60 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 17, 1890. 
repair. The two outlays combined will at a very low estimated rate 
of interest add a penny of loss on every pound of honey realised. 
An equal loss will result from bad seasons, which during the past 
fifty years has been more than a third, and might be safely set 
down as 2d. loss on every pound of honey realised. Where bees 
have to be moved about an actual outlay of from 2d. to 3d. per 
pound is incurred, and this does not include the time occupied^ 
which it will be remembered some have said cottagers ought not to 
count. Bee-keepers are as much entitled to be paid fully for the 
time employed in looking after the bees as any artizan for work 
done by them, and that time will at the least amount to another 
penny. Packages for honey will cost another penny, and if the 
honey to be sold is to be sent by train or other conveyance it will 
take from Id. to 3d. for each pound, depending upon the distance. 
The foregoing are outlays the bee-keeper cannot get rid of, and 
amount to more than what we have been told was sufficient to 
make bee-keeping a paying concern. There are other incidental 
expenses, including loss of stock from bad seasons or foul brood, 
which, if the truth was told, would amount to a sum not less than 
any one already mentioned. We consider it not only within our 
province but our duty to warn bee-keepers, as well as to instruct 
them how to make bees pay with the least amount of trouble and 
expense, and it is to be hoped the foregoing will assist and enable 
bee-keepers to turn everything to the best account in connection 
with the apiary, and to rely upon his own good sense more than 
the erroneous statements of others, whatever their object may be. 
—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
BEES AND FRUIT TREES. 
Can “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper,” or gardeners who keep bees, 
give their experience of their value in fruit gardens and orchards ? 
I have heard of bees being placed in Peach houses when the trees 
are flowering. Is that of substantial value in causing the fruit to 
set ? If it is they ought to be of service in fruit gardens. Is it 
so, or only fanciful ?— Amateur. 
0 A 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. 
Carnation ( 'J. B. II.). —The flowers sent indicate that the variety 
is a good one for borders and decorative purposes. The name Orange¬ 
man is appropriate. 
Classification of Exhibitors (IF. Ames ).—The Secretary of 
the Society is the proper person to answer your second question. 
In respect to the first, a farm labourer is obviously not a professional 
gardener. 
rig-s for House (J. A.).—Omit Brunswick and select Brown 
Turkey, the best of all Figs. Negro Largo and Osborne’s Prolific are 
good. Gingo de Mel and St. John’s are excellent, good for growing 
under glass, forced or otherwise. 
Figs not Swelling (Inquirer ).—The variety may be in fault. 
We have two trees growing near each other, one of which casts all the 
fruit, the other ripening a good crop. More particulars respecting the 
soil and position of the tree are requisite for your case to be com¬ 
prehended. 
Increasing Primula obconlca (IF T.). —It is best raised from 
seed, the plants growing more freely, and are more floriferous than 
those from division. The latter may be done now, keeping them in a cold 
frame, rather close, moist, and shaded until fresh growth takes place. 
Machines for Cider Making (It. C. Lee, Kulu). —We have not 
seen any presses more suitable for making “cider on a small scale” 
than some that were exhibited at the Royal Agricultural Society’s 
Show at Windsor by Messrs. Ch. Mayforth & Co., Frankfort, and illus¬ 
trated in this Journal, the issue of August 29th last year. The London 
office of the firm is 16, Mincing Lane. The machines appeared to be 
strongly made and not liable to get out of order. 
Making a Red of Idly of the Valley (X. M.). —The best 
time is the autumn, as soon as the old growths have died down, or in 
November. They thrive in an open situation, an east or west border 
answering well. Their great bane is a hot and dry border, but the 
more light they have and better they are fed and watered during 
growth the finer crowns they will make, the soil being moderately firm 
so as to insure sturdy growth. 
