202 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
[ March 9, 1882. 
vanced for the purpose must be attended to daily after the house 
has been ventilated for an hour or two, but if bees visit the blossoms 
it will not he necessary. Some of the trees in the house usually 
started early in February have set their fruits, and, as these are abun¬ 
dant, a good thinning will be needed when they commence swelling 
freely. Syringing must be resorted to occasionally when the trees 
have set their fruits, and this will not only assist in freeing the fruit 
of the remains of the blossom, but have a deterrent effect on red 
spider, which sometimes appears on the young foliage. Whilst in 
blossom a close atmosphere should be avoided by having a little 
ventilation constantly, but the borders should be kept moist by 
syringing occasionally, and it should be practised twice daily where 
fire heat is employed. See that inside borders are duly supplied with 
w-ater. In the latest houses care must be taken in favourable weather 
to ventilate freely, as, the flowering being earlier than usual, it is 
necessary to retard the latest house. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
Proceed with pruning and training all climbers, Roses, and other 
plants against w r alls or trellises, not overcrowding the shoots, choos¬ 
ing the strongest and best ripened for laying-in. Roses must be 
pruned, but not too severely ; and as most have made considerable 
growth from the points of the shoots, these should be removed and 
three or four plump eyes reserved at the base of each. As a rule 
Roses are pruned too severely, as by shortening back the strong 
wood more or less according to the variety and vigour of the plant, 
and entirely removing the weak wood, much finer and more abundant 
blooms may be obtained than by cutting hard back to a bud or tw r o. 
After pruning the beds should be well manured and neatly pointed 
over. Cut out the old and weak branches of Tea Roses entirely 
leaving the strongest and best situated, removing only their imma¬ 
ture points. Stocks of Manetti or roots of Briar may now be grafted, 
cutting them back so as to leave only an inch or two of stem, to 
which attach the graft in the usual way and tie tightly, plunging in 
a close propagating frame in a temperature of 70° to 75°, keeping 
them in the dark until growth commences, when light should be 
gradually admitted. The propagation of bedding plants should be 
forwarded, so that sturdy plants may be secured and well hardened 
off, as this is essential to secure effective beds in good time. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Stove .—Cuttings for early flowering of the useful Euphorbia jac- 
quinimflora should now be inserted, taking off shoots of 4 to G inches 
length with a heel. Old plants that have bloomed may be cut 
down to within a few inches of the soil, and placed where they will 
be kept close, and when they have broken they can be shaken out 
and repotted. It is a good practice to keep up a stock of young 
plants of Aphelandras, Gardenias, Ixoras, Rondeletias, and others of 
similar habit, as they strike better now than at any other season, and 
if kept growing will form good plants by autumn. The cuttings 
should be taken off with a heel, taking care not to injure the bark. 
Allamandas, Clerodendrons, Bougainvilleas, and other quick-growing 
plants started some weeks ago are growing fast, and when the shoots 
are 6 to 8 inches long they may be taken off with a heel and inserted 
in small well-drained pots two-thirds filled with peat and a sixth of 
sand intermixed, and filled up with sand alone. In a close frame or 
under a bellglass in bottom heat they will root readily. Aristo- 
lochias have curious flowers, and are rapid-growing twiners. Plants 
from cuttings inserted now will flower in a little more than twelve 
months. Plants in small pots should be shifted, syringing them 
daily as the foliage is often attacked by red spider. 
Camellias .—From the present time these must be shaded from the 
sun, or it will destroy the colour of the flowers and render their dura¬ 
tion shore. Late-flowering Camellias have a tendency to lose their 
buds, which is increased by the drying influence of sun heat: hence 
the supply of moisture both at the roots and in the atmosphere should 
be liberal. As the plants cease blooming clean them thoroughly. 
Those which flowered early in autumn are growing, and should be 
removed to a house where they can have shade from powerful sun 
and a temperature of 55° at night and 10° to 15° rise by day, afford¬ 
ing plenty of moisture at the roots and in the atmosphere. Any 
plants that have become straggling should be headed back, those 
with very luxuriant shoots being shortened in order to keep the plants 
in good form. 
