April 24, 18S4. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
833 
during the last few days been compelled to exchange their delightful 
occupation outdoors for more prosy nursery work within the hive. 
Breeding had been going on at an unusual pace, and the rising tem¬ 
perature of the hives had been favoured by the great amount of warm 
sunshine and genial air without. While daily extending the brood 
nest the bulk of the bees had been able to get away to forage. Both 
pollen and honey in goodly quantity was added to the stores, and 
water was easily obtainable in every open leaf, for gentle showers 
supplied it usually in the night time, and the bees had not far to seek 
for it early in the day. But the cold breath of the east wind has been 
felt, now with leaden sky warning the bees not to quit their hives, 
now with treacherous sunshine tempting forth the unwary to be 
chilled to death in some shady spot. It is now that the bee-keeper 
must be on the alert to keep up the supply in the feeding bottle. 
Entrances should be also attended to—nearly closed when the cold air 
tells us that the bees will not wish to get out, and opened again should 
the wind blow from a warmer quarter, and the sunshine invite the 
workers to their pleasant task again. 
The state of nearly all colonies which we have examined this 
spring is most forward. Where artificial means have been employed, 
in accordance with the teaching in this Journal, brood will now be in 
great abundance, and no harm will happen to the hives through a 
short spell of cold weather, provided that the continuous but slow 
supply of food is not neglected. It is in such nips of cold weather 
after warm that careless bee-keepers cause much damage to a stock 
of bees. The more carefully the stock has been hitherto fed the 
greater the danger by a discontinuance of such feeding now. Both 
queen and bees finding the supply suddenly stop become disheartened 
and cease, the one to laj r eggs, the others to rear brood. The heat 
of the hive decreases not only in proportion to the decrease with¬ 
out, but in accordance with the cessation of activity within. No 
food to be collected at the feeding hole, no food to store, no move¬ 
ment in the hive, the bees consume less because they require less, 
doing less work, and thus less heat is given off from their bodies. 
As the heat decreases the bulk of the cluster decreases, and perhaps 
at last brood is left uncovered and dies chilled to death. Then follow 
other dangers, among them the danger that the stock will so dwindle 
that the survivors will not be able to clear out the dead brood, and it 
may in time become foul brood, and be a source of infection to a 
neighbourhood. This is a dark picture, but tve are convinced that as 
much evil as we here pourtray has been effected in a district by a care¬ 
less keeper of bees. It is by far better that those who cannot follow 
up a course of stimulative feeding without any cessation or intermis¬ 
sion until the supply is abundant from without should let it alone 
altogether, see that their bees do not starve, and leave them other¬ 
wise to depend on themselves ; but where the system of feeding is 
properly carried out, those who once try it will prove its wonderful 
effects in quickly working up a stock to great power, so that when the 
honey harvest really commences supers will be readily filled, or the 
extractor be fully employed. 
This brings us to say a few words about supers. A correspondent 
was lately inquiring as to what super he should use. Our opinion 
is that there is but one super now which should be employed by 
those who wish to have their honey in a neat, portable, saleable 
form. The sectional super by far excels all others. They are most 
inexpensive ; the best V-cut sections can be bought at about 4s. per 
hundred. Those by 4f hold as nearly as possible 1 lb. of 
comb honey ; those holding 2 lbs. measure 6^ by 54. They can be 
had also U cut. These figures (V and U) refer to the shape of the 
groove cut out at each corner, in such a manner that a mere shaving 
of the wood is left, but this sufficient to hold the super together. 
They are purchased flat, and should be soaked in water for ten 
minutes before being put into shape. The V-cut ones are more 
easily put together, but the U-cut ones have this advantage, that 
where desired they can be more easily nailed. Only fine wire nails 
should be employed. A section crate is easily made. It can be a 
box to entirely shut in the sections, or a mere rack to support them 
and the dividers, covering all up, warming with drugget, flannel, &c. 
We have a preference for dividers of very thin wood. This can 
be purchased at a cheap rate from vendors. It is sawn so thin 
that it can be cut with scissors or pen-knife. Some use glass, some 
tin dividers, but wood is a warmer material than either of the former. 
