192 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 8, 1894. 
the end of the month. Oniona should have a freely manured deeply 
dug, thoroughly well pulverised breadth of ground given up to them—a 
quick yet sturdy growth being imperative. Merely reducing the surface 
to a fine state is not sufiScient. The lumps underneath should also be 
broken down. After thus forking over the ground give a heavy trampling 
and then rake over. A surfacing of soot applied at the rate of one peck 
to the square rod will be beneficial in most places, while light soils but 
not clayey ground, may also receive 4 lbs. of common salt per square 
rod. Stir these in before drawing the drills. Kaised beds with alleys 
between are desirable only in the case of cold low lying position. Small 
plots may be sown broadcast, but sowing in shallow fiat-bottomed drills 
about 1 inch deep, 2 inches wide, and 12 inches apart is the best practice, 
Then if the seed is sown thinly in these so as to avoid the necessity for 
much thinning out later on, the Onion maggot is likely to be trouble¬ 
some, and there will eventually be an extra heavy crop of bulbs pressing 
against each other. Allowing good space between the rows admits of 
the plants being left more thickly in the rows and for a freer use of the 
hoe than is possible when the rows are closer together. It is the White 
Spanish type and not Tripolis that should be sown now, one or more of 
the long keepers, such as Brown Globe, James’ Keeping, and the Wroxton 
being included. 
THE APIARY. 
We have now reached the month of March. The weather has 
been stormy with us for about seven weeks, with only one dry 
day during that time. The thermometer now at 42°, a rising 
barometer, and a few bees flying make us hope for a better time 
for bees and flowers. Owing to the late inclement weather, the 
spring season will be a busy one. Bees in early districts should be 
liberally fed at once where stores are short, and that is the case in 
many instances. Throw all stimulative and other toy feeders aside 
and give at least 6 lbs. of sugar from beneath, then withdraw’, 
keeping in mind the process may have to be renewed in a few 
weeks hence. 
Crown feeding is troublesome and cools the hive unnecessarily, 
as does the candy feeding above the bees. The advice to feed in 
January has. this fyear saved many hives. The liberal feeding 
advised now is not for the purpose of inducing breeding, but to 
enable the bees to bring to maturity all the eggs laid by the 
queen. Feeding does no good whatever where there is an abundant 
supply of food in the hive. In addition to preventing the loss of 
eggs, adequate feeding prevents the loss of adult bees by flying out, 
as they do when fed in driblets. 
In late districts the quantity of food given may be slightly 
lessened, but it is a fact that there is very little difference in the 
time of bees beginning to breed at any place throughout the British 
i^es where the flora is much alike. Where the flowers are profuse 
they are doubtless a great stimulus for bees to breed. 
Owing to the open winter breeding has been in many cases 
excessive, so we may expect numerous changes from old to young 
queens early in the season, and apiarists will do well to see that 
drone breeders do not take the place of queens now regnant. To 
be prepared for every exigency young queens should be brought 
forward early and formed into nuclei at intervals of a fortnight— 
or in other words, replace the flrst batch with later ones if the 
weather is unfavourable for mating. Sometimes April is favour¬ 
able, and in 1862 many queens were fertilised in May ; but often 
it is June before we can depend upon success, but even this in late 
districts is the backbone of success. 
The greatest concern of the bee-keeper should be to be sure 
every hive continues breeding till the commencement of the honey 
flow. See, also, that early nuclei are advancing as they ought 
during Jime and July, so that they may be in full strength for the 
i. having young queens are always the most active 
and best workers. Always discard very attenuated and small 
queens, but do not attempt to select what you may think an 
improved queen, for beyond crossing with two varieties to 
improve the breed of bees, nothing substantial will result. 
I should like to say another word about the two queens in one 
hive system. A bee-keeper visited me on the 24th of February, 
with copies of the Journal of HorticuUure, zs vjeW as others of a 
reliable nature and of an early date, which disprove the “Wells’ ” 
claim. My visitor is an old bee-keeper, and he stated the fact that 
the system was Scottish,” and produced the printed proofs. The 
contents of one of his hives weighed 2 cwt. He also mentioned 
that he had a greatly improved perforated divider, which he 
which I have not had experience. 
