44 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 10, 1884. 
cheap, foundation easily obtained, and we would advise all to 
make fiTe use of both. 
A few words will here be in season respecting the exhibits in 
connection with bees and bee-keeping at the Health Exhibition. 
All those interested in honey and bees should not neglect to pay 
a visit to this department. The second turning to the right 
after entering the Exhibition at the main entrances in Exhibition 
Road brought us into the midst of a very good collection of ap)pli- 
ances and products in the shape of honey, wax, &c. The first 
thing to attract attention is a capital model of a swarm of bees. 
It is so good that at a little distance it is like a real cluster sus¬ 
pended from a branch There is a very fair display of honey, 
both in the comb and in bottles. The extracted honey is nicely 
put up, and we must hope that the public will learn to appreciate 
pure English honey, and to cease to countenance the importation 
of adulterated foreign stuff. 
Messrs. Huntley & Palmer, the famous Eeading firm, have 
lately brought out some exceedingly nice biscuits, called “ Honey 
Drops.” Visitors must not fail to taste them, and they will 
certainly appreciate this new biscuit. Immense quantities of 
honey are now purchased by this firm for the manufacture of 
this pleasant food, and this will help to provide a market for 
English produce. Honey is largely employed in other manu¬ 
factures, and we should have liked to have seen more exhibits 
showing the utility of honey in foods and medicines, and so how 
it is conducive to health. Among the many interesting exhibits 
is one which, although in its present state most instructive, 
might be much enlarged and improved. We refer to Mr. Abbott’s 
case of various natural objects explanatory of the science of bee¬ 
keeping. The various queens, workers, and drones are preserved 
and thrown together with the varieties of comb, queen-cells, &c. 
The depredators of the hive are shown in the shape of the wax 
moth and its grubs, and the damage done by these loathsome 
maggots is shown by a piece of comb tunnelled by the moth grubs 
and covered with their spider-like web. Much of the natural 
economy of the bee hive can be gathered by a careful inspection 
of this case. With this class of instructive exhibits must be con¬ 
nected the magic lantern slides shown by Mr. A. Watkins of 
Wilcroft, Hereford. These are most instructive, and some of 
them as amusing as they are interes^ng. The queen, worker, 
and drone are capital photographic slides, and vivid recollections 
of various cottage apiaries come to the mind when looking at the 
amusing picture of “ All Dead but One.” By the use of such 
slides a lecture on bee-keeping is made doubly interesting, and 
such illustrations enlarged on the sheet are highly a predated. 
We have ourselves when lecturing on bee-keeping used such 
slides, copied from the appearances under the microscope, but 
these photographic slides are a great improvement on pen-and- 
ink sketches. We must not neglect to give the due meed of 
praise to those who, at much expenditure of time and trouble, 
have placed such good collections of bee furniture on the stages. 
Messrs. Neighbour, Abbott, Overton, Baldwin, and others have 
such good exhibits, that the various schools of bee-keepers must 
find sufficient to appease any amount of longing for what is good 
and substantial. Smokers, feeders, extractors, hives, supers, and 
a host of other necessaries and luxuries are all there represented. 
Among the new hives we saw a square straw one, exhibited by 
Mr. Stonbill, price Is. 6r/. Of this we do not see the utility. If 
we are to have a hive without frames, it is far better to keep to 
the form the bees certainly themselves point out as the best— 
that is, the round-shaped skep. If we can have a good well¬ 
shaped bar-frame hive made of straw, this will be a great acqui¬ 
sition. In the hive exhibited there would be the same closed 
book system, the same difficulty of fixing the guide sheets, as 
with the old-fashioned skep, without its many advantages, and 
then the price, 7.'?. GA, would be a high one to pay for such an 
article.—P. H. P. 
*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. AVe 
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 Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended 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 reiected communications. 
Books (TE. D.). —The *• Rose Garden ” is an illustrated and comprehen¬ 
sive work on the Rose. We do not remember the price, but it can be 
obtained from the author, Mr. William Paul, Waltham Cross, or his publishers, 
Messrs. Kent & Co., Paternoster Row, London. 
Showing Vegetables {P. H. W .).—We should be guided entirely by the 
me'its of the dishes. If both were in high-class condition the Mushrooms 
would probably have the greatest weight. We do not think the two Potatoes 
you name are identical. 
