434 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 9, 1893. 
The number of stocks for wintering should be regulated before the 
close of the Heather season, and by having the hives properly 
arranged when set down this is sometimes easily accomplis^hed. 
Occasionally it is better to do this before we move them, at the 
end of the Clover season, when the Heather is likely to be of short 
duration. But at Leadhills the Heather lasts so long that many 
hives are more reliable than few, but in all cases they should be 
strong. At “midheather,” if practicable, remove surplus honey and 
join stocks. In cases where there is not much honey nor brood 
remove all empty combs from both, transfer to one of them all 
combs having honey, and brood along with the bees. Preserve the 
empty combs for future use if white, but if blackened with age 
melt them and take what wax they yield. It ought to be a rule to 
have no combs older than twelve months in any hive, as the honey 
from white combs is superior, while supers above them are magnifi¬ 
cent and more pure than those above blackened with age. 
Sometimes the bees may miss the Heather till after it is half 
gone, but it is a fact that it yields more honey then than in its 
earlier stages, and one week’s fine weather then with double strength 
hives will enable them to store 100 lbs. each. As I have stated, 
the bee-keeper must study the best and proper time to perform 
the various manipulations according to circumstances and the best 
of his judgment, but even then it may sometimes happen that the 
best has not always been done. Still, work at all times for the 
best and in hopes of favourable results.—A Lanaekshire Bee¬ 
keeper, jjg continued.) 
The Season of 1893. 
As regards East Yorkshire, the past season has been a good one ; 
never have I had honey of such quality before. From early spring 
to the present time the weather has been favourable for the bees. 
They were at work soon after 7 a m. on October 19th on our 
Michaelmas Daisies, and at four in the afternoon were busy still. 
Our take of honey has been a good one, and very few swarms 
have been the result. My hives were well tired up, and having 
plenty of room, not one of my bar-frame hives swarmed, and been 
strong in bees, gave a good surplus. Large hives are far the best. 
The standard hive, with a capacity for holding ten frames and a 
crate of twenty-one sections, is a mere toy and a source of trouble. 
Where the honey season is over by the end of July the non-swarm¬ 
ing hives give the best results. Large hives, with plenty of bees 
and young queens, are necessary if a good surplus is to be taken. 
The Lanarkshire hive has again done well with me, one of mine 
occupying six divisions ; it was a pleasure to see the busy toilers 
pouring in and out in crowds. This hive was worked for extracted 
honey. From another I took some good sections, for which I 
secured a first prize for twelve at our local show.—G. B. 
PKESENTATION OF HONEY TO THE LORD MAYOR. 
An interesting ceremony took place in the Mansion House on 
November 1st, when a number of gentlemen, representing the British 
Bee-keepers’ Association, offered the Lord Mayor of London a collection 
of British honey to the amount of 1 cwt. The presentation was 
made in the State drawing-room by Sir J. Whitehead, M.P., in the 
absence of the President of the Association, Baroness Burdett-Coutts. 
Sir J. Whitehead said that the honey had come from all parts of the 
United Kingdom—England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. His connec¬ 
tion with the Association arose from the fact that he, as Pastmaster of 
the Fruiterers' Company, had taken a very great interest in the cultiva¬ 
tion of fruit in this country, and all experts in fruit culture seemed to 
think that bees were essential for the fertilisation of the flowers. The 
net profit to be derived from the cultivation of honey depended on the 
successful treatment of bees, anl the object of the Association was to 
impart the knowledge of the cultivation of bees, and possibly to recreate 
the industry. He had in his own knowledge a case in his native county 
of Westmoreland, where a small tradesman had eighty hives. During 
the spring and summer, when the flowers in the fields were in bloom, 
and up to the time the bees had swarmed and made their casts he kept 
them in the valleys, and afterwards took them on to the moors where 
they could gather honey from the Heather, and the result of the eighty 
hives, after paying all expenses, was a net profit of 55s. per hive, or 
£100. The county of Kent had in some respect been taken as a typical 
county of what might be done with regard to bee culture, and it was 
estimated that there alone no less than 400 tons of honey could be 
grown, provided that those who had hives were sufficiently skilled in the 
art of cultivation. That 400 tons, sold at 9d. a pound, would give to 
that county alone no less than £33,600. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Dicksons & Co., 1, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh .—Forest Trees, Shrubs 
and Coniferce. 
