666 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 21, 189S. 
As all my hives have had good flights, I have no fears of 
further calamity from any form of distension ; but owing to 
the changeable weather they have lessened their stores, and 
some of them feel much lighter than I would have expected. Only 
a few of them may suffer from short stores, but these will be 
supplemented the first opportunity in January after their first flight 
of 1894. This is necessitated, too, by the fact that young bees are 
sure to be hatching by the middle of the month, or perhaps earlier. 
A lesson from the foregoing should be valuable to beginners, 
showing as it does the stupidity of stimulating bees to breed. The 
bees in the hives mentioned never were fed, and, contrary to my 
wishes, bred much, when I would have preferred them to be quiet. 
Feeding bees, if they have sufficient stores, does more harm than 
good, and crown feeders militate against progress, and increase 
the labour of the bee-keeper. 
Before despatching this letter I went to have a peep at the bees. 
It is midday of the 16th, the thermometer is standing at 54° in the 
shade ; every hive is busy, pure Carniolans the least. Punics are 
busy carrying pollen, mostly from pea meal, but from flowers as 
well. Hellebores are in bloom. Snowdrops and Primroses are on the 
eve of opening, while a few of the hardy Chrysanthemums near 
the house have their flowers fresh. The barometer in two days 
has risen from 28T0 to 29 80.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
Humble Bees.— A correspondent writes from New Zealand:—There 
was a very noticeable increase in the number of humble bees last year, 
and this season it is more noticeable, much to the regret of all who 
keep hives of the ordinary bees, for it is believed the large bee is de¬ 
priving them of honey, and that in a few years apiaries will contain no 
honey. Last season some found that their honey was not nearly so 
plentiful as formerly. The same complaint is heard everywhere, and I 
have not yet heard a good word said on behalf of the humble bee, and 
it is said that efforts are being made to reduce their numbers. If all 
that is said against this importation be true, it is to be regretted that 
they were brought out to fertilise the Clover. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Sutton & Sons, Beading.— Amateurs' Guide in Horticulture. 
E, Webb & Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge.— Spring Catalogue. 
B. S. Williams & Son.— Flower, Vegetable, and Agricultural Seeds. 
•^•All 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. 
Chou de Burghley (iZ. C. TF.).—The specimen you send is fairly 
representative of Chou de Burghley, and although there is no Broccoli 
head in the centre, we can see a very distinct difference in the divided 
head from that of an ordinary Cabbage. The miniature heads do not 
usually form till the spring, and not then in all the plants. We think 
too early sowing is often practised with this vegetable, the month of 
May, in our experience, being soon enough. When well cooked Chou 
de Burghley is quite distinct in flavour from the ordinary Cabbage. 
We have found it both hardy and good in the spring. 
Early Forced Elly of the Valley (A. II. E.') —In order to have 
Lily of the Valley in flower by the middle of November forcing should 
commence fully three weeks before the spikes are wanted. If the 
crowns will not start within a fortnight of being introduced into a 
strong heat it is very doubtful if they will grow at all. Well prepared 
home-grown crowns are fully equal to the best imported, but as a rule 
are not sufficiently matured to force so early as desirable in your case, 
and you ought to procure some of the earliest Berlin crowns imported, 
or say directly some of the wholesale importers get them. If you have 
a propagating frame oyer a tank of hot water that is the place to force 
Lily of the Valley. Do not pot the crowns, but merely place them 
thickly in cocoa-nut fibre refuse. The latter should be kept constantly 
moist, and the frame closed and darkened by mats. A strong heat, or 
say about 90°, will be needed, and you will have to be content with com¬ 
paratively small spikes with weak stems and no leaves. 
Elmewashlngr Vinery Wall (F. J."). —A limewashed wall is more 
favourable on the score of light and more pleasing to a cultivator’s 
eye than a dingy cemented one; the first indicates cleanliness, and the 
latter dirt—disease germ infestation. The wood, iron, and trellis work 
should be thoroughly cleansed with softsoap, hot water, and a brush, 
and the glass with c'ean water. The walla also may be washed with hot 
water, and when dry dressed with a solution of sulphide of potassium, 
1 oz. to a gallon of water, using a rather stiff clean painter’s brush. 
The sulphide of potassium may be procured of any chemist. It is 
commonly known as lime of sulphur. 
Bone i\.sh as a ItCanure (./. S'). —Bone ash is a phosphatic 
manure, supplying the soil with phosphates and about 1 per cent, of 
alkaline salts. It contains no nitrogen, the element forming it being 
lost in the burning. The manure may be used for all garden crops, 
including flowers, fruits, and vegetables, at the rate of 2 to 4 ozs. per 
square yard. It is a permanent manure—that is, it lasts longer than the 
year in which it is supplied, and is more calculated to promote a sturdy 
floriferous or fruitful habit and a fibrous root formation than free 
growth ; but this can be induced by supplying nitrates of potash or soda, 
or sulphate of ammonia when the plants or trees are starting into growth, 
about one-fourth of one of these substances being sufficient to mix with 
the bone ash for plants in pots, also for Vines, Boses, or vegetables. Alone 
it should only be given at intervals during the growth of plants and crops. 
