300 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 14, 1881. 
not quickly recoyer if burnt at the roots. Open the soil near the 
centre and lay in the plant in a sloping direction, slightly burying 
part of the stem. If placed in an upright position the young 
growth will snap off when the attempt to train it is made. If the 
frame is required to be filled quickly have two plants in each hillock, 
slanting them up and down the bed respectively. If the soil is moist 
no water will be required for some days, except that sprinkled about 
the bed on clear days when the frame is closed, and when it is 
eventually given it should be of the same temperature as the frame. 
Lightly shade from bright sunshine, ventilating slightly at the back 
only, and before the sun has gained much power, avoiding cold 
draughts, and closing early, say about 3 p.m. A little ventilation 
will be needed during the night should there be much steam in the 
beds. In the evenings either mats, strips of old carpet or matting, 
rough litter, or some available protecting material should be thrown 
over the frames, removing this early in the mornings. 
The whole of the foregoing is applicable to Melons, with this 
difference—the Cucumbers delight in a rough turfy soil, whereas the 
loam obtained from beneath the turf is often found most suitable for 
Melons, and should be very firmly rammed about the roots at planting 
time. The collar of the plants must on no account be buried, as 
they are liable to damp off, especially if the bottom heat decline con¬ 
siderably. Victory of Bath is an easily grown green-fleshed variety, 
so also is the Earl of Beaconsfield. Turner’s Scarlet Gem and Read’s 
Hybrid are two good scarlet-fleshed varieties. 
Tomatoes .—Seed should now be sown for the ordinary outdoor 
crops, and also, if a few are to be fruited in pots, in the forcing house 
or in a greenhouse. Employ well-drained G-inch pots and light soil, 
sowing the seed thinly, covering lightly, and place the pots on a 
gentle hotbed. The seed will germinate readily ; and to keep the 
seedlings sturdy thin them out if crowded, and have them near the 
glass. "When the second leaves are formed pot the plants either 
singly in 4-inch pots or in pairs in G-inch pots, sinking the stems to 
the seed leaves. Light moderately rich soil previously warmed 
should be employed, potting carefully to avoid bruising the tender 
plants. If moist soil be used no water will be required for a few 
days, but the plants must be kept in heat and shaded from bright 
sunshine till established. Those without the assistance of a hotbed 
may cover their seed pots with strips of glass and place them on a 
greenhouse shelf, shading from bright sunshine. Pot off the seed¬ 
lings as advised for the preceding. Earley’s Defiance and Hathaway’s 
Excelsior are recommended for the outdoor crops, and Vick’s Criterion 
and Conqueror for pots. Nisbet’s Victoria, Queen of the Tomatoes, 
Red and Yellow Cherry, and Royal Cluster are small ornamental- 
fruiting varieties suitable for small conservatories and greenhouses. 
Sowing Seeds of Bedding and other Plants .—Seeds of Lophospermum 
scandens, Cobasa scandens, Euclyptus globulus, Solanums, Coleus ; 
Capsicums, including Princess of Wales; Chamsepeuce, Cineraria 
maritima, Perilla nankinensis, Abutilons, Amaranthus, Acacia lo- 
phantha, and Cannas must be sown at once and placed in a brisk 
bottom heat. Light sandy soil is suitable, and the small seeds especi¬ 
ally should not be buried deeply. If the Acacia and Canna seeds are 
placed in warm water till soft they will germinate quickly, but they 
should not be transferred to cold soil. A few days later the seeds 
of Zea japonica, Ricinuses, Tropseolums, Portulaccas, Asters, Stocks, 
Phloxes, choice Godetias, and Eschscholtzias, Marigolds, annual 
Chrysanthemums, Helichrysums, Linums, Balsams, and other choice 
annuals may be sown. A strong heat will not be required for these. 
Pinch out the points of the bedding Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, ar.d 
Violas, replanting or repotting when fresh growth commences. 
ll 
JE BEE-KEEPER. I 
L-'- ■ ■ -- ■■ -.■ 1 ' ^ 
BEES AND COB-NUT THEE POLLEN. 
