102 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r July 29, 181-6. 
Bees remember their old site or entrance for more than a 
month, and no doubt would recognise their own queen if 
presented to them many days after having been deprived of 
her. I have witnessed bees searching for their killed queen 
when placed 50 yards from their hive. Bees are sometimes very 
hostile to alien queens for a long time, doing this perhaps in the 
hopes of their own appearing again. I have often quailed 
the bees on the attack of a stranger, and soothed their temper 
by introducing their own queen in a dead state at the same 
time I set the alien at liberty amongst them. I never knew 
this to fail, and it insured the safety of the alien queen. I 
have seen so many instances of reckless, yet successful intro¬ 
duction of queens, that I feel certain that lessons from failures 
as to the introduction of queens will be of more service to 
those requiring hints than if I was to mislead by recording 
successful introduction in cases I did not approve of in the 
manner it was done. 
BEES BUILDING COMBS IN AN ISOLATED HIVE. 
I have it on record where a hive of bees belonging to me 
stored honey at the time of a glut in combs 4 feet from the 
tenanted hive, and “ R, S.” the same year had a beautiful 
bellglass filled under similar circumstances. It is a common 
occurrence for bees to clean out and dress up old combs in 
isolated hives before swarming. But this year a gentleman 
at Port Glasgow had a hive, the bees of which frequented an 
empty hive standing a good distance from the other, and 
actually built combs in it before it swarmed, after which they 
took possession of it. This looks more like reason than instinct 
PREPABING FOR THE MOORS. 
My hives are now mostly in capital order for gathering 
Burplus honey at home, and, being supplied with young 
queens, will be extra when set down at the Heather. The 
precautions to be observed to prevent mishaps are—I shall 
prepare them some days previous to departure with them, and 
have their external appearance the same as they will b9 when 
released. If this is not attended to many bees, and perhaps 
queens too, will be lost when set down at the Heather. So I 
will guard against that, and keep the external appearance of 
every hive the same as it was at home. 
The Clover season will be past here about the end of July. 
The weather has been extremely changeable, with high and 
low temperatures, neither of which is good for honey secre¬ 
tion. The only days they have got in the honey season was 
on the 17th and 18th July. Yet for all that to day (19th) I 
had a crossed Cyprian swarm, three weeks swarmed, which 
weighed—bees, combs, and their contents—65 lbs., which is 
at least double that any other variety has made during the 
same time. 
Being unable to attend to my bees properly, about two 
weeks ago a huge swarm issued from a Syrian stock. Not 
expecting it, and not having a hive ready for its reception, I 
threw it back ; but it has remained comparatively idle ever 
since. It is a rule that after bees prepare for swarming they 
discontinue working. 
While tiered hives are undoubtedly the largest producers, 
still it is a loss to attempt frustrating the swarming mania, 
and as swarms always work best we should take them the 
first opportunity, and make the most of them.—A Lanarkshire 
Bee-keeper. 
QUEEN INTRODUCTION. 
It may be interesting to your readers to learn the result of my first 
attempt at queen introduction, the method adopted being that recom¬ 
mended (No. 1) by Mr. Simmins. I had two stocks from which swarms 
had issued on the 1st and 2nd inst. respectively, and on the 9th I cut out 
all the queen cells I could find ; I again examined them on the 12tb, and 
found they had started others, these I also destroyed. On the morning of the 
15th I received two Ligurian queens, and at 10 P.M., by lamp light, I 
raised one corner of the quilt, and using only sufficient smoke to keep the 
bees down, I allowed a queen to run down into each hive. I did not 
again disturb them until 11 A.M. on the 19th, when I found I had been 
completely successful in both cases. Perhaps other bee-keepers will give 
Mr. Simmins’ method a fair trial.— T. Moss. 
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 correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended 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 communications. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS.—We desire to assure those of our corre¬ 
spondents whose letters and communications are not promptly 
inserted that they are not the less appreciated on that account. 
