254 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND C0T1AGE GARDENER. 
[ March 27, 1884. 
the young bees, which we have taken so much pains to increase by spread¬ 
ing brood, &c., will be ready to go to work for us. —N. M. Carpenter (in 
American Bee Journal). 
BEES, HIVES, HONEY, Ac., AT THE INTERNATIONAL 
HEALTH EXHIBITION. 
The Executive Council have resolved to apportion a limited space 
for an exhibition of honey and the various articles used in its production. 
The entire arrangement and management of this department has been 
placed in the hands of the British Bee-keepers’ Association, the Com¬ 
mittee of which are very anxious to arrange for a full and comprehensive 
display of the honey products of the United Kingdom. 
The Committee invite exhibits under the following heads :—1, Pure 
honey. 2, Hives of bees at work. 3, Specimens of the most approved 
hives and appliances used in modern bee-keeping. 4, Objects illustrative 
of the natural history of the honey bee and its kindred varieties, also of 
bee flora. 5, The means of detecting adulterated or spurious honey, 
with analysis of impure or adulterated honey now sold in the markets. 
6, The beverages in which honey forms an important constituent, with 
the recipes for making the same. Every information may be obtained 
upon application to the Secretary of the British Bee-keepers’ Association, 
Mr. J. Huckle, King’s Langley, Herts, R.S.O. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
E. Webb & Sons, Words’ey, Stourbridge .—Catalogue of Special Manures 
Richard Smith & Co., Worcester .—Catalogue of Farm Seeds. 
*** All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor” 
or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and. those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Books (A. B. C.). —“Select Ferns and Lycopods,” and “ Choice Stove and 
Greenhouse Plants,” both by Mr. B. S. Williams, and published at the 
Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper Holloway, are useful and practical 
works. ( F. L. S.). —The work on stove plants named in the preceding reply 
will suit your purpose, and Dr. M. C. Cooke’s “ Manual of Structural Botany,” 
published by Bogue, St. Martin’s Place, Trafalgar Square, is a cheap ele¬ 
mentary book. 
Violets (J. 0 .).—We thank you for the beautiful bunches of Violets, and 
in answer to your inquiry inform you that the flowers are of good average 
quality both in size and colour. Although some grown in the south are 
larger still more are smaller, and you have good reason to be satisfied with 
your productions. We presume you do not grow Marie Louise or odorata 
pendula of New York. They are very superior forms of the Neapolitan, and 
worth your attention. 
Earth Closet Manure (B. II. It .).—You are right in your reference to 
the bushel.. It is 32 quarts. No one can answer your question as it is put, 
because it is impossible that the strength of your tank manure can be made 
clear. We should not like to risk even half a peck to a square yard at first, 
and then should proceed experimentally. Try it on Cabbages in different 
quantities, and note the results. This will be the best and safest course you 
can adopt. The ashes are of little or no value, sifted garden soil being far 
superior as an absorbent. 
Liquid Manure for Fruit Trees (V., York). —As your Apple trees are 
strong, young, and healthy they would probably not be benefited by liquid 
manure, which could more profitably be given to older trees that are more or 
less enfeebled or to vegetable crops. It may be given at the present time 
and at intervals during the season to whatever trees or crops may need 
manurial assistance. 
Vines in Pots (72. 77. 72.).—We are glad to hear of your favourable 
prospects. If you carry out the system of potting in the spring as detailed 
by Mr. Bardney in the same careful manner as he practises it, and you are as 
successful as he is in fruiting Vines in pots, you will have good reason to be 
satisfied. We have seen Grapes on Vines in pots grown by Mr. Bardney 
much superior to many crops we have inspected on Vines established in 
borders. We shall be glad to have your experience in due time. 
Insects on Roses and Pelargoniums (E. W., Brighton). —Various 
insecticides are equally good for destroying aphides on these plants. Nico¬ 
tine soap, Gishurst, or fir tree oil, each dissolved at the rate of 2 ozs. to a 
gallon of water, will extirpate the insects without injuring the plants. 
Syringing the plants and then dusting with tobacco powder will have the 
same effect. Fumigation is also safe and effective if done before the plants 
are much infested ; in fact, it is true economy to either fumigate or syringe 
the plants occasionally to prevent the appearance of insects, this being the 
practice of the most successful cultivators. 
Disbudding Vines {J. Watson). —As you say there are a “ dozen buds 
breaking from a spur—quite a cluster,” you may safely remove all but two 
or three at once, removing the strongest and best placed. These you may 
allow to extend until you are able to determine which will produce the best 
bunches, and when these laterals are safe you may take off the others, as 
only one will be required on each spur, the spurs being at the least a 
foot apart. As a rule far too many laterals are left on Vines by those who 
fail to grow good Grapes, and the subject of disbudding demands great 
attention at this season of the year. We can no more tolerate superfluous 
growths on Vines than weeds in a flower pot, for both are robbers, hence 
injurious. Disbud your Vines at once. 
