March 19, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
241 
if closely cut back to the principal branches, and some prefer to trim off 
all the old leaves as well, their places being quickly filled by young ones. 
Pruning Roues. —In most districts the greater portion of this work may 
be at once completed. Those newly planted, however, may well be left 
until they have commenced to form fresh roots, this causing them to break 
more strongly. As a rule we make little or no distinction in our manner 
of pruning both the Hybrid Perpetuals and Teas, and we get plenty of 
Roses. The standards are pruned the hardest. All spray is removed 
and the head freely thinned out, the best placed shoots being selected, 
those about the size of a lead pencil being cut to about the fifth bud from 
the base, those stronger being allowed more length, and those weaker 
we shorten to the second or third bud. To severely shorten gross shoots 
will result in the formation of still stronger shoots, and which seldom 
bloom satisfactorily, while unless weakly growth is severely pruned it 
will produce nothing but spray. Aim as much as possible at the pro¬ 
duction of well-ripened medium-sized growth, and this is both the most 
hardy and floriferous. Fore-shortening, or the act of cutting the badly 
placed outside branches and the old wood attached clean back to a better 
placed lower branch, is frequently necessary in order to preserve a neat 
and generally well regulated head. Dwarf Roses being generally stronger¬ 
growing should not be so closely pruned, but the same rule applies to all 
of weakly growth, as in the case of standards. If preferred, and the plan 
is a good one, the strong young growths may be pegged down and the 
old growths cut clean away. They flower very freely when thus treated, 
and are certain to throw up plenty of strong shoots for next season’s 
display. 
8f 
HI 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
6) ^2 
o) m 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
At the present season when all nature is bursting into life the 
question of our apiaries is of considerable importance, for upon the 
judicious treatment for the next three months depends the whole suc¬ 
cess of the season. There is not so much of the element of luck in 
successful bee culture as many people imagine. The success simply 
depends on the necessary knowledge of what to do at the proper- 
time, so that our bees may be in proper condition to take advantage 
of the honey flow when it comes. The great point is to begin right. 
No amount of after care will make up for lost opportunities. Do not 
regret that you have not got all the nicknacks used in modern bee¬ 
keeping. If you need them make them, or if money is plentiful buy 
them, and in a few years you will be surprised at how many things 
you can do without. Young people want everything, old ones very 
little, and this is true in apiculture, for I have taken as fine honey out 
of a small cask bought by an apiarian friend at his grocer’s for 3d. 
as ever I took out of the most expensive bar-framed hive. 
Some years ago, having to illustrate how cottagers could make 
their own hives out of bacon boxes or any kind of boxes, an old 
apiarian friend called to inspect some of my foreign bees, which 
happened to be in those rough hives made of old boxe3. I sent my 
friend and his companions to my apiary ; and, after an inspection of 
the interior of those hives my friend said, “ I am bound to confess 
I have been freely criticising the outside of your hives for their 
roughness, but 1 admire the insides.” Now it is the inside we have 
most to do with, and only let a skilful apiarian have the bees he 
will soon have them giving a good account of themselves. 
At this time of year, when renewed activity will be beginning to 
manifest itself in most hives, it will be well to turn up the covers 
(quilts) and see if there is any sealed comb still left unconsumed. 
Now is the most critical time for bees, and the one point to be 
attended to is to see that they do not die for want of food. In the 
case of straw skeps take out the bung and look for sealed comb. If 
the hive is very light it must be fed, and the best feeder is one of 
those square Hollands 3-inch bottles with short neck and square 
shoulders, or in fact any bottle. Mix 41b3. of American granulated 
sugar in 1 quart of water ; place the sugar in a muslin bag, and 
suspend it in the water—it will soon dissolve ; or if you wish heat it 
on the fire. Be careful not to burn it. Put no vinegar or salt into 
it. Then fill the bottle. Tie a piece of muslin or cheesecloth over 
the mouth. Invert it into the bunghole of the skep, and place a 
piece of loose cloth around the neck cover with an empty skep to 
keep other bees from it, and continue this treatment until honey freely 
comes in. For bar-frame hives, the cover or quilt having a hole in 
the centre, cut a 2-inch hole in a piece of half-inch board, and place a 
wide-mouthed bottle inverted over this hole, which will allow the bees 
to freely come and go underneath the bottle. Disturb them as little 
as possible, as the bees know best when to be active. The 
greatest fault of bar-frame hives is the facility of examining the 
bees at all times and often in the most unseasonable weather, resulting 
in loss of queens, disheartening the bees, and the liability to contract 
that worst of all diseases—foul brood. Let your bees alone except 
in absolutely necessary cases. If you wish to be extravagant and 
give the bees a treat give them a pint of milk food, which is highly 
stimulating. Next see that in some sheltered nook you place some 
fresh ground bean and peameal fresh from the mill; the bees will 
soon find it and utilise it upon occasion. Cover it with a skep raised 
half an inch on the sunny side, and see that it does not become damp. 
