JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ March 2, 1882. 
182 
plants in an unsatisfactory state should be disrooted and subjected 
to the same treatment as advised for the suckers. 
Melons. —The first batch is now growing fast, and will only need to 
have the shoots secured to the trellis, to be duly supplied with water 
at the roots, maintaining a moist atmosphere by damping in the 
morning and at closing time or early in the afternoon. Secure a 
temperature in the daytime of 70° to 75°, allowing it to fall to 05° on 
cold nights. Remove every alternate lateral on opposite sides of the 
main stem, but do not stop the lead until it has extended two-thirds 
up the trellis. Where there is more than one house the present i3 
a good time to plant a second for succession. For the cultivation 
of early Melons a low span-roofed house is most suitable, about 
10 feet in -width, with the roof at an angle of 35°, and having a 3-feet 
pathway down the centre and a bed on each side. There should be 
two rows of hot-water pipes through each bed for bottom heat, the 
pipes in the bed being covered with rough brickbats 6 to 9 inches 
above the pipes, and over these a layer of turves grass side down¬ 
wards, and then the soil, a mellow rather heavy loam, being raised 
in ridges or hillocks with the top flattened, the soil being 10 inches 
deep. Top heat may be provided by a row of pipes on the curb on 
each side the walk, and another along the front or side walls. Keep 
the plants near the glass to insure a sturdy growth, not stopping 
those to be trained to trellises, but those to be placed in pits or frames 
ehould be stopped at the second leaf. Make up hotbeds for pits and 
frames after the fermenting materials have been thoroughly incor¬ 
porated and well prepared by repeated turnings. For frames choose 
a good sheltered situation, and employ a good layer of faggots for 
the bottom, especially in damp situations. Provide a bed large 
enough—18 to 20 inches larger than the frame on all sides—making 
it 4 feet above the faggots, beating it down firmly. Put on the frame 
and lights, and when the heat is up level the surface and place in 
each light a hillock of soil, making it firm, and entirely cover the 
surface of the bed with soil, planting out when it is found the bottom 
heat will not exceed 85° to 90°. 
Cucumbers. —Increased light and sun heat will necessitate increased 
atmospheric moisture, keeping the evaporation troughs charged with 
liquid manure, and the foliage damped lightly early on bright after¬ 
noons, the night temperature not being allowed to fall below G5°. 
Afford liquid manure once or twice a week. Do not allow the fruits 
to hang too long, or they will weaken the plants. Remove all male 
blossoms, well thinning the fruit on young plants just coming into 
bearing, stopping frequently one joint beyond the fruit. Sow seed 
to raise plants for pits and frames, attending to the instructions given 
concerning Melons. 
FUMIGATING BEES. 
Doubtless Mr. Raynor is correct in stating that fumigating 
bees with the smoke of Thyme and other substances is practised 
in foreign countries, and his quotations put the matter beyond 
question. For aught I know the practice of using smoke to 
fumigate bees may have been known at an early date in Great 
Britain. But James Bonner, bee-master, Auchencrow, Berwick¬ 
shire, who wrote and published an able work on bees in the 
year 1789, does not appear to have used smoke or known of it in 
his day. Bonner’s book fell into my hands for the first time a 
few weeks ago. After Bonner’s day my father was perhaps the 
most extensive bee-keeper in Great Britain for many years. Both 
he and Bonner practised artificial swarming without using smoke 
of any kind. How Bonner proceeded I do not know, but my 
father simply fixed a Cabbage blade in front of his face, turned 
up his hives and drummed and drove swarms from them in the 
mr.nner we now do with the use of smoke to prevent stinging. 
One autumn when my father was in Edinburgh selling his 
harvest of honey he met an Irishman, who offered to instruct him 
how to carry a hive of bees fully exposed up and down the streets 
without getting a sting, for a gill of whisky. The bargain was 
struck, and “ the secret ” thus obtained was worth all the whisky 
in the city to my father and to hundreds of bee-keepers besides, 
and doubtless to thousands of apiarians during the last ten years. 
The use of smoke from fustian and corduroy rags makes bee¬ 
keeping comparatively easy and pleasant work ; and though I am 
courageous enough amongst angry bees with smoking rags in my 
hand, I would not like to undertake to swarm fifty hives artificially 
without the use of smoke. Without the least disposition to ques¬ 
tion the truth of what Mr. Raynor says about the use of smoke 
being known long before the Irishman’s day, the probability is 
great I should never have known it, and never have been a bee¬ 
keeper at all, but for the Irishman and the gill of whisky in 
Edinburgh.— A. Pettigrew. 
BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
RULES FOR ECONOMIC APIARIES COMPETITION, 1882-83. 
1, The object of this competition is to show the relative merits of 
different systems of bee-keeping, and to prove that bee-keeping if 
conducted on economical principles is highly remunerative to the 
bee-keeper. 
2, Competitors shall be members of county associations affiliated 
with the British Bee-keepers’ Association residing within the re¬ 
cognised boundaries of their respective counties, or members of the 
British Bee-keepers’ Association residing in the county of Middlesex. 
Each competitor shall be limited to one entry, and shall pay an entry 
fee of 5s. 
3, Prizes of £6, £5, £4, £3, £2, and £1 shall be awarded in the order 
of merit to the competitors who shall derive the greatest profit from 
an experimental apiary on not more than two hives at the outset, 
which may be increased to any extent by natural or artificial swarm¬ 
ing. The total capital to be employed in commencing and maintain¬ 
ing the apiary must not exceed £2, and the competition to extend 
from May 20th, 1882, to August 30th, 1883. 
4, The apiary shall be established in the garden of some cottager 
to be selected by the competitor and approved by the Secretary of the 
County Association, or in the case of the county of Middlesex by the 
Secretary of the British Bee-keepers’ Association. 
5, The competitor shall keep a diary (a duplicate of which shall 
be kept at the cottage), in which all transactions connected with the 
apiary shall be recorded, and each item of expenditure and receipt 
entered ; such diary to become the property of the British Bee¬ 
keepers’ Association at the close of the competition. 
6, Each hive shall be weighed, and the weight minus the roof and 
covering shall be recorded in the diary. The hives shall be stocked 
with bees without combs ; the bees to be valued at 4*. per lb. Comb 
foundation may be used at any period of the competition at 2s. Gd. 
per pound for thick, and 3s. per pound for thin. No bees, brood, or 
natural comb to be imported into the apiary after commencing. 
Queens may be introduced into the hives at any period of the com¬ 
petition, and shall be valued as follows—in the month of May, 8s. 
each ; in June, Gs. each ; in July, 4s. each ; and any other month, 3s. 
each. All expenses incurred after the commencement of the compe¬ 
tition must be defrayed from the original capital of £2. Vouchers 
must be produced for all purchases made throughout the competition, 
including hives, bees, and any appliances used at the commencement. 
7, Each competitor may make his own hives and supers, but 
vouchers for the cost of the materials must be produced, and the 
workmanship valued by the Secretary of the County Association or 
an expert appointed by him. 
8, Every amount expended in the apiary for food or any other 
incidental matter of whatever nature shall be charged against the 
apiary, and everything legitimately sold shall be set down in its 
favour. Vouchers must be produced for all swarms and honey sold 
during the competition according to the printed forms supplied to 
each competitor for this purpose. 
9, The Secretary of the County Association may visit the compet¬ 
ing apiary at any reasonable time, or may appoint an expert to do so. 
The record of such visits, together with any remarks which it may be 
advisable to make, to be entered in the diary, which shall always be 
accessible for the purpose. 
10, The competitor shall certify that during its continuance he has 
fulfilled all the conditions imposed by these rules, and that all his 
entries in the diary are true. The Secretary or his expert shall certify 
as to the quantity and value of the honey produced by each 
competitor. 
11, Any attempt at fraud will be punished by disqualification. 
12, All entries must be made on the proper printed forms and 
accompanied with the entry fees on or before May 1st, 1882. Applica¬ 
tion for entry forms to be made to the Assistant-Secretary, Mr. J. 
Huckle, King’s Langley, Watford, Herts. —Herbert R. Peel, Hon. 
Sec., Thornton Hall, Stoney Stratford, Bucks. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Francis and Arthur Dickson & Sons, 10G, Eastgate Street, Chester.— 
Catalogue of Select Farm Seeds. 
Franz Anton, Haage, Erfurt.— Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower 
Seeds. 
James Dickson Sons, 108, Eastgate Street, Chester .—Catalogue 
of Farm Seeds ( Illustrated ). 
