August 10, 1882. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 137 
escape of rank steam and moisture, it being essential that the foliage, 
be dry before night. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Stove. —G-esneras of the zebrina section must not be placed under 
the shade of other plants, but must have a light position to induce 
stout short growth, which is essential to their free flowering and 
the development of their handsome foliage. They should have 
weak liquid manure occasionally, and not be too freely watered, nor 
must the foliage be allowed to flag. G. Cooperi and G-. Donckelaari 
will, if well attended to, throw up second flowering shoots, and 
bloom well if encouraged with liquid manure and kept in a light 
position. 
Gardenias from cuttings struck in spring and grown on for winter 
flowering should be well attended to, not allowing them to become 
root-bound, but shifting into the blooming pots—G or 7-inch—at once, 
so as to get them well established before the short days. Every care 
should be taken to keep them free of mealy bug and other insect 
pests. They should be grown in plenty of light, so as to harden the 
growth and induce free-flowering. 
Pancratiums caribbseum, fragrans, and ovatum bear large umbels 
of pure white fragrant flowers from June to August; the flowers, of 
lighter appearance and greater elegance than Eucharis, and expanding 
successionally, are very useful for cutting, being very chaste for 
bouquets. They are of easy culture, and should have a place in 
every stove. Turfy yellow loam with a fifth of leaf soil or well- 
decayed manure and a slight admixture of sand suits them perfectly. 
Plants that have flowered will be starting into growth, and should be 
well supplied with moisture both at the roots and in the atmosphere, 
feeding occasionally with liquid manure, as the finer the growth and 
bulbs the stronger they will throw for bloom. A position near the 
glass should be given them to insure thick leathery foliage. Being 
evergreen they ought not to be dried off, but have the soil always 
moist; lessened supplies of water, however, being necessary when at 
rest than during growth. Amaryllises having completed their growth 
should have a light airy position, or may be stood in a pit and have 
water to maintain the foliage in good condition to the last, keeping 
them free from red spider by syringing, or the leaves should be 
sponged with soapy water occasionally. A little weak liquid manure 
occasionally will assist in developing fine bulbs, which invariably 
throw the finest flower scapes. 
The earliest-flowered Gloxinias may now be gradually dried off, not 
withholding water altogether, but giving sufficient to keep the foliage 
from flagging. Any choice varieties may have the leaves inserted in 
sandy loam around the sides of a 6-inch pot; and kept close, moist, 
and shaded from bright sun in gentle heat, they will soon form a 
bulbous callosity, and be available for next year’s flow r ering. 
Toxicophlaea spectabilis and T. Thunbergi are well worth growing 
for their odour, a few flowers scenting a house. The flowers are 
white, borne in corymbs (not unlike an Ixora) from the points of the 
shoots and axils of the leaves. They do best in an intermediate tem¬ 
perature or cool stove, and do not require a great amount of root 
space, thriving in sandy peat. Jasminum gracillimum promises to be 
one of the finest of winter-flowering plants for decorative purposes 
and for cutting from. It is of free growth, and blooms profusely, the 
flowers being borne in a cluster, pure white and very fragrant. It is 
of very easy culture, doing well in sandy loam with a little leaf soil. 
It should be now placed in plenty of light to harden up the growth, 
and it will flower in October through the winter. Plants well bloomed 
in G-inch pots are fine for table decoration, its graceful habit pecu¬ 
liarly fitting it for that purpose. 
Climhers trained to the rafters improve the appearance of the house, 
and where cut flowers are in request in quantity it is absolutely neces¬ 
sary to have such plants as Clerodendron Balfourianum, Bougainvillea 
glabra, Allamandas Hendersoni, nobilis, and cathartica, along with 
Dipladenia Brearleyana and the indispensable Stephanotis floribunda, 
are better planted out, but if allowed to become too large they do 
serious injury to the plants beneath by excluding the necessary light. 
Climbers in restricted borders should be well supplied with liquid 
manure. 
AUTUMN TREATMENT OF STOCKS. 