Besting: Esella anceps (A. E.'). —This is one of the most service¬ 
able and attractive Orchids for flowering during midwinter, and we 
presume yours are now in flower. It will not hurt the plants, and the 
flowers wdll last the best part of a month if they are placed in a cool 
house, provided this is kept dry and just enough heat maintained in the 
hot-water pipes to insure a gentle circulation of air. After flow^ering 
return the plants to the house in which they were grown, an ordinary 
stove temperature, or such as suits Cattleyas when at rest, answering 
well. Keep the soil only just moist, enough water being given to 
prevent shrivelling, and not sufficient to excite growth. March will be 
quite soon enough to start them afresh, what repotting or top-dressing 
there may be needed being done then. Keep Coelogyne cristata in the 
house in which the plants formed and matured their growth. The 
flower sheaths ought to be already showing at the base of each strong 
young pseudo-bulb, but should not open for another month or rather 
longer. If freely wa ered now many of the flower spikes would damp off, 
and only enough water shou Id be given to prevent the soil becoming dust dry. 
Preventing Cucumber Root Disease (^Reader ').—The grower 
referred to does not use horse or any animal manure with the soil when 
it is of a fibrous nature, and only about one-fifth of fresh horse 
droppings when it is ordinary loam and not containing a large per¬ 
centage of the remains of previous dressings of manure. It is quite 
possible to grow as large a crop and of as good quality in Cucumbers by 
the use of artificial manures alone as by mixing farmyard manure with 
the soil. The soil, h iwever, must contain a fair amount of humus, and 
be of an open nature so a* to encourage a free root action. Kainit is an 
excellent dressing for land liable to produce some kinds of club in the 
plants grown upon it. It may be applied at tbs rate of 2 lbs. per rod, 
or if you want to mix it with the soil, 2 ozs. is sufficient for an ordinary 
barrowload of soil with farmyard manure added, and double the 
amount may be used without the farmyard manure, but an excessive 
use of kainit is liable to sterilise the soil, therefore it must be used in 
moderation. The following is a good chemical manure for Cucumbers : 
three parts bone superphosphate, two parts powdered saltpetre, and 
one part ground gypsum, mixed. Keep it dry, and apply 2 to 4 ozs. per 
square yard at fortnightly intervals as a top-dressing, and wash in. 
Diseased Carnation Plants (A«. Old Subscriber'). — The plant 
with roots (No. 1) is infested with a fungus (Helminthosporium or 
Heterosporium echinulatum). It was first described in England on 
Carnations twenty-three years ago by the late Bev. M. J. Berkeley. It 
was introduced into this country from the continent, and in America it 
is considered a recent importation from Europe. The flocci (mycelial 
threads) are irregular, simple or slightly branched, bearing here and 
there multiseptate spores ; these are brown in colour, and when pro¬ 
duced in abundance, together with the threads, darken the spot upon 
the leaf. The spot then possesses different shades of colour, according 
to the number of spores produced. The growth of the fungus from the 
centre of the spot is centrifugal, and the dark colour is frequently 
arranged in concentric rings, of which your plant affords excellent 
specimens. You may dip the plants affected in or syringe them with a 
solution of sulphide of potassium, half an ounce to a gallon of water, 
and repeat at intervals of a fortnight to three weeks. The other plant 
(No. 2) is attacked by the Carnation rust fungus (Uromyces caryo- 
phillinus), the presence of which is indicated by a slight swelling on the 
leaf or stem, one-eighth to a quarter of an inch long, and in some cases 
nearly as broad. The surface of the swelling soon becomes pale or 
nearly colourless, since the green colouring matter at that point is 
destroyed by the growth of the fungus, and is obscured by the crowded 
fruiting threads (mycelium) and young spores of the fungus. As the 
fungus matures these spores become brownish in colour, are roundish- 
oval in shape, and so close together as to impart a dark browm colour to 
the colony or sorus (fructification part). The epidermis (skin) of the 
leaf or stem is ruptured by the growth of the fungus within the tissues 
and turned on one side, where it usually clings as a whitish ragged 
looking film by the side of the now exposed mass of spores. The rust 
fungus attacks the Carnation at all stages of its growth, not sparing the 
young cuttings, but they were probably infested before insertion through 
being taken from a rusted plant, which, as regards the cuttings, showed 
no trace externally of the threads within the tissues. The treatment 
