JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 18, 1882.] 
411 
long a growth as possible whilst the light lasts, sun heat being 
better for the health of the Yines. Excessive fire heat is highly 
injurious. Former instructions as to thinning, stopping, disbudding, 
and tying are still applicable. Remove all superfluous growth and 
bunches as soon as the number to be left on a Yine is decided. 
Assist Yines having crops swelling off with plentiful supplies of 
liquid manure, and maintain a moist genial condition of the atmo¬ 
sphere. Inside borders if well drained should receive abundant 
supplies of water when the Vines are in active growth. The borders 
of succession houses should be examined weekly and watered co¬ 
piously when dry, liquid manure being given at every alternate 
application. Where the Grapes are ripening a circulation of warm 
air should be provided constantly, and moderate air moisture afforded 
for the benefit of the foliage. Where the Grapes are ripe the tem¬ 
perature may be allowed to fall to 60® at night, and the border must 
be kept in a moist condition. Stop the laterals closely unless the 
Yines are weak and are infested with red spider or thrips, and then 
it is advisable to allow them to extend, and as soon as the Grapes 
are cleared thoroughly cleanse the foliage with the garden engine. 
Ouiside borders will not yet need artificial watering. Newly planted 
Yines should be closely watched that they do not suffer from over¬ 
dryness. Maintain a genial condition of the atmosphere by damping 
available surfaces frequently and syringing the Yines at closing 
time. In training allow all the growth to remain that can be ex¬ 
posed to light, but any intended to fruit as supernumeraries next 
season should have the laterals closely pinched and be confined to 
one rod. 
Cucumbers .—Upon the first appearance of aphides fumigate, and 
for red spider dress the hot-water pipes thinly with a cream formed 
of flowers of sulphur and skim milk; the pipes being heated to over 
160° will cause fumes to be given off fatal to that insect. Let the 
supply of moisture and ventilation be increased according to the 
increase of light and heat. Houses facing due south will require 
shading at midday, which must, however, be regulated according to 
the intensity of the sun heat and its duration. Span-roofed houses 
facing east and west are best for summer work, as no shading, or 
but little, is necessary. Beds that have been made some time 
and are becoming exhausted should be thoroughly renovated, press¬ 
ing the soil down tightly. In regard to watering take care that 
the plants suffer no lack, being careful that it be about the same 
temperature as that of the bed in which they are growing. Plants 
that have been bearing all the winter and are showing signs of weak¬ 
ness, having stunted and short fruits, had better be removed, young 
plants being placed out at once. Assist young plants which show 
signs of weakness by removing all the male flowers and the first 
fruits, stopping frequently at every third or fourth joint, and remove 
all weakly and superfluous growths. Syringe moderately between 
S and 4 P.M.. and employ plenty of water about the floors in hot 
weather. Little or no fire heat will now be requisite by day. The 
valves should be closed about 8 A.M., and opened again about 5 P.M. 
In pits and frames, if the plants are healthy, they will hardly need 
shading at present. Supply tepid water through a fine rose over 
the foliage about 3 P.M., closing the lights at the same time. Sow 
seed for succession. Stopping, training, and earthing-up must also 
be regularly attended to. 
Melons .—Directly it is perceived that any of the fruits begin to 
change for ripening water should be withheld, but not allowing 
the plants to flag, and the temperature should be increased about 
5°, the atmospheric moisture being reduced. Continue fertilising 
the pistillate flowers on successional plants, at the same time remove 
the points of shoots one or two joints beyond the fruit. Syringe 
freely about 3 P.M. in hot weather all plants bearing swelling fruit, 
and damp the floors several times a day. Shade only to prevent 
flagging, and ventilate freely in favourable weather. Fumigate as 
necessity arises, but not whilst the fruits are swelling. 
Figs. —The earliest crop of these are advanced towards maturity, 
and the chief object will now be ripening and colouring the fruit. 
