August II, 1881. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
137 
starting below the trellis or between that and the bed, and remove 
every alternate lateral above this, and if fruit does not show at the 
second or third joint pinch out the points at those, and fruit will be 
shown freely at the next break. Earth up those plants that have 
just set their fruit, having previously given a soaking with tepid 
weak liquid manure, securing a moist genial atmosphere, and keep the 
laterals well in hand by prompt stopping, and if necessary judicious 
thinning, for on no account must the principal foliage be allowed to 
become crowded. Late crops in pits and frames must have a steady 
bottom heat of 80° to 85°, and the top heat kept at about 70° at night, 
and 80° to 85° in the daytime from sun heat. 
Cncumbers .—Bestow liberal attention upon the plants for autumn 
fruiting, and add a little fresh soil as the roots appear at the sides of 
the ridges. Syringe the plants about 3 P.M., closing the house at the 
same time, but being guided in this respect by the weather. In the 
case of robust healthy plants shading may now be almost dispensed 
with, and less atmospheric moisture will henceforth be needed ; still, 
plenty of moisture, liberal feeding, and thinning crowded growths will 
be required. 
ORCHARD HOUSE. 
If it is desired to accelerate the ripening of the fruit it may be 
effected by closing the ventilators at 5 P.M., and opening them at 
7 a.m. Syringe the trees every night, doing so sufficiently early to 
have the foliage fairly dry before night, but when the fruit com¬ 
mences ripening syringing must be discontinued. Peach and other 
trees swelling off their fruit, whether in pots or planted out, must 
have liberal treatment as regards surface dressings and liquid manure. 
Continue to stop or pinch back very luxuriant shoots, and as soon as 
the fruit is gathered from any tree syringe well until it is entirely 
cleared of red spider or other insects. If it is desired to retard the 
ripening of the fruit of any of the trees so as to prolong the season— 
which is often advisable with Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, and Pears 
—some of the trees may be placed outdoors, assigning them an open 
situation, but sheltered from winds, a few being placed on the north 
side of a fence or wall, so as to still further continue the season of 
supply. The pots in either case should be plunged in ashes to the 
rim, attending carefully to watering and syringing. When the fruit 
is ripening it is well to return the trees to the house until the fruit 
is gathered, as this in the case of the Peach, Nectarine, and Plum 
will enhance its quality ; but in the case of Pears it is not advisable 
to return them to the house for ripening. When the fruit is gathered 
from Cherry, Apricot, and Pear trees they will be benefited by placing 
them outside, treating as advised above. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Greenhouse .—Zonal Pelargoniums, both single and double, are in¬ 
dispensable for conservatory decoration and for cutting from through 
the summer, and are particularly valuable iu late summer and 
autumn. Their continuity of flowering may be ensured by supply¬ 
ing them with weak clear liquid manure once a week. Fuchsias that 
flowered early and have had a rest may have the shoots shortened a 
little, cleansing with an insecticide if there is any trace of insects, 
and have an inch or two of the surface soil removed and apply 
some fresh and rich soil, placing the plants in a house or pit where 
they can be kept rather close and moist by syringing overhead morn¬ 
ing and afternoon, and they will break freely. Cuttings of free 
growth should now be inserted for next season’s flowering, inserting 
them in sandy soil, where they can be kept close and moist, potting 
off when rooted in 3 or 4-inch pots, employing good loam with a fifth 
of old cow dung, a similar quantity of leaf soil, and about a sixth of 
sand. The plants should be placed near the glass in a temperature 
of about 50° through the autumn, and in about eight weeks will need 
shifting into 6-inch pots. 
Pelargoniums .—Cuttings of the Show varieties should now be 
taken if not already done, inserting them round the sides of G-inch 
pots in sandy soil, and placing in frames or on shelves in the green¬ 
house. When they commence growing pot off singly in good yellow 
loam into 3-inch pots, with a sixth of well-decayed manure and sand 
sufficient to keep the soil open. Place near the glass, and be careful 
not to supply too much water. Bridal Bouquet and Duchess of Bed¬ 
ford should be grown in quantity for cutting, as they are very flori- 
ferous, early-flowering, and force admirably. 
