192 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 28 1890. 
Queenless Hives. 
Amongst many hives I have examined there will be on an 
average 15 per cent, queenless, and in one apiary of thirty I counted 
six dead, and the hives being robbed from that cause. It is a great 
mistake to set strong and weak hives near each other, as the latter 
are sure to be robbed, and, what is more detrimental, not a few of 
these have symptoms of foul brood. From the distance bees fly, 
and their proclivities to rob, the disease may be spread to a very 
wide extent. From the catching nature of the disease it will 
be easily understood why it so mysteriously appears in apiaries 
supposed to be completely isolated. 
White Heather. 
White Heather is somewhat plentiful in the district. It is a 
great favourite amongst ladies, who have requisitioned me to 
supply them, as also are the White Harebells or Campanula rotun- 
difolia alba. The wild Pansies are fine, some of them very 
large and beautiful. Myosotis palustris is simply grand. I saw 
some Gentians, and of course other wild flowers common in 
upland districts, of which I am not botanist enough to describe. 
The search for these further tends along with the bracing atmo¬ 
sphere to increase the vigour of invalids as well as that of— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
Toads Eating Bees. —On Sunday the 10th inst. a gentleman in 
the flower garden here and his valet with him were interested in watch¬ 
ing a bee going from flower to flower over the Lobelias. Noticing a 
large toad underneath the Lobelia in chase of the bee they watched 
its movements. The toad followed the bee for some distance, caught 
it, and ate it. Not hearing of such a thing before, I thought the 
fact might be of interest to some readers of the Journal.—G eo. 
Hawkins, Evoenny Priory Gardens, Bridgend. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Sander & Co , St. Albans .—Orchid Catalogue. 
Little & Ballantyne, Carlisle .—Select Pulls. 
Harrison & Sons, Leicester .—Flowering Bulls and Roots, 1S90-91. 
Benjamin Soddy, 243, Walworth Road, London, S.E.— Catalogue of 
Hyacinths, Tulips, and other Bulls. 
Robert Veitch & Son, 54, High Street, Exeter.— Catalogue of Butcli 
Bulls and other Flower Boots. 
Fisher, Son, & Sibray, Handsworth, Sheffield.— Catalogue of Bulls 
and Flower Boots. 
W. Cooper, 751, Old Kent Road. — Catalogue of Greenhouses, 
Frames, Jj’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. 
Late Questions (F. JY., G. 71., TF. E. T. and J. IF ).—Letters 
arriving on Wednesday cannot be answered in the current issue. 
■Waterproofing Calico ('B. C .).—You will find the method of 
waterproofing described in answer to another correspondent (“ C. H. M.”), 
and the information there given will possibly meet your requirements. 
Fumes from Coke (£?. H .).—If the combustion is “perfect”— 
that is, everything consumed—no injury will ensue ; but it is doubtful 
if that is so, and the fumes from a furnace are better outside glass 
structures than in them. Your case is inadequately stated. 
Selenium pumilum (#.).—You are quite right. The flowers of 
the plant referred to on page 159 are included in a coloured group on 
page 78 of Carter’s Catalogue of last year. It is a very accommodating 
plant, and will grow and flower freely in ordinary fertile soil in town 
and country gardens. 
Tbrips on Grapes (T. T.). —Though, as you say, you can destroy 
thrips on the leaves by sponging them with Fir tree oil, you “ cannot 
sponge the bunches.” You may try the Lethorion vapour cone as 
you suggest, and you will find another fumigating insecticide referred 
to in another column by a very eminent gardener. 
Exhibiting 1 Vegetables (TF. S.). —Undoubtedly the custom is to 
exhibit one variety of Potato only in each dish, though some judges might 
possibly admit more, but the chances would be all against the exhibitor. 
It is never safe to depart from established custom, though the wording 
of a class may appear to afford the opportunity. 
Purple-podded Pea ( Bustle ).—The above is the name of the 
variety of which you have sent pods. It is a very old Pea, but only 
grown as a novelty. The pods are very deep purple in colour, and re¬ 
tain it when dried. The peas are neither of good colour nor flavour 
when cooked. When the soft young pods are cooked, as they may be, 
and eaten like Kidney Beans, the purple colour vanishes. 
