Memoirs, Volume 1 |
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Popular passages
Page 228 - ... of the character of the female parent; probably owing to the following causes — The seed-coats are generated wholly by the female parent, and these regulate the bulk of the lobes and plantule; and I have observed, in raising new varieties of the peach, that when one stone contained two seeds, the plants these afforded were inferior to others. The largest seeds, obtained from the finest fruit, and from that which ripens most perfectly and most early, should always be selected. It is scarcely...
Page 124 - When a hive yields more than two swarms, these should uniformly be joined to others that are weak, as, from the lateness of the season and deficiency in number, they will otherwise perish. This junction is easily formed, by inverting at night the hive in which they are, and placing over it the one you intend them to enter. They soon ascend, and apparently with no opposition from the former possessors. Should the weather for some days after swarming be unfavorable for the bees going out, they must...
Page 121 - I add to the thin covering of straw put on the hives at the time of swarming a thick coat, and shut up the aperture through which the bees entered, so that only one can pass at a time. Indeed, as a very small portion of air is necessary for bees in their torpid state, it were better, during severe frosts, to be entirely shut up, as numbers of them are often lost from being enticed to quit the hive by the sunshine of a winter day. It will, however, be proper at times to remove, by a crooked wire or...
Page 195 - While on the subject of sugar, I may also say, that the general cause of failure in those wines which are made in this country from ripe grapes is the deficiency of sugar, and that even these would be much improved by an addition of it. It is owing to this deficiency that these wines are perishable, and easily converted into vinegar, the natural must being too aqueous to produce a durable wine. The proportion of sugar need not be larger in...
Page 123 - The swarming of bees generally commences in June ; in some seasons earlier, and in cold climates or seasons later. The first swarming is so long preceded by the appearance of drones and hanging out of working bees, that if the time of their leaving the hive is not observed it must be owing to want of care. The signs of the second are, however, more equivocal, the most certain being that of the queen, a day or two before swarming, at intervals of a few minutes, giving out a sound a good deal resembling...
Page 228 - New varieties of every species of fruit will generally be better obtained by introducing the farina of one variety of fruit into the blossom of another, than by propagating from any single kind. When an experiment of this kind is made, between varieties of different size and character, the farina of the smaller kind should be introduced into the blossoms of the larger; for, under these circumstances, I have generally (but with some exceptions) observed in the new fruit a prevalence of the character...
Page 405 - ... as possible, then lay the pieces about four inches apart upon the surface of the dung in the box ; here they are to lie for six days, when it will probably be found that the side of the spawn next to the dung has begun to run in the dung below; then add one and a half inch more of fresh dung on the top of the spawn in the box, and beat it down as formerly.
Page 404 - Each box may be three feet long, one and a half broad, and seven inches in depth. Let each box be half filled with horse-dung from the stables, (the fresher the better, and if wet, to be dried for three or four days before it be put...
Page 227 - ... it is a good deal earlier, and probably cannot be preserved so long. I proceed to experiments on the Grape ; which, though less successful than those on the apple, in the production of good varieties, are not less favourable to the preceding conclusions. A vinery in which no fires are made during the winter, affords to the Vine a climate similar to that which the southern parts of Siberia afford to the Apple or Crab Tree...
Page 47 - Moncrief, its proprietor, used to boast that ' from his own ground, within a few miles of Edinburgh, he could, by the aid of glass, coals, and a good gardener, match any country in Europe, in peaches, grapes, pines, and every other fine fruit, excepting apples and pears;' these he acknowledged were grown better in the open air in England and the north of France.