156 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 22, 1894 
silver sand. Give the same treatment after potting as advised for 
E. hyemalis. When the object is to increase the size of the plants the 
flower buds should be removed directly they appear. Any strong growths 
that are taking the lead should be drawn down towards the rim of the 
pot so that the weaker ones will gain strength. 
Coronllla glauca. —This is a useful old decorative plant and easily 
brought into flower. We insert cuttings in sandy soil in pots in Septem¬ 
ber, give a watering, and place them in a hand-light or under a bell- 
glass, and the majority of them root. These should bo put in 2-inch 
pots ; loam and peat with sand will grow them well. Place where the 
temperature ranges from 45° to 50°, and in one season useful plants 
in 4-inch pots may be grown. They should be stood outside during the 
summer on a bed of ashes and kept well syringed. The shoots will 
need pinching to induce them to branch. Any plants that have become 
straggling may be pruned back, and when they have commenced to 
grow repot them. 
Epacrls. —These are amongst the most useful plants we have for 
supplying flowers. Plants that flowered early should be pruned 
back and placed on moisture-holding material in the greenhouse where 
they can have an abundance of air, and be syringed once or twice daily 
according to the weather. When these plants have started into growth 
they should be repotted if they need more rooting sp^ce. The same 
care is required in potting and the after treatment as advised for 
Heaths. Any plants that did not start freely into growth last season 
may have the flowers picked off and he allowed to grow without cutting 
them back. 
Azaleas. —As the varieties of A. indica go out of bloom they should 
be placed in gentle warmth to make their growth. If they need re¬ 
potting this may be done immediately the roots are active. Peat and 
sand is generally used for these plants, but we have long since dis¬ 
continued its use. They do equally well in good fibry loam and leaf 
mould in about equal proportion, with a liberal dash of coarse sand added. 
The compost should be made firm, and water carefully applied after¬ 
wards. Those that do not need repotting may have a little artificial 
manure scattered on the surface and watered in. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Owing to the wet and stormy nature of the weather which pre¬ 
vailed during January and the early part of the present month, 
bees have been unable to gather pollen from the flowers that are 
in bloom. A severe storm occurred in this district between 
the hours of 12 midnight and 4 o’clock A M. on the 12ch February. 
Many hives were blown about, but comparatively little damage 
done to my apirry. 
Having been confined to the house of late, I have been unable 
to make some contemplated examinations, but from what I have 
seen and learned from a reliable source many hives are now far 
advanced in brood. I see my bees from where I am writing flying 
amidst a heavy downpour of rain ; doubtless the season and 
advanced state of their brood are the cause cf their uneasiness. 
Disease, with the exception of the one case mentioned last week, 
is unknown in my apiary, but I am sorry to say that one exception 
shows no abatement of mortality. In speaking recently to one of 
the modern converts, and showing him bees in their various stages 
of disease, he declared they were simply the old b^es. I told him 
distinctly he and others of the same school should use their eyes 
and judgment a little more, and to better purpose, withdrawing at 
the same time the feeding scoop packed full of dead and dying bees 
of different ages. The bent of his mind was so strong on his pre¬ 
conceived nonsensicil theory, that he would fain have urged the 
bees died from starvation, but floundered under the proof that 
the hive had in store upwards of 20 lbs. of honey and 3 lbs. of 
recently supplied sugar. 
These mysterious diseases give much room for reflection. 
There are, however, some men who think and give to the world 
the benefit of their thoughts and researches. Would, then, some 
such a one solve the problem of this dire disease to bees. It is 
more fatal than foul brood, which we can confrol, although not 
infectious—at least, I have not found it so ; but its fatal character 
when once it appears makes short work of the strongest hive. 
This makes me all the more anxious to know its first cause. Pure 
Carniolans in my apiary for about twenty years have never shown 
the least signs of any disease. This experience gives me hope and 
assurance for the future that by ordinary care and good guiding a 
healthy, consequently a profitable, apiary can always be depended 
upon. 
