462 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 7,1894. 
May 31st, a cold and raw morning, and in some places through the 
day severe thunder storms, accompanied by hail, were experienced. 
Newtrows is only a mile from Lesmahagow, so to that place I went 
to see Mr. Grierson and other bee-keepers. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Grierson gave ample testimony of their handicraft in bee-keeping. 
Mr. Grierson makes all his hives, whether they be of straw or 
wood, although not a tradesman. His honey is of excellent 
quality, and it is a pleasure to partake of it. Mrs. Grierson does 
not approve of glass as storage receptacles for honey, but the old 
Scotch earthenware jars are still her favourites ; and I must say 
many of the samples of honey I tasted that day were deserving 
of not only the first prize, bat an extra award if exhibited. It had 
none of that watery insipidness so common in extracted honey 
stored in glass jars, and was free from taint of pollen or old 
combs. It had been taken from sealed combs, quickly jarred, and 
stored in a dry place. The hive mentioned in the Journal of 
May 10th lost its queen during March, and when discovered had 
another introduced. It has twenty-two frames about “ standard ” 
size, and at the time of my visit completely crowded eighteen, the 
size of the hive being near the Lanarkshire storifying one. 
Bees and the Weather. 
Having many visits to make, and a break of journey, I had to 
speed on quickly, so called upon the brothers Cowie—old men, 
but as enthusiastic as they were half a century since. They were 
the pioneers of advanced bee-keeping in the district, not learned 
from books, but from nature. Mr. William Cowie I have been 
intimate with for more than thirty years, but his elder brother was 
a stranger to me. When introduced, he exclaimed, “ I read some 
of your articles. You are right. Come and see this.” Continuing he 
remarked, “ The bee-keepers here would not believe what we said, 
so we made these to let them see what bees could do.” These 
hives had fifteen frames, 20 inches by 8^ inches, inside measure, 
and had two tiers of supers filled. 
All the bee-keepers concur in the present year being the most 
disastrous to bees they have ever experieneed. The effects of the 
storms and frosts are too apparent to imagine anything else. All 
have had to feed, while most of the hives are, in some places, on 
the eve of swarming. Some of them but for feeding would have 
been all dead. For about five or six miles in the heart of the 
fruit district I observed the Hawthorn blossom unharmed ; but 
north and south of that it is all along, with many of the trees are 
blackened. At Larkhall I found bee-keepers feeding stocks and 
swarms. 
The Size of Hives. 
There has been much debating over the question as to 
whether a hive should have eight or ten frames. Taking the 
largest size, each frame will have about 5000 cells. Not more than 
six of these can be used for brood, or, proportionately, space equal 
to six frames at the most ; 30,000 cells in all is nearly what an 
average queen will fill in ten days at a time when the adult bees 
can cover all the combs. The other combs are required for food 
for both adult bees and brood, and which, to keep the internal 
economy of the hive in a progressive state, must have about 10 lbs. 
of honey stored. It will be observed that the space for egg-laying 
is half only what it should be. The difference in the number of bees 
hatching from a “ standard ” hive and a Lanarkshire one is apparent. 
At a certain time the former will have 30,000 bees, or perhaps much 
under that number, as I have made no allowance for drone comb, 
while in a full sized Lanarkshire hive at the same date 60,000 or 
70,000 will have crept out of the cells. The larger the hive less space 
for storage is required—that is, proportionately, and instead of 
70,000 at the end of three weeks 80,000 might be expected. The 
stronger the hive, too, the greater will be the heat. Consequently, 
more bees can go afield to gather honey, while they work with 
greater vigour than those from weaker hives. If bees of 
an undersized hive gather 2 lbs. of honey in a given time, those 
from a full sized one will gather in the same period at the same place 
three times as much, or perhaps a great deal more. A hive of 
Syrian bees of mine gathered 33 lbs. in one day. It was strong in 
bees and had much empty comb, and was about three times larger 
than any “standard” hive, which never will reach that weight in 
double the time.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
W. Bull, King’s Road, Chelsea.—Yew and Rare Plantx. 
Dammann & Co., Naples, Bulbs, Roots, and Orchids. 
J. Laing & Sons.— Fancy-leaved Caladliims. 
F. Strawson, 77, Queen Victoria Street, E.C.— Greenhouses and 
Hothouses, 
^jj'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. 
