August 28, 1890. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
191 
Earliest Forced Planted-out Vines .—It is not necessary to wait 
until all the leaves have fallen before pruning matured Vines for early 
forcing, but the wood must be brown and hard and the leaves turning 
yellow. The pruning will cause the Vines to go more quickly and 
thoroughly to rest. If in good condition they will afford bunches quite 
large enough when pruned to a couple of buds from the base, but if the 
Vines are weak from a long course of forcing or overcropping, the spur 
shoots may be left a little longer, with a view to larger bunches. When 
this method is adopted shoots should be taken from as near the base as 
possible in the spring, and not allowed to carry fruit, but be stopped 
at about the sixth leaf and the laterals at the first leaf, and subsequently 
as produced. Such shoots are sure to form good buds ; the extra foliage 
will tend to invigorate and support the fruit on the other shoot, which 
can be cut away in due course in favour of the one for fruiting the 
following season. This alternate system of fruiting necessitates the 
shoots being kept wider apart for development and exposure to light and 
air. If the Vines are grown on the extension system it will only be 
necessary to cut back to bold buds on firm ripe wood, being guided by 
the space at command, for there must be no overcrowding. It is im¬ 
portant that the house be thoroughly cleaned and the Vines also. Any 
weakly Vines, or those in an unsatisfactory state, may be improved by 
removing the soil down to the roots and substituting fresh loam, with an 
admixture of crushed bones, to the extent of a bushel to twenty bushels 
of loam ; and if calcareous matter be wanted add from a sixth to a 
tenth of old mortar rubbish, more being required for heavy than light 
soil. 
Lift any roots available for the purpose, laying them upon the fresh 
compost, and cover 3 or 4 inches deep. This is best done before the fall 
of the leaf. It is a mistake to allow Vines to become dry at the roots 
when at rest. Cracxed borders through dryness detach the finer and 
best roots; besides, the border is difficult to bring into a thoroughly moist 
condition. The outside border should have a covering of some kind to 
protect the roots from the heavy autumn rains, which reduce the tem¬ 
perature considerably. Glass lights are preferable, throwing off heavy 
rains whilst allowing the sun’s heat to penetrate the soil. Many per¬ 
sons, however, are obliged to rest content with a covering of leaves and 
litter after cold weather sets in. Though good Grapes can be produced 
without material to throw off the rains, yet reason and practice justify 
their employment wherever available, for the exclusion of moisture in 
undue proportion to the requirements of the Vines. 
Yuung Vines .—Those which have made a strong growth and are 
late in ripening should be assisted with fire heat, maintaining a maxi¬ 
mum of 75° and a minimum of G5° artificially, continuing it until the 
wood is ripe, accompanied with free top and front ventilation. Dis¬ 
courage any further growth by the removal of the laterals as they 
appear. 
Late Grapes .—Many are too late. They should be assisted with 
fire heat, maintaining a night temperature of 70° to 75°, falling 5° to 10° 
during the night, increasing to 80° to 85° by day with sun, accompanied 
with a free circulation of air, and a little at night. It will require 
sharp firing to finish those that are only commencing to colour before 
the days are too short to admit of free ventilation ; indeed, more can be 
done in the next four or six weeks than in twice the time later on. 
Those Grapes well advanced in ripening may have the atmospheric 
moisture reduced ; those only colouring should have a moderate amount 
of moisture to assist their swelling, not neglecting to apply water to the 
inside border as may be necessary. 
Pines. —Suckers from the summer fruiters will soon be ready to 
re-pot. It is well to divide the plants into two batches. The strongest 
plants should be shifted into their fruiting pots as soon as ready, 
employing 10 or 11-inch pots according to kind, affording the plants a 
position near the glass in a light airy house, keeping them gradually 
growing through the winter. The plants so treated will be readily 
started into fruit next May or June, and will afford a good supply in 
late summer or early autumn. The other plants, suckers from the 
summer fruiters not large enough to shift into fruiting pots, winter in 
their 7 or 8-inch pots, transferring them to the larger as soon as ready in 
the spring, which, with suckers of Smooth-leaved Cayenne that were 
started last March, will afford a successional supply of fruit through the 
winter months. 
