April 5, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
287 
great difficulties ahead. The skill of bee-masters will be tried in 
saving all his stocks. Hives with only two seams of bees should 
be united to other weak stocks. Far better is it to have one stock 
likely to live and do well than two or three likely to die even 
under good nursing. The process of uniting bees at this season 
of the year is simple, and can be done in the apiary in the warmth 
of mid-day sun, or in a room of the house by candlelight. In 
uniting bees in cold weather the summer and autumn process of 
driving them is not followed. In cold weather bees are loth to 
leave their warm quarters and run over cold combs into empty 
bives. Hence the drumming process is dispensed with, and the 
w r ork is more easily and speedily done otherwise. A little warm 
syrup is sprinkled over the bees to be united ; about ten minutes 
after they have had the syrup they will be found setting loosely 
over and amongst their combs ; then the bees to be surrendered 
are easily shaken out of their hives and united to the others. 
As we do it the work does not occupy more than half a minute. 
With straw hives, the combs of which are fast enough, we shake 
the bees by one or two sudden jerks into the other hive or on to 
its board, and place the hive on the board. Bees thus united 
seldom, if ever, fight in spring. We do not remember ever having 
made an unsuccessful effort to unite bees. With bar-frame hives 
the bars of combs with bees attached are lifted out one by one, 
and the bees swept from them into the other hive by a hand brush. 
The sooner such unions are made the better ; and the sooner bees 
are induced to recommence breeding the more likely are they to 
survive their weakly condition and do well. By the time one 
hatch of brood is produced the weather will be warmer, brood will 
require less heat from bees, and larger sheets of brood will be pro¬ 
duced. Meanwhile all hives should be warmly covered, regularly 
fed, and every attention given to them ; and if chilled brood be 
found in any hives it should be cut clean out and burned or buried, 
and fresh sound combs fitted in the places of the combs cut out. 
It is easier to do such work than to describe how it is done.— 
A. Pettigrew. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Vilmorin, Andrieux, & Cie, 4, Quai de la Megisserie, Paris.— Cata¬ 
logue of Seeds. 
Jules de Cock, Ledeberg, Ghent, Belgium .—List of Palms. 
*** 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 rejected communications. 
Books (J. S .).—We are obliged by your letter, which is just such as we 
expect to receive, and do receive, from thoughtful men. Everything you have 
said shall be borne in mind. If we published everything we receive we should 
inevitably subject the writers to criticism of a kind from which they would bo 
glad to be relieved. At the same time we endeavour to insert all letters that 
contain matter that can be profitably discussed by our readers. We shall be 
glad to hear from you at any time, and in anything we publish we will take care 
you are not subjected to unfair criticism. 
Tubs for Orange Trees (Mac ).—Pitching the tubs inside will not injure 
the roots, neither would Stockholm tar—not coal tar, and both will preserve the 
wood. The latter would perhaps be the more convenient to apply. It is quite 
contrary to our custom to recommend any particular kind of hives for bees. 
Pettigrew’s Cardiff Castle Cucumber (Old Subscriber).— It has 
been frequently advertised in out columns, and is referred to in our present 
issue. 
Potatoes (C. R., Stafford ).—We are obliged by your note, but it reached us 
too late for publication in the section in which it ought to have appeared, and 
cannot now be included in the lists. Had we received it in time it would have 
been readily inserted. We shall be glad to have a note from you at any time, 
and except under such special and unusual circumstances as in the present case 
it is sure to be published. 
Cropping Vines (Mount View).—A fair crop for your Tines, so far a3 we 
can understand their condition, would be about 1J ft. to each foot run of rod ; 
they may perhaps, however, carry 2 fts. We have seen 3 fts. finish well to each 
lineal foot of stem, but the Tines were very healthy and vigorous. A profit 
can be made by Grape-growing by persons who grow them for market solely, 
and know what varieties realise the best prices at a given time, but amateur 
cultivators seldom find them particularly remunerative. The laterals should be 
18 inches apart or thereabouts up each side of the rod, or a space of that 
distance between them on both sides ; 9 inches apart is decidedly too close. The 
best Grapes that are grown in Sheffield have the laterals 18 inches apart, more 
or less, as no one can have them at the exact distance. 
Inarching Rose (R. O. M .).—You may inarch at any time when the 
growths on both plants are a little firm—that is, not succulent, cutting a long 
and rather deep slice from the shoots to be united, binding them together and 
covering with moss or grafting wax. You may cut down the Marechal N iel as 
low as you like, perhaps the lower the better, provided (and this is important) 
that there are healthy buds for starting into growth. We cut down the 
growths of a plant after flowering to the base of the rafters every year, and 
yo.ung shoots issue and cover the roof the same season, giving quantities of fine 
blooni3 the following spring. 
