December 15, 1S81. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 549 
at 55°. A confined atmosphere above the latter degree of heat should 
not be allowed, and is at all times highly injurious. Syringe the 
trees early on fine afternoons and at other times when the atmo¬ 
sphere becomes dry, but with the borders kept moist syringing will 
not be necessary in dull weather. 
Cucumbers .—The plants showing fruit plentifully must not be 
allowed to carry too many ; if the plants are weakly fully two-thirds 
of the fruit should be removed, removing likewise the tendrils and 
8taminate blossoms. The roots will need a moderate earthing occa¬ 
sionally of previously warmed soil, pressing it down rather firmly. 
Be careful in the application of water ; a fair soaking once or twice a 
week according to the weather and condition of the plants will be all 
that is necessary. Plants growing in pots will require it more fre¬ 
quently, and should have a little extra feeding. The temperature 
should be 05° to 70° on mild nights, 5° less in severe weather, 70° to 
75° by day, and 80° to 85° with sun heat. Ventilate carefully when¬ 
ever a favourable opportunity offers. If wireworms be troublesome 
insert baits of Carrot beneath the surface of the bed and examine 
daily. Woodlice may be caught by baits of boiled potato wrapped in 
a little hay and placed in flower pots laid on their sides. Toads in 
the house are useful. Worms must be expelled with lime water, but 
many may be taken by looking for them at night with a lantern, 
when they will be found travelling over the surface of the bed. 
Watch for canker in the old growths and at the collar, applying 
fresh-slaked lime on its first appearance. Where means do not exist 
for raising plants for planting in pits or frames, Oak or Beech leaves 
should now be thrown into a heap with a third of stable litter, turning 
them over, watering if necessary, so as to have them in proper con¬ 
dition for making a bed for raising plants of these; also Melons for 
planting in pits or frames heated by fermenting materials. Where, 
however, there are houses with a suitable temperature for raising the 
plants a bed can be dispensed with. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Forcing House .—Introduce plants to this structure, ora house with 
an intermediate temperature. Indian Azaleas, especially of the early- 
flowering kinds, readily come into bloom in a rather moist atmosphere 
and temperature of 55° to G5°, and so do most other plants for forcing. 
Amongst the most valuable may be mentioned Azalea mollis in several 
shades of colour, and (he Ghent varieties, with the deliciously fra¬ 
grant A. pontica. Staphylea colchica, with its beautiful terminal 
panicles of white flowers, is highly decorative. Lilac, the common 
white, Charles X., and Persian are always esteemed. Rhododendrons 
are indispensable from their great decorative value, some of the finest 
for this purpose being ciliatum, Early Gem, and odoratum or fragrans 
of the dwarf forms ; limbatum, Purity, Mrs. John Clutton, Lady 
Armstrong, Marian, coriaceum, cardinale, Brilliant, Michael Waterer, 
Everestianum, Mrs. Fitzgerald, Scipio, Cynthia, and Auguste Van 
Geert, with Nobleanum vars., will come into flower with very little 
forcing, and all are fine for conservatory decoration. Prunus sinensis 
alba flore-pleno is very pretty, Deutzia gracilis being indispensable. 
Viburnum Opulus can be also forced freely, and double Thorns, 
which are very pretty for wreaths and esteemed for their scent. 
Spiraea Thunbergi is very graceful, and few in beauty rival Kalmia 
latifolia. Hoteia japonica is indispensable for decoration, and 
Dielytra spectabilis one of the finest and most graceful. 
Roses always take precedence, and are readily forced, especially the 
Tea-scented varieties, if not brought on too quickly. Clematises have 
great decorative value, and should never be omitted, some of the best 
being Vesta, Lady Londesborough, Albert Victor, Pair Rosamond, 
Lord Londesborough, Mrs. S. Baker, Stella, and The Queen. Pink3 
should be placed near the glass and not brought on too quickly, or 
they will become blind. Lily of the Valley must still have bottom 
heat, especially single crowns and imported clumps ; the temperature 
about 90° at the roots, and covered until the stalks are drawn to a 
sufficient length, then admitting light gradually. 
Introduce plants of Richardia sethiopica to gentle heat, too much 
heat drawing them up weakly and spoiling the plants, and the 
spathes are poor a3 compared with those grown in a temperate heat, 
55° to 05° being ample. Keep the plants well supplied with liquid 
manure. 
