484 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ November 24, 1881. 
necessary that all plants for forcing be well furnished with bloom 
buds. Charles X. is one of the finest Lilacs, but the common white 
is very useful, and does not require to be grown in darkness, a3 is 
necessary with the purple-flowered kinds, to obtain white flowers. 
Perhaps no flowers are more esteemed at the dull season than 
Lily of the Valley, and to secure them in quantity a bed of ferment¬ 
ing dung and leaves may be made in a pit, so as to raise and maintain 
for a few weeks a temperature of 75° to 90°, and having hot-water 
pipes to afford an artificial top heat of G0° to 05°. Plants plunged in 
a bed of this kind at once will afford a supply of these lovely sweet 
flowers at Christmas and the new year. The roots must be placed 
on the bed when the heat is not over 90°, placing 2 or 3 inches of fine 
soil on the bed, then the roots, working some fine soil amongst them, 
and cover the crowns about an inch in depth with fine soil, after 
supplying tepid water. Single crowns may be employed, placing 
them about an inch apart, or the roots may be lifted from the beds 
outdoors in the mass, having first ascertained that they are well 
furnished with flowering crowns. 
Where Hyacinths are required early a few should be placed in heat, 
also Narcissus and Tulips, assigning them positions near the glass, 
and the temperature not exceeding 55° at night. If they are taken 
direct from the ashes in which they have been plunged to the forcing 
house they must be covered with inverted empty flower pots to pre¬ 
vent the leaves being damaged, and after a few days tilt the pots a 
little, increasing this until the advancing leaves have become green, 
when the pots may be removed. The general stock of bulbs should 
not be permitted tc remain plunged in ashes until the growth is 
advanced. They must be removed to a light well-ventilated house 
before more than an inch of top growth is made, and will need to 
be gradually inured to the light as above indicated. 
Christmas Roses are not always to be depended upon at the time 
of year their name indicates, but any that are showing the flower 
stems and buds, if lifted carefully, potted, and placed in a genial tem¬ 
perature of 50°, will expand the flowers with certainty. Helleborus 
niger and H. maximus are the best forms. 
Thieving scouts ami skirmishing parties are common in all 
apiaries, and hard-fought battles are occasionally seen there, and 
plunder is the object. Robbing bees are watchful and crafty in 
attempting to enter hives not their own, and experienced bee- 
masters know them by their conduct. In watching for an oppor¬ 
tunity to enter hives unobserved they fly differently from bees 
engaged at honest work, and may be seen “ standing on wing ” 
in front of and close to the doors of hives they wish to enter, and 
if their attempts to enter be not resisted and thwarted they 
speedily accomplish their aims and carry home the honey. As 
soon as they gain access to it they convey to their own com¬ 
munity the idea that a hive has been entered and honey may be 
had. The way in which the intelligence is conveyed is beyond 
our knowledge : all we here notice is the fact. The thieves of 
London know what “ a cracked shell ” means (a house broken 
into), and bees know what is meant by a hive undefended ; 
and with marvellous rapidity the unresisting bees lose all their 
treasures. 
Fortunately robbers are generally prevented from entering 
hives on their first attempt to do so. It may safely be asserted 
that in every hundred attempts to enter hives for plunder, ninety- 
nine are failures. When hives are weak their doors are often not 
well guarded and robbers enter, and sometimes the robbers kill 
the whole of the small force of defenders. Strong hives during 
a glut of honey are sometimes off their guard and let their hives 
be invaded, and if the robber bees are permitted to go in and out 
without hindrance for a short time they, generally speaking, take 
all the honey. Successful robberies of strong hives are not com¬ 
mon. The robbers are generally discovered before they have done 
much harm before they have lost the smell of strangers and 
foreigners, and when the discovery is made the bees of the in¬ 
vaded hive muster in strength to resist the invasion and make a 
determined stand against it. As some of the robbers have tasted 
the honey and canied off some booty, they are determined to 
have more, and are difficult to beat back. In their efforts to 
enter, the attacking force seems to increase in numbers and energy, 
and while hundreds of them are hurled back and off the flight- 
boards, huudreds more take their places, and courageously and 
persistently continue the attempt to take the place by storm. A 
well-fought bee battle is most interesting. If the door of the hive 
be rather small, and the robbers successfully resisted for a while 
(none allowed to enter), they give up the contest and retreat. 