Planting Currant Trees (7). E.). —It is late to transplant them now, 
especially as the season is so early and the growth advanced. We, however, 
had occasion to remove some young trees last week, when several of the 
leaves were expanded. We were careful to keep the roots quite moist in 
transit, and by planting carefully and sprinkling the foliage daily the leaves 
remain quite fresh, and every tree will grow. Had the roots been permitted 
to get quite dry, and the foliage been allowed to shrivel, every tree would 
have died. 
Ringing a Pear Tree (J. 77.)—Your adviser was a quack, and it appears 
you have found out he is “no gardener.” You will also find out that the 
operation he has performed -will not benefit your tree. It may, however, not 
seriously injure it, as luckily the ring cut out is narrow, and if the tree is 
vigorous new bark will grow over the space from which the old has been 
removed. If the Pear is a good variety, and the tree grows well and is not 
cankered, we should not graft it, but cut off the old spurs and secure young 
wood. If the variety is not good, then grafting would be advisable, but it 
is too late for this now unless you have dormant scions. You had perhaps 
better let the tree alone, and write us again in the autumn. 
Drying Amaryllises (G. P.) —We are aware that it has been recom¬ 
mended not to dry off the plants in the winter, but to keep the foliage green, 
but not growing, and we have no doubt that plants thus treated were satis¬ 
factory and flowered freely ; but we also know they will succeed equally 
well, if not better, if the growth is well ripened in the summer in a high 
and dry temperature, gradually withholding water in September, and not 
giving a drop from October till February. In this case the foliage is 
removed entirely, and the pots containing the bulbs can be stored under a 
stage in a warm house. It is in this way the plants are treated that are now 
flowering in Messrs. Veitch’s nursery at Chelsea, and finer examples of 
culture have never been seen. 
Layering Chrysanthemums (E. Lawson ).—The process is perfectly 
easy, and with ordinary attention you need have no fear of failure occurring. 
Plant a few old plants out of doors in a row ; let them grow as wild as they 
choose till the month of July ; then take as many pots as plants are required, 
and plunge them, filled with some rich soil, into the ground, at such a distance 
from the plants growing in the ground as will allow the tops only, when bent 
down, to reach the pots ; bring them carefully down, and peg each branch 
firmly in the soil. Leave about 2 inches of the top out of the soil. If the 
shoot is branched it is well, but if not it must not be topped, because there 
is some danger that the layer may continue to grow and not flower if topped 
so late in the season. The aim of this mode of propagation is to make them 
flower when very dwarf ; and, therefore, the layer should have buds upon it 
just visible at the time when the layering is performed. Keep the soil in 
the pots moderately moist till roots are formed, and after that water more 
freely. When it is certain that the layers have made plenty of roots cut 
them off from the parent plant, and remove them into a frame or pit deep 
enough to receive them. Should they flag during the day, give a sprinkling 
of water, and shade for a day or two till they recover; then give air and 
water freely. They will then be nice plants, about a foot high, with, 
perhaps, six or ten flowers on each. 
Mushrooms (IF.).—As you can only obtain such a small quantity of 
manure you must not expect great results. If the material is very good, and 
you can procure some older manure and leaves, you may first have a layer of 
them—say 6 inches thick—and made firm ; then a further thickness of 
6 inches of the prepared manure would suffice, and altogether you might 
have a good-sized bed, which, being in a shed, we should have flat and 3 or 
4 feet wide. The bed should be a foot thick when pressed firmly. We have 
had excellent Mushrooms by inserting spawn in declining hotbeds ; but 
whether they would grow in yours we are unable to say, not knowing its 
condit’on nor the use to which the bed is to be afterwards applied. If it is 
an old spent bed that was made last year it will not answer for growing 
Mushrooms this. If it is a bed made this spring, spawn inserted in May 
or June will result in the production of Mushrooms in the autumn, provided 
the temperature and condition of the bed as regards moisture be favourable 
for the spread of the mycelium. 
Spawning Mushroom Beds (A. TF).—When the heat of a bed is 
declining, and a thermometer with its bulb inserted 2 inches below the 
surface of the bed indicates a temperature of 80°, lumps of spawn may be 
safely inserted ; but not if the temperature of the bed is still rising, as it 
may increase to such a degree as to kill the mycelium. When the spawn is 
inserted it is advisable to cover the bed with litter to prevent the surface 
drying, also the heat of the bed can be kept nearly uniform by regulating 
the thickness of the covering. If a thermometer laid on the surface under the 
litter registers 60° it will be quite right, a degree or two above or below that 
temperature not being material. The running of the spawn is not “palpable 
on the surface,” or it ought not to be, before casing the bed with soil. If 
the manure is in good condition, and the spawn good also, the latter will on 
examination of a lump or two in three or four days to a week after insertion 
be found to be moving, Ihe mycelium spreading and taking possession of the 
surrounding manure. The soil should then he added and the beds covered 
