418 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 24, 1394. 
Various. —The moderately strong growing Heliotropes are very 
effective when massed in the centre of beds, and they are also suitable 
for using as a groundwork for fine-foliaged plants. Herbaceous Lobelias 
should be planted early, and have well prepared sites. The dwarf 
bedding Lobelias ought also to be given moderately good soil to grow in. 
Golden Pyrethrum and Ageratums are less fastidious, and the Cine¬ 
raria maritima grows strongly in poor soil. Centaureas should have a 
more moist position, Polemonium coeruleum variegatum requiring even 
more moisture at the roots. Petunias, especially seedlings, are the most 
floriferous in dry, hot positions, and with these Marguerites or Paris 
Daisies may well be associated. Antirrhinums also succeed in dry 
positions, the dwarf white variety being very effective in masses. 
Pentstemons should have rather richer soil, as also ought Asters and 
Stocks. Gaillardias are not gross feeders, and would do well in masses 
if the position is not much shaded. Let Dahlias have a rich soil, and 
ample room ; but Sunflowers will grow strongly in ordinary garden soil. 
When filling beds leave spaces for Iresines, Coleuses, and Alternantheras, 
as these ought not to be planted for another fortnight. Sub-tropical 
plants generally should be kept in a cool house for a similar time, and 
still longer in all but the most favoured districts. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Between Spring and Summer. 
Bees in most places in the United Kingdom bred much during 
the winter months, which compensated for the loss of adult bees so 
great throughout the whole season. The latter half of March 
being so fine, stimulated the bees to a greater extent than many 
experienced bee-keepers remember them to hitherto have been at 
such an early period. Had similar weather continued swarming 
would have been general in most places during April; but a change 
of weather set in, thunder, hail, rain, and a much lower temperature 
retarded growth, chilling many bees and put back hives greatly. 
Early in May similar wintry weather continued, with a still lower 
temperature than the preceding month. On the 10;h I had hopes 
of an improvement, and it came on the 12th, but lasted three hours 
only. The barometer had risen to 30°, but it continued to rain and 
a cold easterly wind prevailed. For about four days the ther¬ 
mometer stood between 38° and 42°. For three hours on the 12th 
it rose to 65°, the highest it has been; on the 17th near sunset it 
rose to 45°, and on the 18th, the date of writing, it is improving. 
Everywhere about this locality bees commenced drawing brood 
without warning, but where timeous feeding was given all went 
well. In some c-ases, however, where it had gone on too long, the 
bees refused to feed as they ought, so they were reduced both in 
numbers and vigour. The result is, taking them in the aggregate, 
they will be weeks later this year than they were in 1893, but with 
favourable weather not more so than in the average of years. 
The strain they have had to contend with has doubtless told upon 
queens. Swarms may therefore not be so large as they are in 
ordinary seasons when there is much less loss of life, and the 
vigour of queens maintained to the last. Regnant queens need 
not be expected to keep up their fertility till the end of the season, 
but in all likelihood many of them will be superseded by one of 
the young ones bees instinctively raise on the decline of their 
mother. To prevent the bees doing this the bee-keeper should 
stretch a point and do so for them at the earliest opportunity, for 
upon keeping youthful fertile queens depends the profit both in 
the present season and that which is to come. 
At present matters are far from being promising from a bee¬ 
keeper’s point of view. He should therefore aim at having his 
hives in the best possible condition to embrace the opportunity, 
brief or extended, should honey weather appear. I do not hold 
the same views as some persons do concerning the profit from 
bees, but certainly advise as many of the rural population who 
have the convenience to keep a few hives, even if none of the 
honey should be sold. 
Chloric Dropsical Fever. 
Some time since I mentioned the recovery of a hive of bees 
from this the most dreadful scourge of the apiary. A second case 
has now to be reported, the bees being convalescent; but whether 
on the same grounds as the first I cannot say, as many queens were 
superseded last autumn unknown at the time to me. In some parts 
of America it has destroyed whole apiaries, and near me numerous 
cases are reported. It would be incautious to attribute this disease 
to one variety of bee, but it is a well-known fact that it was upon 
that account, and impurity of the race, that I discarded the Italian 
bees. In one case the sufferers are Panics, crossed with a pure 
queen, but in two of these cases there are evident signs of Italian 
blood. As none of these instances have been so virulent as those I 
first experienced about 1875, it would be rash of me to say the 
disease yields to medical treatment ; but in one case after I fed 
with half a gill of alcohol the bees ceased dying. 
