16 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ January 4, 18SS. 
offer no receptacles into which the queen can deposit, eggs, and by 
the time cells are emptied to satisfy hungry bees the impulse to lay 
eggs ceases, and the colony clusters to pass the winter with only old 
half-worn-out members. What is the result in the spring ? The 
first few warm days tempt the bees to forage for pollen and honey; 
the queen, seeing a little food coming in, begins to lay; brood, soon 
requires to be kept warm, and is reared; young bees begin to 
appear and require food. But by this time the ever-changing and 
treacherous spring weather has dealt death to the greater part of 
the enfeebled survivors of the winter. A sudden spell of bitter east 
winds with frost compels the few left to cluster closer together; 
perhaps brood has to he deserted and is chilled to death; the queen 
is disheartened and ceases to attempt the increase of her family ; and 
if with the return of fine weather that hive pulls through at all, it 
is a weak profitless hive during the rest of the seas >n. Yet by 
judicious feeding in autumn this evil might have been averted. 
The food for autumn feeding should he made with less water 
than that given in the spring. A pint of water to 3 lbs. of best 
lump sugar, to which half a wineglass of vinegar is added just after 
removing it from the fire after gently boiling for ten minutes, at 
the same time stirring in a little salt, will make food of the proper 
consistency. As soon as the harvest from natural sources fails the 
hive should be examined, the space contracted to six or eight 
combs to secure warmth during the lengthening nights, all surplus 
honey extracted, or surplus combs removed and empty combs 
put into the centre of the hive, and then food given gently but 
continuously. Should the weather continue fine during the end of 
August and through September some little honey will still be 
brought in, and then if the syrup be given to the bees during 
evening it will cause what we aim at—the continual increase of the 
colony. Early in October bees cease to feed, the queen gradually 
ceases to lay. In three weeks most of the young bees are hatched 
out, and the col my goes into winter quarters, powerful not only in 
numbers but with unused energy stored up in a multitude of young 
bees, which will be proof against the trying ordeal of fickle spring 
weather, and, hearing the wear and tear of nursery cares, carry our 
stock safely on to the swarming season, either to give us new 
colonies or well-filled supers. 
Spring feeding now claims our attention, and this is supple¬ 
mentary to autumn feeding. A very weak stock may sometimes— 
that is, when weather and honey supplies work with us—be fed up 
into a strong healthy stock by the time the bulk of the honey 
harvest is fit to gather. But the odds are against our success. On 
the other hand, where autumn feeding has been properly carried 
out, spring feeding rapidly tells on the well-peopled stock. The 
food should be thinner than that given during autumn. Our aim 
then was to have as little superfluous moisture as possible, to be 
driven out of the hive before winter; now the greater amount of 
water is required and used by the hees as the rapidly developing 
hrood require it. Half a pint to each pound of sugar, and made 
into syrup as before, should now be given. Should the store of 
food be running short in the hive a'ter the winter consumption we 
feed a few pounds rjpidly at first, and then gently as in the autumn. 
The amount given is regulated by feeding through a greater or less 
number of holes in the zinc, and it can be fed either at the side or 
on the top as shown in the figures and description of our hives, 
pages 414 and 486 last volume. 
This continuous gentle feeding has the same effect on the queen 
as in the autumn—she lays eggs, first a few, and ever increasing 
in numbers as newly hatched bees swell the nursing powers of the 
hive. This tendency to deposit more and more eggs is further 
excited by what is termed “ spreading the brood.” After the first 
batch of eggs has begun to hatch out and the colony is gaining 
power we insert either sheets of foundation or empty comb between 
frames of brood. Constantly enlarging the broud nest as the in¬ 
creasing numbers warrant us in so doing, we in time have brood 
from end to end of the hive, and the happy state of affairs which we 
above pointed out is attained by the time Nature puts on her 
flowery garb and the bee-master puts on his supers. 
But the greatest care must he taken never to neglect to continue 
feeding, once having begun. When we have so stimulated a stock 
that it has become perhaps full to overflowing with bees and brood, 
the result might be most disastrous should the supply of food be 
suddenly and permanently stopped. The greater the strength of 
the colony the greater the demand on its stores of honey; and a 
hive in the powerful condition we picture would in a very short 
time be on the verge of starvation. It is therefore necessary that 
we know what amount of food is stored, and should the quantity ho 
growing small a certain amount should be rapidly supplied. We 
have done this without increasing the fixed daily allowance from 
the feeder, by pouring a pound or two of syrup into empty combs 
on the outer sides of the brood nest. The frame of comb laid flat 
can be easily filled with syrup by letting the latter fall in a thin 
stream from a lipped jug held some distance above the comb, and 
this can be at once hung in its position in the hives. The bees will 
place the food just where they require it. We have now only to 
notice feeding ot swarms, and what we have called obligatory 
feeding, which we hope to do in another letter.—P. H. P. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Charles Sharpe & Co., Sleaford, Lincolnshire.— Seed List for 1883 
( Illustrated ). 
