April 16, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
319 
leaves trimmed off, then dibbled in thickly, or so as to just clear each 
other. They are then watered in, closely covered with squares of glass, 
stood in position, and shaded with sheets of paper when necessary. Any 
showing signs of damping are given air for a short time every morning 
and the glasses dried. In this manner many hundreds are quickly struck, 
these being eventually stopped, the tops struck if needed, and either 
placed in boxes or temporarily bedded out in warm frames. 
Succulents .—Tops of Echeveria metallica, Pachyphitons, Semper- 
vivums, Kleinias, and other strong-growing succulents that may be re¬ 
quired for the carpet-bed arrangements may yet be struck, and in many 
cases will prove of more service than the old plants. After being cut and 
trimmed they should be laid on a sunny shelf to dry or heal, and then 
be either dibbled singly in small well-drained pots filled with sandy soil, 
or, in the case of the Sempervivums and Kleinias, be dibbled in thickly 
in pans or well-drained boxes of soil. Agaves are propagated by division, 
and Kleinia repens also divides readily either now or at bedding-out 
time. Sempervivum tabulmforme may either be raised from seed, or the 
centres should be picked out of strong old plants, and these will yield a 
great number of side shoots, which may be taken off and grown to a 
serviceable size for next year’s bedding-out. They succeed in cold frames, 
but a moderately severe frost would damage them. Mesembryanthemum 
cordifolium variegatum, if very sappy, frequently fails to strike satisfac¬ 
torily. The stock plants should be well exposed to the sunshine, and the 
cuttings, when dibbled into pans of sandy soil, should also be freely 
exposed. 
Herbaceous Lobelias .—These should now be pushing up a number of 
suckers, every one of which may be separated and either boxed or potted 
off, and will make strong flowering plants this season. They are most 
effective when planted in masses and edged with golden or silver varie¬ 
gated Zonal Pelargoniums. Queen Victoria is, perhaps, the best variety 
of Lobelia. 
Cannas .—Seedlings should be potted when they have perfected their 
first leaf, and if given 5-inch pots, good soil, and kept growing in a warm 
bouse they will soon become serviceable plants. The old etools may be 
started in heat, and before they are far advanced can be freely cut up 
or divided, every shoot separated with a few roots attached soon grow¬ 
ing into a good-sized plant. The.-e, again, are very effective in 
groups. 
Salvia patens .—We have no blue-flowering bedding plant to equal this, 
and it is especially good for the back rows of ribbon borders. Old roots 
started in heat will furnish a number of cuttings, which may be easily 
struck in heat. 
1 
HE) BEE-KEEPER. 
h 
FRAME H1YES AND QUEEN-REARING. 
March has not only passed away with its proverbial dropping 
and shining, but with a considerable amount of frosty and bleak 
weather, a most variable and untoward month throughout. It has had 
more frosty nights, and the thermometer registered but 1° higher than 
any month since winter commenced. Consequently the bees have 
been kept very much within doors. With a good store of pollen 
from last season and attended to with peameal bees are advancing 
rapidly. The main thing to be attended to now is seeing that no bees 
suffer from want of either essentials, though flowers of many kinds will 
soon be plentiful. The bees through stress of weather may be unable 
to get much good from them. This is quite a common occurrence 
even up till June ; therefore, greater attention is required should 
April and May be cold and sunless. 
The advantage of frame hives over straw hives will now be 
appreciated ; their advantages, however, should be used and not 
abused. Manipulation cools the hive, encourages robbing, annoys the 
bees, causing them to gorge themselves and cease working ; while 
frames not supplied with lateral slides but a quilt only cause the bees 
much extra labour and annoyance to propolise anew, but which is 
avoided by using lateral slides. 
The first manipulation advisable beyond extending contracted 
hives is that of breaking up the stock hive into nuclei after natural 
or artificial swarming. This operation should be performed about the 
tenth day after swarming. A hive containing a dozen frames maybe 
divided with safety into six or even more. Put two combs contain¬ 
ing a queen cell into a box along with another frame or two filled with 
foundation. Attend to feeding, or a slab of candy may be laid on the 
top of the frames, which the bees will avail themselves of. These 
small boxes may be lashed together in threes or fours, which is better 
than having four nuclei in one hive separated by dividers. Much 
better for queen-rearing is the square Stewarton, for the reason that 
more combs are available to form each nuclei with a better chance of 
having the royal cells properly distributed. 
