August 18, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
167 
form another bud at the extremity of the shoot, which will be 
surrounded by flower buds instead of growth. Directly the flower buds 
have been secured top-dress the plants with a compost of rich material. 
If root action is healthy the plants will soon take possession of it, and 
the aim must be to keep the roots active until the last, if the finest of 
blooms are to be secured. This is readily accomplished once the roots 
are on the surface by placing a little of some suitable artificial manure 
on at intervals of a fortnight. Weak stimulants may be given every 
time the plants need water, but strong doses must be carefully avoided, 
or more harm than good will result. It often happens that the roots 
are burnt at this stage by overfeeding. It is a good plan to place a bag 
of soot in the tank from which water is daily used. An additional 
stimulant may be made by placing 1 lb. of nitrate of soda and 2 lbs. of 
superphosphate in a tank containing 40 gallons of water. This may be 
further mixed with water and given twice a week. Liquid from the 
farmyard in a weak state may also be given as a substitute occasionally. 
Watch for aphides, and if they show in the points destroy them at once 
by the aid of tobacco powder. Keep the growths well tied to their 
stakes for fear of strong winds breaking them. Syringe the plants 
freely twice daily when bright. Those grown as bushes for cutting 
should be liberally supplied with stimulants. Where a number of fair 
blooms are preferred to a greater number of smaller ones the crown 
buds in each case should be selected. Tops that have been rooted 
into 3 and 4-inch pots should be stood in an open sunny position. 
Calceolarias. —Plants that are large enough for 2-inch pots should 
be placed into them at once. Grow them in frames with a north aspect 
where they can be kept cool and moist. Prick seedlings iDto pans and 
boxes and grow them under the same conditions. Watch for slugs, 
which are very troublesome to these plants. 
Carnations. —Plants of Souvenir de la Malmaison that have done 
flowering may be turned out of their pots into light soil, and the growths 
layered. This is best done by laying the plants on their sides. If 
kept somewhat moist afterwards the layers will soon form roots, when 
they may be taken off and potted singly. Plants that are healthy and 
have flowered in 6-inch pots may be placed into 8-inch. Use for these 
three parts of good fibry loam, one part of leaf soil, one-seventh of 
decayed manure, and a liberal quantity of sand. Water the plants care¬ 
fully until they are rooting freely in the new soil, but on no account allow 
them to become dust dry. Until the approach of frost they are better 
outside on a bed of ashes than under glass. When kept under glass 
they are liable to be attacked by red spider. 
Mignonette. —Be careful that pyramids and standards that are 
growing freely do not root through the base into the ashes upon which 
they are standing. If allowed to root through freely the plants are 
checked when removed. Take care that they do not become dry ; 
water them occasionally with soot water in a clear state. Give arti¬ 
ficial manure occasionally to the surface of the soil. Remove all 
flowers as they appear, and keep the growths tied to the trellis upon 
which they are trained. Give the plants abundance of air. Thin out 
plants that have been sown in 6-inch pots ; seven or eight plants in 
each will be ample. Another good batch may be sown, and another 
early in September for spring flowering. These when sown should be 
placed in cold frames, shading with a mat until the seed has germinated. 
Roman Hyacinths. — The earliest batches of these should be 
potted without delay ; place five bulbs in each 5-inch pot. If the soil 
is in an intermediate state for moisture do not give any water, but 
plunge them in ashes at once before the soil becomes dry. It is a good 
plan to place them behind a north wall at this season of the year, and to 
place over the pots an extra covering of ashes. Successional batches 
may be potted at intervals of three weeks or a month until the end of 
October. 
Freeslas. —Imported tubers may be potted at once. These do well 
in 4-inch pots, the tubers being placed thickly together in sandy, 
moderately rich soil. If possible place them in a frame where the pots 
can be covered beneath 1 inch of cocoa-nut fibre refuse, and shaded by 
the aid of mats until they start into growth. Those that have been 
resting outside may be turned out and spread out to dry if they 
are not in that condition. These can be potted in batches as may be 
required. 
Kalosanthes. —Plants that have flowered may be cut close back 
and allowed to break into growth. Any shoots that have failed to 
flower may be placed singly into small pots, or a number together in 
5 or 6-inch pots. These if rooted without forcing them into growth, 
and then freely exposed to the sun, will flower another year. If an 
increase of stock is needed the stems may be cut into lengths ; these 
make capital plants, as they branch freely, but need to be grown for two 
seasons before they are in a condition to flower. Plants that were cut 
back last year must be freely exposed to sun and air to ripen and harden 
them before they are housed for the winter. 
