June 5, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
455 
shines, and this should he done as early in the day as possible, so that the 
hive may regain its heat before the evening is cool. 
If by any chance you get this so-called foul, or rather chilled brood, 
the best way to deal with it is to put it into a queenless colony for all the 
live bees to hatch out ; then with a sharp knife shave oft the caps, dust 
well with powdered charcoal and hang up to dry, when they may be again 
used with impunity. These bees in the wing state will stand greater cold 
and punishment than our native blacks owing to their greater vitality, 
hut the brood wi 1 not. Probably this maybe accounted for if we remem¬ 
ber these bees come from a warmer climate. 
Let me be distinctly understood that I am not a race-worshipper. 
Bees have no attractions for me if they will not yield any honey, no 
matter how beautiful or ornamental they may be. The “ Lanarkshire 
Bee-keeper” is taking a step in the right direction by crossing Cyprian 
queens with Ligurian drones, and the produce with Carniolian drones. It 
is only by crossing these foreign bees that we may hope to produce 
superior varieties. It has been done in every other branch of the animal 
and vegetable kingdoms, and why not with bees ? for with all their virtues 
—which should make us more anxious to improve them—they are only 
wild bees we are cultivating at present. Cyprus gave us the Cauliflower, 
and who would recognise the original in the immense varieties of Broccoli 
and Cauliflower, or would banish it from our gardens ? and may not one 
or all of these bees produce a breed of bees as distinct and valuable to the 
present as the Magnum Bonum Potato is to its first parents ? Let us go 
about this matter in an intelligent manner, each adding his mite; and for 
the present those who want a good crop of honey and plenty of bees in 
the spring to fertilise their abundant fruit blossom, I would advise such 
to try the first cross of Syrians with pure black drones.— Hallahshiee. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Paul ifc Son, Cheshunt.— Catalogue of Bar dy Herbaceous Plants. 
Ant. Roozen & Son, 07erveen, Haarlem, Holland.— Catalogue of Dutch 
and Cape Bulbs. 
W. Lovell & Son, Driffield, Yorkshire.— Select List of Strawberry Plants. 
%* 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. 
Brighton Show ( Exhibitor ).—Letters such as you have sent should be 
accompanied by the name and address of the writers, and if you will forward 
yours, not for publication against your desire, the advisability of inserting 
your communication shall be considered. 
Child’s Hill, Hampstead, Horticultural Society (.7. B.). —The Secre¬ 
tary last year was, we believe, Mr. Williams, The Gardens, Frognal Rise, 
Hampstead, and we have not heard ot any change in the Society’s officials. 
National Rose Catalogue ( Young Gardener). —If you write to the Rev. 
H. H. D’Ombrain, Westwell Yicarage, Ashford, Kent, enclosing a stamped 
directed envelope for reply, you will obtain the information you need. You 
are in error on the other subject. No pamphlet is published by the gardener 
you name, and consequently has not been referred to in the Journal. 
Pteris serrulata cristata major (IF. M., Liverpool). —We received from 
you about ten days ago what appears to be a frond of this fine Fern, but the 
announced “ particulars by post ” have not yet reached our hands. 
Market Gardening (Student). —We suspect you will find it difficult 
to get into such a garden as you have in view unless you have someone 
who is acquainted with the proprietor willing to recommend you to him. 
Numbers of students would be glad to have a term in some of the establish¬ 
ments in question, pay a premium for the privilege of entrance, and receive 
no wages for a year. The alternative plan is to get in as a labourer, and 
with such a position you would possibly be disappointed. 
Insects Found in a Church (H. M.). —The specimen sent is a species of 
beetle, Anobium striatum, one of those that live in wood, and which has 
doubtless a colony in the woodwork of some of the old pews. To this, and 
to others of the same family, the ominous name of “ death watch ” has been 
given, because our superstitious ancestors believed the noise they made when 
heard in a house was a sign of the approaching death of an inmate. This 
beetle first appears as a six-legged larva or grub, which also resides in the 
wood on which it feeds, and, like the beetle, it is believed to produce a sound 
by striking its head against the sides of the burrow it has cut, with the object 
perhaps, of ascertaining how near it is to the outer air. Made by the mature 
beetle the sound is supposed to be a call from one to the other, but this 
must be deemed doubtful, their history being insufficiently known as yet. 
Myosotis dissitiflora (L. Thompson). —You may remove the plants when 
you like after they cease to be attractive, and plant them in a cool moist 
position on the north side of a wall. They may be laid in closely together 
and rather deeply, and if kept constantly moist they will in a short time 
commence growing, and roots will be emitted from the stems. In showery 
weather in August the plants may be divided, and the rooted portions 
inserted 9 inches apart in rich soil, watered as needed to keep them growing, 
and fine plants will be had for flowering next spring. 
