408 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 3, 1892. 
cleared of earth these should be surrounded by some fresh fine dry 
soil, but those not so cleared need none of the latter. Tuberous Bego¬ 
nias keep admirably in a dry, warm cellar, and failing this convenience 
store them in a shed or cool room, taking care to provide a sufficiently 
heavy covering of mats to exclude frosts. The tubers are far from being 
hardy, and on the other hand a very warm, dry position may cause 
their loss by dry rot. Those in pots may be turned out, partly cleared 
of soil, and wintered as advised in the case of those dug up from the 
beds ; or they may be stored on their sides under a staging in green¬ 
house where moisture does not reach them. Late-raised plants left 
thickly in pans or boxes should be kept cool and dry, and the tops when 
decayed be cleared off them ; but the tiny tubers should remain where 
they are till next spring. They can be grown into strong plants before 
bedding-out time comes round again. 
Dahlias.— In many of the higher positions Dahlias were not 
injured by frosts before the third week in October, but others suffered 
very much earlier. All should have been cut down ere this, leaving 
9 inches length of stem, the labels being securely attached to this. 
The tubers should be lightly cleared of soil and laid on their sides in a 
covered shed for a few days for any moisture there may be to drain 
out of the stems. Last winter many were killed by frosts, and in 
order to avoid a repetition of this pack the tubers closely together, 
distributing fine soil among them, where they can be heavily covered 
with mats, old carpets, and such Jike. Under a greenhouse staging is not 
the proper place, the moisture constantly falling about them either 
rotting or causing the tubers to start prematurely into growth. 
Moderately warm sheds and outhouses best suits them, cool dry cellars 
being a still better storing place. 
Other Flower Roots.— Many of the Gladioli, notably those of 
the more showy Gandavensis type, were very late in flowering this 
season, frosts cutting them down before their beauty was past. The 
commoner G. brenchleyensis is fairly hardy, and frequently winter 
well in the open ground, while the G. Colvillei should certainly not be 
disturbed. The rest ought not to be lifted before the tops have lost 
their greenness, and after the latter have been shortened and the bulbs 
thoroughly harvested store them in boxes of sand, where frosts cannot 
reach them. The cormlets often found clustering round the old ones 
should be taken care of, as these would develop into flowering stuff in the 
course of one or two more seasons. Store them in sand. The tuberous 
rooted Salvia patens should be treated similarly to Dahlias. 
Fuchsias.— These are rightly fast becoming popular in the flower 
garden, as they relieve the stiffness of ordinary bedding plants. This 
season they have grown rather more strongly than usual, and many 
of the plants were flowering very freely when the frosts inter¬ 
vened. Where they were kept in pots and plunged deeply there 
need not be much difficulty in keeping a portion or all of the stock 
through the winter. All that is necessary is to keep them in a cool dry 
house, and to gradually withhold water so as to keep the wood plump. 
Any lifted and potted will require to be more carefully dried off. 
Numbers of Fuchsias are annually lost owing to being badly injured 
by frosts before being housed. While resting unheated sheds and out¬ 
houses are too cold for them, but they keep well in vineries and fairly 
well on their sides under greenhouse stages, only just enough water 
being given to keep the wood plump. Standard Fuchsias are very 
effective, and can either be grown from quite young plants or obtained 
by trimming off the lower branches of some of the roughest of the 
pyramids next spring. 
SflllHB BEE-KEEPER, 
-i - 1 -i -J'- » -j - t~ j~i~~r . j -_i - r, r; 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
The weather for the past fortnight has been unusually severe 
for the season. For more than a week the night temperature 
ranged between 24° and 27°, falling on the evenings of the 25th and 
26th to 14° or 18° of frost, with a day temperature of 30°, the 
highest point it reached. A genial thaw set in on the 27th, and 
on the 28th the temperature rose from 45° in the morning to 55°, 
giving a splendid chance for the bees to air themselves. It was 
the most genial day we have experienced for many weeks. 
