March 56, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
259 
into other pots until they are ready for placing singly into 5-inch pots. 
Care mast he taken that the plants are not kept in too strong heat to draw 
them weakly. To insure large well-developed plumes the plants must be 
grown sturdily. Sow also seed of Cockscombs, Balsams, Browallias, and 
Grevillea robusta. The remarks given above apply to these with equal 
force. 
Rhodanthe M<inglesii .—This and its white variety are unquestionably 
amongst the easiest and most effective decorative plants that can be 
grown. Pots 5 inches in diameter are large enough. They should be 
filled with moderately rich soil, consisting of loam, one-seventh of 
manure and a little sand, and the seed being sown thinly over the surface 
and lightly covered wilh fine soil. The pots may be placed in an inter¬ 
mediate temperature until the seed has germinated, when the plants may be 
gradually hardened and grown close to the glass in cold frames. As soon 
as the seedlings are large enough they may be thinned, leaving sufficient 
to cover the surface of the pots by the time the plants are about 1 inch 
high. The soil must never be allowed to get dry, and ventilation must be 
free on all favourable occasions. Heat or a close atmosphere will soon 
ruin them. 
NOTES ON BEES. 
FEEDING—VENTILATING—JOINING—FRATERNISING. 
The weather in the north still remains untoward; the recent 
frost has destroyed the anthers of the early Crocuses, so that the 
bees work long and in vain on them for pollen. There are 
but few flowers out that are pollen-yielding, unless in sheltered 
nooks where the Hazels and Alders have been for the past four 
weeks displaying their proliferous catkins. In such places as 
the latter artificial pollen was unnecessary, but where these 
were absent peameal has been greatly taken advantage of, and 
will be continued until the flowers are out in profusion near the 
apiary, as it is much safer to induce the bees to work on pea- 
meal near the apiary, where they can return in safety to their 
hives, than to allow them to take long flights in search of pollen 
from which many would not return. 
As breeding advances much moisture is generated, and unless 
carried off by ventilation above, or from beneath by perforated 
floors, much mischief will follow; in fact, it is no stretch of imagi¬ 
nation to say that the condensing of perspiration inside the hive 
is one of the causes of foul brood. Those who wish to keep hives 
healthy should never make any alteration that suspends the 
carrying-off of damp and vitiated air; this is even more essential 
during, the breeding season than during the resting one. Unless 
where it is suspected that the hive is queenless, or is unfertilised, 
or that the interior of the hive is damp, leave all undisturbed. 
If any are queenless or unfertilised, destroy the queen and utilise 
the bees by joining them to another hive near if thought de¬ 
sirable ; if not, it is better to kill them at once, because though a 
successful union is effected the first flight they take will find 
them on their old stand. Some of them might enter the other 
hives and depose their queens. The joining of swarms at this 
season requires great caution, and considering the casualties 
that occur through this, it is better not to attempt it unless with 
an adjoining hive. If any hives are found damp (which should 
not be if proper care has been exercised) transfer the combs that 
are dry to a clean dry hive, and fill up the space with those kept 
in reserve from last autumn. If the combs are fixed as in straw 
hives, expose them to the sun as long as can be done with safety 
the first fine day, and if the floor is made ventilating, or an eke 
put underneath, it will assist the drying process greatly. 
Keep strict watch as the season advances that no bees suffer 
by want of f od; if this is suspected feed them at once and as 
quickly as they will take it. Regulate tie entrances according 
to the strength of the hive, and keep a record of casualties and 
their causes, so that they may be avoided in the future. Stronger 
and robber bees should be specially guarded against. Stronger 
bees often kill the queen of the hive they enter; but this is not 
always the case, as lias been fully demonstrated by the intro¬ 
duction of foreign varieties, but some varieties have a greater 
propensity for this than others. The Ligurian, for example, 
eludes the most vigilant sentries, immediately acquiring the 
watchword, or whatever it is they recognise each other by, 
fraternising on the most seemingly friendly terms, sharing in 
all the labours of the hive, and in a short time are the most 
dreaded sentries that others can encounter. 
This changing of hives and forming a peaceful alliance is 
one of those things that naturalists have as yet not turned their 
attention to, and which remains a mystery. Shortly after the 
introduction of the Ligurian I observed this vagary prominently 
in some of my hives, and asked Mr. Woodbury about it, but he 
seemed to think they did not differ from the common bee in this 
respect. The case was this : A Ligurian hive refused to increase 
in numbers through detachments leaving and entering other hives. 
