September 13,1883 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
239 
Malakoff are two of the best. Double kinds we do not advise to be 
grown in large numbers, the singles are much more useful. In addition 
to the white variety mentioned, Lord Wellington and Waterloo, the 
former blush and the latter deep red, are very good. 
Tulips .—In addition to the few varieties mentioned on page 118 for 
•early forcing others should be potted as early as they can be obtained 
to succeed them, as Tulips are amongst the cheapest of bulbs, and are 
capable of making a most brilliant display over a lengthened period of 
time. All intended to be forced into bloom from the middle of January 
to the end of the season should be potted in 5 or G-inch pots, placing 
five bulbs in each pot. In potting the bulbs should be entirely covered 
with soil, and then placed under ashes outside, the same as the Hya¬ 
cinths, until the pots are full of roots. The following are good :—Chryso- 
lora, yellow ; Vermilion Brillant, scarlet ; Cottage Maid, rose pink 
shaded white, not good for early forcing, but flowers freely and well after 
February 1st; Keizers Kroon, scarlet and yellow, a very bold and showy 
kind ; Proserpine, dark rose ; Wouverman, purplish-violet. The only 
white we grow is White Pottebakker. Double varieties are very useful 
and showy, and do equally as well as the single varieties in pots. A few 
bulbs of Due Van Thol may be grown for early flowering iu 4-inch pots. 
Duke of York, Imperator Rubrorum, La Candeur, Gloria Solis, Tournesol 
(red and yellow), and the yellow variety are amongst the kinds most 
worthy of pot cultivation ; the last two being superb, last well, and are 
amongst the most striking double Tulips. 
Narcissus .—In addition to the Polyanthus Narcissus for pot cultiva¬ 
tion, some of the border varieties, when well grown in pots, are most 
conspicuous in the conservatory amongst other flowering plants. The 
Hoop Petticoat Narciss (Bulboeodium) is charming when well grown in 
4-iuch pots, but undue forcing must not be resorted to, or failure is sure 
to follow. N. moschatus does well in 5 or 6-inch pots, and if growing in 
the open borders should be lifted and potted without delay ; place about 
five strong bulbs in the size pots mentioned. N. Horsfieldi and Emperor 
are grand, especially the former, which is very dwarf and flowers freely. 
The most successful plan with these varieties is to lift them early, before 
they commence to root afresh if possible, and then pot them moderately 
deep, and place them in a cold frame, and then cover them with cocoa- 
nut fibre or coal ashes, having about 1 inch over the pots. They should 
be left in this condition until they grow through the plunging material, 
and afterwards be brought forward in gentle heat as required. 
S 
—~— 7—1 —r 
, . , . i . 1 . , . , . , . I T r I'~~ 
IS 
111 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
THE STINGS OF BEES. 
Several deaths— I think four—from the stings of bees and 
wasps have been reported in the newspapers this season; a 
number unusually large and sufficient to excite attention if not 
alarm. The death of a person from bee or wasp-stinging has 
been heard of every few years, but the record of four fatalities 
in a few months from the same cause is not pleasant reading, 
and may cause unnecessary alarm. A medical practitioner has, 
I believe, lately and publicly stated that the sting of a bee— 
meaning thereby the venom of the sting, cannot kill anybody, 
that when death results it is from an excess of fright. I did 
not see the doctor’s letter, but I believe his views and statements 
are correct. The record of the deaths which happened lately 
states that a lady in her kitchen was stung by a wasp on the 
neck, “ swooned away and died in twenty minutes.” Another is 
that of a lady near Harlow, who died within half an hour of a 
wasp stinging the little finger of her right hand. She had been 
stung several times before, and was very nervous about it. The 
pain of a sting in most cases is very severe for a short time, but 
soon passes away without doing injury if borne in the absence 
of fear. Neither the venom nor the pain of a sting could 
destroy life in a person who is not alarmed. We have seen 
many persons frightened nearly to death on being stung, but on 
being assured that no fatal consequences would follow bore their 
sufferings with composure. Though 1 have been stung thou¬ 
sands of times, probably oftener than any other living person, I 
am frequently told that bees know me, and therefore do not sting 
me. The question of bees knowing their masters is a difficult one 
to discuss, but we may take it up at a future time. At present 
I-wish readers generally to know that I am not exempt from 
stinging. But stings do not cause swelling on me, or any incon¬ 
venience beyond the pain which does not last a minute. I could 
bear twenty stings in a minute without fear of injury, beyond 
the momentary pain. This statement is not made in bravado, 
but to lessen the fear of timid people. I keep many hives, or 
have done so for many years. I move amongst them gently 
without fear, turn them up and examine them, put them through 
all possible and known manipulations, and the bee3 through all 
possible exercises without k fear; and in all this work I have 
never used a protecting veil of any kind for hand or face. Bees 
can be made accustomed to all such work and practices. If 
gently handled they will bear a great deal; if kept among the 
haunts of men or in busy places they become domesticated, and 
bees once domesticated do not readily become savage or ill- 
natured again. Bees that are born in unfrequented places are in 
a sense untamed and untrained, and when visited by human 
beings and cattle they naturally dread molestation and defend 
their hives, or mean to do so, by first attacking the unwelcome 
visitors. 
