448 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 1, 1893. 
18 done, as it will be next to impossible to properly moisten them after¬ 
wards. Odd corners should hare a liberal dressing of either decayed 
manure, thoroughly decomposed vegetable refuse, including lawn grass 
and leaves, or leaf soil forked-in. 
In soils thus lightened and enriched quite a variety of greenhouse 
plants might be planted with the best results. Plants of ilbutilons. 
Zonal Pelargoniums, Plumbago capensis. Heliotropes, Fuchsias, fibrous 
and tuberous-rooted Begonias, with Nicotiana, herbaceous Lobelias, 
Celosias, Hedychiums, Brjthrinas, Lilium auratum, Gannas, Palms, 
variegated Maize, Marguerites, and such like mixed and arranged 
according to their respective heights and habits of growth, and 
given the benefit of a fairly rich root run, would soon be effective, 
remaining so to the end of the season. Plants being scarce, quite large 
old Zonal Pelargoniums may be used for filling beds, but they need to 
be planted in a sloping direction, and kept evenly spread out and pegged 
down. All large as well as small plants should be in a thoroughly 
moist state at the roots when turned, and where the soil is somewhat 
sour and unoccupied with roots much of this ought to be forked away 
prior to planting. Make the fresh soil somewhat firm about them, and 
plant deep enough to admit of a basin being formed for holding water 
about each stem. For the first three weeks or more they must be kept 
well supplied with water, as should the old ball of soil and roots once 
become dust-dry before strong fresh roots have spread into the new soil 
there will be no remoistening it, and the plants will do badly accord¬ 
ingly. If Iresines, Coleuses, Alternantheras, and such like very tender 
plants are planted on or about June 10th, that will be quite early 
enough for very many places. 
Annuals.— Those sown in the open did not germinate well when 
they were expected to, but many have started since the change in the 
weather. As a rule, the majority are grown far too thickly. When each 
plant receives good room all branch strongly and form finer fiowers, and 
give a much longer succession accordingly. Especially ought Poppies 
to be freely thinned out. Left as thickly as they come up the display 
will be very fleeting indeed. Thin out the larger Japanese and French 
varieties to about 1 foot asunder, and remove the seed pods as fast as 
they form, thereby considerably prolonging the display. The popular 
Shirley Poppies should be thinned to about 9 inches apart, another 
3 inches being none too much on good soils. Cut the flowers freely for 
vases when quite young, and gather what seed pods form. If more seed 
is sown on moist ground at once a good autumn display will most pro¬ 
bably be had. Mignonette again ought to have plenty of room. Isolated 
plants always give much the finest and the longest succession of flower 
spikes ; therefore thin to about 1 foot apart. 
Candytufts, Bschscholtzias, Love-lies-bleeding, Nasturtiums, Corn¬ 
flowers, Marigolds, Chrysanthemums, Convolvuluses, all branch or 
spread considerably if given good room, and should be thinned to not 
less than 10 inches asunder, while if they are sown in patches reduce 
the number of plants to five or six in each. Clarkias, Coreopsis, 
Godetias, Linaria, Malope, Nemophila, Virginia Stock, and Branthe- 
mums as a rule do not spread greatly, and may therefore be left rather 
more thickly in the lines or patches. If any transplanting is done let 
it be as much as possible with a trowel, outside plants being moved 
with a little ball of soil about the roots, taken straight to where they 
are to be replanted, and watered directly they are in their fresh quarters. 
Ornamental Grasses ought certainly to be freely thinned out, and these 
may also be transplanted. Sunflowers should be thinned out according 
to the habit of the varieties. Those which naturally grow tall should be 
thinned to about 3 feet apart, and they will then branch strongly and 
flower grandly. The miniature variety may be left much closer together, 
these being planted or thinned to about 1 foot apart. 
