January S, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
17 
commence to open, when the sprinkling of the floor in the place of the 
trees will be sufficient. The inside borders must be rendered thoroughly 
moist by repeated waterings. This applies to houses with fixed roofs, 
for, where the trees have been exposed, the borders will have been so 
moistened by the rains as not to require watering until the foliage and 
fruit are well advanced in growth. If the rcots are partly outside, that 
part of the border should be covered with leaves and litter, so as to keep 
the roots in a condition to absorb and transmit nourishment, which they 
cannot do when the soil is frozen. 
Figs. —Early Forced Trees in Pots .—Those started in November 
or early December will need the temperature raised gradually to G0° at 
night, but 5° less in severe weather, and 05° by day from fire heat when 
the growths are developing, with 70° to 75° from sun heat, commencing 
to ventilate at 70°, and closing at 75°. Avoid, however, a high tempera¬ 
ture by artificial means, as the sturdier and shorter jointed the young 
shoots and the stouter the leaves can be kept the greater will be the 
chances of a satisfactory first and second crop. Syringe the trees twice 
a day, except in dull weather, when damping in the morning and early 
in the afternoon will be sufficient, or less moisture will be needed where 
the fermenting material aids in furnishing heat than where reliance is 
placed solely on fire heat, and avoid a saturated atmosphere in dull 
weather. As the fermenting materials settle firm them well about the 
pots, and add more, taking care that the heat about the pots does not 
exceed 70° to 75°. Place some turves, about 2 inches thick, grass side 
downwards, around the rims and on the surface of the pots, extending 
inwards about 2 inches, so as to form a dish, and outwards over the 
sides towards the fermenting materials with a view to encourage the 
surface roots to extend. Water the trees and turves with weak liquid 
manure, and the whole surface will soon become a mass of roots ; and 
they may then be fed to any extent with liquid stimulants, or a 
sprinkling occasionally of superphosphate (bone) five parts, nitrate of 
potash two parts, and gypsum one part, mixed, and kept perfectly dry 
can be applied. 
Fig Trees Planted in Borders .—The first house of these should now 
be started, and the fruit will be ripe towards the end of May or early 
in June, when the varieties consist of White Marseilles and Brown 
Turkey, the best light coloured and dark Figs for general purposes. 
The borders should be brought into a thoroughly moist condition by 
repeated waterings, but not going to the extreme of making them 
sodden. Syringe the trees in the morning and early afternoon when 
fine, otherwise only damp the floor and other available surfaces so as to 
maintain a genial atmosphere, for one that is close and damp has a 
tendency to induce soft growths and is unfavourable to the first crop 
fruit. Maintain a night temperature of 50°, 55° by day artificially, and 
allow an advance to 65° from sun heat with a free circulation of air. 
Cherry House. —Where the house has been closed since the middle 
of December and frost excluded, fire heat may be applied to secure a 
night temperature of 40° when cold, 45° when mild, and 50° by day, 
allowing an advance of 5° to 10° from sun heat, but not without a 
free circulation of air at 50°, and admitting it abundantly in mild sunny 
weather. Syringe the trees occasionally, but do not keep them dripping 
with water, and take care that they become fairly dry before night. 
The roof lights having been off, the borders will not need water for 
some weeks to come, yet the soil must be kept in a well moistened con¬ 
dition. Trees in pots must be regularly attended to, not allowing the 
soil to become dry, but afford a supply of water when needed. If any 
of the trees are unsuitable, now is a good time to introduce new ones in 
their place. Trees that have been grown against and trained to a south 
wall for three or four years and lifted occasionally are the best. Early 
Rivers, Black Tartarian, Governor Wood, and Elton are suitable 
varieties. If the May Duke flavour is required Empress Eug4nie will 
supply it, and this is a very fine variety for forcing. 
Melons. —Plants raised from seed sown now will give ripe fruit by 
the end of April or early in May in light and well heated structures, not 
otherwise, and contingent on the weather being favourable to their 
growth. The seed should be sown singly in 3-inch pots half filled with 
fine loam and leaf soil, plunging the pots in a hotbed made of ferment¬ 
ing materials and covering them with a pane of glass, which must be 
removed as soon as the plants appear through the soil. Where there is 
no bottom heat the pots may be placed on shelves about 1 foot from the 
glass in a house with a temperature of 60° to 65° at night and 70° to 75° 
by day artificially, as in a fruiting Pine stove or a Cucumber house, with 
a piece of glass over each ; and in this case the plants will be hardier 
and sturdier and less liable to suffer from damp than those in a hotbed. 