The present season from its beginning till now (August 5th) 
has been unfavourable for bees and most discouraging to young 
apiarians. Owing to last winter being open and warm, bees, gene¬ 
rally speaking, consumed most of their stores, and therefore their 
hives were unusually light in spring, and in most cases and places 
have been during the spring and summer months at the doors of 
poverty. With scant supplies in side hives and gloomy skies above 
them bees are discouraged, and wisely or instinctively abstain from 
extensive breeding. In such circumstances bees make little pro¬ 
gress, and move slowly up to the swarming point. This season 
has been a remarkable one for slow growth, drone-killing, late 
swarming, and unwillingness to sw r arm at all. In some hives that 
were heavy in autumn the bees have neither felt nor feared the 
approach of poverty, and have done better. Bee-keepers of ex¬ 
perience know that hives with sufficient stores in them are less 
affected by unfavourable weather, and continue to multiply their 
numbers often, while weaker hives abandon breeding and cast out 
their drones. Bee-keepers have had abundant evidence of this 
during the last few years, and every year’s experience strengthens 
and deepens our convictions on the subject. In September at 
latest bees should have stores enough laid up to keep them till the 
end of the March following, so that feeding is unnecessary during 
winter and early spring. About 15 lbs. of honey or syrup keep 
a large swarm or stock from September till March. A straw 
hive and board weigh about 10 or 12 lbs.; bees from 5 to 8 lbs.; 
combs-farina about 7 lbs., 15 lbs. of honey, thus making a good 
stock about 40 lbs. in weight. Boxes and bar-frame hives are 
considerably heavier than straw, and therefore their weight in 
September should be rather more. 
In apiaries kept for profit autumn treatment is considered a 
point of the greatest importance. Hives properly treated in 
August and September need but little attention in winter and 
spring, cause no anxiety or fear, but foster hopes of a successful 
future. To have strong hives in autumn should be the aim of 
every bee-keeper. The great secret of success lies here, and there¬ 
fore let us here notice some points of importance in autumn treat¬ 
ment. At the end of the season, when hives begin to lose weight, 
one of the first things to be done is to select hives for keeping 
another year. The best for this purpose are those that are full, or 
nearly full, of young sweet combs straightly built, the central 
combs well filled with brood and without many drone cells. The 
longer we practise bee-keeping the more clearly do we see the im¬ 
portance of having the apiary filled with stocks with young combs. 
This statement has been often repeated, because it cannot be too 
well or widely known. Old combs are objectionable from every 
point of view. The central and greater parts of the combs of 
every hive are filled with brood several times every year, and 
every cell becomes less by the cocoon or skin of every bee reared 
in it. The walls of the cells become thicker, and in this way the 
cells are contracted and give less space for the development of 
brood and for the storing of honey. Old combs often become 
filled with pollen, and are then worse than useless, for they occupy 
space and cannot be used for either breeding or storing purposes. 
Foul brood, the scourge of many an apiary, is very rarely 
found in young combs ; and if the practice of changing stocks 
every season be followed foul brood will never do much harm and 
need not be feared. Hives, then, with young combs are to be 
preferred for stocks.—A. Pettigrew. 
(To be continued.) 
FORECASTS OF VARIOUS KINDS. 
THE EFFECTS OF COLD—POLLEN-GATHERING—INFERTILE QUEENS. 
The milder the winter is the more complete will be the repose 
of the bees, and the lower will they be able to allow the tempera¬ 
ture to become even when they have their winter quarters, whilst 
increasing cold stimulates them to breathe more frequently and 
to consume more food ; in other words, it stimulates their vital 
powers to greater activity in order to be able to offer the necessary 
resistance to the cold. It will be seen from this whether it is 
advisable to keep bees exposed to the cold in winter. Theory and 
experience, as well as the last mild winter, demonstrate to us 
practically the fallacy of this opinion. Exposure of the bees to 
extreme cold certainly causes them to crowd together into as thick 
a cluster as possible, but it does not send them into a sleep-like 
state of repose. On the contrary, it startles them out of their rest, 
