January 4 , 1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
17 
required. As opportunity offers it should be pulled to pieces and the 
worms removed. As this work proceeds it is a wise plan to select the 
most fibrous portions, and store it for choice plants that need a compost 
of this nature. This is readily accomplished by the aid of an inch sieve. 
That which passes through should be again placed in a finer sieve, and 
the particles that pass through reserved for seeds, seedlings, cuttings, and 
small plants where a rough compost would prove unsuitable and out of 
place. It is surprising when a large amount of loam is prepared for 
use in this manner how quickly the work of potting, filling pans and 
boxes for seeds and cuttings can be carried on. It is a mistake to leave 
work of this nature until the busy season of the year, 
Zioaf Mould. —The amount required for use during the spring 
months should also be under cover, ready for preparation during un¬ 
favourable weather. This undergoes a similar process to the loam, 
differing only in being passed through a sieve with a half-inch mesh. A 
heap of rough material may also be prepared by breaking it up with a 
fork, removing the finest particles by the aid of a sieve, sticks also being 
carefully picked out. This rough heap, when cleaned, will be found 
useful for placing over the drainage of many plants, and incorporating 
with composts that are required as rough as possible. Our leaf mould 
is never stacked or used for potting purposes when too much decom¬ 
posed. We prefer it when the fibre of the leaves is still perfectly fresh, 
which will be the case if the leaves have not laid more than 1 foot in 
depth, and are fully exposed. 
Manure. —Where much potting has to be done at various times of 
the year it is necessary to wheel into a shed good heaps of manure in 
autumn and at the present time. The autumn supply consists of cow 
manure, from which the straw was shaken out, and horse droppings. 
The former, if moderately dry when stored, will rub easily through a 
half-inch sieve. It is useless to sift it if not dry enough, for if laid 
thickly together the labour of sifting would be wasted. If not suffi¬ 
ciently dry place it in boxes or flat hampers for a few days in the boiler 
house or other position to dry. Be careful that it is not baked, for this 
evil is as bad as sifting it when too wet. The horse droppings should be 
in good condition for passing through a sieve. The preparation of 
manure for potting is important ; it cannot well be too finely divided for 
incorporating with other adhesive ingredients. If it is wet and adhesive 
it renders a compost with which it may be mixed unsuitable for use. 
Cow manure may be stored twelve months previous to being used when 
perfectly fresh. Our plan is to place it in an old shed and surround it 
with dry loam to soak up all the liquid that runs from it. This loam is 
equal to manure for many plants afterwards. As it is removed from 
the manure heap it is mixed with equal quantities of dry loam and a 
fresh supply placed round the heap of manure. No waste takes place 
by this method, and the loam that has been soaked with manure will be 
found invaluable for Richardias, Chrysanthemums, and plants of a 
similar nature. 
Cbemlcal Manures. —The stock required for the year’s supply 
should be ordered, so that it will be ready for use when required. 
Amongst these may be included half and quarter-inch bones with the 
fine left in, as well as a supply of meal. A box or barrel of soot should 
also be placed handy for use, and a few barrowfuls of wood ashes. Very 
few plants dislike the two latter, and either may be beneficially used in 
the majority of composts where loam, leaf mould, and manure are mainly 
employed. 
Sand and Cbarcoal. —If the supply of the former is not equal 
to what will be required no time should be lost in getting in the 
necessary quantity. For mixing with composts it is much better dry 
than wet, especially early in the season when other ingredients have a 
tendency to be moist. Charcoal should be sorted and broken into suit¬ 
able sizes. 
Peat. —Sort this into three classes, that with the most fibre being 
reserved for Orchids, the hardest for Azaleas, Heaths, and other hard- 
wooded plants, while the lightest will do for Ferns. For the two latter 
it should simply be broken up with the hand, and Fern roots, pieces of 
wood, and strong roots of Heaths removed; while that required for 
Orchids should have all the particles of soil shook out of it, which will 
be useful for many small Ferns, Mosses, and other plants. 
Pots and Crocks. —The former should all be washed ready for use 
where they are not cleaned as they are emptied and stored away in 
their sizes. The crocks must be thoroughly washed ; this is as important 
as using clean pots. The drainage of many plants is rendered untimely 
defective by the use of dirty crocks. When washed and dry sort and 
b^eak them into various sizes ready for use, and place them separately. 
This is quickly done by the aid of sieves, except the largest or two 
largest sizes, and this can be selected during the process of breaking, 
and should be placed on one side first. 
