October 28, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
897 
The Epiphyllums should rise well above the latter, and then their brilliant 
flowers are displayed to the best advantage. Later plants should be kept 
perfectly cool, and must have less water at their roots than has been the 
case up to the present time, or they will suffer considerably. On the 
other hand, however, they must not suffer by an insufficient supply, or the 
Toots will die, and it is a mistake to dry these plants until they shrivel. 
Young plants grafted in the spring, if they have been grown in beat, will 
have made heads fully 1 foot across, but will not yet be sufficiently ripened 
to flower profusely. As growth becomes completed give them a cooler 
and drier position to harden the growth, and they will flower freely enough 
towards the spring. Those having strong stocks should graft them at 
once. The best method is to grow a plant or plants strong and remove all 
side shoots as they appear until it has extended some yards along the roof 
of a warm house, and then cut the plant into lengths of 9 inches or 1 foot, 
according to the length of stem required. These will be stiff stout cuttings 
that would bear a good-sized head without a stake. All eyes from the 
axils of the leaves should be removed when the cuttings are inserted 
singly in the centre of 3-inch pots. At the same time, as the cuttings are 
inserted they should be grafted by splitting the stock at the top and 
fixing, a strong scion of Epiphyllum, that branches in three different 
directions between the stock, which should be kept in position with a 
little matting. When the stock are rooted the scion and stock will also 
have become united. Scarcely one in a hundred will fail by this method 
if placed in a close frame in heat. 
Calceolarias .—Room is now more plentiful than has been the case for 
some time past, and the earliest of these should be transferred into 5-inch 
pots without delay. They will do in cold frames for some time, as they 
are not so liable to damp as many plants. Those in various stages should 
be potted if they need more root room. The smallest now in pans and 
boxes will be better placed into pots, so that they will become established 
before the approach of winter. These do well in fibry loam, one-third 
leaf mould and one-seventh of manure, with a little sand added. A 
sharp look out must be kept for aphides, which should be destroyed 
directly they are observed. Fumigate only when the foliage is dry. 
Cinerarias .—The earliest plants should be in a forward state, and if 
placed where the temperature ranges about 50° at night they will quickly 
come into bloom. A few will be most useful during November, especially 
blues, which should be raised in quantity for flowering in the autumn. 
Those not wanted in flower must be kept perfectly cool, but where the 
foliage can be preserved from damp. All plants that have filled their 
largest pots with roots should have weak stimulants every time water is 
needed. Later batches may be transferred into larger pots according to 
their size and the purpose for which they may be required. A good 
batch placed now in 5 and 6-inch, from 3 and 4-inch pots, will be very 
useful stuff in the spring. Young stock still in boxes may be placed into 
the last named size, and then potted into larger after the turn of the 
year. 
Bulbs .—The latest Hyacinths, Tulips, and Narcissi should be potted 
without further delay. No advantage will be gained by keeping them out 
of the soil any longer. The last batch of Romans should also be 
potted. 
Lily of the Valley. —Home-grown clumps that have been prepared for 
forcing by growing them in pots may now be started into growth. They 
should be plunged in brisk bottom heat, and the crowns covered with a 
few inches of cocoa-cut fibre refuse. Imported single crowns and clumps 
will soon be to hand, and should be potted or boxed. The former for 
early work should be laid thickly into boxes and pans amongst leaf 
mould or fibre, while the latter should be potted. For later flowering 
a dozen or fifteen single crowns should be placed evenly into each 5-inch 
pot if these are preferred to the clumps. After these are potted or boxed 
they should be stood outside until after they have been exposed to a good 
frost. Spirasa japonica and Dielytra spectabilis may also be potted into 
5 and 6-inch pots, and exposed the same as advised for Lily of the 
Valley. 
HIYE MAKING FOR WORKING MEN. 
Although outside cases are of a very old date, and still 
serve the purpose of preserving bees much better than double¬ 
cases, many bee-keepers adhere to use the latter hives, notwith¬ 
standing the fact that they possess many disadvantages. They 
are in the first place more costly and difficult to make than the 
single-cased hives, and very much more difficult to handle or 
move about; while, the most important of all, they do not 
preserve the bees from damp so well as those having outside 
cases, or even a simple covering of straw surmounted by a good 
projecting waterproof roof. 
The shape of a hive should be such as to have all the honey 
stored overhead and above the brood. Such a hive is narrow 
and easily carried about. The horizontal sections of such a hive, 
to insure the combs against collapsing during transit or under a 
broiling sun, should not be more than 6 inches deep in the clear. 