The best hive of all for queen-rearing is the sectional hive ; a 
hive of this sort may be divided into twelve nuclei — i e., if the stock 
hive is sufficiently strong in bees. I have been successful in raising 
queens and dividing these until each had no more than 500 
bees, but fertilisation is surer and sooner effected when the bees are 
numerous. When the nuclei are provided with comb containing young 
bees the risk of the bees deserting is not so great as when the bees 
are put into an empty hive. A number of young queens so brought 
forward and fertilised before swarming is general to be in readiness 
to supersede the old queen in stock hives immediately after the issue 
of the first swarm, is of incalculable advantage, becoming in three 
weeks’ time as strong as they had been previous to swarming. When a 
young queen is to be joined it is necessary to crush all royal cells and 
cage the queen on or between her own combs with her subjects for 
twenty-four hours. As the bees are mostly young they will receive 
any fertilised queen even sooner than that, but it is best to be cautious. 
If the frames of the nuclei and stock hives are interchangeable a frame 
can be taken from the latter to take the place of the one removed 
from the nuclei, when another queen will be raised, and so a succes¬ 
sion is kept up ; only remember that to be sure of having full-sized 
queens the hives they are raised in should be well supplied with bees, 
although during the height of summer this is of less consequence than 
after the days are shorter. 
Raising queens is more difficult in straw hives ; still, where these 
are employed it is as essential to have fertilised queens ready to join to 
the old stock after the first swarm has issued as for frame hives. The 
bee-keeper should therefore make provision for the number of nuclei 
required. A few boxes about 8 inches square inside and of the same 
depth, with some frames, four for each box, will do well. Let one of 
the sides of the box be loose, so as to give freedom to inspect the 
combs and queen, or to close the proper distance to the frame ; a 
slight tack will keep it in its place, and be easily withdrawn when re¬ 
quired. Just before the queens are hatched the combs of the straw 
hive should be carefully manipulated and fitted into the little frames, 
which in most cases will be easily performed. Be careful not to 
crush the royal cells nor any of the brood. If a manipulating house 
or room with one window is in or near the apiary such work should 
be performed in one or other of them. When the combs are fully 
utilised divide the bees in equal proportions to each nucleus, and lash 
four together with an entrance to each opposite to the other. Should 
any one lose its queen join it to another. It is perhaps impossible to 
lay down rules for work such as the foregoing that will meet the re¬ 
quirements of everyone and every case, but what I have stated will be 
a help even to the most ignorant in such manipulations, and with a 
little tact will soon overcome all difficulties in one of the most 
essential manipulations towards profit in the apiary. 
The National Bee-keepers' Union .—At pages 259-260 Mr. J. 
Hewitt makes some remarks upon my criticism, and asks that I 
should not refrain from pointing out its faults in order that the rules 
should be perfect. I have carefully read the rules, and I fail to see 
where I could improve on them. Rule 14, I think, provides for 
everything that is necessary or is likely to be ; therefore I am of the 
opinion that the rules as they stand are good, and strengthened all the 
more by the singleness of purpose the promoters have in view—viz., 
to secure to the honey raiser not only a market but a fair price for 
his produce.—A Lanarkshire Bee keeper. 
HONEY PRODUCTION IN CANADA. 
A PAPER was read at the International Congress recently held in 
America from Mr. S. F. Pettit, of Belmont, Out., as follows :— 
“ God has clothed and beautified nearly all parts of His footstool with 
flowers that fill the air with rich fragrance and delight the eyes of all. 
The humble poor as well as the opulent may enjoy them. But these are 
not the only uses for which they are designed. They each secrete a par¬ 
ticle of nectar, some more and some less. The Dominion of Canada is 
no exception to the general rule ; but, on the contrary, from the Atlantic 
Ocean to the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes and the 49th parallel, to 
the frozen regions of the North, flowers everywhere abound in great 
luxuriance and profusion. 
“ In Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime Provinces, the greatest honey- 
producing tree in the world, perhaps, the Linden or Basswood, grows 
abundantly. The Soft Maple and Sugar Maple yield no inconsiderable 
quantity. From the latter, average colonies will, in favourable seasons, 
store 20 lbs. or more. 
“ Then we have the fruit trees, Grape Vines, and Willows, both small 
and great, in endless variety. Of weeds, at present developments, the 
Canadian Thistle stands first on the list as a honey-producer, but— 
‘ beware ! beware ! 0, beware ! ’ Then comes the Golden-rod, Ox-eyed 
Daisy, the Asters, &c., besides many others which go to make up the list. 
« Bat the plants to which bee-keepers in the provinces named are most 
indebted, and to which they look for their greatest and surest supply, are 
the different varieties of Clover. Where the forests are cleared away these 
provinces are emphatically a land of grass—that is, the grasses here 
attain to great peifection, and where the land remains neglected it is soon 
covered with vegetation, white Clover doing its full share. 
“ The power of the Linden, or Basswood, to produce honey when all 
the conditions are favourable is a matter of wonder and astonishment. 
About July 15th the tree is profusely decorated, yea, nearly covered, with 
cream-coloured blossoms so filled with honey that the limbs literally bend 
under their loads of coveted sweets. At this time, if a limb be struck a 
sharp blow from beneath the honey will fall to the ground in a swee^ 