One of these hives stood at a distance of two miles, in a bee 
line. A detachment of about a thousand Ligurian bees entered 
this hive, fraternising with its bees; the owner, however, be¬ 
lieving they came upon an errand of robbery, killed many of 
them, but this was after they had fraternised. Another instance 
similar to the above. A detachment of bees from the same hive 
entered a hive about a quarter of a mile distant, fraternised and 
remained with them. The Ligurian hive became so weakened 
through this desertion that at last I only overcame the difficulty 
by joining a swarm to the queen, about all that remained of what 
was a few months previously a strong stock. 
The foregoing is a rare and exceptional case, but still instances 
of bees deserting their hives is not so uncommon as we are apt 
to believe. At the Heather, for example, where a great number 
of hives are placed in lines and near each other, the outermost 
hive or hives draw or receive many bees from other hives, and 
often consequently accumulate a great weight of honey. The 
bee-keepers are alive to this freak of the bees, and to prevent 
their bees joining with their neighbours, detach as much as 
possible each lot, and if any bee-keeper place his bees at the end 
of a neighbour’s line, it is looked upon as an act of dishonesty 
which few will dare to attempt. Last summer a hive stood about 
the centre of twenty, at 12 feet apart, and was very weighty; 
the bees left it and entered the one next it, leaving the queen 
and a few workers only behind. I could quote many similar 
cases, but as I cannot explain the cause, consider the above 
sufficient until more light can be thrown on the subject. 
SUMMER MANIPULATIONS OF PEAMEAL. 
In amplification of my remarks at page 119, I may state that 
the reason I use a zinc cylinder that turns with the wind is 
twofold. The zinc being a conductor, when the sun shines the 
temperature within is high, and keeps the bees lively, though the 
air is chilly. The opening turning from the wind keeps the 
meal dry, prevents waste, and shelters the bees. Water, unless 
when it is situated far from the apiary, is not necessary, but 
when the bees have a long distance to fly for it, or to such places 
that are likely to be destructive to them, they should be 
provided with water near the apiary. The fountain, as in¬ 
vented by “ A Renfrewshire Bee-keeper,” is pretty and interest¬ 
ing, as well as ornamental in any garden, but any vessel filled 
with moss or sawdust, then filled with water, serves the purpose 
well, water oozing out of a barrel or dripping from the rocks 
are favourite resorts for the bees to collect from. At the eighth 
line “ storm ” should be substituted for “ swarm.” “ Particularly 
during summer,” is decidedly what I meant, but will perhaps 
convey my meaning better and make it easier understood if I 
add now, that the fewer manipulations throughout the year at 
any time the better‘it will be for both bees and bee-keeper. 
Avoid all uncalled-for and unnecessary manipulations during 
urnmer, particularly those unnatural ones, such as interfering 
with the body of the hive when supers are being filled, or that 
even more objectionable one of spreading the brood. There is a 
time and a place for everything, and for a bee hive as well as 
other things. All that we can do to help them and our objects 
is to assist nature, not to thwart it. 
Peameal placed upon a tray and covered with a sheet of glass 
a little above the meal, and placed in a sheltered and sunny nook 
answers the purpose well, but mice steal it when thus exposed.— 
Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
THE NATIONAL BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS’ UNION. 
“A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper,” page 221, makes a few remarks on 
the above which I will endeavour to answer. First, I trust he will not 
refrain from criticising this scheme if be can see anything to find fault 
with. It it hoped to make it perfect, and how is this to be attained if 
people refrain from pointing out its faults ? Your correspondent says he 
does not see anything in the articles for the disposal of accumulated funds. 
Just so. As the management will be in the hands of a strictly repre¬ 
sentative Council, elected annually, the disposal of all or any funds will 
practically rest with the majority of the members. Article 12 will give 
full powers on this point, and as the Union will be enrolled under the 
Friendly Societies Acts, every penny of the funds will be protected from 
misapplication. The Union is designed to keep clear of all trade interests, 
or interfering with such interests, but at the same time reservation is 
taken for power to help members to find a market for their produce. 
Article 2, section H, is clear on this point. The Union is to make bee¬ 
keepers independent of middlemen, and by providing a registered label, 
and taking steps that it shall not be used fraudulently, raising the value of 
British honey fully 3d. per lb., besides bringing the producer and con¬ 
sumer directly together, and avoiding such “ specs ” as the Honey 