Iiabels and Stakes. —The first we have long since discontinued 
miking, for they can now be purchased so cheaply. The necessary 
quantify should be ordered ready for use, and relabelling can be done 
as for as possible. It is a mistake to leave it until the different plants 
require potting, as is too frequently the case. Repoint stakes and tie 
them in sizes, it can then be seen what sizes and the quantity that will 
be needed. These, if bought, should be placed in early so that they can 
be pointed. Small stakes for a variety of purposes are generally in 
demand, and for this purpose large Bamboos are bought, cut into lengths, 
and split; the sharp edges are merely taken off with a knife, and the 
stakes pointed off at one end. 
Boxes. —Some will decay, and to keep a good stock in condition 
for use a few should be made annually. We use common floor boards 
6 inches wide. The ends and sides only want sawing into lengths. 
The bottoms are soon nailed on if the width is such that two or three 
boards without sawing will cover it. For three boards placed length¬ 
ways the boxes should be 19 inches wide, which will allow two half-inch 
spaces for drainage. If shallow boxes only are needed the boards may 
be sawed straight down the centre. Boxes last half as long again when 
thoroughly painted inside and out before they are used. 
s 
rz i - -"j i— 
m BEE-KBEPER 
^ ifa ( 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Breeding. 
Owing to the mildness of the season, the mean temperature for 
several weeks being about 40°, bees are daily on the wing, search¬ 
ing everywhere for pollen for breeding purposes, which many hives 
are now doing, ocular demonstration proving breeding com¬ 
menced when the temperature was at 9° early in December. 
I have observed occasionally bees began to breed at a zero 
temperature about Christmas, which negatives the assertions that 
bees hibernate, or that to get bees to breed they must be fed. 
With one exception they began to increase about three weeks 
earlier than is usually the case. Whether this will be an advantage 
or not is as yet uncertain, but it is worth watching. One thing is 
certain. The early spring of 1893 encouraged the bees to increase 
their numbers quickly ; early swarming resulted, and the long 
continuance of fine weather induced repeated swarming. I con¬ 
fess past experience has taught me that excessive early breeding 
demands a deposition of queens at an early date at the beginning 
of the summer if profitable hives are expected. 
Can Early Breeding be Arrested ? 
This question may in some instances be answered in the affirma¬ 
tive, but would do more harm than good. A complete stripping of 
the hive’s outer covering would lessen, if it did not stop it alto¬ 
gether, but otherwise the hive would be a great deal the worse. 
Hives that do not carry away the moisture sufficiently, being damp 
and unhealthy, are unfavourable to early breeding, it being most 
prevalent in comfortable hives. Early breeding has its advantages. 
I am in receipt of a letter from a correspondent in the south of 
England in which the writer refers to several hives that were 
unprofitable because they did not come up to full strength early 
enough to catch the flow of honey. An important item for the 
southerner, however, is because of the superior quality of his honey. 
Thanks to his mode of management, his next summer’s produce is 
all bespoke, and this by gentlemen who previous to 1893 had their 
supply from Scotland, where up till that date they did not find 
the southern honey to their taste. It is in the south of England 
and other favourable localities that early breeding is desirable, and 
every encouragement should be given to the bees, so that they 
would be in full strength by the beginning of April. Even so far 
north as we are, hives to get the advantage of the first flow of 
honey from fruit blossoms should be on the eve of swarming by 
the first day of April. In both cases young fertilised queens should 
be in readiness to take the place of old ones by the month of May, 
and later ones for next year by the end of June. 
The health of our hives is good ; not a single speck of excremental 
matter has been seen since the first break of the frost early in 
November, and that was from young bees, and in two or three 
hives only. We may have severe weather yet, but every hive is in 
a fit condition to stand from eight to twelve weeks’ confinement 
without being injured. It is therefore my hope that others are 
similarly situated, and that 1894 will be a favourable year for 
bees.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
A WELSH BEE FARM. 
Some months ago I called upon Mr. E. J. Gibbins at Gilfach, about 
two miles from the busy town of Neath, with the intention of seeing 
his collection of Roses, for I was under the impression that this was the 
pet hobby of our genial friend. Roses there were, Carnations there 
were, and a host of annuals, biennials, and perennials too ; but instead 
of waxing eloquent upon any of these, what we hear is, “ Come and 
see my bees.” And being assured that the creatures aie “ perfectly 
harmless,” we follow, and in a few minutes are convinced that Mr. 
Gibbins is a bee fancier first, and a gardener after. 
Most of the hives are arranged in a wooden shed or house about 
60 feet by 8 feet, whereby warmth and dryness are promoted and 
maintained, which would be impossible if kept in the open. To this 
treatment Mr. Gibbins attributes the fact that he was able to send away 
