544 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ December 14, 1893. 
comes round in a lower temperature than trees that have not been sub¬ 
jected to the process. Being grown gradually they retain their 
first crop fruits much better than trees forced for the first time, unless 
these have been started early in the previous season, so as to make and 
complete their growth early, and have time for rest before starting. One 
great mistake in the culture of Figs in pots consists in retaining more 
trees than can have full exposure to light, for instead of reducing the 
number of trees by removing the least appreciated varieties or 
duplicates, the whole of the trees first procured are attempted to be 
grown in small pots and by reducing the heads. This is not the way to 
secure plants of fine Figs, for the extension system of pruning is not 
applicable to potted trees, and those that are early forced must not be 
crowded. For early forcing Early Violet and St. John’s are excellent 
small fruited varieties, White Marseilles and Brown Turkey Figs being 
far the best for general supply, and afford an excellent succession. 
Trees in pots do remarkably well when afforded bottom heat, the pots 
being stood on loose brick pedestals, the roots allowed to extend outside 
the pots, and renewed annually. This with copious supplies of liquid 
manure, and judicious thinning of the second crop fruits, results in a 
satisfactory crop of early Figs, the most important in forcing. 
Planted-out Trees .—These are much more luxuriant and have longer- 
jointed wood than trees in pots. They are often unfruitful when grown 
in a deep and rich soil. To have fruitful trees the border must be 
firm, narrow, shallow, and well drained, then the growth will be sturdy, 
the foliage thick, the wood stout, short-jointed, hard, and well-ripened. 
The border must be composed of well-compacted rather strong loam, 
containing plentiful supplies of calcareous and siliceous matter. A 
width of 3 feet is ample to begin with, and 6 feet for the largest tree, 
and a foot depth of drainage must be provided, having a drain under 
(unless the substratum be gravel or other natural drainage) to carry off 
superfluous water, placing a 3-inch layer of lime rubbish over it. The 
soil may consist of medium textured loam, inclined to be stiff rather 
than light, and if not calcareous add a sixth of gravelly marl, a fifth of 
old mortar rubbish and a fourth of road scrapings, well incorporated. 
If the loam is inclined to clay, omit the marl and add more road 
scrapings, if light omit the road scrapings and increase the marl. Put 
together firmly when moderately dry, allowing a few inches for 
settling. 
Trees with single stems are the only suitable ones. They will be in 
pots. Eemove and wash away all the soil; then disentangle the roots, 
spread them out evenly, covering about 3 inches with fine soil, and give 
a good watering. When the surface has become dry, tread firmly, and 
mulch with a little short manure. Fan training is the most suitable. 
The house muse be light, face south for preference (imperatively so for 
early forcing), and have top and bottom ventilation. The shoots should 
be trained about 1 foot from the glass. For a lean-to it is better to 
plant the trees at the back and train the growths down than plant in 
front and take them up the roof. This insures the light direct into the 
points of the shoots, and the fruit is borne freely throughout the length 
of the terminals, which produces much finer specimens than stunted 
pinched growths. 
For general forcing purposes no Fig surpasses Brown Turkey, and it 
has an eligible companion in White Marseilles. Negro Largo is very 
fine, especially for succession and iate crops, but it must be confined at 
the roots. For high quality Black Bourjassotte, Gourand Noir, Monaco 
Bianca, and Grizzly Bourjassotte are unrivalled as midseason varieties, 
while for late use Col di Signora Bianca and Agen are excellent. 
To ripen these well they require fire heat. 
i 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
■ t : ! ■ » T . i - s T . ' t. 1.1 j rr | - 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
The Lanarkshire Storifying Hive. 
