January is, i8£3. j JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 59 
the sites for the dwarfer-growing kinds. By these means the 
quantities required can easily be computed, and the work of 
planting be much simplified; all intervening spaces to be filled 
in with commoner kinds of shrubs, and which will eventually be 
treated as supernumeraries. Shrubberies, in common with the 
other parts of the garden, require to be deeply drained, and in 
some instances where clay predominates open surface drains prove 
extremely beneficial. Few shrubs or Conifers will thrive in an 
undrained clayey loam, but if this is well drained it often proves 
highly suitable for them and also Boses. Some clays are more 
easily dug in wet weather, consequently now is the time to either 
drain or lightly dig such soils. 
Preparing Flower Boxes .—The time is rapidly approaching 
when it will be found necessary to commence propagating the 
stock of various kinds of bedding plants, and it is advisable to 
anticipate this with regard to preparing pots, pans, and boxes. 
The two former ought long ago to have been washed and stored 
in a dry shed, as they are not improved by frequent saturations, 
and are easily cracked by frost. Boxes requiring new bottoms 
should be repaired, in many cases this being best accomplished by 
nailing the new bottom to what was previously the top part of 
the frame. When making new boxes those intended for propa¬ 
gating purposes may be about 24 inches long, 15 inches wide, and 
6 inches deep, which depth will admit of a square or squares of 
glass being laid on. For newly-struck cuttings deep boxes are 
unsuitable, as Iresines, Coleuses, and Alternantheras do not thrive 
in a great body of soil. Even Pelargoniums, Yeibenas, Lobelias, 
Gazanias, and Alyssums do not require deep boxes. We recom¬ 
mend a uniform depth of 3 inches for all kinds, draining the 
boxes more or less according to the constitution of the plants they 
are to hold. Boxes may be strengthened and preserved by nailing 
two strong pieces of wood across the bottom, these raising them 
from the ground or beds as the case may be, and thereby retard¬ 
ing the otherwise inevitable early decay. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Stove .—Allamanda Hendersoni that has been at rest during the 
past two months and kept in a temperature of 50° to 55° should 
now be started. Prune closely back—similar to Vines grown on 
the spur system—if the plant has attained the desired size to 
cover the trellis on which it may be grown, or the portion of roof 
under which it is to be trained. If grown in pots the old ball 
should be reduced by half, and then soaked in tepid water. The 
same or a larger pot should be used, according to the space to be 
covered with the plant. The drainage of the pot should be libera’, 
and then covered with a good layer of decayed manure, the 
most suitable compost being rich fibry loam, one-seventh of 
manure and coarse sand. Press the soil as firmly as possible into 
the pots, and place the plant in a temperature of Go 0 , syringe 
twice daily, but give little or no water at the root until signs 
of growth are observed. If planted out remove as much of the 
old soil as possible, and employ fresh soil with a little more 
manure. 
Bougainvillea glabra may also be started at once. Prune 
freely by removing all the weak puny growths, as a number of 
strong shoots will produce more flowers than a crowded plant 
with a much greater number of small twiggy growths. This 
should be treated in every way similar to the preceding plant, 
and the same compost will be suitable. 
Plants of Clerodendron Balfourianum should also be introduced 
into the same temperature, well watered, but not disturbed at the 
roots until growth commences. When potting is done care must 
be taken not to injure the roots. It is not necessary to repot this 
plant annually. Bich top-dressing and liberal feeding will keep 
them in good health for several years. When potting really has 
to be done remove one-third of the old ball, and replace it in the 
same size pot, using the compost already recommended, with the 
addition of a little charcoal and rough half-decayed leaf soil. 
Plants to bloom later in the season and now at rest must only 
have sufficient water to prevent the wood shrivelling, and must 
not be in a lower temperature than 55°. A plant or two of the 
shrnbby-habited C. fallax should also receive attention by now 
being closely pruned, leaving only one or two eyes on each shoot 
of the previous year’s wood. This variety is the best when grown 
with a clear stem about 18 inches high, and then allowed to form 
a small head. Small decorative plants can annually be raised 
from seed, but a plant grown on into a specimen in a 10-inch pot 
is when in flower a noble object, with its large terminal erect 
panicles of bright scarlet flowers. In repotting the old ball can 
be well reduced, and done directly after pruning or when the 
young shoots are about an inch in length, using the same soil as 
for C. Balfourianum. 
