AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
359 
he tulips, hyacinths, crown imperials, crocuses, &c., 
which are still out of the ground. We much prefer plant¬ 
ing them early. Now is the proper time to sow seed for 
new varieties. 
Carnations—Remove layers, f, m, and pot or insert in 
the border. Transplant seedlings to blooming beds, wa¬ 
tering at the same time. 
Chrysanthemums—Stake up, removing weak shoots, 
and prune side branches off from those trained to a single 
stem. 
Cuttings of woody shrubs may be made, 11. 
Dahlias are still in fine flower. Keep them fastened to 
stakes and prune off straggling side branches. Mark the 
varieties of flower before they are destroyed by frost. A 
simple method is to tie a white strip of cloth to a white 
flower stalk, a red strip to a red or scarlet flower, &c. 
Doubling the strips conveys the idea of a double flower. 
This is not sufficiently definite for the amateur who should 
preserve the original names and specify the habits and 
colors upon labels attached to the plants by wires. 
Delphinium—Sow, m, 11. 
Evergreens—Plant, ff, m, if they must be put out before 
Spring. Prune or shear those requiring it. 
Flower Stalks—Cut away and remove from the grounds 
as fast as they are done blooming. 
Flower Pits—Construct, m, 11, for safely keeping ten¬ 
der varieties over Winter, where there are no properly 
constructed houses. A good plan of a cheap one was giv¬ 
en on page 79 Vol. XVI. 
Geraniums—Take off slips, ff, m, and pot for Winter 
bloom. 
Gravel Walks—Keep free from grass and weeds. 
Hedges—Give the last shearing for the season, ff, pre¬ 
serving a neat form widest at the bottom. 
Lawn—Keep neat and clean, mowing and raking occa¬ 
sionally. Scatter seed over any thin spots. 
Lillies—Transplant or plant out, m, 11. 
Pansies—Sow seed and part layers, f, m. 
Fceonies—Divide and reset, 11 
Pinks— Separate layers and pot or plant for next season. 
Primulas—Sow, ff, m. 
Rosts—Bud, 'ff, any omitted last month. Layer the 
present season’s growth at the same time. 
Seeds—Collect varieties before they are wasted upon 
the ground. 
Tender Plants—Remove to the Green and Hot houses, 
mm, those varieties which would be injured by the frost. 
Dress and cleanse them before carrying in. 
Verbenas—Pot runners, f, m, to preserve a stock for 
Winter and early Spring bloom. Layers may still be 
made by simply covering a part of the base of the strag¬ 
gling branches which readily take root. 
Wall Flowers and Stocks—Lift from borders and pot, 
m, 1. 
Water thoroughly plants now reset or potted. 
Weeds—Do not neglect them as the flowers begin to 
fade and the grounds lose somewhat of their attractive¬ 
ness. 
Green and Mot Mouses. 
These should be looked to now, and, unless already 
done, they should have a thorough over-hauling and 
cleansing at once. Look to the furnaces, flues, cisterns 
and water-pipes; see that the glazing is complete, and 
cords, pullies, <fcc., in working order. If the houses have 
been entirely empty, give a thorough syringing with the 
force pump or garden engine, throwing the water with 
force into every corner, crack and crevice, to dislodge in¬ 
sects harboring there. Arrange the shelves, renew the 
bark or saw dust bed if necessary, prepare boxes and pots 
to receive the plants, collect mold, peat and sand for pot¬ 
ting, and having completed the other arrangements, paint 
where required, leaving the windows open for a few days 
previous to bringing in the plants. If tender plants are 
exposed to the odor of new paint, it often causes defolia¬ 
tion. Everything being complete, commence bringing in 
and arranging the plants, f, m, according as the weather is 
warm, or cool, beginning with the most tender varieties. 
Place the tallet plants on the back shelves, and low kinds 
in front, bearing in mind at the same time that some 
varieties require more light than others. Arrange them 
near or at a distance from the furnace as they need a 
strong or light heat. A dry shelf should contain those 
plants which require very little water, including most of 
the bulbous kinds. Having brought them all in before the 
cool nights have checked their growth, it will be neces¬ 
sary to admit abundance of 
Air both by the upper and lower ventilators, closing at 
night. 
Annuals—Sow a few, f, m, 1, for a succession of bloom. 
Bark and saw dust beds should be renewed, ff, m. 
Bulbs—Plant, f, m, 1, for a succession of Winter bloom, 
keeping them in the green house for the present. 
Camellias—Finish repotting, ff, m, and take to houses, 
«n, 1. Grafting or inarching may still be performed, ff, m. 
Ericas and Epacris—Repot, f, m. 
Fires—Start, m, 11, to expel dampness from forcing 
houses. 