Can any of your numerous correspondents tell me why bees do 
not appear to care for, or do not appear to be aware of the exist¬ 
ence of immense quantities of pollen on Cob-nut trees during the 
latter end of February and nearly the whole of the month of 
March ? I have about three acres of Cob nuts, part of them just 
in front of my hives. I have frequently watched them, but 
scarcely ever saw them on the tail-like pendants of the male 
flower of the Cob-nut. One would almost think that in Kent 
artificial pollen would not be required during that period, as an 
acre of Cobs would almost supply half a bushel of pollen.— 
J. B. Jackson. 
AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 
FERTILISATION IN CONFINEMENT. 
In continuation of this subject from page 261, we pass a com¬ 
munication from “ M. B.,” who tells us he has made the li im¬ 
portant discovery,” and that in five trials he has had perfect 
success, because he is so cautious as to postpone an account of his 
modus opcrandL 
Mr. King Cramer seems to give us some further light, and points a 
line along which I purpose myself travelling this spring. He says— 
“ All the experiments that I have read of were made with a box or 
a barrel with a glass in the end of it. If a queen or a drone flies up 
and strikes that glass there will be no more mating that day. There 
is no better way to kill bees than to let them butt against a glass. 
Not only that, who can tell just the right time to take out the queen 
for confinement or mating ? I at once saw that could not be prac¬ 
ticable, and began some experiments, the results of which, together 
with the modus operandi of arriving at it, I purpose, with your consent, 
to lay before your readers. 
“ I took a frame of brood, with as many young bees as I could get, 
and put them in the second storey of a Langstroth hive, with a strong 
colony of bees in the lower storey in order to get their heat for the 
occupants of the upper storey, as the nights (about the 1st of Sep¬ 
tember) were getting cold. Now we have a small swarm of bees in 
the upper storey, with ihe honey-board between the bees below and 
those above, and also a honey-board over the upper bees. 
“ On the second day they were there I gave them a queen-cell. In 
two days it hatched out. I then gave them ten or fifteen young 
drones. Now I had the queen, drones, and bees all confined in the 
uppei storey of the hive. The bees were fed and watered every 
morning. 
“ The fertilising box is 2 feet high, and fits the hive on the top. 
It has a muslin cloth tacked over the upper end, and the lid of the 
hive over that. 
“ When the queen was three days old I made a small hole 3 inches 
long and half an inch wide in the honey-board, and took the lid off 
the cloth, when the young bees and the drones flew around within 
this box as if they were flying in and out of a hive. Every afternoon 
the lid was taken off the cloth two hours and then replaced. 
“ I have two queens in my apiary that mated by this process, and 
they were the only ones that I tried, as it was too late in the season 
to experiment further ; but I can with safety say that by the end 
of another season there will be hundreds of queens mated by this 
process, and fertilising queens in confinement will be proclaimed a 
success.” 
We must all hope that his concluding remarks may be realised. 
Professor Cook writes very suggestively respecting the improve¬ 
ment of bees. He, of course, takes up the line that the struggle 
for existence has been Nature’s method of development by allow¬ 
ing only the survival of the fittest. It is worth the attention of 
progressive bee-keepers, that in many hands Nature’s operation 
is here being reversed. Several articles touch upon the question 
of the 
ADULTERATION OF HONEY WITH GLUCOSE, 
of which substance some of the writers speak with impassioned 
warmth. That adulteration with glucose is a base fraud which 
all good men must reprobate, needs no enforcement. The case is 
too strong to require any unscientific denunciation, and it is, 
therefore, unfortunate that some of these writers speak of glucose 
as “ poisonous stuff,” while others detail the “ vile nature ” of 
the acids used in its manufacture. This really does not reach 
the question. Glucose can be made from old rags, old paper 
(second-hand pawn tickets actually, at least sometimes, being 
employed thus), and, indeed, any form of cellulose or starch, 
Indian corn in America usually being the source, and by the 
action of sulphuric acid can be converted into a sugar which no 
chemistry, no palate, can distinguish from that taken from the 
most dainty bunch of Grapes. To refer, then, to its source is 
useless. It is equal to Grape sugar whatever its origin, and as an 
article of diet it has its value ; but all this still leaves its use as an 
adulterant most disgraceful, and all should join hands in fearlessly 
doing our level best to get the right ticket put upon any man 
(and his wares) who descends to a practice which, if it does not 
lower him, wrongs all those who are striving to do honestly. 
Glucose, although chemically like a portion of honey, is altogether 
■wanting in that which makes honey what it is. Its aroma, the 
delicate distillment from a thousand flowers inimitable and in¬ 
communicable alike are not there, and he who gives the one 
