204 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r August 28 1884. 
hives 21 inches vnde by 14 inches deep, and weighed, after the honey- 
gathering had ceased a considerable time, 186 lbs. 
The beginner will now observe that great results are only to be 
obtained when suitable hives are obtained. If anything like success 
is wanted he must have large hives and much larger than the recog¬ 
nised standard one, and of proper form, so that the greatest progress 
will be made with the least loss. Again I repeat. Avoid stimulative 
feeding, particularly after August. Depend upon it that honey 
naturally gathered is the best food for bees. Feeding bees, unless 
during a scarcity in the summer months, is at the best a questionable 
proceeding, leading often to the deposition of the queen at a time the 
loss is irreparable. I have just been examining a hive with a pretty 
fertilised queen, but from some reason or other did not commence 
laying until five weeks after fertilisation. The bees seemed alike 
indolent, as doubtless an active queen makes active bees. They 
seemed, however, conscious of the inability or inactivity of the queen, 
and were busy raising numerous queen cells, which, had they had 
eggs, would doubtless have raised queens and deposed the now prolific 
and laying one. This is but one instance of hundreds which I could 
quote, but sufficient to warn the beginner never to do anything that 
is likely to induce inactivity in the queen during the spring months, 
and which stimulative feeding in the autumn is one of the worst 
things to do, promoting the queen’s early deposition. 
When the beginner is perplexed through conflicting advice he 
must then use his own judgment, but in such a waj’- that he does not 
launch into expenses nor entirely ignore experience, remembering 
that the more bees (when room is given) the more honey, no matter 
whether the district is a good or infeiior one. Hives managed pro¬ 
perly have never a paucity of bees in autumn. In such hives as the 
Stewarton or the large straw hives referred to, the bees do not require 
to be induced to breed late in autumn, because there is always sufficient 
brood in the proper season to keep up any loss that may be sustained. 
Then from the very fact of the superior winter arrangements they 
are in a good position to start under favourable circumstances in 
spring without either feeding or that other questionable proceeding 
of spreading the brood. 
The Stewarton hive is not only superior in many respects to other 
hives, but is decidedly the cheapest and most easily managed and 
the best for supering purposes. Your correspondent “ P. H. P.,” 
from his remarks on page 83, seems unfamiliar with the working of 
the Stewarton hive. Each super comb is moveable with its bar, and 
if ends are attached to the bar, as is often done, can be lifted from 
the super Avithout the slightest cutting as easy as is the best devised 
frame, and is so commonly sold both in Edinburgh and Glasgow 
Italian warehouses. The entire super thus forms, as it were, a crate 
of sections of different length and Aveights, so far from being a dis- 
adv’antage, is surely a manifest gain, permitting the customer a better 
choice of the quantity he Avould like to acquire. The great advantage 
of a Stewarton super once filled is in it being cheaply and easily 
packed for transmission either to a customer or to the honey merchant, 
AAffio also finds in them a security from being crushed by the fingers 
and freedom from bleeding and dust, as is the case with sections so 
troublesome to pack and keep clean, Avhile supers are more readily 
taken to by the bees and are more rapidly built and tilled than 
sections. 
Again, the non-interchangeability of the bars, saving to a like 
position of a similar hive, is as much in keeping Avith the laws of 
Nature as Is the spherical form of the Stewarton. Who but the 
merest t^TO Avould eA^er think of transferring a Avide end honeycomb 
from its natural position to that of the centre of the brood nest ? 
There are some who Avaste their time and ruin their hives by such 
questionable proceedings as spreading the brood, and, instead of 
attributing their failure to undue intermeddling, shift the blame to 
their hives or the foreign races of bees.—A Lanarkshire Bee- 
keeper. 
Bees in a Church.— A correspondent writes: “ An extraordinary 
discovery has just been made in the parish church of Stourmouth, near 
Wingham, Kent, a nest of bees being uncovered in the roof of the 
chancel. Its existence was known to the officiaLs, but no idea seems to 
have been formed as to its size. The living has been held for many years 
by the Rev. Jlr. Drake. Some time ago it came to his knowledge that a 
swarm had settled in the sacred building, but he would never allow their 
retreat to be disturbed. A few months ago, however, the Vicar died, and 
as the church had to undergo general repair, the bees no longer were 
allowed to remain in possession of their quarters. They were destroyed 
by fumigation, and on the honey being taken there was found to be nearly 
2 cwt. of it. It is stated that during hot weather the honey used to drop 
down on the floor.” 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
De Smet Freres, Ledeberg-lez-Ctand, Belgium.— List, of Palms. 
