulate 
combustion, but we fear will not save you from back draughts. 
Are you sure the flue is clean, and no plaster fallen down in- 
; side? Instead of heightening the chimney, we would, in 
, such a case, if lowering the furnace-bars was not effectual, 
i have placed a turning cowl on the top of the chimney, so 
that the wind should not blow into it. We have a chimney 
that smoked whenever the wind was from the north. We 
placed two bricks, additional, in height on that side, leaving 
the rest of the chimney as before, and we have had no smoke 
since. We should be obliged if other friends would pay at¬ 
tention to this case.] 
MILDEWED PEACHES. 
“ I have a Peach house containing a good crop of Peaches just 
done stoning, and some of them have got a white spot on 
them about the size of a sixpence. It is quite white and 
deep in the skin. I should thank you for telling me what it 
is, what it springs from, and how to cure it.”— Peach Tree. 
[There is no question that your Peaches have the mildew. 
Sulphur-and-water paint put on the places, or flowers of 
sulphur shaken on them with a dredger, are the best remedies. 
If a little falls on the leaves it will do no harm. If you use 
water-pipes for heating, brush them, when cool, with a thin 
paint of sulphur and water. It is a pity that you did not 
resort to this remedy, or make the inquiry as soon as you saw 
the first symptoms. We fear, from what you state, that many 
of the fruit will be irreparably injured. A little sulphur on 
the heating medium is a good preventive, but if you use a flue 
do not put any on within three or four yards of the furnace. 
The best preventive is equalising moisture inside and outside 
of the house, or so far as roots and tops are concerned. A 
dry atmosphere and great moisture at the roots, or dryness at 
the roots, and a moist atmosphere inside the house, being 
very fertile causes of mildew. By attending to this simple 
matter, we have not sech mildew on Peach trees for many 
years.] 
FLOWERING SWAINSONIA PURPUREA. 
“An ‘ Old Subscriber ’ to The Cottage Gardener would 
be grateful for a hint respecting blooming the Swainsonia 
purpurea. She had a nice plant given her two years ago in 
full bloom, and took cuttings from it, winch easily struck, but 
neither they, nor the parent plant, have blown. They have 
been kept in a warm greenhouse, but look as if they had been 
too much drawn, being tali and weakly.” 
[Your plants have been kept too warm and shaded. Prune 
them pretty well back ; keep them in the house until they make 
shoots freely, and in a somewhat shady place ; and when the 
shoots are a foot or so in length, place them in a light airy 
part of the house, and by the middle of July place them out 
of doors; at first, in a place a little shaded; and in a fort¬ 
night, or so, right in the sun, but protecting the pot by 
plunging, or a piece of mat or turf round it. Syringe freely 
during evening, and house by the middle of October, and you 
may expect plenty of flowers,] 
STORING HYACINTH BULBS. 
“ I should be much obliged for any information respecting 
drying and keeping Hyacinth bulbs, having a magnificent bed 
of Dutch bulbs of my own importing; I have in other years 
lost hundreds by mould, and I wish to prevent these from 
decaying.”—L. R. 
[When the leaves of the Hyacinths die down, take up the 
bulbs, and let the remains of the leaves, roots, and the outer 
skin, be left untouched for a month, or six weeks; let the bulbs 
stand singly on a board or lattice work, as in a fruit room, in 
the shade and exposed to the air, and let them be tinned once 
a week, or ten days. Then rub off all the dead roots and skins 
gently, so as to cause no wounds at the bottom, or at the 
crown. Keep the bulbs still singly, and exposed to the air 
till planting time, but let them be turned and examined oc¬ 
casionally. It is drying the bulbs in the sun, and rubbing 
them too soon, and putting them in heaps, which destroys 
them.] 
MANAGEMENT OF CAP GLASSES ON HIYES. 
“ An old subscriber wishes to be told the mode and 
best time to put on cap glasses on beehives, and when to 
remove them, as last season he took off several so soon as they : 
appeared to be full of honey, but found it impossible to induce j 
the bees to leave them; and after removing the bees, by destroy- \ 
ing them, the combs upon examination were many of them I 
found to be full of young bees. Where was the error ; and : 
how must he act this season, to guard against a similar mis- | 
fortune ? ”—Templeport. 
[It is usually the practice to.put caps, or glasses, over bee 
stocks as soon as the hive shows signs of crowding. It is 
not always possible to prevent the queen from ascending up¬ 
wards, and depositing the eggs in a super; but this usually 
occurs when the stock-hive is somewhat limited as to size, 
and good fresh combs. Should the super contain brood, there 
is often great difficulty in inducing the bees to quit it. In 
such cases it is surely impolitic to resort to their destruction j 
—a mere waste of valuable life, not of bees alone, but of the 
brood. Better would it be to replace the super upon the 
stock-hive, to remain till the brood was matured. In any 
event, why need you destroy the bees, when stupifying them I 
temporarily would give you possession of the super ? The 
latter woidd be of little or no use, unless it contained honey, 
as well as brood. 
Five postage stamps will suffice for the Manual you name. 
Your other question is answered in another column.] 
