236 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ fep!e nber 11, 119% 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
The Weather. 
The weather has been extremely variable since the 29th August, 
as it has been all the season. It may perhaps be interesting to some 
to know that on the morning of the 31st August there was a severe 
frost. Potatoes were frozen to the ground, but singular to say the 
Heather was uninjured, and the bees throughout the brighter part 
of the day worked well. The following morning first brought us 
sleet and heavy showers of hail, a change of temperature to some¬ 
thing like summer heat followed for three days, with heavy down¬ 
pours of rain. The last two days were the best the bees have had 
this season, an evident rise in the weight of the hives having taken 
place, and the 5th September was the finest day of the season. 
With a further continuance of fair weather for a few days the 
bees may make up their weight wonderfully, and may enable me to 
lay before your readers the results of the season. 
Appearances are sometimes misleading, but of six varieties the 
Carniolians are the most promising. Ours are a wonder to all who 
see them, and are a wide contrast to other varieties and to those in 
standard sized hives which have been preserved by driblet feeding. 
Not one of that sort I have witnessed but has drawn their brood 
long since and are unlikely now to be able to gather much surplus, 
but the results will prove. The largest yields will be had from the 
full sized hives as is always the case, there being always plenty of 
bees and room to store honey in the body of the hive without the 
necessity of having to build comb in the first place, which in a 
■season like the present is out of the question with weak hives. 
Pollen—Bees Flying. 
I have been much interested at seeing the bees break the rule 
of gathering pollen from one sort of flower or grass only. I have 
witnessed them frequently work alternately on different species of 
both flowers and Grasses. 
Some years since I gave my observations and opinion upon this 
-subject to the effect that bees were guided to their hive by possess¬ 
ing a knowledge of the points of the compass, and not that of any 
land or other mark. Following that article there appeared in a 
contemporary an article on the same subject as original! I have 
for some time past been giving the subject more thought and atten¬ 
tion, and my opinion is that magnetic influence is the principal 
guide of the bee, both outside and inside the hive, and that the eyes 
are of most use to the insect in her flights in the field, and that 
their antennas regulate every movement. 
The Age of the Bee. 
We have had this subject so often under consideration that it 
is almost useless to say a word more upon it to refute the erroneous 
impression that bees live about six weeks only, were it not to point 
out to bee-keepers that these strong colonies are the result of 
having two queens’ progeny living at one time, not by art, but by 
a natural act of the bees changing their queens without swarming 
about midsummer. The bees are still further preserved by being 
kept much within doors through stress of weather, and being well 
found in stores the season throughout, being exactly in a similar 
condition to that which we have so long advised to be done by 
careful manipulations, and introducing young fertile queens at the 
proper time.— A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Charles Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough .—Catalogue of Bulbs. 
Dobbie & Co., Rothesay, Scotland .—Autumn Catalogue. 
Barr & Son, King Street, Covent Garden.— Catalogrie of Bulbs and 
Daffodils. 
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. 
Begonias ( Lord B.~). —You will find the information required on 
page 217 of this issue. 
Seedling Carnations (IF. L. (?.).—The Carnation would never 
possess any commercial value, as there are many varieties in cultivation 
superior to the one of which you sent a flower. 
Bahlias (/?. S.~). —It is probable that the tubers were mixed, as, 
though cultivation has a tendency to cause a change in the flowers such 
as you describe, it is not likely to be effected in one year. 
Cheap Heating Apparatus (S. A).—You could effect your 
object by means of any of the cheap appliances advertised in the 
columns of this journal. Remove some of the foliage and expose the 
fruits to the sun as much as possible ; this will help more than artificial 
heat. 
Azalea Bed (IF.).—The best soil for Azaleas is unquestionably 
peat, but we have had them thriving admirably in loam on the sand¬ 
stone and freestone formations, and quite luxuriantly in sawdust from 
loose boxes in which hunters have “run ” during the summer, mixed with 
an equal proportion of turfy loam. We have no doubt of cocoa-nut fibre 
refuse being an excellent material for mixing with loam for the growth 
of Azaleas and Rhododendrons, having a sixth of sand added, and putin 
IS inches deep and made quite firm. We have also seen them luxuriating 
in a shallow silicious loam overlying sand, with a good mulching each 
year of cowdung. The condition of your plants shows the soil to be un¬ 
suitable, and we should take it out and have 18 inches depth of peat, 
which is best taken from a moor where Heather grows, the top 3 or 
-1 inches being best, and with a goodly admixture of particles of white 
sand. This chopped moderately small will grow them perfectly. The 
brown spongy peat used for Orchids is not suitable for Azaleas. We 
should not cut the plants down—at least, not until they had become 
well established in the peat bed, and then you may cut away the 
stunted growths, so as to encourage stronger growths from the base, 
and so insure larger trusses of bloom. Hardy Azaleas in variety are 
not so common as they deserve to be in gardens. 
Arranging Conservatory (P. 12.).—The walls will look very 
tame covered with Ivy. We suggest that the most conspicuous be 
covered with ornamental rockwork to some little height from the 
floor, and above that have rockwork pockets for Ferns, ornamental 
leaved Begonias, Tradescantias, and similar plants, and cover the smooth 
portions of the walls with Ficus repens and var. minima. It is very 
close growing, forming a capital background to the Ferns, &c., and is 
better indoors than Ivy. Vines would not succeed in such house, nor 
are Roses suitable unless they are trained well up to the glass and have 
plenty of light. We should have a border along the front inside, and 
plant Lapageria rosea and L. alba. They are charming when seen 
together, and would grow admirably in such position, training them up 
the front and over the roof from G to 9 inches from the glass. Camellias 
would do well, and Oranges may be grown in pots ; but it would be best 
to rely chiefly on Palms and other foliage plants, such as Indiarubber, 
Aspidistra lurida variegata, Dracaena congesta, D. australis, Aralia 
Sieboldi and var. variegata, Phormium Veitchi, and P. Colensoi. For 
hanging baskets you could not have anything better than Ferns, such 
as Nephrolepis Bausei, Davallia fijiensis major, D. Mariesi, and Platy- 
cerium alcicorne majus. 
Alternantbera Failures (G. B.'). —Alternantheras are essentially 
heat-loving plants, and the present season has been most unfavourable 
to their growth, failures being general. They rarely form much fresh 
strong growth after being planted, but the stunted shoots produced are 
invariably the most highly coloured. The best effect is produced by 
putting out quite small plants very thickly in the first instance. Strong 
plants may look well for a few days, but when the broad or fully 
developed leaves fail, which they very soon do, there is nothing to take 
their place, for some time at any rate, and a failure may be the result. 
Not only are Alternantheras very much smaller than when first put 