“ A Sussex Amateur” is desirous of having full information 
how to construct the Lanarkshire storifying hive. At an early 
date descriptive notes with drawings will be published, which 
will enable any amateur to make them, or to materially assist 
his tradesman. Meanwhile it is to be hoped no one will 
allow himself to be carried away with the idea that a hive of 
some peculiar construction should first be procured, and then 
large yields of honey will follow without further exertion. The 
fact IS, as I have repeatedly shown, as much honey can be had 
from a common box or straw hive, as from the most elaborate 
frame one. Give them proper attention with ample accommoda¬ 
tion, and the bees of the abused straw hive will yield to their 
owner as much weight or more of a superior quality of honey than 
any frame hive of the modern bee-keeper, with the use and the 
abuse of combs and extractor. Turning unsealed combs containing 
brood, food, and water for larv® into it does not produce that 
excellence in honey we were accustomed to in our youth from the 
selected combs of the straw hive. The sealings of the comb were 
cut and honey allowed to drip through a clean wicker basket and 
muslin cloth. 
The advantages of frame hives are to be sought for in different 
directions than large yields of honey. But in the proper manage¬ 
ment of superior frame hives the facilities are greater to increase 
the yield if given proper attention ; if neglected, then the large 
straw hive is superior. The winter problem is thoroughly solved 
in the Lanarkshire hive. The bees are all preserved alive in it 
during the winter; breeding goes on uninterrupted and in a healthy 
state from the end of December. The bees are always strong, 
and ready to gather honey and pollen from any source at the 
earliest opportunities. Bees that have been badly wintered in un¬ 
healthy hives require weeks to make up what they lose in the winter 
through dampness and other evils. 
A properly constructed hive enables the bee-keeper to add or 
diminish its size at will, and to compel the bees to store the choicest 
honey where he chooses. He may also delay or prevent swarming 
according to circumstances, and to be able in a few minutes to move 
them from one place to another, with perfect safety to the bees 
and to those attending them. It is possible, too, to pack them when 
in transit in little space without any damage resulting to the 
hives. The foregoing are only a few of the properties the Lanark¬ 
shire storifying hive possess, which gives the bee-keeper a slight 
idea of what a hive should be like and what it should possess.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
•**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. AJl 
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. 
Communications for Our “ Next Issue ” (J". AT.).—You are 
only one of several correspondents who prevent their communications 
appearing in the desired “ next issue ” by posting them too late for 
that purpose. Only brief and urgent letters arriving on Wednesday 
morning can be inserted the same week. 
Ctarysantbemum Waban (A/. Molyneux'). —The bloom is very 
imposing, being just 30 inches in circumference. Evidently you do 
not intend Chrysanthemum growing to become a lost art at Swanmore, 
though you have “ given up showing.” 
Black Paint for Hot-water Pipes (Y. It. P."). — Lampblack 
formed into a thin paint with boiled linseed oil is the best. If the 
pipes are made warm before, and kept so whilst the paint is being 
applied, it will dry sooner, and air being admitted the smell will not 
prove injurious to plants. Only one even coat need be given. 
Sawdust from Stables as a Mulch for Fruit Trees (A’. A.).— 
Sawdust, after being used for bedding horses, is a good mulch for fruit 
trees, as it is rich in ammonia-forming matter. The only danger 
attending its use is that of favouring fungi, which may prove injurious 
to the roots of the fruit trees, but we have used it without any deleterious 
consequences following. It may also be used for Strawberries. 
Vine Affected with Mildew (A’. A,).—After washing the Black 
Hamburgh Vine with softsoap and water, and thoroughly cleansing the 
house, the rod and spurs may be dressed with sulphide of potassium, 
1 cz. to a gallon of water, applying with a brush, and reaching well into 
every angle and crevice, but taking care not to injure the buds. Lime- 
wash the walls, adding a good handful of flowers of sulphur to a pailful 
of limewash. Remove the loose surface soil from the border, and 
supply fresh loam. If the mildew appear next season dust with flowers 
of sulphur. 
Specks on Apple (^Efingliani). —The specks are produced by a 
fungus called Glmosporium fructigenum. It is rather common this year 
on the gritty Pears and hard-fleshed Apples, attacking them later in the 
season than usual, but it develops rapidly in the stores. Sulphide of 
potassium, half an ounce to a gallon of water, used as a spray or through 
a fine-rose syringe when the fruit is about a quarter grown, again when 
half grown, and a third time when about three parts grown, is recom¬ 
mended as a preventive. The fruit should be disposed of, or preferably 
destroyed. If the Apples are used the peelings ought to be burned. 
