412 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 3, 1881. 
of Ketlock or Field Mustard. This plant yields rather clear honey 
with a greenish or yellowish tint, and does not taste well beside 
honey gathered from fruit trees and Clover fields. Though the 
honey of Ketlock is not first or second-rate, yet fields of Ketlock 
in the neighbourhood of an apiary are of great value to bees, for 
they yield much honey and pollen when the fruit blossoms dis¬ 
appear and before the white Clover comes into flower. 
We are all glad that 1 SSI has given English bee-keepers some 
very good honey and great encouragement to look hopefully for¬ 
ward to future years.— A. Pettigrew. 
A RARE AND UNPLEASANT INCIDENT TO A 
QUEEN BEE. 
[.1 Translation f rom the “ Bienenzeiturlg." Communicated by Mr. 
Alfred Neighbour .] 
I am always pleased to look at queen bees, but Tuesday, the 12th 
July last, formed an exception. On that day, between five and six 
o’clock in the afternoon, I discovered a queen in my garden about 
fifteen paces from the place where my hives are kept, resting on the 
ground and surrounded by a cluster of bees, to which my attention was 
directed by a number of workers hovering over the queen. The bees 
behaved exactly as they do when a swarm loses its queen, but I was 
quite certain that no swarm had issued from any of my colonies. I 
at once thought of a stock from which the queen had been removed 
twenty days previously. In this hive a young queen appeared on 
the 7th July, but the bees did not tear away the superfluous royal 
cells until the 10th July. On that day the weather was most un¬ 
favourable, nor did any drones venture out of their hive on the 11th, 
but I confidently expected the young queen of this stock to become 
impregnated on the 12th July, which was a lovely day. I picked up 
the poor queen, and finding that one of her wings was dislocated I 
put her into a queen cage, which I fixed inside the hive above the 
comb bars. The bees surrounded the cage joyfully ; and as the queen 
did not try to get away from them, but evidently allowed herself to 
be fed, I liberated her a few minutes afterwards, and I soon saw her 
walking about among the bees. 
It had to be ascertained now whether the queen was incapable of 
flying when she left the hive or whether she had met with an acci¬ 
dent after the act of impregnation. Unfortunately the former turned 
out to be the case, for on the following day (Wednesday) I found her 
again in the garden at the same time running backwards and for¬ 
wards alone, but some workers were hovering over her again, which 
attracted my attention. I picked up the queen, who was now minus 
one of her wings, and allowed her to enter the hive by the entrance. 
She was again well received by the workers. 
On the following day (Thursday) I noticed nothing unusual in the 
morning, and in the afternoon I was obliged to leave home. When I 
returned late in the evening I did not think it necessary to examine 
the interior of the hive, as the outside presented its customary 
appearance. I looked for the queen on the ground in the garden, but 
she was not to be found there. At half-past seven the next morning 
I paid a visit to my colony whose existence was in danger, and as 
soon as I opened the hive I knew at once that the stock was without 
a queen. I found the queen on the ground in the garden for the 
third time, surrounded again by a few workers. Of course she had 
not left the hive the same morning, but the previous afternoon, which 
accounted for the colony being in such an excited state. Knowing 
that it was impossible for the queen to become fertile on account of 
her being unable to keep on the wing I placed her in a queen cage 
among the bees, and a few hours afterwards I introduced a fertile 
queen in her place. 
Though this is a case of rare occurrence, nevertheless it will show 
that whm a queen leaves the hive on her wedding trip she remains in 
communication with her colony by worker bees which accompany 
her. This was the interesting part of the affair, which inclines me to 
hope that queen bees do not so easily lose their way and perish, as is 
often stated in books on bees. 
It was the first time that I have lost a young queen, and in this 
case it was perhaps through some fault of my own, as I performed 
some operations on the stock between the time of the queen leaving 
the cell and her wedding excursion. The exterior of the hive was, 
indeed, not interfered with, but I made some alterations in the interior, 
during which the wing of the queen may have become damaged by 
the workers or otherwise. The queen certainly appeared faultless to 
me when I saw her immediately after she was hatched. 
“ One misfortune seldom comes alone,” and this saying seems to be 
true with regard to bees also. Last summer this same colony killed 
their own queen—the best one I possessed—after I had deprived them 
of all their honeycomb, which was replaced by empty combs, of which 
I had a sufficient number'from previous bad times to enable me to 
make artificial swarms. When I gave them a new queen and libe¬ 
rated her after two days’ confinement the bees immediately attacked 
her, and would have killed her if I had not rescued her from their 
fury in time. After this a royal cell was inserted, which was very 
late in hatching, and when at length the queen made her appearance 
she first laid drone eggs only, but afterwards she also produced 
workers. She did not prove very fertile, however, so that her popu¬ 
lation increased but slowly this spring. I therefore removed the 
queen, leaving the colony to rear a new one. What happened to this 
queen has just been related. The new queen having been accepted 
by the stock, I trust all its troubles will now be at an end.— 
(Signed) Thd. Zinck, Kleinheilbach, 18th July , 1881. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Barr it Sugden, 12 and 13, King Street, Co vent Garden, London.— 
List of Specialities. 
