JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 4, 1883. ] 
15 
plants when they require it. Plunge the pots to the iims, cover¬ 
ing them with a clean piece of glass, which must he removed as 
soon as the plants appear. Telegraph is one of the best Cucumbers 
in cultivation. 
Figs .—Trees started in November to give Figs fit for gathering 
early in May will be throwing out fresh rootlets plentifully, and, 
instead of allowing them to go direct into the leaves, good pieces 
of turf should be placed round the rims to keep the roots near 
home and encourage a sturdy growth. The bottom heat should 
be kept steady at 75° to 80° from the commencement of the swell¬ 
ing of the fruit until it begins to ripen. Take advantage of sun¬ 
shine to raise the temperature with a little fire heat to 80°, but for 
the present the night temperature should be kept at C0°. As 
growth advances disbud and stop all gross shoots ; but the finest 
Figs are borne on free healthy trees grown on the extension 
system. 
The second house should be closed at once to give a supply of 
ripe fruit early in June, and as the trees in this structure will be 
planted out in inside borders good waterings with liquid manure 
at 85° must be given until the soil is thoroughly moist. Figs 
require quantities of water, hence the borders should be properly 
drained. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
' Stove .—This house should now be gay with Euphorbias, Poin- 
settias, Plumbagos, Gesnerias, and other plants that flower freely 
at this season if properly prepared for the purpose. Nothing is 
gained now by maintaining a higher night temperature than G0° 
to 65°, according to the weather externally, with a rise of 5° 
during the day. After a moderate season’s rest the plants will, 
with increased daylight and the temperature slightly raised, in a 
few weeks make much greater progress than would be the case 
if hurried on by hard firing from this date. 
If bug, scale, or thrips exist upon the plants means should now 
be taken to destroy them, for with increased heat and moisture 
they will spread rapidly and be a source of trouble the whole 
season while the young foliage of the plants is tender. For the 
two former nothing is better than petroleum used at the rate of 
4£ ozs. to 4 gallons of rain water. It is only by practice and ex¬ 
perience that this valuable insecticide can be safely used ; if left 
to the inexperienced injury is sure to result. Under these cir¬ 
cumstances when such work has to be left to others it is the safest 
to use Fir-tree oil, tobacco water, and a little softsoap for thrips. 
The structure in which the plants are grown should be tho¬ 
roughly cleaned ; this should be done even if no insects exist, 
either by painting the woodwork, which will be drier now in all 
probability than at any other time during the year. It is a good 
plan to wash the woodwork and glass previous to painting. 
Where painting is not required, then washing only will need 
attention, using a fair quantity of petroleum in the water. The 
walls should be liinewashed. but before doing so wash them with 
muriatic acid and water. This is invaluable for destroying bug 
that may have become established in the walls, and will even 
remove the whole of the green if used strong enough from the 
flags of any stonework in the house. The pipes and staging (if 
iron) should be painted with lampblack and boiled oil mixed 
thinly and applied while the pipes are warm. This dries quickly 
and the smell is not offensive, and if the pipes are made hot 
directly after painting is done it will not injure the most tender 
foliage. The material upon the stages for retaining moisture, 
whether gravel, cocoa-nut fibre, or anything else, should be 
removed and fresh supplied. 
FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Owing to the long-continued rainy weather operations in this 
department must be limited to sweeping and rolling the walks 
and turf where necessary, and otherwise preserving a neat appear¬ 
ance. Where, however, there is much work to be done all must 
not be postponed. For instance, walks may be formed or reno¬ 
vated, as the case may be, the fresh material if necessary being 
wheeled on planks. A walk to be permanent and fit for use at 
all times must be drained and well made. The bottom should be 
rounded, if it is intended to dispose 2-inch drain pipes on each 
side ; or hollowed, if a single drain formed with 3-inch drain 
pipes is taken down the centre. A thick layer of rough stones, 
brick ends, or clinkers should then be disposed over the bottom, 
and this will form a good foundation for the finer surface gravel. 
Of the latter about 3 inches is required. If good binding gravel 
is scarce it should be reserved for surfacing, and this in some 
instances—notably near the metropolis—requires to be freely 
watered as it is being rolled. In ail cases the walks should be 
well rounded ; and where they are steep, to prevent the gravel 
being washed away paved gutters should be formed, while if only 
moderately steep it will only be necessary to build cesspools with 
open gratings at intervals along the sides, these being in connec¬ 
tion with the drain or drains under the walk. 
