June 4 , 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
457 
Chrysanthemums are quite gay and continuous flowering enough for 
flower beds, the neat growing La Petite Mary being suitable for 
front rows. If Poppies are sown or planted out from pots where they 
are to flower in masses they present a mass of colour during the early 
of the summer, but are soon disfigured by seed pods. These ought, 
therefore, to be early followed by Chrysanthemums, or something that 
will flower in the autumn. Dwarf Nasturtiums are excellent substitutes 
for Zonal Pelargoniums, these withstanding much rain and also dry 
weather well. Somewhat poor ground suits them best, and they must 
have good room, being either planted or thinned out where they are 
sown to not less than 1 foot apart each way, much of the beauty of the 
foliage and flowers being lost when the plants run into each other. 
The Tom Thumb varieties come true to name, and masses or lines of 
one colour can be had, if preferred, to mixtures. Dell’s Crimson or 
similar forms of garden Beet are a good substitute for Iresines, and a 
suitable edging for beds filled with tall plants. It is too late to sow 
where the plants are to grow’, but the thinnings from the kitchen 
garden might be used with advantage. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Gardenias, —Plants that have flowered may be cut hard back, and 
washed with an insecticide solution if infested with scale or mealy 
bug. Place them in brisk heat until they start into growth, and if 
gentle bottom heat can be provided all the better. Young plants may 
be placed into 6-inch pots. Pinch those shoots that take the lead, and 
tie them outwards to induce the plants to push up from the base, which 
they will do freely when established in these pots. 
Poinsettias. —Insert quantities of cuttings singly in small pots and 
place them under handlights until they are rooted. Keep them close, 
moist, and well shaded. As soon as these are rooted, if sufficient stock 
has been obtained, the old plants may be cut close back and allowed to 
commence growth. If cut close to the soil they will have the appear¬ 
ance of young plants after they have been repotted. Allow them to 
start in heat and establish themselves after repotting, then gradually 
harden them to cooler treatment. If kept in strong heat Poinsettias 
become soft and tall, and the best bracts are always produced by those that 
make firm sturdy growth. Young plants as they are well rooted should 
be placed into 5-inch pots, and when they have commenced rooting into 
the new soil give them intermediate treatment, where they will be fully 
exposed to the sun. Those raised from portions of the stem will be 
growing freely in 6-inch pots. Use for these a compost of fibry loam, 
one-seventh of decayed manure, and sand, pressing the soil firmly into 
the pots. 
Asparagus plumosus nanus. —Where specimens 4 or 5 feet high can 
be used for room decoration, and those of a light slender nature are 
appreciated, few plants are more suitable. For this purpose they can be 
grown in pots, according to the size of the vases in which they are 
employed. Provide a central stake and secure all the growths loosely to 
it; With but little care in tying graceful examples can quickly be pro¬ 
duced by keeping the plants in heat until the desired size has been 
attained. Before removing them to rooms they must be thoroughly 
hardened. Another good plan of preparing plants for this purpose is to 
place four or five stakes round the sides of the pot, tie them together in 
the centre, and train the plants round them until the whole of the stakes 
are hidden from view. When the stakes are furnished no harm is done 
by cutting the plants occasionally, but the reverse; they grow much 
more thickly. 
Caladhims. —Where these are grown for conservatory decoration 
remove them from the stove to a vinery where air is daily admitted, 
they will grow sturdily in these structures, and bear removal to the 
conservatory without the foliage drooping. From the end of June until 
the close of September these are most effective in the conservatory. At 
first avoid placing them close to open ventilators. 
Gloxinias. —Frequently these are grown in too warm houses. They 
will succeed in a vinery where the syringe can be kept from them, and 
where they can enjoy a fair amount of light. Seedlings when once 
established in small pots must be placed into cooler quarters. Seedlings 
that are just up will, if cared for, make good flowering plants by 
autumn. Those that have practically flowered should be placed in a 
cool, light place, and supplied with water until the foliage naturally 
dies. 
Euphorhia jaeguinieeflora. — Place into 3-inch pots all that are 
rooted, and start them into growth in brisk heat. Insert plenty of 
cuttings, and cut back a portion of the old stock and allow them to start 
into growth. There is some difficulty in obtaining abundance of these 
plants unless one method is practised, and then scarcely one damps off. 
