September 80, 1836. ] 
JOURNAL GF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
307 
quires. Later plants that have been cut back and have started into 
growth should have the soil shaken from their roots and be repotted in 
fresh. These should be placed in the smallest size pots consistent with 
the size of the plants. From this time onward these plants must be 
watered with great care, or the foliage will become spotted. 
Heliotropes .—The first indication of autumn—a temperature down to 
the freezing point—has compelled us to put these tender plants under 
cover earlier than we anticipated. The slightest frost will ruin the plants, 
therefore they should be placed in a light house where the temperature 
will not fall below 50°. If mild weather ensues abundance of air may 
be given during the day, especially if necessary to retard the flowering 
of the plants for a few weeks longer. Young stock that have been re¬ 
cently rooted should be placed in 3-inch pots. The shoots should be 
pinched when three or four leaves have been made. 
Bouvardias. —These must also be placed under cover, and may, if they 
have been grown in pots, be placed in the same structure as the Helio¬ 
tropes. The treatment that suits one will suit both very well. Those 
that have been planted out may be lifted at once and placed in pots. 
After potting place them on the shady side of a wall and give them a 
good soaking of water. The syringe should also be freely employed until 
the plants commence rooting. 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
HOME MARKETS FOR OUR HONEY. 
The Company scheme having failed to perform what it is 
only charitable to suppose its originators desired, it has 
become necessary to see if no other means may be taken to 
achieve the success which has not hitherto followed the 
efforts made in this direction. An abortive attempt was 
made to start a Bee-keepers’ Union for this purpose, but 
after the first few weeks the idea went out, and has not since 
been brought forward, so far as I have seen. On the whole 
it is, perhaps, just as well, because but little can really be 
achieved by what is, after all, a Friendly Society on a some¬ 
what larger basis than usual. The whole question seems to 
be reopened in its entirety, and to invite those who have any 
ideas upon this most important subject to lend their aid in 
solving the question of the day so far as bee-keepers are 
concerned, and thus by facilitating the ready sale of honey 
at a remunerative price reinstate the industry in the position 
from which it is at present in some little danger of falling. 
The large towns afford a ready market for a considerable 
quantity, and those who are fortunate enough to live within 
a reasonable distance of a city or large town ought not to 
have any difficulty in disposing of their honey at a fair price. 
But very much less is sold over the counter in these places 
than might, with a little exertion on the part of the producer, 
be easily disposed of, and in thus extending the market there 
need be no extra expense and but little risk. Many grocers 
who do not at present deal in honey would willingly do so if 
they could be insured against loss, and if it can once be 
proved to them that a large demand for honey can be created 
by careful management, the future sales will be very easily 
effected. Now, in thus creating a market, it is necessary to 
be careful to send both honey in the comb and extracted of 
the best quality only, and securely bottled or cased. No one 
can tell the mischief occasioned by leaking sections. To one 
shop in which a portion of my own produce used to be sold, 
a bee-keeper forwarded some faulty sections which, con¬ 
tinually leaking, caused so much loss and annoyance that it 
was only after great trouble and persuasion that the man 
could be induced to continue the sale in the following year. 
Sections must be perfect, and all honey of fine quality, 
and if any dealer is unwilling to purchase a certain quantity, 
the offer of a commission on all sales effected—the honey to 
be at the producer’s risk, and subject to return if no sale can 
be effected—will be a sufficient inducement to secure shop- 
room for any reasonable quantity. In the country districts 
it is somewhat more difficult to create a local demand, but in 
some measure success will follow continued effort. Here 
again, in many cases, it is convenient to give a local trades¬ 
man a commission on the sales effected, but many other de¬ 
tails must be attended to if any great quantity has to be sold. 
It must always be remembered that the difficulty is 
greatest at the beginning. When once good honey has been 
supplied to a customer the quantity sold will continually 
increase. Again, the gift of a pound goes a long way to 
popularise honey, and in many instances such a gift has 
been the precursor of good sales in the future. The distribu¬ 
tion of leaflets advocating the use of honey is in favour in 
America, but a persistent pushing attempt to overcome the 
difficulty will be all that is required. The greatest obstacle 
to overcome is the prejudice of tradesmen in favour of foreign 
honey, which they will sell and dispose of in preference to 
our own produce. 
The reason for this is simply that they are able to buy 
more cheaply, and to sell at a greater profit, this imported 
honey than the home grown article. In fact, it is our task 
to beat the foreign honey out of the market, and when we 
remember that English produce always brings a slightly 
better price than foreign, it ought not be so desperate a 
battle. But once the retail tradesmen are on our tide the 
victory is won, and to effect this victory it is only necessary 
to show that as great, if not a greater, profit ensues from 
buying and selling English as from foreign honey. Can we 
do this without lowering the price beyond the cost of pro¬ 
duction ? Individually I believe we can, and the three 
essentials necessary to be observed for maintaining the price 
of honey at the level which will pay the producer, while 
beating the foreigner out of the market, are these : 
1. A consistent good quality. 
2. Careful package, neat and cleanly. 
8. A regular supply. 
Again, the agricultural labourer who keeps a cow or a 
few hens sends their produce to the local market, and does 
not wait to see if by chance a purchaser may come and buy, 
and the same course must be pursued in regard to honey. 
It is utterly useless to expect that any organisation, however 
complete, will bring the purchaser to the producer without 
some trouble on the producer’s part. Indeed, he is a poor 
man in reality who, after taking honey of good quality from 
his stocks, is unable to find a market. As a last resource, 
when every other effort has been made, the Honey Com¬ 
panies may be patronised, but after the deductions from the 
profit necessary to pay carriage, the risk occasioned in transit, 
and the low price obtainable, I pity anyone who is reduced 
to this extremity. 
The above are only hints which have already been useful 
when adopted, and if those bee-keepers who make a trial are 
enabled to dispose of their honey more easily than hereto¬ 
fore, some good will have been done, and a step taken in the 
right direction. The honey must seek the purchaser, the 
purchaser will rarely seek the honey.— Felix. 
STERILITY OF DRONES AND QUEENS. 
It is often asserted that three weeks after hatching determines the 
sterility or fertility of the mother of the hive— i.e., if fertilised before 
three weeks old she will produce worker bees as well as drones when 
inclined, or perhaps whether inclined or not, as queens very often produce 
drones only at first and worker bees afterwards. If not fertilised it is 
said that at the expiration of three weeks she will commence laying male 
eggs only. Others, again, affirm that a queen bee will mate with a drone 
after she is three weeks old, but if mated then or in September she will 
be a confirmed drone-breeder. None of these assertions is correct. I 
have had queens mated when eleven weeks old that turned out not only 
prolific in producing worker bees, but were long-lived. 1 have had queens 
that were missed at first, but were subsequently fertilised. I have also had 
queens begin laying and then fly out and mate. Mr. Woodbury recorded 
a case of this kind, but I believe such cases are rare. Sometimes a queen 
will begin laying shortly after the end cf three weeks and continue a 
drone breeder ; but it is quite possible such queens are imperfect, because 
I have had queens begin laying a few hours after their birth which never 
sought to mate. I always set such queens down as being defective in 
some respect. 
There is no doubt, however, that queens after a time refuse to fly, and 
then become confirmed drone breeders. But wbat length of time tran¬ 
spires with perfect queens before they abandon mating ? is a question of 
importance ; it is evidently earlier in some queens than in others. 
Queens that are longest in becoming fertilised are the best constituted to 
breed from—at least, I think so, and I have found queens bred from such 
have always proved extra good. The truth is, had three weeks been the 
