406 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October SO, 1884. 
produced in two seasons from the time the cuttings are inserted, which 
strike root as readily as Poplars. 
1 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
NOTES FOB THE SEASON. 
As the winter will soon be upon us no time should be lost in having 
all hives requiring it thoroughly covered, as if delayed until the bees 
cease flying many will be lost through the strange appearance of the 
hive. Those that have been already arranged for the winter, and in 
no way jrotected from mice, should be examined, and the intruders, 
if any, trapped, as if they affect a lodgment in the hive it is per¬ 
manently destroyed. Thorough dryness and ventilation is the key to 
success, therefore these should be carefullj^ attended to. In no case 
should waterproof material lie flat on the covering. From this until 
the bees are able to take their first flight they should not on any pre- 
text whatever be disturbed, and the appearance and site of the hives 
as they wmre when the bees last flew in the fall should be strictly 
maintained. I always endeavour to give the bees as little extra 
labour as possible, and especially that of propolising, which that of 
proper made hives and close fitting quilts is a means ; but where that 
cannot be avoided I allow to remain, as by removing it the bees are 
caused the extra labour of replacing it, thus wearing them out and 
causing their loss. Propolis is not always lo be had from natural 
sources, and the bees are thereby compelled to seek in strange places 
for a strange material to effect their purpose. A^arnishes of every 
description they utilise, and only the other day I observed bees with 
white pellets upon their legs which at first puzzled me, until I dis¬ 
covered many bees at work upon some newly painted hives. About 
the same time I observed a paragraph in a daily paper setting forth 
that a bee was seen in a hotel flying about the flowers printed upon 
the wall paper, the observer believing that it was the accurate repre¬ 
sentation of the flower that lured the bee ; but the fact is the bee 
had been led to it to extract for propolising purposes the gum em¬ 
ployed to fix the colours in the paper. 
Although bees will and do employ poisonous ingredients for pro¬ 
polising, very little of these, if any, ever get mixed with the honey. 
I wish I could with confidence say the same of extracted honey. 
Everybody who keeps bees knows how guilt}^ they are of sipping 
water from every dirty pool. This liquid being stored in the cells 
throughout the hive is never sealed, therefore does not enter into 
honey unless when the apiarian uses the extractor, cannot then escape 
being mixed with the honey. I have been prompted to make these 
remarks from observation, and having the other day offered a hive of 
bees a piece of honeycomb to clean, which they did with the excep¬ 
tion of about a dozen cells unsealed, containing something tasting 
like honey, but having a lustrous appearance, and which I could not 
get the bees to take, though they had evidently carried it in and 
stored it.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
candy or syrup ; the former I do not approve of, as there is always 
some waste. The feeder I prefer is a combination one, which may 
be used either as a simple bottle feeder placed in a small block of wood 
with a piece of perforated zinc half an inch from its bottom retting 
upon the ledge formed by having the lower hole a little less than 
the upper one which receives the neck of the bottle, and of course the 
original plan of having a piece of net permanently and firmly tied over 
the mouth is much better and safer than the new idea of inverting a 
bottle over a tin shovel, on which the slightest jar may either cause to 
fall or leak. Or the bottle may have a bung with a hole through and 
widened from the inner side in which a ball acting as a valve is put and 
prevented from falling out by a cross wire on the end of the bung. ^ A 
shallow wooden box is made to receive this bottle with a paitition 
app 'rtioning off the space for a trough an inch wide, and another the same 
width for the bees to ascend. This pai t has glass over top so that the bees 
can be viewed sipping the syrup, and the latter being glass shows how 
quick it is taken. If desired candy can be given to the bees in this 
space. 
The other division is covered with a sliding lid, having a hole to 
receive the bottle resting upon the lid, so that strange bees cannot gain 
an entrance to the syrup. A pin rising from the bottom lifts the ball, 
and so allows the sugar to escape to a trough which is not more than 
five-eighths of an inch from the top of the hive. One of the essential 
points in feeding is that the syrup be within easy reach of the bees, and 
in such a way that they are not smeared with the syrup, and that the 
feeder be of a non-conducting material, but that very little syrup should 
lie in wood long, as it is more liable to ferment than when it is in a 
bottle so inverted. 
