866 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ ilay 4, 1893. 
necessity be moved from the beds to be relaid in moist garden soil till the 
foliage has ripened, when they may be again lifted and stored in boxes of 
sand. Manyof the Conifers and evergreens when lifted will be found very 
dry at the roots. Soak the balls in tubs or tanks of water prior to re¬ 
planting. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Excessive Honey Gatheeing. 
This sometimes acts in a detrimental manner early in the year, 
causing hives to be unprofitable. Strong hives will have their 
combs well filled with brood and food for the young, and mean¬ 
while the surplus honey can be stored in supers or extra divisions. 
This cannot be done with weak colonies, as all the bees are required 
to attend to the internal economy of the brood nest, and to the 
filling and sealing of the rest of the combs with honey necessary 
for breeding purposes. This prevents the extension of the brood 
chamber, almost putting an entire stop to the queen depositing 
eggs, consequently both queen and bees become crowded out, and 
the hive becomes unprofitable. 
Between the extremes of having too little or too much honey 
the bee-keeper must act judiciously, as the one is as great a fault 
as the other when the remedy is neglected. In the one case the 
bees must be fed ; in the other, honey-gorged combs should be 
removed, and full sheets of foundation supplied. With storifying 
hives, supplying an extra storey is an effective and simple remedy ; 
but in no case should it be given without foundation, or drone 
combs will be built. 
Drone Come. 
Prime swarms, especially those having effete queens, are very 
liable to make* a superabundance of drone comb, which also 
militates against profit. This should be watched and guarded 
against. The best remedy is to utilise nuclei with a youthful and 
fertile queen, which the clever bee-keeper will be sure to have in 
plenty early in the season to supersede aged queens. Queens are 
at their best when they at first begin laying, when there are suffi¬ 
cient bees to care for the eggs and larvas, and they continue to be 
good for ten months or so after. Queens just a little before 
becoming useless show a remarkable degree of fecundity for a brief 
period. I do not argue that two-year-old queens are unprofitable, 
but place a number of queens in their first year and the same 
number of two and three-year-old ones side by side in equal 
condition, they will at an early time in the spring make it obvious 
to the merest tyro that the youthful queens are not only the most 
advanced, but that they are free from casualties that more aged 
queens are subject to, to the loss and dismay of the bee-keeper. 
Bees and the Weather. 
All the bee-keeper’s hopes hang on fine weather, with a pro¬ 
fusion of flowers, sunshine, and heat, with that amount of moisture 
that makes the earth fruitful and the atmosphere salubrious. At 
this period when bees are well supplied with stores and the weather 
is rather cold they remain within doors, there is no loss of bees, 
consequently the hives become quickly crowded with young ones, 
and the bees are all in the best of condition at the proper time to 
gather honey from the profusion of flowers. It is seldom that the 
honey season from any particular flower lasts longer than two 
weeks, and this is the reason that the largest yields of honey have 
been in seasons when the fine snaps of weather were fine but brief, 
and always after copious soft rains with heat. Heather blossom 
suffers greatly from excessive rainfalls. It is the evaporated moisture 
from the hills that sustains Heather, and makes it so rich in honey. 
These remarks may appear to some to be superfluous, but the 
fact is^ many people are unaware that a long continuance of sun¬ 
shine is inimical to the secretion of honey, far more so than a 
similar period of dull weather previous to the opening of the 
honeyed flowers. Beginners should study these things, and be able 
to understand bees and bee-keeping. When these items are 
understood and mastered bee-keeping becomes an easy matter and 
perplexity disappears.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
Early Swarms of Bees. 
With reference to this subject on page 346 it may interest bee¬ 
keepers to know that Mr. Gibbon, Seaford Grange, Pershore, had 
a swarm on the 20th April. I heard of several others in the locality 
about the same time, but did not obtain the exact dates. Reference 
IS made in the “ Worcester Journal ” of April 22nd, to many early 
swarms in various districts. I can only call to mind one swarm in 
April before, and that would be forty years ago.— J. Hiam. 
