JaQuarjr 7, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
11 
cinditiou by damping available surfaces as th3y become dry, and 
syringing as may be necessary. 
Figs. — Early Forced Trees in Pots. —The terminal buds having 
started advantage should be taken of the mild weather that may prevail 
for increasing the mean temperature of the house, as when Figs are 
fairly started into growth they delight in a good hea^, plenty of 
moisture, and all the light that can possibly be given to them ; the 
glass therefore must be kept c’ean, and air admitted so as to prevent 
the glass being continually covered with moisture, but seek increase 
of temperature from fire heat combined with sun heat in preference 
to maintaining a temperature in dull weather, and especially at 
night, that will cause any great advance in growth at those times. 
Maintain a night temperature of 55° to 60°, ventilate a little at 70°, 
losing no opportunity of admitting a little air when the morning promises 
an increase from gleams of sun, and close sufficiently early for the 
temperature to run up to 80°. Syringe the trees and walls twice a day 
on fine days, but when the weather is dark and wet omit the afternoon 
syringing and damp the floors in the evening instead, as the trees are 
weakened and the foliage made soft by keeping them wet during the 
night, therefore always allow the trees to become fairly dry before 
nightfall. Be careful not to allow the heat about the pots to exceed 70° 
to 75°, and if the materials are heating too violently turn them as a 
means of reducing the bottom heat, but it ought to be kept steady. 
Early House of Planted-out Trees. —This is an excellent means of 
securing the finest Figs early in June, the trees being confined to 
borders about one-third the width of the trellis, and the soil a calcareous 
loam on a stratum of limestone or sandstone, so as to insure perfect 
drainage with superfluous water carried off by a dra.n. Maintain a 
night temperature of 50°, 55° by day, and 60° to 65° from sun heat. If 
conveniently arranged for the introduction of a good botly of fermenting 
materials, as leaves and one-third of stable litter, the atmosphere will be 
kept uniformly moist and genial, lessening the need of fire heat. Trees 
that have been started about the same time for a number of years push 
growths with little excitement; but young trees that have not been 
forced start tardily, and are often given more heat in the early stages 
than is good for the crop. This should be avoided by bringing the trees 
on slowly, seeking advancement by sun heat more than from artificial 
in dull weather. Apply water to the border not less warm than the 
mean of the house, bringing the soil into a thoroughly moist condition. 
Syringe twice a day with tepid water, a little warmer than the house ; 
but in dull weather damp available surfaces only, syringing always 
sufficiently early to allow the trees to become dry or nearly so before 
nightfall. 
Succession Houses. —Proceed with pruning as convenient, thinning 
the wood where crowded, cutting back that which has reached the 
extremity of the trell's to growths well disposed for supplanting the 
branches cut away in bearing. Thoroughly cleanse the house, limewash 
the walls, water the trees with warm soapy water, using a brush, and 
the trees having been infested with sc.ale use softsoap solution, 4 ozs. 
to a gallon of water, and add a wineglassful of petroleum to every 
gallon, keeping it well mixed by constant stirring whilst being applied. 
It is necessary to dislodge the scale, effecting that by using a half-worn 
painter’s sash tool thoroughly cleansed from paint. Remove the loose 
surface soil or mulching, and supply fresh lumpy loam with a sprinkling 
of steamed bone meal. Keep the house as cool and dry as possible, merely 
excluding frost, or not allowing the temperature to fall many degrees 
below freezing point. 
Young Trees in Pots. —If these are wanted for early work another 
season the plants should be placed in gentle beat during this month, in 
order that they may make and properly ripen their growths by Septem¬ 
ber. They must be potted without delay, using good rather strong 
turfy loam, with a fourth of old mortar rubbish and a fifth of thoroughly 
decayed cow manure, draining efficiently, and potting firmly. Train 
the plants with a single stem, and allow the radiating branches to form 
the foundation of a good bush or pyramid. Insert cuttings or eyes of 
any varieties it is dtsired to increase, and in order to make a good 
growth they should be encouraged with bottom heat, and started not 
later than the beginning of February. 
Cherby House. —When the trees started in December are fairly 
growing let the day temperature be kept at 50° to 55°, and if the days 
are bright air should be admitted, but only to the extent of keeping it 
from rising above 65°, keeping it from sun heat at 60° to 65°, admitting 
a little air at 50°, more at 55°, above which a free circulation of air 
must be allowed, and when the temperature declines to 55° close the 
house for the day. The night temperature should still be kept at 40° to 
45° artificially. Syringe the trees in the morning and early afternoon 
if the weather is bright, but if the weather be dull it will suffice if the 
borders and other surfaces are damped whenever they become dry. 
Examine the borders, supply water if necessary, moistening them 
thoroughly, the water not being less in temperature than that of the 
house. Pot trees must be well supplied with water, repeating the 
supplies as necessary to insure thorough moisture in the soil. 