Taking up Crocuses ( Boelfre ).—The Crocus bulbs, of which you sent 
specimens with “ grass,” are taken up too soon, as the bulbs are not nearly 
full-sized, and have no skin, the grass being very green and fleshy. It is not 
necessary to let the grass die down before lifting the bulbs, but when it 
begins to turn yellow the bulbs may then safely be lifted. We usually lift 
ours in beds at the close of May so as to make way for bedding plants, but 
we find such are not nearly so good in flowering the following spring as 
those that are allowed to mature their growth before lifting, and those that 
are not disturbed at all are very much the best. 
Pelargonium Leaves Turning Yellow (Oldham). —It is evident there is 
something in the atmosphere of your houses that is not suitable for plant 
growth, and may arise from the vapour pouring out of the “ hundreds of 
mill chimneys ” in your locality. We, however, passed many years in a 
smoky locality, but the atmosphere did not produce such a state of things 
as your specimens indicate. They are simply dried up, a result, we think, of 
too dry an atmosphere, which may have been accelerated by the fumes from 
the mill chimneys, especially as the wind was strong, and would no doubt 
enter the house by the ventilators. In such weather we found it best to keep 
the floors frequently damped, and admit no more air than was absolutely 
necessary to prevent the temperature becoming dangerously high, and 
breaking the force of the in-draught by some wool netting over the venti¬ 
lators. The netting with quarter-inch mesh answered perfectly, and it was 
kept on constantly so as to sift the air as it passed in, as it did by the wool 
becoming coated with sooty matter. 
Cucumbers Gumming (T. J., Chester). —In all probability you have 
been treating the plants too generously with liquid manure, and the foliage 
has been unable to assimilate the abundant supply of sap. If this is not 
the cause of the exudation we fear your plants are attacked by the disease. 
Remove the worst fruits and keep the atmosphere drier, also increase the 
temperature ; cease also the supplies of liquid manure, only giving sufficient 
water to keep the plants steadily glowing, and note the effects of the change 
of treatment. Dahlia Juarezi is not a single variety, but double, though the 
florets are not cupped and incurved like the show varieties ; the colour is 
brilliant scarlet. The colour of the other variety you name is orange yellow. 
Cucumbers Flagging (B. B.). —We have little doubt as to the cause of 
the leaves flagging and the young fruits failing to swell. If you examine 
the soil at the bottom of the bed quite down to the slates over the hot-water 
pipes you will find the soil dry, and it will not be made moist by one or two 
ordinary waterings. Water must be poured in the bed copiously and 
repeatedly as fast as it drains away until every particle of soil is made 
thoroughly moist. As soon as you effect this—and it may take two or three 
days—you will find your plants able to withstand the sun, and the young 
fruits will swell freely. The surface roots to which you refer will increase 
under the treatment we advise, and should be covered periodically with rough 
rich soil; but such roots, however apparently healthy they may be, do not 
avail for affording Cucumbers adequate support when the soil below is dry. 
For a week or so slight shade may be needed, but with an abundance of 
active roots and abundance of water, with a judicious system of ventilation, 
we rarely indeed find it necessary to shade Cucumbers, however bright the 
weather may be. 
Canterbury Bells not Flowering (Disappointed). —Your plants are not 
producing flower spikes because the seed was not sown soon enough by at 
least two months. September is quite too late for sowing for insuring good 
flowering spikes the following year. Seed should be sown at once in well- 
watered drills and lightly covered with fine soil, shading the ground with a 
mat for a week afterwards if the weather proves dry and the days bright. 
It is, perhaps, better to sow thinly in boxes of prepared soil, covered with 
squares of glass and well shaded for keeping the soil constantly moist. 
These boxes may either be stood in the open air or in a cold frame, and the 
seedlings when large enough transplanted in the open garden. Your plants 
that are too late for flowering this year will probably afford noble spikes 
next season. The “ authority,” whose advice you followed in sowing in 
September has evidently something to learn in raising plants of these 
effective and easily grown border flowers. 
Vine Leaf Eaten (H. S.). —The leaf sent appears as if it had been eaten 
by the Vine weevil—a brown beetle-like insect that is often very destructive 
in vineries. These weevils feed mostly at night, and may be found by 
carefully searching for them with the aid of a lantern, caught, and destroyed. 
There is no easy method of extirpating them, but we have been told that 
syringing the Vines with a solution of nicotine soap at the strength of 2 ozs. 
to a gallon of water renders the foliage distasteful to the insects. The Fig 
leaf was so dried that it crumbled to pieces when removed from the box. 
If the tree is outdoors the young leaves may have been injured by frost, as 
many have in the south during the past fortnight. If it is under glass the 
shrivelling is probably the result of drought at the roots, or insufficient air 
early in. the morning. The Narcissus is a small and highly perfumed double 
variety of poeticus. A larger variety is very beautiful now, and sold largely 
in Covent Garden and other flower markets. 
Grapes Rusted (J. 0., Monmouth). —You cannot do anything now to free 
the berries of the “ rust,” which has probably arisen, in part at least, from 
the sulphur which has been employed in destroying the mildew, and it some¬ 
times results from syringing, which in your case ought not to be practised, 
aa it will only aggravate the evil, and will have a tendency to cause the 
