364 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 20, 1892. 
are introduced into brisk bottom beat. Very early supplies can only 
be obtained by this means. 
Tuberoses.— Tubers potted late and grown outside during the 
summer and lately sheltered in a cool house will be useful if brought 
into flower. These, as a rule, are never so good as those that are brought 
into flower earlier in the year. The flowers are, however, highly appre¬ 
ciated. They will come into flower quickly in a temperature of 55°. 
After flowering the plants may be thrown away. 
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APIARIAN NOTES. 
Preparing for Winter. 
It should be borne in mind that the less honey bees require 
to consume during the winter the more healthy will the colony 
be. The test way to secure this is to prepare now and never 
more disturb the bees until the spring is advanced. One 
manipulation at the wrong time is sufficient to insure the 
destruction of the best hive. On no pretext whatever should 
cold air be admitted to the hive from above, and the more cosy 
they are kept the better. 
Meadow hay forms the best protection to hives both on the 
sides and the top ; a piece of felt should cover the hay on sides 
and a watertight roof of some sort raised a little from the hay 
with ample ventilation at the eaves. This covering is perhaps 
not quite so neat-looking as wood, and loose hay never looks well 
in an otherwise well kept garden. 
Outside cases are sometimes heavy to lift, and always occupy 
the same space whether tenanted or not. A good substitute, and 
much better in most respects, are four panels or shutters the 
full height of hive and two tiers or supers. Perhaps the cheapest 
and most simple plan of fastening these together is by brass 
screws, two in each side. The wood should not be more than 
half an inch for the uprights and three-eighths for the bars. 
That size is necessary to cover handles and fastenings. 
This makes a neat and cheap cover which anyone can make, 
and is a thorough protection against wind and water. If 
desirable, the space between the bars may be filled with hay, or 
a piece of felt may be tacked on. Of course an entrance corre¬ 
sponding with entrance to hive must be left, and the roof may 
be from a sheet of iron or zinc to an expensive and as orna¬ 
mental a roof as the bee-keeper may desire. This form of pro¬ 
tection is the only one of double casing that prevents decay in 
hives. 
Wintering Bees. 
On the 9th October the barometer rose in twelve hours from 
28 20 to 29'40. Some flowers that had been in bud for weeks 
opened on that day, although the temperature was only 45°. We 
have now had a week of improved weather, although not a day has 
passed without rain. It has, however, been fair enough for farmers 
to proceed with harvest operations, which is late. On the 11th we 
had 7° of frost, which cut down all tender flowers. 
As the weather previous to that had been so wet and stormy, 
which prevented hive manipulation, I took the advantage of the 
last-mentioned date to remove supers and feed those in want. As 
none of the bees hatched from the middle of August and onwards 
had evidently never flown. All the hives were very strong in bees, 
none apparently having been lost at the Heather. They, with the 
feeding and disturbance, had an airing, and, in all my experience, I 
never witnessed bees in the same state during the autumn, and never 
worse during any winter. Their evacuations covered everything 
thickly in the apiary. Thousands of bees were falling to the ground, 
and for a time were unable to fly. The sun shining revived them, 
and the greater number found their way back to their hives, 
although many were lost, but there are still plenty and to spare, 
never having had so strong hives at this season. 
There has been more frost, storms, and rough weather since 
May than was in any of the winters between 1847 and 1849. The 
present year has afforded some useful lessons. Hives at the 
Heather, equal weight as some at home, consumed all their stores, 
while the latter were only several pounds down. The cause of this 
was the lower temperature the bees had to contend with at the 
Heather, consequently more food was consumed to keep up the 
necessary heat for their healthy maintenance. But it was evident 
that two months’confinement of young bees after being hatched 
was inimical to their welfare. Doubtless had the temperature been 
higher the long confinement would not have injured them to the 
same extent. 
The experience is not new, but the proof is valuable, supporting 
my previous experience and teachings how to prepare bees for the 
winter by giving them an ample sized hive, single walled, well 
covered with non-conducting material, ventilating floor, and small 
entrance, 1 inch being wide enough for the strongest hive. With 
such hives so prepared there will never be any dead bees found on 
the floor during the winter. Reverse matters. Crowd the bees on 
little space, have a solid floor, hive double walled, and a wide 
doorway, and the latter will be often full of dead bees, not 
unfrequently 1 inch deep of them on the whole part of the floor.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Dammann & Co., Naples, Italy. — Vegetable and Flower Seeds-, 
Plants, Sfc. 
P. J. Looymans& Zouen, Oudenbosch, Holland.— Shrubs, Ornamental 
Trees , and Roses. 
T. Rivers & Son, Sawbridgeworth.— Fruit Trees and Roses. 
Frank Cant, Braiswick Nursery, Colchester.— Roses. 
%*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 
anavoidably. 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 
Stove Climbers (J . A/.).—Twelve good stove climbers are the 
following. If half the number only are required select the first six— 
Stephanotis floribunda, Allamanda Hendersonii, Dipladenia Brearleyana, 
Clerodendron Balfourianum, Bougainvillea glabra, Gloriosa superba, 
Dipladenia amabilis, D. boliviensis to be grown at the coolest end of 
the house, Cissus discolor, Ipomoea Leaii, Poivrea coccinea, or more 
commonly called Combretum purpureum, and Aristolochia elegans. 
Cypripedium Insigne (A. A/.)—We should consider a plant well 
flowered in a 10-inch pot if it had thirty good blooms. We have, how¬ 
ever, seen plants in large pans with over one hundred blooms. A plant 
is well bloomed when it produces one bloom of large size for each fully 
developed growth ; for instance, if a plant in the pot you name had 
only twenty fully developed growths and bore the same number of 
flowers, we should term it a well-flowered plant. 
Maggot Infesting Palm and Grevlllea Roots (AT. E. A/.).— 
This is the grub or larva in an early stage of one of the destructive 
weevils of the genus Otiorhynchus, probably 0. tenebricosus. Like its 
brethren, it lurks at the roots of a number of plants growing on borders or 
in pots, feeding from autumn till spring. Where it occurs the roots need 
a thorough examination. Dressing them with lime or soot has been found 
successful. The soil may also be watered with hellebore tea, which is 
fatal to them, also lemon oil, and diluted carbolic acid has been tried ; but 
the latter needs caution. They defy many of the insect killers. During 
the summer the beetles appear on the branches of fruit trees at dusk, 
and may be shaken off into trays or cloths. Boasting the soil, then 
moistening it prior to use, is an excellent preventive, catching the 
weevils a better. The “ webs ” have nothing to do with the grubs, but 
are the mycelia of a fungus. 
Gathering Apples for Keeping QF. S.~). —Apples for keeping 
should never be gathered before they part readily from the trees, for 
when they are immature there is great danger of their shrivelling, 
even when kept in a cool and dark room somewhat moist. Except in 
warm and early seasons the following are not fit to gather at the end of 
September, but require more time. Dessert: King of the Pippins, 
Cox’s Orange Pippin, Blenheim Orange, Gascoigne’s Scarlet, Wyken 
Pippin, and Baumann’s Reinette. Kitchen : Small’s Admirable, Queen 
Caroline, Lord Derby, Golden Noble, Bismarck, Lane’s Prince Albert, 
and Bramley’s Seedling. The following are generally fit to gather at 
the period you require them, and keep some little time. Dessert: Duchess 
of Oldenburg, Kerry Pippin, Worcester Pearmain, and Lady Sudeley. 
Kitchen : Lord Grosvenor, New Hawthornden, Councillor (Yorkshire 
Beauty), Ecklinville Seedling, The Queen, Warner’s King, and Seaton 
House. 