Sweet Peas.— These have come up thickly, and were left to grow 
unthinned, the display is not likely to last long. In most cases it is 
now too late to thin out, and more seed should be sown at once if flowers 
are wanted late in the summer or autumn. When grown thinly, or not 
less than 4 inches apart in the rows, and better still if planted out from 
pots in patches of about five plants and well isolated, ordinary Pea 
sticks being placed to the plants in each case, they grow and branch 
vigorously. Being watered freely in hot dry weather, and the bulk of 
the flowers cut or the seed pods removed frequently, these well-treated 
Peas will usually continue to produce fine flowers till frost intervene. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Painting Hives. 
A CORRESPONDENT asks if there is any objection to painting 
hives inside. Coal tar is better adapted for the inside of hives than 
ordinary oil paints. It (or creosote) penetrates the pores of the 
wood without closing them as oil paints do, and evaporation through 
the walls of the hive is desirable for the health and preservation of 
bees. Paipting the inside of hives and solid floors would be 
destructive to bees during winter. There is nothing else so fatal to 
bees as damp floors. For the purpose of preserving my double- 
cased hives from decay I was compelled to tar them inside, and it 
did no injury whatever to the bees. The most serviceable and 
economical hives are single-cased ones, protected outside by some 
non-conducting material that allows the perspiration to pass off. 
No hive should have its walls thicker than five-eighths of an inch, 
and yellow pine is the best material to use in making them. 
Sealed Covers or Absorbents. 
These have been engaging the minds of bee-keepers of thus 
country and America. Tarred paper was recommended by one 
“ expert,” but proved, as I anticipated, a failure. It is true some 
cases of success are reported, but the majority are pronounced 
failures. Neither sealed covers nor absorbents are proper materials 
to use. Non-conducting but porous material, as stated above, will 
defy the harshest winter ever experienced in this country. A Hull 
lady bee-keeper, but still a novice, acted wisely in pricking holes 
in the enamelled cover of a hive constructed according to the 
wisdom of our modern sages and bee-keepers. 
Two Queens in One Hive. 
Much nonsense has been written in connection with this ancient 
practice—as queenless and eggless hives raising queens, shifting 
eggs from one cell to another, and queens depositing eggs in royal 
cells. The case that occurred in my apiary (July, 1892) was in 
itself sufficient without further evidence (even if there had been 
no other) to prove that there is design in fertile workers being 
in the hive with an unfertilised queen. We have repeatedly 
had queens twelve weeks old before they mated. This gives 
ample time for the progeny of fertile workers to be fully matured 
and fit for mating should there be no other drones in the neigh¬ 
bourhood. This wise provision of Nature has mystified bee¬ 
keepers and encouraged error to a great extent, but has within our 
knowledge in not a few cases saved the colony, whose fate would 
otherwise have been doomed. 
Feeding and Supering. 
Now is the time to be watchful that stocks do not suffer by 
egg-eating and brocd drawing. Two ozs. to 4 ozs. of dissolved 
sugar every night during the barren honey season will keep things 
straight, and tin scoops are the best feeders. Supers -should now 
be put on all hives, whether intended as swarmers or non-- 
swarmers. 
Sparrows and Bees. 
Sparrows are fond of the immature grubs of drones. Owing to 
this taste and the sparrow’s tameness I was deprived of a fine 
specimen of a drone reared in a queen cell. When opening some 
cells I observed a peculiar formation on one of the drones, being 
finer in appearance, and showing signs of alteration of structure 
of the legs. I laid it down unprotected until I had adjusted the 
hive, but the " scoundrel sparrow ” swallowed him, and so I wa.s 
deprived of making an interesting examination.— A Lanarkshire 
Bee-keeper. 
•^•All correspondence should be directed either to “ Thb 
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. 
Oorrespondents 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. 
Tomato Disease (^E. IT. 11 .').—The fragment of leaf sent is wholly 
insufficient. The paper had deprived it of moisture, and the letter 
stamp smashed the tissue into fragments. If you will send one or two 
entire leaves and the points of any affected shoots in a small box, to 
reach us on Saturday if possible, they will be subjected to careful 
examination. 
Royal Horticultural Society’s Meetings (J. A .).—Meetings 
will be held on June 6tb and 20th; July 11th (at Chiswick), and 25th; 
August 8th and 29th, the last-named in connection with the great 
show in the Agricultural Hall, Islington. Those dates will perhaps be 
