January 5, 1882. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
19 
what is known in Germany as Kohler’s plan ; but these hives, 
although much larger than the importation boxes, now and again, 
by reason of their smallness, occasioned the troubles to which I 
have previously referred, and have since given place to a system 
which involves less watchfulness and more certainty and economy, 
but which has the disadvantage of giving no control over fertili¬ 
sation. I use Woodbury frames now only, and see no reason for 
desiring any alteration in the size for any purpose. A strong 
nucleus on three frames properly handled will winter with certainty 
if sufficiently and intelligently protected. (Cork dust packing is 
greatly superior to chaff for this purpose, a fact which hive- 
makers and others will in due time recognise.) And even two 
frames thickly populated stood last winter with me perfectly. But 
the practical point lies here: If we think it well to give our nuclei 
as much as three frames, why have any special hives for nuclei at 
all? The usual hive with a division board is sufficient— i.e , if the 
hive and division hoard are what they ought to he; and if this be 
true we save in plant, as every hive may serve for stock or nucleus 
as we may desire, which means greater convenience with less capital 
and less annual loss by deterioration. 
A plan which I have devised and used with considerable advantage 
may be here described. Imagine a hive large enough to contain both 
stock and nucleus, to stand with its sides to the points of the compass, 
with its frames running due north and south, with a perfectly fitting 
division board. The entrance for the stock is on the west side, 
but at its southern end. The entrance for the not-yet-formed 
nucleus occupies about inches of the eastern end of the southern 
side. Having queen cells approaching ripeness we form our nucleus 
thus : The hive is turned slightly upon its stand, so that the western 
side ntfcv points KAV., and the southern side S.W., by which it will 
be seeinthat the two entrances a>e right and left of the one to 
which^ftie colony is accustomed. We lift out two frames, being 
careful not to remove the queen, and place them on the opposite side 
of the division board, and fill up the space as may be desired, cover 
down, and our nucleus is so far formed; or we take two frames 
containing some brood from some other hive, clear off the bees, and 
place on the nncleus side of the division board. The bees in flight 
will soon cover them sufficiently. The succeeding day a queen cell 
may be grafted in and left till the hatched queen begins to lay. If 
we deal in swarms the nucleus may be closed on the evening of one 
day, and the swarm driven from the stock on the next, when the 
queen in the nucleus should be caged, the hive turned to its old 
position, the division board removed, the combs pushed together, 
and the flight hole of the nucleus closed. The bees unite for reasons 
that a little sketch which each may make for himself will render 
clear. Precautions, which space forbids to introduce, will of course 
be necessary, but these are quite generally understood. We have 
here a ready way of adding a new queen to a swarmed stock with¬ 
out loss of time, or without any addit'onal hive. 
The reason of the d> ing of the bees in the act of extrication from 
the cells it is not easy to give without knowing somewhat of the 
history of each case. As this occurred in “ summer,” it might 
possibly have arisen from over-artificial swarming, by which too few 
bees were left to keep up the conditions requisite for the perfect 
performance of the transformations of the pupae. If a frame con¬ 
taining sealed brood be removed from a hive in warm weather some 
of the bees will reach a quasi maturity even days after, and some 
may, and probably will, die half out of the cells as our corre¬ 
spondent describes. My previous references to deformed lepido- 
ptera and the dying of birds in the shell apply here, and the matter 
for greatest astonishment rather appears in the fact that in natural 
conditions so very few bees die during the period of transformation, 
which all physiological analogies would lead us to suppose was one 
of very great strain upon the vital energies, and one consequently 
in which failure and death would be peculiarly likely to occur.— 
Frank It. Cheshire, Avenue House, Acton, IF.] 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
William Paul & Son, Waltham Cross.— Catalogue of Flmoer and 
Vegetable Seeds ( Illustrated ). 
J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, Sussex.— Catalogue of Flower and 
Vegetable Seeds ( Illustrated). 
Robert Yeitch & Son, High Street, Exeter.— Catalogue of Flower 
and Vegetable Seeds ( Illustrated ). 
Hooper & Co., Covent Garden, London.— Spring Catalogue of Flower 
and Vegetable Seeds ( Illustrated). 
Francis and Arthur Dickson & Sons, 10G,Eastgate Street, Chester.— 
Catalogue of Flower and Vegetable Seeds ( Illustrated). 
Dickson & Robinson, 12, O'd Millgate, Manchester.— Catalogue of 
Vegetable and Flower Seeds [Illustrated). 
George Bunyard & Co., Maidstone.— Catalogue of FUwer and 
Vegetable Seeds. 
%* All correspondents 3 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. We 
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 Poultry and Bee subjects, and 
should never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended 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. 
Moving Orchard-house Trees in Pots (J. E.).— We are obliged by 
your letter. We will consider your plan, and ascertain, if possible, if it differs 
from other methods that have been projected with the same object. 
