eptember 25, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
295 
surface, and after the plants have been returned to the pots good loam 
and a third of decayed manure may be given. If the soil can be picked 
carefully from amongst the roots this also should be done while the 
plants are out of their pots, for they are gross feeders and enjoy a little 
fresh rich soil annually. The trellises must be replaced and the plants 
neatly and evenly trained upon them ready for forcing. After this has 
been done they may again be plunged outside on ashes or other material 
where worms will not enter the pots, until the approach of severe weather. 
Heaths and Ejmerises .—In localities where the rainfall is abundant 
and heavy showers frequent at this season of the year these plants are 
better in a position where they can be protected. The flowers of the 
former are very liable to fail if the plants are allowed to become saturated 
at this season when they are swelling and developing. When placed 
under cover they must have a light well-ventilated position. Care must 
also be taken that they do net sutler by an insufficient supply of water 
at their roots, or their flowers will also fail to develope. Plants of both 
kinds that have been liberally fed up to the present time must not be 
neglected now they have set their buds, or they may fail to develope 
from exhaustion. Hundreds of plants annually fail from this cause alone, 
especially those that are grown by the trade and then passed into private 
hands. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Lifting and Storing Bedding Plants .—We are having a very favour¬ 
able autumn, and the beds up to the present time (September 18th) look 
remarkably well; consequently where it is necessary to lift old plants to 
keep through the winter for the purpose of affording cuttings in the 
spring there is the danger of deferring the operation until it is perhaps 
too late. Frosts may leasonably be anticipated at any time after the 
third week in September, and only a moderately severe one will spoil 
such plants as Heliotropes, Iresines, Coleuses, and Alternantheras. The 
requisite number of stock plants of these should at once be carefully 
lifted with small balls of soil about the roots, be placed singly into rather 
small pots, say 4-inch or 5-inch, or according to the size of the plants 
and the amount of roots they have. The pots should be carefully drained 
and good light soil be used. Place them in a close frame for a few days 
and shade from bright sunshine. When slightly recovered transfer the 
Iresines, Coleuses, and Alternantheras to shelves in a stove or forcing 
house, and the Heliotropes to a warm greenhouse for the winter. Ver¬ 
benas do not lift well, neither do old plants afford many good cuttings 
in the spring. Lobelias should be lifted with soil attached, have all the old 
flowering tops trimmed off, be stored in ordinary Pelargonium boxes, 
and wintered in cold frame. Preference should be given both in the 
case of Lobelias and Ageratums to those plants that are furnished with 
a number of soft flowerless shoots, as neither kind, if covered with flower 
shoots, can be lifted with any certainty of ultimate success. When the 
choicer or variegated Zonal Pelargoniums are lifted these should be 
stored singly in small pots, or several in well-drained larger pots ; but 
the more robust green-leaved sorts, with the exception of West Brighton 
Gem, can be safely wintered in boxes in well-raised and protected pits 
and frames. The delicate varieties are most safely wintered on dry 
shelves in vineries and other houses. It is useless to attempt lifting 
Pelargoniums with balls of soil, and it will be necessary to shorten the 
roots and remove many of the old leaves to prevent damping. Any of 
the tuberous-rooted Begonias that are still flowering freely may be lifted, 
potted, and placed in a greenhouse or conservatory for a time. The 
remainder should be left in the ground till the tops die, when the bulbs 
should be lifted, stored thickly in boxes of soil, and placed where they 
do not become very dry ; they require to be protected from frosts. 
Begonia weltoniensis, which is sometimes bedded-out with good effect, 
also lifts readily, and will help to enliven the greenhouse for a time. So 
also would a few strong plants of Abutilon Thompson! and A. tessel- 
latum Darwinii, and in the spring would yield a number of side shoots, 
from which a stock of handsome bedding plants can be raised. Salvia 
patens does not lift well, and we usually leave these in the ground until 
the tops are killed by frost, when the tubers are stored in boxes of good 
soil, and placed in a frame or pit where they can be protected from 
severe frosts. It is also advisable to lift a few strong plants of Verbena 
venosa with their long fleshy roots intact ; pack these in boxes of good 
soil, and protect them from severe frosts. Centaureas are rather difficult 
to winter, especially those potted from the open ground. They should 
be stood on dry airy shelves in a greenhouse, watered sparingly, and 
have all decaying leaves frequently removed, Polemonium cseruleum 
variegatum is quite hardy, but it is advisable for several reasons to pot 
the plants before the tips of the leaves have been damaged by frost. 
They should be wintered in a cold frame. All the seedling Dahlias 
should be examined, and the best only marked and eventually lifted, 
all the inferior varieties being thrown away. Single Dahlias have been 
partial failures with us this season, and fewer of them will be grown in 
the future. 