When a hive is attacked by robbers all the bee-master can do 
is to contract the door, and thus make it more easy for the bees 
to defend it. If be sees the robbers are resisted and repelled he 
may know that they are so far unsuccessful, and if he find that 
robbers have gained access to a hive and are engaged in 
carrying off its honey without resistance, he should know that it 
can be saved by removal only to a distance of a mile or two for 
a time. If the robbing bees belong to the same apiary as those 
that are being robbed, the suggested manoeuvre of Quinby may 
be tried. His plan is simply to exchange the positions of the 
hives by putting the robbers on the stand of the hive they steal 
from, and vice versa, and thus confound the robbers. My opinion 
is, that bees are too clever to be outwitted by this. Our plan is 
to remove one of the hives to a distance of one or two miles.— 
A. Pettigrew, Bondon. 
BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
Tee monthly meeting of the Committee, held at 105, Jermyn Street, 
on Wednesday, November ICth ; present T. W. Cowan (in the chair), 
Rev. E. Bartrum, Rev. G. Raynor, and Messrs. J. M. Hooker, H. 
Jonas, and the Rev. H. R. Peel, Honorary Secretary. The Chairman 
reported that he had been in communication with Mr. F. Y. Hadlow 
respecting the exhibition of honey and bee-keeping appliances at 
the forthcoming Domestic and Scientific Exhibition to be held at 
Brighton on December 12th and following days. It was announced 
that the Executive Council of the Brighton Exhibition would grant 
space, free of charge, to the British Bee-keepers’ Association for the 
display of honey and bee furniture. It was resolved that the Secre¬ 
tary be requested to write to the several manufacturers, asking for 
their assistance by sending honey, hives, and other goods for 
exhibition. 
The Secretary submitted a proof copy of the prize list of bees, 
hives, and honey proposed to be offered for competition at the Royal 
Agricultural Show to be held at Reading next year. It was resolved 
to submit a similar schedule for the consideration of the Council of 
the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society, to be offered for 
competition at their annual Show to be held at Cardiff in 1882. 
Reports were read from Mr. Henderson the Librarian, and from Mr. 
Jonas, who has charge of the collection at the South Kensington 
Museum. With respect to the library, it was resolved that the 
Librarian be empowered to draw up rules and make arrangements 
for the loan of the books to the members through the book post. The 
meeting was adjourned to the 23 d inst. for the consideration of the 
prize schedule for the Association’s annual show to be held at the 
Royal Horticultural Gardens, South Kensington, on August 3rd, 4th, 
5th, 7th, and 8th, 1882. 
*** All correspondence should be directed either to “The Editor” 
or to “ Tne 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. 
Fungus on Lawns (Sol). — Your lawn probably requires draining, but if 
you give it a dressing of lime at the rate of a peck and a half to a rod now, and 
a similar dressing early in the spring, it will probably be beneficial. 
Vine Growths Dying (IF. C. B.). — Your letter confirms us in the opinion 
we expressed last week, and we have nothing to add to our reply—namely, that 
you did not apply the shade soon enough ; it was applied just after the injury 
was done instead of just before. Slight shade and a gentle syringing should be 
given the moment the growths show signs of flagging, and a high night tem¬ 
perature and close atmosphere must be avoided. 
Stocks for Daphne indica (O. M.). —The varieties of Daphne indica 
are whip, or splice, or cleft-grafted upon Daphne Mezereum or D. laureola as 
stocks, seedlings of the former, rooted cuttings or layers of the latter, being 