The venom of a bee sting is so instantaneous in its action 
that we tbink no cure for it can ever be applied in time. The 
sting of the honey bee is well barbed, and when inserted in the 
skin it draws the venom bag with it, which is connected with a 
self-acting machinery which has the power of injecting venom 
through the sting into the flesh for some time after separation 
from the body of the bee. Instantaneous withdrawal from the 
part stung is in our opinion the best cure for a bee sting. I 
have not been often stung by wasps, and know little about them, 
but I believe their stings are as painful as those of bees. The 
sting of a wasp is not barbed, and therefore is not lost to the 
insect on being used, but can be used again and again, and is 
therefore more formidable than that of the honey bee, which 
sticks wherever inserted, and the loss of the sting is death to 
the bee. 
Wasps’ nests are unusually plentiful this season, and as every 
nest contains many queens they should be destroyed before the 
queens find warm corners for the winter.—A. Pettigrew. 
Great Honey Crop. —The honey flow here has been unprecedented 
and unlooked for. My best colony has given over 600 ff>3. of honey, up 
to date—over 100 lbs. being comb honey, and I expect to get upwards of 
700 lbs. from it. The colony spoken of carried in from 20 to 28 lbs. of 
honey per day for nearly a week. I think there are upwards of 100,000 
bees in the hive ; it is a two-storey one.—E. F. Smith, Smyrna , N.Y. 
(in American Bee Journal). 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Ernest de Schampheleer, Welteren, Belgium.— Catalogue of Fruit Trees 
and Roses. 
W. P. Laird & Sinclair, Dundee.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
Hogg & Wood, Coldstream and Dunse, N.B.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
J. Jefferies & Sons, Cirencester.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
Barr & Son, 12, King Street, Covent Garden.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
E. G. Henderson & Son, Maida Yale, London, W.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
William Bull, Chelsea.— List of Bulbs. 
G. Cooling & Son, Bath.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
J. Carter & Co., High Holborn.— Catalogue of Bulbs and Spring Flowers. 
Goldsmith & Co., 118, York Road, Westminster Bridge Road.— Catalogue 
of Bulbs. 
C. Turner, Slough.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
Dobie & Mason, 66, Deansgate, Manchester.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
Waite, Nash, Huggins, & Co., 79, Southwark Street, London— Catalogue 
of Bulbs. 
G. Bunyard & Co., Maidstone.— Catalogue of Fruit Trees and List of Bulbs. 
All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor’' 
or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. Hogg or 
members of the staff often remain unopened unavoidably. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended for insertion should be written on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and we 
do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
List of Colonial Seedsmen (J. C .).—You will find the names of the 
principal seedsmen at the places mentioned in the “ Horticultural Directory,” 
published at this office, price Is. 
Exhibiting Flowers (Major B ).—We could have decided the question 
you submit to us more readily if the names of the “ four sorts of stove 
flowers ” show by T had been given, and in the absence of that information 
