October 12, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
343 
crop. Shoots 12 inches length or under must not be shortened, nor need 
those that are vQry much longer. Leaving too much wood weakens the 
trees in flowering, and there is not space for training-in the necessary 
growths for futu"e bearing to insure their thorough exposure to light and 
air. Admit all the air possible at all times. If the roof lights are off 
do not replace them until the time arrives for closing the house. 
Where the lights are fixed avoid permitting the borders to become too 
dry, which is more pernicious than a wet soil at any time. 
Midseason Houses. — The foliage in these will be approaching 
maturity, but there must not be any attempt at its forcible removal, 
though the falling of the leaves may be assisted by lightly brushing 
the trees with a broom. The lights should be kept open day and night, 
except when frost prevails, for it is not desirable to cause the sudden 
collapse of the foliage through freezing. When the leaves are all down 
the roof lights may be removed. Tnis will ensure conplete rest and the 
even and well moistening of the soil. If any lifting or root-pruning is 
intended these operations should be attended to as soon as the wood 
becomes firm and the buds developed, but before the leaves have all 
fallen, as there is then a better chance of fresh roots being formed than 
at a later period. 
Late Houses .—The fruit in these structures has ripened quite a fort¬ 
night to three weeks earlier than usual, and there is now a scarcity of 
fruit in many places, though some still have good fruit through ven¬ 
tilating freely in the summer, even taking off the roof lights in broiling 
weather. The wood that has borne fruit should be cut out to the suc- 
cessional growths at the base, unless they are extensions. Trees growing 
too luxuriantly and late should have a trench taken out at such distance 
from the stem as will check their vigour and cause the buds to become 
plump. Such trees should be lifted as soon as the wood is sufficiently 
ripened. It should be done with dispatch, all the materials being in 
readiness. See to the drainage ; if defective make it thoroughly 
eflicient. Shorten back any strong roots, and bring any that are deep 
nearer the surface, making the compost firm. Good loam, rather strong, 
with an admixtuie of one-sixth of old mortar rubbish forms a suitable 
compost. If the soil be light add a fourth of clayey marl, and if very 
strong a similar proportion of road scrapings. Manure is preferably 
given at the surface. Give a good watering after lifting and completing 
the operations, and the roots will soon become established in the fresh 
material. Trees judiciously treated at the roots whilst they have some 
foliage seldom fail to set and stone the fruit satisfactorily the succeed- 
ing year. Any borders in a sodden and sour state at the surface may 
have a dressing of quicklime quite an inch thick, mixing it with the 
soil as deeply as the roots allow without much disturbance, and this will 
effect some improvement. 
Cucumbers.— Plants in bearing require looking over not less than 
once a weeu, removing any bad leaves and exhausted growths, training- 
in young shoots, pinching out their points one or two joints beyond the 
show for fruit, avoiding crowding and overcronping. Maintain a night 
temperature of 65° to 70°, 70° to 75° by dav. adVancing to 80° or 85° with 
sun, closing early, so as to rise 5° to 10°, advantage being taken of 
favourable opportunities to admit a little air, yet avoid drying currents 
and cold draughts. The floors should be sprinkled with water about 8 A.M. 
and 4 pm. respectively, dispensing syringing the plants except on fine 
days, when a light bedewing may be given at closing time. Reduce the 
supply of water at the roots, but not to cause flagging, and encourage 
surface roots by an occasional light dressing of loam and sweetened 
horse droppings. Keep the glass clean and the foliage rather thin, so as 
to secure thoroughly solidified growth. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
Carnations and Plcotees. —Layering has been a very successful 
operation in spite of the dryness of the season, and since a showery period 
has set in the roots have increased rapidly. No time should be lost in 
detaching these rooted layers from the parent plants, all being lifted 
with a small ball of soil about the roofs. In some districts it is a good 
plan to place some of these young plants in 3-inch or slightly larger 
pots, using fresh fibrous loam, with a li tie old Mushroom bed manure 
and sharp sand added. If these are kept near the glass in dry frames or 
pits, given air freely when the weather permits, and further protected 
from severe frosts, very sturdy plants will be available for planting out 
next spring. Some of the strongest layered plants are flowering freely, 
and these might well be lifted and placed in pots that will hold them 
comfortably, a good succession of flowers being had under glass accord¬ 
ingly. The early raised plants of Marguerite Carnations are also 
flowering exceptionally well in the open borders, and something should 
be done to protect them. Span-roofed or other deep frames freely 
ventilated would prolong their beauty considerably, or if plants have 
not been kept in 6-inch pots, the best of those in beds might well be 
lifted, potted, and placed in a greenhouse to finish flowering. 