transferred the bees to clean combs, and as the disease was not 
widely spread, dispensed with the “purgatorial” process. I 
managed the transfer and removal of the queen without losing a 
single bee, and had the satisfaction to see the bees fraternise with 
the alien stranger and become quite settled. The thermometer 
stood at 24 . About 8 p.M. I went out to take a last look at them, 
when, to my horror, the bees were in an uproar, and by the aid of 
a lantern I discovered more than half of them on the path, 
apparently dead. I swept them into a shovel, took the hive with 
the remaining bees within doors, closed the entrance, and dropped 
the ventilator, a precaution I ought to have done at first. I then 
placed a rim on the hive, and put the frozen bees upon the top, 
and covered them ; by next morning the whole of them were 
recuscitated, and joined the cluster, all living. I then liberated the 
queen, or rather allowed the bees access to her in the cage she was 
imported in, being well adapted for that purpose after I formed a 
gateway. 
Feeding. 
This had to be resorted to at once as the temperature was low 
and the bees had no food. I at once fed from the top and the 
bottom at the same time, the former with a float so constructed that 
the bees cannot get underneath it, and which falls or rises readily 
with the sugar, while the latter was a large sized fountain. True 
to their natural instinct, the bees emptied the fountain several 
times before they half emptied the upper one, and the longer the 
feeding continues the less they incline to take syrup overhead. I 
have experienced the same thing often, and many years ago gave 
your readers the benefit of it. I have a feeder considerably over a 
hundred years old, intended, no doubt, for a straw hive for top 
feeding. It is ail wood, and on the same principle as the “ Warwick 
Feeder,” which, according to Mr. John M. Hooker, is “ The most 
perfect feeder yet in the market.” With some of my combination 
feeders, or, in other words, feeders for top or bottom, I fed some 
hives lately at the rate of 14 lbs. of syrup in six hours.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Dickson & Co., 1, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh.— Roses, Carna¬ 
tions, Fruit Trees, Ac. 
D. S. Thomson & Sons, The Nurseries, Wimbledon,— Roses, Fruit 
Trees, Shrubs, tyc. 
Hurst & Son, Burbage Nurseries, Hinckley .—Fruit Trees, Roses, $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 
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 
Flowers. 
With the exception of Colchicums, all flowers, including a few 
Wallflowers and Arabis, are completely cut down, so that very 
little, if any, pollen can be had. Never in all my experience have 
I witnessed so little pollen gathered during September and October, 
and never stronger hives, although the majority of them dis¬ 
continued breeding at the end of July. If strong hives now augur 
well for the future I am well prepared for 1893. 
Introducing a Carniolan Queen. 
During the severity of the frost an acquaintance asked my 
assistance to introduce the prettiest golden coloured Carniolan 
queen I ever saw, that he had just received from Messrs. G. 
Neighbour & Sons. I had the hive brought to me, and on 
removing the queen regnant discovered traces of foul brood. I 
Abnormal Gloxinia (IF. G. C .)—The floral appendages at the 
base of the corolla are not by any means uncommon, and we have had 
flowers sent to us with the character more fully developed than in the 
one you send ; it was however injured in transit. 
Mixing: Gypsum with Manure for Mushroom Bed (F. H.'). 
—1, It is not desirable to “ mix some gypsum with the manure when being 
prepared for the bed,” for, though it absorbs and “ fixes ” ammonia, it 
interferes with the fermentation so essential to the spreading of the 
spawn ; the better that is effected the more abundant and prolonged 
will be the Mushroom crop. 2, The ammonia captured by the gypsum 
is of no use whatever to the growth and development of the Mushroom 
spawn, for none of the processes essential to its liberation are undergone 
in a Mushroom bed. It is different with the “ fixed ” ammonia when 
subjected to the secretive action of the roots of growing crops generally, 
as the “ fixed ’ ammonia must be liberated by the action of the gypsum 
on certain insoluble compounds of the soil, and having issue in a better 
supply of potash. 
