138 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. ( mw n, mi. 
Ham, Cocoa-nut and Rosette Colewort; Dwarf Green Curled Kale, 
Little Pixie, Early L T lm, and Drumhead Savoys, with selected Brussels 
Sprouts; and the same quantity of All the Tear Round Cabbage 
Lettuce, Paris White Cos, and Black-seeded Bath Cos Lettuces, and 
green curled and broad-leaved Batavian Endives will suffice. Onions 
—1 oz. each of White Spanish, James’ Keeping, and mixed Tripoli, 
the latter for autumn sowing. Parsley, half an ounce. Parsnips— 
1 oz. of the Student. Radishes—1 oz. each of Wood’s Prame and 
mixed Turnip. Spinach—Half a pint each of Round or Summer, and 
Prickly or Winter. Turnips—1 oz. each of Snowball and American 
Red Stone, and if wanted very early a packet of Early Purple-top 
Munich. Tomatoes—a small packet of either Earley’s Defiance or 
Hathaway’s Excelsior, and Tick’s Criterion or Conqueror for pots. 
Yegetable Marrow—small packet of the Long White. Of early 
Potatoes, w r hich are most profitable, two pecks of either Mona’s Pride 
or Rivers’ Ashleaf, and one peck each of Snowflake and School¬ 
master. Mushroom spawn half a bushel, or more if several beds are 
to be formed. 
SELECTION OF FLOWER SEEDS. 
Of plants that may be raised from seed and grown in pots for 
the decoration of greenhouses and conservatories the following may 
be ordered:—Balsams, Tuberous-rooted Begonias, Browallia elata, 
Cineraria, Primula sinensis, Cyclamen persicum, Calceolaria, Gloxinias, 
Schizanthuses, Petunias, Pyramidal Mignonette, Cobma scandens, 
Lophospermum scandens, Torenia Fournierii, Cockscombs, Coleus, 
Abutilons, Solanum capsicastrum, and Capsicum Princess of Wales. Of 
fine-foliage, subtropical, and bedding plants, the following are easily 
grown from seed :—Acacia lophantha, Amaranthus Henderii, Solanum 
marginatum, S. Warscewiczii, and S. robustum, Eucalvtus globulus, 
Chamtepeuce diacantha, Cineraria maritima, Amaranthus melancho- 
licus ruber, Cannas, Zea japonica, Ricinus Gibsonii, R. communis 
major, R. sanguineus, Perilla nankinensis, and Nicotiana grandi- 
flora. For the flower garden the following are suitable :—Antir¬ 
rhinums, Ageratums, Asters (the Victoria are very good), Calliopsis, 
Clarkias, Candytuft, Convolvulus major and minor, Delphinium 
formosum, Dianthusus, Eschscholtzia crocea flore pleno, E. mandarin, 
Godetias, including Lady Albemarle, Hibiscuses, Lupins, Larkspurs, 
Linums, French and African Marigolds, Mignonette, dwarf Tropae- 
olums, Pyrethrum Golden Feather, Poppies, Portulaccas, Tropeolums, 
Sweet Peas, Scabious, Stocks, Wallflowers, Sweet Williams, and 
Virginian Stocks. To all of the foregoing allusion will be made when 
the proper time arrives for sowing. 
HE BEE-KEEPER. “ 
EXAMINING STOCKS. 
Where bees have been wintered in hives without division 
boards, so that they have had a large space to keep warm, it must 
be that the low temperature of the past month has very much 
reduced their stores. The small quantity of food bees consume if 
properly wintered is so remarkable that those wffio have kept 
themselves abreast of the times need have no fear but for others. 
It is highly important that if the temperature does not admit of a 
thorough examination, so that the condition of things may be 
certainly ascertained, barleysugar should be given at once under 
the quilt or between the combs of steps, unless, indeed, the bee¬ 
keeper has evidence that such help is not needful. The question 
of wintering we seem now to have fairly mastered, and my results 
are so extremely good after the testing of the late frost, that 
I hope to give a full account of them in a week or two.— 
F. Cheshire. 
WOODEN v. STRAW HIVES. 
Now there is so much discussion about wooden and straw 
hives I wish to say a few words. I began bee-keeping with straw 
hives ; the bees succeeded well, and I soon learned to do anything 
I wished with them without fear. I visited the bees very often, 
fed them, and kept them warm. On receiving the Journal 
every Thursday the bee department had my first attention ; I 
obtained much pleasure and profit from its pages, especially 
from Mr. Pettigrew’s contributions. I read about wooden hives 
and their furniture, but I had never seen one. At length a 
kind bee-keeper invited me to see his apiary. There I saw the 
bar-frame hives, and the way they were employed was fully ex¬ 
plained to me. The apiary comprised Stewartons, cast Stewar- 
tons, and Woodburys, with Neighbour’s and Pettigrew’s straw 
skeps. The wooden hive pleased me so much that I obtained one, 
a Woodbury, well made with double walls ; it was filled with 
foundation combs, and received a splendid lot of bees, which 
thrived well on the Limes and filled the bars in thirteen days. 
