JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
350 
[ April 26, 1883. 
the stock is to be increased beyond its present strength. Succes- 
6ional plants intended to show fruit in autumn should be en¬ 
couraged to grow rapidly and sturdily, syringing them once or 
twice a week. As a rule a sprinkling may be given this season 
whenever the axils of the leaves are dry, but it should not be 
given so abundantly as to run down the collar of the plant. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Stove. —Allamandas, Bougainvilleas, Clerodendrons, Stephanotis, 
Dipladenias, and similar plants are now growing rapidly, and 
will require more water at their roots as well as more moisture in 
the atmosphere. The shoots will also require constant attention 
in tying if trained upon wires under the roof ; if upon a trellis, do 
not tie the shoots until they show flower. For the accommodation 
of the two last small cords should be secured to the trellis and 
to the roof, and the shoots trained to them temporarily. The 
earliest plants of Clerodendron Balfourianum are coming into 
bloom, and if they were not repotted when breaking into growth 
supply them liberally with stimulants. Cuttings taken with a 
sharp knife close to the old wood and inserted in sandy soil, 
covered with a bellglass and placed in heat, will soon form roots. 
These if potted on until they are placed in 6-inch pots and grown 
rapidly will make valuable plants for forcing the following season. 
Cuttings inserted at once of the useful double white sweet-scented 
C. fragrans, and then placed when rooted in 4 or 5-inch pots, will 
make useful decorative plants by July. Place the cuttings in 
single pots, as nearly every one will root, and use for them a com¬ 
post of loam, a seventh of decayed manure and sand. A little 
seed of C. fallax may now be sown in light soil; cover the seed 
well and place it in heat, and as soon as the plants are large 
enough place them singly in small pots. 
The earliest Gardenias have flowered, and can be thrown away 
if plenty of young stock has been propagated to replace them; 
if not, prune them, and place the plants in brisk moist heat 
until they commence growth. Bepot all that are to be retained 
for another year if they require it, as well as the young plants, 
which will need this attention from time to time. Stop the 
shoots as they extend, which is essential to the production of 
bushy young specimens. The tops of Crotons, Dracaenas, Dieffen- 
bachias, and others that were rooted in 4-inch pots will now need a 
larger size, and must be potted as needed. The young stock that 
has been raised from portions of stem must be potted singly before 
the roots become matted in the pans. The same remark applies 
to Ixoras, Bhynchospermum jasminoides, and others. 
Caladiums that require it should have larger pots if good 
specimens are wanted, but for decorative purposes they are the 
most useful in 5, 6, and 7-inch pots, while small varieties will 
succeed in less, provided they are well supplied with stimulant^. 
Successional batches can now be started. The earliest Gloxinias 
are coming into flower. Shift others that were placed in small 
pots to commence with, as well as any small tubers that may 
have been started with the earliest batch. Introduce others into 
heat, and prick off seedlings as soon as they are large enough. 
Achimenes that were started some time ago are ready for trans¬ 
ference to pans and baskets, and are handsome in the latter when 
well grown. Use for these a light compost of fibry loam, rough 
leaf soil, and a seventh of old Mushroom-bed refuse, to which is 
added a liberal quantity of coarse sand. As soon as they are 
established in their pans and baskets cut off the ends of the 
shoots, and insert them in 4, 5, and 6-inch pots, and place them in 
a close frame, and in about ten or fourteen days they will be 
rooted. The tops, if allowed to grow together, make beautiful 
plants for decoration, varying according to the variety from 
9 inches to 1 foot in height, and furnished with flowers down 
to the rims of their pots. 
Celosias and Cockscombs sown a short time ago should now be 
placed in 2-inch pots, using a light compost. Shade from strong 
sun until established, and place close to the glass in a night 
temperature of 60°. Plunge the small pots, if possible, to prevent 
them drying so rapidly. 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
.-.'I . i. i ■ i ■ i: i. i. i . 'i. i. ii - r- , -1. i: 'i -1 -1 ■ i . i . i . i ' . r. i. i. i 
BEE-FEEDING. 
“ P. H. P.” thinks that early stimulative feeding this excep¬ 
tional season will prove to have been very disastrous. He evi¬ 
dently leans to late in preference to early stimulative feeding. 