Cardboard has been tried, but this will not do—the bees are prone 
to bite it into pieces. Some kind of divider should always be used 
between sections, otherwise one comb will be built larger than 
another, and the portability of the honey done away with. There 
is no doubt that straw supers (caps as they are called) are as readily 
taken possession of by bees as any we can use, but after the cap is 
filled it is unsaleable. The honey must be messed up before it is 
ready for use. 
Glass supers we simply consider abominations. It is a difficult 
matter to get bees to begin in a bellglass, and when filled, although 
a pretty ornament, well—it had better remain an ornament. It is a 
pity that encouragement is given to waste so much good comb honey 
by offering prizes at shows for bellglass supers. No, let those who 
want beautiful honey, portable honey, or saleable honey use sections. 
When warm weather returns, or even now in sheltered places with 
warm sunshine, bees will gather much honey from the fruit blossoms. 
Fruit trees are now flowering all over the country, and in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of orchards or fruit farms supers may be filled ; but this 
will not be the case if too much room be given in the body of the 
hive. If bees and brood are covering from eight to ten frames 
when fruit-blossom honey is coming in abundantly a rack of sections 
may be put on. We would unseal a quantity of the honey in the 
outside frames of the hive proper, and the bees would be very likely 
at once to commence operations by carrying the unsealed honey 
aloft. Very thin guide comb should be given. The foundation 
made expressly for supers, if obtained of a good tradesman, will be 
composed of the purest beeswax, and so thin that it will be quite 
used up by the bees and nothing disagreeable be detected when the 
comb is eaten. Young bee-keepers will permit us to warn them 
against using thick foundation in supers. It is not pleasant when 
eating a piece of comb honey to find one’s teeth sticking into a 
lump of hard wax. Such will be the case where the thick foundation 
made for the brood nest is used in supers. In sections we prefer to 
put only a narrow strip of guide sheet, and that of the thinnest 
manufactured.—P. H. P. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
Ellwanger & Barry, Mount Hope Nurseries, Rochester, New York.— 
Select Roses for 1S84. 
%* 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 reiected communications. 
Seedling Auricula (Rev. E. F. C.). —It is a bold and effective border 
Alpine, but of no value from a florist’s point of view. The eye is much too 
large, the segments rough, and the pistil far too prominent to constitute a 
really good flower. Such varieties as yours are not grown in pots, but are 
attractive on rockwork and in flower borders. 
Azaleas for Naming (D. C.andR. C.). —The specimens sent are varieties, 
not species, of plants, and, as we have repeatedly stated, we cannot under¬ 
take to name varieties of any flowers that were originally raised from seed 
in gardens. The only proper mode of obtaining the names is to send flowers 
to the nurseryman who supplied the plants for comparing with others in his 
collection. 
Destroying Plantains on Lawns (II. S. J.). —If you refer to page 313 last 
week you will find the method described of destroying them with vitriol. 
We know this i3 effective, but if the work is roughly done, and the stick 
rubbed on the grass, unsightly marks will be made that will remain for some 
time. Women or boys should not be trusted to use vitriol on lawns or any¬ 
where else. We have extirpated plantains from large lawns in the manner 
referred to. We have known a kind of lawn sand that used to be advertised 
answer its purpose well in some cases, but not in others, but have not been 
able to ascertain the cause of such differing results. 
Grapes Failing (C . S.). —Probably the temperature of your house is too 
low for Muscats. The condition of the withered bunches suggests that such 
is the case, and also that the wood was not thoroughly ripened in the autumn. 
As the Vine is so unsatisfactory we should take a cane from one of the others 
and inarch it on the Muscat stock, which forms a good foster parent for most 
varieties of Grapes. You do not say a word about the temperature of the 
house in which the Vine has failed. 
Vines Scorched (J. L.). —Your vinery has been kept too close and moist, 
possibly also too cold at night. Whatever moisture is applied, either by 
syringing the Vines or damping the paths of the house, should be applied 
sufficiently early, so that the Vines and house are comparatively dry before 
night; and it is also equally important that the top ventilators be opened 
slightly half an hour after the sun reaches the house in the morning, if not 
sooner. Leaving houses closed too long and then throwing open the 
