August ir, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
159 
Elruge, Byron, Dryden, Violette HMive, Pineapple, Spencer, Newton, 
Milton, and Victoria. 
Trees of Peaches and Nectarines for planting in houses are best after 
two or three, or even four or more years trained to walls or in cool 
houses, and they transplant with complete success provided they have 
been duly lifted, so as to move with abundance of fibrous roots. Failing 
these an early selection should be made of trees in nurseries, choosing 
the best furnished, most evenly balanced, clean and healthy, and with 
medium sized short-jointed wood. If carefully lifted when the wood 
becomes firm and the leaves are parting from the trees and planted 
without delay, they will experience little check, and, being bearing 
trees, some fruit may be taken the first year. 
Cucumbers. —Houses that are to be used for supplying fruit at 
Christmas—the plants having been raised from a sowing made about the 
10th of the month—should now be cleared, so that the needful cleaning, 
repairs, or painting may be done thoroughly before the house is wanted. 
Pot the plants as they require it, growing them in full light, and 
support them with sticks. They should be grown without stopping, 
rubbing off side shoots as they appear to the height of the trellis. 
The autumn fruiting plants should be encouraged to make strong 
growth by earthing betimes, not making large additions, but enough 
each time to cover the protruding roots, taking care to have the soil 
warm and moist. Afford plenty of water, but avoid excessive supplies 
and driblets. Syringe at 3 to 3.30 P.M., damping in the morning, noon, 
and before nightfall in bright weather. Maintain a night temperature 
of 65° to 70°, 70° to 75° by day artificially, and keep it through the day 
at 80° to 90° from sun heat, closing sufficiently early to rise to 90°, 95°, 
or 100°. Train the growths 9 to 12 inches apart—that is, the side shoots 
—and stop them at about 12 to 15 inches growth to give the needful 
fruiting and furnishing wood. Kemove all fruit as well as male 
blossoms as they appear, so as to get the plants strong, the early part 
of September being sufficiently early to allow fruits to swell for 
cutting at the end of the month. By cropping lightly at first a good 
supply can be had later in November and December. 
Plants in bearing will require attention in thinning old growths, 
removing bad leaves, stopping at a joint beyond the show of fruit, to 
maintain a succession. Plants in frames will be restored to vigour by a 
good thinning out of the old shoots and the addition of a little fresh 
loam, giving a moderate watering, and a sprinkling on bright af ternoons, 
closing at about 3 P.M. With liming and the protection of mats over 
the lights Cucumbers will be produced for a lengthened period. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Are Bees Wild Animals ? 
Decision has been given in the Sheriff Court, Perth, in an 
action in which David Harris, farmer, Aberbothrie, Alyth, sued 
Robert Elder, farmer, Burnhead, Alyth, for delivery of a swarm 
of bees belonging to pursuer, which on June 5th last swarmed 
from pursuer's hive, and were followed by him to defender’s place, 
where they alighted and were retained by him. The Sheriff held 
that bees in a wild state were the property of the person who could 
get possession of them. The defender was not entitled to open his 
door to give entrance to the pursuer to take possession of the bees. 
He therefore assoilzied the defender, but allowed no expenses. 
The above decision by the Perth Sheriff seems to me to be of 
an extraordinary nature, and contrary to precedent, use, and wont, 
the latter in Scotland being constituted law. In previous actions it 
was always held that if the owner of a swarm of bees did not lose 
sight of them he could enter any premises and secure them by 
paying all damages, once lost sight of they belonged to any person 
who found them, which I think reasonable and just. 
Bees are certainly not wild animals in the proper sense, not 
more so than poultry, pigeons, &c., or the ferrets of the squire 
or gamekeeper which, according to the above decision, any person 
may take them wherever found. People should not find anything 
and keep it. According to an unrescinded law in Scotland all found 
property is to be handed over to the Baron Bailie, and to a recent 
law to the police. Had I been the judge I would have acted a 
Solomon’s part and given the owner of the bees his property. 
The case is one for bee associations to take up, and either get the 
law amended or administer it according to justice as it was 
intended. 
At the Moors. 
The weather has since the 7th taken a turn for the better, and 
bees are gathering Heather honey quickly. Hives that were almost 
at starvation point are gaining weight rapidly, and with a few days 
more fine promises to b^e the best honey season since 1859. 
