160 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Febrairy 19, 1885. 
bottom heat can be given. If this precaution is adopted to prevent 
evaporation from the soil the plants establish themselves in half the time 
they will do when stood upon the surface and water applied occa¬ 
sionally. After the plants have been plunged they should be syringed 
lightly twice daily. A good compost for these plants is fibry 
loam, one-seventh of manure, a little charcoal, and sufficient coarse sand 
to keep the whole porous. 
Gardenias .—Young stock rooted three or four months ago and 
thoroughly established in 3 and 4-inch pots should now be transferred 
into others 2 inches larger. For winter and spring flowering young 
plants raised annually are preferable to old stock. Old plants become 
woody and somewhat stunted, and are therefore more liable to be attacked 
by insects than young vigorous plants. These if potted at once and 
grown without a check will by autumn be bushy specimens from 18 inches 
to 2 feet in diameter. In potting the soil should be pressed in firmly to 
insure a sturdy compact growth, and the plants may be placed in a light 
position as near the glass as possible. These plants should be watered 
carefully for a time after potting, and syringed overhead once or twice 
daily during favourable weather. Those that have no young plants to pot 
should strike a batch of cuttings at once, for suitable shoots are 
now plentiful on plants developing their flower buds. Insert the cuttings 
singly in small pots in sandy soil, for every one will root if kept in a close 
frame, and are not checked afterwards by potting. When inserted 
together, however carefully the cuttings are potted, it is impossible to do 
it without injury to the roots. From cuttings rooted now plants can be 
produced before autumn that will carry twenty or thirty flowers each. A 
suitable compost is good loam, one-third leaf mould, one-seventh of 
manure, and coarse sand. They will do well in a mixture of loam and 
peat, or can be grown very satisfactorily in the former, which is always 
employed here for the last shift the plants receive. 
Clerodendron Balfourianum .— Another plant or plants should be 
started to succeed those that have now fairly commenced growth. The 
plants may he placed in a temperature of 60° to 65°, and svringed two or 
three times daily until they commence growth, when they should be 
repotted and trained the same as advised a few weeks ago. If the plants 
started first have growths upon them 3 inches in length, a number should 
be taken and inserted in sandy soil in a 5-inch pot. These will soon form 
roots in a close frame or under a bellglass, and should be transferred into 
6 and 7-inch pots for early flowering: another season, as well as for flower¬ 
ing in the conservatory later in the year. This is one of the best plants 
for forcing that can be grown, and plants in the size pots named are very 
beautiful when trained round four or five stakes and profusely flowered. 
Clerodendron fallax .—This is a very fine scarlet-flowered species, and 
is equally as useful in the conservatory as in the stove during the summer 
months when in full beauty. Those that practise the raising of seedlings 
will not retain old plants, for the former do so much better and give less 
trouble. A little seed should he sown at intervals of about a month, and 
will soon germinate in heat covered with a square of glass. Those that 
do not possess seed may repot old plants that have been resting, and start 
them the same as advised for C. Balfourianum. 
THE BRITISH HONEY COMPANY. 
“ A. B. M. (page 119) says I should have ascertained the facts before 
I had made the statements I did on page 99. Let me inform him that I 
took the trouble to learn the truth, and always intend to do so before I 
make a statement. Next time he writes I trust he will give proofs for 
his assertions. If he and all others will do this I shall have great pleasure 
in answering them. 
Your correspondent asks if I know that during the Health Exhibition 
honey in large quantities was always on sale at the B.B.K.A. department, 
and that the sales for weeks exceeded £20 ? I have read a report in the 
British Bee Journal to this effect. But let me ask him whose honey 
was it that was sold ? Was it not sent there by a gentleman, who 
was buying sections at 91. per lb., and making what profit he could 
from it ? I would much like an explanation from others if “ A. B. M.” 
cannot answer this. There is a statement in the “ Bee-keepers’ Record,” 
page 154, October 15th, 1884, from a correspondent to the effect that 
he asked this rev. gentleman to let him have a few tons of this (130 tons 
he spoke of) that he could buy at 9d. par lb., but then he wanted 
Is. 2 d. Say the expenses were Id. per lb. this would leave him £4853 ; 
nice profit this for a clergyman to be making in a philanthropic way, and 
no wonder others should have an eye to the same laudable objects ; and to 
use “ A. B. M/s ” own meaning, those who invest their money in the hope 
of earning a dividend will endeavour that it shall be as large as possible, 
and woe to the poor bee-keepers. 
“ A. B. M.” talks of the weekly takings at the International Health 
Exhibition being from £20 to nearly £30. If he will refer to the British 
Bee Journal for Nov. 15th, page 390, he will Fee that the takings for 
everything—hives, honey, books, appliances, &c.—were £500 for the whole 
time the Exhibition was open. Let him divide it by the due number of 
weeks, deduct the probable amount of the other things, and look at the 
result ; then contrast this with 5000 lbs. of honey sold in one day, 
realising upwards of £300 at such a small out-of-the-way place as 
Grantham in 1883, and very nearly this quantity was sold in 1884 in one 
day again. “ A. B. M.” speaks of the B.B.K.A. organising fairs. Will 
he give particulars of them ? I know of none, save and except the honey 
counter at the shows, on which a charge is made. People usually go to 
shows to look and not to buy, while the Lincolnshire fair is free to 
members. 
