February 9,1882.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 119 
in flower should have a mean temperature of 65° at night and in dull 
weather, advancing 10° to 15° from sun heat, the atmosphere being 
kept a little drier. Assist the setting by rapping the rods sharply 
in the afternoon of fine days, or dust the bunches with a large 
camel’s-hair brush, employing the pollen of free-setting varieties for 
those which are shy-setting. Remove all unnecessary laterals, but 
endeavour to have every part of the trellis covered with as much 
foliage as can be fully exposed to light. Attend to thin all free- 
setting kinds as soon as the berries are the size of small peas, also 
thinning the bunches where necessary, leaving the most compact, 
and avoid the too common practice of overcropping. 
Peaches .—The trees started early in January are in flower, and the 
early kinds have partly set the fruit, needing attention daily in aiding 
the distribution of the pollen, which should be effected either by 
shaking the trellis or placing the pollen on the stigmas with a 
camel’s-hair brush or other means. A night temperature of 50° 
to 55° must be secured, advanced to G0° or 65° by day with sun 
heat and free ventilation. Damp the borders in the morning and 
afternoon. The trees in the house started about this time in former 
years have the blossoms expanding, and though it is considered 
advisable to syringe the trees in the morning and afternoon until the 
flowers expand, it is undesirable to continue it after the anthers are 
showing, hence damping the borders should be substituted for it, and 
have a little ventilation at the top of the house constantly. Attend 
to fertilising the blossoms when the pollen becomes ripe. Secure a 
day temperature of 55° by turning the heat on early, ventilating 
freely above that, allowing an advance of 5° to 10° from sun heati 
the night temperature being kept at b0°, or on cold nights 5° less. 
See that there is no deficiency of moistui’e in the borders, and supply 
water as needed, slightly warmer than the air of the house. The 
weather all through January having been mild, the flower buds in 
the succession and late houses are swelling fast, and free ventilation 
is needed to retard them. 
Melons .—In the cultivation of early Melons a good bottom heat is 
of first importance. Hot-water pipes, either in a chamber or sur¬ 
rounded and covered with about 9 inches of rubble, afford a regular 
and lasting heat, which can be readily modified, and is unquestionably 
the best for the earliest crops. Successful results, however, may be 
achieved by the aid of fermenting materials properly prepared. 
Stable litter with two-thirds Oak or Beech leaves are suitable, 
throwing them into a heap and thoroughly incorporating about a 
fortnight before it is intended to make the bed. In a few days it 
will be seen whether there is moisture in the material to produce 
fermentation ; if not, let the whole be turned and watered. It will 
need turning twice at intervals of four days before using. The 
materials should be placed together evenly and firmly, and when the 
rank steam has escaped the soil may be put in, a layer of turves 
being placed grass side downwards over the surface of the bed. In 
the centre of each light raise a hillock with the top flattened about a 
foot across and the soil 10 inches in depth, and in houses a ridge may 
be formed lengthwise of the house 2 feet wide at the base, 1 foot at 
the top, and 10 or 12 inches in depth. The Melon delights in a 
sound and firm soil, good loam with about a fourth of well-decayed 
manure. In forming hotbeds for frames always have a dry site, and 
employ, if possible, a good layer of faggots for the foundation, which 
will not only prevent the cold and wet ground diminishing the heat, 
but facilitate the ingress of heat afterwards by means of linings. 
Take care to have the bed 18 inches larger than the frame every way, 
5 feet in height at the back, and 4 feet in front. Allow the plants to 
become strong before placing them out, but do not permit them 
to become rootbound or to root into the soil from the bottom of the 
pots. 
