May 28, 1885, ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 449 
°ng ime. Daring the whole of the summer months this Adiantum 
a ou not be subjected to too much heat, for it is not required ; on the 
on rary, the plants do much better in an intermediate structure. Our 
mos useful plants for late summer and autumn were started in heat, and 
en grown in the cool Orchid house until the fronds were used, It is a 
goo p an to divide into two or three, plants that have had the fronds used 
rom em and are too large for 5 or 6-inch pots, and place a portion at 
is season of the year in wire baskets 7 or 8 inches in diameter, growing 
°f vineries and other similar structures, suspended so 
a ey can he reached from the path when they require water. The 
p an s really do better when grown on this principle than when in pots, 
an yie a abundance of fronds for cutting. Seedling plants required in 
very small state in thumb pots for decoration must not he grown in too 
mUC n 6 ^/• 01 fr°nds become weakly and their beauty is destroyed. 
avallias.- These are amongst the most useful of Ferns for cutting, 
an _, S *i?k van ?^ es 8,13 D. bullata, D. elegans, D. canariensis, D. dissecta, 
an others thrive much better in small baskets the same as advised for 
lan urns than they do in pots. While making their growth these plants 
enjoy the moist heat of a vinery or Peach house, and the cooler treatment 
A uh S ° 8u * t . s them admirably, hardening their fronds fcr cutting. 
°ugh these varieties grow remarkably well under comparatively cool 
rea ment, they nevertheless produce more than three times the number of 
ron s when grown in heat. D. dissecta is deciduous during winter, hut 
i is no worse f r this, as it starts freely into growth directly it is intro- 
ucea into heat. Plants that were started three or four months ago have 
j un anc ® fronds, and a few weeks’ cool treatment will render them 
ura le when cut. The fronds of these Ferns when well hardened are 
distance ^ can £ rown f° r packing to travel a long 
• ^Dcrolepia liirtci cristata. —A charming Fern for decorative purposes 
01 A| inc ^ P°* s singly in vases, or even in the centre of the dinner 
a e ’ %£ om a ^ ar ge plant it is not difficult to cut a number of small 
p.eces. These soon establish themselves in small pots in heat, and should 
en be grown in a vinery or an intermediate structure, potting them as 
ey require more root room, for if grown too warm they become a prey to 
s ? a P rot ^ uce iheir beautiful crested fronds. Young plants 
started now will be symmetrical specimens, if not crowded together, for 
use during autumn and winter. 
^ Polystichumproliferum. —Where numbers of small Ferns are required 
oi associating with other plants for room-embellishment, this should be 
raised m large numbers. It is one of the most serriceable plants that 
can be grown, will give less trouble in preparation than probably any 
ot er variety, and is easily increased. The old fronds should be pegged upon 
soil, and young plants are produced the whole length 
c the fronds. When these are sufficiently large and well rooted the 
ronds should be cut off, the young plants lifted and transplanted into 
pans singly until they are large enough for 2-inch pots, which is the case 
in a very short time if kept in a vinery or warm moist structure. For 
many purposes of decoration the plants need not be potted, but lifted from 
the boxes when requTed. If larger plants are needed those that have 
one duty can be trans'erred into 4 and 5-inch pots, or can be planted 
outside, for this Fern is perfectly hardy. 
Sclaginella Kraussiana (S. denticulata of gardens).—Probably this is 
t e most useful species that can be grown for covering the surface cf pots 
and for all other decorative purposes for which such plants are required. 
-Batches in shallow pans, small pots, and boxes should be prepared at 
intervals of two or three weeks, according to the demand. When used 
or the surface of pots and other similar purposes we have found it to 
last decidedly best when established in shallow pans, so that the roots of 
the plants and a portion of soil can be removed with the plants. A 
sufficient stock of established plants should always be kept on hand and 
thoroughly hardened in a cold house some weeks previous to being used, 
it is a good plan to establish a stock on the surface of Vine or Peach 
borders, or other similar positions, in a little light sandy soil ready for 
tilling pots and pans as required. 
MANIPULATING BEES BY LAMPLIGHT. 
KEEPING CORRECT ACCOUNTS. 
