124 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 5, 1886, 
de.land, Mias Gayton, and M S3ra. Sell*, Kendle, Lloyd, and Clowes were 
the successful competitors. The Committee, with a wise discretion, 
eliminated the usual class for collections of bee furniture, and had only two 
class ;s for hives, the first class to include hives not exceeding 20s, and the 
second class los. 
Bee-keeping nowadays has become more of an industry and less of a 
hobby, and expensive prices, except for the dilet'ante bee-keeper, are things 
of the past. In these classes Messrs. Neighbour, Blow, Baldwin, Overton, 
Dines, Abbott, Howard, and Meadows were successful ; while in the class 
for extractors, T. B. Blow took a silver and two bronze medals, and C. T. 
Overton a silver medal. Bronze medals were awarded to Messrs. Abbott, 
Overton, and Webster for smokers, and appliances for quieting bees, and we 
think that the carbolic acid fumigator will be the fumigator of the future, 
For feeders, Messrs. Howard and Meadows gained a silver medal and a 
bronze medal, which was also obtained by Messrs. Blow and Baldwin. For 
section racks Messrs. Neighbour and Abbott were awarded prize medals; 
while Messrs. Abbott secured the silver medal for a travelling crate. 
In the class of useful inventions introduced since 1883, Messrs. Abbott, 
showed a very neat contrivance for fixing foundation. A groove, the under 
surface of the top bar is cut into one side, perpendicular, and the other side 
slanting ; the sheet has the npper end placed in this grove, and is kept in 
position by a thin strip of wood, which jams it so tightly that the founda¬ 
tion will bear the strain of several pounds. 
Mr. C. X. Weston showed a Bertrand fumigator, which we can bear 
testimony to as being a very efficacious way of curing foul brood. The 
price (14s. 6d.) is rather prohibitive, but the county associations could 
easily let it out on hire to their members. The Self-Opening Tin Box 
Company showed some cheap useful tins for storing honey, which supplies 
a very great want, as all sorts of utensils, from washing basins to bread 
pans, have to be pressed into the service of bee-keepers, very much to the 
detriment of the temper of the careful housewife. 
In the miscellaneous class there were various exhibits from medallions 
to medicine, from bottles to bee flora, from comb foundation to cakes and 
confectionery. Most of the honey shown was for sale, and a brisk trade 
was carried on by the exhibitors, as well as by Messrs. Neighbour, the 
Bee and Fruit Farming Company, and the British Honey Company, who 
respectively showed very attractive exhibits of honey of all kinds and 
qualities, from the ancient glass super to the modern section, the most con¬ 
venient and saleable form of comb honey. 
[The complete prize list of the above Show was not received on our going 
to press, and the report of the Caledonian Society’s Apiarian Exhibition 
arrived too late for insertion this week.] 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
L. Spiith, Rixdorf, Berlin .—Catalogue of Bulbs , Roses, cj -c., 188G. 
%* 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. 
UNANSWERED LETTERS.—We find it necessary to state that letters 
to which replies are expected in this Journal should be addressed to 
the “ Editor of the JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE, - ’ and in NO 
OTHER WAY, to insure attention. 
Royal Caledonian Society (Show). —We cannot give you the date you 
require; the best course would be to write to Mr. J. Stewart,4, Albyn Place, 
Edinburgh. 
Princess Frederick William Strawberry (H. Mills). — We for¬ 
warded your letter to our correspondent, who replies :—“ This variety does 
not seem to be in general cultivation, though it is an excellent variety for 
forcing, being a great bearer, the trusses thrown well up, as in La Grosse 
Sucree, and has a particularly fine aroma when ripe. It was grown a few 
years ago by Messrs. James Dickson & Sons, Newton Nurseries, Chester.” 
Chrysanthemums Dorset). —Your writing is so indistinct that we 
can scarcely read your letter. You have done quite right in promptly 
removing the buds. The next will probably show at the right time for 
“ taking,” and with good management will develops into fine blooms from 
crown buds. You should read carefully what Mr. Molyneux has written on 
this subject, and proceed with early and late varieties accordingly. 
Specimens of Ferns—Mushrooms (H. G. B.). —The neatest way to 
secure the fronds is by gumming narrow pieces of strong paper across the 
stipes and base of the pinnae or pinnules, and if some care be exercised in 
placing these the frond can bi rendered quite secure. If gummed, as you 
suggest, the gum employed should be thin and clear. The heat is probably 
too great in the cellar, and that would cause the Mushrooms to grow with 
long stalks as described. 
Apple Blossom (H. C .).—The semi-double Apple blossom you have sent 
is 2| inches in diameter and very beautiful. You would observe it was the 
only blossom on the spur, and if you examined its stem or peduncle care¬ 
fully you would not only see it was very stout and a little flattened, but 
ribbed. The ribs represent the stalks of other flowers, and instead of the 
specimen being a solitary flower it was an aggregation of all the flowers of 
the truss—a merging or concentration of them all into one flower, and a 
very complete and interesting example of fasciation. 
Cutting Down Jacaranda mimosaefolia (W. M. (?.).—We shculd take 
cuttings of the plant now—the tops of the shoots—and try and strike them. 
