March 12, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
221 
taken off when about 4 inches in length, inserted in sandy snil, and kept 
under a bellglass or in the close propagating frame. A suitable compost 
for these plants is two parts peat to one part of fibry loam, and a liberal 
quantity of coarse sand. 
Aealyphas .—These are very useful decorative foliage plants in from 
3 to 6-inch pots, and a batch according to the demand should be rooted at 
intervals of about a month. In stove heat they soon grow tall and thin, 
and a system of re-striking them frequently is the only means by which 
handsome well-furnished specimens can be maintained. Good well- 
coloured heads may be taken and rooted in the former size, and if confined 
in them their lower leaves will droop and almost hide their pots. If the 
heads are kept close and moist they will not lose a leaf, but will form 
roots as freely and quickly as Coleuses. To have the foliage well coloured 
the plants must be freely exposed to light. 
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THE NATIONAL BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS’ UNION. 
As the promoters of the above proposed Union invite criticism on 
proposed articles of constitution, I hope bee-keepers will take the 
matter in hand when the}' have the opportunity of doing something to 
better their condition as bee-keepers by constituting among themselves 
a society such as has been proposed. As it is easier to find fault than 
to show what is right, I must refrain from criticising, but I would 
strongly advise the promoters to keep clear of trade interests of every 
kind. I do not observe anything in the proposed rules for the 
disposal of accumulated funds. Might it not be advisable to have in 
connection with the above Society a sort of insurance fund to assist 
persons to start bee-keepiug, or to help to make good the losses to its 
poorer members through foul brood or any other casualty ? 
At the proposed honey fairs the Honey Company could, along with 
other merchants, join in the general effort to improve the market. 
There are many ways honey could be brought under the direct notice 
of the million, but it is certain that the more widely it is distributed 
the greater will the sales be. Honey fairs are of old date throughout 
Scotland, and met with fair success. Fifty years ago fairs were held 
in con junction with flower shows, and the honey was often the centre 
of attraction. But it was the case then, as it is yet, people went to 
see and not to buy, so the whole was consigned to the merchants. 
This system has always given satisfaction, the supply and demand 
regulating the price ; and generally speaking, there never has been 
any difficulty in Scotland to obtain a market. It may be different, 
however, in some districts where there is a large quantity of honey 
far from a market town and with indifferent means of conveyance ; 
to those so situated the proposed Union must be a decided advan¬ 
tage. 
There is but one other point I wish to mention—viz., that the 
promoters should either have small circulars printed or a heading on 
note paper setting forth the objects of the Society, and supply 
persons with these who would be willing to distribute them in their 
correspondence. This plan would be doubly effective in enlisting 
members and securing readers of bee matter at the same time, but if 
the matter is brought prominently under the notice of all associations 
the desired end would be accomplished. 
WHICH ARE THE BEST HIYES ? 
Mr. W. Kruse (page 181) must have caused many advocates of 
frame hives to smile when they read his remarks. Who would have 
thought after so much had been written in favour of modern bee¬ 
keeping that anyone would advocate the brimstone pit ? I quite agree 
with what is said about the cruelty of smoking bees, not speaking of 
the risk of killing or causing the deposition of the bee (which I have 
often witnessed) through smoke. I am certain that it is more 
humane to kill bees by brimstone than smoking them or confining 
them to their hive during shows, continuing sometimes for a week. I 
am not sure either that driving, especially as it is sometimes per¬ 
formed, is not more cruel than suffocating by the fumes of brimstone. 
Some ridicule the suffocation of bees, and yet tell us that they only 
live six weeks. They set aside hives as stock, believing, as is the 
case, that the bees will survive the winter and live far into spring if 
well found in stores ; more than Mr. Kruse is of the opinion that 
under these circumstances it is better to smother the bees at once. 
During last autumn all my hives were so strong in bees that it 
would have been folly to have doubled any one of them, and at the 
present moment some of them are full, having myriads of young 
bees as well as drones. These bees, however, are those that have 
given so much satisfaction the last seven years—viz., the crossed 
Cyprians. Your correspondent “ P. H. P." says “ there is nothing to 
be gained by having a lot of broods hatched out in the cold spring 
weather.” Will he tell us how that can be prevented without being 
compelled to prevent breeding by keeping nuclei or weak hives as 
stocks only, and which by so doing would put an end to any harvest 
of honey ? We must keep our hives strong throughout the year and 
prevent their dwindling at all times, and if we do this they will com¬ 
mence breeding soon after the shortest day in spite of our wishes to 
the contrary. I have often warned people against feeding bees if it can 
be avoided, knowing that it is as unnecessary as it is injurious. If bee¬ 
keepers would keep that in mind, and do away with that word “stimu¬ 
late,” their bees would pay them better. No further proof is required 
for my argument if bees commence breeding as they do at the coldest 
time of the year they will not suspend it as the year advances. I 
have but one objection to bees breeding very early—if the weather 
becomes cold during April and the hives get a back set the queen is 
liable to be deposed, at a time, too, when the young one is liable to 
miss fertilisation. If the old queen is not deposed we cannot get our 
swarms early enough. I have no doubt, however, but these Cyprian 
crosses will give better satisfaction in the south, where the season is 
earlier than here ; be that as it may, they are the most assiduous bees 
I ever possessed. 
