98 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 29, 1885. 
destruction of aphides, or the trees may be syringed with quassia water 
two or three times at intervals of a day apart, and before the flowers are 
fully expanded. No opportunity must he neglected which is favourable 
for setting the fruit. The fructifying agency of the pollen is most 
efficacious when it is light and dry, or about the middle of the day after 
air has been on some time on a bright day, and it should he distributed by 
means of a camel’s-hair brush lightly drawn across the blossoms. Bees 
do the work much better than it can be done with a camel’s-hair pencil, 
hut it is best to have the bees in a warm position outdoors in preference 
to placing the hive in the house. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Insects .—Where plants are grown in large numbers, and any of the 
many insects that infest them have become established in the houses, it is 
a long time before they can be thoroughly eradicated. At this season of 
the year there is an opportunity to wage war against them, and if it is 
impossible to exterminate them they may he so far got under as to give 
hut little trouble the whole season afterwards. To have plants to sponge 
when potting and other work requires attention is not only bad manage¬ 
ment, hut a waste of time. It is almost impossible to exterminate insects, 
especially mealy bug, when once fairly established in houses, hut this 
nevertheless can be accomplished if the work of destruction is pushed on 
during the winter months. A day or a few hours should be occasionally 
devoted to this work in order to prevent the insects that may be left from 
breeding, for it is only by such dilligent means that a thorough riddance 
can be effected. 
Cleaning Hovses .—It is useless to thoroughly clean plants unless the 
houses in which they are growing are cleaned also. The wires, woodwork, 
and glass should be washed with hot water and petroleum, or, better still, 
paint the whole with the oil in a pure state, and afterwards wa«h the house 
with hot water and softsoap. The wall*, stonework, and floors may be 
well washed with muriatic acid and water, this being made sufficiently 
strong to burn well into the walls, and thus destroy any insects that may 
be deposited there. Previous to this it is a good plan to scrape and clean 
thoroughly all the old limewash if they have been kept clean by the aid 
of lime. They should afterwards he relimewashed, using the lime as hot 
as possible with a fairly strong application of petroleum added. The 
gravel used for standing plants upon or plunging material that may be 
employed should be removed, for it is often in this that insects establish 
themselves, and when removed the beds or stages must be thoroughly 
cleaned, for it is useless to clean either the house or the plants without 
this is well done. The pipes and staging if ironwork may he painted 
black after all the other necessary cleaning has been done. Cleaning 
plants and houses should be completed before any attempt is made to 
repot the general stock of plants that will require attention very shortly, 
for if they are potted and the work of cleaning has then to be done they 
are liable to be seriously checked and stand still for a long time in conse¬ 
quence. While one house is being cleaned, if the plants can he removed 
to another structure while the work is completed so much the better, for 
it can be done better and quicker when empty than when full of plants. 
Propagating House .— In this house bottom heat is really essential for 
the successful propagation of many plants, and if derived from hot-water 
pipes, which is the case in most gardens at the present, the material used 
for plunging the pots in only will need attention. If cocoa-nut fibre, 
sawdust, tan, or any other material that is used has become too decom¬ 
posed for the purpose it should be removed and replaced at once, and not 
left until the propagating frames have to be filled with cuttings. Work 
of this description should never he left until the last minute, but should 
be in readiness for the reception of cuttings directly they are ready and 
the season has sufficiently advanced to warrant their insertion. Where 
bottom heat is not derived from hot water a good heap of fermenting 
material should be prepared for making a hotbed, which will afford 
bottom heat for a long time if well and properly prepared before it is 
taken into the house. The litter used must not be wet or too decomposed, 
or the heat will be violent at first, but only last for a very short time. 
It should be placed in an open shed each day when removed from the 
stable until sufficient for the purpose has been collected. If many days 
elapse in collecting the first lot must be kept turned to prevent it heat¬ 
ing. A good quantity of Oak or Beech leaves that was collected in a dry 
state and stored for hotbed-making should be mixed freely with the litter. 
In mixing the straw must be well shaken, the whole mixed together, and 
then thrown into a heap, which must be turned once daily until all rank 
steam has been thrown off. Directly the material has sweetened it may 
be taken into the house and the bed made up, when it will soon heat 
gently and be fit for use, which would not be the case if badly prepared 
or in a wet or too fresh state when taken into the house. 
QUALITIES OF HONEY. 
What are the qualities of good honey ? seems to be attracting the 
attention of many people at the present time, and is even said that 
his important question is to be decided by the British Bee-keepers' 
Association. As the attempt failed to establish a standard hive, so 
will any attempt fail that is likely to restrict one kind of honey as 
the first brand. Tastes vary, and it rests with the consumer to pur¬ 
chase that which suits his or her taste, and very probably the honey 
that is rejected by one will be relished by another. 
