398 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, September 21, 1858. 
five guineas is the lowest sum I charge for an experiment. 
After hammering for years to introduce the two plants in 
question into general cultivation, without success, I tried that 
experiment on purpose to try the pulse. “ Greenhand’s ” 
pulse was up the first to the proper buying point, and, being so, 
lie is my debtor in the sum aforesaid. There is no reason why 
Tritoma should not be sold at Is. the plant, and Tritonia at 
4s. the dozen, but the want of demand. Both of them were 
introduced more than 100 years since. When I was hunting 
out the Peacock Iris, three or four years back, I found 
Tritonia was figured, 100 years back, as an Ixia, in Vienna; 
and it was then at Kew and most of the bulb collections 
round London. It could be sold as cheap as the commonest 
Ixia, if there was a good demand for it. It increases faster 
than any Ixia, and comes from selfsown seeds in the border. 
The day I was at Kew, I put Tritoma down at 30s. the 
dozen, and Tritonia at 12s. ditto, and I agreed to exchange 
thirty-six Tritonia for twelve Tritoma, with Mr. Smith, the 
Curator, so I must have known the price.—D. Beaton.] 
PRUNING A YELLOW BANKSIAN ROSE. 
“ I have a yellow Panksian Rose, growing, as I fear, too 
luxuriantly, it having produced so little bloom during the two 
seasons I have occupied the garden. It lias a southern aspect, 
and is trained against a wall, but is getting out of bounds. 
Some of the shoots of this are from ten to twelve feet long, 
and very strong. At what season should it be pruned ? and 
to what extent ? What course would be the best to produce 
its flowers?”-—Z. A. 
[You must not touch a shoot of this yellow Panksian Rose 
till the end of April, Have it well tied or nailed in to the 
wall, and look over it at the end of April, and cut, first, any 
shoots which may have suffered from frost to below the in¬ 
jured parts, if any ; and secondly, cut from six to ten inches 
only from the points of the very strongest shoots, letting the 
rest remain at lull length. Next November,—say, six or seven 
weeks hence,—you are to bare the roots of this Rose, just as 
if you were going to remove it. Then you will see very strong 
roots, middle-sized roots, and small roots. Cut just one-half 
of the very strongest not very far from the bottom of the 
plant; indeed, you might, with a nice sharp chisel, cut them 
right off from where they come from, and let all the rest 
remain. At the end of next May, after the plant has bloomed, 
or failed to bloom, have it well pruned, by thinning out those 
long shoots you speak of, and by cutting others back to a 
few eyes. Let the very small wood remain one more season. 
If the Rose does not flower next May, the remaining half of 
the very strong roots must be cut like the rest in the follow¬ 
ing November. But if it does flower, let them alone for 
another season, or till the first season after a failing of bloom. 
It is the too great strength of the roots which causes such a 
length and luxuriance of w r ood, our summers not being long 
enough to ripen it, which causes those Roses to fail in bloonn 
ing ; and pruning the shoots only aggravates the evil, which 
is at the roots.] 
BEE-KEEPING IN DEVONSHIRE.—No. II. 
THE JOURNEY TO THE IIEATII—UPS AND DOWNS—ARRIVAL 
—AN ANCIENT BRITISH CAMP—RELEASE OE PRISONERS— 
INCREASE IN WEIGHT—DISTANCE TRAVERSED BY BEES 
—7-bae boxes versus shallow 8-bar boxes. 
Shortly after five o’clock on the morning of the lltli 
August, a large van,—usually appropriated to the conveyance 
of pleasure parties, and capable of accommodating upwards of 
a dozen persons,—might have been perceived slowly traversing 
one of our Devonshire lanes. A casual glance would have 
sufficed to show that the ordinary load of pleasure-seekers 
was entirely wanting, their places being scantily supplied by 
the writer of this article, and a friend, who, with a single 
attendant besides the driver, were the only visible occupants 
of the lumbering machine. A closer inspection would have 
revealed the interior crowded with square boxes, surmounted 
by miniature roofs, which, taken in conjunction with certain 
strav edifices of a cylindrical form, might have led an observer 
to conjecture that the majority of the passengers belonged to 
the genus apis ; a conjecture which would have developed 
itself into certainty, could he at the same time have dis¬ 
tinguished above the clatter of hoofs and wheels the con¬ 
tinuous roar which, in accents “ not loud but deep,” told the 
consternation and astonishment of the winged excursionists at 
finding themselves prisoners, and their habitations thus rudely 
shaken. 