Cucumbers. —Take care to husband the sun heat, giving a little 
ventilation if the weather be mild in the early part of the day, and 
close early in the afternoon, or shortly after midday, damping the house 
at the same time. Damp the floors on fine mornings, and syringe the 
plants lightly overhead, which discountenances red spider, and to some 
extent holds the pest in check. Weak liquid manure should be given to 
plants in free growth, but should the plants not show signs of growing 
freely sprinkle a little superphosphate on the soil and use tepid water 
only until the growth becomes free. To encourage surface roots a top- 
dressing should be given of turfy loam, from the size of a nut to an egg, 
intermixed with a fourth of horse droppings, having it previously 
warmed to the temperature of the house. Maintain the night tempera¬ 
ture at 65°, a few degrees less in severe and a fe v degrees more in mild 
weather, 70° to 75° by day, and 85° to 90° with sun heat, keeping the 
bottom heat steady at 80°. 
Plants for the early supply of fruit where winter Cucumbers are not 
grown should now be prepared, sowing the seeds singly in 3-inch pots 
half filled with soil, so as to leave space for top-dressing when required, 
plunging the pots in a brisk bottom heat near the glass. These plants 
will be available for planting in Louses, pits, or fr.ames. Where con¬ 
venience for raising the plants for planting in frames does not exist 
seed should be sown in pots placed in a hotbed as advised below. All 
points considered there is no better variety than a select stock of 
Rollinson’s Telegraph. 
Melons. —To have ripe fruit late in April or early in May the seed 
must now be sown. Sow the seeds singly in 3-inch pots, leaving room 
in the pots for top-dressing, and plunge them in a bottom heat of 80° to 
90° near the glass. As soon as the plants have unfolded the first leaves 
top-dress the soil, keeping them as near the glass as possible without 
touching so as to prevent a weakly growth. 
Hotheds. —These are very important in some establishments where 
there is not light well heated structures for raising Cucumber and Melon 
plants, also forwarding other plants from seed and for striking cuttings. 
The fermenting materials may consist of tw > pirts Oak or Beech leaves 
to one of stable litter well mixed and thrown info a heap, damping if 
necessary, and turning over twice, the first time when the materials are 
warmed through, and again in the course of a week. This sweetens the 
material, rendering it fit for making up. The m st suitable site for a 
hotbed is a dry one, and in front of a wall or hedge to the north, so as 
to break the force of the winds from that quarter, and it is well if there 
be similar protection as that of a hedge to the east and west. The site 
should be dry, or It should be made so by a layer of faggots. The bed 
should be 6 inches larger than the frame every way, but as it is 
difficult to carry the sides and ends up quite perpendicular let the 
base be 1 foot greater than frame every way, building up the bed so 
that it will have about 6 inches of spice to spare all round the frame. 
In making the bed put the materials as evenly together as practicable, 
and beat them down as the work proceeds. The bed sho dd be about 
one-third higher than the intended height to allow for settling, and this 
will need to be at this season about 6 feet high at the back and 5 feet 
in front. In a week the bed will have settled down, then level the 
surface of the bed, return the frame, and put in sufficient fermenting 
material to make the depth at the back of the frame correspond with the 
front, and over this 4 to 6 inches of sawdust or similar material for 
plunging the pots in, or pots of cuttings. It is well to have the frame 
with a cavity inside, which may be made by niiliog some laths 1 inch 
wide inside vertical to the frame, and 6 incoes less than its depth, 
nailiug some half-inch boards to these so as to form the cavity. This 
will allow the plants having the benefit of top heat from the linings 
after that from the bed is declining. Due preparation must be made of 
fermenting material for linings and hotbeds for the plants as they become 
fit for planting in the fruiting beds. 
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1^ b 
IE BEE-KEEPER.^ 
PUNIC BEES. 
As there appears to be a diversity of opinions with respect to 
the superiority or otherwise of the Punic bee, perhaps the follow¬ 
ing may be of interest to some of your bee-keeping readers, and 
more particularly to “A Hallamshira Bee-keeper” and “Lanark¬ 
shire Bee-keeper,” whose careful investigations in search of truth 
we are bound to respect and admire. 
Last spring I began the season with a Ca’r-Stewarton and 
several straw hives tenanted by the ordinary black bee, I was going 
to say ; but we have imported so many different kinds of bees 
during the last twenty or twenty-five years, and our original black 
bee has become so crossed and re-crossed, that it would probably be 
a difficult matter to find the pure black bee in these degenerate 
days. I will, therefore, say the ordinary honey bee. 
My Carr-Stewarton sent off a swarm ab mt the middle of June, 
which swarm was united to a weak stock in a straw hive. A fort¬ 
night afterwards a second swarm was led off which was returned 
to the parent hive, and next morning seveml dead princesses were 
thrown out in front of the hive. Three days were allowed to 
elapse when the young queen was searched for and removed, and 