Robert Yeitch & Son, 54, High Street, Exeter.— Catalogue of Vege¬ 
table and Flower Seeds. 
Ralph Crossling, Penarth Nurseries, South Wales.— List of Vege¬ 
table and Flower Seeds. 
Edward Webb & Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge.— Spring Catalogue 
for 1883 (with coloured illustrations). 
Kent & Brydon, Darlington.— Seed Guide for 1883 ( Illustrated ). 
Auguste Van Geert, Ghent, Belgium.— List of Flower and Vegetable 
Seeds. 
Dickson, Brown, & Tait, Manchester.— Spring Catalogue of Flower 
and Vegetable Seeds. 
George Bunyard & Co., Maidstone.— Catalogue of Vegetable and 
Flower Seeds. » 
John Laing & Co., Forest Hill.— Catalogue of Vegetable and Flower 
Seeds. 
*** All correspondence 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. We 
request that no one will write privately to any of our correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Poultry and Bee subjects, and 
should never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should be written on one side of 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, 
and we do not undertake to return reiected communications. 
Carnations for Beds {Ayrshire ).—We have notes in hand on growing 
Carnations in beds, with a selection of varieties most suitable for that method 
of culture, and these will be published in an early issue of the Journal. 
Jasminum gracillimum (T. Griffiths ).—This valuable plant was intro¬ 
duced by Messrs. James Yeitch & Sons, Royal Exotic Nursery, King’s Road, 
Chelsea, and if you write to this firm you can obtain the particulars you require, 
Capparis spinosa—The Caper Plant {II. M .).—Capparis spinosa, from 
which the capers of commerce are obtained, grows abundantly in the south of 
Europe, along the shores and on the islands of the Mediterranean, and in Syria. 
It is generally found wild on walls and rocks ; it is met with on the walls of 
Rome, Sienna, and Florence, and is extensively cultivated in the south of Europe, 
particularly between Marseilles and Toulon, and in many pares of Italy ; but it 
is from Sicily that the greatest supply is brought. The flower buds form the 
capers so much used as a pickle and a sauce, but in some parts the fruit is also 
employed. In the early part of summer the plant begins to flower, and the 
flowers continue to appear successively till the beginning of winter. The young 
flower buds are picked every morning, and as they are gathered they are put 
into vinegar and salt; and this operation continues for six months, as long as 
the plants are in a flowering state. When the season closes, the buds are sorted 
according to their size and colour, the smallest aud greenest being the best; 
these are again put into vinegar, and then packed up for sale and exportation. 
Capers are stimulant, antiscorbutic, and are much employed as a condiment, 
but the medicinal virtues of the plant reside in the root, which is slightly bitter, 
somewhat acrid and sour, and is diuretic. 
The Caper Spurge {Idem ).— Euphorbia lathyris is a native of several 
parts of Britain, and is called Caper Spurge, from its being used as capers ; in 
America it is called Mole Plant, because moles are supposed to avoid the ground 
where it grows. Like other Euphorbias, its milky juice is of an acrid nature; 
its seeds yield an abundance of fine clear oil, called oil of Euphorbia. This is 
obtained by expression, or by the aid of alcohol or ether, and is colourless, 
inodorous, and almost insipid; it rapidly becomes rancid, and acquires a 
dangerous acrimony. The oil is a powerful purge, operating with much activity, 
in doses of five drops, and is said to be less acrid and irritating than Croton oil. 
It is necessary that it be always recently extracted, as it speedily becomes 
rancid, and has a disagreeable action. The seeds themselves, to the number of 
twelve or fifteen, are used by the country people in France as a purgative. The 
root of the plant is equally purgative, aud particularly emetic. 
Fir Tree Oil Injurious {Victim ).—You have either exceeded the quantity 
advised, or the water was not suitable. We have seen the insecticide used with 
the best results—killing all insects and not injuring plants in the least, and we 
have also seen plants much damaged, even when the oil was used by a most 
careful man, and strictly in accordance with the instructions of the vendors as to 
the quantity advised. The difference wc attribute solely to the water that was 
employed in mixing, and not to the oil, which we believe is of uniform quality 
Rain water should be used ; if that is not at hand (and there has been no 
particular scarcity of late) dissolve a lump of soda the size of a walnut in a 