lieturning to Mr. Kruse’s last paragraph, he says, “ for even if we 
lose a stock occasionally in the winter,” &c. There is no necessity for 
losing a single stock as suggested by him. The fact is, the old-fashioned 
straw hive with its straw hackle and its floorboard thoroughly 
proctected from the wet, has never been surpassed for wintering by any 
modern hive. Last year I took the evidence of upwards of fifty bee¬ 
keepers with about thirty years’ experience ; some of them had sixty, 
and not one of them had lost a hive during winter. This number 
would represent about 10,000 hives. This is certainly good evidence 
as a plea that the straw hivist has not lost everything. If anything 
at all, I do not advise bee-keepers to adopt straw hives wholly, but 
advise them to avoid extremes. There is both pleasure and profit in 
straw hives as well as others. I have had experience with all kinds. 
I again remind all that stimulation and manipulations often cause 
failure. If bees were managed as they should be and joined at the 
proper time the brimstone pit would be unnecessary, except in those 
cases w'here swarming was not controlled, and then I say with 
Mr. Kruse, the brimstone pit is the most profitable, as well as the 
most merciful, way of dealing with them.—A Lanarkshire Bee¬ 
keeper. 
STRAW HIVES—SWARMS versus EKES OR NADIRS. 
A fEW weeks ago I asked you a question raising discussion as to a way 
of swarming then proposed by me. I again desire information, and think 
that it may be of use to others besides myself. Let me state the case :— 
I have two Pettigrew skeps 20 by 12 and 16 by 12 respectively. To-day 
on examination I find the first three parts full of comb, and the second ODly 
half full. In the autumn (September) there was in the first 10 lbs. of bees 
and in the latter 6 lbs., and both are now decidedly strong in number and 
seem in good and healthy condition and the combs clean and dry. 1, Is 
this shortness of comb any detriment to them ? 2, Is it likely to make 
them late swarmers ? 3, Or to induce them to build drone comb only 1 
My idea is to treat them in the spring towards May (if they are strong 
enough) to prevent swarnrng. Mr. A. Pettigrew seems to advocate ekes 
or nadirs for this purpose, and in my case I think nadirs most suitable, as 
by nadiring them the swarming impulse would be taken away and the 
nadir would in the course of the summer (weather allowing) be filled with 
broken comb only. I could then take the top hive for honey, and I may 
say that I can get as mucb for run honey as for comb honey in section, 
and Mr. A. Pettigrew states that in that case ekes or nadir3 produce a 
far larger yield of profit than supers. Increase of stock I care nothing 
about. 
What is your opinion on these ideas ? Please give me an answer in an 
early issue.—F elix. 
[If “ Felix ” carries out his ideas there is a risk of losing his hives as 
stocks for next season. There are two things of great importance in the 
management of hives (either on the swarming or the non-swarming 
principle) which the bee-keeper should keep in view. One is to have only 
strong hives, and the other is to create in the height of the season stocks 
possessing voung queens for tho ensuing year, arid, if possible, to have the 
right proportion of worker combs, of which the hive is better to be 
full. Regarding ekes or nadirs—the former is simply an eke underneath 
for the uninterrupted extension of the combs, and the latter is a box or 
hive placed underneath the stock, from which the bees descend and start 
combs upon the ceiling of the former, which may be separated without 
cutting. The top one containing the most honey can be taken, and the 
under one with all the bees and comb kept as a stock if it has worker 
combs, which is very doubtful ; drone comb is commonly the result of such 
mampulati ms unless a young queen has superseded the old one at the 
time of enlarging. Supers are at all times preferable to nadirs, because it 
is more satisfactory to have drone comb filled with honey in a super than 
having it made in a nadir unfilled, except with drone brood, which in such 
cases there would be an excess of drones injurious to the well-being of the 
hive. Although the honey is stored in supers it is not necessaiy it should 
be kept there if dripped honey is desired. In fact, honey should be 
dripped from no o‘her than “ virgin ” comb. All honey dripped from 
comb 3 that has been bred in is tainted. Honey cannot be improved, but 
