344 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 18, 1883. 
the?e plants as close to the glass as possible, and give them abundance of 
water. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUNDS. 
Propagating Shrubby Calceolarias and Violas .—The present is a 
good time to insert cuttings of Calceolarias, and it is not yet too late 
to propagate Violas. Frames, in size according to the number of plants 
eventually required, should be employed, and if a few only are grown 
then handlights are suitable. The former to be stood on a hard dry 
surface, some rough partially decayed manure thrown in and made mode¬ 
rately firm ; next, about 6 inches in depth of any fairly good soil avail¬ 
able, and on this a thinner layer consisting of equal parts of sifted loam 
and leaf soil, with a liberal addition of sharp sand or road grit, this 
being levelled, faced with sand, and lightly smoothed with the back of 
a spade. The cuttings to be made from rather firm flowerless shoots, 
these being shortened and trimmed to about 3 inches in length, and 
dibbled in firmly at from 2 to 3 inches asunder each way. Water them 
in, put on the lights, keep close and shaded from sunshine during the day, 
give a little air during warm nights, and when found to be rooted, say 
in about seven or eight weeks’ time, give all air possible. The aim should 
be to check growth till later on, when it can be encouraged under more 
favourable circumstances. It is useless to attempt to strike flowering 
shoots of Violas, those only which are springing from near the stem 
being suitable for the purpose. Cuttings of Gazania splendens may be 
inserted and treated similarly to the Calceolarias. 
Perennials .—Cuttings of good sorts of Antirrhinums, Pentstemons, 
Pansies, and Phloxes may yet be dibbled-in in handlights disposed at 
the back of a north wall or in a cool shady position. Use plenty of 
leaf soil and sand in the compost. Select cuttings from the least sappy 
young shoots, dibbling these'in firmly. Water them in, keeping them close 
and shaded as required. New beds of either of the foregoing may be 
formed during favourable weather, and this will lighten the usual heavy 
spring work. All are better for frequent divisions and replanting in 
rich and deeply dug fresh soil. They will need mulching with either 
leaf soil, short manure, or cocoa-nut fibre refuse, or otherwise may be 
injured by frost. Well-rooted cuttings or layered plants of Carnations, 
Picotees, and Pinks ought to be separated from the parent plants, and 
either potted up or planted out in deeply dug beds, to which has been 
added a dressing of horse manure, this being especially suitable when 
collected from the roads, and therefore grittv. Any extra choice or 
delicate sorts may well be potted off singly in 3-inch pots, wintered in 
cold frames, and planted out early in spring, this being particularly 
advisable where slugs are troublesome. Strong well-hardened seedlings 
may also be planted out ; but these in many cases will soon be eaten 
by slugs unless the beds are surfaced with cocoa-nut fibre or the ashes 
from a garden “smother.” The slugs should also be trapped either 
with Broccoli leaves or heaps of bran. Choice Dianthuses and Pyre- 
thrums are also much preyed upon by slugs, and those very solicitous to 
preserve them should lift and place them in boxes of good soil, and cover 
with frames. The Pyrethrums may be divided at the same time. 
Florver Beds .—Advantage should be taken of dry weather to clear 
off Geraniums and other summer bedding plants—no matter how fresh 
they may be—in order to refill the beds with the spring-flowering plants. 
If this is delayed till cold wet weather intervenes the work cannot possibly 
be well performed. Such plants as Silenes, Saponarias, Limnanthes, 
Forget-me-nots, Wallflowers, and Daisies are all more gross-feeding than 
the majority of the summer bedding plants, and consequently the beds 
ought to be enriched with plenty of short partially decayed manure. 
In dry weather this can be better dug in, and the bed made firm about 
the plants, so that the latter be less likely to be up-heaved and injured 
by frosts. In the Dext calendar reference will be made to suitable com¬ 
binations of hardy plants and bulbs. The carpet beds, where protected 
by canvas or even branches of evergreens, are still attractive, and may 
well be spared a time longer. The choice succulents dotted about the 
designs can be protected during the nights.with inverted flower pots, 
taking care, however, to stop the holes of the pots. If the designs or 
groundwork are formed with hardy plants, these will admit of the intro¬ 
duction of other hardy plants, which, if duller in colour than the former 
delicate occupants, will still preserve the figures, and render the beds 
ornamental during the winter. 
HIVE-CONSTRUCTION, HONEY-PRODUCING, AND 
PRACTICAL MANAGEMENT OF BEES.—No. 5. 
{Continued from page 303.) 
