164 



IRISH GARDENING. 



not only did they themselves grow the flowers and 

 veg-etables, but they had the privileg-e of taking- them 

 home. Flowers improved immensely the appearance of 

 their homes, but indirectly they tended to make them 

 more healthy, because in order that floweis should be 

 properly appreciated it was absolutely incumbent on 

 the housewives to make the homes clean (and therefore 

 in a sense healthy), so as not to render the contrast too 

 great between the beauties of nature and the often poor 

 attempts of man to make his house a fit place for 

 nature's gifts ; while from a health point of view fresh 

 vegetables were an essential element of dietary, and far 

 too little used by many of the community." 



It is a great pity that not all our towns possess such 

 entirely beneficial associations as the one now so 

 successfully established in this northern suburb. Perhaps 

 some of our town readers will act on our suggestion 

 and take steps to organise cottage garden associations 

 in their respective districts, so that by next spring we 

 may find a much wider extension of this useful work 

 throughout Ireland. 



Bee-Keeping. 



By T. Maguire, The Orchard, Enniskillen. 



STOCKS should be prepared for winter this month. 

 The ideal conditions for wintering are — plenty of 

 food, plenty of bees, young queens, and thoroughly 

 weatherproof hives. As last month turned out so 

 cold and wet, the food supply in many cases may 

 be shorter than is supposed. Before packing up 

 finally, see whether there are at least 20 lbs. of sealed 

 stores in the combs —merely looking along the tops 

 of the combs is often deceptive, they should be 

 taken up and examined— and if short of that amount, 

 candy to make up the requisite quantitj' should be made 

 and placed over the frames. Candy in winter should 

 only be regarded as an emergency food. To dissolve 

 it the bees require water, and to obtain this necessitates 

 their venturing out on days when they would be much 

 safer inside the hive, thus causing an undesirable stir 

 and excitement and leading to a certain loss of bees. 

 Where the stock is fairly well off it is much better to 

 simply put on winter passages now, or return a crate 

 of partly filled sections ; the candy can be given in the 

 warmth of the spring much more safely, and it will then 

 act as both food and stimulant for brood rearing. 

 Candy should be made from cane sugar only, 6 lbs. to a 

 pint of water being the quantity to use. A spoonful of 

 cream of tartar should be added, and four to six drops 

 of izal per pound for medicating purposes. The whole 

 is kept constantly stirred on the fire till thick enough to 

 set. When a drop is poured out on a plate and can be 

 handled, when cool, without its sticking to the fingers, 

 the saucepan may be removed from the fire, keeping 

 the contents stirred after removal till beginning to set, 

 when it may be poured out on a soup plate covered with 

 paper. The cake should be placed over the frames, 

 and will serve as winter passage as well as food. 



Elder branches split and the pith hollowed out and 

 cut in lengths to go across the tops of the frames make 

 capital winter passages. Squares of tar felting, crushed 

 and battered to render them porous, placed over the 

 quilts are very useful. Over this, a chaff cushion or 

 other warm and porous covering will make all snug and 

 comfortable. The lift, where it is made to do so, should 

 be reversed over the body box, removing the porch to 

 the left. Then the hives should be securely tied down 

 to prevent them being blown over by storms. 



Beginners should never go rearranging combs for 

 winter, as is sometimes recommended. The bees know 

 best how and where to place their stores. Also, it is 

 foolish to remove frames containing honey from the 



brood nests. Empty frames may be taken out if not 

 required for clustering, but full ones will keep better in 

 the hive, and the bees will be in better heart in the 

 spring with plenty of stores handy. 



As soon as all danger of robbing is over the 

 entrances should be left at least six inches wide. 



Once packed, and the above conditions made sure, 

 the bees should on no account be disturbed until next 

 April. 



Correspondence. 



Royal Horticultural Society's August Show. 

 I?e Carnation Exhibit. 



Sir, — In the report of the August show of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society in your September issue 3'ou .say 

 with reference to carnations — " The only really good lot 

 staged were disqualified on account of showing a seed- 

 ling variety, with Malmaison blood, in class for border 

 kinds." This statement is inaccurate. In the first 

 place, the reason for disqualification was stated on card 

 to be "for having Malmaison blooms in collection." In 

 the second place, the variety in question was >iof a. seed- 

 ling with Malmaison blood, but was the well-known 

 border carnation " Master F Wall." It was argued by 

 the "experts" present that the variety was wrongly so 

 named, and in support of this contention tiny, semi-single 

 blooms were shown to me, which were stated to be the 

 frue "Master F. Wall." I have submitted blooms, 

 buds and foliage from the same plants, and of identical 

 type, for the opinion of the well-known growers, Messrs. 

 Blackmore and Langdon, ■:i'/io are the raisers of the 

 ■variety Master F, Wall. Their opinion is as follows : — 

 '■''Re Carnation 'Master F. Wall.' The blooms and 

 grass sent by you are perfectly true to name. It is a 

 true hardy border carnation." I do not wish to make 

 any further comment cm the incident. 



The Exhibitor. 



Ordering Fruit Trees. 



Sir, — If planters or county committees before order- 

 ing fruit trees would visit the nurseries and select the 

 trees required, I think it would be to their benefit, as 

 then they could select the type of tree they want. I 

 know many nurserymen will try and send the kind of 

 trees ordered, but judging from my experience here 

 you will always get many indifferently grown trees in 

 large orders, and often the varieties will be substituted, 

 thus causing much inconvenience. I know the trees 

 could be returned, but this is again not always possible, 

 so again I repeat, pay a personal visit to the nursery, 

 and select for yourself; while to county committees of 

 agriculture I would advise them to send their horti- 

 cultural instructor to select the trees in the nurseries oi 

 firms where their orders are placed, as otherwise often 

 trees grown in very rich soil in sheltered nurseries are 

 sent to be planted probably in poor soil and on exposed 

 ground, and the result failure, or at least the trees do 

 poorly for some time even with the best of treatment. 

 Another result from ordering trees without seeing them 

 is that very often the instructor is blamed for planting 

 unsuitable varieties, and his work suffers. I know that 

 county committees are anxious that the trees should be 

 inspected by their instructor, but the Department will 

 not .sanction the small expense to visit the nurseries. 



I like to see a nice free growth on fruit trees for 

 planting, and this can only he had on moderately rich 

 ground, but in many nurseries where manure can be 

 had cheaply it is too freely used, and vigorous growth is 

 the result, but the trees when sold often do po'^Hv. as 

 mentioned above. W. T» 



Naas. 