Queenless Hive. 
A correspondent, “ F. J. W.,” writes on this subject, and asks 
for advice. His hive may not be queenless, and it would therefore 
be risky to introduce a valuable queen to it. He should try it first 
with a piece of brood comb containing eggs and larvae ; if queenless 
it will raise a queen. Any dealer will supply a queen. I obtain 
all my imported queens, Punics excepted, from Messrs. George 
Neighbour & Sons, 127, High Holborn, London. Punics can be 
had from Mr. J. Hewitt, Cambridge Street, Sheffield. If the 
bees start queen cells by removing the piece of brood the hive will 
be in a fit condition to receive an imported queen. Nature’s book 
is the best to study, assisted by the Journal of Horticulture, and 
7d. sent to Col. Bennett, 50, Gordon Street, Glasgow, will secure 
an essay on bees by post.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, Mount Hope Nurseries, Kochester, 
U.S.A.— Strawberries, Dutch Bulbs, S\'c, 
Osman & Co., 132 and 134, Commercial Street, London.— Illustrated 
Catalogue of Horticultural Su ndries. 
Sutton & Sons, Beading.— Illustrated Bulb Catalogue for 1893. 
•,*A11 correspondence should be directed either to “ The 
Editor ” or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to 
Dr. Hogg or members of the staff often remain unopened 
unavoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should be written on one side of 
the paper only. We cannot reply to questions through the post, 
and we do not undertake to return rejected communications. 
uxelon. —A correspondent whose letter has been mislaid, has sent a 
Melon desiring our opinion on the fruit. It is very good in appearance, 
but we are sorry to say quite inferior in quality, and one taste was more 
than enough. Our correspondent will have no difficulty in recognizing 
this reply as applying to his fruit. 
Thrlps XTiider Class and Outdoors (^B. H.'). —There are many 
species of thrips, and so much alike as to render it difficult to distinguish 
them from each other. One of the most hurtful is that infesting plants 
under glass, and this species is also often found outdoors in hot seasons. 
It is called Heliothrips hoemorrhoidahs, and cannot survive the winter 
outdoors. The most common thrips outdoors is the small black variety. 
The insects are found on many plants, especially in dry seasons, also in 
flowers, which they more or less malform. It is called H. minutissima. 
Sabbatla campestrls (A. B.'). —The plant to which you doubt¬ 
less refer is Sabbatia campestris. This is one of the showiest of 
our hardy outdoor annuals, and is a native of the open prairies of 
Arkansas and Red River, where, although not very plentiful, the effect 
of its deep rose lilac-coloured flowers is quite dazzling when seen through 
the long grass. It grows from G inches to a foot high, with slightly 
winged stem, branching habit; leaves ovate, amplexicaule, acute, nerved; 
flowers nearly 2 inches in diameter, each of the variable segments being 
marked with a five-rayed greenish-yellow star, having an irregular white 
margin. It grows well in ordinary garden soil. 8. campestris has 
often been confounded with the Chironia trinerva of Ceylon, and, 
although agreeing in artificial character, the colour of the flower and 
the ovate leaves distinguish it clearly enough for all practical purposes. 
Winter’s Bark (ZT. B.). —You wish to “know something about 
Winter’s Bark.” This is the produce of a small tree (Drymis Winter!) 
allied to the Magnolias, and is occasionally seen in botanic gardens or 
choice collections of plants in this country. The bark is a stimulant 
aromatic tonic, and may be used for similar purposes as cinnamon and 
Canella alba, for the latter of which it is sometimes substituted. Its 
odour is that of pepper and basil, and its flavour of a burning acridity 
adhering to the throat. It is said to be good in scurvy, vomiting, and 
paralysis, and it is also used for tanning. It was first brought to 
England from the Straits of Magellan in 1579 by Captain Winter, who 
went out with Sir Francis Drake in his voyage round the world. He 
found it very useful to his ship’s crew both as a substitute for other 
spices and as a cure for scurvy. The leaves with other herbs are said to 
hive been used successfully in fomentations, and half a drachm of the 
bark boiled with some carminative seeds promoted perspiration and 
relieved those suffering from scurvy. Other species of Drymis, as grana- 
tensis and axillaris, possess the same properties, and the fruit of 
Tasmannia aromatica is used as pepper by the settlers of Australia. 