If it is found to be inconvenient to feed from the top, this bottle does 
for an under-feeder. A thin piece of wood with one or more grooves 
one-eighth of an inch wide, having a square of 3 or 4 inches at one end 
having a ring of wood to support the bottle, is all that is required to make 
an efficient under-feeder. It will be observed that while using this as a 
top feeder it never causes a draught, as it is sure to do more or less in 
“ Basil’s ” case, while as an observatory feeder a better cannot be desired. 
The shallow frame with strips of glass for the purpose of viewing the 
“ state of their supply ” can but give a very inadequate idea of the real 
quantity. Never trust to having the necessity to examine during winter, 
but always give bees sufficient syrup made from best refined cane sugar 
in August, and have it rather thin than thick, and always boil for one 
minute. Glass over the tops of the frames is not commendable, con¬ 
densing the moisture from the bees may cause mischief ; besides glass in 
such a position soon loses its transparency. The principle of being able 
to extract any one frame without exposing the rest is good. 
Floorboards as well as division boards should be cleaned and 
thoroughly dried now, then on the first mild day immediately after the 
bees have had a thorough airing from January on, when a second or 
third cleansing may be resorted to, but never unless on such mild days as 
the bees have flown. If perforated zinc floors were used they would not 
only do away with damp, but obviate the necessity of cleaning floors 
(at least oftener than once a year) unless in the frequent withdrawal of 
under sliding floor, which is beneficial in reducing the number of bee 
parasites.— A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper.] 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Kelway & Son, Laugport, Somerset .—Annual Catalogue of Gladioli. 
James Cocker & Sons, Aberdeen .—Catalogue of Roses. 
CONSTRUCTION OF THE TOP OF A FRAME HIVF. 
Kindly give me an opinion through your journal on the construc¬ 
tion for the top of a bar-frame hive made (1) for feeding, (2) for viewing 
frames and taking them out. 
(1) , Frame, simply sides and ends standing over a quilt (the quilt 
having a hole 2 inches squares) made with three divisions, the end divi¬ 
sions covered with glass under which the bees travel on the top of the quilt 
to eat flour cake or candy. The centre division is made with a platform 
over which is placed a frame covered with perforated zinc for a feeding 
bottle. By simply raising the chaff bag the owner can see without dis¬ 
turbing the bees the state of their supply of cake or candy. This covered 
with another quilt can have a good thickness of chaff over it. 
(2) , A very shallow frame in which are strips of glass running the 
same way as frames, and close upon their tops, so that the inside may be 
viewed on the removal of quilt which covers the glass without letting 
out the bees, and on the removal of any one piece of glass the frame 
under it can be taken out without uncovering several, as must be neces¬ 
sarily done with a quilt. 
(3) , How often does a hive floor require to be cleaned ?—Basil, 
Norfolk. 
[Like many other matters the construction and management of hives 
and bees arising from fancy is what gives zest and pleasure to the owner 
and not unseldom leads to great results, therefore no one has a right to 
find fault with another system so long as it does not interrupt the general 
progress of the science. The frame over a quilt is an old contrivance. We 
have used similar contrivances a quarter of a century ago, which are not 
so good as a piece of Indian matting laid close to the frames, then over it 
either meadow hay or straw to the depth of 4 or .5 inches, and close to 
the outer case, which should rhe somewhat above the inner one ; or if 
single cased the straw should be brought down to the lower edge of the 
hive. This arrangement does not interfere with feeding either wdth 
* J All coiTespondence 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. 
Chrysanthemum Blooms {Young Grower ).—AVe can only describe the 
blooms you have sent of fair average quality, and by no means can they be 
considered as representing a good “standard of excellence.” Very much 
finer examples will win all the best prizes at the chief metropolitan shows. 
Still, as you are a “ young grower,” your flowers are creditable, and we 
advise you to persevere, as we feel convinced you will do better another year. 
Many worse blooms are exhibited than those before us. 
Balsam Tree (//. C .).—In all probability the shrub to which you refer 
under the above name is Cistus Ladaniferus. The product furnished by the 
plants of this family is a resinous substance. It is obtained from the leaves 
of Cistus Ladaniferus, C. laurifolius, C. Ledon and C, creticus. The first is 
well known in the gaidens of this country as Gum Cistus. Upon the leaves 
and branches of these shrubs a juice exudes which is collected by means of 
an instrument made with leather straps united together and arranged like 
