JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ March 29 , \m. 
266 
some time past can now be cut back and encouraged by more 
moisture and a little warmth to break into growth. The old soil 
can then be much reduced, and the plants placed in the same 
or smaller pots as they may require. Plants that discontinued 
flowering during the winter and have been carefully watered and 
kept in a temperature of 45° will, if afforded a little more heat, 
again flower freely in a week or two. Give these and others that 
have been flowering for some time weak stimulants every time 
watering is necessary. Young plants that were rooted in autumn 
and kept quiet during the winter in 3 and 4-inch pots should 
now be repotted, and if they are wanted to come into flower at 
once place them in a temperature of 50°. Those not wanted to 
flower should be kept cooler, and the points of the shoots pinched 
out. Keep them as close as possible to the glass, and admit air 
on all favourable occasions after the roots are working in the new 
soil. Pot firmly with good loam, sand, and a little manure. Insert 
cuttings singly in thumb pots of free-flowering varieties to grow 
for autumn and winter-flowering, and place them on a shelf in a 
temperature of 60°, where they will root readily and quickly. 
THE PLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Planting and Pruning Roses .—Where the Roses bought in 
during the winter are still laid in by the heels no time should 
be lost in properly planting them. They will be found to have 
formed many new fibrous roots, and care should be taken not to 
injure these when planting. This difficulty may be obviated by 
covering them with a small quantity of light soil obtained from 
the frame ground. The majority of dwarf Roses are worked on 
the Manetti stock, and in this case the union must be covered with 
soil, or failure will eventually result. When properly planted 
the budded Roses emit vigorous roots near the junction, and 
this in a manner becomes independent of the Manetti stock. 
Established dwarf and standard Roses may now be finally pruned, 
and the latter should be well secured to stakes, as they seldom 
thrive if allowed to twist sni blow about. When pruning cut 
away all very weakly growths, thin out those retained if crowded, 
and in the case of standards it may be necessary to regulate the 
heads by shortening back some of the main branches to a good 
inner growth. Strong growths on standards may be left 12 inches 
long. Moderate-sized shoots—say the size round of a lead-pencil— 
may be cut back to the third or fourth bud, and others in propor¬ 
tions, giving the preference to those outwardly disposed. Dwarfs 
are most apt to develope extra strong shoots, and as hard prun¬ 
ing only aggravates the evil these are best slightly shortened 
and firmly pegged down. In this way they will flower freely, 
and the weaker growths will be strengthened. The following 
season they should be cut clean away, and be replaced by other 
vigorous growths should there be any formed. We treat all alike, 
shaping our course more with regard to the growth of the indi¬ 
vidual plant rather than the section to which it may happen to 
belong, and find we rarely make a mistake. 
UN-GET-AT-ABLE HIVES. 
Mr. Pettigrew concludes that we used the above term as appli¬ 
cable to straw skeps “ only as a figure of speech,” and not as a word 
really conveying our “ own sober thoughts,” and that we must 
know that “ hives un-get-at-able aro unknown in the apiarian 
world.” 
W r hen speaking of straw hives as un-get-at-able we used the 
word comparatively, and we still hold that the skep compared with 
the bar-frame hive is un-get-at-able. If we attempted to read 
carefully and thoroughly the pages of a book, or we will say of this 
Journal, before using a paper knife, we may manage with much 
trouble, certainly to make ourselves cognisant of much of its con¬ 
tents, but we could not succeed at all to our satisfaction. It would 
he un-get-at-able. Its pages must be cut and opened one by one 
in order that they may be comfortably digested. The uncut book 
or Journal is the skep, the bar-frame hive has its pages cut, and 
every wonderful lesson spelt out on those pages is fully exposed to 
the reader so plainly that we might say, “ He who runs can read 
them.” As we of the bar-frame school have been always willing to 
admit, the skep has its advantages. These have over and over 
again been dilated on. We should like to have a hive made of the 
same material—straw, which could be so arranged that every comb 
could be separated from its neighbours, and one by one be lifted out 
either for examination or for other of the many purposes for which 
the combs are employed in the bar-frame apiary. But at present 
we find that our book must have a wooden binding, and therefore 
we must do our best to protect tho binding from the action of the 
weather. But to return to Mr. Pettigrew’s letter. We have en¬ 
deavoured, at least in one point of view, to show that the word 
he complains of is not other than accurate, and not misleading. 