The season was then over with us. My next care was to make 
it strong for winter, so I drove the bees from two skeps and 
united them to it. As it was my intention to do away with the 
skep I made preparations in good time. Spring soon arrived, 
the wooden hive was placed on a clean board and the bees were 
fed until May. I invited a friend to see my bees ; we opened 
the bar-frame which was good, but a skep by its side, 14 inches 
wide and 8 inches deep, was crammed full of bees ready to 
swarm the first week in May, while my Woodbury would be three 
weeks or a month later. The bees in it were less in numbers, ate 
much more food, did not gather so much honey, and the hive was 
very wet inside, while the straw hive was very dry. Both had 
young queens ; the Woodbury queen was the finest I ever saw, but 
the straw skep was the best, and I advise cottagers to keep to it. 
I desire to give a few remarks upon foundation combs. It is the 
greatest advantage the wooden hive has over the straw skep. My 
experience tells me it is unnecessary ; give a skep as much sugar 
syrup to start it as you would foundation comb, let the expense 
be equal, and judge by the results. I confess I had straight 
combs in the bar-frame, which cannot always be obtained in the 
skep ; but as to the manipulation, I would as soon have one as the 
other. I use the foundation in the sectional supers to have the comb 
straight and give a start. I run them in with a teaspoon ; with a 
little practice it is better than the smelter, quite as clean, cheaper, 
and quicker. I never set large pieces in the supers as Mr. Petti¬ 
grew did. I was sorry to see such a weak point in his otherwise 
excellent practice. If he runs them in properly he will find it a 
great advantage. I have come to the conclusion that I shall use 
Pettigrew’s straw hive and work sectional supers on the top. 
Cottagers that have not seen his book have yet the best practical 
book on bees to read. I have a friend who this year has from 
40 to 50 lbs. of super honey in his Pettigrew hives besides one 
good swarm from them far superior to any of his wooden hives, 
which did not swarm all the season. This is the first time I have 
written about bees, but it may not be the last if the Editor thinks 
this letter worth a place in the Journal.—A LOVER OF Bees. 
CRUDE AND PERFECT HONEY. 
In the review of the “ Handy Book of Bees ” the soundness of the 
author’s views or opinions on crude honey is questioned. Nay, the 
reviewer ventures to call them “ a fad,” and suggests their omission 
in a future edition, and wisely says that opinions will never be 
admitted as facts till they have been demonstrated to be so by irre¬ 
fragable evidence. Well, what evidence would the reviewer like? 
What would he consider irrefragable ? If my evidence and that 
of many other bee-keepers is worth anything, what the reviewer 
calls “prejudice” and “opinion” is something better and more 
satisfactory—viz., facts that cannot be gainsaid, as they have been 
“ proven ” again and again, and may be proven in five minutes 
in any apiary while bees are gathering honey. In this matter I have 
made no discovery. That bees collect crude honey from flowers and 
convert it into perfect honey in their hives was well known before I 
was born. Before I was many years old I became acquainted with 
this fact, just as I became acquainted with the fact that work¬ 
ing bees are less in size than drones. Since that time I have 
seen, tasted, and handled both crude and perfect honey a thou¬ 
sand times. The difference in taste and appearance of crude and 
perfect honey is so different and distinct that I am astonished the 
reviewer has not seen the difference. Evidently my statement goes 
for nothing with him. Ocular demonstration, and probably nothing 
else, will convince him that perfect honey is manufactured by bees 
from the sweet syrup of flowers gathered by them. Very well. Let 
me suggest that at the close of a day of honey-gathering a bar of 
brood comb be removed from the centre of a hive and examined. The 
empty cells amongst the brood cells will be found half full of glitter¬ 
ing honey. This is crude honey, and maybe easily shaken into a 
plate or dish and tasted. Another comb may be taken out and 
examined and be found like the first with many cells half full of 
crude honey, but let the second comb be returned with the honey 
unextracted. If the combs be examined on the morning following 
it will be found that the crude honey has been removed from the 
centre of the hive to the extreme outside or ends of the combs. If 
your reviewer were to see these things he would surely ask himself 
this question—Why do the bees put the honey amongst the brood at 
first ? And why not carry it to the store combs at once ? If the 
