Junes, 1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 447 
Bountiful supplies of liquid manure will be required about twice a 
week, and atmospheric moisture must be provided freely, especially 
in hot weather. Shading should not be resorted to more than is 
necessary to prevent flagging. Training, stopping, and thinning out 
the foliage and exhausted growths must be regularly attended to. 
Do not overcrop nor allow the fruit to hang too long, for nothing, 
except seeding, has such a'weakening effect on the plants. If seed be 
wanted the present is a good time to fertilise some of the flowers, 
selecting the most promising. Utilise pits and frames directly they 
become cleared, observing the conditions previously advised. Fumi¬ 
gate moderately directly green fly appears. Keep the evaporation 
troughs charged with guano water, and sprinkle available surfaces 
with the same at closing time. 
Melons. — Afford support to fruits which are becoming heavy. 
Keep a vigilant watch for cracked fruits, cutting the stems about 
three parts through below the fruit. For canker rub quicklime into 
the affected parts. Fertilise the pistillate blossoms on successional 
plants every day, maintaining a drier atmosphere and somewhat 
higher temperature till the fruits begin swelling, and be careful not 
to allow one or two fruits to take the lead of the others. Earth up, 
using good loam, pressing it down well, directly the fruits begin 
swelling, having previously soaked the soil with tepid water. Afford 
tepid liquid manure to plants bearing fruits, syringing moderately 
on fine afternoons. In pits and frames let the fruits in a forward 
state be well exposed to the sun. Sow as occasion requires for 
succession. 
GREENHOUSE. 
Examine Pelargoniums not yet in flower, for if aphides are allowed 
to remain fumigation will be necessary after the flowers are expanded, 
which will cause them to fall in quantity. Assist plants that are 
flowering, with liquid manure. Fuchsias also should be well supplied 
with water and be syringed every afternoon, so as to keep down red 
spider. Primulas intended for autumn flowering should be potted 
off singly, returned to gentle heat until established, and then be 
transferred to cold frames, ventilating freely and shading from bright 
sun. Transfer the plants into larger pots as required, and remove 
all trusses of bloom until September. Cinerarias for autumn flower¬ 
ing should have similar treatment. Chrysanthemums should now 
receive their final potting; good turfy loam with a sprinkling of sand 
suiting them well, employing crushed bones in lieu of crocks for 
drainage. Stand the pots on ashes in a sheltered situation, yet having 
plenty of sun, and after the roots have taken possession of the fresh 
compost liquid manure may be given. 
Heaths .—Remove the decayed flowers from these plants. More 
water will be required shortly than'at any other time, the safest plan 
being to examine the stock morning and evening and afford supplies 
of water to such as are in need. Any plants of Erica Austiniana, 
E. Irbyana, E. Marnockiana, E. Jacksoni, and E. retorta major required 
for August and September flowering should now be attended to, 
placing them in a house with a north aspect, where they can be 
well exposed to light. 
Camellias .—Those that flowered early and were at once placed in 
heat will by this time have set their flower buds. The buds in some 
cases having attained a considerable size, the plants should be removed 
when the buds are the size of large Peas to a house with a north 
aspect. If the buds swell here too rapidly they may be placed behind 
a north wall with a temporary covering of loose lights. Camellias 
ought not, if it can be helped, be placed out fully exposed ; for 
although they require plentiful supplies of water during growth, 
they become so soaked by heavy rains when in the open air after 
their growth is completed as to cause the loss of the roots, also 
causing the buds to fall later on. Plants that flowered late will, if 
the pots are filled with roots, be benefited by the application of clear 
liquid manure until the buds are set. 
Azaleas .—Plants that flowered some time back will now be growing, 
and any that require more root room must now be repotted, but it is 
not advisable to shift them before some growth has been made, as 
they do not root freely. Employ good fibrous peat with enough 
sand to keep the soil open, and make the fresh soil as firm as the old 
ball; shade for a few days after potting, keeping the house close 
and moist. 
