December 8, 1881 .] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 527 
house being started will be a suitable place, assigning them light 
aiiy positions near the glass. Never allow the soil to become very 
dry, and avoid making it too wet. A sprinkling overhead will be of 
service until the flowers expand, when it should be discontinued. 
Keep a strict look-out for aphides, and fumigate upon its first 
appearance. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Stove. —Summer-flowering plants will now be at rest, and, having 
the wood in a well-matured condition, advantage should be taken of 
this to eradicate those most troublesome pests, mealy bug and scale. 
These insects, when fairly established in plant houses where heat 
is constantly employed, can only be checked by great labour and 
determined perseverance. In attempting to destroy mealy bug no 
half measures are of any avail, and, the plants now being at rest and 
having little soft growth, an insecticide may be used at a strength 
more likely to effect a clearance without injury to the plants. Fran." 
cisceas, Gardenias, Clerodendrons, Dipladenias, Ixoras, Rondeletias, 
Jasminums, Medinillas, and Tab era gem on tan as should be dipped 
or syringed over a vessel large enough to catch the liquid from 
the plants laid over it, turning the plants on their sides so as to 
reach every part, and after the liquid has dried on the plants they 
may be syringed with water at 140° to 160°. Most insecticides at a 
strength of 4 to G ozs. to the gallon of water at 90° to 120° will effect 
their purpose, such as Gishurst compound, Fowler’s insecticide, and 
nicotine soap. Roof climbers, particularly Stephanotis, will need to 
be taken down, dipped or washed, so that the Insecticide reaches 
every part. Clear out all fermenting or plunging material, the walls 
being pointed and limewashed two or three times, and the woodwork 
dressed with turpentine and afterwards painted. With a determina¬ 
tion to succeed in destroying the pests their extirpation is only a 
matter of labour and time. 
Orchids .—This being the most inactive period in the growth of 
these plants no more fire heat should be used than is necessary to 
keep the temperature about G5° by day, and 60°, or 2° or 3° less, at 
night for the East India house, the Mexican house 57° to 00° by day 
and 50° by night, the cool house 50° by day and 45° by night, allow- 
ing a few degrees rise with sun heat. Very little ventilation will be 
required now, and though the moisture is at a minimum attention 
must be given to the atmosphere, water being poured over the 
benches and paths every morning. The sphagnum and roots growing 
outside the pots and baskets will require frequent damping, particu¬ 
larly such plants as Aerides, Saccolabiums, Yandas, and Phalgenopses. 
Although Cattleyas and Lselias are rooting freely they require very 
little water at the roots; the peat in which they are grown should be 
of a character to allow it to pass away freely. Odontoglossums must 
never be allowed to become dry ; they delight in a cool damp atmo¬ 
sphere, syringing lightly overhead on fine mornings, guarding against 
drip lodging in the young shoots. Sponge the glass inside the 
house at least once a w r eek, so that the plants have as much light as 
possible. Adopt precautionary measures to prevent woodlice and 
cockroaches eating the flowering spikes, which in some of the sum¬ 
mer-flowering plants will now be showing. Cypripediums and Cym- 
bidiums require a good supply of water at their roots. Dendrobiums 
required to be retarded flowering until May should be placed in a 
greenhouse temperature, very little water, if any, being required 
until they begin growing, when they must be removed into a warm 
house to prevent a stunted growth. Procure a good supply of peat 
and sphagnum, picking out all rubbish, and if laid on a damp floor 
the sphagnum may be kept in a growing state for several weeks, it 
being important that it be used as fresh as possible. 
' • • : • ' • ■ • !•!•!• ■ - i • I • i • i • i • i • i • i * i - i - i • i * ir • i • i - i . i . i * i. i •' raKs* 
51 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 1 
DOME-TOPPED STRAW HIVES. 
I have noticed these two or three winters how well the 
cottagers' bees endured the winter about here in small dome- 
topped straw hives in comparison with my bees, which have been 
well fed, but are in large flat-top straw hives. The cottagers 
about here do not understand feeding bees for the winter. Some 
give them dry sugar, others beer and sugar in small quantities. 