•^•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. 
Tea Tree (TF. B. H.'). —This is Lycium europseum, and belongs to 
the natural order of Nightshades (Solanaceae), and to the Linnaaan 
order of Pentandria. 
Tungl In Mushroom Beds (T, R .").—Your specimens arrived too 
late to have a thorough examination to enable us to give a full reply 
in this week’s issue, but the matter shall be dealt with in an early 
number. 
Tomatoes Diseased (A. K. Sons'). —The fruit sent is attacked 
by the destructive disease Cladosporium lycopersici, which causes the 
decay of the Tomatoes. An illustration and description of the fungus, 
also a method of eradication, were published in the Journal of Borti- 
culture for May 19th, 1892, to which you may refer with advantage. 
Beeches Dying [U. F. C .).—If the trees are not too far gone, a 
top-dressing of 9 inches of good soil would probably arrest decay, 
induce fresh growth, and in time render them healthy flourishing trees 
again. This is all that can be said without actual inspection. A 
practical man after examining the trees might be able to give useful 
advice. 
Vine Deaves Perforated (TF. B.). —The large, thick-textured, 
leathery Vine leaf has been eaten or perforated in its younger state by 
some insect, the appearance being that produced by the larva of the 
Apricot Moth (Tortrix angustiorana), which is also sometimes called the 
Vine Moth, as it occasionally finds its way into vineries and deposits 
its eggs on Vines, generally when they are starting into growth or 
later in the points of the shoots or bunches, where it spins a web and 
lives on the berries. There is nothing on the leaf and the damage is 
not recent, as the edges of the wound or perforation are healed over. 
It is hardly necessary to say—keep a keen eye on the Vines, especially 
the bunches. 
White Worms In Manure (6^. IF. C. R .).—The “white worms” 
belong to the same order (Oligocheeta) as the earthworm—that is, they 
are true worms (Annelida). The eelworms belong to Nematelmia, and 
are not included in the Annelida, but with tapeworms in the Scolecida. 
“ White worms ” are often very abundant in partially decayed manure, 
especially that containing much vegetable matter, such as leaves, grass, 
vegetable refuse, hay, and straw, undergoing decomposition, and in 
soddened, sour soils. They chiefly subsist on dead or decaying vegetable 
matter, but they are supposed to injure the roots of plants by sucking 
the root-hairs, and in that way produce an unhealthy growth in the 
plants. Clover sickness, disease in Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Vegetable 
Marrows have been attributed to “ white worms ” without sufficient 
reason ; our observations tend to prove them mere scavengers, and not 
subsistent on living tissues, or only on those unhealthy and undergoing 
incipient decomposition. They soon die in drought, and quicklime 
destroys them. 
Basketing- Orcblds (A. L. M.). —The following note, written by 
one who is an expert in the culture of Orchids, will answer your 
question :—The chief reason for using baskets for many Orchids is to 
provide those plants which have roots inclined to ramify beyond the 
limits of a pot, or are in need of more light and air and moisture, with 
a suitable medium for keeping them in a healthy state, besides affording 
the roots appropriate material to cling to, as well as for those of a 
pendant growth, such as Dendrobium Wardianum, and for suspending 
from the roof, where their beauty is better seen. There are some 
Orchids which refuse to grow in a pot or pan, but will thrive in a 
basket or upon a block. Cattleya citrina is one of these ; Cattleya. 
Acklandise and Sophronitis grandiflora are much healthier so treated _ 
Other examples might be named, but where there are several plants 
of a genus it will be safest to start the plants under three different 
ways—by placing some in pots, others in baskets or on blocks. 
Experience will in time tell which presents the mo^t suitable condition 
for their health. The operation of basketing imported plants is not 
more difficult than that of potting, because being already disentangled, 
and more or less injured in consequence, the object is to put the plants 
in the right way for recovery ; therefore use reasonably small baskets, 
and fix the plants high in the centre of it, using two-thirds sphagnum 
* to one of peat, placed carefully and rather firm round its base, adding 
