November 29, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
475 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Forcing House .—Where a large and continual supply of cut flowers 
■are required forcing operations must now be pushed on without delay. The 
house or pit to be set apart for this purpose should be thoroughly cleaned 
by washing the glass and woodwork and whitewashing the walls. Leaves 
are plentiful, and if stored when dry for the purpose will, if the beds 
of the house are now filled with them, and a little litter from the stable 
intermixed, a steady and a gentle bottom heat will be afforded for a very 
long time. It is important that the leaves used be dry, for upon this 
depends the length of time that they will keep up a gentle heat; if, on the 
other hand, they are wet, the heat produced will be violent, but will not 
last long. The moist genial heat supplied by means of a bed of leaves is 
far more suitable for forcing operations than the dry heat derived from 
hot-water pipes. Do not use too much litter from the stables amongst the 
leaves, or the ammonia thrown off at first will prove injurious to Azaleas 
and such plants if placed upon the bed at once after it is made up. 
Lilacs, Azalea mollis, Gueldres Roses, Deutzias, and others may be 
plunged in the bed after it is found that the heat is not too strong. Azalea 
indica and its varieties should not be plunged, but stood upon the surface 
■of the bed. Before introducing the latter wash them with tobacco water 
in which a little soft soap has been dissolved, so as to destroy any thrips 
that may be upon the plants, for after introduction into heat they increase 
very rapidly. The varieties that will force into flower the earliest are 
A. amoona and its varieties, A. narcissiflora, and A. indica alba. The 
second-named is a gem, the earliest flowering of all Azaleas, and is 
doubly valuable because its flowers are semi-double and pure white. How 
easy autumn forcing may be rendered by assisting the plants early to 
make their growth! To prove the advantage of this system over hard 
autumn forcing we may say that we have a house full of these plants, 
which will unfold their flowers directly the most gentle heat is applied ; 
in fact, they are already coming into full bloom in a cold house. 
Lily of the Valiev should be plunged into the bed of leaves and their 
crowns entirely excluded from light, and they will from this date move 
rapidly and unfold their choice and delicate sprays of sweet flowers. A 
few of the earliest Hyacinths, Tulips, and Narcissus may be stood upon 
the bed to make a start. The same applies to Spiraeas and other plants 
required to be forced into bloom. At first the bed of leaves will supply all 
the heat that is required, but if the nights prove cold maintain the night 
temperature at 50° by means of the hot-water pipes. The plants, after 
they are started, should be syringed twice daily during bright weather, 
■and a little ventilation should be given when the weather is favourable 
during the morning, but close early. 
If Lilacs are required white force them into flower in brisk heat in the 
■dark, or place them in a pit where the heat is brisk, and exclude the light 
by means of mats secured upon the frame. The variety known as 
Charles X. is the best for this purpose, and home-grown plants will come 
into flower earlier than continental plants will; in fact, home-grown 
plants are decidedly the best for early forcing. A batch of Cyclamen, if 
required, will soon come into flower if placed on a shelf near to the glass 
in this house. A few Epacrises, if wanted early, may also be introduced, 
and will come into flower in a temperature of 50°, but they should he 
stood upon the curbs of the bed, or upon a board laid upon the bed of 
leaves. We prefer bringing them into flower without the aid of bottom 
heat. 
Clematis .—These plants are beautiful when grown in pots for forcing; 
the small-flowering types, such as Lord and Lady Londesborough, Miss 
Bateman, and others, are the best for early work. The plants must be 
grown in pots and well established on trellises before they are suitable 
for forcing. Our plants are still outside, but the time has arrived for 
■removing as much of the surface s*il from the pots as possible, and 
replacing it with new rich compost. The drainage must be attended to at 
the same time, the plants cleaned, tied neatly upon their trellises, and 
placed under cover in a cool structure. These anxious to start their 
cultivation for forcing should obtain strong plants established in 5-inch 
pots, and place them at once if well rooted into others 3 inches larger, 
and stand the plants in a cold frame or in the greenhouse, and train their 
shoots to thin cord next season under glass. Use for a compost good fibry 
loam, a seventh of manure, and a little coarse sand, pot firmly, and drain 
the pots well, for a good supply of water is needed while the plants are 
growing. 
I® 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
i . i'. r. i . t » i ■ i » i • i 
I 
ABOUT BEES. 
My experience only dates from last spring. I therefore 
approach the subject with the greatest diffidence and every pos¬ 
sible deference. I took to four colonies in bar hives (Neighbour's 
Garden Hive, which have nine bars, and a box of sectional supers) 
and two in straw skeps. The spring was very unfavourable, 
though the bees were busy on the Peach blossoms under glass, 
and had plenty of pollen from the Crocuses; but the frost in 
.spring robbed the workers of much they might otherwise have 
made use of by the destruction of most of the Apricot and out¬ 
door Peach blossom. There was no doubt that food fell short, 
and a stron’g colony so made war on its weaker next-door 
neighbour. They fought desperately, the weaker in the end 
succumbing to the strong, and the remnant that remained threw 
in their fortune with the invaders and joined their despoilers. 
