Magazine. I am induced to make this communication, in consequence of having been in several gardens, and never, till I came here, having seen it practised. I think it well worthy of a trial, as it is well known to be a desideratum, in large families, to obtain a supply of this useful vegetable, in a young state, during as much of the season as possible.

This method, as far as I can learn, was first practised here by a person of the name of Job, whom I succeeded as gardener.

The kind of potato cultivated is the Irish red, a very good kind of late potato, and it succeeds well planted in the autumn. To have them ready for use in October, they should be planted about the middle of July. For the principal crop for winter use, the first week in August is the best time for planting. They should be planted on a good rich border, the drier the better. I have generally planted them in rows about 24 ft. apart, and about 1 ft. distant plant from plant.

It is necessary to place the rows a good distance apart, in order to insure good foliage by freely admitting the rays of the sun, as well as a free circulation of air among the leaves, &c.; as, in my opinion, the quantity as well as the quality of the crop depends much upon a proper attention to this point; and it probably might be better attained by placing the rows 3 ft. apart.

Potatoes planted in August will be ready for the table in November; and will continue good from that time till April, at which time it is easy to have a succession from those planted in the spring. The only extra trouble attendant upon potatoes when planted at this season is, to cover them in winter with leaves, or any other material which will keep out the frost. They must be taken up only as wanted for the table.

When potatoes are thus managed, any person may insure a supply through the winter, of almost as good a quality as those grown during the summer months. The only difference that I can perceive is, that those planted for the winter are rather more waxy than those raised during the summer; and with many this would be considered an additional recommendation.

It is necessary that potatoes intended for the autumn planting should be of a late kind, should be kept in a cool situation till the season of planting, and also be kept as clear as possible from sprouts.

Castle Hill, Southmoulton, Devon, June 22. 1840.

ART. XI. On Apiarian Societies. By J. WIGHTON, Gardener to Lord Stafford, Cossey Hall, near Norwich.

Of late years the keeping of bees has fallen into gradual neglect among cottagers. Apiarian societies have recently been

established in various parts of the country, to encourage the revival of the practice. Sundry causes may be assigned to account for the cottagers giving up the keeping of bees. First, the remarkable fact that for several years past we have had long cold springs, which have discouraged many from attempting to keep bees; secondly, many tracts of waste lands having been brought under cultivation has sensibly diminished the favourite wild flowers of the bees; thirdly, the low price which cottagers have been able of late years to obtain for their honey has operated most naturally as a discouragement; and fourthly, the quantity of honey imported from foreign countries has of course lessened the demand for that of native production.

It is an interesting consideration, how far apiarian societies can remedy the effects of these various causes. The first stated is the most serious obstacle to bee-keeping; and over that these societies can have no control. We can only hope that our oldfashioned genial springs may be permitted to return. Nor can the societies procure the waste lands to be again untilled. These lands are rendered far more profitable to the community, than they were when producing wild flowers for bees.

It must be remembered, however, that the waste lands produced food for bees in autumn only, they being deficient of spring flowers; and their loss is in some degree made up by the greater number of flowers now cultivated. The operation of the third cause can be prevented, if the wealthier classes can be induced to make more use of honey. It was in much greater esteem among our forefathers than it is at present; and, if apiarian societies exert their influence, they may persuade the higher and middling classes to consume more honey in their families, by which the price will be advanced. Formerly the cottager sold his honey to the gentry in his neighbourhood; now he must depend solely upon the druggist or apothecary to purchase his produce, who is sure to give him a low price, knowing that the poor man has no other market. He will undervalue the honey, upon the pretence of the cheapness of foreign honey, the importation of which has been stated as the fourth cause of the discontinuance of bee-keeping among cottagers. It is true that some imported honey of a bad quality is sold at an inferior price; but the good brings double the price which the druggist will give to a cottager for native honey equally good; and for pure honey in the comb, the cottager receives only about one third of the price at which it is retailed in the shops. This might be remedied, if the societies were to appoint agents to collect the honey of the cottagers, and carry it to a better market.

In this county of Norfolk, an apiarian society is about to be established through the exertions of Mr. Hart of Billingsford, and a few other gentlemen, who have done much to encourage

cottagers to cultivate their gardens instead of sleeping away their spare time, or spending it in places ruinous to themselves and their families. Those gentlemen who encourage apiarian societies will render valuable assistance to their cottagers. Formerly they cultivated bees to their profit, and we hope to see them do so again. The keeping of bees would prove also a source of pleasure, and the interest they would take in observing the habits and industry of these insects would often divert their minds from heavier cares.

Cossey Hall Gardens, December 26. 1838.

ART. XII. On Honey. By J. WIGHTON.

THE popular name of virgin honey, as applied to that which is taken from hives on the depriving system, and from late weak swarms on the destroying plan, arises from an idea, prevalent among old bee-keepers, that the purest honey was to be obtained from a swarm thrown off by a swarm of the same season, and whose queens they believed to be virgins.

No brood being in the combs of such hives is, however, to be traced to very different causes; for late weak swarms from old stocks, provided they be thrown off at the same date, are equally without brood combs, and contain as pure honey as those erroneously called virgin hives.

When a late swarm is thrown off, be it from an old or a new stock, the season is past for the production of brood, while the weakness of the swarm is a still more powerful reason for its non-appearance, the number of bees not being large enough to keep up the temperature requisite for maturing the brood.

The common supposition, that the combs are discoloured by the brood and pollen (or brood bread), is only partially correct; for, in weak hives, the cells containing them are not much discoloured; while in strong stocks, not only they, but the outside combs, soon become dark; a proof that the discoloration is more the effect of great heat, the cells being flexible, and the constant traffic of the bees having the pollen about them, than of the brood.

