464 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 18. 1886 
the individual bee-keeper to determine which is the more profitable 
course for him to follow. The main object with which the honey 
is produced must first be ascertained, and the course will then be 
clear. If Clover honey is desired it will be wiser to tier up by 
placing the empty supers beneath the partially filled ones, while if 
fruit honey is preferred the empty supers must be placed above 
and not beljw those already on the hive. These are my conclu¬ 
sions ; and in order that there may be no misapprehension I will 
briefly point out why the method of tiering depends upon the kind 
of honey it is desired to obtain more than upon anything else. 
The object of tiering is twofold—1, To give sufficient room to 
prevent swarming ; 2, To have empty combs sufficient to hold all 
the honey likely to be collected in a ten-days honey flow. With 
the first of these reasons I have already dealt in other issues, and 
it is to the consideration of the second only that I now desire to 
call the attention of all who desire to adopt either plan. It is urged 
by bee-keepers of great reputation that by placing an empty super 
beneath the one already in a state approaching completion, the 
latter is not only retarded, but is occasionally partly emptied in 
order to supply honey for wax-production ; this wax to be used 
in building comb to fill up the vacuum, which bees always detest, 
between the brood nest and the top super. That this is the case 
I am not prepared to say ; but if it was so, I should be more than 
ever in love with this method of placing the additional supers. 
The great value of tiering up in this manner can only be 
realised by those who have bees strong enough to enter supers in 
the last days of April or early in May. It is with reference to 
localities in which fruit of all kinds, Sycamore, Beans, Clover, and 
Lime yield honey when the weather is favourable until the middle 
of July, that these arguments are specially adduced. Those who 
have to sell honey, either extracted or in the comb, generally find 
that “ dark ” honey, unless from Heather, is less readily saleable, 
and realises a lower price than the Clover, which to my taste lacks 
the exquisite flavour of honey gathered from Gooseberries or the 
Sycamore. But if the honey is for sale, the taste of the purchaser 
must be the great consideration. If, then, the dark honey is used 
by the bees to make comb to contain the light honey, the advan¬ 
tage is on our side ; for the bees are kept busily at work comb¬ 
building until the Clover begins to yield, when nearly every worker 
is set free to collect the nectar waiting to be stored for the use of 
man. If on the 26th of April a sectional super is placed on a strong 
stock, and fine weather intervenes, by the early days of May good 
progress will have been made, and a second rack may be placed 
beneath the first, and so every few days. As the bees get well to 
work in each new placed super, another must be put beneath it 
until the Clover comes into bloom. Few of these sections will 
contain much honey, but the comb will be all built out. Some 
hundred sections ready filled with comb await the honey flow. Fine 
weather is alone needed to ensui e success ; if wet weather set in at 
this critical time the harvest is lost, but a grand set of pure white 
virgin comb is on hand to assist in a future year. 
The weather being propitious, the result of this system is that 
nearly all the honey is from white Ciover, and readily saleable at a 
good price. The quantity is great, because the bees, instead of 
being compelled in the midst of the honey flow to stay within and 
build combs, are free to go forth in unusual numbers and bring in 
the nectar ; the dark unsaleable honey has been utilised for the 
providing of such combs, which are therefore cheaper than those 
formed when the bees ought to be engaged in the fields gathering 
the high-priced Clover honey. 
Again, if the empty supers are placed above those already 
partially filled, the bees do not so eagerly strive to fill the empty 
one with comb, but bestow more attention on the first-placed super, 
which will therefore be the sooner completed, and the bees are 
more likely to swarm. To be sure we make certain of one super, 
but at a loss of several. When once the great harvest is over, 
super room must be gradually decreased, and the whole attention 
of the bees concentrated on sealing the cells already filled, or in 
finishing those not quite full ; but in the early season the bees 
must be led by every possible means to build comb at the expense 
of completed supers until the time comes when the most saleable 
honey can be gathered, and then the bees are welcome to complete 
their unfinished labour by filling and sealing the cells. These are 
the reasons which urge me to advise all who desire to obtain white 
honey of fine quality in the comb to adopt the plan of placing the 
empty super beneath, unless at exceptional times, when they may 
with advantage be placed above. 
Many will continue to hold a contrary opinion to the one here 
expressed, but they may be persuaded to try a single hive upon the 
strict lines here given, never allowing the bees to suffer in the 
slightest degree by want of room, but inducing them to build 
comb until the time arrives when the supers must be completed. 
It is better to give too much room than too little when once the 
bees have set to work in earnest, and honey is coming in even in 
moderate quantities ; comb ready built is filled in a surprisingly 
short space of time, and when there are so many empty cells that 
there is no delay caused by the bees having to wait until the honey 
is fit for sealing, a great addition is made to the harvest, and the 
bees are not compelled by enforced idleness to seek more room by 
throwing off their surplus population in order to afford relief to 
the remainder, who prefer to stay in the old home under the 
sovereignty of a new monarch. —Felix. 