For some months past I have been endeavouring to discover the 
cause of the variations of honey gathered from flowers of the same 
nature, but I am puzzled. Bees appear particular in keeping separate 
the different kinds of honey they gather and store in their hive. 
When taking the honey from my hives last autumn I observed not 
less than six distinct kinds in one hive—viz., a little from the 
Sycamore, Charlock, Lime, Clover, Bean, Thyme, and Heather, with 
patches of other kinds. From this hive I selected combs containing 
the four last-named, retaining the Thyme as excellent in the comb ; 
the other three 1 dripped, tho Heather in its liquid state being of a 
beautiful pale amber colour, with a fine body and aroma, with a 
slight bitterish but agreeable taste. The Clover was, as is usual, of a 
pale colour, and in consequence of the fine season of a good body 
with its usual fine piquant flavour, which makes it the universal 
favourite amongst the ladies as well as gentlemen with unimpaired 
tastes. The Bean honey either in its liquid or granulated form is 
no favourite of mine ; it is too sweet, flat, and heavy, while the colour 
is dark and uninviting. All these three samples are candied, the 
Clover honey having small but well-defined granules. The other two 
samples have granules so very fine that to see the crystals a high 
magnifying power is required. 
In samples of the same honey in the comb standing in the same 
place some of it unsealed remains in its liquid state unless on the 
outside, where, contrary to the dripped honey, the granules are large 
and the cells showing a proportion of ihe crystallisable and non- 
crystal lisable honey, the latter being absent in the dripped honey. 
I would have set down this phenomenon with the dripped honey being 
due to the agitation when being dripped and the entering of air when 
being separated from the comb. But conflicting evidence comes in, 
showing honey gathered in the same moor underwent the same 
manipulation to be candied, but with large granules and part un- 
crystallised. How this difference arises I leave others to explain. 
My experience is that honey gathered in localities not far distant 
from each other differs greatly both in flavour and body. I have taken 
my bees to seven different moors, and every one of these moors 
yielded different coloured and flavoured honey, and before me at this 
moment I have two samples of Heather honey gathered at moors 
twenty miles apart. Both are candied—the one as fine as butter, the 
other with large granules ; the former of a light saffron, and the 
latter of a high amber colour ; yet when liquid they could not be 
distinguished one from the other, neither in the colour nor the flavour. 
If the qualities of honey are to be fixed let it be by chemistry ; 
there is a wide field for research in that way, and much might be 
learnt by its study, especially with honey, to help people to select the 
best for the various purposes it is employed, but it will never settle 
what is the best honey to suit every taste. Chemically speaking, 
there is a great difference in honeys, although most authors tell us 
that good honey is composed of equal parts of crystallisable and non- 
crystallisable portions, these i containing three constituents—sugar, 
mucilage, and an acid ; then divide these again into their respective 
gases, which gives but a poor idea to know what good honey is. 
Other modern writers tell us that the quality of the honey depends 
upon the age of the bees that gathered it—white when the bees are 
young, but depreciating in colour and quality as the bees get older. 
Then the same encyclopaedias tell us the countries that produce the 
best honey—assertions with little to support them, for the best grades 
of honey and with flavour to suit all tastes need not be sought for 
out of the United Kingdom, and if the bee is properly attended the 
nation might be well supplied without depending on foreign supplies. 
There has been much written about judging honey, and we have 
been told that good honey always granulates, yet granulated samples 
have been frequently disqualified. I am aware that the awards at 
shows will never give satisfaction to all, yet I think there should 
be consistence in precept and practice. What I consider bee keepers 
should aim at is to carefully select all samples of honey, keeping 
every kind separate, never mix two kinds, and take core when the 
extractor is used to extract none but from sealed combs. Many 
honeys contain much of what may be termed the cream of honey 
this is lighter than the main body, and is of an oily nature, disappear¬ 
ing if the honey is much heated, and is lost if mixed with the watery 
unsealed honey that is often thrown out by the extractor either by 
what is termed the “ripening process or by fermentation consequent 
on the mixture. 
Without saying more on what constitutes good honey I may r 
however, state that I had sent me last autumn from Miss Gayton, 
Herts, a sample of honeycomb gathered from the Saintfoin. * The 
comb was elaborate in wax and tinged from the pollen of Saintfoin - t 
the honey was very sweet, but rather deficient in piquancy to our 
best Clover grades, which would tell against it in competition with 
our old-established societies. Its body was good and in colour it was 