A cottager had his first swarm from one of the above-men¬ 
tioned hives the last day in May. They were placed in a 
Tettigrew hive and have done well, as the honey season here was 
in the early part of the summer. My bees did not swmrm until the 
latter part of June, and were not able to gather sufficient honey to 
keep them through the winter. 
I would like to know if there is a better shaped hive for a 
beginner than the dome-topped one. In an unsuitable district the 
first necessity is to keep the bees alive through the winter ; if the 
beginner can do that he would soon gain knowledge by expe¬ 
rience. His swarms he could hive in improved hives of his own 
make. In reading this year a bee society’s schedule I noticed 
what little encouragement they gave for the improvement of straw 
hives ; there was only one class for them. Are there any straw 
hiveists left 1 If so, I think bee societies ought to assist them as 
much as they encourage others.— Yorkshire. 
BEE-FARMING. 
Through life the question of bee-farming has ofteu been before 
me, and in my younger days I was often tempted to become wholly 
a bee-farmer. Within the last few years I have been more than 
once asked to consider the desirability of taking the lead in a pro¬ 
jected enterprise to farm bees to a large extent on a wide space 
of country. About ten days ago a gentleman urged the consider¬ 
ation of the subject, and intimated his willingness to invest largely 
in such an enterprise. Lately the subject has been partially dis¬ 
cussed by Mr. Raitt in this Journal in answer to the letter of a 
gentleman •who wanted to know how £300 a year could be made by 
bee-keeping. Mr. Raitt fairly and honestly answered the letter. As 
doubtless in future the subject of bee-farming will be considered by 
many as a profitable investment, I will now endeavour to convey to 
the readers of the Journal of Horticulture my thoughts upon the 
subject. In doing this it will be necessary to discuss the subject 
fully. 
If I had in early life adopted bee-keeping as an occupation and 
farmed bees extensively, I am of opinion that I should have made 
far m n re money than I have by gardening ; and, moreover, I believe 
that if I had begun bee-farming when I began the nursery business 
twenty-two years ago it would have been better for me financially, 
but through life I have not been guided merely by the love of 
money. 
In coming to discuss the subject of bee-farming as an investment 
we shall notice the pros and cons —the encouragements and dis¬ 
couragements connected with it. Taking an average of years—that 
is to say, good and had seasons together, the income from bees well 
managed in a good locality is about £2 per stock hive per annum. 
I wish it to be borne in mind that this £2 per hive represents 
income, not profit, for those who made it are not bee-farmers in the 
strict sense of the word, but cottagers who earn their living by 
other occupations and attend to their bees after their daily occu¬ 
pations. In managing my bees while I was a nurseryman my 
expenses amounted to about 10.«. per stock hive. This 10.?. per hive 
was spent in feeding, rent, and carriage, for many of my hives were 
kept in gardens at a distance from home. As there are great differ¬ 
ences of pasture and district and great differences in the modes of 
management, there will be differences of opinion as to what may be 
reckoned as a fair average income from bee-farming. Many of my 
youthful companions and friends, after long years of successful bee¬ 
keeping, considered that £2 per hive is a fair average yield in their 
locality. As honey was sold fifty years ago at Is. per pound, and a 
similar price is realised now, the results may be stated differently— 
viz., 40 lbs. of honey per hive, or 40s. worth of honeycomb. Now 
let us suppose that £100 income is an approximate income from 
fifty stock hive3, and that an expert bee-keeper could manage three 
hundred hives in one garden, or two hundred hives separated in lots 
of twenty hives placed in several gardens a mile or two apart. 
Hives would thus have a wider extent of pasturage and would 
succeed better than if crowded into a single garden, thus over¬ 
stocking a locality In the midst of large orchards, white Clover 
fields, and good heather, one hundred strong hives standing together 
would increase in weight fast in honey weather, but we dare not 
say that one hundred more hives would not overstock the pasture. 
We think that two hundred hives separated into lots of twenty or 
thirty hives, and placed a mile or two apart, would be the better 
way of obtaining most honey out of a given district, and that one 
clever bee-keeper could manage all. 
jj^The cost of two hundred good hives at 30.?. each would be £300, 
and for empty hives and beards and other necessary bee-furniture 
about £100 more. Thus it will be seen that to commence a bee 
farm of two hundred hives an outlay of about £400 would be 
required; and that the average income of such a farm in a good 
