August 0, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
127 
are good and strong insert them singly into 2 or 3-inch pots in a mix¬ 
ture of equal parts of fibrous peat, sphagnum moss, and silver sand. A 
good dash of the latter should be placed in the centre of the pots for the 
base of the cuttings to rest upon. Give a good watering after insertion, 
and keep them in a close, moist, well-shaded frame until rooted. If 
these directions are followed every cutting will root, as these plants are 
not difficult to propagate. Bertolonias can be used with much effect for 
room-decoration, but, unfortunately, they are not adapted to withstand 
rough treatment, and will not last long for such purposes ; in fact, we 
•could not recommend them as useful plants for that purpose, but, on the 
•contrary, they are better adapted for the purpose of rendering a plant 
stove attractive. 
Caladium, argyrites .—This is decidedly the most useful Caladium 
that can be grown, and stands in the foremost rank as a decorative 
plant. Few plants are more dwarf or compact in habit, and none 
possesses more beautiful foliage. To have these in the best of condition 
for autumn and winter decoration a number of plants should now be 
split up and potted into 4-inch pots. After potting keep them close until 
the young plants commence rooting afresh, and then gradually expose 
them to more air, and grow them under ordinary stove conditions. Any 
•ordinary soil will suit this Caladium providing it is moderately light 
and rich, and a good supply of water should be given while the plants 
are in active growth ; in fact, they should not be allowed to become 
so dry as many varieties of these plants even while at rest, or detri¬ 
mental results will ensue. Before using these plants in rooms or other 
decorative positions give as much air as the plants will safely bear, so 
as to bring them into as hardened a condition as possible, and they 
will last nearly double the length of time as would otherwise be the 
case if taken directly from close heated structures. 
Gardenias .—Young stock that have become thoroughly established 
in 4 or 5-inch pots, and are rather cramped for room at their roots, 
should without delay be placed iu others 2 inches larger. Young plants 
will grow rapidly for some time to come, and be much benefited by 
receiving a shift at this season of the year; in fact, they can be managed 
30 as to produce flowers after the general stock has done blooming, 
which is important where a supply of these blooms is in request during 
the spring months. Stock that has been cut back should have more 
air from this time than has been given in the past, which will be the 
means of bringing their growth to a standstill, and the result will be 
flowers in autumn and through the winter instead of being produced 
only in the spring. These, if thoroughly root-bound, should receive 
occasional doses of Standen’s manure or stimulants every alternate 
watering made from cow manure and soot water. In case mealy bug 
infests these plants syringe with paraffin oil and water at the rate of 
an ounce to the gallon of water, which should be repeated again in the 
course of four or five days if the first application fails to eradicate the whole 
of the insects. Care should he taken to shade the house or pit in which 
the plants are growing after syringing with paraffin, or in bright weather 
the plants will suffer. 
FIRST PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER. 
If we wish to take time by the forelock it is not a bit too 
early to begin preparations for passing our b:es safely through 
the winter. Already the first tinges of autumn are appearing 
on the forest foliage, the honey harvest is failing, and bees have 
to fly wider in order to add to their stores. It is only in favoured 
districts where the purple Heath; r begins to br'ghten up the 
moorland or to glow on the mountain side that there is yet 
another golden harvest to be reaped by our merry labourers. 
Where tbe supply of honey has to be drawn only from the early 
fruit blossoms, or later on from the Clover and an occasional 
avenue of Limes, the time of profit is waning, and the bee-master 
must be alert to do his best to prepare for another season’s 
ingathering. We have before pointed out how much the amount 
•of that next ingathering depends on the condition of the stock 
in autumn; but at the risk of being accused of repetition we 
must again try and impress on the owners of bees, more espe¬ 
cially on beginners, the great necessity for careful preparation 
at this time of the year. 
We would first speak of bees in the neighbourhood of Heather. 
Where they are kept in bar-frame hives a heavy return of honey 
may yet be obtained should the present weather continue. We 
are now writing from the wild and beautiful moorland of North 
Devon, and the sight of thousands of acres of rapidly opening 
Heather flowers, while it gladdens our eyes, impresses us with 
■the great fact that tons of honey are being wasted in a country 
which imports its principal stock from other lands. Doubtless 
our friend Mr. Griffin and his fellow workers have done and arc 
doing much to encourage the cottagers of Devonshire to learn 
how to pay their rents'from the produce of the Heatherbells; 
but very much more can be done, and ro doubt in time will be 
done, to apply this free gift of Nature to a profitable purpose. 
