276 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ September», isai. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Dutch Bulbs .—The first batch of Early White Tioman Hyacinths, 
also Blue Homan, with Double Roman and Paper White Narcissus 
potted some time ago, have rooted and should be removed from the 
plunging material, and be placed in the shade for a few days until 
any growth they have made becomes green, when they can be 
arranged on shelves near the glass, and not subjected to a higher 
temperature than 50° until the spikes are a good size, after which the 
flowering may be accelerated by a slight increase of heat. Another 
batch of bulbs should now be potted and treated similarly to the 
first batch— i.e., plunged in ashes in a frame to protect them from 
heavy rains. Hyacinths, Narcissuses, Tulips, Crocuses, &c., intended 
for early flowering should be potted at once, plunging them in ashes 
near a wall, or where they can be protected from heavy rains and 
frost. When sufficiently rooted they can be transferred to a light 
position in a house where they will be kept slowly growing, and 
thence to the forcing pit as required. 
Chrysanthemums .—Attend to staking and training these—the up¬ 
right bush fashion is the best for general purposes—using no more 
sticks than are necessary to keep the plants in shape. Thin the 
flower buds in good time, as where good flowers are wanted all the 
side laterals should be removed from the principal shoots, and the 
buds thinned to one to each shoot as soon as discernible. Plants 
that have all the strong shoots retained should also have but one 
flower allowed to each. The small varieties must be moderately 
thinned, so as to enhance the size of the flowers. Afford liquid 
manure abundantly, and syringe in the afternoon of dry days, and if 
aphides appear promptly subdue them with an insecticide or tobacco 
water. 
Pelargoniums .—Plants of Show, Pancy, Spotted, and Regal varieties 
that were shaken out, repotted, and placed in pits or frames should 
be housed at once, assigning them light positions, where they will not 
be more distant from the glass than a couple of feet. Afford water 
very sparingly at present and for some time to come, giving only 
sufficient to keep the plants in progressive growth, as a too moist 
condition of the soil is not favourable to root-formation, and induces 
too much leaf growth. Zonals being prepared for winter flowering 
should be placed under glass at once in a dry pit where ventilation 
can be freely given, and when required to bloom they should be 
placed in a temperature of not less than 50° at night. 
Heliotropes, Salvias, Solanums, Mignonette, Tree Carnations, &c., 
grown for winter flowering should be at once taken under cover, as 
the first frost will do the two former serious injury. The situation 
for these plants cannot be too light, and to flower freely all but the 
Solanums (which are of course grown for their berries, and these to 
be durable must not have more heat than an ordinary greenhouse) 
must have a temperature of 50° secured to them. 
Schizostylis coccinea and Anemone japonica alba grown in pots 
specially for indoor decoration must now be moved indoors, and in 
a greenhouse or conservatory they will make a fine autumn display. 
Plants also of dwarf Scabious grown in pots should be moved indoors 
and given weak liquid manure; they will continue flowering for a 
long time, and are very useful for cutting. 
REFLECTIONS ON THE SEASON. 
Whatever may have been the case in England, wo bee-keepers 
of Scotland have nothing to boast of as the result of the season’s 
work. In spite of a terribly severe winter stocks were both numerous 
and strong in spring, and, though later than usual, swarmed with 
uncommon pertinacity. There, however, our record of success closes. 
Speaking generally, honey we have none. Most of us will have to 
winter entirely on sugar. Even the few who have taken any honey 
will have to replace it in quantity, if not in value, with syrup. 