Geraniums—Take from borders, f, m, and pot for Win¬ 
ter bloom. 
Labels—Have in readiness to mark all the plants as 
they are taken in. 
Pines—Shift, ff, those intended for fruiting next season, 
if not already done. 
Potting generally should qe completed early, and every 
thing arranged for filling the shelves. 
Prune and Dress Potted Plants previous to carrying to 
the houses. 
Verbenas and Petunias—Make cuttings, and layer to 
keep up a stock for propagation and for Winter bloom. 
Water—Give to plants when repotted, and apply freely 
inside the house. Dampen the floors and syringe over¬ 
head to maintain a humid atmosphere. 
Apiary for September. 
BY M. QUINBY. . 
St. Johnsville, N. Y. 
It should be understood by all bee-keepers, that if there 
are no weak colonies in an apiary, there is but little dan¬ 
ger of bees being robbed. If strong colonies are ever 
plundered, it is by injudicious feeding, or after a begin¬ 
ning has been made by the robbers with weak ones, or 
some other encouragement given. The yield of honey 
fails almost entirely nearly everywhere, with the flowers 
of Buckwheat in the early part of this month. All temp¬ 
tations should be at once out of the w-ay—examine every 
colony, young or old, and any one too weak to keep rob¬ 
bers away, should be removed, as such ones can not be 
wintered. When honey first (ails is the time of danger. 
Attention then costs no more than at another time,and may 
be worth many times that bestowed at some convenient 
season. When two or three weak stocks stand near each 
other, they mav be united for mutual defense. To pre¬ 
vent their quarreling, sprinkle them thoroughly with wa¬ 
ter made very sweet with sugar, and flavored with a few 
drops of peppermint or other essence. Bees adhere to l heir 
old stand, and when many feet apart, can not be united suc¬ 
cessfully. Two neighbors living a mile or two apart, 
could exchange bees sometimes, advantageously. 
A queenless stock that has stores to winter a full swarm, 
should have bees and a queen introduced ; it will gener¬ 
ally make agood stock hive, while it is worth little to take 
up, on account of bee-bread mixed with the honey, knew 
swarm, that has made combs without a queen, although it 
has stores for Winter, should be broken up. It has too many 
drone-cells for a profitable stock. Every stock with foul 
brood, should be condemned at once; it is usually the 
best way to kill the bees, and secure the honey. Be care¬ 
ful that healthy colonies do notget any of the honey as the 
disease is quite sure to be carried with it. To render 
such honey safe and healthy, to feed to bees, add plenty 
of water to prevent burning, then scald and skim it thor¬ 
oughly. Man may eat it without scalding or any bad 
effect, if taken from parts of the hive where there is no 
brood. To select the best combs for the table, take those 
near the top and outside of the hive ; the drone-cells sel¬ 
dom contain bee-bread. 
- — --- •— - 
'Flic Chinese Cane for Sweetening', 
Thd present and prospective high prices of all grades oi 
sugar will render it an object for those who have the Chi¬ 
nese Sugar Cane growing in quantity, to turn ittoaccount 
in the manufacture of syrup. The still imperfect develop¬ 
ment of processes for manufacturing sugar from the juice, 
will prevent much being done in that line, the present 
season at least. We still hope that even during this year 
the experiments to be made will go far to establish some 
convenient and profitable mode of obtaining the dry sugar 
itself. But whether this be the case or not, we have 
proved by our own experiments, last year, if we had not 
had hundreds of confirmatory evidences, that the juice 
maybe converted into a cheap palatable syrup As stated 
in a former number, we obtained about 100 gallons of sy rup 
from half an acre, though the imperfection m the manu¬ 
facture rendered the larger portion of it of poor quality. 
The same processes which made even a small portion of 
it an excellent syrup, would have rendered the whole so, 
if they had been known and adopted in season 
The articles we published last Fall and Winter perhaps 
indicated clearly enough what are the main requisitt s for 
producing good syrup, but we will add a hint or two now. 
1. Some kind of mill or rollers will be needed for press¬ 
ing out the juice thoroughly. Whether the mill be large 
or small, of wood or iron, will depend upon the amount of 
material to be pressed, and the convenience of obtaining 
such a mill as may be desired. We think iron rollers are 
by far the best, unless for the smallest experiments, when 
hone-made wooden rollers may be used. 
2. The cane should be cut as soon as convenient after 
the seed pulp enters the ripening or hard doughy state. 
It should be cut no faster than pressed or boiled. The 
cutting may be continued until after sufficient freezing and 
thawing takes place to slightly sour the juice. 
3. The boiling should be commenced as soon as the Juice 
is expressed. 