Our pages are practically filled several days prior to publication, 
and letters arriving on Wednesday morning, except by special 
arrangement, are invariably too late for insertion. The delay in 
the publication of some of these is not of material importance, 
hue reports of meetings and shows held a week previously lose 
much or all of their value if not received in time to appear 
in the current issue. 
Seedling Gloxinia (T. TV.). —The flowers sent are pretty, and the variety 
is worth keeping, but there are many others in cultivation equally as good. 
Dwarf Kidney Beans (M. A. B .).—You need have no fear of the Scarlet 
Runners in an adjoining garden affecting the purity of the seed of the 
variety you wish to preserve. 
Exhibiting Roses (Chester Subscriber). —The remark of our correspon. 
dent had no doubt reference to the probabililty of the exhibitor to whom 
you refer taking more prizes for Roses. We believe he has taken prizes 
since the remark was published, and if you look down page 118 of the same 
volume to which you direct our attention you will find a record of some 
of them. See also report of Wirral Show in the present issue. 
Bran as Manure ( Pen and Ink). —No doubt bran possesses manurial 
properties, and we can quite understand it would be good for Potatoes in 
strong land, spreading it in the drills with the sets ; but at the same time 
we should not think of purchasing it for that purpose, as we could spend 
our money better on kiln dust for spreading in with Potatoes in the same 
way—a large handful to every 5 or 6 yards of the trench. 
Mushroom (A Subscriber). —The specimen you have sent is Agaricus 
arvensis, the Horse Mushroom. Cooked just in the stage of the one before 
us—that is, just after the veil has broken from the pileus, and before the 
gills change colour, they are safe to eat, but should not be eaten in button 
form, nor when quite expanded and getting old. They are good for 
ketchup. 
Peaches Falling (TV. A.). —The stone of the ripe fruit sent is very 
defective, and sufficient to account for the fruit falling from the tree. It 
may be the result of imperfect fertilisation, also of a deficiency of calcareous 
matter in the border. The tree would probably be benefited by raising the 
roots and placing them in good loam to which a tenth part of lime rubbish 
is added, making the border firm, and surfacing with manure for keeping 
it moist in the summer, and inciting the production of surface roots. 
Tarragon (B. P. cj- Sons). —The plants you have sent are Tarragon. To 
have plants possessing the full flavour of the herb they should always be 
raised by division. The plants flower freely, but seed seldom, and when 
plants are raised from seed they are practically flavourless, in their young 
stages at least; whether they eventually possess the desired property we do 
not know, but this you can ascertain. When the leaves of the plants you 
have sent are slightly dried or withered the Tarragon flavour is apparent. 
Nectarine Tree Unhealthy (TV. T.). —The leaves of your tree are yellow 
because they are not sufficiently nourished, the sap vessels of the stock are 
contracted, and probably the roots are not working freely in good soil. If 
you wind a thick hayband round the contracted part of the stem, and keep 
it moist, it wiU do good, and you would do well also to carefully place the 
roots in good loamy soil in the autumn, not letting them get dry during the 
process of lifting, and removing the requisite portion of the old border. 
A liberal application of liquid manure might benefit the tree now. 
Water Lilies (A. C.). — Nymphma odorata, which has flowers rather 
larger than the common white Water Lily N. alba, is hardy in the southern 
districts of England, and the blooms have a reddish tinge, but the variety 
rosea is much more deeply coloured though the flowers are smaller. It is a 
native of North America, and could be procured from nurserymen who make 
a specialty of hardy plants. Your other questions are too indefini e, but 
Todea superba, Trichomane3 trichoideum, and Hymenophyllum hirsutum 
are favourites with most Fern lovers. 
Tomatoes ( Cambridge ).—Take off the growths that spring from the fruit 
bunches at once. They are the result of vigour of the plants. If fruit does 
not set on bunches from the main stems let a few tiuBses form on laterals, 
pinching the growths immediately beyond them. When six or eight 
trusses of fruit set top the plants and suppress all subsequent lateral 