The first seven miles of our journey were easy enough, the 
road good, and the hills only such as to give a pleasing diver¬ 
sity to the scene. The last two miles constituted the main 
difficulty. Nearly all up-hill, and the road covered with loose 
stones. In vain did the horses’ panting sides and reeking 
coat appeal to our humanity to alight and ease the load. It 
was as much as we could do to keep things straight within, 
and if one of us ventured for a moment to quit his post it ; 
was only to be recalled the next instant. Right glad were we 
when, with a parting lurch, roll, pitch, toss, and jerk, which ] 
threatened to bring down every comb in the hives, the machine 
drew up beneath a clump of Fir trees, and we found ourselves 
at our journey’s end, at the top of one of the highest hills in 
the neighbourhood, and in the middle of an expanse of heath 
which, stretching away for miles on either hand, promised 
almost unlimited pasturage for our winged foragers. 
Buried in this clump of trees, and scarcely perceptible from 
the cross-road which passes close beside it, is a cottage, and in 
the cottage garden we have permission to place our bees. 
Truly we could wish the trees were not so high, or that some 
avenue existed whereby our little favourites could obtain more 
ready access to the open country; but it is not so, and we 
can only console ourselves with the reflection, that here the 
wind never blows, and that at any rate, in this intrenched 
camp, the hives will be well sheltered. 
Let us look around,—bathed in the rich sunlight of a sum¬ 
mer’s day, one of fair Devonia’s fairest scenes lies spread 
before us. Wood and water, hill and vale, land and sea, com¬ 
bine to form a panorama which, for extent and beauty, may 
well bear comparison with any even in this favoured county. 
Nor is the spot on which we stand devoid of some historic 
interest. Well did the old Roman, or the more ancient 
Briton, choose his ground; and when this double ditch was 
clear, and these decaying earthworks perfect, it must liavo 
been a daring and a resolute foe who w r ould venture to assail 
them. Here, also, the stern Roundhead quailed and fled 
before the swift charge of the fiery Cavalier ; and here, in later 
times, a camp w r as formed in anticipation of the threatened 
Gallic invasion. 
But to return to our bees, which have by this time been 
unpacked and placed upon their temporary pedestals. But 
on your bee-dress, open the entrance, and stand by for a rush! 
No. 1, open—all quiet—a few rush out, and seem puzzled at 
the change of scene. No. 2. Stand clear! out they come, 
tumbling one over the other till the front of the box is covered, 
and a cluster hangs beneath the alighting board. No. 3, all 
quiet. 
My friend now opens the entrances of his four hives with 
varying results. Some quiet, some excited, and some spiteful. 
In a short time the air becomes filled with bees shooting hither 
and thither, and circling higher and higher, till, over-topping 
the tall trees, they dart off and disappear. A few seem to 
mistake their hives, and a little fighting and confusion is the 
consequence. 
It is not long, however, ere our little foragers turn their 
attention to the rich harvest which awaits them. The first 
load of pollen is observed in about thirty-five minutes; and a 
pleasing hum arises, as all seemed to find, in honey-gathering, 
an unexpected solace for the untold woes of their morning’s 
imprisonment. Like more celebrated characters— 
“ They found, so runs the story, 
In full belief 
They’d come to grief. 
They’d really come to glory,” 
Or to profit, which many appear to consider the same thing. 
The following are the weights of the three hives up to the 
31st August, repeating that of the 10tli, the day before the 
removal:— 
No. 
1 . 
No. 
2. 
No. 
3. 
Date. 
lbs. 
ozs. 
lbs. 
czs. 
lbs. 
ozs, 
Augvist 10 
... 11 
4 
11 
8 
15 
6 
„ 15 . 
.. 14 
8 
15 
8 
17 
8 
„ 20 . 
... 20 
0 
20 
8 
22 
8 
>, 31 . 
.. 20 
8 
21 
4 
11 22 
4 
This must, I think, he deemed satisfactory. Even No. 3, 