My experience in 1893 of thousands of drones of different 
breeds taking possession of a droneless hive having a virgin queen, 
the nearest hives to it being five miles on one side, and perhaps 
twenty or more on the other three, is not only remarkable, showing 
the amount of instinct, but also good proof how diseases may be 
transmitted to long distances for their apparent source. Flies are 
active agents in transmitting diseases from one place to another to 
both animal and vegetable life, while useful insects are not exempt 
from carrying germs of disease. 
Bee-keepers ought to remember that bees on the whole are 
very early this year. Care will be required of them to use every 
means to prevent brood-drawing or any relaxation of egg-laying ; 
both must be kept up at all hazards, although the laying queen has 
to be superseded early.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
George Bunyard & Co., Maidstone.— Descriptive Catalogue of Home¬ 
grown S'leds. 
H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, Kent.— Floral Guide for 1894. 
James Carter & Co., High Holborn, London.— Grass and Farm Seeds. 
Wm. Clibran & Son, Altrincham.— Agricultural Seeds. 
Cooper, Taber, & Co., Southwark Street, London, S.B.— Farm Seeds. 
*.5*A1I 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. 
Climber for ITortb Wall (P. K D ).—We know of no plant that 
grows more quickly than the common Virginian Creeper, Ampelopsis 
hederacea, but the growths do not cling to the surface and the leaves 
fall in the autumn. No evergreen clinging plant would cover the north 
side of a stone wall so quickly, constantly, and satisfactorily as the 
common Irish Ivy. If you require a less common variety you may 
plant Rsegner’s Ivy, Hedera Rregneriana. The rapidity of the wrowth 
depends on richness of soil and well rooted plants, those established in 
pots by nurserymen being much better than plants dug from the ground, 
though when these can be had with bushy roots they answer fairly 
well. 
Treatment of Pancratlams {H. B."). —Plants that have had a 
good season of rest may now be repotted or top-dressed. If the latter, 
use two-thirds loam and one of cow manure prepared as previously 
advised. If they need the former the compost you use for Eucharises 
will suit these plants well. Too much drainage should not be employed, 
as the plants root deep and with great freedom. In repotting shake 
away the whole of the old soil from the roots, and be careful not to bury 
the bulbs, or a large per-centage of the soil will not contain a single 
root. Spread out the roots carefully near the surface, for they are 
certain before the end of the season to be crowded round the drainage. 
These plants will grow in almost any position in the stove after potting 
until they are again established, even standing under the shade of large 
plants ; syringe liberally, but do not give too much water. Watch for 
thrips, for if there is any in the house they are certain to attack the 
under side of the foliage of these plants. 
Golden Russet Apple (^Yorlt). —You have been correctly in- 
informed in this being a good dessert Apple. It is, in the estimation of 
many good judges, one of the best, but the tree is not one of the most 
hardy, and sometimes assumes a stunted habit when trees on the 
Paradise stock are permitted to overladen themselves in a young state. 
The following is the “Fruit Manual’’description of the variety with 
the author’s note appended Fruit, medium-sized, 2| inches wide, 
and 2^ inches high; ovate. Skin, thick, covered with dingy yellow 
russet, which is rough, thick, and scaly on the shaded side and round 
the ba.se, and sometimes with a bright flame of varnished red on the 
side next the sun. Eye, small and closed, or half open, with erect con¬ 
vergent segments, set in a prominently plaited basin. Stamens, median ; 
tube, conical. Stalk, very short, inserted in an uneven cavity, and not 
protruding beyond the base. Flesh, pale yellow, firm, crisp, sugary, and 
aromatic, but not abounding in juice. Cells, obovate ; axile, closed. 
An excellent dessert Apple of first-rate quality ; in use from December 
to March. The tree is healthy and an excellent bearer, but requires a 
warm situation to bring the fruit to perfection. This is another of 
our old English Apples. Worlidge calls it the Ammatic, or Golden 
Russeting, ‘it hath no compear, it being of a gold-colour coat, under a 