4. The boiling down should be done in shallow vessels, 
with the fire touching only the bottom, for in no case, and 
at no stage of the boiling, should the fire on the outside of 
the vessel be allowed to come up as high as the surface of 
the liquid within. 
5. The boiling should be as brisk as possible, until the 
syrup is so thick as to be in danger of burning, when the 
heat should be reduced. Three or four hours at most is 
all the time that should ordinarily be taken to reduce the 
juice to a moderately thick syrup. 
6. In a majority of cases reported, the best results have 
been obtained by adding nothing to the juice, but boiling 
rapidly in vessels of a few inches in depth, and simply re¬ 
moving the rising scum entirely from the surface. (The 
“ skimmings ” may be turned to good account for 
vinegar, by simply putting them in barrels with some wa¬ 
ter, and leaving them to sour.) 
The exceptions to this last rule are, that when the canes 
are long ripened, or subject to freezing and thawing, or 
when the boiling is long continued, it is well to add a 
little soda or lime, to neutralize any acid formed. The 
same will be the case when the juice has stood long after 
expressing it, before brisk boiling has been secured. 
Into which are thrown all sorts of paragraphs—such as 
Notes and Replies to Correspondents, with Useful or 
Interesting Extracts from their Letters, together with Glean¬ 
ings of various kinds from various sources. 
Note to Contributors.-— We have a hundred or 
more Notes, Replies, etc., designed for the “Basket,” but 
the present month this department has been unceremoni¬ 
ously crowded out of its usual place, on pages 282-3, by 
the Telegraph article, and a large amount of extra adver¬ 
tisements— neither of which were contemplated when 
the 1G pages preceding291 were made up and stereotyped. 
ESorage. —R A. Davis, Somerset Co., Me. This 
plant, like many others collected and sent out from the 
“ Government Seed Store.” is of very little practical val¬ 
ue R. Buist, in his “ Kitchen Gardener,” speaks to the 
point when he says ; “ Borage is cultivated in our gardens 
on account of ihe supposed cordial virtues of its flowers, 
but they have long lost their reputation.” We regard it 
as little better than a pest in the garden where it sows an 
immense quantity of seeds which spring up like other 
weeds to be eradicated with difficulty. We were foolish 
enough to try it 
(Rees, a Weak Stock.—J. G. S., Suffolk Co., 
L. I., has two old swarms of bees, one strong and the 
other weak. He inquires whether he can put the weak 
one with the stronger, or transfer it to a strong new 
swarm in a larger hive .—Ans : It is probable that the 
weak stock has lost its queen, and there are not as many 
hec-s left, as there appears to be. It is doubtful if it would 
pay to transfer them, even if successful. It is nearly al 
ways fatal to put a weak colony with a strong one, ex 
cept on the day they swarm. The only way at other 
ti mes, is t o scent them strongly with smoke, or sugar water 
flavored with some essence. The advantage that a few 
bees would be to a strong colony, would hardly balance 
the evil of the disturbance. If the weak stock is free from 
worms, and has stores enough to winter a swarm, nnd it 
is desirable to save it, probably some neighbor would 
have a colony destined for the brimstone pit, that he would 
give or sell, to be introduced into it, which might make 
it a valuable stock. M. Q. 
Squashes and Pumpkins, Keeping-.—A. A. 
Gage, Rockingham Co , N. H. Gather them carefully, 
before heavy frosts in the Fall, and lay them away under 
cover, where they will not freeze. Upon the approachof 
very cold w eather, carry them without bruising or break¬ 
ing the stems, to some dry part of the house, where frost 
does not reach. Cellars are usually too damp for them. 
Houses are sometimes < onstructed solely for keeping large 
quantities of them for market, and warmed by means of a 
stove during the Winter. 
Slorrisania (N. Y.) Hort, Society.—This 
young and vigorous association have decided to hold a 
Fall Exhibition, Oct. 6 and 7, Committee of arrange¬ 
ments: Messrs Samuel Munn, Wm. H. Wilcox. Geo. H. 
Pollock, Thos. E. Sutton, II. P. Sandford. Geo. W. Alex 
ander and Gilbert Dayton. The following are the officer* 
elected for the ensuing year : President .—Samuel Munn - 
Vice Presidents. —Wm. II. Fox, Robert H. Elton, L, K. 
Osborn, C. Moger, Thos. W. Ball, Harvey.M Morris. T. 
E Sutton, Frances I. Smith, Benj. M. Whitlock, Adrian 
Janes, F. W. Gillev, Lewis G. Morris, David Milliken, 
G w’ Alexander. Jas. Garner, Andw. Richardson, Jor 
dan L Mott, Jr., F. Grote : Secretary.—Wm. H. Willcos 