NOTES FOE BEGINNEES. 
ECHOES FROM THE HEATHER, 
I FIND from the many questions put to me by beginners that we, 
as teachers, are responsible for having neglected or passed/ over the 
initiatory steps to successful apiculture. It is, however, unnecessary 
to go over all that is supposed to be essential throughout the year for 
beginners, but we may state the more important items for the season. 
From now until the shortest day is the natural resting time of the bee, 
rherefore all feeding should be past by the middle of this month, after 
which no hive should be disturbed by manipulation or by changing 
its aspect or appearance. In fine days until November they air them¬ 
selves, which is very beneficial should they by a spell of cold weather 
be confined to the hive, but breeding. Should anything occur that 
necessitates the examination of any hive, great care should be taken 
to prevent robbers getting access should bees be flying, and if not to 
be careful not to manipulate in such a way as to induce bees to get 
chilled either by alighting on cold ground or dropping from the hive 
or frames. If there be any risk of either of these evils taking place, 
the hive may be carried into a warm room with but one window, and 
that looking towards the south if possible. As it is the active bees 
that sting care should be taken not to encourage any to fly by slightly 
smearing the entrance with carbolic acid, then pushing a wing or 
feather underneath the combs if a straw hive, but if a frame hive a 
little carbolic acid rubbed on the top of the frames and a feather 
smeared and directed towards the place of inspection will cause the 
bees to retreat. When it is most convenient to fumigate use a material 
such as brown paper containing creosote, but unless it is absolutely 
necessary do not manipulate at all. 
The site of the hive is important: the nearer it is to the house the 
less likely are the bees to be vicious. Timid people sometimes place 
the hives in a quiet position for fear of people being stung, which has 
the very opposite effect. A very important matter is to see that there 
is no water near the front of the hives, and have them so placed that 
the sun will shine upon them (though not in front) some time of the 
day between lO a.m. and 3 p.m. Be careful that no rain has access to 
the hive ; see that the rain is led right past the floor, and that the 
alighting board does not lead water to the interior. A floor of per¬ 
forated zinc will prevent many a mishap that would otherwise occur. 
The best time to greatly contract the entrance of hives is the 
month of February, but with a proper perforated floor it might be 
advisable to do so now, but is not advisable where floors are likely to 
be retentive of moisture. Guard the hives against mice and other 
vermin with an efficient projecting waterproof roof raised well above 
the quilts and hay or straw covering, affording ample ventilation ; 
such prepared hives, with not less than 30 or 40 lbs. of food should 
tide over a severe winter with safety without the slightest uneasiness 
on the part of the owner as to its safetv, thereby dispensing with all 
unnecessary manipulation. The beginner who masters these matters 
will not be so liable to run into error as those entirely ignorant of 
some of the first rules, one of which is that where bees cover two- 
thirds of the combs now no contracting is required—in fact, it is an 
evil to do so. There are other points of importance which may be 
adverted to again, meanwhile a few more hints of the bee's actions 
at the Heather may be given. 
In a previous article it was shown what an abhorrence bees have 
to entering sections, and that sections are not sealed in as efficienta 
manner as supers are. These facts being borne out by the greatest 
advocates of sections, the beginner should lay that to heart. I have 
also warned bee-keepers not to deprive hives of honey before taking 
to the Heather without feeding, which encourages breeding at the 
most important time for profit after, and prevents the eating-out of 
eggs and brood, which often takes place on supers being removed 
even though the hive is otherwise well provided for. Alongside my 
own hives at the Heather are some that were deprived of their stores, 
and others supers only taken off, and though more good hives have, 
unlike their neighbours, not a single super. Then there are others 
that had the empty super interposed between hive and partly filled 
super. In every case the bees had the extra labour of removing all the 
honey to the body of the hive, losing time and wearing out bees which 
ought to have been avoided. Unless people are gifted with clair¬ 
voyance, knowing the weather is to continue good till such times as a 
second super so placed would be filled, it never should be attempted. 
Supposing I had no other evidence than what I have witnessed at the 
moors, I would never be convinced but that what I have stated, have 
long taught and experienced, is decidedly the best and most profitable 
system and management of bees, and it never will be superseded b}'’ 
the plans and systems that I have pointed out as objectionable.— 
A Lanarkshiee Bee-keefer. 
BEE HOUSES. 
I HAVE at different times noticed in your Journal that many expe¬ 
rienced bee-keepers despise bee houses because they think they are not 
adapted to the work that has to be done. By bee house I mean a build¬ 
ing in which the bees are kept, and the owner get into so as t) watch 
them and be free from the risk of stings when the hives are not opened. 
I send this more for the benefit of those who can afford to erect a snug 
bea house than for the cottager, to whom expense is a great object. 