Mr. Pettigrew is a veteran bee-keeper, and, doubtless, he can 
remember men who fifty years ago were well informed in the 
mysteries of bee-keeping; but he cannot surely convince either 
himself or the readers of this Journal that during those fifty years, 
while all other sciences have been rapidly developing, the science 
of bee-keeping has been at a standstill. 
Large harvests of honey were, and now are, obtained from the 
straw skep. This we admit, but it was, and is, obtained in a far 
less inviting form, either in or out of the comb, than that taken 
from the bar-frame hive. Let anyone compare the best straw 
super of comb honey, or bellglass filled over the straw skip, with 
the beautiful piles of 1 fib. or 2 lb. sections now seen at all our bee 
shows; or let him compare the method of slicing up combs and 
straining the honey through sieves to the employment of the honey 
extractor, and say which honey or which method he would prefer. 
It is needless for us to compare the two kinds of hives when 
required for queen-raising. Mr. Pettigrew says he finds no diffi¬ 
culty in breeding queens, and in extracting queens as they arrive at 
maturity ; but can his large skeps be divided and subdivided as the 
bar-frame hive can to form nuclei, or nurseries for the various young 
queens where their fertilisation and breeding powers can be ascer¬ 
tained, and whence they can be given to any hive where and when 
needed ? Again, we know how easy it is to turn up a skep for 
examination, and by carefully getting it into one particular position 
so that the sun shines evenly between the combs its condition may 
be fairly scrutinised. But on a dull day there is not so much light 
thrown on the subject. We hardly know whether this is a truism 
or a pun. We only hope that the next time Mr. Pettigrew has an 
examination of a bar-frame hive made before him he will notice 
how much easier it is to see a comb and its occupants and contents 
when held up to broad daylight, than it is to examine any particular 
comb in a well-populated skep. 
Mr. Pettigrew has seen harvests of honey taken from straw hives 
which would please and astonish us and other modern bee-keepers. 
We already have proved that such harvests of honey are obtainable. 
In the year 1876 we had a straw skep which gave us over 140 lbs. 
of surplus honey, but it was in large supers, and had to be cut up 
before retailed. A London firm gave lOrZ. per lb. for it, and it was 
a fair price too. Half the quantity in neat sections would now sell 
for nearly an equal sum. We do not for a moment doubt that 
similar or even larger harvests will be obtained from bar-frame 
hives, as they have already yielded such remits to the gratification 
of their owners. Experientia docet, and the fifty years’ experience 
which Mr. Pettigrew has had enables him to prognosticate a good 
honey season. We must all agree in hoping that the anticipation 
may be realised, and that all bee-keepers when they make up their 
acoounts at the close of this year may have a large balance in their 
favour. 
Although we advocate the use of the bar-frame hive as the hive 
of the day, we do not for a moment wish to disparage the skep. If 
cottagers and others who still continue its use would get the surplus 
honey made over it into a more saleable form, it would be greatly 
to their interest. A tray of sections worked on the top to which 
the bees have access through a piece of excluder zinc would be of 
nearly double the value of the same weight of honey stored in 
glasses or straw caps. The excluder zinc should be fastened over a 
hole cut in the top of the skep (where a feeding hole has not been 
left in it when made), and the perforations should be five-twenty- 
fourths of an inch in diameter. The zinc is known as No. 12 in the 
trade.—P. H. P. 
BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 
The usual monthly meeting of the Committee was held at 105, 
Jermyn Street, on the 14th inst., Mr. T. W. Cowan in the chair. The 
minutes of the last meeting having been read, confirmed, and signed, 
it was resolved that the Association’s annual Exhibition be held on 
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday, July 5th, 6th, 7th, and 9th. 
The Hon. Secretary announced that the Duke of Wellington had 
kindly granted the use of his riding school at Knightsbridge for the 
purpose of the annual Show. 
The Honey Market Committee presented their report, recommend¬ 
ing the appointment of a honey salesman, and suggesting, that a 
suitable place should be provided where samples of honey might be 
sent. Pending the appointment of a honey salesman Mr. Stewart 
undertook to receive samples of honey and to make arrangements for 
its sale. It was resolved that Mr. Stewart be empowered to incur 
the necessary expense in advertising, die., for the extension of the 
honey market. 