When we inquire into the causes of such a failure we have no 
hesitation in acquitting both bees and bee-keepers. The former 
have done their very best; the latter we know have in most cases 
done the same. Never before, we honestly believe, were 3uch skilful 
preparations made and such unremitting attention bestowed with a 
view to surplus honey, and never before were such attentions so 
hopelessly baffled. The causes, speaking generally, were entirely 
beyond human or apian control. The three great sources of surplus 
—fruit blossoms, Clover, and Heather—were all there, but the first 
alone seemed to yield more than a hand-to-mouth living. Clover 
bloomed as richly as ever was seen, and the hills are still aglow with 
the purple Heather bloom, but neither Clover nor Heather seemed to 
offer much attraction to the bees. The real fact is, we in Scotland 
have spent the summer under a belt of clouds, which only cleared 
away at times to allow the earth to radiate its little heat into the 
higher regions of the atmosphere. The clear nights have, therefore, 
as a rule, been frosty, and it is matter of observation that, however 
line may be the succeeding day, the honey secretion will be almost 
nil. During the whole season from about June 7th these frosts, 
combined with northerly winds and absence of sunshine, have 
thwarted every effort to obtain honey in any quantity. 
As a rule, early swarms are now the best supplied stocks, as many 
of them had the chance of a few good days for storage before there 
was brood in the hive to attend to ; yet 20 lbs of honey is the most 
I have taken from my best, and even that has to be replaced by 
sugar. Stocks worked on the non-swarming system, besides having 
been the source of unusual trouble during the swarming mania, 
have done no better than early swarms ; indeed, as a rule, they have 
yielded less surplus, and their vast populations have already all but 
consumed their summer’s store. This is another link in the evidence 
in favour of the limited swarming system. 
As a result of the peculiar season, favourable enough for breeding, 
but deficient in surplus honey, supers have been bred-in to an unusual 
extent. In some cases brood was found in each of two or three tiers 
of supers. Though I have not had any trouble from this cause, I 
have seen so much of it in other apiaries that I venture to note two 
undoubted sources of the evil that lie within the control of the bee¬ 
keeper. The first is the habit so generally followed of ulacmg the 
second tier of supers below the first. I have generally followed this 
system, mainly with a view to preserving the first tier from the dis¬ 
coloration caused by the traffic of the bees through it towards the 
highest tiers, and the ease with which it may subsequently be 
removed. In favourable seasons I have never had any cause to 
regret this practice; but in such a season as the past it has frequently 
happened, unknown to the bee-keeper, that eggs were deposited in 
the first tier before being raised by another. This afforded the best 
possible inducement for the queen to fill the intermediate supers 
with brood, and suggests the advisability of altering cur practice on 
this point, though it may involve some extra inconvenience. The 
second source of the trouble has been in the more general use of 
drone foundation in the supers. Experiments conducted in my 
own and others’ apiaries are conclusive in favour of worker foun¬ 
dation at any time. Bees preparing to swarm, as those in hives 
heavily supered frequently are, are too fond of raising drones to 
make it good policy to tempt them into supers by means of drone 
foundation. They'' will work on it readily enough, but mainly for 
a purpose, and that the raising of drones. This evil is all the more 
felt where worker foundation is largely used in the stock hive. I 
have found, on the other hand, that hives not intending to swarm, 
such as those with queens of the present season, will finish six 
sections with worker guides before they will “ put a tooth ” on the 
seventh one of drone foundation. 
While on the matter of foundation it may be remarked that its 
use during the season has been corroborative of its value. As a 
rule, swarms left to build their own combs have failed to more than 
half fill their hives, while even late August swarms on foundation 
are as good stocks as any. The owners of dome-shaped skeps thus 
find themselves in a very unenviable position. Last week I drove 
the bees from four such skeps standing beside each other, all swarms 
of the present year, and found that l could not fill more than three 
Woodbury frames with the transferred combs from all the four. I 
added three sheets of foundation, hut found the united swarms all 
too small to make one good wintering stock, and the honey in the 
four did not average 2 lbs. to each.-— William Raitt, Blairgowrie. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
James Yates, Stockport.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
W. Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, Herts.— Catalogue of Roses, Fruit 
Trees, and Evergreens. 
Isaac Davies, Brook Lane, Ormskirk, Lancashire.— Select 
Rhododendrons and Azaleas. 
George Cooling Son, Bath.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
Harrison & Sons, Leicester.— List of Bulbs. 
Sherratt & Pointon, Biddulph near Congleton.— Catalogue of Bul' J s. 
J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, Sussex. — Catalogue of Trees, Shrubs, 
Bulbs, and Seeds. 