W. Dobbie, 62, Preston Street, Faversham. —List of Geraniums and 
Fuchsias. 
James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea.— Illustrated Catalogue of Hyacinths and 
other Bidbous Roots. 
Dickson ife Robinson, 12, Old Millgate, ilanchester.—Cttialoyne of Hya¬ 
cinths and other Bulbs. 
Carter, Page & Co., 53, London Wall, City, E.C.— Lists of Boses, Bulbs, 
and Fruit Trees. 
Edmund Philip Dixon, Hull.— Catalogue of Bulbs, Vines, and Strawberries. 
Dobbie & Mason, 66, Deansgate, and 22, Oak Street, Manchester.— Cata- 
logue of Bulbs. 
Emil Liebig, Dresden.— Catalogue of Azaleas, Camellias, Rhododendrons, 
Ericas, and Boses. 
James Dickson lii Son, 108, Eastgate Street, Chester.— Catalogue of Bulbs, 
18S4. 
.Tames Carter iS: Co., 2.37, High Holborn, London.— Blustrated Catalogue of 
Bulbs and Winter and Spring Floicers. 1 
James Don, 20, Chapel Bar, Nottingham.— Catalogue of Bulbs and 
Flou'ers. 
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 unavoidabljn "We 
request that no one Avill Avrite 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 rehit- 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than tAvo or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended for insertion should be AATitten on one side of the paper 
only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, and Ave 
do not undertake to return reiected communications. 
Chrysanthemums (71 0 .).—If there is no stipulation in the schedule as 
to the length of the stems it does not matter how short they are, so that one 
stem only is seen rising from the soil. Dwarf plants as well as standards 
are limited to single stems, but in the case of the latter it is usually stated 
that they must be of a certain height, which is named in the schedule. 
Trimming Ycav Hedges (Sussex). — There is no better time for clipping 
Yew hedges than completing the work towards the end of August. Nearly 
all the finest hedges in the country are trimmed at that time ; and as the 
practice has in many cases been adopted for upwards of a century, and the 
hedges are still in admirable condition, it is clear that they have not been 
trimmed at the wrong period of the year. To leave them till spring the 
hedges would have a rough appearance all through the winter, and no corre¬ 
sponding advantage whatever would be gained by the delay. 
Rabbit Traps (Derby, S.). —We have made inquiries of the publisher and 
he has no record of any such traps as those to which you allude having been 
advertised in the Journal. Are you sure you have not made a mistake ? We 
will readily aid you if you can give us more precise information that will 
lead to the identity of what is wanted. 
Cluster Pea (Dr. Stewart). —The specimen sent is a variety of the Crown 
or Cluster Pea, the original of Avhich is reported to have been brought from 
Egypt in tombs, and hence became known as the Mummy Pea. Your Pea is 
not, we think, the original kind, but a varietal form with rather smaller pale 
pink flowers. The Cluster Pea is still grown in some cottage gardens as an 
early Pea. It is, however, not very early, and the pods are small. 
Water Cistern (Irish Subscriber ).—As you find galvanised cisterns too 
expensive for collecting the water from your conservatory we scarcely know 
what to recommend. Stout wood cisterns lined with zinc Avould perhaps be 
cheaper; but the cheapest of all receptacles for the purpose are large 
petroleum casks that may be had from oilmen. They are very strong, and 
being saturated with the oil last for, a lifetime. If one is not large enough 
two or more can be connected with pipes. We have them in use, and they 
answer their purpose admirabU. 
Extirpating Horseradish (J. H. C.). — We are sorry we know of no 
ready way of destroying this. It is one of the most difficult of plants to 
eradicate. Every particle will grow, and strong groAvths force their way 
through the hardest gravel walks. It will grow through your lawn with the 
greatest freedom. We have seen it force its way through asphalte paths and 
macadamised roads. We can only advise you to dig out all you can, and 
allow no subsequent growths to extend more than half an inch above the 
surface. By sedulously watching for these and cutting them promptly they 
will get weaker and weaker until they will give, little further trouble. Probably 
if a few drops of sulphuric acid are poured on from where the tops are cut 
further growth will be arrested, but not, at the first dressing, prevented. 
The point to aim at is preventing any leaf-development, and then in time 
the roots will die. 
Heating Melon Pit (Journal). —It Avould be best to take a pipe from the 
stove flow pipe along the front of the Melon pit, taking it to the end of the 
pit, and then bring it back as a return beneath the flow pipe, connecting it 
with the return pipe of the stove. We should make a sort of open flue 
, wherein to have the pipes, the sides of which would keep up the soil of the 
