September 28 , 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
299 
building one part, and road scrapings one part, chopping the turfy loam 
moderately small, and mixing well together forms a suitable compost. 
If the top 3 or 4 inches of a pasture can be had where the soil is a rather 
strong loam interspersed with calcareous gravel and flints, it could not 
possibly be better for this or any stone fruit, and needs no admixture. 
Treesjthat have been trained two or three years to walls are best, as 
they come into bearing at once, and will move safely provided they have 
been recently lifted. The borders being Arm plant at once, or as soon 
as the leaves have mainly fallen, and give a good watering. Mulch 
withia couple of inches thickness of short stable litter, and take off the 
roof lights, not replacing them until the new year, when the trees may 
be started. Early Rivers, Black Tartarian, and Governor Wood are the 
best for trellises. 
I I Cherries in Pots, —These are very accommodating, and may be 
grown in any light, airy, well heated houses. The trees may be pro¬ 
cured at once. They ought to be in pots, if not they will require a 
year to become thoroughly established. Repot at once if necessary, 
disentangling the roots at the sides of the ball, removing the drainage, 
and shortening any thick or straggling roots. Provide good drainage 
and make the soil firm, adding a fourth of well decayed manure to the 
compost for potting. Trees that are in as large pots as desired need only 
have the drainage rectifled and be surface dressed, or the old drainage 
may be cleared away, a few inches from the base of the ball removsd, 
the roots shortened back, removing all the loose surface soil and supply¬ 
ing fresh material, made firm under, around, and over the ball. The 
trees should be placed on a hard bottom impervious to worms, and sur¬ 
rounded with ashes to the rim, covering the pots with litter upon the 
approach of frost. AflEord a good watering after potting or having the 
roots interfered with. Guigne Annonay, Early Rivers, Empress Bugdnie, 
Early Red Guigne, Early Jaboulay, Early Red Bigarreau, May Duke, Black 
Tartarian, Governor Wood, and Elton are excellent varieties, and afford 
fruit in succession. The trees may be in pyramidal form, but low standards, 
€0 that the heads will be well up to the glass, are most desirable. 
Cucumbers. —The plants for winter fruiting should be planted as 
soon as they are ready if not already done. A good bottom heat is 
essential to success, whether it be obtained by the aid of fermenting 
materials or hot-water pipes, but the latter is the most desirable means, 
and if the former are used there should be hot-water pipes in the 
bed to maintain the heat when that of the fermenting material 
declines. The soil may consist of light turfy loam with a third of 
fibrous peat, a sixth of old mortar rubbish, and a tenth of charcoal, the 
whole well incorporated. Reliance should be placed on liquid manure 
and surface dressings for imparting vigour later in preference to employ¬ 
ing manure in the compost. 
Autumn Fruiters. —A healthy and vigorous growth must be main¬ 
tained, and do not overcrop the plants. Afford weak tepid liquid 
manure once or twice a week as may be necessary. Add a little fresh 
warmed soil about once a fortnight to the hillocks or ridges. Main¬ 
tain a night temperature of 65°, 70° to 75° by day artificially, and 80° 
to 90° from sun heat. Avoid a close atmosphere by careful and 
moderate ventilation, but cold drying currents must be prevented, for 
they are very injurious. Be sparing in the use of water, especially on 
the foliage, keeping a genial condition of the atmosphere by damping 
the surface in the morning and afternoon, but gradually reduce the 
atmospheric moisture as the days shorten and the natural heat declines. 
If aphides attack the plants fumigate on two or three consecutive 
evenings ; for mildew dust with flowers of sulphur. 
Strawberries In Pots. — A selection should now be made of the 
plants for early forcing, taking those which are in the forwardest 
condition as regards completing their growth and plumping the crowns. 
La Grosse Sucree and Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury are, all points 
considered, the best. They may remain outdoors until the approach of 
frost, and should then be placed well up to the glass in frames, only 
affording protection from heavy rains and frost, otherwise exposing 
fully or ventilating freely. The plants must not lack water, yet 
needless applications cause the soil to become sodden and sour. Any 
plants that appear in the latter condition should have the drainage 
examined. Expel worms from the pots with lime water, and rectify 
the drainage where defective. Where the crowns are numerous, 
the small ones should be removed with a wedge-like piece of hard 
wood without injuring the leaves or central crown. This will 
concentrate all the vigour of the plants on the chief crown, and though 
there will be fewer trusses of bloom there is no need to fear a deficiency 
of crop, but it must not be carried too far, and in the case of split 
crowns, that is, the central one divided into two or three, these must be 
left, removing the small side ones only. The plants must have plenty of 
space for the full exposure of the foliage, which is essential to a sturdy 
growth and plump well-developed crowns. Remove all runners and 
weeds as they appear. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
W. & J. Birkenhead, Fern N ursery.— Ferns and Selaginellas. 
J. Cheal & Sons, Lowfield Nurseries, Crawley, Sussex.— Fruit Trees 
und Shrubs, 
W. Clibran k Son, Oldfield Nurseries, Altrincham.— Shrubs, Fruit 
Trees, Spring Flowering and other Plants. 