Flowers for Beds in the Autumn (Ze Boi). —If you can 
procure plants of dwarf early flowering Chrysanthemums, many of 
which are grown in 5-inch pots in nurseries, they would render your 
beds gay almost at once, and continue until checked by frost. In 
ordering plants, the best course will be to state your requirements to 
the vendor and leave the selection to him. You will then receive 
better value for your money than by making your own selection. 
Capsicums Unbealtliy (B. D.). —'Without knowing the treatment 
the plants have received and the position they have occupied, we cannot 
state the precise cause of their present condition. The leaves suggest 
that they have not had sufficient sun and air, but too much atmospheric 
moisture. These plants often succeed much better in frames than more 
or less shaded stoves, and we have had excellent crops from plants that 
were plunged close to a wall facing south about the middle of June. 
Poinsettia Leaves Discoloured (Z. L .).—The appearance of 
the leaf suggests that it has not been able to elaborate and assimilate 
the sap, possibly because of insufficient sun. Though the leaf is large it 
is not so stout as is desirable, and perhaps the plants have been too 
generously fed. We should not supply them with liquid manure at 
present, and we do not apprehend they will be seriously injured if care¬ 
fully watered and not shaded, though if they are in a shaded position 
now they must not be suddenly exposed to the sun. 
Tomatoes not Colouring (D. IF. B.). —The fruits you sent were 
not ripe, and your letter did not reach us in time to be answered last 
week, as it was sent to the publishing department. After keeping the 
fruits in the sun for a few days they decidedly improved in colour with 
the advance in ripening. If the fruits on the plants are not shaded by 
leaves, and the weather not continuously dull, and they are allowed to 
ripen, yet still do not colour, we can arrive at no other conclusion than 
that the variety is naturally pale, and we should grow another next 
year. We think, however, that those sent were not sufficiently exposed 
to the sun during the process of ripening. 
Dahlia Leaves Eaten (iY. II. T .).—There is every appearance of 
the leaves having been attacked by one of the leaf miners, the larvae of 
various species of insects. The havoc may have been effected and the 
miner escaped before the damage was observed. There is nothing in 
the leaves now, as there usually is in cases of attack by the leaf miners, 
but we have noticed similar skeletonised leaves on Celery, and especially 
Chrysanthemums, due to leaf miners and the subsequent extraction of 
matter by earwigs and other predatory creatures. The only thing we 
can suggest is to keep a keen eye on the plants, especially at night, 
and, finding out the enemy, promptly take remedial steps. 
Gooseberry Bushes Dying off Suddenly ((?. C.). —This is 
often due to the devastation of the larvae of the clear-wing moths, 
which live in burrows in the roots and stems of many plants, doing 
considerable damage, whole branches and sometimes whole bushes 
collapsing suddenly from their assaults. The most destructive to fruit 
trees, and particularly bush fruits, is the larvae of Sesia tipuliformis, 
which is in the moth state not readily caught ; but that is the only 
means of lessening the evil. They are usually found in the angles of 
branches or about the bushes, on which they deposit their eggs at this 
time of year and earlier. There is no Vine louse that attacks Goose¬ 
berries. Your letter arrived too late for being referred to last week. 
Rose Leaves Diseased (ZT. C.). —The leaves are infested with a 
fungus, due to the damp location and ungenial soil. Collect all the 
leaves fallen or infested and burn them, and dress the ground with sul¬ 
phate of iron at the rate of a quarter of an ounce per square yard, not 
pointing it in, and syringe the Roses with sulphide of potassium, of 
which Harris’s is a good preparation—it may be had of most nursery¬ 
men—following the instructions. The Roses would be best lifted in 
November, following with a thorough stirring of the soil and mixing 
with it some old mortar rubbish and loam of a more open nature before 
replanting the Roses, About a sixth of old mortar rubbish would assist 
the Roses to make firmer wood and flower more satisfactorily, as well as 