They should be a little firm, and inserted in sand over sandy peat made 
firm, in pots over which bellglasses can be placed, or in a close case in a 
warm house or pit. We should not cut the plant closely down now, but 
only shorten the growths, keep the soil rather dry through the winter, and 
prune lower in early spring. Healthy plants are very beautiful in a small 
state—charming for table decoration and vases. 
Brugmansias Losing their Lower Leaves (Cambridge). —This is to 
some extent natural; but these plants are very much subject to red spider, 
and it is possible that your plants are suffering from that cause. They 
should be well syringed twice daily should such be the case. It is more 
likely that the plants at some time have been too dry than that they have 
been too moist. Standing in a rather shady position would be beneficial 
rather than otherwise. Give them a top-dressing of loam and manure in 
equal parts, and when roots appear on the surface give occasional waterings 
with weak liquid manure. Syringe daily and they may flower tolerably well 
during the autumn. Postpone shaking them out till the end of the year, 
when they should be repotted in equal parts of turfy loam and peat and 
well-decayed manure; but red spider is the chief difficulty with these 
plants, and must be guarded against. 
Tea Roses (Tea Rose). —Practically all the beautiful blooms with which 
you have been enamoured were grown outdoors, and we see no reason 
whatever why you should not grow these charming Roses well. We do 
not say you can grow them equal to the splendid examples to which you 
allude—unless, indeed, you can grow hybrid Perpetuals as good as the best 
of the best growers. If your soil is very heavy make it lighter by the 
addition of vegetable refuse and gritty ma.ter of any kind, wood ashes being 
excellent, and soot good. The site must be free from stagnant water, and 
the ground made fertile with manure to the depth of 2 feet. If it is inclined 
to be wet gr*w the Roses in beds raised a foot above the general level of the 
land, with paths between them. With shelter from thatched hurdles as you 
propose, and the addition of dried fern in the winter if needed, pruning to 
good buds on stout ripe wood, surface-dressing with manure, and giving 
liquid manure if required, thinning the growths and disbudding, you ought 
to have healthy plants and good flowers of all the varieties you name. 
Fertilising Moss (Amateur). —We have not used this moss, but have 
seen small softwooded plants and young Ferns growing in it satisfactorily ; 
indeed, Mess's. King & Co. exhibited such plants, also a Coleus, Begonia, 
and a Caladium, at Liverpool. We do not know whether it has been tried 
for Orchids, but it would appear to be worth trying. Nor can we tell how 
long such plants as the above would continue healthy in it under good 
management. The old practice of binding fresh sphagnum moss around 
the roots of bedding plants in spring, owing to scarcity of small pots and 
the knowledge of the fact that such plants have for a time made progress, 
and quickly started off when finally bedded out, has no doubt had a great 
deal to do with the Fertilising Moss theory. Messrs. King it Co. claim that 
the fertilising properties which, in the process of manufacture they impart 
to the moss, become permanently fixed, so that they can only be dissolved 
and assimilated as the plants require them. If this is a fact it is a “ step in 
advance.” Hyacinths and other bulbs would no doubt grow and flower in 
this moss well, and it is convenient for using in jardinets and ornamental 
vases. Why not try a few experiments ? The cost would be trifling, the 
“ indulgence ” interesting, and the results instructive. 
Habits of the Fly or Aphis (F. J .).—The innumerable insects of this 
group, about one of which you inquire, haunt almost every plant more or 
less, and they vary much in size, also colour, green, black, brown, ye'lo w, &c. 
In general habits, however, they all nearly resemble each other ; a few 
stragglers live through the winter in houses and sheltered outdoor spots, but 
the origin of every year’s succession of them is a batch of eggs laid during 
the autumn by females, winged, or occasionally wingless, usually on twigs 
and branches, it may be on walls ; hence the importance of cleansing these 
in winter, when it can be done. From these eggs appears the first brood, 
about April, of females, which, as the season advances, develope a progeny 
wingless like themselves, and other broods follow in rapid succession. A 
decided check given to the first minute examples of spring greatly lessens 
one’s future troubles. Winged aphides appear in May and September; 
these perform migrations, but seldom travel far. All the aphides are 
feminine, except part of the autumn generation, before egg-laying, and in 
every stage of growth the insects are active, day and night, sucking plant 
juices. Fortunately for us they have a large number of foes, which destroy 
them by thousands, some parasites even attacking them while in the egg. 
There are some aphides that infest the roots of plants ; these are destitute 
of wings. It is doubtful if the i; mite of a fly ” to which you refer is the 
originator of the insects on your Begonias. The house should be thoroughly 
cleansed in every part at a convenient time in winter, then by periodical 
light fumigations in spring, before the insects appear, the plants may be 
kept clean. Possibly also the atmosphere of the house is kept somewhat 
too dry. 
Dwarf Chrysanthemums ( C. W. C.). —Your cuttings will strike if their 
leaves are kept fresh, but they would have been much better in a close 
frame. If the ends of good shoots, those of a stout short-jointed character, 
are inserted now, one in the centre of a 2-inch pot in sandy loam, surfaced 
with sand, well watered, and the pots stood on damp ashes in a frame kept 
regularly moist and shaded to prevent the leaves flagging, they will soon 
emit roots. They must have all the light they will endure, but the leaves 
should be kept fresh. In the course of a week give it a little air, increasing 