Grapes Splitting (J. C.). —In all probability the variety to which you 
refer is Madresfield Court, the skin of which appears to be less elastic than 
others, and hence the berries crack. A sudden change from a moist to a dry 
atmosphere which is often, and, as we believe, erroneously, permitted when the 
Grapes commence colouring, has a tendency to cause them to split. Removing 
a considerable number of laterals at the same stage, which is also a common 
mistake, has the same effect. Allowing the border to get too dry, then water¬ 
ing heavily as if to compensate for the previous drought, of en results 
disastrously. Again, light cropping has been found by some cultivators to 
result in the berries splitting more seriously than if the crop had been heavy, 
because the fewer the berries against which the pressure of sap is directed 
the greater is that pressure. We have pointed out some of the predisposing 
causes of Grapes splitting, and if after avoiding them your Vine is still un¬ 
satisfactory we should inarch another variety on it that is not prone to 
cracking. Some persons have found that cutting a notch in the lateral to 
check the flow of sap has abeneflcial effect, others flnding it of no advantage. 
You can try the plan if you like, it will do no harm. 
Ripe Grapes {J. G.). —At no time should the border be allowed to get really 
dry, but water should be given occasionally to keep the roots and foliage 
fresh and healthy ; nor should the atmosphere of the house be kept perfectly 
dry, as in such a case the Vines would be enervated in hot weather by 
excessive transpiration, and thrips or red spider almost certainly take posses¬ 
sion of them. A fresh buoyant atmosphere should be maintained, but it 
should not be harsh and dry like that of a desert. We sprinkle the paths 
once or twice a day in very hot weather when the Grapes are ripe, and we also 
keep the border moist, but not always wet on the surface. On dull days no 
sprinkling is needed. It is impossible to lay down a hard-and-fast rule on 
this matter, as action must be governed by the weather ; neither the border 
nor the house, however, must be kept “ perfectly dry.” 
Pear Tree Diseased (T. F. C.). —Owing to the very hot weather the spi'ay 
arrived very much withered. Can you oblige us with more specimens for 
further examination ? In the meantime you cannot do better than scrape the 
affected parts and dress the wood, not the foliage, with a solution of soRsoap 
and petroleum. Dissolve 2 ozs. of softsoap and a lump of soda as large as a 
walnut in a gallon of soft water, then well stir in a small wineglassful of 
petroleum and apply with a small brush, keeping the mixture constantly 
stirred during use. We have not been able to quite satisfy ourselves as to 
the species of the pest that is infesting the tree, and should like more speci¬ 
mens for investigation before you destroy them all. 
Oxalises (Oxalis). —All the species mentioned and many more may be 
grown with ease in such a border as described by you, provided they can be 
kept a little dry during the season of rest, which is rather difficult unless 
some artificial means be resorted to, as they rest a time when we cannot 
always depend on dry weather. They require rich soil, and will be all the 
better for deep planting, say 6 inches, and as close to the wall as possible. 
Your failure may be attributed both to poor soil and shallow planting, with 
bulbs or tubers that are impatient of damp. It is a good plan to place a 
piece of slate 6 inches square and 6 inches deep slantingly, so as to give a 
good fall to the water or moisture, and place a few rough stones at the 
lowest edge. All the species mentioned along with 0. Deppei, 0. Grahami, 
0. Smithii. O. floribunda, 0. corymbosa, O. Cervantesii, Ac., we have had 
growing outside for some time with a fair amount of success. You may add 
a good mixture of sand to your soil, so as to lighten and insure quick 
drainage, a stagnant soil being the most unsuitable for this class of plants. 
Pruning Melons {M. T. C. B.). —The growths may be thinned out 
from your overcrowded plants, proceeding, however, very cautiously, as if 
a large quantity is cut out at once the plants may X’eceive such a check 
that the fruit will not swell freely. We once saw twenty lights of Melons 
quite spoiled by a young gardener who took charge of them, and cut out at 
once three or four barrowfuls of growths. If you prune your Melons 
slightly every evening when watering and closing the frames the growths 
will be sufficiently thin in a week for the fruits to swell freely, but if you 
were to complete the work at one operation you would probably do more 
harm than good. Woodwardia radicans is a native of Madeira, and is con¬ 
sequently not eligible for exhibition in a class for British Ferns. The 
insect you have sent is the destructive weevil Otiohynchus sulcatus. If 
you examine the plants at night with the aid of a lantern you will find that 
the best method of securing the insects. There is no quick and easy 
method of destroying them. 
Grapes Shanking {Bucks). —If all the leaves, or many of them, are like 
the one you have sent there is no wonder the Grapes have shanked, as the 
leaf is seriously scorched, and if this is a fair sample of their condition the 
Vines must have received a serious check at a critical period. The 
portion not injured, and that is very small, is extremely dark in colour, and 
conveys a suspicion that you have been over-feeding with liquid manure. 
It is just possible that you have applied too much liquid inside, and thus 
checked the free extension of the roots there, while outside, where the roots 
are amongst the Strawberries and Raspberries,they have been too dry, and 
two such checks would certainly result in shanking. Had you given more 
water outside and less in we think you would have done better. It is 
certain there is something radically wrong with the Vines. The too dry 
outside border has probably driven some strong roots deep down int® 