The Baroness Burdett Coutts offered a portion of the Columbia Market 
for the purpose, but it was never accepted—why, I should like to know. 
A scheme which has been tried yearly since 1876 without a single failure 
is surely worth more consideration than any untried one. 
As i)r. Walker touches some of the points mentioned by “ A. B. M.” I 
will pass on to him. I see he acknowledges t v at the Honey Company 
have taken the fullest powers. He says, in fact, the powers of the Com¬ 
pany were to be as general as a certain curse, nothing was to be left out, so 
that the shareholders might be “ pounds to the better.” This is what I 
am contending for ; that this Company is to be a money-making one. 
Then he makes a statement to the effect that whatever honey they sell to 
the public they will guarantee its purity ; nor will they sell foreign honey 
as English. I will show how it is out of the power of Dr. Walker or his 
co-promoters to undertake to do anything of the kind ; neither can they 
prevent 10 per cmt. of fore : gn honey and 10 per cent, of starch glucose 
from being sent out labelled, *‘ Finest prepared h^ney put up by the British 
Honey Company, Limited,” with Ueir trade mark attached. Let me 
ask Dr. Walker how many of the British public would take a label with 
this on to mean anything else but that it was pure British honey ; 
or if they sent out foreign honey late’led, “ Pure foreign honey put up, 
&c.,” what is there to prevent dealers from sticking a fancy label on the 
word “ foreign ” and making the label imply that it was British ? Nothing 
whatever the Honey Company might do can prevent this. 
Another point: The Company have taken powers to set up bee¬ 
keeping abroad, and to contract with foreign honey-producers. Does 
Dr. Walker, or any other promoter, wish us to believe that when they 
have set up bee-keeping, or contracted with a foreign producer to take 
his produce, they will buy all the British honey there is for sale and keep 
their own out of the mirket? Why have they no 1 ; kept to the words of 
its Chairman on page 354, British Bee Journal , Oct. 15th, 1884 ? “ We 
plainly see that pure British honey will soon drive these mixtures out of 
the markets. Once show the public of what they consist, and they will 
never touch them again,” yet they have taken powers to supply these very 
“ mixtures ” in a more attractive dress. The proposal was to deal in pure 
British honey only, and educate the public to appreciate it. The trade 
can now get all the foreign honey they requhe without the aid of any 
British honey companies. 
Now about the standard sections. Both Dr. Walker and “ A. B. M.” 
refer me to look at the last number of the British Bee Journal, published 
three days after my letter on page 99. The quickness with which they 
have grasped at this “ straw ” is very suspicious, but as I do not intend to 
be uncharitable, I will make no remarks. Have these two c ^respondents 
referred to page 412, vol. xii., British Bee Journal, quoted by me on page 
99 ? If they will do so, they will find that it is the whole Committee of 
the B.B.K.A. (not a sub-committee) which so decided, on the recom¬ 
mendation of the Exhibition sub-Committee; and if they will turn to page 
410, under heading, “ Important to Manufacturers and Exhibitors,” they 
will see an editorial to the same effect. This decision was that only 
honey in sections 4J square, and 65 - by 5£, should be allowed to compete 
at the Association’s shows, thus not only adopting these sizes as the 
standards, but enforcing them in a manner they have never once tried to 
do with their frame; in fact no one thinks of showing hives with the 
defined Association frame if he expects to get a p ize. If they will refer to 
the British Bee Journal for January 15th and February 1st, they will find 
seven correspondents who evidently believe the Committee have adopted 
these sizes as the standards. I quote from one on page 49, “ And as the 
Honey Company intend dealing in British honey exclusively, that of 
itself will be a sufficient guarantee,” &c., and at the foot of this the 
Editor replies ; I will copy the whole, as this is the first intimation given 
in that journal, and bear in mind it was printed two days alter the pub¬ 
lication of my letter on page 99 of this Journal. “ The B.B.K.A. has 
not yet adopted any size of section, nor can it do so until the Association 
holds its annual general meeting, nor has the British Honey Company in 
any way pledged itself to deal exclusively in Brit : sh honey ; on the 
contrary, it has taken the fullest liberty of action.” Dr. Walker says if 
the Committee do not represent the true wishes of bee-keepers at large, 
whatever they propose against these wishes will fail in their effect; but 
let me inform him that neither the Committee, nor even the B.B.K.A., 
represents bee-keepers, nor one-tenth of them.—A Hallamshire Bee¬ 
keeper. 
THE NATIONAL BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS' UNION. 
The promoters of this scheme invite the severest criticism of it. They 
are most anxious to make it perfect, so that the free opinions of either 
friends or foes will be received with thanks. 
Those bee-keepers who wish to join the promoters should address the 
Secretary—Mr. John Hewitt, Cambridge Street, Sheffield ; but all remarks 
for or against should be sent to this Journal, so that all may consider 
what they have to ssy and form their own judgments.—A Hallamshire 
Bee-keeper. 
PROPOSED ARTICLES OF CONSTITUTION. 
1st, The "name of this Society is the National British Bee-keepers 
Union. 
2nd, It shall consist only of bond fide owners and keepers of bees residing 
in some part of the British Isles. 
