260 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 18, 1890. 
should be sown with the seed at the present time. If placed in a gentle 
heat and kept in the light the plants will be ready for gatheiing from 
in November, and give a supply all winter. 
JJjpl 
HE BEE-KEEPER] 
% 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Tiie Unexpected. 
Although I had almost abandoned all hopes of obtaining a 
■single drop of honey, at the last hour, the 3rd of September, 
brought hopes that there might be an exception, and we were not 
disappointed. On September 5th a favourable change took place, 
which continued, and such splendid weather we have not experienced 
for years before, the bees working with a vigour seldom witnessed, 
•some of the strong hives rising nearly 50 lbs. A slight change 
to the worse came upon the 10th, which lasted three days, the 
lower temperature driving the crowding oat bees inside, and 
reducing the honey gathering to little more than what would afford 
a living. On the 12th there were indications of a favourable 
■change, and should it keep fair with a higher temperature for three 
or four days, instead of having to record 1890 as a total failure in 
a honey yield, it may be one of the highest. We are not yet out 
of the wood, but an average yield is certain, and we cannot say it 
is “ the worst season in the remembrance of man.” 
The Carniolians and Syrians are the heaviest colonies at the 
present. We are only two hours by rail from England, and if 
those south of the Tweed desire to do good to the cottager bee¬ 
keeper they should come north, and I will do my utmost to initiate 
them in the art of bee-keeping, which our once light but now heavy 
hives will illustrate. 
The result of the present year confirms what I have taught. 
As I am still with my bees I must close with the promise of full 
particulars, and advise to all bee-keepers to have their bees fed and 
finished up in their winter coats this month, so that both bee- 
master and bees may have a winter of repose after so tantalising 
and fatiguing a summer.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
BEES AND THEIR WAYS. 
Bees are to be regarded from two points of view—as the exponents 
of various social and moral qualities, and as honey making machines. 
For the moment let us consider them from the former point of view. 
The opinion expressed by Aristotle, that the humming sound made by a 
bee is caused by the “ illusion of an inward spirit,” has always seemed 
to us sound common sense. If a bee is not possessed by a spirit, and an 
aggravating kind of* spirit too, how can her manners and customs be 
accounted for 1 There is nothing else in nature so contrary, so persis¬ 
tently fussy and disagreeable as a bee—unless it be a wasp. The bee is 
■an impostor of the rankest kind, for it has set itself up as an example to 
youth on just those particular points that are most disagreeable to the 
young, and it has not really fulfilled its own ideal. People praise bees 
for thefr wisdom, but they will enter the same flower six times over, and 
never find out they have been there before. They are credited with 
prudence, but they will gorge themselves on any poisonous blossom 
placed within their reach. Universal suffrage, free education, and a 
free breakfast table we admit they have, and a number of other things 
that people will talk about and think they want. What we complain of 
is the immorality of pointing out to young people of both sexes that the 
persistent and unremitting fussiness of the bee is worthy of admiration. 
That bees strain all their energies after acquiring honey all day is no 
reason why we should do so, or why we should admire them because 
they don’t smoke tobacco or go to the theatre. They don’t want to do 
these things ; they would do them if they wanted to. As to their 
cleverness, they are clever enough to go out for a fly and find their way 
back to their hive if it is not moved G inches on one side. Shift the hive 
a little and every bee will fly back to where it started from and stay 
there. If the hive is moved 3 feet they will not be able to find it, but 
lie there and die in the cold rather than look for it. Then as to economy. 
A bee has no sense of proportion ; it will go on storing up honey far 
beyond what it can eat, and fags itself out every day for something it 
does not want. A bee has no pleasures, for it is always in a temper 
about something. The way it swears when it gets into a flower and 
can’t find the way out again is demoralising in the extreme. The only 
real luxury bees seem to indulge in is fighting, if a strange bee comes 
to make a call the inhabitants of that hive sting her to death. As the 
call is usually made for the purpose of robbery there may be some sense 
in inflicting the death penalty, but what of the morality of a nation 
that keeps organised bands of robbers and employs lynch law ! 
Bees are well known to be of the female sex, but not entirely so. 
The unrestricted female would be too much even for bees. The only 
perfect female is the queen. Mature consideration has led us to the 
conclusion that most of the imperfections of bee-life arise from its too 
exclusively feminine elements. Drones are at a discount, and are not 
a 1 lowed to vote or to be in the government ; consequently the women 
have it all their own way, and we see what comes of it, A hive is 
nothing more nor less than a gigantic nursery and store cupboard. The 
whole energies of the community are concentrated on feeding-bottles 
and pap. They have no picture galleries, no concerts, no clubs, no art 
critics, no amusements ; everything is brought down to a dead level of 
industry. Hexagons are employed for keeping honey in because those 
women put their heads together and found that hexagons took up less 
room than any other form, and rent costs money. Trust a woman for 
small economies 1 A man would have varied the shape a little occa¬ 
sionally-thrown in a cornice, or built out a buttress, or run up a spire, 
or something to get a little variety. Not so the woman ; give her 
utilitarianism. Then as to visitors. A woman doesn’t want visitors 
when she has a baby to attend to, and she does not want her husband 
to have them either. Bees don’t care about news from the outer world; 
they can tryike their own gossip for themselves. There is a popular 
superstition that bees surround their queen when she moves about in 
order to show due reverence to majesty. Not a bit of it. They are 
only keeping their eye on her. Fancy the position of that one defence¬ 
less perfect woman among so many of her sex who are not so perfect 
as she is. To show what a life one poor defenceless female has among 
so many, bee-keepers tell us that the queen is expected to lay from two 
to three thousand eggs a day for several weeks, and if she does not give 
the nurses enough to do she is turned out into a cold world to tend for 
herself.— {St. James's Gazette .) 
[What has “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ” to say to the above amusing 
summary of his little friends ?] 
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. 
Trees “ Barked ” by Cattle {Anxious"). —If the bark has been 
removed all round the trees and quite down to the wood the injury 
cannot be otherwise than detrimental. We have known such accidents 
to end fatally, but large trees are slow in dying. Usually the removal 
of bark is not so complete as is suggested, and often feared. Paring 
smooth the torn edges of the bark, and bandaging a thick plaster of 
clay worked into a smooth pigment, and fresh cow manure in 
equal parts, round the stems may be of considerable value to your 
trees. 
Eueharis not Thriving- (IF. II. L.). —There i3 nothing whatever 
amiss with the leaf, and although you say the plants have plenty of 
roots they may be attacked by mites and will soon disappear. We 
should give the plants bottom heat if possible, 85° to 90° at the bottom 
of the pots not being too much, and when the plants have made good 
roots and are growing freely afford liquid manure copiously, maintaining 
a moist, genial condition of the atmosphere, and they will probably 
outgrow their complaint. 
Spawn from Old SVIushrcom Bed (A Beginner). —The mouldy 
portions permeated by very fine threads of mycelium may sometimes be 
used for spawning new beds, but the spawn of old beds is generally too 
exhausted and often so filled with the mycelium of other fungi as not to 
be reliable or desirable. Good new spawn only should be used, securing 
the best possible as the cheapest in the end. The filament you have sent 
is totally unsuited for any purpose ; indeed it is the mycelium of a very 
undesirable Agaricus, probably A. muscarius, due probably to the 
presence of wood forming the bottom of the bed, and ought to be cleared 
away, dusting with quicklime. 
Double Whin, Corse, or Furze Cuttings (J . B.). —August or 
early September is perhaps the best time to insert cuttings of this very 
L beautiful plant in sandy soil, surfaced with about an inch of sand on 
a shady border, or preferably under a liandlight. We have also seen 
