Jane 12, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
475 
discover or satisfactorily settle this interesting and valuable fact.” 
While I am both interested and pleased to see Mr. Hewitt making 
and recording these accurate observations, I cannot corroborate the 
statement that he was the first to discover the phenomenon. The late 
i r. . VV. VVoodbury gave his evidence in this Journal of a case where 
op’ 3 were laid m a hive that produced drones where a young unfer¬ 
tilised queen was. I am not sure, however, whether Mr. Woodbury 
attributed these eggs to fertile workers or to the queen. About that 
same time he had a Ligurian queen fertilised with a drone from a 
er 1 e woiker, which I could fully endorse, as I had and knew of 
several parallel cases. Both before and after that date I had given 
e su ject niuch attention as well as making many experiments, 
ifiese proved how easy it was to raise at will fertile workers, and 
now dimcult it was in some cases to introduce a queen to bees where 
they were while it was quite the reverse in others, so that my experi¬ 
ments do not warrant me to introduce a queen or expect it to be well 
received m any hive containing a fertile worker. In every case 
w eie a fertile worker is present to insure its deposition I join other 
s range bees to it, which in many cases I believe these stranger bees 
e ongmg to the queen to be introduced kill the fertile worker and 
make the bees passive and in a proper state to fraternise with the 
alien queen. 
In consequence of ill health Mr. Hewitt’s article in the British 
ee owned had escaped my notice until I read his l’emarks, page433, 
W U P s * nce January, 1883. Many people were, 
and are still, sceptical as to the existence of fertile workers, and many 
hold erroneous opinions regarding their reproduction. One interest¬ 
ing case 1 had was that in a queenless hive I had inserted a piece of 
comb containing larvae and eggs, as they ate out all eggs and larvae 
except one, which was hatched on the tenth day after sealing. This 
was a Ligurian, and the only one in the hive which commenced laying 
e same day she was hatched. I watched her depositing eggs and 
receiving court from the other workers, showing her to many bee¬ 
keepers, and had her placed in an observatory hive ; but an accident 
t . .ell her prevented me exhibiting her publicly at the Caledonian 
Apiarian Show in 1876. 
ith the view of proving whether the advice so often given was 
coirect to shake the bees out some distance from its stand, and the 
bees would return, but if a fertile worker was present she would not. 
1 tiled this often, but the fertile worker always leturned. In 1881 I 
had a Cyprian hive that raised upwards of 200 queens and many 
fertile workers. Many of these queens took shelter in adjoining hives 
which ejected as many as from six to a dozen ; in others where only 
one had entered I found living along with a queen regnant at the end 
of two months. The fertile workers or rather in hives where fertile 
woikers were present, the young queens were deposed, but with the 
man} queens on hand I made up the loss, though I could not always 
depend on them being well received. What appeared to be success¬ 
ful in one case failed in another. Although I am satisfied that 
queens will at times be well received in hives containing a 
fertile worker, but not always, I advise where these pests are 
present, Do not risk the life of a valuable queen without taking pre¬ 
cautionary measures. 
While I do not doubt the accuracy of Mr. Hewitt’s article and 
experiments, still there is a possibility of mistake. The yellow bees 
aie so well distributed throughout Britain that it is difficult to say 
where a pure black bee is to be found, and it is because of these 
crosses being superior workers, and bee-keepers not knowing them to 
be other than pure blacks, that many believe the black bees are the 
best. . The progeny of crossed queens are very interesting and various 
m their markings. I have had crosses with different races that not 
more than one in a hundred of the workers showed the markings of 
the dione s parentage, contrary to what is usually the case, where as a 
i ule the one half partakes of the markings of queen and the other half 
that of the drone ;. yet, singular to say, I have seen the drone 
progeny of queens raised from the eggs of these crossed black queens 
that showed so little of the yellow blood extra prettily marked. This 
is where a half-breed queen might be mistaken for a pure one. 
fhen some queens when they commence at first to lay, and for some 
time after, lay drone eggs only, and others have always a mixture of 
diones, while others produce great numbers of hermaphrodites ; such 
queens are apt to mislead novices, and should be destroyed, as they 
never^ prove profitable. Persons wishing to repeat Mr. Hewitt’s 
experiments should make sure that the queen chosen is not only of 
a distinct breed but that she is of undoubted purity. 
