112 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 4, 1802. 
to solve a greater mystery in the use of fertile workers. Mr. 
Woodbury, as well as myself, observed eggs in hives having 
unfertilised queens, and we supposed were laid by them prior 
to fertilisation ; and I recorded a case a few years ago of a 
queen filling up the hive with drone brood, then after the spring 
advanced reversed the order of things, and filled it with a 
worker brood. From what the Punics have shown I am in the 
belief that we have both been in error. 
Being anxious on the 17th of July about my nuclei, I 
examined them, and No. 1 is what several others’ condition 
were ; further than there were many eggs in others, the first one 
had only seven, six being in elaborately built queen cells, a 
sign we are apt to take as the queen is non est. But here she was, 
where did the eggs come from? Had the queen been a laying 
one and caged, theorists would have said the bees transferred 
them. The practical bee-keeper does not believe in that, nor 
does he now believe the queen lays eggs prior to fertilisation, 
but are entirely due to fertile workers. What we have previously 
looked upon as pests may be as essential as either drone or 
queen, particularly to bees natives of warm countries. As I 
have repeatedly proven queens mate at three months old or more, 
and that drones do not go with swarms. The fertile workers 
are produced according to Nature’s laws to produce drones, and 
Nature never errs. 
But why were these drones produced in royal cells and fed 
with queen’s food ? Perhaps to raise to greater perfection, so that 
the bees would become more powerful as an antidote to breeding. 
As it stands, it is a great question for naturalists, as it has been a 
great discovery to the bee-keeper. I am glad to say that one or 
more of these queens are now laying eggs that will produce 
workers, and that queens have been introduced successfully where 
fertile workers are—they do not attempt to kill them. 
Punics in Dumfriesshire. 
A rather queer affair has taken place in an apiary at Hightae, 
Dumfriesshire. A hive of common crosses in spring is now 
occupied wholly with pure Punic bees. The proprietor could not 
understand the presence of a curious black bee he had neither 
seen nor heard of. It appears to me a small stray swarm, or 
perhaps a queen may have entered the hive from a distance, and 
meeting a drone of its own species has become the mother of the 
strangers. As there are no bees near the place of the Punic 
race, will “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper ” say if he has sent any 
queens near Lockerbie or Lochmaben ? 
Focussing Tiieir Site. 
When bees leave their hive to work in the fields, they always 
before leaving the alighting board draw their fore legs over their 
antennse, or perhaps through the. hook of their fore legs. I have 
observed this for many years, but failed to understand why. Mr. 
D. Boswell, before alluded to, said his opinion was that it was 
focussing their position, enabling them to return to the very spot 
from whence they left, illustrated by the bees returning to the 
very spot, even although the hive be removed. This theory 
has a considerable amount of plausibility, because queens leaving 
the hive for mating do the same, but when swarming neither bees 
nor the queen do it, hence the reason queens do not return to their 
hive unless when attracted to it by the sound or smell, and the 
more youthful bees by following the crowd only. 
Bees return accurately to the spot they left if there has been 
no alteration of the surroundings, but if a hive similar to their 
own be situated at the end of a row the bees of the outside row 
will fly to it, the second one in the row to what was the outside 
one, and if coloured hives have been used and reversed the bees 
will cross to each other’s hives. These facts may seem to some to 
upset the theory ; but it does not, because the eyes and the 
antennse work together by some as yet hidden law, besides there 
is that mysterious electrical power in the bee which is a factor in 
its guide of flight, but which also remains to us a mystery. 
The many and different formed eyes also have their uses, both 
in their flight and when at rest, or when in the bosom of a flower 
robbing it of its sweets, the simple eyes on the crown of its head 
enable it to see danger, and so avoid its enemies.— A Lanark¬ 
shire Bee-keeper. 
% C A11 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 
Temperature of Stove (./. C.'). — The night temperature of 
a stove in the summer months should be 70°, falling to 65° in 
the morning, or even 60° occasionally. In the daytime the tempe¬ 
rature should be kept at 70° to 75° by artificial, means, on cloudy 
days but with clear intervals keep at 80°, and in fine weather the 
temperature through the day should be 85° or 90°, closing sufficiently 
early each day to raise it to 90° or 95°, or a little more with plenty 
of moisture. The propagating house must have a steady temperature 
of 70° to 75° by artificial means, and in hot weather it will probably 
be 80° to 85°, the shade making the difference between the tempera¬ 
ture in that and the ordinary stove. 
The Dymond Peach (G. 77.).—As you sent a specimen of the 
growth with leaves, also described the flowers as “ large,” we have been 
able to identify the variety. In the absence of such aids the Peaches can 
seldom be named with certainty. Fruits differ in appearance on the 
same tree according to the position they occupy. Not long ago we 
heard a few words exchanged at a show as follows “ Good morning, 
Mr. Winner. You were first the other day, but both the dishe 3 of 
Peaches came off the same tree, didn’t they ?” “ Well,” was the reply, 
“ I really couldn’t say. The foreman helped in the dishing, and might 
have made a mistake. They were not wrongly named, were they?” 
There was a curious twinkle of the eye, for the Peaches were not named 
at all, and that is how the “ foreman ” dished the judges. The Dymond 
Peach is a very useful variety, being more hardy than many, also good 
in size, colour, and quality. It was raised in the neighbourhood of 
Exeter. 
Bedding- Pelargoniums Bying-ofif (G. J. B .).— The Zonal 
Pelargonium stems contain no trace of any fungi, except such as are 
found on decayed vegetable matter. The small callosities on the stem 
and at the joints below ground may have been produced by nematoid 
worms, which may exist in the soil. The dying-off is not uncommon, 
especially where the ground has been occupied with the same class of 
plants several years consecutively. In Pelargoniums, John Gibbons and 
the strong growers generally are more liable to go off than the compact 
varieties, and it is most common with “ leggy ” plants that have a 
considerable portion of the stem buried to render them dwarf, and where 
water rests about the stem. A good dressing of lime, say half a bushel 
per rod (30£ square yards), applied to the beds in autumn and pointed in 
might do good ; but wood ashes would be more useful against eelworms, 
through supplying sulphates and lime, and they need not be applied 
until the time of preparing the beds for planting. 
lady Downe’s Grapes Scalded (Nemo). —The cause is moisture 
rapidly evaporated from the berries by the sudden drying of the 
atmosphere consequent on throwing the house open after it has been 
kept close and moisture has been deposited on the berries, or it may be 
caused by the sun heating the atmosphere, and the moisture being so 
much warmer than the berries, which do not heat as quickly as- 
atmospheric air, is condensed by them, and thus causing injury. The 
remedy is free ventilation and a little air constantly circulating, so as to 
prevent the deposition of moisture on the Grapes. A gentle warmth in 
the pipes, a little ventilation at night, increased early in the morning 
and admitted freely through the day, is a certain preventive of scalding. 
Keeping the house closed until 9 a.m. is ample cause of the Grapes 
