146 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 8, 1858. 
under the hackles ; therefore, take off and shake these oc¬ 
casionally, and take a cat with you when you do this. Now, 
too, is the time to give new hackles to all the hives : this 
should be done always once every year. Also, clean the floor¬ 
boards of the hives. 
December. — Continue to guard qgainst vermin : this 
caution, indeed, might be repeated every month. During 
severe frost, and while snow is on the ground, prevent the 
bees from coming out, but take care that they have air. Be 
sure to open the entrances on the return of mild weather. 
January. —Last month’s directions will serve forthismonth. 
Eebruary. —Towards the close of this month, or early in 
March, turn up the hives, and cut out the lower part of any 
old or black comb. Do it gently, and with a sharp knife. 
Also, scrape and clean the floor-boards, or put new ones in 
their place. 
March. —If any of the stocks are light and poor, feed them 
liberally. Enlarge the entrances as the bees grow in numbers 
and activity. Prepare your new hives, if any are wanted; 
and any material that may be wanted in the busy season, as 
boxes, bee-dresses, &c. 
April. —In early springs, strong stocks will sometimes swarm 
towards the close of the month : be on the look out, therefore. 
Continue to feed poor stocks in bad weather, if necessary. See 
that the bees can get at -water. 
May. —Now is the season for swarms. If, therefore, any 
of your stocks are ready, make artificial swarms ; this will 
save many swarms, and much watching. Let everything be 
in readiness for instant operations. If the weather continues 
cold, or wet, it will be proper to feed your new swarms, as 
well as poor stocks, till the return of fine weather. Give the 
bees additional room in small hives, or boxes, if honey abounds, 
and the hives are strong. This will seldom delay their swarm¬ 
ing. As soon as they swarm, however, take away the small 
hives, and shut up the holes at the top of the stocks, till their 
j numbers are strong again. Put top hives on the swarms a 
! fortnight or three weeks after hiving them, according to the 
season. Clear away all weeds and cobwebs from about the 
hives, and destroy ants. 
June. —This is the great month for honey. Therefore, 
give your bees plenty of room, as they want it. Take the 
small hives off as they get filled, and put others in their place. 
In very good seasons, put flat hives under, as well as over, 
your strong stocks and swarms, but let the bees only have 
one entrance, that in the main hive. This entrance make as 
wide as is necessary for the accommodation of the bees. 
Still watch for swarms, and even in July, for bees will swarm 
sometimes, do what one can to prevent them. 
July. —Continue to pay attention to all your hives, as in 
June. In very hot weather shade the bees as much as 
possible, or the combs may melt, and the hives be ruined, 
especially the swarms. Take off full hives, but do not give 
more room after the middle of the month. As soon as the 
bees relax their labours, towards the close of the month is 
the best time for taking up your stocks, and gathering in your 
j honey harvest. What honey the bees collect afterwards, is 
j generally of inferior quality. Be sure to save, if you can, the 
j young brood or unhatched bees in all the plundered hives, by 
| turning them up each under the nearest adjoining stocks. ! 
! Also, carefully examine the stock hives, before you begin to 
| plunder your swarms. 
August. —Narrow the entrances as the bees grow idle, as 
in this month wasps abound, and other enemies of bees. 
Towards the end of the month, that is after the young bees 
are all hatched out, take away the plundered hives from under 
the stocks. Stow them away carefully in a dry place till the | 
spring, if the combs are fresh and clean ; otherwise, melt the 
comb down for wax, and clean out the hives with hot water. 
September. —Little more is to be done this month, but to 
protect the bees against the attacks of wasps. 
GERANIUM IGNESCENS SUPERBA. 
I do not know this bedding Geranium, and I shall be par¬ 
ticularly obliged to Mr. Wills (page 106) for half-a-dozen of 
it, and of the darkest Verbena Jacquinta , to be sent to 
the Waterloo Station, London, whence I can have them down 
by the next train to Kingston Station, which is in the centre 
of Surbiton. 
