126 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Febrairy 7, 1865. 
watered until the weather ia sufficiently genial for placing them outside 
they will mature fair bulbs for planting outside. It is surprising how 
rapidly they increase in numbers. If the soil in which they were boxed 
was good no feeding is necessary. Nearly all the varieties of Narcissus 
that were potted or boxed fairly early will now flower freely enough. 
Do not give them too much heat at flrst, but when fairly on the move 
they may be placed into the forcing house. 
Prunus sinensis fl.-pl. —As these go out of flower they should 
be cut close back and arranged in any house where an intermediate 
temperature can be maintained. These plants grow freely, and are 
very easily forced into bloom. P. triloba docs not force so freely, and 
when forced loses to a very large extent that beautiful pink colour 
which renders it so attractive when flowered in a cold house. 
If 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
The Weather. 
The weather last month has been the most severe I ever 
experienced in January. During the past month the ther¬ 
mometer here never rose above 32°, while the night temperatures 
ran between 5° and 10°, and only once so low as the latter. 
Queen Rearing. 
The good qualities of queens depend entirely on their ovaries 
being capable of bringing forward the full number of eggs, and 
a large-sized sperm sac well filled with spermatheca. These 
properties exist in very small as in very large queens. I advise 
bee-keepers to raise all queens intended for stock in hives in 
good condition, having ample honey, pollen, and bees, at any 
time between the months of May and August, when drones are 
numerous. I may say, however, some of the most prolific and 
long-lived queens I ever possessed were raised in poor-conditioned 
hives. 
The course I pursue in selecting or rejecting queens is to select 
queen cells on which a large quantity of wax has been expended, 
and that is prettily indented, rejecting those approaching to 
smoothness. From smooth cells I have had queen cells which 
commenced laying in less than an hour after creeping out of the 
cell, and as a matter of course such queens remain drone-breeders 
for life. I do not hesitate to keep queens which were raised from 
foul-broody stocks, and never had a recurrence of the disease ; but 
it is different with those affected with chloric dropsical fever. 
Bee-keepers who are prepared to make the most of their bees 
by raising queens early should set about doing so at once by 
getting ready nuclei boxes and other things required to make 
them miniature hives. My boxes hold four frames—one contain¬ 
ing a queen or queen’s cell, well covered with bees and filled with 
brood placed in one of these boxes, and the three other frames 
filled with foundation make capital nuclei ; but two or more 
frames are better. Small as these nuclei are, when more than one 
queen is present they are liable to swarm, therefore it is advisable 
not to have more than one queen or one queen cell.—A Lanark¬ 
shire Bee-keeper. 
MARKETING HONEY. 
Owing to a variety of causes there has been a much greater 
difficulty in finding a ready market for really good samples of 
English honey than has previously been experienced, and from the 
many inquiries I have had from bee-keepers in different parts of 
the country I find the complaint is pretty general that there is 
still a quantity of honey on hand for which customers cannot be 
found except at ruinous prices. 
The past season was not a good one ; indeed, in some districts 
it was very bad, so that it cannot he owing to the glut of English 
honey that is on the market. It therefore behoves bee-keepers to 
seek the cause and, if possible, the cure for this state of things. 
One of the chief is the great quantity of foreign honey that is 
brought into this country, very little of which is retailed as foreign. 
One large dealer lately told me he was buying it at 35s. per cwt., 
which left a good profit even when sold at store prices. The 
public will buy because it is cheap ; they do not mind about the 
quality, he said. 
Bee-keepers should endeavour to create a local trade in their 
own neighbourhood among the consumers, as this is much better 
than sending it a long distance to a tradesman at a low price. It 
is surprising the quantity that can be disposed of in this way if put 
up neatly in saleable form, and made attractive. The 1 lb. screw- 
top glass jars are recommended ; they are rather more expensive 
than the others, but are much more serviceable. 
The different qualities of honey should always be graded, as 
there is a marked contrast in the colour and flavour of honey 
obtained from field Beans, white Clover, and Limes. These are 
the sources from which I obtain the chief of my honey harvest. 
The former is brown, and of strong flavour. White Clover is of 
splendid flavour and perfect in colour, whereas that obtained from 
the Limes is of a pale yellow tinge, which gives it a pleasing 
appearance. These if bottled separately are much more useful, as 
some people prefer the stronger - flavoured brown honey, and 
vice versa. Yery few people will buy from the shops if they 
know a genuine article can be procured from a neighbouring 
bee-keeper. 
For larger quantities wide-mouthed brown pot-jars are useful. 
These are made with a cover, to hold from 7 lbs. to 9 lbs. Comb 
honey in 1 lb. sections, if well sealed, will find a ready sale among 
the consumers, particularly in the late summer and early autumn ; 
but few tradespeople care to stock them, owing to their liability to 
damage. If they are glazed it is a great protection, hut it would 
add to their price. Bad trade, too, affects the sale of honey very 
c-’nsiderably. It is, however, better to keep a stock in hand unless 
a fair price can be obtained, as there may be a scarcity another 
season. 
A few years ago there was no difficulty in obtaining Is. per lb., 
and even more, for honey that was very inferior to what is now 
obtained under the modern system, for with the exception of 
Heather honey such prices are a thing of the past.— An English 
Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
J. B. Barnes, Exchange Street, Norwich.— General Seed List. 
Dickson, Brown & Tait, Corporation Street, Manchester.— Farm 
Seeds. 
Harrison & Sons, Leicester. —Seed Catalogue. 
R. Owen, Floral Nursery, Maidenhead.— Chrysanthemum Novelties. 
J. Watkins, Pomona Farm, Withington, Hereford.— Fr%dt Tree, and 
Cider and Perry List. 
E. Webb & Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge.— Farm Seeds. 
J. Yates, 29, Little Underbank, Stockport. —Seed List. 
All 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: Vine Rods (^Kidderminster'). —The ingredients recom¬ 
mended by Mr. H. W. Ward in the second paragraph of his letter on 
page 102 last week are sufficient for mixing in eight gallons of water. The 
word “ eight ” was inadvertently omitted by the printers. 
Temperature for Dendroblum denslflorum (Books). — The 
Dendrobium mentioned will be quite safe if the temperature does not 
go below 40° during the winter, but 50° as a minimum is much better for 
these evergreen kinds. Their natural flowering season is about April or 
May. 
Steam from Zinc Plate (IF, Z.).—The steam from a heated zinc 
plate is more or less injurious to vegetation. This mainly arises from 
the generation of the water vapour at a high temperature, and the 
fineness of its particles, which become rapidly diffused, and coming in 
contact with the foliage of plants has a more or less scalding effect. The 
leaves and other parts of plants being also much colder than that ol 
steam rapidly condense the moisture, which interferes with their 
respiration, and has a weakening tendency. It is bad practice, there¬ 
fore, to syringe highly heated surfaces. Zinc, so far as we are aware, 
does not give off any fumes injurious to plants, but it is not a desirable 
substance to use for heating purposes, as certain decomposition takes 
place under the influence of moisture, and such moisture may contain 
deleterious matter under steaming. 
