38 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jill / 10, ’890. 
keeping, but all the necessary appliances in the apiary for shallow 
hives can be purchased much cheaper than where larger frames 
are used. Extractors for shallow frames can be bought at but 
a few shillings, and a comb-foundation machine of the very best 
make, with all its requisites, can be had for less than £4. No 
implement gives a better return for money laid out than this one 
does, and when it is taken into consideration that by it nothing 
but native wax may be employed, the value of both it and the 
lioney is enhanced, the last named being of greater importance 
to the bee-keeper than many suppose. Some manufacturers pre¬ 
tend to hold secrets for the manufacture of comb foundation. 
I do not believe it. I was the first to make public the mode of 
manufacture, and I am prepared to give to bond fide amateurs and 
readers of this Journal all the necessary information for the making 
of comb foundation. 
Pollen Stores. 
Another valuable lesson afforded by seasons such as this is in 
regard to pollen. Hives that had large stores of pollen last autumn 
did not lose their bees to the same extent in spring, and I may add 
summer, as those that had but little. At the present time hives 
having young but unfertile queens are storing pollen in large 
quantities on every favourable occasion. Now what is that for 
but preparing for their future wants ? and yet we are told by 
some to remove the pollen clogged combs ! 
Feeding in Dribblets. 
This is recommended, but nothing nearer than feeding in 
dribblets could be approached than the small quantities of honey 
that has been gathered by the bees during June and the first 
week of July. The result is that bees out in search of honey 
have been lost in thousands, and brood drawing has gone on 
notwithstanding to an alarming extent, just as is the case when 
artificial feeding has been resorted to. I know the benefit of 
feeding, but I also know- the mischief it creates as well as anyone. 
The sky is as gloomy as it was bright only half an hour ago, 
and a few days longer will end all hopes of the honey season for 
1890, when the order of the day will be nothing but feeding ; and 
owing to so few young queens being fertilised, the caution becomes 
greater as to what we shall feed. I shall do all I can to ensure fer¬ 
tilisation ; failing that, the queens that have bred least will be the 
only ones kept. The most important thing to attend to when 
feeding is to prevent robbing. 
Robbing. 
The best means to employ is to feed the bees at night, and give 
about 1 lb. at a time. When bees are fed rapidly in large quantities 
they become gorged, and are liable to be attacked by other hives’ 
bees, and in that state offer no resistance, being rendered either 
unable or unwilling to do so. Whenever bees cease to resist 
invaders they should either be removed to some distance or shut 
up and well ventilated until they are in a fit state for defence. 
Robbing has been going on here ever since it was incited some 
weeks since by the exposure of combs containing honey. I do not 
approve of fumigating bees, but I stopped the robbing propensities 
•of two hives by stupifying the bees with puff ball. This has 
different effects upon bees. Queens can be safely introduced, and 
different lots of bees joined, or site changed, by using it in a 
cautious and judicious manner. But I hope it will be unnecessary 
to use it, although I must admit that I never saw any after ill 
effects upon the bees when it was used in moderation. 
Yields of Honey. 
The largest yields of honey have always been gathered in July, 
and not unfrequently during the last two weeks of it. It may be 
earlier in the south, but whether we have finer and more favourable 
weather for honey gathering or not it will be well to keep up the 
feeding, so that the hives may be maintained in the greatest 
strength.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
° 0 C 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 correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on 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 communica¬ 
tions. 
A Peculiar Foxglove (IF. IF.).—It is not unusual for the upper¬ 
most flowers to assume the bell-like form characterising those sent by 
you. We have had several similar examples this year. It is an instance 
of a normally irregular flower becoming regular in form, and is occasion¬ 
ally seen in other flowers having peculiar corollas. 
Eradicating Weeds in Ornamental Water (77. P.). —The only 
effectual means of destroying Equisetum is to cutioff the supplies on 
which it thrives. To let off the water and remove a portion of the 
roots is practically useless, as the roots penetrate to a great depth, 
and cannot all be removed, and at -best it would be a temporary ex¬ 
pedient. The only means likely to do any good is to cut off the 
growths more frequently, so as to weaken the roots. Drainage is the 
only effectual means of eradicating Equisetum. 
Muscat Grapes Spotted ( Foreman ).—The berries are spotted 
through moisture remaining on them some considerable time. This 
may have resulted from syringing, a leaky roof, or a close moist 
atmosphere, and the temperature falling too low at night. This would 
cause water to form—it may be in unobserved particles, still sufficient 
to prevent transpiration, and cause the injury to the skin. This would 
be the more likely to occur if the sun raised the heat considerably before 
air was admitted to expel the moisture and allow the Grape fluids to 
become gradually warmed equally with the surrounding air. The 
moisture condensed on the berries prevents that, and the result is the 
spot with scorching and scalding, if not shanking later on. Admit air 
earlier, and maintain a genial atmosphere. 
Cauliflowers Injured (IF. ./.).—Nothing will save the plants 
that are badly attacked. It is caused by a small white maggot, the larva 
of a weevil (a species of Curculio). Watering the plants with a solution of 
nitrate of soda at the rate of half an ounce to a gallon of water will do 
good, and cause fresh growth in the plants if they are not too far gone. It 
usually prevails where plants of the Cabbage tribe have been grown on the 
same ground for several seasons. If the Brassicas are much subject to it in 
your soil dress the ground liberally with soot and wood ashes, and in 
autumn or spring with lime. In bad cases the best of all preventives 
is gas lime fresh from the gas works, at the rate of a peck per rod, dis¬ 
tributing it evenly, which may be facilitated by mixing it with dry soil 
or ashes, and allow it to remain on the surface a few days, then point it 
in very lightly, merely picking the surface over with a fork. It should 
be applied a month or six weeks before puttting in the crops, and must 
not be used over the roots of fruit trees. 
Treatment of Old Bouvardlas (<& T.). —Old plants that have 
been cut back and have started into growth should have their old roots 
partially reduced and repotted in fibry loam, a seventh of manure, and 
sand. Place them in a cold frame and keep close until rooted. Stop 
any shoots that take the lead as they require it, in order to keep the 
plants bushy. After they have commenced active growth they can be 
grown under cool-frame treatment, or be plunged outside in their pots, 
or planted out in a warm sheltered position ; the latter, in favourable 
localities, being an admirable practice. Young stock rooted early are 
now established in small pots, and the points of the shoots must be 
pinched out when three or four joints of wood have been made. Give 
more air than has been necessary up to the present time in order to 
have a firm sturdy growth. These can either be placed when ready in 
their flowering pots, or planted out and treated like the old stock. 
Those only just rooted should be grown on in pots in heat for some 
time yet, and if then placed in cooler quarters will make valuable 
plants by winter. 
American Blight on Apple Trees (TF. J.'). —This is a most 
difficult pest to eradicate when it obtains firm possession of Apple trees. 
The be9t applications we have tried are methylated spirit and petroleum. 
Both are tedious processes, but they are certain. The latter we have 
known to clear the pest from fifty acres of trees. This was effected by 
boys each provided with a blacking bottle with a piece of No. 8 wire 