A STANDARD FRAME. 
I am pleased to observe that the British Bee-Keepers’ Association 
has resolved on the discussion of the question of a standard frame to 
he “ stamped with its sanction and authority.” This Association 
now happily occupies such a paternal relation to bee-keepers gene¬ 
rally as, I think, justifies it in at least attempting to grapple with 
this question. The pity is that it could not have been done years 
ago. To their credit, many prominent hive-makers have pertina¬ 
ciously stuck to the special sizes of frames first issued by them, 
recognising the injustice of altering the same for their own advan¬ 
tage, but to the detriment of their customers. Most of these are 
agreed on one or other of the so-called Woodbury sizes, varying 
only in the depth of the frame by a fraction of an inch. On the 
other hand, would-be leaders of style are constantly altering their 
standard (?) Now it is rectangular, then tapered, now one size, then 
another, differing by inches. Thus not only are beginners per¬ 
plexed, but others who prefer to purchase their hives are being 
constantly met by the difficulty of varying dimensions. 
Then, even though a bee-keeper adopts and determinedly adheres 
to a size of his own, he often finds himself in a difficulty when, 
through purchase or present, he may become the owner of a stock 
in another hiva. Neither can he exchange or borrow a frame or 
two of brood, honey, or empty comb without in many cases having 
to make a transfer to his own frames, or tolerate an odd-sized frame 
for a time. And, after all, it can scarcely be said that any of the 
leading frames in use are other than arbitrary in dimensions. Tho 
discussion of the question, though opportune, is thus beset with 
great difficulties, and its settlement can scarcely fail to create unplea¬ 
sant feelings somewhere. We may foresee, however, that if a decision 
is arrived at at all, it must be in the adoption of some style of frame 
at present extensively used. 
As a small contribution to the discussion from the Scottish point 
of view, and from one who does not make hives for sale, I may 
safely affirm that we in Scotland are all but unanimous in using 
what I may call the Scottish Woodbury frame Mr. Woodbury 
probably adopted the internal dimensions of his hive, 14J inches 
square, from the calculation that ten combs would occupy about the 
space of l4i inches. We may, however, dismiss the idea of length 
—that is, measuring across the combs—as it is evident that hives 
may profitably contain more than ten frames. The other dimension, 
which we shall call the width, is that which regulates the size of 
the frame. The original Woodbury hive was 9 inches deep, but the 
frames were hung in notches cut in the sides, so that their upper 
surfaces were j- inch under the level of the crown board as then 
used. With the adoption of the quilt this travelling space was 
abolished, and experience in like manner led to the discarding of 
the notches. The frames, therefore, now rest either on the sides or 
in a rabbet cut out of them. I believe 1 am responsible for causing 
our leading Scottish makers to make the frames rest on a full 9 inch 
side—the intention having been to avoid cutting a stock width of 
board. With this alteration the internal dimensions of a Woodbury 
frame, whose end bars are three-eighth-inch wood, and bottom rail 
one-eighth-inch, will be 13^ inches by SJ inches. I am in a position 
to say that this size of frame is pretty general in England and 
Ireland as well as in Scotland. 
I have been thus particular in regard to dimensions, not that I 
may ride a hobby, but because this particular frame contains within 
its measurements a unit that I think ought to be in any frame 
claiming to be a standard. That unit is 4^ inches, the dimensions 
either way of the American 1 lb. section, introduced by A. I. Root, 
and sold in this country by hundreds of thousands annually. The 
Langstroth frame, most generally used in America, holds eight of 
these sections; the frame I have described holds six exactly as to 
depth, but with about three-eighths of an inch of room to spare in 
the length. All bee-keepers who work sections in frames, either in 
the body of the hive or in a top-storey similar to that below, will at 
once see the force of my proposal that the dimensions of this section 
should be taken as the unit of measure in the British standard 
frame. 
I anticipate objections to this proposal so far as the Woodbury 
frame above described is concerned. First, though the depth of 
8^ inches is correct for two sections, the length of 13j inches is 
too much for three. To this I reply th-it this difference is reduced 
by using thicker wood for the wide frames to hold the sections; 