Onwards from this time until the crop is perfected and cleared a little 
ventilation should be given constantly at the top of the house, and a 
free circulation of warm air on all favourable occasions should be 
afforded, which is of the highest importance in improving the quality 
of the fruit. Cease syringing the trees, and avoid a superabundance 
of moisture about the house. The borders being attended to in mulch¬ 
ing and watering as before advised, they will in most cases maintain 
sufficient moisture until the crop of Figs is gathered ; but if the borders 
are small water may be necessary, for on no account must the 
roots lack moisture so as to affect the foliage injuriously. Do not 
gather the fruit for home consumption until it is perfectly ripe, but 
any that have to be packed may be gathered earlier. Attend to stop¬ 
ping and tying-in as advised in former calendars. Yery early crops of 
Figs from trees in pots of the early varieties are now ripe. The trees 
must not suffer from neglect in watering, and as soon as the ripe Figs 
are gathered syringe the trees twice daily, and if attacked with red 
spider brush the leaves carefully on the under side with an approved 
insecticide. If the second crop of fruit be very large part of it 
should be removed, or the energies of the trees will be impaired, pro¬ 
bably so much so as to unfit them for early forcing another season. 
BEE-KEEPING FOR BEGINNERS.—No. 4. . 
QUEENS, WORKERS, DRONES. 
Young apiarians should know as much of the natural history 
or habits of queens, workers, and drones as can be gained by a 
little reading and study. “ Knowledge is power,” and the more 
one knows of the inhabitants of a bee hive the more competent he 
becomes for managing it well; besides, bee-keeping gives greater 
pleasures to the wise and thoughtful than to the ignorant. 
Mr. Raitt says, “ If the queen bee is the most important indi¬ 
vidual in the hive the worker is far more important in the economy 
of Nature. It is the typical bee for whom queens and drones 
exist, and without the workers they would cease to be. The 
workers are the active agents in all the offices which bees seem 
specially destined to fill in the economy of Nature. It is to them 
we mainly look for our supplies of honey and wax, and a know¬ 
ledge of their peculiar instincts is therefore necessary among all 
who would undertake their management.” 
While this is true it is equally true that both queens and drones 
have important functions to perform as well as workers—that 
there is mutual dependance, and that the welfare of hives depends 
on the fulfilment of the offices of the three bees—queen, male, 
worker. 
The Queen is mother if not monarch of the whole community. 
She lays all the eggs. At certain seasons their number is great— 
about two thousand a day. As a queen bee lives four years, and 
working bees live only nine months, she is the mother of many 
generations. A bee so prolific, and so burdened with the weight 
of eggs while moving up and down the combs and from one comb 
to another to deposit her eggs day after day and month after 
month, must require good feeding in the height of the season. 
The office and work of the queen is not that of a sinecure. We 
have always held that she is the hardest-worked bee in the com¬ 
munity, and has the least time for rest. Mr. Raitt thinks that 
she has not time to eat and digest her food : that the bees eat it 
for her, half digest it, and give it to her in this state. If this is a 
fact—and we have no disposition to question it—it presents to view 
a feature of bee life very wonderful. In the eye of her own 
people a queen bee is an important creature ; they value her very 
highly. Her presence in the hive is almost everything to them. 
Queens are in their cradle cells fourteen days—that is to say, 
they are reared from eggs to perfect insects in fourteen days. 
The history of their birth may not be uninteresting to beginners. 
On coming to perfection in their cells they announce their inten¬ 
tions to claim the throne, and in doing so they make a little fuss 
and tumult before they come out of their cells. They make 
strange noises, which bee-kepers call “ piping.” When bees want 
to rear a queen they generally rear three or four at once. The 
queen that comes to perfection first calls “off, off, off” several 
times. If no other queen responds or answers her in the same 
language she leaves her cell, becomes the queen of the hive, and 
begins to pipe in tones more sharp and shrill, w'hich sound like 
“ pe, pe, pe,” or rather “ paay, paay, paay,” spoken by the human 
voice. Other queens arrive at perfection and call “off, off, off,” 
and these sounds provoke the reigning queen very much, and she 
tries to find and kill her rivals. In the swarming season this 
tumult and noise continues three days and nights, the bees pre¬ 
venting a collision between the young queens. This piping or 