Allow the old stool plants to make growths 3 inches in length in a 
warm house, and then remove them to a cool one fully exposed to 
the sun for ten days or a fortnight. The cuttings will not have 
grown much, but if they are slipped up with a sharp knife close to 
where they issue from the old stem and are inserted in sandy soil 
under handlights, watered and shaded from the sun, nearly every one 
will root. 
Justicla flavicoma, —Where stock plants have been retained cuttings 
will be plentiful. Insert these in small pots, and grow them without 
pinching. Those raised from euttings annually are the best. Old 
specimens are subject to attacks of scale if they are checked. Where 
the stock is limited old plants may be grown on as well as those raised 
by means of cuttings. Few plants are so useful for conservatory decora¬ 
tion as this old favourite, and it deserves to be grown more generally in 
quantity than is the case at present. 
Sa;|HE.BEE-KIiEPER 
I ■ I ■ I - I . I-. I - , . I ■ , ■ I . I ■ I ■ 1 ■ I . I ■ I . I ■ I - I ■ I , I . 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Wintering Bees 
I HAVE frequently alluded to, and if anyone wishes to knovr 
why my bees are in so good condition, is simply because I practise 
what I write, and what I have proved to be rational management, 
that is all. One of the questions involved is. How is it your hives 
are so far advanced in brood from many other bee-keepers ? My 
answer is the same as above. The crowns of my hives allow of 
an insensible upward ventilation, which retains the heat, yet allows 
the vitiated and respired air to pass away without a draught or 
leaving damp behind inside the hive, which reduces the tempera¬ 
ture to a dangerously low degree. Then as bees naturally cluster 
some distance from the crown, preserving the honey, and a heated 
space above them, the bees are kept healthy, and their food whole¬ 
some, and never colder than what is congenial for them to eat 
during the lowest temperature we are acquainted with, and breed¬ 
ing goes on uninterrupted from the end of December, jvhich 
keeps bees in a more healthy state than when breeding is dis¬ 
allowed by the unnatural process of bringing the bees above their 
combs. Just think of the two plans, which is the most likely to 
succeed ? Any novice may easily answer the question without the 
risk of giving it a triah 
I never had any difficulty in wintering bees, and I have ex¬ 
perienced some severe winters. The trying time as it has been so 
well exemplified this year generally begins with March, and con¬ 
tinues at times till far on in June, and sometimes throughout the 
whole summer. To keep up the prosperity of hives if the weather 
is untoward and prevent the loss of bees feed them with pea meal 
mixed to a thin paste with pure honey inside the hive. 
I regret to hear that some bee-keepers have been wintering their 
bees in single cased hives without protection. No doubt they have 
been misled by reading the discussions on single versus double 
walled hives. The latter are intended to be self-protecting, but 
are inferior in every respect to well protected single cased ones, but 
which should be kept at one uniform quantity of cover the year 
throughout. Two inches of dried grass between two plies of 
material such as scrim upon the sides, covered with an oilcloth, 
with from 4 to 6 inches on the top, and over this a curved iron 
roof, cannot be well excelled. 
Robbing. 
With the slight improvement in the weather, with but a paucity 
of flowers, robbing will be the order of the day, strong hives will 
be making continual raids upon weaker ones, and when, by bees* 
wiles they soon overcome the propensities of defence in the weaker 
stocks, and in a short time are non est. Great caution for some 
time to come will have to be taken to prevent a beginning, for 
when once begun the end will be near, but where there is no 
beginning there will be no end, but all will prosper to the ultimato 
profit of the bee-keeper.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
QUEEN EXCLUDER ZINC. 
This is used for the purpose of obtaining honey free from all impu¬ 
rities by all advauced modern bee-keepers by confining the queen bee, 
the mother of all the bees, to what is generally called the body of the 
hive, where all the brood should be reared. Formerly the queen had 
access to the whole hive, no matter how many storeys or boxes, and not 
unfrequently the honeycomb in the supers was spoilt by brood 
having been reared in the centre, of what would otherwise have been 
pure virgin honeycomb, Many fine supers have been disqualified at the 
various exhibitions on this account. 
After many experiments with perforated zinc of various shapes and 
sizes, there is a consensus of opinion among the scientific bee-masters of 
England, Canada, and the United States as to the size of perforations 
that will allow the worker bees to pass freely to build their comb and 
depo-sit their store of honey, and at the same time prevent the queen 
and drones from passing beyond the brood chamber. 