“A Surreysbire Bee-keeper” Eays in Lis excellent article 
on page 841, “We have heard of one bee-keeper showing 
his bees by lamplight to an admiring circle of friends,” and 
describes it as the height of folly. To this statement as he 
gives it, without any qualification, I wish to take exception. 
I recently saw the same statement in the British Bee Journal, 
but the bee-keeper referred to was not named. As I am in 
the habit of manipulating bees by candle and lamplight, and 
not having heard of anyone else doing so, for aught I know 
it might be myself that he had heard of, perhaps at the 
jfiftieth hand, and so it reached him in a very misleading aspect. 
I know one prominent bee-keeper (Mr. Conlan) is reported 
to have said that he had tried lamplight manipulating with 
very unpleasant results; but his failure does not condemn 
the system, it only goes to show he did not go the right way 
about it. I hold that when the mercury stands at 75 Q and 
above hives may be safely opened ; and during the hot part 
of August and early September, when bee3 are so prone to 
rob, I find this the safest time to open a hive. I have 
removed virgin and laying queens, extracted honey, united 
stocks, and in fact done every conceivable thing by lamplight, 
and never seen any unpleasant result. On the contrary, I 
have seen disastrous consequences follow opening hives in 
the daytime during the autumn. By manipulating them at 
night bees get quiet and settled down before morning, and 
we run no risk of scorching the brood by the sun’s rays when 
the mercury stands about 90° in the shade. I always begin 
as soon after dark as possible. I worked for hours last 
season at the Heather by means of a naked candlelight, and 
not a bee flew against it. If the wind was not still I put 
the candle in a box against the wind. By all means let us 
have lamplight manipulations when it can be safely done 
without chilling the brood. 
T. e advice to keep correct accounts in everything relating 
to bee-keeping I consider very valuable, and if strictly carried 
out will open bee-keepers’ eyes as to whether they can afford 
to sell or produce honey at 3d., 6d., or even Is. per lb.; but 
of all people bee-keepers are so inclined to make their cal¬ 
culations on their best stock, and then look round and wish 
all had done likewise ; and with those that died in the winter 
and spring quickly calculate what amount of honey they 
would have had if all had turned out similarly, and as he sees 
no reason why they should not he is encouraged to go on 
year by year losing money. It is this calculating on the 
returns made by the best stock which leads so many astray, 
and which the idea of “ A Surreyshire Bee-keeper ” will do 
so much to dispel. In the British Bee Journal for May 15th 
an illustration is given what a best stock did to encourage 
the labouring classes to keep bees, and as the price of honey 
is given at double what a certain trading venture is going to 
give for it, and nothing debited in the account for time spent 
in the various little items necessary in making food, manipu¬ 
lations, &c., I consider such an account a very misleading 
one. 
I know a bee-keeper in Wiltshire, who has kept bees 
over twenty-five years, has always been up with the times, 
and was amongst the first who had Italians, says that— 
taking his calculations on the stocks he puts up for winter 
and one year with another—they never have averaged more 
than 10 lbs. of surplus honey each stock, though he fre¬ 
quently gets upwards of 60 lbs. of super honey from one. 
Even the best authorities in bee-keeping never think of 
basing their calculations on the stocks they put up for winter; 
and one American writer (Mr. G. M. Doolittle) not only 
avoids doing so, but even takes only his best stocks to calcu¬ 
late on. If commercial undertakings did so, and did not 
replace lost capital before calculating the profits, they would 
soon have to wind up. 
As I have quoted Mr. Doolittle I will give his way of 
showing the balance and what it ought to be ; he gives it in 
the American Bee Journal, page 629, for last year. It appears 
he put up eighty stocks for winter in fall of 1883, each with 
about 20 lbs. of honey or sugar stores, and came out in the 
spring with twenty-six strong and fourteen weak ones; to 
these he fed £13 3s. worth of sugar to tide over bad weather 
and get them strong, and values the honey he got at £19 7s. 3d., 
or a return of Is. 6£d. in honey of each of the eighty stocks 
he put down for winter; he increased his stocks again into 
eighty, and to sixty of them, he subsequently says, he fed 
from 10 lbs. to 20 lbs. of sugar each, but he does not say 
how much nor its value, but I should think certainly the 
value of the honey would go in sugar to make his capital up 
to what it was the year previous; nothing is deducted for 