SOME FACTS ABOUT QUEENS. 
I notice in a late issue some suggestive remarks by “ Comber ” 
in reference to his experiences in ligurianising, which induce 
me to snatch a few moments from some work in connection with 
our subject which has been very closely occupying me recently. 
Our correspondent is querying the practicability of inducing Ligu¬ 
rian queens to breed drones early by supplying her stock with 
abundant brood, in order that queens may be purely fertilised 
after hatching in the small boxes in which Italian mothers are 
usually imported. 
Experience during several years with work of this kind has 
led me to discard the use of very small lots of bees as nurses 
to queen cells for four main reasons. First, weak or imperfect 
queens are often produced ; second, the bees frequently swarm 
out at the time the queen flies for impregnation, and disappoint¬ 
ment follows ; third, without great watchfulness starvation is 
likely to occur ; and fourth, feeding is almost certain to lead to 
robbing. Each of these heads demands a word of explanation. 
First, very weak lots often produce imperfect queens and drones, 
and for that matter workers also ; and I have little doubt but that 
the lady hatched minus a wing in the little box of our esteemed 
correspondent would have been perfect had the cell been allowed 
to remain with the parent colony. All lovers of Lepidoptera 
know how likely are chrysalids, cherished with much care in the 
earth of a flower pot, to produce imagos of faulty development, 
and excess of dryness almost constantly results in ill-shapen or 
only half-formed wings. Some experiments I have carried out 
carefully during two seasons have shown demonstrably that an 
excess of dryness in the air surrounding a developing larva bee is 
as likely to injure it as it would a moth. The lamp nurseries of 
America showed long ago that queens could be raised in cells after 
sealing apart from bees altogether if the correct temperature be 
kept up. My experiments have shown, in addition, that a queen 
may be raised during all the chrysalis state, not only in the 
absence of the bees, but without a cell at all, if only correct 
thermic and hygrometric conditions are maintained. This fact 
is very interesting to the physiologist, as affording an opportunity 
of watching the progress of very remarkable and instructive 
changes. The nucleus “of over one hundred bees” would be 
unable in a “ warm glass house ” to maintain that moist heat 
which is required, and so possibly the mischance. That air is 
also required is manifest from the fact that the sealing of the 
cell is full of perforations, as the microscope at once reveals. 
During chrysalis changes breathing in very moderate amount 
is uninterruptedly continued, and fresh air is slowly supplied by 
the before-mentioned apertures. The germ developing within the 
egg of the hen is equally dependant upon a supply of oxygen, and 
this, no doubt, explains the discomfiture of those early experi¬ 
menters in artificial incubation when it was the fashion to main¬ 
tain the temperature at one dead level. The periodical absence of 
the hen at feeding time permitted the egg to cool, and contracted, 
as a consequence, the air contained in the ever-growing air vessel, 
and as a result a new supply was taken in through the porous 
shell, and so the oxygen, by what seemed an accident (but which 
is surely more) was constantly given to the little breathing thing 
within. 
Secondly, the liability to swarm at the least excitement is always 
a great objection to small lots of bees. In more cases than one 
I have had three or four nuclei simultaneously desert their hives. 
Perhaps one or two may be subsequently found in ridiculous 
clusters the size of an egg, waiting the coming of the bee-master 
with his 20-inch skep, in order that he may suitably hive them. 
Those who use these small boxes for queen-raising must expect 
these difficulties, which, perhaps, with ample space and constant 
attendance, may be bearable through troublesome. When a natural 
swarm arises, however, the chances of getting an encasement 
of a valuable queen from the union of a nucleus with it is 
great enough to make the advantage of small boxes extremely 
problematical. 
The third and fourth objections are simply complements of 
one another. The less the cluster the greater is the waste of heat, 
and consequently the larger the relative demand for food. Nuclei 
cannot consequently maintain themselves, and every attempt at 
feeding them is (in early spring at least) but a provocative of 
robbing. I now use one sized frame only, and although the 
control of impregnation is reduced, advantages accrue which are 
more than an equivalent. That queen and bees (for the consent of 
both seems necessary) may be induced to breed drones early by 