Camellias .—These will for the most part have set their buds, an 
any that need shifting into larger pots should be attended to in 
this matter before the buds are large, or they .will drop if they have 
attained the size of a full-grown Pea. For compost there is nothing 
better than sandy loam full of fibre, but where this cannot be had it 
is better to employ the best fibrous peat without any admixture, in 
either case using the compost fresh, so as to afford the plants the 
benefit of the decaying fibre. Long-stacked loam or peat is not suit¬ 
able. Do not disturb the ball further than to remove the crocks and 
the loose surface soil with any not occupied with roots, and ram the 
fresh compost so as to make it quite as firm as the old ball, leaving 
sufficient space to allow of copious watering, and above all things 
avoid overpotting. 
UNFINISHED SECTION BOXES. 
The great value of Mr. Cheshire’s communications must be my 
excuse for asking him through you to explain the following sen¬ 
tence more fully :—“ This fact condemns the zinc queen-excluder 
as always reducing the honey yield.” The fact alluded to seems 
to be, that if the space between the hive aud rack is all open the 
boxes in the centre over the brood nest are sealed most quickly. 
Would not the same occur if a zinc excluder was used ? Has 
Mr. Cheshire found it, as a matter of experience, that the zinc 
excluder lessens the honey yield materially ? What size of sec¬ 
tions does Mr. Cheshire use ? Does he find that by leaving the 
space between the rack and hive all open without narrow queen- 
excluding slits that pollen and brood are not stored in the sections? 
I make this inquiry more particularly, as I am purposing using 
sections next year, and that I have had two shallow 4-inch 20-tb. 
supers spoilt this year by brood and pollen. The first was 
entirely open to the hive (a frame hive 12 inches deep, 14j inches 
wide, ten frames—in fact, a Woodbury deepened ; last year’s 
swarm. The latter was on an old-fashioned Sadler's box hive 
with top side communications ; a swarm of this year. A hive of 
Mr. Cheshire's (Crystal Palace Prize) gave me the largest amount 
of super honey—50 to CO lb;.—of this year. The giving-way of 
the bench legs prematurely spoilt my honey harvest, precipitating 
six hives into the Potato bed, supers and all. Perhaps I should 
have added above that three years ago I found a queen in a super 
protected by a round-holed zinc queen-cxcluder. She had only 
utilised one bar of drone comb. I cannot therefore say if she was 
fertilised or not, but I conclude so. I thank Mr. Cheshire for 
his excellent articles, and hope he may long continue to con¬ 
tribute to our Journal, thereby making it the most valuable bee 
journal.—H. C. Ripley, Minster Lovell Vicarage. 
ARTIFICIAL COMB FOUNDATIONS. 
HAVING this year given these a fair trial in supering, I am 
happy in being able to add my mite of testimony to their value. 
The invention of artificial comb foundations is ODe of the greatest 
in apiculture—indeed, I can think of none equal to it, save, 
perhaps, the introduction of large hives, which cannot properly 
be called an invention. The use of the foundations in question 
make supering easy for both bees and bee-masters, aud higher 
praise than this cannot well be given. With a view to give them 
a fair trial on a large scale I ordered many pounds of Mr. Itaitt, 
but owing to my being in a very weakly state of health I was 
unable to carry out my intentions to their full extent ; however, 
some of my neighbour bee-keepers used it up in their management 
with the greatest possible satisfaction and advantage ; aud so 
far as my efforts have extended, the foundations have been quite 
satisfactory. Without sagging, twisting, or curving, they have 
stood the test and strain in every experiment. I ordered twelve 
glasses 12 inches deep with lids, in which the foundations in full 
length skeletons were fixed before they were placed on hives. 
The bees in hives ready for supering adopted them at once, and 
commenced to elongate the cells at bottom and gradually worked 
up to the lids. The glasses are 5 inches wide at bottom, 7 inches 
at top, with a considerable swell or rotundity below the lids, and 
when well filled weigh 19 lbs. These glasses are handsome to 
look at, but from a profitable point of view they would be im¬ 
proved by having the lids 9 inches wide instead of 7 inches. 
Thus larger skeletons could be introduced, giving the bees less 
work in extending their combs to the circumference of the wider 