Cucumbers .—As the days lengthen a little more heat and moisture 
should be afforded, filling the evaporating troughs regularly in bright 
weather. Still be very careful in the admission of air. Encourage a 
free root-action by fresh compost. Pits and frames must now be 
prepared for Cucumbers intended to be grown in this way, making 
the beds as advised for Melons, but the soil need not be so heavy 
nor so firm. The plants must be kept near the glass so as to insure 
a sturdy growth, stopping those to be trained over the surface of the 
bed at the second rough leaf, whilst those to be trained to a trellis 
should not be stopped but have the shoot secured to a stick, and 
have the laterals removed until sufficient stem is secured to reach 
from the bed to the bottom of the trellis. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Caladiums can be started, and they succeed in either turfy loam or 
fibrous peat. Where required large a number of roots should be left 
in a pot; but where they are requested small in 6 or 7-inch pots, 
which are most useful, the bulbs must be divided. The small-leaved 
C. argyrites is one of the most beautiful for decorative purposes. 
Grow it in 6-inch pots near the glass and not in too high a tempera¬ 
ture, so as to prepare it for the comparatively cooler and drier atmo¬ 
sphere of rooms. A few more Gloxinias and Achimenes should be 
started ; the latter are fine basket plants, and stand in the conserva¬ 
tory for weeks in the summer, making a very effective display. Earlier- 
started Gloxinias will be growing freely and may be transferred to 
larger pots, but any already showing flower and wanted in compara¬ 
tively small pots should be supplied with liquid manure. Seeds of 
Gloxinias may now be sown, also seeds of tuberous-rooted Begonias, 
the plants being grown on in a brisk moist heat near the glass for 
late summer-flowering. 
Fuchsias dried off in autumn can now be cut well back and placed 
in a slight heat, syringing them occasionally. When they have made 
a little growth repot them, and keep them rather close and moist 
for a time, supplying liquid manure when the roots have taken 
to the fresh soil. These will flower earlier than plants struck in 
summer, and be very useful for cutting as well as for conservatory 
decoration. 
Late Cinerarias in small pots not yet showing flowers should be 
transferred to pots a size larger, these will be useful after the 
earlier plants are over; similar remarks applying to Calceolarias, 
neither of which are benefited by potting after the flower stems 
appear. Primulas and Cinerarias producing flowers will be much 
improved by supplies of liquid manure. 
EKES AND NADIRS. 
As you will perceive, 1 am quite a beginner in bee-keeping; 
indeed, it is doubtful if 1 should have begun at all had I not entered 
on the charge of a garden where I find bees are about as much 
valued as flowers. Still, I do not think the owner understands much 
about them, and, fortunately for me, my predecessor was “no 
apiarian.’’ I am desired to do the best I can with the bees, and I 
intend doing so. But I really know little about them, and nothing 
about some of the appliances that I suppose I shall have to use ; 
hence I wish to know what ekes and nadirs are, and their uses. 
Clever bee-keepers will smile, no doubt, at my ignorance, but I must 
ask them to bear with me on the ground that they, I presume, were 
ignorant once. I have been reading some back numbers, but some 
of the articles are above me. I wish someone would write some¬ 
thing about bees for beginners, for I cannot suppose I am the only 
one on the threshold of the subject and wanting plain guidance.— 
J. B. S., Warwickshire. 
[We are not aware that we can answer our correspondent more 
plainly than by citing the following from Mr. Pettigrew’s “ Handy 
Book on Bees”— 
“ Can bees be prevented from swarming ? Yes, by the use of ekes ; 
and what are these ? Additions or enlargements from below—that is 
to say, eked or lengthened. Hives are eked by riddle rims, or hoops 
made of four or five rolls of straw of the same description as those in 
a straw hive, the same width as the hives raised by them. These ekes 
are fastened to the hives by nails or staples going into both, and the 
junctions covered with any kind of cement or paste. 
“ But eking hives does not always prevent their bees from swarming ? 
Not always, but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it does. In 
some hot seasons, and on rare occasions, bees have been known to 
square the ends of the combs before their hives were quite full, and 
swarm. This so seldom happens that it may be considered excep¬ 
tional, and out of the usual run of events. When our hives are timely 
eked we have never the shadow of a fear that they will send off 
swarms. When ekes are used cross sticks must be put into them at 
the highest parts, so that the combs may be fastened. 
“ Nadirs are the opposite of supers. Nadirs go beneath bee hives, 