Messrs. George Neighbour & Sons have sent me their illustrated 
catalogue of (sixty-six pages) hives and apiarian requisites : also 
books, new, old, and rare. 
Death of Mr. Wm. Sword. 
On the 26th ult. Mr. Sword, bee-keeper and florist. Bonny 
View, Falkirk, passed away after a short but sharp attack of 
asthma in his seventy-eighth year. He won success in trade 
through fair dealing, and was a highly respected local philan¬ 
thropist. He was a keen florist, had a small but fine collection of 
leading Auriculas and other flowers, bringing from Orkney to his 
native place Primula scotica amongst others of his favourites. As 
a bee-keeper he was an enthusiast, sparing neither pains nor expense 
in the equipment of his apiary.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
E. P. Dixon & Sons, Hull.— Farm Seed Catalogue. 
A. Findlay, Seed Grower, Markinch, N.B.— Potatoes. 
Messrs. Hogg & Wood, Coldstream.— L st of Pasture and Farm 
Seeds. 
W. H. Hudson, 199, High Road, Kilburn, N.W.— Dutch and Other 
Bulbs. 
Little & Ballantyne, Carlisle.— Catalogue of Farm Seeds. 
J. R. Pearson & Sons, Chilwell Nurseries, 'Soite.—Catalogue of 
Ptlargoniums and Other Plants. 
Oscar Tiefenthal, Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany.— Plants and 
Roots. 
Tilley Bros., London Road, Brighton.— Garden Seeds. 
Chas. Turner, Royal Nurseries, Slough. —General Spring Catalogue. 
*.-.*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. 
Moss on Apple Trees (F. J,'). —You could not do anything better 
than continue the annual dusting of the trees with quicklime, for it will 
not only destroy the moss, but be good against insects, while the falling 
lime will benefit the soil and, of course, the trees. Draining will 
improve the ground and health of the trees ; but the growth of moss is 
not always due to wetness of ground, but to dampness of the atmosphere. 
If you dig holes 4 feet deep and water lodges in them for any length of 
time, it would be advisable to drain the land, not otherwise. 
A Bed of Sweet Peas (./. TF.).—Provided you have a trellis, so 
as to keep the haulm from the ground, there is no reason why you 
should not succeed. We have seen Sweet Peas forming splendid beds 
by training them over improvised trellises formed of Pea sticks thrust 
into the ground at the sides of the bed and inclining over them so as to 
be just clear of the ground in the centre. The Peas had been sown in 
the usual way, and when growing through the sticks were trained evenly 
over the surface. They also look charming when allowed to stray over 
rockwork. 
Bate Dessert Apples (^Ireland'). —To come in after those you 
name, Baumann’s Reinette is a very beautiful, good, but not high-class 
dessert Apple, yet serviceable fer either cooking or dessert. Margil is an 
excellent dessert Apple, tree of moderate growth, and generally an 
abundant bearer, but the blossoms are liable to suffer from spring 
frosts. The fruit is in season from November to February. Another 
first-class dessert Apple is Scarlet Nonpareil, the tree of moderate 
growth, and bears freely. The fruit has plenty of colour, and is in use 
from January to March. 
Mixing- iritrate of Soda wltb Thomas’ Phosphate or Basic 
Slag (F. H. S.'). —Instead of agreeing with the dictum, nitrate of soda 
ought not to be used with Thomas’ phosphate or basic slag, but sulphate 
of ammonia may, we entirely agree with Dr. A. B. Griffiths in saying 
that sulphate of ammonia ought not to be used with basic slag. Dr. 
Griffiths says :—“Thomas’ phosphate may be mixed with raw phosphates, 
superphosphates, nitrate of soda, and potash salts, but not with ammo¬ 
nium sulphate, as the free lime (which Thomas' phosphate contains) 
would liberate the ammonia, and result in loss of this valuable nitro¬ 
genous manure.”—(“ Manures and their Uses, page 99.”) 