Mr. Hewitt will, I trust, be satisfied from the foregoing that I 
have not used any of his articles for my own purposes, while I may 
further tell him that queens in workers cells were found by me 
thirty years ago, and if I remember aright I mentioned the facts 
stated in an essay written in 1882. It is by such experimenters as 
Mr. Hewitt that discoveries are made, and on such only can reliance 
be placed. I am proud to see him watching what he considers his 
rights and exposing imposition and what is wrong, but we know that 
much claimed during the past ten years was made fully known in the 
pages of this Journal long ago.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
Pringle & Horsford, Charlotte, Vermont, U.S.A .—List of Hardy North 
American 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. A Ye 
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. 
Wild Flowers (J . S.). —Besides the work you name you will find the 
“ Handbook of British Plants ” useful, which may be had from this office, 
price 3s. Gd., post free 3s. 8 d. 
Cattleya Mossiae (0. I).). —The variety is a very handsome one, and 
superior to many of the common forms in cultivation. 
Grapes not Swelling (G.). —It is extremely improbable that the small 
berries will ever approach the size of the others, and the better plan would 
be to remove them if there are sufficient swelling freely to produce fairly 
full, if even rather small bunches. We cannot understand persons ceasing 
firing at any particular period of the year regardless of the state of the 
weather, except on compulsion, such as having no fuel. We scarcely think, 
however, that “ cutting off the fire ” was the sole cause of the Grapes not 
swelling. The chief cause we attribute to imperfect fertilisation, and the 
evil was increased by the subsequent chill that was imparted by a too low 
temperature. 
Peach Leaves Blistered ( W. H.). —The leaves you have sent are seriously 
attacked with the fungus Ascomyces deformans, which quite destroys the 
tissue, and occasionally almost destroys the trees. There is no simple 
remedy, and you cannot do better than remove all the worst leaves and hope 
for genial weather to promote free growth. The fungus is invariably the 
most prevalent during cold weather, when the trees received a chill and the 
sap is comparatively stagnant. Seriously blistered leaves are rarely seen 
under glass, and when the trees are effectively protected from cutting winds 
in spring. The subject is illustrated on page 519, vol. iv., third series, of this 
Journal, the issue of June 22nd, 1882. 
Thrips on Vines ( A Devon Gardener). —Fumigation intelligently per¬ 
formed will not injure Grapes when freely swelling after having been 
thinned. Tobacco smoke will destroy thrips, but not the eggs of the insects, 
and consequently the application must be repeated in the course of ten days, 
fumigating on two consecutive evenings in each case. If the first attacks 
are seen on a few leaves only, these may be quickly sponged, using any 
approved insecticide, and the thrips thus prevented invading the Vines. 
Nicotine soap, Fir-tree oil, or Gishurst compound applied through a spray-dis¬ 
tributor will destroy thrips on the under-sides of the leaves, the upper surfaces, 
which are often attacked, not being easily reached by the solution from 
either a spray-distributor or syringe. 
Indoor Fernery {A Constant Subscriber). —The wood that has been used 
for supporting the Ferns on the back wail of the fernery must have been 
very unsuitable for the purpose, or it would not have decayed so soon. Only 
the hardest wood should be used, the best ot all being the hard, black, ebony¬ 
like roots of Oak trees. Stone is, of course, the most durable, and rustic 
pockets can be formed with cement, which are practically imperishable. 
Many walls are ornamentally covered with Ferns and Begonias by affixing 
very strong wire netting to studs, leaving a space of 2 or 3 inches between 
the wires and the wall. If rough soil is packed in, faced with moss, and the 
whole kept moist, various plants will luxuriate, and a very attractive surface 
be produced. If Oak is not obtainable Teak will be suitable. 
Crocuses (Bodfare). —It is certainly wrong to “ tear the grass from 
Crocuses while it is green, and pull up the bulbs with it.” If such a practice 
is systematically pursued the Crocuses cannot fail to decrease and become 
weaker yearly. The grass should remain until it can be removed with the 
greatest ease without even breaking above the ground or disturbing the 
corms in the slightest. AVhen quite matured it parts readily and naturally 
from the roots, and no more force is needed for withdrawing it than could be 
applied by a child a year old. If the withering leaves are not deemed un¬ 
sightly they may remain until they can be cleared off with a fine-toothed 
rake. 
The Shamrock (B. B.). —Oxalis acetosella, the Common AYood Sorrel, or 
Shamrock, is a native of the moist shady woods of this countiy, Europe, and 