W. L. Lewis & Co., Southgate, London, N .—Special Catalogue of 
Orchids. 
Fotheringham & King, Dumfries, N.B .—Forest and Ornamental 
Trees, It oses, and Fruit Trees. 
•^•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 he 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. 
Blood IVEanure (J. If. IF.).—Your letter arrived too late to enable 
us to deal with the question in this issue, but it shall be referred to 
next week. 
Chrysanthemum Bloom (A. If. E .").—The distinctness or merits 
of a Chrysanthemum can only be determined from well developed 
blooms, and not from the small specimen you have forwarded. The 
other matter shall have attention in our next issue. 
Scale on Kentla Beaf (IF. Z). J/.).—The small brown scale can 
now be attacked effectively with an insecticide. Fir tree oil is very 
efficacious and harmless to plants, so also is Lemon oil, petroleum 
emulsion, Kilmright, Chelsea blight composition, carbolic and nicotine 
soaps, and other advertised insecticides, provided each is used at the 
strength advised in the instructions accompanying the several prepara¬ 
tions. The insecticide should be applied with a brush, and the insects 
dislodged, and afterwards cleanse the plants with clear tepid water. 
Spirit of wine, diluted with about half its quantity of water, and applied 
with a small brush, so as to dislodge the pest, is a cleanly method of 
removing the scale. Methylated spirit may also be used very effectively, 
just moistening a brush with it and then wetting the scale insects with 
it. If the fronds are young the methylated spirit should be diluted 
similar to the spirit of wine ; on mature fronds it either may be used 
neat, or only employing enough to wet the insects. 
Fuchsias from Seed (^Amateur ').—Raising Fuchsias from seed is 
certainly, as you suggest, “interesting to amateurs,” but it is very 
probable that only a few of the seedlings will on flowering prove equal 
to existing varieties. The pods should be carefully gathered when ripe. 
As the seeds are enveloped in a pulp it is necessary, in order to preserve 
them, to cleanse them effectually. This is done by washing ; bruise the 
berries with the hand, and mix them with water ; as soon as the pulp is 
all washed off pass the liquor through a hair-sieve fine enough to catch 
the seed, wash it repeatedly till it is quite clean, then dry it gradually ; 
put it up in brown paper, and keep it in a dry room till spring. Sow 
then in a mixture of light sandy loam and peat, cover slightly, and place 
the pots in a gentle hotbed. When the seedlings are half an inch high 
transplant them in rows across pots 5 inches wide—these will hold 
about twenty or thirty plants each—and then replace them in the hot¬ 
bed. In these pots they may remain for a month or six weeks, and then 
they will require placing singly into 3-inch pots. Place them for a few 
days in a cold frame, and keep rather close and shaded till fresh roots 
are formed, and then they are then able to bear the full light and a 
moderate admission of air. Give plenty of the latter as they acquire 
strength, and when the pots are full of roots give another shift into 
4-incb pots, and let them remain in these till they flower. Many of 
them will flower the first year, and then is the time to make a selection. 
The selected ones should be repotted, and grown to the end of the 
season to prove them. Cuttings of the best may be inserted, and the 
whole kept in the coolest part of the greenhouse during the following 
winter. 
Rooting IMCarguerlte Cuttings (^Reader ').—The cuttings should 
be of the growing shoots, and about 3 inches in length, severing each 
transversely below a joint, and removing the leaves about half way up. 
The cuttings may be inserted singly in small pots (2 J inches in diameter), 
or five or six cuttings round the edge of a 4-inch pot. One crock is 
sufficient for drainage, with a little rough material over it, for the small 
pot; but an inch or more of material should be provided for the larger 
size. Fill the pots firmly with soil, composed of equal parts lea? mould 
and light loam passed through a half-inch sieve, adding a sixth of 
sharp sand, thoroughly mixed. Sprinkle about a quarter of an inch of 
sand on the top, and insert the cuttings with a blunt dibber, just deep 
enough to allow the base of each to rest on the sand carried down by 
the dibber, and about half the length of the cutting, or down to the 
leaves. Press the soil round the cuttings, particularly their base, and 
afford a gentle watering through a fine-rosed waterpot. Stand the pots 
on ashes or similar material in a house having a temperature of 40° to 
50°, and cover with a bellglass or handlight, and keep close until rooted. 
The glass or handlight may be taken off each dull morning for about an 
hour for the dissipation of excessive moisture, and in the evening the 
