December 25, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
681 
ovfr the plants daily, and see that none of the plants is in need of wafer. 
Admit air freely to plants in frames ; for those plunged outdoors a little 
protection over the crowns in severe weather is beneficial. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Gardenias. —The flower buds are n'.w forming in large quantities, and 
swelling fast under ordinary stove treatment. If the plants are wanted 
in bloom as early as possible the most forward must be plunged in bottom 
heat that can be kept at about 80°, with an atmospheric temperature 
about 10° lower. If the plants are syringed twice daily the buds will 
develope quickly. If the pots are full of roots weak stimulants may be 
given, or, better still, a little artificial manure applied to the surface. In 
the later batches the roots must be kept steadily growing, or the flower 
buds when they appear will be puny if not deformed. In the majority of 
cases the deformity of the flower buds of these plants is due to inactivity 
of their roo’s and strong supplies of liquid manure during the time root- 
action is defective. Strong insecticides will also cause the same results 
when applied as the buds are forming. At this season mealy bug or 
other insects should be removed by the aid of a sponge or small brush 
instead of trying to destroy the insects by applications of strong insecti¬ 
cides. Young stock and all successional batches should not remain in a 
lower temperature than 58° or 60°, according to the weather, cr they will 
become seriously checked and their progress brought to a stanistill. 
Pancratiums. —These during their season of flowering are even more 
nseful for bouquet-making than the beautiful Eucharis. Both, however, 
are much admired, and should be grown in numbers where stove heat 
can be provided. It is a mistake, however, to keep Pancratiums in the 
stove the whole year, for under these conditions they do not rest so 
thoroughly and completely as could be desired to ensure the most perfect 
success in their culture. If not removed from stove heat they should be 
gradually dried at their roots and placed in a lower temperature, say 50° 
to 65°, where they will be given no more w’ater than is suflfijient to keep 
their roots and foliage healthy. Cold draughts of air must be kept from 
them, and under these conditions they will rest perfectly, and the growth 
they make afterwards will be strong. No attempt should be made to 
ripen the foliage, for the lower temperature is sufficient to arrest growth 
and ensure a perfect rest. 
Achimenes .—If the tubers of these plants have not been removed from 
amongst the old soil no time must be lost in completing this operation 
with those that rested early in the season. After this the tubers of the 
earliest batch may be spread thinly in pots or pans according to the 
quantity grown. They will do in any light material, and the tubers 
should be covered with about half an inch of fine soil on the surface. If 
the pans or pots containing the tubers are stood in a temperature of from 
60° to 65° they will soon start into growth. If the soil is in a proper state 
of moisture give no water, but cover the surface of the pots with cocoa-nut 
fibre or other similar material after they have been plunged, which will 
save watering and prevent evaporation. They should remain in this 
condition until they commence growing. It must be determined when 
placing the tubers in pots or pans whether they will be taken out and 
placed into others 1 or 2 inches apart after they have commenced growing, 
or whether they will be allowed to grow together for yielding cuttings 
which will be rooted in pots and pans for the future specimens. If the 
former, the tubers must net be sown too thickly ; if the latter—and the 
best specimens are those grown from cuttings—it is immaterial how 
thickly they are placed together. 
Caladimns .—The roots of those that were placed to rest early may now 
be shaken from amongst the old soil, repotted in as small pots as possible, 
and placed in heat, treating them the same as advised for Achimenes until 
they commence growing. In potting a good dash of sand may be placed 
about the roots. A compost of good loam, one-third leaf soil a id old 
Mushroom-bed refuse, with a dash of coarse sand, will suit these plants well. 
They need have no water until signs of growth are visible, for they are 
very liable to decay if kept in any way too moist when they are first started. 
If the pots are entirely plunged no water will be needed. A better plan 
than potting the roots is to place them in a box, just covering them with 
equal parts of leaf mould and sand until they show signs of growing, when 
they may be potted at once. Under this system the plants occupy 
considerably less room than when potted singly at the commencement. 
Gloxinias .—A few roots may be started for early flowering, and these 
we prefer to shake out of the old soil and place them thickly together in 
boxes or large pans in preference to potting them singly at first. AU that 
is needed is to spread about 1 inch of leaf soil at the base of the boxes, then 
place in the roots and cover them with about 1 inch of the same material. 
They should be placed in heat, the surface of the box syringed occasionally ; 
they will very soon start into growth and commence rooting, when they 
may be potted singly in pots varying in size according to the size of the 
corms. 
I 
m BBE-KBEPER. 
■ 1 • 1 •' 
THE TEEM OF BEE LIFE. 