Ewing & Company, Eaton, Norwich.— Catalogue of Roses, Fruit 
Trees, and Shrubs. 
George Cooling & Son, Bath.— Catalogue of Roses, Fruit Trees, and 
Hardy Shrubs. 
Dammann & Co., Portici, Naples, Italy.— Catalogue of Flower and 
Vegetable Seeds. 
Ormiston it Benwick, Melrose, Roxburghshire.— Catalogue of Trees 
and Shrubs. 
Kelway & Son, Langport, Somerset.— Catalogue of Gladioli. 
%* 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 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee subjects, and 
should never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should be written on one side of 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, 
and we do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
Books (J. F.). —There is no book in English of the exact nature of the 
French work you name, which is not at all a complete work, and not likely to 
be translated and published in this country. If you do not possess the “ Cottage 
Gardener’s Dictionary,” your gardener will find it very useful. It can be had 
post free from this office, price 7 s. 2 <1. A work on Lilies likely to suit you will 
be “ Notes on Lilies and their Culture,” by Dr. Wallace, post free 5.s. 6 it., from 
the New Plant and Bulb Company, Colchester. The “ Vine Manual,” published 
at this office, price 3s. '2d., contains reliable information. 
Treatment of Orchids (J. B .).—The Stanhopea may be allowed to com¬ 
plete its growth in the stove, supplying water freely but judiciously, When 
growth is completed it may still be kept in the same structure, but a drier 
position should be assigned to it, also greatly diminishing the supply of water 
to the roots to insure a thorough rest. The Oncidium would be better grown 
in a pot, providing plenty of drainage and a compost of peat and sphagnum. 
Both would thrive in the same house. 
Rose Cuttings ( Cuttings ).—We also inserted cuttings at the same time 
and in the same mauner that you have done, but we managed them better, as 
we did not allow the soil to become parched, and we had no Mustard seed mixed 
with it. Our plants are now established in pots, and some of them are pro¬ 
ducing flowers. Remove the glass, water the soil and keep it moist, the box 
being wintered in a cold frame, and pot off the plants when they commence 
growing in the spring. The method of striking Itoses is a good one, but you 
have not carried it out properly. Two good early dessert Apples are Irish Peach 
and Kerry Pippin ; two large culinary Apples, Gloria Mundi and Warner's King. 
Pine Apples (F. C.).—The work that you have ordered will give you all 
the details of culture. If you make a pit in your house—that is, enclose a space 
with walls so as to form a pit 4 feet deep, and fill it with leaves for affording 
bottom heat, and can maintain a minimum atmospheric temperature of 65° in 
the winter, you may grow Pines in the house ; but you can scarcely expect in 
so small a structure to grow Melons and Grapes also. If Vines are attempted 
the rods must be turned outside in the winter and be wrapped with liaybands, 
as a temperature suitable for Pines would be too warm for them; the tempe 
rature would also be too warm for Peaches. You might grow Melons by train¬ 
ing a plant or two thinly on the roof, also on the back wall. A well-grown Pine 
Apple is esteemed by many the richest of fruits, and is totally distinct in 
character and flavour from all others. We have known amateurs to succeed in 
growing a few Pines in a house not larger than yours, but have seldom con¬ 
sidered the space was occupied profitably. 
Vines Unhealthy (.Idem). —We have seldom seen worse wood than the 
specimens you have enclosed. It is both weak and immature. It is impossible 
for such wood to produce good Grapes. Strong young Vines would in all pro¬ 
bability give you greater satisfaction than those of which you have sent us 
portions. It is not at all unusual to see Black Hamburgh Grapes 1 by 1J inch 
in diameter. 
Hotbeds (Idem). —The leaves should be used moist, but not very wet. Oak 
or Beech leaves produce a more steady and lasting heat than manure does, but 
the best hotbeds are made with a mixture of the two in about equal parts. 
Woodlice may be entrapped by placing boiled potatoes in flower pots and cover¬ 
ing the potato with loose dry hay. If these are examined frequently numbers 
of the insects may be destroyed. 
Sowing Pansy Seed (M. E. II.). —If Pansy seed is sown thinly in boxes 
in April, the plants being raised in a cool frame, and subsequently transplanted 
in a suitable position outdoors, they will flower freely during the summer. 
Seedlings grow much more freely than plants do that are raised from cuttings, 
but a great number of seedlings are usually worthless from a florist’s point of 
view. If the young growths are pulled from the old plants now many of them 