Forming Fresh Beds .—Seedlings ought ere this to have been planted 
out, but the layered plants have not suffered trom their long connection 
with the parent plants. No time, however, should be lost in completing 
the planting of all not placed in small pots. Let them have the benefit 
of some fresh loamy soil, old Mushro m bed or other short manure, 
and road grit. They thrive best in slightly raised beds, the latter being 
about 6 feet wide, with 1-foot alleys between. Make the soil rather firm 
about the roots. Slugs must be trapped, as these quickly spoil the plants. 
A mulching of old Mushroom bed manure, leaf soil, or tanners’ decayed 
bark acts beneficially, and in particular prevents frosts upheaving the 
ground and loosening the plants to an injurious extent. 
Finks.— Cuttings of Pinks are slow in rooting, especially where no 
bottom heat is afforded. At the present time they may present a 
sickly appearance, but will yet develop into neat plants by next spring. 
Any that are strongly rooted and hardened may be at once put out into 
raised beds, much as advised in the case of Carnations, only less room 
should be allowed—a distance of 9 inches apart each way suiting them 
well. The finest flowers are had from young plants, and a fresh bed 
ought to be formed every year. No cuttings having been rooted, the old 
fashioned plan of pulling healthy plants to pieces and replanting these 
should be adopted. These divisions will have rather long stems, some 
being furnished with roots and others not. All should be planted rather 
deeply or well up to the tops. 
Pansies and Violas.— If neat plants raised from seed are trans¬ 
planted to raised beds a good early display of flowers will most probably 
be forthcoming next spring. Autumn-raised plants should be kept 
under glass, and quite cool till the spring. Both Pansies and Violas 
have stood the dry season rather better than anticipated, and are now 
forming young shoots freely. It is these latter that make the best 
cuttings, though the flowerless tops will also root readily, and push up 
fresh growths from the r base. No bottom heat is needed for either. 
Place a frame or frames on bricks, half fill with old beating material, 
making it quite solid, and on this dispose a layer 4 inches deep of soil, 
finishing off with a good surfacing of fine sandy compost, a little sand 
being sprinkled over this. Shorten the cuttings to about 3 inches in 
length, and insert them 3 inches apart all over the bed. Give a gentle 
watering, and keep the frame close and shaded from bright sunshine 
till the cuttings are rooted, after which abundance of air should be 
admitted. 
Calceolarias. —Cuttings are late this season, but where the old 
plants were kept alive are becoming fairly plentiful. Now is a good 
time to attend to the propagation of these. If many plants are required 
next summer, prepare a suitable frame for the cuttings. Mulch as 
advised in the case of Violas, while hand-lights or shallow boxes may be 
used for smaller numbers. Give the preference to short-jointed 
moderately firm shoots, cutting these just below the third joint and 
trimming off the lower pair of leaves. Do not allow them to flag badly, 
but dibble them out quickly just clear of each other. See that the base 
of the cuttings rest on the bottom of the holes made with the dibber and 
fix them well, as otherwise they will not strike roots. Water, put on 
the lights, and shade from bright sunshine. They will require more 
protection during the winter than Violas, but if not unduly coddled 
will not be injured by an ordinarily severe frost. 
w 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Practical Hints for Beginners. 
{Continued from page 321.') 
Beyond raising queens at the proper season from full strength 
hives, and discarding very small queens, the bee-keeper has no 
control of improving or selecting the best. Medium-sized queens 
are often the most prolific and the longest lived, and as a rule are 
fertilised at an earlier date than extra large queens, the latter 
very often coming to grief through failing to mate, which some¬ 
times takes place within twenty days from the deposition of the 
egg that produced her, and occasionally as late as fifteen weeks. 
I have had several cases of the latter. As previously stated, 
queens sometimes deposit eggs almost immediately after birth. 
Imperfect queens do that, but in every case of the kind the pro¬ 
geny are drones, and the mother remains a confirmed drone 
breeder. In the other cases, the queen in an unfertilised state 
produces drones only ; but when mated, and then becomes a fertile 
queen, she breeds both workers and drones. 
Swarming and the control of it depends very much upon the state, 
fertility and non-fertility of the queen. During the early spring a 
hive having a fertilised but non-egg-producing queen, swarms out 
entirely, leaving behind it an otherwise well-stocked hive. Incipient 
disease has apparently the same effect, as well as under-fed hives. 
Premature swarming takes place when a duality of queens are in 
a hive, either fromastrangerenteringthatbelongingtoanother hive, 
or when one or more has been reared by the bees at too early a 
date. Sometimesasimilar result occurs when the queen regnant shows 
signs of collapsing, but at others when no reason can be assigned 
a queen caged contiguous to the bees on the top cf a hive causes 
swarming, and this is the reason we destroyed one (the old one) 
of the two queens in the one hive system. When near the 
honey flow there is no advantage gained by allowing both to 
live. A very prolific queen having too little breeding space, 
and a much less prolific one having too much, are both causes of 
swarming. 
The prevention of swarming is best effected by deposing the 
queen regnant, introducing a youthful fertilised one, giving 