Notwithstanding all that has been written upon the natural 
term of bee life, there is still much misconception regarding the 
limit. From the fact that many articles have been written on pre¬ 
serving of bees is proof that their management is by many but 
impei’fectly understood, and that many bees die at an early age 
through ignorance on the part of the owner. There is no time 
throughout the whole year that the apiarian is justified in pursuing 
a course that is likely to shorten bee life. Where profit is expected 
it should be the aim at all times of the bee-master to prolong it. 
Although care to prolong bee life is necessary at all times, yet 
during autumn a little extra attention is absolutely necessary 
before we can reasonably expect our favourites to tide over the 
winter months successfully, and obviate untimely deaths we read 
so much about. That bee life can both be prolonged or cut short 
there is no doubt, and the bee-keeper has the control of that to a 
great extent, as can be witnessed by comparing results under dif¬ 
ferent manageuaents. 
I have expressed my views strongly as to what constitutes the 
best preserving hive, the first principle in apiculture. I have 
also shown that the short term of bee life, as set down by modern 
writers, is misleading; in short, the six-weeks theory cannot be 
supported by any evidence. However desirable the youthful 
element may be in the hive at certain seasons, it is positively 
injurious at others. It is a fact well known that bees, on or 
about the fifth day of their existence, if the weather is warm, fly 
out and void their excreta, which, if delayed beyond a reasonable 
time, they become restless and cold, communicating the restless¬ 
ness to the adult bees; and the young ones, unable to fly, either 
leave the hive to die outside, or are chilled to death inside. 
Young bees cannot endure the same length of confinement, if 
they have never had an airing, as adult bees, and are often the 
direct cause of the entire loss of the hive that bred them. 
Late feeding is a mistake, and many a bad result has arisen 
therefrom. Late breeding we cannot always prevent, but it 
should not be encouraged. It has always been our object to be 
in possession of hives that neither require feeding nor coddling. 
Some years since, and for years in succession, a contemporary 
advised feeding in October, and we know something of the evil 
that beset those who took that ill-timed advice. 
Bees, as a rule, cease breeding with the decline of the honey 
season, which usually occurs about the end of August, except in 
the case of those having young fertile queens, which, unless fed, 
will not breed beyond the autumnal equinox, but will sometimes 
begin again soon after the shortest day. When this is the case, 
and a mild February follows, thei’e will be a chance for the young 
and tender bees to get an airing. Then all may go well; but 
should the weather be untoward and protracted, so as to prevent 
the flight of the young bees, the hive may succumb to the in¬ 
fluence of the evil. But, happily, early breeding is not so fatal 
or injurious to bees as late breeding. 
I have for some time past been paying particular attention to 
hives with late-bred bees, not for the purpose of getting infor¬ 
mation, but to be enabled to give that to others from accurate 
observations Since the 10th of November, the last day bees car¬ 
ried pollen for this year, I have collected all the dead ones from 
several hives, having taken the precaution that none should be 
carried olf by the birds, by netting the front of the hive. I col¬ 
lected the ejected dead, and found, as I fully expected, not more 
than 10 per cent, of adult bees out of more than ten thousand. 
These I laid down near a hive, and in less than an hour the spar¬ 
rows and titmice had carried every one away. My reason for 
mentioning the alacrity the birds displayed is to impress bee¬ 
keepers that, though their hives may show no signs of dead bees, 
they may be actually dwindling rapidly through some autumnal 
mismanagement. 
The foregoing will, pei’haps, impress the beginner with the 
evils of late feeding and breeding, and convey to him the cause 
of dwindling stocks. This is sometimes aggravated by uncalled- 
for molestations, and a superabundance of cloth coverings, which 
often cause internal damp and disease in the bees. Thus by 
excess they aggravate evils that sensible bee-keepers would 
obviate by using, in moderation, the proper quantity of a 
suitable material, which helps greatly to prolong the life of the 
bee.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
BEES AND FLOWER COLOURS. 
It has been shown that the petals of flowers are for the purpose of 
attracting insects to carry pollen from one plant to another, so that the 
seeds would be more perfectly fertilised; and also that petals have been 
evolved from stamens. As stamens are almost universally yellow, it is 
natural to suppose that the primitive petals were also yellow; and the 
question arises, “ How came these originally yellow petals to assume the 
many varied hues which they now possess?” A quarter of a century ago 
this question would hardly have been thought of, to say nothing of an 
attempt to answer it; but now, thanks to the researches of Darwin, 
Lubbock, Muller, Wallace and others across the Atlantic, as well as Gray, 
Beal, and scores of other enthusiastic workers in our own country, we can 
at least point to a very plausible solution of the question. 
These researches have proved not only what has before been stated, tha 