It may be argued against the use of shallow frames that the 
bees are liable to perish in winter in consequence of their having 
to change their clustering place more frequently than if they 
were on large frames of comb containing double the quantity 
of food. This sounds reasonable enough in theory, but in prac¬ 
tice we have found the result entirely o, posite, and where stocks 
in our apiary have perished at one end of the hive while plenty 
of food was stored at the other end. Such disasters have only 
occurred in hives with large deep frames, and in no single in¬ 
stance have we known it happen with the shallow frames. The 
reason is not far to seek. We winter the bees on nine frames, 
which are about equal to six of the Association standard size. 
Now if the floorboard of a deep-framed hive is withdrawn in cold 
weather, and we can look from below up among the combs, we 
observe the bees clustered to within about 3 inches from the 
lower edges. When the warm sun plays about a hive on a sunny 
day in winter it causes the cluster of bees to expand a little, and 
they feed while this movement is going on. Any tyro in bee* 
keeping knows that bees do not hibernate like queen wasps or 
humble bees, but that they require food, probably every day in 
the coldest weather. When the sun’s rays do not help them m 
the way mentioned, either the act of feeding or the desire for 
food brings into play the wonderful power bees possess of in¬ 
creasing the temperature of the hive at will, and they spread 
themselves out to seek food as it were; but they do not expand 
sufficiently to pass under the bottom of the combs, and hence 
the necessity for cutting winter passages to assist them in reaching 
food. These winter passages only lessen the evil, but do not do 
away with it. Now we contend that a shallow frame does. The 
bees when the least expansion of the cluster takes place can pass 
freely under the combs, take up a new position on them, and no 
winter passages are necessary. 
The well-known broad-shouldered top bar of Mr. Abbott has 
been adopted, and the frames slide on metal runners raised one- 
eighth of an inch above the back and front of the inner walls. 
The sides of the body of the hive are level with the top of the 
frames, the back and front being also level on the outsides, while 
the cork packed space between the outer and inner walls is five- 
eighths of an inch lower, and has a half-round groove along its 
whole length under the frame ends to allow free finger-room for 
manipulating. It will be seen that the distance between the ends 
of the frames and the inner walls of the hive is regulated by the 
raised outer walls, and when the frames are in position their tops, 
and the walls form a perfectly level platform. 
Broad Frame for Sections .—During the last year or two much, 
importance has been attached to the advantage of working 
sections m the body of the hive. The system does not, so far as 
we can judge, appear to find so much favour in practice as m 
theory, for we have found very few bee-keepers indeed who' 
regularly follow the plan of obtaining the bulk of their section 
honey in this way, though a great many have, like ourselves, 
tried it and given it up. There can, however, be no doubt about 
the great advantage of starting sections as well as finishing them 
off in the body of the hive under certain conditions which 
generally exist at the beginning and end of each honey season. 
Our broad frame has atop and bottom bar, each five-eighths of an 
inch thick, hinged at the side, and holds three 1 lb. sections 
of the ordinary 44 by 44 size, or two 1 4 lb. sections 64 by 4|, 
Spare Frame Box .—This very useful adjunct to our hive 
is 14§ by 134 inside measure. It holds nine frames, and during 
a great portion of the year remains on the top of the quilts 
ready for use. The object for which it was originally devised 
was to hold the frames which are removed indoors when re¬ 
ducing the number of combs in preparing the bees for winter, 
and it is of course always used for this purpose; but it is so 
useful w'hen manipulating for holding frames of comb founda¬ 
tion, section frames, queen-excluding diaphragm, &c., that we 
always let it remain from March to October on the top of the 
hive. Sometimes it is filled with frames of comb, and when 
placed by the side of a rack of sections is used for slinging 
purposes; we thus have sections at work and slinging going on 
at one and the same time. Last but not least, in cases of 
emergency it forms a makeshift hive admirably adapted for 
second swarms or for accommodating driven lots of bees. We 
have had as many as half a dozen stocks at one time located m 
these spare frame boxes till we had time to get hives ready for 
them. 
Entrances .—These are three in number. The centre one is 
6 inches long and half an inch high, the side ones are each 
3 inches long and are 44 inches from the larger or centre one. 
This last has two sliding doors, each 3J inches long, while the 
side entrances have each one door the same length. These doors, 
by means of a sort of dovetail cut in the upper side and a cor¬ 
responding cut in the slide in which they work, w'ill not fall out 
when the floorboard is withdrawn. The side entrances are kept 
closed for a great part of the year. 
It is well known that bees are often much distressed in very 
hot weather in consequence of the great heat in populous 
at such times. To obviate this it is usually recommended 
that the floorboard be withdrawn a little, or the hive raised up 
so as to allow a free current of air underneath, while the bees 
pass out in front and rear. Our objection to this was the 
1 crushing, so horribly grating on the nerves, which in spite ot 