Planting Potatoes (M. A.). —The quantity of seed, estimated by weight, 
requisite for planting an acre depends entirely on the size of the tubers. As we 
have not the slightest idea whether you intend planting large, medium-sized, or 
small tubers, our best plan will be to state the number required, which at 2^ feet 
by 18 inches is 11,610. If you weigh a stone or hundredweight and count the 
tubers, a simple mutiplioation sum will show you the quantity by weight you 
require with exactitude. 
Liquidation (IF. E.). —The business of the firm to which you allude is, or 
was, iu liquidation, but we are not able to inform you of the result, and we 
believe the tiale is carried on as usual. You could ascertain what you re¬ 
quire by writing to the firm in question. 
Cineraria Leaves Eaten (Savoring). —There are certainly no aphides 
on the leaves you have sent, which are very clean and healthy. Aphides would 
not injure the leaves by eating them the same as yours are injured, nor are the 
perforations caused by the leaf-mining insect which is occasionally destructive 
to Cinerarias. The leaves you sent were so much withered that it was difficult 
to examine them, and we failed to perceive an insect of any kind. Still un¬ 
doubtedly they have been attacked, and we believe the enemy is a small weevil; 
this possibly you detected. You had better examine the plants carefully at 
night, by suddenly turning a strong light on them, and you may possibly 
observe the depredators at work. They are, however, very difficult to “ catch 
and kill.” Possibly syringing the plants with quassia water, made by boiling 
2 ozs. of quassia chips in a gallon of water for fifteen minutes, would render the 
leaves distasteful to the insects. Fumigating is of little or no use, and strong 
tobacco smoke might injure the plants. If the beetles are the cause of the 
injury they either creep up the pots or lurk iu the soil; if the former is the case 
a straud of soft hemp cord covered with birdlime, or a mixture of rosin and 
sweet oil, two-thirds of the former and one of the latter, would arrest their 
progress. If they are in the soil, removing carefully the surface and adding 
fresh compost would be beneficial. 
Potatoes for- Planting (H. S. J., Bath).—ire consider the large tuber 
needlessly- large, and the small one too small. The former is too large because 
so many growths as it would produce would necessarily cause overcrowding, 
and the best and soundest crops cannot be had if the foliage is not exposed to 
the light and air. The other tuber is too small, because it not only- contains a 
great num' er of e . es, but these are small and the growths would be weak, aud 
a great number of weak growths produce a great number of small tubers. To 
plaut such large sets as the one you have sent would be a waste of produce. If 
the tuber were divided longitudinally either half, or even one-third of it, would 
produce a crop equal to that which would follow if the tuber were planted 
whole. We prefer sets weighing from 2 to 3 ozs., each having two or three strong 
eyes, the weaker eyes being removed. Your method of managing sets when cut 
is good, and thus prepared we consider them about equal to whole tubers. 
Conservatory Faulty (A. IF. A'.).—The structure of which you have 
sent a plan appears to have been designed for architectural effect rather than 
for its adaptability for the culture of plants. There are many such struc¬ 
tures, and we always pity the gardeners who have to manage them. They are 
really plant-killing houses, and cannot be kept satisfactorily attractive unless 
good houses are also provided for growing plants for a short sojourn in the 
conservatory. We are unable to form an opinion on the efficiency or other¬ 
wise of the ventilation, as you do not make this matter clear ; but the house is 
much too dry, and you will find it difficult to maintain the plants in health. A 
bed would be better than a glazed floor for the plants. If crushed white shells 
or spar were placed an inch thick oti the slate stages over the pipes an I kept 
moist the plants would thrive better, and the appearance of the stage would be 
at least as good as now ; a beading would, however, be needed for holding the 
material. Such plants as green Dracaenas, variegated Yuccas, Agaves, Cycads, 
Rocheas, and succulent plants generally, including Echeveria retusa and others 
of the genus, also G-asterias, Havvortliias, and similar plants, succeed in dry 
houses. Amaryllises would also do fairly well, and as climbers Bomarea Car- 
deri and Senecio macroglossa. Araucaria excelsa with its congeners, aud such 
Palms as Chamaerops Fortunei, Corypha australis, Seaforthia elegans, ani Areca 
lutescens, might also succeed. But whatever is grown will need careful atten¬ 
tion, and every means must be adopted to m lintain a moist genial atmosphere. 
Wintering Salvias (D. D.). —Those you name require the same treatment 
as S. splendens. When the plants have ceased flowering cut them dowu, but 
not below all the leaves, or the stems may decay, and place them iu a light posi¬ 
tion in a greenhouse or other structure having a minimum temperature of 40°. 
Where space is limited it is a good plan to strike a few cuttiugs iu August or 
early September for forming stock plants, these being established in 5-inch pots. 
Such plants occupy little space in winter, aud not infrequently produce better 
cuttings in spring than larger plants do that have become partially exhausted 
by flowering. When these small plants are provided, the larger, which occupy 
much space, can be thrown away when the flowers have faded. The best mode 
of preparing Salvias for flowering in a small greenhouse is to plant out some 
stock plants in a sLeltered position in the open garden in early June. In a 
