December 27, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
561 
and a low temperature is maintained, they should not receive much water 
at the roots. All succulents used for bedding-out purposes need not, 
unless stood on a very dry shelf, receive any water at the roots, neither do 
they like much fire heat, though they are easily damaged by frosts. 
Iresines, Coleuses, and Alternantheras are best kept steadily growing 
in a moderately warm house. The two latter require very careful 
watering. 
BEES v. GARDENERS. 
Two instances have lately come to our knowledge in which 
all the bees belonging to two lady friends have died. In one 
case, two years ago the owner had in her possession five hives, 
in the other case when last we saw her bees our friend had three 
strong colonies. The bees were in skeps, placed in what is 
commonly called a bee house, but which we should designate as 
a cupboard, in one instance ; but the box hives belonging to the 
other lady were placed in a well-built roomy shed, the roof of 
which was thatched, and the walls built of timber and plaster; 
the hives standing on a shelf with separate entrances through 
the wall, against which was fixed an alighting board. These 
ladies both liked bees, and perhaps they liked honey still more, 
but it was very seldom indeed that they tasted any. In both 
cases the gardeners had charge of the bees, and neither of them 
evidently knew much about them. And this brings us to 
consider what we may call our text, “ Bees v. Gardeners,’'' and 
we feel that at this dead season of the year it is a fitting time to 
read gardeners a short sermon on bee-keeping. 
We know very well that in nine cases out of ten the gardener, 
or, generally speaking, the factotum of the small establishment, 
has quite as much work, often more, than he can honestly do 
well; and what with his fruit, vegetables, flowers, lawns, hedges, 
paths, greenhouse, and frame, besides the pony and carriage, he 
sometimes hardly knows where to begin first, and in the busy 
season his work accumulates and is often in arrear. Then his 
mistress, a widow lady or spinster, returns from a flower show 
where she has seen honey exhibited in its most inviting form, 
where she saw the bees handled like so many bluebottle flies, 
and heard how easily they could be kept for profit and amuse¬ 
ment, and the next day it is. “ John, we must keep bees. I want 
you to buy a swarm from old Mrs. Jones and try and get honey 
like those beautiful little boxes so neatly filled I saw at the 
flower show.” Or perhaps she has returned from a visit to a 
friend who knows how to keep bees successfully. She has 
gained but one idea as to bee-keeping, and that is that they 
can be made to give beautiful honey, and so she makes John the 
same speech as above. John, ever willing to try and oblige his 
employer, who has been his kind friend since he left the village 
school, and who is ever ready to help him and his family in their 
difficulties, acquiesces. He says he doesn’t like bees, that he is 
rather afraid of them, but that he will get the swarm. He does 
get the bees, places them on their stand, and lets them alone. 
Presently a swarm comes off, then a cast, and the first swarm 
doubles itself, and lie sees his one hive increased to four. Both 
he and his mistress look upon this as a great piece of success; 
but when autumn comes, after a showery summer, all the hives 
are very light. Autumn is allowed to drift nearly into winter 
before John or his employer learn that they must feed their bees 
or they will die. The feeding is carried out clumsily, and per¬ 
haps the hives are thrown into a state of the greatest commotion 
at the time they should be perfectly quiet, Robbing may have 
been brought about, and before winter actually has set in the 
weakest hives have already succumbed to the strongest, and are 
destitute of inmates. This is unknown to the owners, for is not 
the food rapidly taken down still ? The bees are passing from 
hive to hive, and the food is all being stored in the two strongest 
ones. Then comes the winter in earnest, snow and frost, and a 
long confinement for the bees. A warm sunny day in February 
brings them out, but hundreds fall about in every direction 
never to return. Dysentery in its worst form has attacked 
them, and if they live on until honey appears again in the 
flowers it is a marvel. The chances are that by May all the hives 
are tenantless. This is a picture not overdrawn, but the kind 
of thing that occurs constantly, and in every neighbourhood. 
And why should it be so P 
If ladies and gentlemen want to keep bees should they 
attend to them themselves ? There are very many who do so. 
It has become almost “ the fashion ” now, thanks to the widely 
spread influence and teaching of experts and amateurs, which 
through the exertions of the British Bee-Keepers’ Association 
and its affiliated county societies, have permeated every part of 
the United Kingdom. But there are also, as in the cases we 
mention, many who expect their gardeners to attend to the bees, 
and we would therefore point out that it is the duty of young 
men who are hoping to obtain situations as gardeners or 
factotums to endeavour to obtain a general knowledge of the 
practical management of a small apiary. There are very many 
ways in which this can be obtained. Nearly every county has 
now its Bee-Keepers’ Association and one or more experts 
employed by the Association to attend shows, to give lectures in 
various parts of the county, and to visit and re-arrange apiaries 
belonging to members. Instruction obtained from such men 
would be invaluable to young gardeners, and an hour or two 
spent in the pi'actical overhauling of hives and other manipula¬ 
tions in connection with bees would teach more and give more 
confidence to a man than as many days spent in reading bee 
literature. Young men with still more “ go ” in them would not 
be satisfied to rest at this point. What a recommendation it 
would be to any man who is applying for the situation of 
gardener, whether single-handed or with many men under him, 
if he could show the certificate granted by the British Bee- 
Keepers’ Association to those who can pass an examination in 
the practical and theoretical science of bee-keeping. These 
examinations are held in connection with the annual show of the 
central Association in London, and certificates of three classes 
are granted to successful candidates. But those who cannot 
obtain the assistance of paid experts, and who could not incur 
the expense of attendance afterwards to win the certificates, 
might in nearly every neighbourhood obtain valuable infor¬ 
mation from some amateur bee-keeper who manages his bees 
successfully on the modern humane system. Many clergymen 
and other gentlemen, and ladies as well, now take up bee-keeping 
as a delightful recreation, and they would generally be willing to 
give assistance to men who are anxious to initiate themselves 
into the best manner of managing bees. Much, very much, may 
be learnt from books and from such teachings as have lately 
been published by our friend Mr. Carr in this Journal, but some 
of those lessons put into practice under the eyes of those wishing 
to learn, as we said above, teach and give confidence to tyros in 
the art such as no amount of reading can do. 
There is, moreover, another aspect in which the subject under 
consideration is to be viewed. The unalienable connection 
between bees and flowers should weigh much in causing 
gardeners for their own sakes to understand bees, their habits 
and management. The man who keeps bees is bound in scarce 
seasons to get more fruit than his neighbour who has not such 
busy friends to assist in the fertilisation of blossoms. We have 
a long time since shown in this Journal the effects produced by 
bees on the crops of bush fruit, notably Gooseberries and Rasp¬ 
berries, and we feel that we can never over-estimate the value of 
these useful insects to the gardener. With bees close to his 
Gooseberry plantations, the blossoms are fertilised in the short 
half hours of intermittent sunshine which some cold springs 
only give us, and the bushes are burdened with fruit, while a 
neighbour a few hundred yards away has hardly a berry to boast 
of. Then, again, where seed is grown, how much the bees help in 
swelling the harvest! Thus we hope that we have shown how 
much it is to the gardener’s advantage in many ways to make 
himself conversant with the proper method of bee-culture. 
We wish that gardeners who desire information on par¬ 
ticular points in the science would put their questions through 
the medium of the Journal, and we would always do our best to 
reply to them for the benefit of the querist and the readers of 
the Journal in general.—P. H. P. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Sutton & Sons, Reading .—Special List of Novelties for 1884. 
Waite, Nash, Huggins & Co., 79, Southwark Street, London, S.E.— 
Wholesale Price List of Seeds. 
*** 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 
