502 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t j u ««e m, uw. 
is retained with due care. Remember that the young pliant 
growth may be trained to any required form with much facility, 
and in doing it now the foundation of a symmetrical handsome tree 
is begun, but too often this is neglected, hence the very numerous 
misshapen trees which disfigure so many of our best gardens. 
See that none suffer for want of water. Timely attention to this 
tends to promote free, strong, healthy growth, in this the golden 
season of the year. Caterpillars should be closely looked after on 
Gooseberry and Currant bushes, and also upon other fruit trees 
All bush fruits may now be materially benefited by copious 
waterings. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Stave. — Poinsettias .—Without delay a good batch of these 
plants should now be rooted. Select strong sturdy cuttings, 
which will make better plants and root more readily than those 
produced under shade and in strong heat. It is immaterial 
whether the cuttiDgs are taken off with a heel or without. They 
are the best inserted in the centre of 3-inch pots in sandy loam, 
placing a little sand in the centre for the base of the cutting to rest 
upon. Water liberally after insertion, and place them in a close 
frame or under handlights, and keep them shaded from the sun 
until rooted. Bottom heat where applicable is beneficial, but it 
is not absolutely necessary. Plants rooted at once in the pots 
named will only require one shift afterwards into others 2 or 
3 inches larger, and will make better plants than those rooted 
earlier. 
Salvias .—Few plants that flower profusely during the autumn 
and winter are more easily grown and require less care than these. 
Cuttings root quickly and freely if placed in a little heat and 
shaded from the sun. The desired quantity may be inserted 
singly in small pots, and after the plants are rooted they should 
be pinched once or twice, hardened, and then planted in good soil 
outside. The points of the shoots should be pinched about once 
after they are planted out, which is all the attention needed until 
early autumn. The following are amongst the most useful— 
S. splendens, S. Betheli, S. Heeri, and S. Gesnerimflora. 
Primulas .—Plants raised from seed sown early in the season 
and thoroughly established in small pots must without delay be 
placed in others 2 inches larger. In potting keep the plants well 
down, so that the soil will keep them firm at the collar ; these 
plants when loose and shaking about in their pots are much more 
liable to injury through removing them from place to place and 
from damp in winter than when potted low. After potting place 
them in frames, and keep them close until root-action commences. 
These plants cannot endure strong sun, and if the frames can be 
arranged so that strong sun does not &trike directly upon them, 
and shading can be dispensed with, so much the better. Transfer 
from pans into small pots those sown later. A little more seed 
may be sown, and the plants raised from it will be useful in 
spring for late flowering, or to bloom in very small pots. The 
double forms that have been rooted require similar treatment in 
every respect. Old plants that were flowering late and were 
earthed up with light soil—a reliable way of propagating the 
double varieties—will have formed quantities of roots round the 
collars, and should now be divided and potted singly. Any 
moderately light soil in which a liberal quantity of leaf soil has 
been intermixed suits these plants. 
FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Arrangement of Carpet Beds .—Those beds filled with highly 
coloured dwarf plants, arranged in various figures, and known as 
carpet beds, still prove more attractive than those filled with the 
ordinary bedding plants. They certainly entail more labour, but 
from the commencement till the end of the season, whether the 
weather be wet or fine, the majority of the plants employed still 
retain their attractive colours. This cannot be said of no other 
style. Again, if the plants employed, more especially those form¬ 
ing the dividing lines and the groundwork, be judiciously selected, 
the same designs may be filled in with hardier, if less highly 
coloured, plants for the winter. It is a difficult matter to suggest 
designs for beds, as the latter vary greatly in shape, and besides 
the material in hand must be considered. Those new to the work, 
or who are unable to procure or originate a design or designs, 
may easily gain an idea from the many patterns on carpets, 
papers, embroidery, and book covers, which may be modified to 
suit the size and shape of the beds. In every case the beginner 
is warned not to attempt any complicated design, particularly 
those with intersecting figures or lines. Let every figure be well 
defined and separated from the others by spaces, or a groundwork 
at least 3 inches in width, yet the whole must form part of a 
settled plan. At the outset the beds should be well broken up 
and a quantity of leaf soil or old sifted fine potting soil be well 
mixed with the soil, and the surface made level and firm. It 
should then be damped, the figures be traced out with the help of 
wooden compasses, rods, and lines, and the lines formed will be 
better preserved if marked with silver sand. 