A re-arrangement of the plants should now be made in order to 
separate the fruiting from the non-fruiting, as many of those that were 
started from suckers of last summer’s fruiters will have fruit swelling. 
Those plants not fruiting will have completed the growth, and should 
have air very freely for the next six weeks, when the temperature 
exceeds 80°. Plants well rooted should have a bottom heat of 80° to 85° 
but recently potted plants, or those not having roots well established in 
the fresh compost, maintain at 90°. 
Plants swelling the fruit should have moderate atmospheric 
moisture, admitting a little air at the top of the house early in the 
morniDg, so as to allow of any superfluous moisture escaping before the 
sun’s rays act powerfully upon the fruit. Any fruit it is desired to 
retard should be moved to a rather cool or shady house, affording 
abundance of air. 
Aralia Veitchi. —Small plants that have been grown in the stove up 
to this date, and are large enough for table decoration, should be gradu¬ 
ally hardened and placed in a cooler structure. In brisk heat they soon 
run up too tall, but in a temperature of 50° they will be perfectly safe 
and remain of a suitable size for a long time. The same applies to 
A. V. gracillima and A. leptophylla. Plants of the latter that are 
growing too tall may be cut into lengths of two or three joints, and 
inserted singly in small pots. The top eye should be level with the- 
soil, so that when placed into larger pots the old portion of the young 
plant can be buried. 
WJ 
ut 
Si 
IB BEE-KEEPER. 
Ni r . . - i ., . i . i . i . h - | - i . i . - r - 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
At the Heather. 
On the 7th of August, fully a fortnight later than in 1889, 
we placed our bees among the Heather. Although later this year 
it is as fresh and profuse in blossom as it was last year, and a few 
fine days are all that are necessary to secure a large yield of honey. 
The Thyme was also beautiful, and its perfume agreeable. 
How Far Bees Fey. 
I started at a point where I was sure they would be on fields 
of Thyme, and travelled westward for three and half miles where 
there was a break in the flora which the bees had reached, but I do 
not think had gone beyond it. By the time I had reached the spot 
the day was declining, still many bees were active upon both Thyme 
and Thistles, the only variety, however, being Carniolians ; not 
another bee was seen. Half a mile nearer the hives Syrians 
appeared, and I had to travel a considerable distance nearer home 
before other varieties were traced. This is not the first time 1 
have witnessed the Carniolians the farthest from home, and I am 
hopeful that they will form the heaviest hives at the end of the 
season. But what about their swarming propensities ? The rumour 
that they swarm excessively is a myth arising through a misunder¬ 
standing of the nature of bees and their habits. My bees are 
crowding 6000 cibic inches, and they have shown no inclination 
whatever to swarm, and will not until the queen shows signs of 
exhaustion. 
Moving Bees Safely. 
To send or take hives safely a long distance without worrying 
or overheating the bees is the key to success at the moors, and a 
great means of ensuring immunity from foul brood. Our bees 
had to be carted upwards of three miles and then sent nearly fifty 
by rail, yet not a bee escaped, nor was a dead one found, though 
they were confined for seventeen hours during the hottest day of 
the season. It will be remembered that previous to our instructions 
for taking bees to the Heather the late Mr. Wm. Raitt recorded the 
suffocation of his bees during transit of only a few miles. Profiting 
by our instructions he took them safely the following year, and 
gave the method as original, which has been reproduced in the 
“ Bee-keepers’ Record ” for August, but the attentive reader will 
not fail to observe that there is as much need for reform in the 
hives as there was in the ventilation of them. 
Observations. 
We have observed little of interest to record further than that 
in less than five minutes after the bees were set free they were 
entering their hives with honey and pollen. They as usual flew 
low, and took circuitous routes to escape the wind. Although the 
day may appear to us likely to be fine, before rain the bees 
remain idle. 
The Weather. 
Since the 22nd August, when we had near Leadhills a fall of* 
snow, the weather has been very changeable—frcst, high winds, 
with heavy rain and bright sunshine alternating. During the week 
honey was gathered on two days. The Heather is in splendid 
bloom, and with two weeks’ fine weather hives which are in good 
condition will be sure to rise rapidly in weight. It is to be 
regretted, however, that many hives I have witnessed are in very 
poor condition, and very far below the strength they ought to be at 
the moors. 