N'atlonal Dahlia Society (^Reader'). — T. W. Girdlestone, Esq., 
F.L.S., Sunningdale, Berks, is the Honorary Secretary of this Society, 
and will, no doubt, send you a schedule on application. 
Iiaxton’s Sensation Strawberry (./. TF. W.). —We hear on high 
authority that the variety named is a good grower and free bearer. 
Your small plants may possibly be all the better next year through not 
flowering this, and we hope the variety will prove its adaptability to 
your soil and position. Nearly all varieties are more or less capricious. 
Book on Geometry (A. R.'). —By persevering you will experience 
no difficulty in obtaining a fair knowledge of geometry from handbooks. 
An excellent and cheap work on the subject for beginners is “ The School of 
Art Geometry,” published at Is. by Messrs. G. Gill & Sons, 23, Warwick 
Lane, Paternoster Row, E.C., and obtainable through any bookseller. 
Aspidistra Deaves Browned (A. W. F.'). —The cause of the 
browning is some check to the growth, but it often results by moisture 
on the foliage, and exposure in that condition to the sun. The white 
or variegated leaves are more susceptible of injury than the green. It 
would be advisable to repot the plant, not necessarily dividing it, but 
removing a fair amount of the old soil, and using a compost of rich, 
turfy loam, one-third leaf soil, and one-sixth of sand, pressed down 
firmly. Good drainage must be provided, as the plant requires liberal 
moisture. After potting or dividing, the plants should be encouraged 
by moisture and shade to make a good growth ; but as this tends to 
the production of green and the diminishing of the number of varie¬ 
gated leaves the procedure must not be carried too far, assigning them 
as much light as practicable without exposure to glaring sunshine. 
Daisies on Dawns (^Amateur'). —There is no doubt about the 
value of household slops for applying to lawns ; indeed, liquid manure 
of almost any kind is beneficial. We have recently inspected a lawn 
that has been immensely improved by being watered with the diluted 
drainings from a manure heap. The presence of Daisies in lawns is 
nearly always indicative of poverty of soil. An excellent dressing is 
a mixture of superphosphate of lime and nitrate of soda, two-thirds 
of the former and one-third of the latter, applied during showery 
weather at the rate of 2 ozs. per square yard at intervals of a fortnight. 
If dry weather prevails it is a good plan to well water the lawn before 
applying the fertilisers, and then again afterwards to convey their 
virtues to the roots of the grass. Mixtures of guano and salt and soot 
and salt also act beneficially, so also do bonemeal and wood ashes. We 
mention these different ingredients in order that you may use what is 
the most convenient or readily obtainable. The most effectual mode of 
destroying Dandelions and Plantains is to drop a little sulphuric acid 
into the heart of each plant. Some persons have found lawn sand 
effectual in destroying Daisies. 
The Custard Apple (71 R.). —We cannot on the evidence of 
such young leaves venture to pronounce authoritatively as to whether 
your plant is a Custard Apple. There are between forty and fifty 
species of Anona or Custard Apple. Those commonly known are the 
Sweet Sop (Anona squamosa) and the Sour Sop (Anona muricata). 
The fruit of the former is green, covered with leafy scales, and not 
unlike the head of an Artichoke (Cynara). The fruit of the Sour Sop is 
yellowish-green, in shape not unlike a prolonged Strawberry, and 
covered with tubercular scales or knobs. It often weighs from 2 to 3 lbs. 
Both fruits on being cut show a white pulp, which in the case of the 
Sweet Sop is rather gritty, and in that of the Sour Sop rather pithy and 
very white. In this pulp the seeds are distributed. In neither case is 
their flesh very like that of the Melon, and the taste is sub-acid, and (as 
far as our experience goes) somewhat sickly. The seeds you have sent, 
though shorter and broader than those of Anona squamosa, have the 
black brown colour and the deeply furrowed albumen of the Custard 
Apples. It is also true that the leaves of Anona tripetala show the same 
strongly parallel-nerved character as that of the young coty ledonous plant 
which you enclose. It is possible, therefore, that it is Anona tripetala 
or Cherimolia, a native of Chili and Peru, and known as the Soft- 
fruited Custard Apple. The fruit of this species is roundish, scaly, 
and of a dark purple colour when ripe. If the plants are Custard 
Apples they should be grown in a very light position in stove heat, in 
good loam, containing a free admixture of peat. 
