494 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 1, W92. 
temperature where the atmosphere is moderately dry. These plants 
after they become shabby by use in rooms will do for stock, providing 
they are cut down and kept on the dry side until they start again into 
growth. 
Seedling Terns.— A number of these should always be kept on 
hand, for they are invaluable. When once they have been used in rooms 
and become shabby they should be thrown away. Seedlings are raised 
go easily that it is a waste of room and time to recruit plants that have 
been seriously checked. Adiantum cuneatum and Pteris of sorts are 
amongst the most useful. If an easier and readier system is needed 
than gathering and sowing the spores in pots or pans, pieces of turf may 
be laid amongst established plants, and in a short time they will be 
covered with young Ferns. These, if the turves are placed under the 
plants at the present time, will be ready for pricking into pans about 
the end of March, and will make capital stuff for another winter. 
Most Fern spores grow very freely on cocoa-nut fibre refuse, and if a 
thin layer is placed on the stage for plants to stand upon, hundreds of 
seedlings can be taken up and potted. We prefer small bunches to 
single plants because they fill up better at the base and display a much 
more furnished appearance. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Punic Bees. 
Being anxious for further information about these bees and 
what has been said about them, I made a search to find what I could 
about the Tunisian climate. I find that history supports “A 
Rallamshire Bee-keeper,” for we are informed “ The winters 
of Tunis resemble English springs,” and that animals during 
summer become languid. In our own country bees cease to work 
when the temperature rises above 80°. So far, then, as I can 
judge, “ A. EL B. K.’s” statement, that “ their summer (Tunisian) 
is our winter,” is practically true. 
Punics Dying. 
It will be remembered that the correspondent just mentioned 
stated, in answer to a query of mine, that old Punic bees died in 
or near their hives. Whether that is correct as a rule I am not pre¬ 
pared to say, but the phenomenon certainly occurred this year at 
the end of September and the beginning of October, but ceased in a 
week. The hives did not seem to suffer anything in the end ; the 
bees appeared as active as ever, and the last to gather pollen. 
In this they were most assiduous, working late and early, though it 
is remarkable that it disappears when breeding has discontinued. 
Honey Gatherers. 
The successive bad seasons we have had have prevented full 
tests of the pure Punics, but the superiority of the crosses is now 
a foregone conclusion. In one case where the average surplus of 
honey and honeycomb were 50 lbs., a Punic stock that in April was 
reduced, through an accident, to a cupful of bees rallied so well, 
that by September it was as good as the best in the apiary. The 
locality where these high yields were obtained, as they were also 
last year, is between Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond, the only 
place I hear of where sealed supers of Heather honey were ob¬ 
tained. In my own apiary the first crossed Syrians are the best, 
and they were never fed. The Carniolans and crossed Punics followed 
closely, while pure ones varied from good to middling ; but in every 
instance the pure and crossed were the first to enter their supers, and 
if spared to see a good summer in 1893 I shall be surprised if pure 
Punics do not prove superior. 
Average Yield or Honey. 
I am now in possession of returns of honey yields from many 
places. They appear to be much alike, or on an average of 30 lbs. 
surplus from each hive, the highest being from crossed Punics. The 
Yale of Clyde appears to have fared the worst. The smoke is 
perhaps an agent to the low yield, as well as inclement weather.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
Punics Sealing Honey. 
I should be glad to know what is the experience of those who 
have tried first-cross Punic bees as regards the way they seal their 
honey. I purchased a Punic queen that had mated with another 
kind of drone, and found that her bees sealed the honey they col¬ 
lected from the Clover quite yellow, while the sealing of the honey 
collected at the same time by other bees was white. They were 
largely fed with syrup made from white sugar in the autumn, and 
sealed also that yellow.—C., Northumberland. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Dobbie & Co., Rothesay, Scotland.— Chrysanthemums , Roses, Fruit 
'Trees , Dahlias, fyc. 
Hogg & Wood, Coldstream & Duns, Scotland.— Fruit and Ornamental 
Trees , fyc. 
Thomas Laxton, Seed Grower, Bedford.— Novelties and Choice 
Varieties of Seeds for 1893. 
W. Wells, The Earlswood Nurseries, Redhill.— Chrysanthemums. 
3 # *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 
Dressing- Pruned Trees ( R. F.) — No injury whatever will 
result to the Oaks if the sawn ends are made smooth and dressed with 
painter’s knotting, and if a coat of lead coloured paint is also given the cut 
ends will not be conspicuous. In removing large branches it is important to 
make an under-cut with the saw, or the branch in falling may tear the 
stem of the trees. We have seen thousands of branches removed and 
treated in the manner suggested without any injury accruing. 
Propagating Euonymus europaeus {P. D.). —The seeds may be 
separated from the pulp of the berries and sown in light moderately 
rich soil, about half an inch deep, in the autumn or early in the spring. The 
seedlings will make more vigorous plants, and be longer before they 
become fruitful, than plants raised from cuttings of bushes that have 
produced fruit. The cuttings should be of the ripe young shoots, cut 
transversely below a joint, and be planted two-thirds their length in a 
border in the autumn, or soon after the leaves begin falling, making the soil 
firm about them. 
Pungus on Carnations (IF. M. Ml). —The name of the fungus 
that usually attacks Carnations is Helminthosporium echinulatum, and 
it may be this that is infesting your plants, though the specimens you 
send are too dried and fragmentary for determining the point. When 
the fungus is established in the leaves it is most difficult to extirpate. 
The ammoniacal carbonate of copper solution, if applied in time might 
prevent the invader taking possession of the plants. For methods of 
preparation and application see advice under Tomatoes on page 386, 
issue of October 27th of the present year, also page 409, November 3rd. 
Grape Vines for Unheated House (A Constant Reader ).— 
There are no Vines suitable for growing in a house (not heated) to 
supply Grapes during the last three months of the year, as those are the 
worst months to keep Grapes in good condition, and they require absolute 
freedom from the damr of a stagnant atmosphere and frost. It is 
feasible, however, to have Grapes from an unheated house that will keep 
after being cut from the Vines if suspended in a cool, dry room, and 
supply fruit at the time required. If you can do that, namely cut and 
bottle the Grapes early in October, or before they are damaged by cold 
and wet, taking care to have them thoroughly ripe in September, you 
may plant the following :—Black Hamburgh, Madresfield Court, and 
Foster's Seedling, say two of each. It would be better to heat the 
house. 
Celery Insects {Anxious). —You ask for the name of the insect 
“ which Celery growers are infested with.” We presume you mean the 
plants. The maggots in the leaves are caused by a fly, Tephritis onopor- 
dinus, depositing eggs in them. The resulting maggots soon produce 
perfect insects, and two or three broods of flies may be produced in a 
season. The perfect fly is a little more than an eighth of an inch long 
and about three-eighths of an inch across the wings, body yellowish 
brown. The maggots of the last brood change to pupae and rest in the 
ground or in rubbish heaps, and flies emerge from them in the spring. 
Infested Celery refuse should be burned, and it is a good plan to trench 
the ground, burying the top G inches that contain pup® well down to 
prevent the emergence of the insects. Egg deposition may be prevented 
by occasionally spraying the plants with a decoction of quassia mixed in 
a solution of softsoap, stirring in very briskly a wineglassful of 
petroleum to 3 or 4 gallons of the mixture and keeping it stirred during 
application. Maggots in the stems of Celery are caused by a fly, 
Piophila Apii. The worm-eaten stems should be burnt and the ground 
trenched as above advised. 