Now, those who keep bees in such a neighbourhood should 
extract all the honey they can from the combs and make the 
bees start afresh. This will act as a stimulus both to the bees 
to store the greatest possible quantity obtainable of Heather 
honey, and it will also cause the queen to lay more rapidly and 
later on into the season. This is exactly what must happen to 
insure strong stocks composed almost entirely of young bees to 
go into winter quarters. With fair weather ordinary-sized hives 
will also fill many sections of Heather honey. The consistency 
of this kind of honey is such that it cannot be extracted from 
the combs, and therefore the introduction of sections into the 
body of the hive, as well as around or above the brood nest, is 
commendable. So long as the queen has room beyond what she 
requires for forming a strong brood nest every available part of 
the hive should be filled with sections. 
Heather honey, from its natural density, is the very best to 
travel and also to be kept for long periods after gathering; 
whereas fruit blossom and Clover honey is the best for extract¬ 
ing from the combs by means of the slinger and storing in 
glasses and jars. Heather honey does not candy in the comb 
like Clover honey, and is therefore preferred by many to the 
latter kind. The honey gathered from Heather, again, does not 
require so long a time to ripen, and supers are therefore quickly 
sealed and finished off ready for withdrawal from the hive. 
With straw skeps the management is, of course, more difficult 
than with bar-frame hives. If we had skeps near Heather we 
should certainly cut away the outer slabs of honey on each side 
of the brood nest if they did not contain brood. This would 
cause increased energy among the bees, and they ought to 
rebuild and fill these combs as well as working in sections above 
the hive. The same result would thus be obtained as in the bar- 
frame hive, so far as the obtaining of plenty of young bees for 
the winter was concerned. 
Where the honey harvest ends with the cutting of the 
Clovers and the flowering of Limes, &c., we must us 3 other means 
to obta’n the same results. More trouble must be taken in such 
cases, but the result will well repay for the extra amount of work 
given to the bee keeper. From bar-frame hives we have ex¬ 
tracted nearly all the honey obtainable, and replenished the hive 
by giving sugar syrup. This syrup should be of a greater 
density than that recommended for spring feeding; 4 lbs. of 
best lump sugar to three half pints of water, a pinch of salt, half 
a wineglassful of vinegar poured in when the syrup boils, 
allowed to boil gently for ten minutes, and then a table-spoonful 
of salicylic acid solution added, makes a sjood autumn food. This 
should not be applied too rapidly, so arranging the feeder that 
some 2 or 2£ lbs. of the food can be taken down in the twenty- 
four hours for the first week, and about 1 lb. per diem afterwards. 
This will carry us on well through August before the hive has 
become sufficiently heavy to pass through the winter, when the 
supply should be gradually diminished, and the bees will like¬ 
wise gradually quiet down and complete their wintering arrange¬ 
ments. The effect of this system if regularly carried out will be 
that the stocks so treated will be in like manner strong and full 
of lately hatched bees, to bear the brunt of the spring-tide 
battle. All stocks should, of course, be kept equally strong. 
Where one outsteps the others to any great extent it is well to 
take a slab or two of brood from it and give them to a weaker 
neighbour, substituting sheets of foundation for the combs 
abstracted. By keeping all the stocks equally strong the chances 
of robbery will be reduced to a minimum. Woe be to the weak 
stock in a neighbour’s garden. Where such powerful colonies are 
near, weak stocks, especially where left to take care of themselves, 
are certain to come to grief. But it is no fault of the careful 
and provident bee-keeper if the neglected stock of a neighbour 
be cleaned out. The remedy is in the owner’s hands : he should 
keep his bees as well, or so protect them that they cannot be 
robbed, by narrowing the entrance so that only one bee can pass 
at the time. 
We advise that all supers be taken away the moment they 
are sealed up. This will not only preserve their beauty of 
appearance, but in the event of a sudden breaking-up of the 
weather olden save them to the bee-keeper, instead of having 
them uncapped and partly carried below. As the season 
approaches its end, and tbe finished supers have been removed, 
care should be taken to know what amount of real stores the 
bees have left in the body of the hive for their winter consump¬ 
tion. The weight of the hive is not a safe thing to determine 
this by. Brood is heavy, and half the weight may consist of 
brood, bees, and pollen. Sealed honey to the amount of from 
15 lbs. to 20 lbs. or more must be present if the bee-keeper 
wishes to leave his bees unmolested, as they should be, until 
March, after once putting them up for the winter. If, after 