We liad Ignescens and Ignescens major forty years ago, and 
both were smaller and different flowers from those of Ignescens 
of the present day. I am also confirmed in my suspicion 
about Crimson King, as a bedder, from Mr. Wills’s experience. 
Has Mr. W. tried Gauntlet as a regular bedder ? A florist 
made £90 of the cut flowers from a bed of Gauntlet in one 
year.—D. Beaton. 
WILD FLOWERS. 
Surely the young men and women of the present day have j 
no lack of innocent amusement to occupy their leisure hours. 
The “ art of seeing ” lias opened up a way to Nature’s treasure j 
house, so that a walk need not now be a mere “constitutional,” 
but a means of real enjoyment, implanting germs of pleasurable | 
thought for many a quiet hour. 
The following handbill, privately issued, on the formation ! 
of a class for obtaining some knowledge of wild flowers, may, 
perhaps, be of use as a hint to others:— 
“ SPRING ELOWERS. 
“ Who is not fond of the beauties of nature P and who does 
not enjoy a ramble in the fields on a fine May morning,— 
gathering the charming flowers, scattered on every side by a 
beneficent Creator ? 
* These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, 
Almighty! ’ 
“ But when a flower is plucked, how few know anything of 
its history, or name, or why it is so called! 
“ Do you wish for information, so that you may walk in 
the country intelligently, and thereby add to innocent enjoy¬ 
ment ? then join a class for this purpose, now forming at 
the Institute, meeting every Thursday evening at eight o’clock. 
‘ Consider the Lilies of the Field, 5 
* Hoiv they grow.”— Matt. vi. 28. 
—E. C., Chelmsford, May 8, 1858.” 
In this case a subscription of Qd. per quarter has been 
received, and none but members of the Institution are admitted. 
On the first night, one of the class furnished upwards of 
forty named specimens, in flower, which liad been gathered the 
same day in the immediate neighbourhood.—E. A, Copland, j 
RESULT OE SEVEN YEARS 5 BEE-KEEPING. 
ACTUAL PRODUCE TAKEN. 
Year. 
Stocks 
Honey¬ 
comb. 
Run 
Honey. 
I 
Swarms 
• 
Honey¬ 
comb. 
Run 
Honey. 
1850 
2 
Ilf 
1851 
5 
234 
47f 
3 
6f 
29 
1852 
3 
23| 
284 
4 
31§ 
1853 
4 
5f 
5 k 
7 
15 
14f 
1854 
2 
2 
16| 
5 
94 
21 
1855 
1 
3 
1856 
3 
2 
9f 
i 
i 
20 
711 
107| 
20 
331 
1054 
Honeycomb ...... 
711 
Honeycomb. 
33f 
179 or 
1382 or 
8 lbs. 
15 ozs. each stock 
Gibs. 15ozs. each swarm 
on the average. 
on the average. 
In the above seven years, I have lost seventeen stocks by j 
death, in addition to many from experiments. Most of the 
plans suggested by Mr. Payne, the country Curate, and 
others, have been tried; and Payne’s, Golding’s, Neighbour’s, 
Taylor’s, and Stewarton hives have been used. The common 1 
straw, with flat wood top hole,—Neighbour’s and Taylor’s,— 
have been found most interesting and productive. The 
Stewarton did not answer the expectations created by the in¬ 
ventor : although only one box for hiving the swarm was 
used, the slides were inconvenient and difficult to manage. 
In six cases, in which the removal of a swarm to the stocks- 
place was tried, four stocks were lost in consequence one 
did fairly, and the sixth stock sent out two casts. Bee-keep¬ 
ing has afforded me much pleasure, and tended to relieve my 
mind in seasons of deep depression; but I have not yet found 
it profitable in other ways, although every attention has been 
given to it. I write this simply to interest others, and to 
prevent disappointment, in case pecuniary advantage is relied 
on for keeping these interesting little creatures.—N. M. G. 