Application of Potato Manures (S. S.).— The rule for all artificial 
manures is to sprinkle them evenly in the drills at planting time. Such a mix¬ 
ture as you refer to should be applied at the rate of about 1 ft. to 8 yards of a 
row, the rows being from 26 to 30 inches apart, which is the usual width for 
field Potatoes. If part farmyard manure is used the nitrate had better be left 
out till the Potatoes are ready for hilling-up, otherwise half should be given at 
planting time and half afterwards. The reason for this is that nitrate salts, 
being very soluble, are liable to be washed away before the plants can utilise 
them. On your porous subsoil sulphate of ammonia would probably prove more 
effective than nitrate of soda. Light warm soils, especially in the southern 
counties, arc apt to be poor in nitrogen, and this should be borne in mind, espe¬ 
cially when land is not “ in good heart ” as it is termed. Any seedsman or 
dealer in horticultural requisites will procure, if he does not keep in stock, any 
of the manures you mention. It would be unfair for us to name any particular 
dealer, aud consequently, as we have many times stated, it is contrary to our 
rule to do s r. 
Marechal Niel Rose (M. II. 2?.).— Both cutting off the leaves and using 
the oil stove may have caused the young foliage to fall, these stoves when highly 
heated being injurious, while cutting off any great quantity of fresh foliage at 
once would certainly check the action of the roots and the flow of sap into the 
branches. We think you must have erred in defoliating the tree to the extent 
that your letter indicates. All you can do now is to apply tepid liquid manure 
to the roots, and maintain a healthy genial atmosphere in the house, syringing 
the plant early in the afternoons of bright days, when the house should be 
closed. The right time for syringing aud closing can only be determined by 
the weather, but it should be done in time for the temperature to rise to 80° 
afterwards, and in order that the house and plant may be fairly dry before 
nightfall. No shading whatever will be needed—at least until the flowers 
commence expanding. 
Shading Greenhouse ( Ilarborne ).—There are too distinct methods of 
shading—namely, portable in the form of roller blinds ; and permanent by 
applying a mixture to the glass. We prefer the former, but the latter answers 
very v 7 ell for large houses and various plants, such as Ferns, Palms, and 
Camellias. For flowering plants we employ light canvas blinds, and only use 
them when the sun is bright. The best mode of affixing the blind is undoubt¬ 
edly, in our opinion, on a light iron framework a foot above the glass. The 
plants do not become “drawn ” under such a shade nearly to the same extent as 
W'hen the material rests on the roof; still with attention and judgment the 
latter plan answers very well. A very good wash for applying to the glass is 
made as follows Ingredients : 1 ft. of wheat flour, half pound of whiting, and 
1 ft. of common candle or Russian tallow. Make the flour into a paste, and 
then put in the candles while the paste is hot, crush the whiting into a powder, 
mix with cold water, and then add to the paste, also addiug as much Brunswick 
green as you need. When required for use warm it in a pail and paint the glass 
when the sun is shining upon it. 
Mareclial Niel Rose Unsatisfactory (II. A).—Your plant which 
has made such extensive growth, and only been planted eighteen months, is 
evidently overtaxed. A bloom at every joint of one shoot alone 30 feet long, 
to say nothing of the other portions, amounts decidedly to a too heavy crop 
for a young plant. We should have shortened the growths considerably, aud 
next year you would have had powerful root-action and a healthy permanent 
plant. The resources of the roots will now be directed, and wisely so, to the 
four young growths at the base. These you had better encourage, and the 
parts now producing flowers cut away as soon as the blooms have faded. You 
will do well also to apply tepid liquid manure to the roots. If the young 
shoots had not started we should have advised you to cut your plant down now, 
with the object of inducing the production of basal growths. You are fortunate 
in having them, and perhaps some of the blooms may also expand as the 
weather improves. Mildew occurred in the cool division of your house because 
the temperature was favourable for the germination of the spores. It is often 
very troublesome in Heath houses. 
Laced Polyanthuses (O. R .).— We state again what we have probably 
stated fifty times before, that we know of no material so unsuitable for packing 
flowers in as dry cotton wool. You would have been surprised if you had seen 
the withered condition in which your flowers arrived. If a little moist wool 
had been tied round the stems, and the packing had consisted of a portion of a 
Cabbage leaf or Spinach, they would have reached us as fresh as when cut from 
the plants. So far as we can judge they appear to be very good border flowers, 
the body colour being rich and the lacing prominent, but this is too feathery, 
not sufficiently 7 defined for the standard of merit of the florist. 
Muscat Vines (A Subscriber). —Your Tine appears to have done extremely 
well, and there is danger in over-cropping it. You did not state the length of 
the rod ; however, if you estimate the Grapes at 1J lb. per foot run of rod that 
weight will be ample to leave on such a young Tine. The laterals, or side 
shoots, should be about 15 inches apart on each side of the rod, those not 
required to be removed. Still if they are very numerous only remove two or 
three a day until the proper reduction is made. You are doing quite right by 
stopping as y r ou state. Continue the practice of pinching to one leaf, as it is 
made from this time throughout the season. It will do no harm whatever to 
the Tine, but probably good, to train the growth along the back wa* ; but you 
may stop the shoot at the top of the rafter if more convenient. We do not 
sufficiently know the circumstances of the case to speak more positively on 
this point. 
Home-grown v. Foreign Lily of the Valley (C. TF.). — Acting on 
your second letter we do not publish your first. No doubt the imported clumps 
to which you refer were fine, but we doubt if they excelled the home-grown 
examples of “ R. T.” You describe clumps with “ three or four dozen of euor- 