THE ART OF BEE-KEEPING. 
(Continued from page 600, last volume.') 
HIVES. 
As we have already seen, the honey bee is one of the few insects 
capable to a certain extent of domestication. In a state of nature 
its colonies are found in hollows of rocks or trees, and occasionally 
in exposed situations. The first hives were doubtless hollow logs 
or sections of bark, and these have in the course of ages developed 
into the modern moveable-comb hive, now all but universally in use 
among advanced apiarians. We may regard the straw skep as the 
modern representative of the hive with fixed combs, while the 
octagonal Ayrshire or Stewarton hive may he regarded as the 
connecting link between the skep and the bar-frame hive proper. 
The combs of the Ste« arton hive are sometimes built in moveable 
frames, but as these are necessarily of unequal sizes they are only par¬ 
tially interchangeable. When the rectangular form is given all combs 
become interchangeable, and we have the bar-frame hive proper. 
Which of these is the best hive ? has been and still is the source 
of much controversy among bee-keepers, a controversy frequently 
complicated by the introduction of various side issues, such as the 
material of hives or the different systems of management. Apart 
from these issues, however, the question resolves itself simply into 
that] between fixed and moveable combs, and we shall shortly give 
our reasons for using and recommending the latter. The questions 
as to material and management are equally applicable to each of 
the styles of hive mentioned; thus we may have wooden skeps or 
straw Stewartons or bar-frame hives. 
What, then, are the special advantages we claim for the bar- 
frame hive ? First of all we place the facility it offers for inspec¬ 
tion. To the experienced bee-keeper it resembles a book-slide. 
Each of its combs is a volume easily withdrawn and studied. In 
a moment the inmost mysteries of the hive can be reviewed. We 
see the whole development of the bee from the egg to the perfect 
insect. We note the presence or absence of a queen, and judge as to her 
condition or fertility. We can inform ourselves as to the condition 
of the whole stock, whether duly increasing at the proper season, 
free from disease, or sufficiently supplied with stores. We may tell 
almost to a day when it intends to swarm, or satisfy ourselves of its 
non-intention. And if curious as to the natural history of the hee, 
we may note every stage of the growth of the inmates, the won¬ 
derful production of royal cells for future queens, the method of 
storing honey and pollen, and the formation of the beautiful combs. 
If it be granted that such knowledge is of practical importance in 
bee-keeping, we do not see how anyone can doubt the advantages 
of the moveable-comb hive. 
But in the next place we note the facility it affords the bee¬ 
keeper for aiding Nature in her work. We can readily supply 
embossed sheets of wax called comb foundation, of the full size of 
the combs required, containing sufficient wax to nearly finish them, 
and thus insure combs of unsurpassed regularity in a third of the 
time required to build them naturally. We may have these combs 
entirely composed of worker cells if desired, and exactly in the 
place wanted. This advantage alone is worth much when we con¬ 
sider that every ounce of wax produced by the bee is at the cost of 
at least 1 lb. of honey. We may contract or enlarge the hive to 
suit the necessities of the stock or the season, and thus dispose of 
all controversy as to the proper size of our hive=. We can supply 
weak hives with combs of hatching brood taken from stronger 
stocks, or with combs of honey if provision be found scarce. We 
can with ease cut out royal cells-, to prevent swarming, or insert 
them where we wish to have queens raised, or we may join stocks 
by simply lifting the combs and bees of two or more into a common 
hive ; or, vice versa, we may divide a stock as in artificial swarm¬ 
ing. Here again we claim the undeniable superiority of the move¬ 
able-comb hive. 
Lastly, we note the facility with which such hives may be de¬ 
prived of their surplus honey. Moveable combs can, by the aid of 
the machine called the honey-extractor, now so extensively used, 
be in a few minutes emptied of their contents and returned un¬ 
damaged to be refilled by the bees. When we consider that the 
production of wax is not only a costly but a slow operation, neces¬ 
sitating the perfect inactivity of the bees so engaged, it is evident 
that the usual plan of crushing the combs to obtain the honey is a 
needlessly wasteful one, and it is established as a fact that bees 
supplied with combs ready made store more than twice as much 
honey as when they have also the combs to build. Extracted honey 