Laing k Mather, Kelso-on-Tweed.— Carnations, 
Ketten, Fr^res, Luxembourg.— Catalogue of Roses. 
W. Paul k Son, Waltham Cross, Herts.— Catalogue of Roses. 
AV. Rumsey, Joyning’s Nurseries, Waltham Cross.— Roses. 
L. Spath, Baumschall, Rixdorf, Berlin.— Fruit Trees, Roses, Shrubs, 
Wallace k Co , Colchester.— List of Lilies, Irises and other Plants, 
i 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
. I , I . 1 ■ 
» ■ ■ « - .1 r-L T.J.--1 -.J >| ■ 1 . < ■ 1 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Practical Hints for Beginners. 
The reader must bear in mind as he peruses these notes, that 
the writer has had a wide experience in bees and bee-keeping, 
sufficient to enable him to answer almost any query concerning 
bees, and to affirm positively that the Lanarkshire divisional hive 
is the only one adapted for moving bees with safety from place to 
place, as from the home apiary to the orchard, thence to the 
Clover, and eventually to the Heather. It is the only hive in 
which we can say in the autumn, when all is arranged, the bees are 
safe till May or longer. It will therefore be the only hive 
alluded to in these notes. 
But bee-keepers are their own masters, and beginners are at 
liberty to make experiments, and trials of different things and 
on different lines from what I teach ; at the same time it must be 
understood that the many mishaps in wintering and moving bees 
in summer, together with unnecessary expenses connected with 
large and double cased hives, warrant me giving the foregoing 
warning. Read the book of Nature, then the singular and often 
mysterious movements occurring in the hive will become plain 
and easily understood. Learn the “ hows and the whys,” and bee¬ 
keeping will become an easy, profitable, and interesting pursuit. 
Tenants of the Hive. 
The.se are the queen, workers, and drones during the summer, 
and not unfrequently fertile workers, drone-producing queens, 
and hermaphrodites. As every text book gives illustrations of the 
former, it is needless to enlarge on them here further than is 
necessary to make plain to the novice their mission in the hive. 
“ It is difficult to catch the queen,” or “ I have never seen one ” are 
expressions not unseldom used by beginners. Experienced bee¬ 
keepers have not unfrequently from the smallness of some queens 
great difficulty in spotting or catching them, but it is often 
undesirable to waste time hunting for them, as there are ways of 
disposing of them, as will be hereafter explained. Meanwhile the 
best illustration of a queen beginners can get is, when queens are 
heard piping in the hive to open it and secure a ripe cell. It is 
known by its dark brown appearance over the seal and its edge, as 
the seal sometimes falls back after the queen has left and is again 
sealed by the bees. Make sure the cell contains a queen. Vibrations 
by its movements are distinctly felt, and it can be seen in the cell 
when held between the eye and the light. Now place the cell with 
a few workers on a piece of comb under a glass, where you can 
watch the exit and other movements, and have a full view of a live 
queen bee and all her movements better than pen or pencil can 
describe.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
(To be continued.) 
Lanarkshire Divisional Hive. 
I OBTAINED two hives and like them, only I am somewhat in 
difficulties about the management. You kindly told me how to 
pack them for winter, but I want to know about sufficiency of 
room. I drove and put a stock in three weeks since, placing 
with it other two stocks; they were not very strong. I put 
them on worked out combs, so there is no building for them, 
and I have fed them slowly with syrup; but I fancy the one box 
will hardly be large enough. Perhaps you might kindly tell me in 
the Journal of Horticulture. The “ B. B. J.” says we should 
replace old queens with young ones, but I cannot find the queens. 
I suppose it is a difficulty for novices, so I must leave them alone 
and trust they will be all right.—S. M. H. 
[In reply to “ S. M. H.,” it depends greatly upon whether the 
hive is intended as a swarmer or non-swarmer, and on the locality 
producing flowers that yield the principal supply of honey whether 
the bees should occupy two or three divisions. One at any time is 
too small. If the bees swarm several weeks before the honey- 
yielding flowers are in bloom, then two divisions are suitable ; but 
if the flora of the district comes before the bees are ready for 
swarming, prepare the hive now in three divisions full combed, 
having a youthful queen. If the hive is well supplied with stores 
it will attain a good strength, and the bees will be able to gather 
much honey in the early part of the year before attempting to 
swarm. 
It is not very long since the “B. B. J.” taught that queens 
were at their best when three years old, and perhaps took the hint 
about youthful queens from the pages of the Jourml of Horti¬ 
culture. As you have joined two old stocks to the original 
