332 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 26, 1894. 
p;rowth and thoroughly maturing it, which is essential if they are to 
flower well. 
Caladlums. —Plants started in boxes and then potted are now 
growing freely, and the majority of them need placing into larger pots. 
In full sunshine these plants develop beautiful coloured foliage, and are 
of dwarf sturdy growth. When grown under too moist and too shady 
conditions the plants flag and the foliage falls about. The charming 
and useful C. argyrites growing in 2J-inch pots may be placed into 
5-inch pots. Like the stronger growing varieties, this kind likes plenty 
of light. 
Gloxinias. —Seed may still be sown. Seedlings that are large 
enough may be pricked out singly into pots, boxes, or pans, and finally 
placed singly into pots. A good plan is to make up a hotbed in a frame, 
and place 3 inches of soil on the top of a light nature, and transplant 
the plants 6 inches apart. By this method abundance of flowers are 
produced for cutting purposes, and the plants give very little trouble in 
watering. Few plants pay better for planting out than Gloxinias. The 
flowers are too soft for travelling, but for home decoration they are 
invaluable. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
I HAVE completed another of my annual visits amongst bee¬ 
keepers of some parts of Lanarkshire where vegetation at 700 to 
800 feet above sea level is as far advanced as in the Lowlands. All 
whom I met are in hopes of another good season. The Heather is 
indeed more promising at this date than at any time since 1845. 
The Clover is also showing well, and full-sized hives, if favoured 
with auspicious weather during the honey season, are sure to make 
great weight. 
In not a few cases, however, the hives are too small, which I 
pointed out to them. Anxious inquiries were made as to how they 
could enlarge them, and at what time to do it. I explained that 
full sized hives were proportionately as full of bees now as were 
the undersized ones. The remedy to them, and to the readers of 
the Journal of Horticulture, is the same. Adopt it at once with 
built-out combs, if they are to be had ; if not, full-sized sheets of 
foundation or drone comb will be built. Bees during the spring 
months ought not to be with building combs, especially those that 
would cause a drain of the hive with a reduction of the honey 
yield. To have hives and their equipments of a proper size is a 
most important point. The best way of arriving at this is to 
employ a little arithmetic. A queen lays in a full sized hive in 
the height of the season 3000 eggs daily for eighteen to twenty 
days. These eggs will be hatched in from four to five mere days ; 
the bees will take their first flight, and from six to ten days 
more will be at work gathering honey and pollen. At the end of 
twelve months some of them will still be alive. Generally speaking, 
all the bees hatched from April 1st will do good work during the 
whole summer. Subtracting 15 per cent, for loss of bees, gives an 
approximate of what space bees should occupy, and the amount of 
honey that might be gathered in a good district and season. 
Fixing Foundation. 
One bee keeper I visited had some beautiful Stewarton supers 
filled with honey, also a well filled glass case. The putting together 
of the case and the fixing of the foundation was performed for 
him by a person who held the method along with a partner sworn 
to each other to keep it a secret. This is a very different spirit fj om 
that which the writers on bees have given in these pages for so 
long. Had I been in possession of the glass case I would very 
quickly have revealed the secret ; but I am not, though being 
always glad when I can help readers forward I tell them all I am 
able to do. Fish glue is one of the most adhesive substances to 
employ, and in the apiary a little vinegar or acetic acid improves it 
and keeps it I’quid and ready for use at all times. This is perhaps 
is what in some cases is sold as patent cement. It is not new to 
employ glue on things connected with the apiary. I have used it 
for nearly half a century, and on comb foundation, as I did gum 
since 1858 on combs, and from 1862 on foundations. 
There are various ways of applying it. One is to have the glue 
in a shallow vessel kept hot over the boiler above a spirit lamp. Dip 
the edge of foundation into it, then press slightly the foundation 
to exclude the air. This done put them against the guage blocks, 
of which a dozen should be used to steady them, and place on an 
inclined plane till they set. When the first is set it may be lifted, 
and the glueing repeated. Apply to full sheets and starters, and 
make doubly sure by dropping a little glue on the junction of wax 
and wood, holding the section in position. Do not forget that 
fish glue adheres to everything solid, whether the separate pieces 
are the same material or not. It fastens wood to stone or glass, 
and stone will break before wood can be separated from it.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
W. Clibran & Son, Oldfield Nurseries, Altrincham .—General Plant 
Catalogue. 
Thomas Painter, Smallwood.— Dahlias. 
®.j.*AlI 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. 
Honeysuckle (^Inquirer'). —You infringed the Post Office regula¬ 
tions, and if you send us 2d. in stamps you will be out of our debt, and 
we will send you your envelope, also answer your question. 
Spring- Flowers (^Florist). —The late Mr. Ingram of Belvoir wrote 
many valuable papers on spring flowers, but no book, so far as we know, 
on the subject. The late Mr. Fleming, when at Cliveden, wrote an 
excellent work on spring flowers, but it has long been out of print. 
Growing Seakale (F. J.'). —Referring to publications, you do not 
appear to have our “ Garden Manual,” which you would find useful. It 
gives instructions on growing Seakale for private use, also all other 
vegetables, useful fruits and flowers. Its price is Is. 6d., post free Is. 9d. 
The excellent method of raising Seakale from root cuttings is illustrated 
in Wright’s “ Primer on Horticulture ” (Macmillans), price Is. from 
booksellers. If you follow the instructions in those two cheap manuals 
you cannot very well fail. 
Vine Iicaves Scorched (Z). ZT.).—You have indicated the cause. 
There has been too much moisture in the house, and the night tempe¬ 
rature has been too low ; possibly also the ventilators, on the latter 
account, have not been opened early enough in the morning for the 
dissipation of moisture. Fire heat, with early and careful ventilation, 
will improve the Vines, but do not go to the other extreme and make 
the atmosphere too dry. The change must be gradual, and the leaves 
will become firmer, as they should be. 
Gloxinias Unhealthy (J.J.'). —Plants resulting from very old corms 
not infrequently fail to grow freely, the leaves curling and being more 
or less rusted. Young plants also fail similarly if grown in the sun or 
a too dry atmosphere, or if the root action is defective through any 
cause. These plants enjoy a moderately humid atmosphere and shade 
from bright sun. They do not as a rule succeed on open stages over 
hot-water pipes or when exposed to dry currents of air, nor do they 
long remain satisfactory if the roots are allowed to become too dry on 
the one hand or the soil is soddened on the other. 
Cyclamens (Z). B .').—Plants when grown for market by experts 
in their culture and sold, as they usually are, just when in their best 
condition, would not continue producing equally fine flowers, even under 
the most favourable conditions—that is, it they had not been sold, but 
kept in the structures in which the plants were grown and there 
accorded the best attention. What may be termed the first fine flush of 
bloom (there is alliteration for you) exhausts the plants and soil to an 
i appreciable extent, the successional flowers being the smaller in con¬ 
sequence. The disparity is bound to be more marked when the plants 
have undergone a journey and then placed in a structure differing from 
the one from which they were removed. At home they would receive 
just what they wanted in respect to temperature, atmospheric moisture, 
light, and support. These essentials cannot be found in due proportion 
in a mixed house of plants, and particularly a lofty conservatory, and 
especially, perhaps, if the pots are arranged on dry open latticework 
stages. All you can do is to take care that the soil never gets so dry as 
to shrink and form a slight fissure next the pots ; also give weak clear 
liquid manure at every alternate watering, soot water as clear and pale 
as pale sherry being good for the plants. If they stand on a dry base, 
such as an open stage over hot-water pipes, that will be the reverse of 
good for them, and the pots should be syringed occasionally. 