Bunching Flowers for Market (P. X., Derby). —In making up 
bunches of flowers for sale it is usual to have them of various sizes suited 
to requirement. These may vary from three to a dozen for Violets, just 
as taste prompts a large or a small buttonhole, but usually the bunches 
are made up in such size as can be held easily in one hand. This may 
in Violets mean fifty blooms, of Mignonette a dozen to fifty spikes, the 
same of Wallflowers, or more, and a dozen blooms of Carnations. These 
may be stated to be minimum numbers, one or two being given over in 
each bunch. The bunches bring prices according to their size, small 
bunches as a rule being of little use except to retailers. 
Manure for Tomatoes (F. S.). —Muriate of potash and super¬ 
phosphate would be best for Tomatoes. Sulphate of ammonia and 
nitrate of soda would encourage too much leaf-growth at the expense of 
the fruit. A good proportion would be two parts of superphosphate and 
one part muriate of potash. If you want growth, increase the super¬ 
phosphate to three parts, and take one part each muriate of potash and 
sulphate of ammonia, which will give good results in growth without 
prejudicing the crops of fruit. Incorporate well together, taking the 
ingredients by weight. 
Carnations and Ficotees Eaten by Ants and Earwigs 
(X. M.).— The best mode of dealing with the ants is to find their nests 
and sprinkle those with carbolic acid diluted with twelve times the 
quantity of water, but it must be used where there is no vegetation ; or 
dissolve a piece of camphor the size of a hazel nut in two quarts of 
boiling water, and when cool apply to the nests or places infested. It 
will kill the ants and not hurt the plants. For earwigs no trap is 
better than bean stalks cut into lengths of 6 to 9 inches, and placed 
about the infested plants. These will catch a great number, the traps 
being examined every morning, and the earwigs shaken out into a vessel 
containing boiling water. 
Training Apple and Pear Trees (F. J. B.). —We do not know 
of any method of training which necessitates the “removal of all 
shoots in May except the terminal ones,” unless it is taken to apply to 
the leading uprights in horizontal training, when of course two side 
shoots and another as leader are all that are required, the others being 
either rubbed off or pinched back to three or four leaves, so as to induce 
the formation of spurs. If the rubbing off were applied to all shoots 
except the terminal it would mean a tree for the most part devoid of 
spurs, and consequently useless. That is not the object of training, but 
the formation of parts fully exposed to light and air, so as to obtain 
fruit in profitable quantity of the highest quality. Palmette verrier 
training was never much practised in England, and its advantages over 
the horizontal are more fanciful than useful. 
Diseased Tomatoes (H. R. and T. S. F.). —Judging from the 
diseased fruit sent, we should say your plants are affected by one of the 
forms of Cladosporium, which works sad havoc in very many instances 
for about three seasons, and then gradually becomes less troublesome. 
It is illustrated in our issue of February 13th of the present year. You 
must continue to maintain a dry atmosphere, giving fire heat whenever 
the weather is cold and dull. Painting the hot-water pipes with a 
mixture of sulphur and either milk or linseed oil, making them quite 
hot occasionally, has a decidedly deterrent effect upon diseases of a 
fungoid nature generally. Mr. Iggulden has great faith in Bentley’s 
mildew specific, and you might give it a trial. Leaves much diseased 
ought to be early removed, but if old leaves are somewhat closely cleared 
off, a few young shoots should be permitted to grow, or otherwise there will 
be no foliage to maintain the plants in a fairly active state. This attack 
of disease will inevitably lighten the crops, but there is no reason why 
the plants should be wholly rooted out, especially seeing you will do no 
good, as far as the disease is concerned, by making a fresh start. These 
diseases are atmospherically spread, hence the difficulty in combating 
them. 
Orange Seedling — Xapageria alba (IF. T.). —Seedling Orange 
trees do not fruit under six or seven years with the most suitable treat¬ 
ment, and not so soon under the usual treatment, as the wood does not 
become sufficiently ripened to form bloom buds. If you were to give 
your plant more heat it would probably flower and fruit soon, but as 
there is no certainty of the variety it would be best grafted with an 
approved sort. Good turfy loam with a fourth of well rotted manure 
added and incorporated and a little charcoal and sand form a suitable 