Another advantage these shallow boxes have is that the upper 
ones can be removed after fully sealed out; hence there is no 
waste of comb. A hive should be rigid in all its parts, and secure 
against bees escaping when shut in, which may be easily done 
with thorough ventilation. Moreover, they must be perfectly 
smooth on the top, and the spaces between the bars closed by 
slides. Every hive may carry its own stand, but be detachable 
if desired. This gives the bee-keeper greater control over his 
hives in many respects than when fixed, and admits of any 
portion of the hive being renewed or repaired without being put 
to the trouble of breaking up the whole hive before that is 
effected. These are but a few of the advantages a hive should 
possess, and will be found in the one I am about to describe, 
which for cheapness and efficiency I have never seen surpassed. 
I had it in use from thirty to forty years ago, and have taken 
them to the moors and other places, distances of seventy to 
eighty miles, without a single mishap as to breakdown of comb 
or bees being smothered. 
The cost of the materials and price for a hive of three divi¬ 
sions and stand containing ventilating floor will be—two pairs 
of brass buts and nails, 3d. ; sides for divisions and stands 5 feet 
1 inch by 64 by f and of white pine, Is.; if of yellow pine, 3s. 6d.; 
four posts, 9 inches by 2 by 14 and bottom, 3d. ; wood for 
frames, 6d. ; nails and perforated zinc with alighting board, 8d.; 
tackets for keeping frames proper distance from each other, 
round headed and 1000 to the pound, Id. Total 2s. 9d. 
The tools required for making a hive of this sort need not be 
many, nor need the wood be planed, because if thoroughly dried 
a rub with sand paper will give quite a neat surface either for 
paint or without. As every division should have a sliding mouth¬ 
piece a pair of | match ploughs should be at hand. A small 
circular saw would do nearly all the other necessary work and 
checking, but even without that a common hand saw and check¬ 
ing plane will be all that is necessary. 
Many amateurs think that unless hives are dovetailed they 
would be imperfect. This cannot be so, as if properly checked 
and nailed they are better adapted for outside than if dove¬ 
tailed. Nailing holds the joints together and excludes rain far 
better than when dovetailed. 
It is important that the heart side of the wood be kept outer¬ 
most. Keeping that in view the amateur should gauge the 
boards to the proper and equal breadth. When that is done 
mark off the lengths of the sides and ends of the box. I make 
my hives 15j inches square outside measure or 14 inches inside, 
which gives 14 inch from centre to centre of each bar unless the 
outer spaces, which measure quarter of an inch more. When 
the frames are made the top bars, 1^ inch broad by half an 
inch thick (this weight is necessary to prevent the combs 
collapsing when the slightest pressure is put upon them, as 
occurs with lighter ones, and is often the ruin of the hive). 
Tackets of the size mentioned are driven in near the lower edge 
of the top bar opposite the end piece of the frame. The end 
pieces could be made to preserve the proper distances, but 
tackets are cheaper and the frames are more easily lifted out and 
in. A larger tacket is put in the hive at four corners opposite 
those in the frames, and care should be taken that the frames 
are easy, as no dividing boards are necessary in these hives. Ten 
blocks of wood are required to fill in the crown of the hive of 
the same depth as the thickness of the top bars 1 by 3-16 
thick. These blocks must have a check taken out opposite the 
tackets on the under side, so that they will rest upon the same 
level as the frames. Being a little narrower than the space be¬ 
tween the tars, gives sufficient opening for the ascent of vitiated 
air in an insensible manner, and reduces propolising to a 
minimum. 
Returning to the squaring and cutting the pieces for hives 
and stand, mark off the pieces for the fronts and backs at 
154 long. Square and cut them accurately, then on the 
top edge check a piece out the half thickness of the wood and 
half an inch deep, so that the frames be flush with the top of the 
hive. The ends of the same must be checked the same depth 
on the thickness, but of the exact thickness of the sides, which 
ought to be five-eighths of an inch. The front piece should now 
be reduced half an inch and the groove run in a lower edge for 
a sliding mouthpiece, which should be easy and made to match 
by the plough, which forms the feather. That is all the work 
necessary to prepare the fronts and backs. The sides only re¬ 
quire to be cut exactly to one-sixteenth of an inch longer than 
the top bars, so that the latter be not jammed. The parts for 
the stand require no checking on the top edge, but the piece for 
the back should be an inch or so narrower, for the purpose of 
allowing the false floor to be flush with the under edge and held 
by a button. When these pieces are all checked as described, 
are ready to be nailed, and the best nails for the purpose are the 
steel oval-shaped, nailed both ways, and a little slanted dovetail 
ways. When nailed properly together the series consists of four 
