July 15, 1836. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
knitted to insure a sturdy compact growth of the foliage. Smaller plants 
may be placed into 4-inch pots, while smaller ones, or those not well 
rooted, may remain in the pots in which they are now in until they are 
we,l rooted. A suitable compost for these plants is good fibry loam two 
parts, with one part of leaf mould ; to this may be added one-seventh of 
manure passed through a sieve and a liberal quantity of sand. 
Double Varieties. —Plants that are rooted may he potted from time 
to time as they require more root room. For these moderate-sized pots, 
say 5-inch, are preferable to larger ones ; we have invariably found them 
damp badly during the winter if over-potted. For the present we shall 
grow our plants on a shelf in the greenhouse where late-flowering Azaleas 
are encouraged to make their growth, the house being kept close and 
shaded. 
Bouvardias. —Plants that have been raised from portions of roots and 
grown on under intermediate conditions will he bushy little specimens 
ready for 5-inch pots. When placed in these and rooting in the new soil 
they should be grown under cool airy treatment. For a time the plants 
may be plunged in a cold frame, and afterwards, say towards the end of 
the month, plunged on a sunny border. If planting out is preferred, 
select a southern position with a firm bottom. Then place 6 or 8 inches 
of good soil, such as loam, leaf mould, and manure, and turn the plants 
out instead of pyting them. For a time a frame eliould be placed over 
them until they are established and thoroughly hardened, when it can be 
Temoved. 
Silvias. —Young plants of different varieties may with safety be 
planted out on a sunny border. This is the leabt trouble and decidedly 
the best method of managing these autumn and winter-flowering plant 3 . 
Cuttings may stdl be rooted, and if stopped once or twice they are more 
useful for decoration than those rooted earlier in the season. 
Tuberous Begonias —Young plants growing in cold frames that are 
not required to flower for some time should be encouragtdto grow by 
potting them from time to time as they require more root room. This 
will prevent them coming into flower as early as if they are confined at 
their roots. Any blooms that appear should also be removed. Plants 
m flower will continue gay as long as growth is made; they should 
be assisted if the pots are full of roots by the aid of weak stimulants, 
beedlings raised from seed sown early in the year, and now established in 
pans and boxes, will make much greater progress if planted out in light 
soil in a frame with about 4 inches of soil than if grown in pots. If 
the desire is to develope them as large as possible for flowering another 
year, tbev should be encouraged eo that strong tubers are formed. 
Cyclamens. —Seedlings of various sizes as they fill their pots with 
roots should be repotted, for if starved by being kept in small pots too 
long they will not make the progress they ought to do. The earliest 
plants, or those raised in August last, should now be placed into 5 and 
b-inch pots and grown on under cool conditions. They should be mode¬ 
rately close to the glass, enjoy abundance of light and moisture, with a 
circulation of air daily. A confined shaded atmosphere only draws 
the foliage up weakly and ruins the constitution of the plants. These 
must be carefully watered and freely syringed twice daily. Other plants 
that have filled thumb pots with roots may be placed into 3-incb, so that 
they can be transferred into 5 inch afterwards, for pots that size will be 
large enough for plants that are now in small pots. It may be necessary 
to push these forward for a time in an intermediate temperature. Cycla¬ 
mens do well in a compost of two parts fibry loam, one of leaf soil, 
W1 “j one-seventh of cow manure parsed through a sieve, and the 
addition of a little sand. Those placed in their flowering pots should 
have the soil pressed moderately firm. 
Lapagerias. —Plants trained under the roof of the greenhouse, or any 
other structure, should now be growing vigorously and producing strong 
growths from the base. These must be tied to the wires at intervals of a 
few days to prevent the points of the shoots touching the glass, for if 
•allowed to do so they are quickly injured and fail to extend. The smaller 
growths fhould be drawn out, which brings these side shoots early to a 
standstill, and they have a tendency to flower all the better. This is not 
all, for they are more natural and beautiful when the plants are in bloom 
than is the case when the whole of the shoots are stiffly tied to the wires. 