Petroleum for Insects ( J. B.). —The correct method of preparing petro 
leum has been giv-n twice during the present autumn. See page 216 
September 2nd, 1886. 
Lime for Fruit Border (F. J.). —Not only can lime at the rate of ten 
cartloads to the acre be safely applied to a border in which Btone fruits are 
growing, hut twice the quantity will be much better if there is little or no 
lime in the soil; and then the dressing will be a very light one. 
Watercresses (C. M. B.). —Mr. Shirley Hibberd’s admirable little work 
■will probably suit you if still in print. We think it is published by Messrs. 
Groombridge & Son. We are not able to answer your second question; all 
are good that have been advertised in our columns. 
Herniaria glabra (E. M., Wimbledon ).—This plant is quite hardy,and 
succeeds in almost any position and soil, spreading quickly, and forming 
a dense mass of growth close on the surface of the ground. It can be 
readily propagated by division of the roots either now or early in the 
spring. 
Preserving Walnuts (G. B. //.).—If you have no cellars at your com¬ 
mand we should place the nuts in large earthenware pipkins, or failing 
these in la'ge flower pots, and bury them in a cool posit on in the garden. 
We have kept nuts successfully by this simple method. In some of the 
pots we have mixed sand with the nuts, others sawdust, and in other 
pots the nuts have been placed without either sand or sawdust, and there 
was little or no difference in the results. Walnuts may be kept for a 
considerable time in an ordinary shed if they are placed in pots with 
moderately moist sawdust, but not that from Fir trees, which contains 
turpentine. 
Marechal Niel Rose (C. H. 3 .).—If you desire a number of blooms next 
year you had better limit the pruning to the removal of any growths that 
may be requisite to prevent overcrowding, and removing the soft ends from 
those retained. These may be 6 or 8 inches apart, and may be cut back to 
good buds on the stems after flowering, so as to encourage free growth for 
flowering on another year. If you cut back some of the shoots now as 
suggested strong shoots will push from these, and, kept clean during the 
summer, will be in fine condition for flowering in 1888. 
The Osage Orange (G. B. '1 .).—The Osage Orange (Maclura aurantiaca) 
is a tree growing from 20 to 60 feet high, and a native of North America. 
The fruit is about the size of a large Orange, and consists of radiating 
and somewhat woody fibres, with a tuberculated surface of a golden 
colour, and is filled with a fetid, yellow, milky juice, with which the native 
Indians smear their faces when going to war. This fruit is eatable, and 
a few years ago it was attempted to cultivate the tree for the fruit in 
this country, but fortunately without success, as it does not appear ever to 
have been used anywhere as an article of human food. Both in this coun¬ 
try and America ihe tree forms excellent fences, and is now cultivated for 
that purpose. The wood is bright yellow, very fine grained, and elastic ; 
the Indians between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains use it for 
making their bows, and hence the tree is called in America Bow-wood ; it 
also yields colouring matter, and might possibly be as well adapted for 
the purposes of dyeing as that of fustic. 
Back Wall of Vinery (G. H .)—If the roof of your house is to be thickly 
covered with Vines you must not expect any very profitable return of fruit 
of any kind from the back wall, and it will be of little or no use your 
planting either Peaches or Nectarines, as they would give little fruit, but 
might produce excellent crops of red spider. We have seen a fairly good 
crop of Alicante Grapes on the back wall of a vinery, also of Brown Turkey 
Figs ; but if no sun can reach the foliage of Vines or fruit trees they 
cannot be productive. You may grow goo.1 crops of Tomatoes for a year 
or two, but these will not bear freely when the shade becomes dense. 
Camellias are good for covering the back walls of vineries. 
Winter Pears (72. S.).—Winter N61is is the only Pear that succeeds as 
a standard, and it does not succeed well in cold localities, in which it 
requires a wall. Ztepbirin Gr6goire, Iris Grdgoire, andBergamotteEsperen, 
however, do fairly well, and are about equ >1 in hardiness to Winter Nblis. 
The best late or winter Pear we have had from trees in the open was 
Jean de Witte, and it bears freely as a standard.- For bush or pyramid 
you could not have a better than Josephine de Malines. Winter Nelis, 
Monarch, Iris Grcgoire, Bergamotte Esperen, Marie Benoist, Easter 
Beurrd, Beurre Ranee, Ne Plus Meuris, and Olivier de Serres succeed in 
favourable localities, and though not so large or fine-looking, keep better 
and longer, and are finer as regards quality than from trees against a 
wall We have had Jargonelle, Williams’ Bon Chretien, and some other 
of the late summer and autumn P ars fairly good from a north wall, but 
we do not advise tnem. North walls a r e best used for culinary Plums 
or Morello Cherries, Currants, &c. For a south-east aspect, Jargonelle, 
Clapp’s Favourite, Williams’ Bon Caret’en, Beurre Superfin, Louise Bonne 
of Jersey, Ma ie Louis’, Conseill r de lr Cour, Beurrd Bose, Brockworth 