If it does give a fresh supply ; it will amply repay the cost. 
Remember that at present the one essential point to be attended 
to is to see that the bees do not suffer for want of food, for they will 
be about to commence breeding in earnest, and will need much more 
than they have previously consumed. Readers must bear in mind 
that these notes are written from North Yorkshire ; consequently, the 
south of England will be much earlier, and farther north much later. 
By looking to the hives at the present time it can be decided which 
to work for swarms and which for honey, and a good return can only 
te obtained in one direction. If swarms are wanted do not expect 
much honey, and vice versa. Honey pays the best, only we cannot 
always depend on a crop. For my own part I have seldom known 
a season when I could not secure a good honey return either from 
Clover or Heather. The point I wish to impress is to keep stocks in 
a fit condition to send out an army of workers to gather the honey 
when it does come. 
Much ignorance prevails amongst our rural population in regard 
to bses. Take a case which 1 saw only a week ago. A small farmer 
had often asked me to call and see his bees. Being in his vicinity I 
visited him and went to look at his hives. There they were—fine 
straw skeps, but fine-toothed combs fastened over the entrance to 
prevent the bees coming out. I said “I doubt your bees will be all dead,” 
after learning that they had been fastened up that way all winter. 
I took away the combs and raised the hives from their floor boards, 
which were covered about 2 inches deep with smothered bees, and 
found in each skep about a pint of live bees. A few more hours, 
and all would have been past recovery. I turned to my host, whose 
eyes expressed astonishment, while he was exclaiming, “ Dang it all, 
who’d have thout it?” and so forth, and I explained to him the 
necessity of bees having a cleansing flight as often as the weather 
permitted, pointing out to him the evident relief his bees were receiv¬ 
ing from their liberty. Those are the class of people who ascribe 
all losses to bad luck ; and if it will be any encouragement I may state 
that by careful management two of my best hives weighed at Great 
Ayton railway station gave the gross weight of 17 stones. This 
from the Heather only. One of them had previously given me a 
56 lb. of super honey from a field of Beans in fourteen days.— 
W. Crisp, Great Ayton , Yorkshire. 
SQUARE STEWARTON HIVES. 
I AM thinking of having two square Stewarton bee hives made after 
the pattern described in the Journal of December 11th, 1881, by “ Lanark¬ 
shire Bee-keeper.” Perhaps you will in next issue give me the depth of 
each body box, as I find only the depth of one is mentioned—namely, 
inches. Also please say if the top bar, and ends of bars, are all of the 
same dimensions for each box, bars l£ inch, end pieces seven-eighths 
inch. How are the distances between each bar to be regulated ? Is it 
only necessary for the top box to be provided with lateral slides? How 
ought the swarm to be placed in ? Should they have access to all three 
boxes when first put in ? Describe the uses and the management of the 
three body boxes, also the advantages of the three boxes ? Is this a 
better hive than the compound frame mentioned by the same writer some 
time about midsummer.— Novice. 
[The body boxes are all of one depth, the supers only being less. 
To the second question, Yes ! The distance between the bars is regulated 
either by a wire nail, staple, or brass nail, of which the head is a quarter 
inch high. The lateral slides are for the top only. The bees are put 
into these hives the same as they are put into an ordinary straw hive— 
either by shaking the bees into them, or by causing them to run up into 
them. Place the swarm or swarms into two boxes only, and if the bees 
are numerous put on a super the following day—that is, if the weather 
is favourable and the flowers plentiful. After a while the third box should 
be added if the season is prolonged ; this gives the required breeding space, 
allows sufficient store room, and prevents the queen ascending the supers. 
The advantages of the three body boxes are many ; for example, a swarm 
or stock can be built up or reduced by degrees. When honey is plentiful 
the upper box can be taken full with all the cells sealed, which is not 
always the case with a deep frame. As it is advisable to have new combs 
at all times, these can be renewed annually by degrees during the summer. 
The above hive, if properly made and thoroughly protected from the 
weather, is for all purposes an excellent hive, and can scarcely be sur¬ 
passed, so is the compound frame hive, but which is the better bee¬ 
keepers must decided for themselves ; neither of them will disappoint.] 
ABOUT BEES. 
My practical bee-keeping only dates from 1883, and some of my 
earlier experiences were given at page 475, vol. vii. of this Journal. Now 
for experience to have any practical value we must have data, therefore 
I may state that the stocks started with in 1884 were as follows: 1, 
Straw skep, 1880 original colony ; 2, straw skep, 1881 ; 3, 4, and 5, bar- 
