292 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 10,1858. 
every new-born leaf springs a spike of flowers. The leaves; 
are composed of small oval leaflets, ranged along a tapering 
mid-rib, oppositely and in pairs, from eight to ten pairs of 
leaflets forming a leaf about three inches long. 
The Rose has long been considered the queen of flowers j 
and this might with equal justice be installed as the queen 
of shrubs. Although new, the plant is comparatively cheap, 
and every lover of a garden should hasten to possess it. 
NEW AND RARE PLANTS. 
Azalea ovata ( Ovate-leaved Azalea). 
Introduced from Northern China by Mr. Fortune in 1813* 
Flowers pink, appear in June. It is half-hardy.—( Botanical 
Magazine , t. 5064.) 
Rhododendron Geiffithianum, var. Aucklandii (Lord 
Auc~kland’’s Rhododendron). 
“ This magnificent plant” was sent from the Sikkim Hima¬ 
laya by Dr. Hooker in 1849. It flowered in May of the 
present year, in Mr. Gaines’ Nursery, at Wandsworth. Flowers 
Avhite, and very large, being sometimes seven inches across.— 
{Ibid. t. 5065.) 
Saxifraga puepueascens {Purple Himalaya Saxifrage). 
Found in wet places by Dr. Hooker, at from 10,000 to 
14,000 feet elevation, in the Sikkim Himalaya. Hardy peren¬ 
nial. Flowers and stem reddish purple, and the whole plant 
beautiful; the bright, glossy, green leaves being margined with 
red.— {Ibid. t. 5066.) 
becoming very strong again, in about a fortnight was com¬ 
pelled to give another swarm, by driving, on the 27th of 
December. The natural swarm, being not very large, was 
joined to a hive containing a small stray swarm, which settled 
in my garden on the 7tli of December. Besides these, I ob¬ 
tained two other swanns, which kindly came over from the 
forest behind. My honey harvest this year, the result of all 
these experiments ancl pieces of luck, yielded me 87 2 lbs. of 
the purest honeycomb, besides a weight of about 60 lbs. nett, 
left in the four stocks designed for my next year’s supply. 
The next season (1854-5) was not so propitious. Only one 
stray swarm settled in our grounds, which barely compensated 
for the escape of one of my own ; while two, at least, of the 
stocks that had survived the winter, did little or nothing. 
The weather was also less propitious than usual, so that my 
honey harvest did not exceed a weight of 22 lbs. nett of 
honeycomb. 
At the commencement of the summer of 1856, in No¬ 
vember, I found my stock of hives reduced to one, which was 
subsequently strengthened by the addition of a stray swarm 
on the 20tli of November. The latter did so well (without 
swarming) that I obtained from it alone 79| lbs. of super- 
excellent honeycomb, leaving a sufficiency for the winter nu¬ 
triment of the bees. 
The old hive, too, yielded me good profit,—namely, five 
swarms, and 108flbs. of honeycomb, over and above their 
own winter supply. The following table of pedigree will 
serve to show how rapidly and successfully bees multiply in 
Tasmania: — 
A. 
Old stock, being a 
stray swarm ( natural ) of 1855. 
I 
i 
1 
! 
Ismelia Beoussonetii {Broussonefs Ismelia) 
This has also been included in the genera Chrysanthemum 
and By rethrum. It is a native of the Canary Islands, at 
elevations of 3000 feet. Its white flowers, with crimson 
centres, are striking, during May, in the conservatory.— 
{Ibid. t. 5067.) 
Campanula steigosa {Bristly Bell-flower). 
A 11 annual, native of Syria. Flowers purple. “ There can 
be little doubt that it would prove hardy enough for a border 
annual, and, perhaps, for bedding out. Even in a pot it has 
continued flowering for a month.”— {Ibid. t. 5068). 
BEES IN TASMANIA. 
{Continued from page 263.) 
Bee management in Tasmania is still rude and unscientific, 
for the most part; although some few gentlemen, here ancl 
there, bestow a good deal of attention on their apiaries. In 
general, however, bees are little cared for ; and most unsightly 
were the corners of gardens (themselves usually very untidy, 
with all their profusion of vegetable growth), or the bee 
j sheds allotted to the poor bees. Any odd box, nail barrel, 
or straw skep, large or small, well or ill-constructed, wa3 made 
to serve the purpose of a bee-hive. I have often wondered to 
behold a swarm located in a huge tea chest, or still larger 
| candle chest, and content with its dwelling. There appeared, 
however, to be a marvellous instinct in these animals, who 
seemed to know that their adopted country was capable of 
| yielding stores of honey sufficient to fill even these spacious 
j halls. 
Soon after my arrival, in December, 1853, I became the 
possessor of a swarm of some three weeks standing, in a 
small candle box, capable of holding about three pecks of 
wheat. Owing to a considerable portion of the comb falling 
out during its removal to my garden, it barely recovered itself 
sufficiently to survive the following winter (1854). In August, 
however (a month corresponding to February in the northern 
hemisphere), the hive was very active, pollen, and even honey, 
being collected almost as actively as in our European April. 
So forward did the hive become, that on the 19th of October, 
drones being about in considerable numbers, I forced a swarm 
to issue artificially by driving. The new hive took the place 
of the old one, and did very well. In fact, it threw off a 
natural swarm about two months later (December 15), and, 
13. 1st swarm out of a. (Oct. c .Natural 2nd swarm 
29) natural . out of a. (Nov. 10.) 
I 
E * Artificial swarm out of b. p. Natural swarm out of c. 
. ( Dec * 12 -) (Jan. 26, 1856.) 
if. Natural swarm out of 
e. (Dec. 29.) 
In all my experience, I never before heard of a stock be¬ 
coming the great grand parent of a swarm in one and the 
same season; in other words, of one queen leading forth three 
successive swarms in one year! Of these, D was not plundered 
at all; a. gave me 15f lbs. (in spite of its swarming) ; 
b. 24f lbs; c. 271 lbs ; e. Hi lbs.; F. 29| lbs. Of these 
stocks b and E were destroyed, and the rest were distributed 
amongst my Tasmanian friends, when I left the island in 
July last (1857). 
Apropos to the subject of artificial swarming, of which, as 
your readers well know, I have had great experience, I may 
extract here from my note-book, the following conclusions, 
which I jotted down somewhere under the line, on my voyage 
home 
“ The result of my experience of artificial swarming con¬ 
vinces me, that, to be successful, there must be every pre¬ 
paration in the hive for natural swarming. In other words, 
there should always be a quantity of royal brood, and common 
brood, too, ceded over. The greater the abundance of ceded 
brood comb, and the forwarder the young princesses and 
other brood, the surer and more successful wid be the forcing 
of swarms.” 
In common hives , the greater part of the population that is 
fully matured should go off with the swarm, and if there is 
plenty of ceiled brood-comb (and the more the better) in the 
old stock, it may safely be removed to a distance,—the swarm 
taking its place. In bar-hives it will suffice to transfer a 
comb, containing royal brood in a state of forwardness, into a 
similar bar-hive,—taking care that the queen is not upon the 
comb, but that she remains with the old hive. Then shift as 
before.—B. & W., July 28, 1858. 
THE SLOW WORM (Anguis fragilis). 
The Latiu name sounds so like a botanical term, that the 
reader may think it is a plant instead of the “ blind worm.” 
This reptile is commonly said to be blind, and often con- 
