572 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 25, 1890. 
with hinges or strong hooping there is [little fear of bees escaping 
or supers being shifted or twisted. 
I have other kinds of supers than those described, but I think 
unnecessary to detail them at present, the amplified statement 
being perhaps more than your correspondent desired, but which I 
hope may not be without its usefulness. 
Ventilating Floors. 
I am glad to observe that your correspondent has succeeded in 
making a cheap hive with its ventilating floor. I trust he does not 
follow the ladvice given in a contemporary, re-making stands for 
hives, to nail the rim, plain joint at the corners. Such a slip 
shop method of putting together any stand is not commendable. 
A very little pressure out of the perpendicular soon causes it to 
collapse. It is in the neat and proper checking and nailing at 
the corners that gives strength to all stands or supports. 
Since I communicated my intention a few weeks ago of making 
a few stands without feet in lieu of all my prize hives I had 
disposed of, I have now accomplished the work, but as I departed 
from my intention of keeping them without feet a brief descrip¬ 
tion may not be unacceptable, The sides of the stands are 
5 inches deep ; the length of the feet is 8 inches by 2i by 1| inch. 
These are squared across 3 inches from one end, and a gauge set at 
five-eighths is run upon the face, and are then ripped to the cross 
mark, ■where it is cut in. The 3 inches form the feet proper, the sawn 
portion being nailed to the sides of the hive, and at their extremity, 
gives the stand a good grip of the ground, and reduces the oscilla¬ 
tion to a minimum when in transit. The feet should be made 
from larch or red pine. They are much cheaper than iron, and 
are easily made by any amateur. The alteration in the bottom or 
false floor gives me great satisfaction. It is so easily opened or 
shut, and is always in place, yet it can be removed, cleaned, and 
replaced in a few seconds. It must be observed that these sizes of 
the feet should not be departed from. If the projections are more 
than five-eighths they might be the means of preventing an extra 
row of hives on the conveyances when taking them to the Heather. 
—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
Cineraria leaves Curling* (A. A).— The position the plants 
occupy is not suitable for them. The dry air rising from the highly 
heated hot-water pipes is exactly what these pipes do not like. If you 
cannot find a cooler place for them cover the stage with slates or any¬ 
thing else suitable for retaining a layer of cocoa-nut fibre refuse, sweet 
ashes, or fine gravel, and if this is kept damp the plants will thrive 
much better than on the dry open latticework stage. A temperature 
of 15° from fire heat is quite sufficient. 
Artichokes and Parsnips ( Graves ).—You may tell your master 
from us that both his Artichokes and l’arsnips are perfectly safe in the 
ground under the snow. It is convenient to have some taken up before 
the winter and stored where they can be readily obtained as wanted in 
severe weather, but if kept too warm and dry they will not be so good 
in quality as those left in the ground. We should let the crops remain 
where they are till the snow vanishes and the ground is in suitable con¬ 
dition for digging, when the roots can be taken out. 
hissing Parcels (A. E. Coleman ).—We have not been able 'to 
trace the missing parcel. If the box was substantial and the address 
made secure, it ought to have been delivered. We receive during the 
year several smashed boxes from which most or all the contents have 
escaped, also direction labels which have become detached from the 
parcels in transit. Two of such labels have reached us during the last 
month, but we have no means of knowing who were the senders. We 
shall be glad to receive a bloom of your sport on the first convenient 
opportunity, and to express an opinion thereon. 
Propagating Chrysanthemums (Cork ).—Some of the finest of 
plants and blooms have been grown both from sturdy suckers taken 
with a few roots bristling from them, and by striking the tops of strong 
suckers. It is more a question of selection of either, and of the means 
and methods in raising and growing the plants, than anything else on 
which success hinges. The excessive and prolonged flagging of cuttings, 
and which, in consequence, have scarcely strength to produce roots, 
though very common, cannot be regarded as a good commencement in 
Chrysanthemum culture. You had better, perhaps, try both the 
methods to which you allude, and thus ascertain which is the most 
applicable in your particular case. 
Tomato Roots and Stems Cankered (R. G. _!/.).—The soil 
would be improved by the dressing you propose giving of quicklime, 
applying it at the rate of 3 lbs. per square yard, and mixing it 
thoroughly with a foot in depth of soil. The soot would be better 
applied afterwards, or before putting in the loam, sprinkling it on the 
surface and pointing in lightly. A peck per square rod (30J square 
yards) is a proper quantity to use. It would be an advantage to add a 
little superphosphate of lime and kainit to the loam used for planting 
in, say a good handful to a bushel of the loam. Superphosphate and 
kainit may also be used as a surface dressing, taking two-thirds the 
former to one-third the latter, and applying at the rate of I ozs, per 
square yard. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Cooper, Taber & Co , 90, Southwark Street, S.E.— Catalogue of Seeds, 
1890-91. 
John Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, S.E .—Catalogue of Flower and 
Vegetable Seeds. 
Webbs, Wordsley, Stourbridge .—Spring Catalogue, 1891 (illustrated 
with coloured plates). 
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. 
Planting- vines (A. A. B .).—Your letter cannot be answered this 
week, but you have nothing to lose by waiting. 
Dwarf Japanese Plants (Inqinrer ).—We hope to give the 
nformation you require in an early issue of this Journal. 
Cox’s Orange Pippin Apple (M. B .).—We are not aware that 
this delicious Apple is extensively grown in the United States or 
Canada for importation into this country. It is evident that the supply 
is not equal to the demand, or such high prices would not be obtained 
for, as you say, “ inferior samples.” We have seen hundreds of trees of 
Cox’s Orange Pippin laden with fruit this season in one particular- 
district, and where the crop had been thinned The samples were as good 
as any imported, but where thinning had not been resorted to the 
produce was of a decidedly trashy character, and the trees exhausted by 
their load of inferior fruit. In a few years’ time the supply of home 
grown Cox’s Orange Pippin Apples will be both larger and better than 
it is now, and we think you will not have long to wait for obtaining 
good samples at a reasonable price. Many trees have been planted 
during recent years, and ten times more fruit will be placed in the 
market next year than has been the case this, if 1891 proves what we 
hope it will be, a good Apple year. You can procure the small work 
to which you refer from a bookseller. It is published by Bell & Sons, 
Covent Garden, price 2s. 6d. 
“ Campanula canarlensis ” (J. T. S .).—The plant which you.say 
has been sent under the above name is perhaps Canarina campanulata, 
a relative of the Campanulas, and has been also named Campanula 
canariensis. It was figured in the “ Botanical Magazine ” in 1799, and 
thus described :—“The flowers of this plant so strongly resemble those 
of the Campanula that it is no wonder the older botanists regarded it 
as such ; Linnaeus himself did so at first and Miller also, and even now 
it may perhaps be doubted whether it ought to be made a distinct genus 
of, since it is found to differ principally in number of its parts of fruc¬ 
tification. It is a native of the Canary Islands, whence its name, was 
cultivated in the Royal Garden, Hampton Court, as long since as the 
year 1696, and is a tender herbaceous plant, to be found in most of our 
greenhouses. Its stem rises to the height of 6 or more feet ; its 
flowers, produced singly from the fork of the stalk, are large and showy. 
They begin to open at the commencement of winter and continue to 
blow till March. Is propagated by parting of its roots, which must be 
done with caution, for, as the root is fleshy, if they are broken or 
wounded the milky juice will flow out plentifully, so that if these are 
planted before the wounds are skinned over it occasions their rotting. 
The best time for transplanting and parting of their roots is in July, 
soon after the stalks are decayed. The soil should be a light sandy 
loam, mixed with a fourth part of screened lime rubbish.” 