Selecting and Ordering Roses .—It is not advisable to procure 
the majority of shrubs and deciduous trees early in this month, 
as there is the risk of the weather hindering planting, and those 
with balls of earth attached especially are injured by frequent 
removals. Those who have not ordered Roses should do so at 
once, as these can be packed so as to be uninjured by frost; 
besides, there is invariably a great demand for them early in the 
season. When received lay them in carefully by the roots where 
they can be covered with rough litter in the event of a severe 
frost being imminent. They may be planted during February. 
The preference should be given to dwarfs, as being the hardiest. 
No collection of Roses may be said to be complete that does not 
comprise such grand summer and autumn-flowering varieties as 
Maurice Bernardin, Marquise de Castellane, Boule de Neige, 
Cheshunt Hybrid, Marie Baumann, A. K. Williams, John Keynes, 
Charles Lefebvre, Alfred Colomb, Capitaine Christy, Countess of 
Oxford, Senateur Yaisse, Fisher Holmes, Duke of Edinburgh, 
John Hopper, La France, Madame Eugene Yerdier, Madame 
Gabriel Luizet, Miss Hassard, Mons. E. Y. Teas, General Jacque¬ 
minot, and Sultan of Zanzibar. 
Treatment of Bedding Plants .—These this season, notably 
Pelargoniums of all kinds, are with difficulty prevented from 
damping off. A long period of dull weather, such as we are now 
experiencing, sometimes proves more disastrous than very severe 
weather, as there is no possibility of keeping the plants suffi¬ 
ciently dry. To counteract this the lights should be removed 
during the prevalence of sunshine, and during dull rainy weather 
should be blocked up at the back, and fire heat where available 
turned on. The plants ought frequently to be examined, and all 
decaying leaves removed. Pelargoniums require no water at the 
roots unless they are wintered in a dry and rather warm house, 
and even in this case it is not advisable to encourage growth so 
early in the season. Verbenas, Heliotropes, Ageratums, and 
Lobelias ought not to become dust-dry at the roots, but Iresines, 
Coleuses, Alternantheras, Mesembryanthemums, and succulents 
generally should not be heavily watered, especially where wintered 
in a comparatively low temperature. Give air freely on all 
favourable occasions to Calceolarias, Violas, Gazanias, or any half- 
hardy kinds of bedding plants being wintered in cold frames. 
If severe frost be anticipated cover all frames with mats, pieces 
of carpet, canvas, or other available material, and dispose over 
these and around the sides a heavy covering of rough dry litter. 
FEEDING BEES. 
It will be well now to consider some of the means to be employed 
whereby success may be insured for the coming season. Next 
to having dry well-ventilated hives, a proper knowledge of the 
science of bee-feeding is most useful. It may appear to those about 
to commence bee-keeping that there cannot be much science in 
feeding bees, but at the outset we will say that the knowledge of 
when, how, and why we feed them, points out the high road to that 
success we wish to insure. Unlike other creatures bees are not to 
be fed simply because they require food, but at cer'ain times 
feeding, such as we shall recommend, must be carried on when 
an abundance of food may be in the hive; while, again, that 
feeding performed at an untoward season would bring about the 
destruction of those we wished to keep alive. It will be readily 
seen, therefore, of what paramount importance a proper acquaintance 
with this subject must be to the man about to keep bees. We may 
divide our subject into four heads—autumn feeding, spring feeding, 
feeding of swarms, and obligatory feeding either in summer or 
winter. 
We commence with autumn feeding, because it is then that the 
stock is built up which is to do the principal work of the succeeding 
summer. Very few of the bees then fed will, indeed, live to help to 
fill the supers for the summer shows, but they are to be the nurses 
and feeders of the teeming multitudes of young bees upon whom the 
summer’s burden will be cast. It cannot be too often impressed 
upon the readers of this Journal that the stocks which are strong in 
late autumn, strong in their numbers of young bees, are those which 
carry our hopes of profit in the ensuing year. How eften the 
heaviest stock in autumn proves the weakest in the following May. 
The combs filled with honey during a glut which suddenly fails, 