If the plants are growing on the south side of a house the ordinary shading 
applied for the majority of plants will prove insufficient. Strong light or 
sun turns the foliage yellow. In addition to the ordinary shade used for 
the house, we have always found it necessary to use open mats as well 
over them. Abundance of water must be given while they are growing 
freely both at their roots and over the foliage. If the border in which 
they are growing is full of roots they will be benefited by applications of 
liquid manure. If aphides appear on the foliage fumigate the house 
lightly at once with tobacco smoke. 
% 
TS . . I ...r—T- , ,-,- r . , 1 . ,rm 
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IE BEE-KEEPER. 
d m 
ROBBING—ITS PREVENTION AND CURE. 
In the early months of the year, and at any other season 
when there is either an entire or partial cessation in the 
honey flow, one of the worst features in the character of bees 
begins to show itself in the persistent attempt too often made 
to obtain honey, not by honest labour in the fields but by 
predatory attacks on neighbouring hives. Sometimes stock 
after stock is attacked until either the robbers gain the 
mastery of some one colony weaker than the others, or, 
repulsed by all, they seek in the apiary of some other person 
a store of easier access. The greatest prevention of robbing 
is keeping all stocks strong in numbers and headed by a 
fertile queen, and when this is the case the bee-keeper has 
little to fear, and this more especially if, when he suspects an 
attempt to pillage is being made, he takes the wise precaution 
to narrow the entrances of all the hives and so enable the 
bees more easily to combat the thieves. Many a stock is 
robbed without the owner having the slightest idea of what 
is going on, when a little timely help might have saved it. 
It is so easy to tell when thieves are making their excursions 
that it seems almost unnecessary to reiterate the signs so 
well known to an experienced bee-keeper; but if an unusual 
disturbance is noticed, attended with loud humming and 
other signs of unusual agitation at a time when other stocks 
are comparatively quiet, a suspicious eye should be cast on 
the scene of the uproar, and for the benefit of those who are 
unable to tell from the manner of flight and general aspect 
of the bees whether a stock is being assailed, it may be well 
to repeat what has often before been written by various 
writers, that by means of a little flour sprinkled on them as 
they leave the hive the bees may be marked and proof be at 
once afforded as to the honest or dishonest purpose of their 
flight. 
If it has been proved that an attempt is being made to 
rob a stock the first remedy is to narrow the entrance, and in 
early spring or late autumn room need only be allowed for a 
single bee to pass in or out, care being taken to see that such 
entrance never becomes entirely blocked and so causes the 
suffocation of the stock. If the strangers still continue to 
enter and leave with their ill-gotten gains more stringent 
measures must be taken, and recourse be had to the plan 
advised by “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper,” which it will be 
remembered was to smear the board of the “attacking” 
stock with carbolic acid, not interfering with the stock 
attacked ; but even this is not at all times sufficient in a really 
bad case, and then another plan has been used in my apiary 
with success, but recourse should only be had to it when 
other measures have failed. It must first be borne in mind 
that even skeps are enclosed in wooden cases so that the acid 
does not affect the bees inside so mueh as if their hive was 
not in such a cover. I first get a match box and make in 
each end of it a small hole corresponding to the one in the 
hive—which is to be only large enough to admit a single bee 
at one9 when robbing is going on—and these being cut the 
box is placed so as to form a “ tunnel ” entrance. When in 
position a piece of stone or brick is placed on the top of it, 
and also one on each side, changing the appearance of the 
front of the hive and giving a good opportunity for the use 
of carbolic acid in its full strength. When the stones or 
bricks are put in their places they must on their upper 
surfaces be well smeared with the acid, the smell of which 
will be most obnoxious to outsiders, but not nearly so great 
an annoyance to those within. On treating a stock so I 
have seen a small swarm of bees hovering round and not 
daring to approach too near, and even when the strength of 
the acid has been spent but few have dared to enter the 
unknown tunnel, and these are at once turned back by the 
sentries at the inner gate. If, and in a very weak stock it 
might so happen, the bees keeping up in the comb and not 
guarding their entrance at all the robbars did now and then 
enter, I should smear the outer end of the match box, and 
even the alighting board itself, rather than allow a single 
bee to gain access to the interior. At night after dusk the 
box and stones may be removed and all traces of the acid be 
taken away, and next morning the box alone replaced ; but 
if another attempt should be made the same method must be 
adopted, until at last perseverance is rewarded by success, 
and a stock is saved from destruction. 
It is true that by using the carbolic near the entrance of 