I>lllum candldum. —Where these are appreciated in pots no time 
should be lost in potting imported bulbs. These, if of the largest size, 
should be placed into 7-inch pots, covering the bulbs with about 
2 inches of soil. Plunge the pots beneath 2 inches of cocoa-nut fibre 
refuse until they grow through, when the plunging material may be 
removed and the plants watered. Home-grown bulbs may be lifted as 
soon as the flowers fade if needed for potting. Whether home-grown or 
imported they can be stood outside until the approach of frost if frame 
room cannot be spared for them, but as a rule they do not start so freely 
into growth. 
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im BEE-KEEPER.^ 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Tiie Honey Season. 
For miles round about here the honey yield is poor ; very few 
finished supers have been secured. Most hives at the present time 
are in a much better condition than they were at the same time in 
1891. Prime swarms are, as a rule, weighty, and altogether at 
variance with the evidence of that sage who says, “ No honey can 
be got from prime swarms,” and who further says he is the guiding 
star to Scotch bee-keepers. The last is, perhaps, not verbatim, but 
is in meaning the same. 
Swarming. 
As there are many erroneous opinions amongst bee-keepers on 
this subject, and even amongst some who assume to be authorities, 
it is perhaps an opportune time to help them a little by stating a 
few facts about it. Swarming takes place under different circum¬ 
stances ; in early spring by an effete or diseased queen or a drone 
breeder, or it may be through incipient foul brood. Premature 
swarms leave hives when the queen has become exhausted and 
young ones are raised to supersede her. These swarms should be 
returned, and unless the weather is favourable, and there are plenty 
of drones, should be joined to another hive. Proper swarms leave 
the hive when it becomes crowded and all the cells are filled with 
honey, eggs, and larvm ; the young bees by an unexplainable 
instinct having for about a week previously built many royal cells 
around eggs destined to become mothers. These are matured in 
sixteen days from the laying of the egg, and if the weather is 
favourable the first swarm would issue about eight days after their 
commencement, but not unfrequeDtly the weather is untoward, and 
swarming is delayed till some of them are hatched, when it is a 
question whether the old or young queens will be saved, sometimes 
the one and sometimes the other. Although sixteen days is the 
allotted time, the bees seal the cells anew after they have protruded 
their tongues and been fed, and will keep them prisoners for 
several weeks. 
The Sealing of the Royal Cells 
is attached to the side walls by a gummy adhesiveness, which 
until the sixteenth day is tough, and like one and the same ; but 
after that time it loses its adhesiveness and becomes brittle, 
inclining to leave the side walls, which the slightest pressure from 
within forces open and the queen escapes. The sealing appears to 
be a spun fabric, slightly covered with wax and pollen. 
Signs of Swarming. 
Only practical bee-keepers can determine the time a hive is 
likely to swarm by external appearances. Generally, the bees take 
rallying flights a day or two beforehand, but the most certain 
indications are the almost entire cessation from work, and the bees 
filling themselves with honey from the stocks’ stores. They do 
this in relays, and the gorged bees can be recognised on the alighting 
board. After this they begin to fly as if to rally, and then the 
well-known swarming sound, familiar to the bee-keeper’s ear, is 
heard. If the time is favourable the bees will leave, and even 
those that were out foraging will join the swarm after it has been 
hived. The bees of the swarm and the stock will remain separate, 
even although their positions are changed, unless the latter is 
removed a long way distant or to witbin doors. It will be 
observed, then, that swarming is premeditated days before the 
event, and the bees are not urged on to swarm by the loud hum of 
the drones or of bees either. Previous to, and at swarming, drones 
remain in the stock hive more than at any other time, and few of 
them go with the swarm. The first swarm issues because of the 
presence of queen cells containing young princesses. 
After Swarms. 
These issue on the same principle. At this time, with so many 
royal cells to guard, the swarming fever runs high. Each detach¬ 
ment, had they bees, would form a nucleus, but this would be 
ruinous, so many of the young princesses are destroyed, some by 
the bees and some by a queen. The queens still in the cell are 
often imprisoned for several weeks, as the bees destroy them 
reluctantly, and if there are bees with one hatched queen and all 
the others in their cells, a swarm will issue even although 
separated by a queen excluder. 
To preserve young queens it is necessary to have them caged 
over queen excluder zinc in an otherwise queenless hive. The 
reluctance of bees to destroy royal cells shows how faulty the 
method is of returning an after swarm so long as a queen cell 