The slain were a great heap on the floorboard—thousands, quite 
(qualinbulk to any swarm of the season. The strong colony, 
added to by the survivors from the robbed hive, was now 
apparently the strongest of the three remaining, and they set 
to work in right good earnest. Drones were plentiful early in 
June from this stock, and these made much essay over the 
empty hive adjoining, entering it and making but a short 
sojourn, returned to the strong colony, which I will call No. 1. 
The workers of this returning loaded with pollen in many 
instances, alighted on and entered the empty hive, and soon 
came out again and went to No. 1. This continued for some 
time, in fact until a swarm from No. 2, another strong stock, 
was put into the empty hive, when the stragglers lost their 
identity. Whether they learnt better manners and kept to 
No. 1 or joined the comers into their old habitation, which I 
will cad No. 4, is matter for conjecture, certain it is that every¬ 
thing went well with these after the empty hive was stocked. 
No. 3 was a weak one, and No. 2 began paying it attention in 
April after the spell of severe weather, but by closing the 
entrance so that only a bee could pass in at a time matters 
turned in favour of those acting on the defensive; and No. 2 
having drones very busy early in June, but not nearly equal in 
numbers to No. 1, a swarm issued at the middle of the month 
and were put in No. 4, the robbed empty hive. 
I knew just nothing about hiving, but of course everybody 
that kept bees knew exactly liow to hive them. They kept them 
in straw skeps, and it must be done in these first and the bees 
afterwards transferred to the bar hive. I could not see my way 
to this, so I got a galvanised bucket, took the bar hive handy, 
took the top off, put the frames in position, had the hair and 
bottom cloth ready, opening the mouth to the fullest extent, and 
shook the bees from the cluster into the bucket, which was not of 
sufficient capacity to hold the whole, carried them and upset 
them into the hive among the frames, put the cloth half way across 
the bar and from the right-hand side, covered all but the front 
side with a sheet, and left the bees to settle down, which they 
did in a short time, and was then, after the other half of the 
cloth was turned down and the top put on, shifted to their per¬ 
manent quarters. 
No. 2 threw another swarm, which was slightly less heavy than 
the first, and then set to work and filled a whole box of sections 
(twenty-one) with 2 lbs. of honey each. No. 3 cast a good swarm, 
and became as strong as either of those from No. 2. Two 
swarms issued from the skeps and were hived in bar hives, and 
a second came from one of the straws and were hived in a bar 
hive. This was very weak, made headway for a short time, then 
a few days’ wet weather in July set its neighbour to visit them, 
and the colony soon became extinct. The robber hive not only 
took what little honey there w T as, but the whole of the bees from, 
the despoiled hive, there not being any dead ones about. The 
bees, I presume, from the lost hive came home heavily laden, 
entered their late home, but soon came out again and entered 
that of their victors. Thus the bees did what I ought to have 
done—viz., joined the two weak stocks or swarms together and 
made a strong one. 
Thus I only had four strong swarms out of five stocks, No. 1 
not having swarmed, and have now seven stocks in bar hives and 
two in skeps—a very poor season’s work, as I apprehend, on the 
score of increase of stock ; and in the matter of honey, I took 
four boxes of sections, representing eighty-four sections of 2 lbs. 
each, or 168 lbs. of the clearest honey possible. 
Out of the four swarms three took to the right-hand side of 
the hive, looking from the front of the hive, and one only to the 
left. Why P I reasoned about this, and it resolved itself into this : 
that in turning the bees into the hive from the bucket it was 
done from behind, and the bees would necessarily fall into the 
right side of the hive, whilst those turned-in in front would fall 
towards the left, and as there would be a greater number on that 
side the queen would probably be with them, therefore the work 
would commence on that side, hence I conclude there is nothing 
in it; but as the dividing bar is on the left, I presume the bees 
should always be turned in so that they drop to the right-hand 
side of the hive. The gleanings are small, yet not unimportant. 
First, the bees ought to have been fed in spring, which would 
have helped on breeding and conduced to earlier swarming, or, 
if swarming were not wanted, to a greatly increased gathering 
of honey from the increased number of workers. Second, the 
difference in the swarms from the bar hives as compared with 
the skeps, the strongest from the skeps not being more than two- 
thirds those from the bar hives, and sometimes not more than 
half : it is astonishing how soon even a small swarm from a skep 
breed up to a strong one in a bar hive. Third, the advantage of 