Supposing the beds to be slightly raised and faced with 
Echeverias as previously advised, in most cases a line of 
Golden Pyrethrum or a dwarf Alternanthera may well form 
an inner fringe to these. The Pyrethrum is still unsurpassed 
for marking the lines, as the plants are easily raised, may be 
dibbled in, are bright in colour, may be kept closely pinched, and 
are very hardy. In case these are not available in sufficient num¬ 
bers and such plants as Alternantheras that require to be planted 
with a trowel, the groundwork should be first filled in, taking 
care to closely follow the lines, and this will admit of the figures 
being easily filled. Sedum glaucum is still one of the hardiest 
and most effective plants for forming the groundwork, and of 
green plants for the same purpose, "Sedum Lydium, Herniaria 
glabra, and Mentha Pulegium gibraltarica are most suitable. All 
should be freely divided, and if small pieces are rather thickly 
pressed into the soil they will become established, and spread 
more quickly and evenly than if planted in large patches. They 
should be pressed into the ground and watered occasionally, and 
afterwards be prevented from encroaching on the lines of less 
robust plants. Moderate-sized plants of Cordyline indivisa, C. 
australis, Dracaena congesta, D. terminalis, Yucca filamentosa, 
Pandanus Veitchii, Agave americana variegata, Grevillea robusta 
in 6-inch or 8-inch pots may form the central plants in different 
figures or the centre of a small design ; while such plants as 
Chamrepeuce diacantha and C. Cassabonm, Echeveria metallica, 
Pachyphiton bracteosum, and other succulents may be planted 
singly or in groups in other figures. Kleinia repens is a very 
effective bedding succulent, and these may be dibbled-in thickly 
in lines, or, better still, in groups, and surrounded by Golden 
Pyrethrum, yellow Alternantheras, or Mesembryanthemums. The 
latter forms a good groundwork in which to dot plants of Eche¬ 
veria metallica, and so also does Sedum acre elegans. Dwarf 
varieties of blue Lobelias, and which are best propagated by 
division or cuttings, form a pretty groundwork for Chamsepeuce 
diacantha and Pandanus Veitchii, and so also does lsolepis gracilis. 
The latter should be freely divided and dibbled-in thickly, espe¬ 
cially if it is to form a line, for which purpose it is also suitable. 
Iresine Lindeni, if not too large, is suitable for filling-in central 
figures, and contrasts well with Lobelias and yellowish Alternan¬ 
theras. Alternanthera magnifica is very bright in colour, and is 
probably the best of the species. It grows freely, and is most 
suitable for the centres. The richly coloured Alternanthera amoena 
spectabile is very effective either for masses or when dotted among 
Sedum acre elegans. The yellow Alternanthera paronychioides 
aurea is very useful, and Oxalis corniculata rubra, with its yellow 
flowers, is, though weedy, frequently much admired. Several Sem- 
pervivums, including S. tabulaeformae and S. californicum, are well 
adapted for dotting near the outer edge or for covering artificial 
slopes. Mixtures of Echeveria secunda glauca, with Sedum Lydium 
or Mentha, and Sempervivum californicum with Sedum glaucum, 
are very pretty, especially when forming corner mounds in a design, 
with perhaps a neat central plant of some other kind. Pelar¬ 
goniums Robert Fish, Mrs. Mappin, and Distinction, and Ageratum 
Cannell’s Dwarf are also available for carpet beds, the former in 
most instances requiring to be pegged down. 
ST-J 
|HE BEE-KEEPER. 1 
REMOVING STOCKS. 
We have, during the latter part of April and the first half of 
May, been carrying out some experiments with stocks of bees in the 
way of removing them en masse from one part of a garden to 
another. But not only was our object to get them to a different 
place in the garden, but also to place them in a newly erected bee- 
shed with the least possible waste of bee life. As our success has 
been quite equal to our expectations, an account of the manner in 
which we went to work may be interesting, and perhaps give some 
useful hints to those who, like ourselves, may wish to remove a 
number of stocks at a critical time of year. We must first say 
why we wished to get our colonies into a bee-shed. Where shelter 
from high winds and driving storms, and a certain amount of shade 
in the height of summer, are obtainable by natural means we would 
not advocate the exclusive use of a closed shed. But we were 