But are not both necessary ? I value the late feeding very much, 
but is the result of stimulative feeding in autumn as certain in 
inducing the queen to continue laying as it is in inducing her to 
commence? I hardly dare “rush in” with an answer to this 
query while so many wise and successful apiarians appear to have 
settled this matter by stating that influx of supplies at any time 
will cause the queen, if healthy and young, to lay. Still it is 
reasonable to suppose that, after all the heavy laying of the queen 
during the hot months, it may be less easy to stimulate the queen 
late in autumn than it is to stimulate her early in the spring after 
the few months’ rest in winter. Be this as it may, although I 
have steadily fed late in the year, I must confess that on exami¬ 
nation I have often missed finding any brood. 
I quite agree with “ P. H. P.” that “ the quieter the bees were 
kept the better for them,” that is to say in February of this year ; 
but again, was it possible to keep them quiet in such a February 
as it proved to be ? 1 could not keep mine in spite of darkening 
entrances and other contrivances. Well, then, if they would fly 
out there was the increased consumption of stores and the lessened 
number of inmates, partly from labour and partly from cold. 
Therefore it seems to me that early stimulative feeding by pro¬ 
viding brood to fill up these losses was still the most judicious 
course to pursue. Moderate early stimulative feeding does not 
provoke the queen to lay, as she lays later in the summer, and my 
own experience of my hives at the end of February was sealed 
brood in one or two bars only. Surely if the bees could not keep 
two bars warm it would be wiser to join them with a neighbour. 
It is very certain that the bees packed and declined to leave the 
pack even to feed at the bottle ; but this exceptionally severe 
weather taught me one thing—that is, that whenever severe 
weather comes on after mild in the early spring I shall heap on 
the quilts, covering over the feeding bottles with them. 
I may add, that when I was able at the beginning of April to 
examine the hives again I found all the sealed brood, <fcc., had 
hatched out, that laying had ceased and only just recommenced, 
a few eggs having hatched. Still I cannot help thinking that my 
hives were the better for the few bees that hatched-out through my 
early stimulative feeding. I should be glad to learn the opinion 
of bee-experts. I am only a learner.—Y. B. A. Z. 
AUTUMN FEEDING versus UNITING IN AUTUMN. 
Lately there wa9 a discussion in the Journal whether by 
autumn feeding batches of bees could be raised late and so 
live through the winter, securing strong stocks in early spring. 
Most writers seemed to think that such would be the result of 
stimulative feeding. Mr. Pettigrew, while not, perhaps, denying 
the possibility of this, did not think the game worth the candle 
evidently, but strongly advised what he called the strengthening 
of the stocks by uniting, as the superior plan. Here, having no 
bees to unite to the two solitary stocks (June swarms), feeding in 
orthodox fashion to secure late breeding was resorted to, and now 
six British Association standard frames are densely covered with 
bees. No feeding has been given this spring till March, but there 
is still a good deal of sealed store in both. I fancy they must 
have bred not only in autumn, but, being strong, having plenty 
of food, and enjoying a mild winter, all through. At any rate 
they are both strong stocks. So much for stimulative autumn 
feeding. 
The person from whom we bought the swarm in June is a 
follower of Mr. Pettigrew—or rather was. The only honey he 
secured last year was from a skep inhabited by a swarm earlier 
and stronger than ours. This was driven the first week of 
September into a bar-frame hive, and had other two hives added 
by uniting. In October it was full of bees and combs, and bad 
plenty of sealed store, as it was liberally and rapidly fed with 
sugar syrup. At that time it was so full of bees that it was with 
difficulty contracted to eight frames. Now there is not a third of 
the bees, in spite of what Bonner would have called “ reinforce¬ 
ment,” that is in ours. They have a large amount of sealed store, 
but still the death rate must have been very high. There is no 
disease apparent; they are comfortably housed, as much so as 
ours, and if ours are not populous because of the late-hatched 
batches that have lived, and our neighbours’ weak because of the 
superannuated bees that have died, what is the cause of the 
difference ? One possibility occurs. Bees fed into stocks with 
sugar only, late in the season, store no pollen. Mr. Pettigrew 
showed, not long ago, that such stocks, nevertheless, lived ; but he 
did not show that without pollen or a substitute bees bred. The 
possibility that strikes us is that our neighbours may have bred 
none just for want of, if not sustaining and maintaining food, at 
least of that needed for nursing. Most insects are voracious con¬ 
sumers of nourishing food in the grub state. Look at the riddled 
leaves of Cabbages for instance. And nobody has shown bee 
grubs to be an exception. That sugar-fed bees breed proves 
