474 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 12, 1884. 
should be taken to make the most of the sun heat, and, except for the sake 
of bottom heat, but little artificial warmth will now be required. The 
bottom heat should be kept steady at 90°, which is absolutely essential 
to keep Queens in satisfactory progress, and with a proper degree of heat 
at the roots an occasional low night temperature will not affect the 
growth prejudicially. A nierht temperature of 70° is suitable. Ventilate 
early in the morning or at 80°, and keep at 85° to 95° through the day 
from sun heat, closing at 85° to 90° with sun heat, and if the temperature 
rise 10° afterwards it will be more advantageous than otherwise. Keep 
the houses when closed well moistened, and sprinkle the plants two or 
three times a week according to the state of the weather. Water the 
plants regularly and copiously, but not until it is needed. It should be 
tepid, with the addition of 1 oz. of guano or soot to each gallon. 
The night temperature in the fruiting department should be maintained 
at 75*. Admit air freely on all favourable occasions, as a close atmo¬ 
sphere is apt to increase the crowns out of all proportion to the fruit. 
Plants with fruit approaching ripening and close to the glass will be 
benefited by being slightly shaded for an hour or two at midday, and 
with the heat duly maintained a liberal course of ventilation will at this 
stage aid perfection in point of colour and quality. As soon as a fruit 
ripens it should be cut and removed to cooler quarters if it is to be kept. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Clematis .—Plants of the early-flowering varieties that have been 
grown in pots and trained upon trellises should, if they have been 
gradually and carefully hardened, be placed outside. When first placed 
out they should be stood in some sheltered position, where they will be 
screened from cold winds until they can be plunged in the position they 
are intended to occupy during the summer. After these plants are 
placed outside they must not be neglected ; the shoots as they extend 
should be kept tied round the trellis, and the plants well watered and 
liberally supplied with stimulants. 
To save labour in watering it is a good plan to plunge their pots in 
ashes and mulch the surface of the soil with decayed manure. The 
large-flowering types in the conservatory will also do outside as soon as 
they have done flowering. Young plants growing on in the greenhouse 
should have their shoots as they extend trained to thin cord. These 
plants should be repotted if they need it, employing a compost of good 
loam, a seventh of manure, and a little sand. 
Callas .—The stock intended for next autumn and winter flowering 
have now been hardened in a sheltered position outside, and should be 
planted out for the summer months. If necessary to increase the stock 
the plants may be divided as the work of planting proceeds. In planting, 
form a trench and incorporate a liberal quantity of decayed manure 
amongst the soil to be placed round their roots. When planting is com¬ 
pleted the soil should be about 2 inches below the surface of the ground, 
so that liberal supplies of water can be given during dry weather, which 
is all the attention needed until they require lifting in September. 
Choisya ternata .—Bushy young plants in 5-inch pots, or old plants 
that have been cut back and well broken into growth, should be hardened 
thoroughly by removing the lights from the frame in which they are 
growing, if not already hardened, for placing them outside. Select a 
sunny position, for they will do much better outside during summer and 
set their flower beds with greater freedom than if grown indoors. These 
plants require abundance of water. When the pots are full of roots 
liberal feeding may be resorted to. 
WJ) 
it] 
HE BEE-KEEPER . 1 
SEASONABLE NOTES ON BEES. 
The merry month of May, so far as the bee-keeper was 
concerned, did not merit its fair appellation- Rainless for the 
most part, and with the wind constantly in the east, hives were 
much retarded by the cold and even frosty nights and by the 
almost total absence of honey in the daytime. Dry weather 
generally gives much honey, and moist weather is productive of 
swarms ; but cold parching weather, such as we have lately been 
experiencing, brings neither. In some very favoured spots 
where Mustard and early Beans are abundantly grown honey has 
doubtless been obtained in some quantity, and has already found 
its way to the Health Exhibition; but where fruit blossom is 
depended on as the principal source of income for the spring 
months the yield has been indeed very small. 