When the seedlings have made an inch or two of stem they should be 
top-dressed with warmed soil and kept well up to the glass or in plenty 
of light, so as to insure a sturdy growth. Varieties are plentiful, every 
grower has the best that indulges in cross-fertilisation, but good sorts 
adhere to types. Scarlet Gem is a standard for flavour, and Blenheim 
Orange with Read’s Scarlet-flesh have it in larger fruit. Pine Apple 
(American Musk) and Egyptian have never been excelled in flavour ; 
there is some of one or both in Davenham Early, Gilbert’s Victory of 
Bath (an improved Bromham Hall), Hero of Lockinge, and The 
Countess. Tne Persian race have a remarkable tender flesh and a thin 
rind and a flavour that never cloys. Some of this “ blood” has got into 
The Countess, and we have the old Beechwood flavour in Eastnor 
Castle ; the Cashmere Melon characteristics being well developed in 
Cox’s Golden Gem and in Longleat Perfection. All are good Melons. 
Cucumbers. —Seed must now be sown to raise plants for the early 
spring supply of fruit. There is none better than a carefully selected 
stock of Telegraph as an all-round variety; Cardiff Castle is smaller and 
more prolific. We have a cross between the two, and none other will 
be eaten at table, but it has a long neck, and is therefore of no use for 
exhibition. There are many excellent varieties, the Sion House race 
being victorious along the whole line for cropping and using qualities, 
and the Long Gun breed for exhibition purposes. The seeds may 
be sown singly in 3-inch pots, in a rich light mould, leaving room for 
top-dressing the plants when they require it; plunge the pots in a 
brisk bottom heat near the glass, and cover with a pane of glass, which 
must be removed as soon as the plants appear. Where there is not the 
convenience of a hotbed, the pots may be stood on a shelf near the roof 
covered with a pane of glass, and in a genial atmosphere, with a night 
temperature of 65° to 70, 5° less in cold weather, rising to 80°, 90° or 
more with sun ; ventilate a little at 75°, but be careful to prevent a 
check by sudden cooling or drying of the air. 
m bee-k^epbr] 
IS 
. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
The severe weather experienced at Christmas when the ther¬ 
mometer registered 9°, and on the following day 7°, or 25° of frost, 
was followed by the densest fog ever experienced in this locality. At 
the time of writing, however, it is milder but still frosty. Although 
the frost was unaccompanied by snow, flowers and vegetables are 
so far very little affected. 
Bees have had nearly two months of almost arctic winter, but 
the atmosphere has been drier than we have usually experienced at 
this season, consequently the bees have wintered well, and as they 
are more likely to suffer in December than further on, we consider 
them safe, provided they lack nothing, and are free from moisture. 
Breeding has commenced in many hives having youthful 
queens. The cluster will expand, and a greater heat kept up, 
which enables the bees to resist a very low temperature, should it 
come on unexpectedly. 
Entrances will not be interfered with until the bees make an 
effort to enlarge them ; and even after that we may again contract 
them to their normal winter’s width, which in no case exceeds 
1 inch, some of' them half of that. Our hives have an immunity 
from dead bees on the floor, the result of small entrances and the 
absence of damp. We do not require to clean floors, nor use a 
“ hooked wire ” to clear oat the bees that “ died from old age,” 
nor do we see a single speck of evacuated matter on any one of 
our hives. 
I am interested in a weak hive, which will elucidate a matter of 
no little importance on the wintering problem and general manage¬ 
ment. It has a queen of the normal length, but less in girth by a 
third than the average queen. Started with less than a hundred 
bees on the Ist of August, and supplemented with about 300 cells 
of ripe brood, the bees were fed sparingly till the middle of 
November with 9 lbs. of sugar. The hive is in a healthy state, and 
I have observed one dead bee only from it. The bees occupy two 
divisions of a Lanarkshire hive, and which has a very small entrance. 
Had these bees an entrance of 3 or 4 inches probably they would 
have been all dead from “ old age,” so we prefer keeping them young 
and alive. 
When floors are unventilated cleansing them should not be 
delayed. Fixed floors should not be tolerated by those having the 
welfare of the bees at heart. January has never failed to give us 
several days for such operations or to feed hives short of stores. 
Where quilts are used they should be examined, and if damp re¬ 
moved, fresh dry ones being substituted. Where dried grass is 
used the task is unnecessary. 
Dysentery results from damp or a draught, and both of these 
hinder breeding, and are direct causes of unprofitable hives. The 
queens of such hives are liable to disease, and although young bees 
are not brought forward eggs are proportionately deposited as if 
they were. 
Two Queens in One Hive. 
The following is an extract from a letter I received about the 
lime the subject was sprung upon the public as “ new.” “ I 
svas much surprised on reading the B.K.R. that ‘ W. B. C. ’ claims 
ihe idea a new one. I sent you some time since specimens of the 
frames I had from you nearly thirty years ago, calling your 
ittention to similar frames being patented in England by-•. 
The hives these frames were from were also intended for two 
queens, and your instructions accompanying them say distinctly 
the side extension is for working two queens in one hive if desired. 
It astonishes us hereabouts that an Editor could so commit himself 
and mislpnrl Hinsfi nf bifl renders who did not kuOW better.’ 
Severe Winters. 
These have not the terror with us for the safety of our bees 
they had long ago, and hives made specially for that purpose were 