As a farther proof that virginity of the queens has nothing to do with the purity of the honey, old blackened combs will yield honey as pure as fresh ones, provided the honey itself be of the same age, and gathered from the same kind of flowers. This fact is very easily ascertained by piercing the cells, to let the honey drip out. Much good honey is spoiled by its being squeezed from the combs. The combs should be cut or carefully broken, and allowed to drip through a muslin bag. Cossey Hall Gardens, April 2. 1840.

ART. I.

REVIEWS.

Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London. 2d Series, Vol. I. Part V., and Vol. II. Parts I. II. III. 4to. London, 1833 to 1840.

(Continued from p. 348.)

59. REPORT on some of the more remarkable hardy ornamental Plants raised in the Horticultural Society's Garden from Seeds received from Mr. David Douglas, in the Years 1831, 1832, 1833. By George Bentham, Esq., F.L.S., Secretary. Read June 17. 1834.

These are Ribes glutinosum, R. malvàceum, Leptosiphon androsàceus, L. densiflorus, Gilia tricolor, Phacèlia tanacetifòlia, Nemóphila insígnis, Collinsia bícolor, Chelòne centranthifòlia; all now common in the nurseries. 60. Meteorological Journal, &c., as before.

61. Remarks on the Growth of a peculiar Fir resembling the Pináster. By Sir C.Lemon, Bart., M.P., F.H.S.

The plant in question is a pine, not a fir. It is a variety of the Pináster, characterised by the form and position of the cone, and the effects of the growth of the tree resulting from that position. In the common Pináster, the cone is oblong, tapering towards the base, and having large projecting echinate scales, with deep fissures between them. In the kind in question it is smaller, more ovate, tapering but little towards the base, and having moderatesized unarmed scales with shallow furrows between them. The position of the cone is a still more striking distinction. In the common Pináster, the cones, of which there are generally three or four, are situated behind the shoots of the whorl, and in the mature state point backwards. In this obscure species, on the contrary, the cone is single, and it as universally occupies the place of the leading shoot, the side shoots being

behind it. The necessary consequence of

this position is, that the tree can have no regular leader, but each year one of the side shoots strengthens and continues the growth

for the ensuing season. The year following, the same process is repeated in another direction; a new axis of growth is formed, and the stem of the tree acquires a zigzag appearance, which is never entirely lost, though of course much obliterated by age."

50

These distinctive characters, Sir C. Lemon observes, may indicate: 1st, a distinct species; 2d, a hybrid, between adjacent species; or 3d, an accidental, perhaps permanent, variety."

In a note by the secretary, it is characterised as a species of Pìnus not hitherto described," and named P. Lemoniana. We consider it, judging from the plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden, as a variety of the Pináster; and in our Arboretum Britannicum we have named it Pinus Pináster Lemoniànus. An excellent figure is given in the Hort. Trans., from which our figs. 49. and 50., are copied, and given in the Arboretum.

62. Upon a new Method of applying Hot Water to heating Stoves. By Alexander Cruickshanks, Esq., C.M.H.S. Read May 20. 1834.

It may be sufficient, with regard to this ingenious invention, to state that the boiler is cylindrical, and placed horizontally, and that it includes a smaller cylinder containing the fire.

63. Note upon a handsome and [half-] hardy Plant, called Cliánthus puniceus. By John Lindley, Ph. Dr., F.R.S., &c. Read December 2. 1834.

This beautiful New Zealand shrub is now too well known to deserve description or recommendation. We have just seen some fine specimens of it in the open air, in the garden of Park Cottage, Blackheath, the residence of John Sheepshanks, Esq.; and a fortnight ago, we saw a splendid specimen covering a space, we should think, upwards of 12 ft. square, on the conservative wall at Chatsworth.

64. A further Account of Experiments on the Cultivation of the Potato, made in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, in the Year 1834. By John Lindley, Ph. Dr., F.R.S., &c. Read January 30. 1834.

The object of these experiments was, to repeat the comparison of whole tubers and sets, and to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of close or distant cropping. The advantage of planting potatoes apart, and wider and deeper than usual, is considered as being sufficiently proved by the former experiments. (See p. 346.)

The ground was divided into four equal parts. In one of these the rows of potatoes were as much as 2 ft. apart; in another, 2 ft.; in a third, 1 ft.; and in the fourth, only 6 in. Half of each division was planted with whole tubers, and half with sets cut to a single eye. The whole were committed to the ground on the 27th of February, the tubers or sets being, in every case, 6 in. apart in the rows, and 9 in. deep.

On the 24th of April the points of the potatoes had reached the surface of the soil, and the next day about 3 in. of soil were drawn over them, for the purpose of protecting them from ground frosts, which, in low and flat places like the Society's Garden, are still prevalent at that time of the year. By the 2d of May, the whole surface of the ground, in the division where the rows were only 6 in. apart, was a mass of entangled stems. By the 20th of the month, the stems in the division where the rows were 1 ft. apart, had nearly covered the ground; and, in a week after, those in the 2 ft. division were in the same state; but the ground was not covered during the whole season, where the rows were 21 ft. apart.

The shoots from the whole tubers were, in all cases, much stronger than those from the single eyes, but they began to be prostrated in the 6 in. division on the 29th of May, and the whole of them, in all the divisions, were in the same state by the 27th of June; while the stems from the single eyes continued erect till they began to turn yellow and wither, in the end of August. This will, probably, account for the superiority of sets over whole tubers; could the crop be protected from winds, and the stems of the tubers be prevented from breaking, I have no doubt that tubers would yield the largest crop; but their very vigour makes them brittle, and once broken, they are no longer able to perform their functions perfectly.

The greatest length to which the stems attained was 2 ft.; the principal part of them attained that length, but many did not exceed 1 ft.; and those in