The early days of the present month brought a change of 
wind. The genial westerly breezes and warmer nights at once 
caused a flow of honey, and several racks of sections were taken 
possession of by our bees. The long-hoped-for rain came at 
last on the 4th inst., and we looked forward to warm sunshine 
after it and quickly filled supers. But the sun god has been 
affronted, and refuses to smile again. Cloudy skies and very 
c old nights again prevail, and we expect to see our sections soon 
deserted and the bright hopes so lately formed as suddenly 
dispersed. The Sycamores and other honey-yielding trees and 
shrubs will have shed their blossoms. It is a sad experience 
that bee-keepers soon learn, how quickly the wet and cold causes 
the various series of honey flowers to pass away. A few cold 
cloudy days and the blossoms expand and fall—gone for a whole 
season, without having contributed one drop of nectar to our 
imprisoned labourers. It is very disheartening to see the tens 
of thousands clustering for warmth; the labourers indeed very 
many, but the harvest nil. But just as the first warm breath 
from the south and the genial influence of returning sunshine 
will at once awaken into noisy rushing life the now listless 
myriads, even so , rise the bee-keeper's hopes, and again and 
again he looks forward to a busy joyous harvest. 
Laurels have again been noticed by us to be one of the very 
best shrubs to plant for bees. Too many cannot be had near an 
apiary. Bees obtain much honey from them, principally collect¬ 
ing it from the axils of the leafstalks. It seems to exude from 
the plant and not to be a honeydew, the secretion of insects. 
The American Blackberries are now coming into flower, and, 
like the Raspberry, should weather permit, yield a bountiful 
supply. The fruit of these is delicious, and it is a pity that 
more are not grown by bee-keepers. They require deep rich 
soil, and cannot be too highly manured. Trained like the Rasp¬ 
berry to strained wires, or arched from stake to stake, they bear 
an abundance of bloom; and where bees have access to them the 
fruit is certain to be finer, every berry being perfectly ferti¬ 
lised. It is a pity that more attention is not paid by the 
owners of hives to planting such trees and shrubs near their bees 
as shall give occupation to their little favourites in the intervals 
between cloud and sunshine. We learn that Messrs. Sutton 
and Sons of Reading are about to ascertain the best kinds 
of seeds to sow for bees, to supply them in cheap packets. 
This will be a decided boon to bee-keepers. We last year 
mentioned Radishes as a fertile source of honey supply. If 
bee-keepers will allow a few plants to run to seed they will 
be surprised at the number of bees constantly working on the 
flowers. The golden Tom Thumb Wallflower has been much 
appreciated by our little workers, and but for the drought would 
have lasted much longer in blossom. 
Stocks of bees should now be at their full strength, and supers 
should be put on in the nick of time. With abundance of bees 
and quantities of honey coming in, which must be the case when 
the rain has given a new stimulus to the honey-yielding flowers, 
superswill readily be entered. We are now obtaining sections 
from the body of the hive. Bees more readily commence 
drawing out the foundation there when the supply of honey is 
not great from without. These sections if not quickly finished 
below, should a glut of honey begin, will be moved to the racks 
above. 
Swarms are common around us, but we are doing our best to 
prevent swarms this season, and so far we have succeeded. Our 
best time for increasing stocks is during the interval between the 
early yield and the Heather harvest. We wish to employ all our 
bees now in filling early supers. We then have time to build up 
stocks and swarms before the Heather is in full swing. 
Several contributions have lately appeared in the Journal 
concerning the merits of black bees versus Ligurians. We have 
not been able to speak pointedly on this subject, because, al¬ 
though we have for many years had Ligurian blood in our apiary, 
we have never taken the trouble to keep it pure. Our Ligurians 
have soon become crossed with the black bees, if there is such 
a thing as a single stock of the old black race in existence. We 
much doubt it. Our own experience has been in favour of the 
hybrids. Our strongest stock at the present time is a crossed one, 
and there is every reason to hope that they will yield as heavy a 
surplus of honey as any stock we possess. We hope to be able 
to compare them late in the year with the seventeen other colonies 
in our possession. They are certainly rather more irritable than 
the ordinary English bees, although the pure Ligurians are much 
more docile. They are also without doubt more active than the 
natives, both earlier in the morning and later in the evening 
being abroad water-carrying. More fussy, perhaps some will 
say; Better nurses, say we. Their breeding propensities are 
certainly very great. By confining them to ten frames for brood¬ 
rearing, we, however, hope to utilise the powers of the vast army 
of foragers should opportunity offer.—P. H. P. 
FERTILE WORKERS. 
Mr. John Hewitt, Sheffield (page 433) draws my attention to 
his article in the British Bee Journal for June 15th, 1883, narrating 
his interesting experiment with black queen amongst Syrian workers, 
amongst the latter being a fertile worker that laid eggs contempo¬ 
raneous with the queen. He then adds, “ I believe I was the first to 