The disease appears to be sporadic. "When the contents of the 
intestines are viewed through a microscope it presents a con¬ 
glomerated mass of flattened cells, but whether that be the cause 
or effect I am not prepared to say. Long before the abdomen 
becomes swelled the healthy bees attempt to expel them, and 
owing to the pubescence being rubbed off assume a brilliant black 
shiny appearance. When any of these shiny bees are seen, 
medicated food may be given them, and the bee-keeper will be 
acting wisely if he refrains from breeding queens from affected 
bives. I am on the eve of putting the affected bees to a more 
searching microscopical examination, and will let your readers 
know the result of the investigation. Should untoward weather 
continue feed every hive liberally.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Richard Dean, Ranelagh Rd., Baling,W .—New Choice Flower Seeds. 
De Vries & Co., Aurora Nursery, Deverwigh, Holland.— Dutch 
Floivers, Bulbs, and Roots. 
Keynes, Williams & Co., The Nurseries, Salisbury .—Dahlias and 
Bedding Plants. 
The Yokohama Nursery Co., Limited, Nakamura, Yokohama, Japan. 
—Neio Chrysanthemums. 
^..’■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. 
Seedling Pelargonium (TF. S .).—The flower arrived in rather a 
crushed condition, but the seedling is evidently worth preserving. You 
should propagate it extensively. 
Vine Shoots Specked (J. N'). —It would be of no use printing 
your letter. If you send specimens in a box so that they arrive in a 
fresh state they shall be carefully examined, and a reply given on the 
subject. You might also state the age and variety of the Vine, also if 
it is the only one affected in the house. 
Cucumber Plants Diseased (A. M.'). — The plants are infested 
with the stem eelworm (Tylenchus obtusus), which is much shorter 
and thicker than the Ciover-stem eelworm, but is provided with a very 
fine, sharp, rather long spear, by which it can penetrate the stems of 
plants readily, and enter their tissues. The stem of one of the plants 
just above the seed leaves was quite decayed and alive with eel worms. 
They are introduced in the soil or manure. Those you must thoroughly 
disinfect either by exposing to a temperature of 200°, on an iron plate 
with a fire under, and turning the material so as to heat every part 
without charring any of it, or by saturating the soil with soluble 
phenyle (Little’s), ^ pint to 4 gallons of water. The solution of 
phenyle may also be used for disinfecting the house, using it on what¬ 
ever is likely to harbour the eelworm. There are several treatises on 
Cucumber growing, but no one of recent date and treating the subject 
scientifically and practically. 
Ferns from Spores QOsmunda ').—There is no wonder at your not 
being able to raise seedling Ferns in the soil, for it is very wet and of a 
vegetable nature, evidently leaf soil, swarming with algae and fungus, 
and there are also eelworms (Tylenchus obtusus) and the legless grub of 
Otiorhyncus sulcatus. The fungus is Pythium DeBarryanum, but there 
is other mycelium, possibly that of Botrytis or Polyactis cinerea, and 
these are the cause of the “damping off.” We are not prepared to 
recommend any application for the destruction of the fungus, but you 
may try a 1 per cent, solution of permanganate of potassium (Condy’s 
fluid) sprinkling the pans with it. You may also afford the pans all the 
light and air you possibly can with safety, and apply no more water 
than is necessary to keep the protballus from shrivelling. The fungus 
cannot live under those conditions. In order to avoid disaster in future 
the soil should be heated on iron plates by means of a fire underneath, 
not charring, but heating it sufficiently to kill the fungus spores, say to 
200° or boiling point 212°, then the soil may be put in a sack, buried in 
the earth, and kept there until moist, when it may be used with every 
■prospect of securing good results. 