Hardwooded plants as they cease flowering must immediately 
have the seed pods removed, as nothing taxes the energies of the 
plant so much as the formation of seed. Eriostemons, Epacrises, 
Acrophyllums, and similar plants are much injured if this be neg¬ 
lected. Syringe freely to cleanse the plants. Cytisuses, Acacias, 
&c., should be cut back to keep them in form, and any others that 
are becoming straggling should be cut in as soon as the flowering is 
over. Syringing in the afternoon will be necessary to keep down 
red spider. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
The favourable change in the weather has given an impetus to 
bedding-out, which is often done in too much haste, the plants, from 
the cold state of the soil, not progressing for some time after planting. 
Nothing is gained by being in too great a hurry, for unless the 
weather is genial and the plants well prepared by hardening off they 
are greatly checked. Calceolarias, Verbenas, Pyrethrums, Eche- 
verias, Gnaphaliums, Petunias, and the hardier Pelargoniums may be 
planted out ten days or a fortnight in advance of Coleuses, Iresines, 
Alternantheras, Tricolor Pelargoniums, and subtropical plants, 
which should not be planted until the early part of June ; but to 
facilitate the work all arrangements should be completed at once. 
In the absence of rain plenty of water should be given to settle the 
soil about the roots. Asters, Stocks, Zinnias, Phlox Drummondi, 
Scabious, Marigolds, and other half-hardy annuals should now be 
planted out, selecting if possible a dull day for the operation, and 
dust well with quicklime or soot. Hardy annuals should be thinned 
when they are large enough, allowing space for the development of 
the plants. For a late display of bloom make another sowing of 
these. Roses are not growing freely, and are becoming infested 
with aphides and the leaf-rolling caterpillars. Remove the latter 
by hand, and to destroy the aphides wash well with tobacco water. 
Climbing and other Roses against walls should in dry weather have 
copious supplies of water or liquid manure. 
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II 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 1 
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SECURING STRAY OR WILD COLONIES OF BEES. 
A request from a correspondent for advice relative to the best 
means of capturing a nest of bees which has for some years lived, 
swarmed, and thriven in a roof, induces me to give a short account 
of a couple of expeditions in which I have taken part, and which 
had for their object the restoration to civilised courses of bees that 
had hoped to free themselves from the trammels of bar-frames, 
the dull uniformity of foundation combs, and the innovation of 
section boxes by hieing away to the seclusion of a double brick 
wall in one case and the height of a church roof in the other. 
The story of how combs, workers, and queen were charmed into 
the hive will answer our correspondent, and make clear the simple 
device by which colonies in inconvenient places may be dislodged 
and made to enrich the apiaries of their captors. 
The double wall formed part of an old structure, and through 
an aperture, the result of decay, the swarm had evidently 
entered, and had utilised, as we afterwards found, an interspace 
only 4^ inches wide from front to back. A bricklayer was 
employed to cut out the front bricks, to lay the colony open to 
view, and this work acted like the hive-beating in driving, com¬ 
pletely quieting the bees, which made no resistance to the removal 
of their comb. The bricklayer was not a bee-keeper, and so it 
soon became expedient to remove the bricks myself, lifting out 
the honeycombs as it was possible to free them. These I found 
about 3 feet 6 inches deep, and supported at intervals by cross 
bricks, but unfortunately as we came upon the brood combs the 
queen with the greater number of bees retreated into the recess 
beyond reach. All the brood combs by cutting, trimming, and 
fixing into frames were made ready for the hive, but the in¬ 
habitants, except the very young, flew from them and returned to 
the wall. The queen was not with us, while nearly all the bees 
were with her, and quite inaccessible, unless so much of the wall 
was to be removed as to endanger its safety. In this dilemma vye 
fixed the frames with their brood combs as nearly as possible in 
true position, and in the spot the brood had previously occupied, 
nailing up over all a large gardener’s mat. 
So soon as quietude was restored the bees with their queen 
\ 
