80 ' JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ July », iwr. 
and by the roadside, and whether the delicate Alsike 
has usurped the place of the Red in the meadows destined 
for the scythe. To look again if the tall cool Limes are to be 
seen bending their heads gracefully before the breeze, and 
then it will surely not require much consideration to 
discover whether Heather is near enough and in sufficient 
quantity to afford the third harvest. These points must 
all be carefully considered immediately upon deciding to 
keep a few stocks of bees, because upon a proper apprecia¬ 
tion of the time and value of the harvest the system of 
management must to a very great extend depend. A 
word may be said for the Brassica tribe, which are all 
useful honey and pollen-producing plants, at a time when 
their supplies are useful; but it is neither necessary nor 
useful to describe the countless other plants which yield 
honey in greater or less quantity throughout the spring 
arid summer months, because the quantity under cultiva¬ 
tion or growing in a wild state is so small as to rank 
merely as an assistance, and not as a supply upon which 
•dependance can be placed for yielding a large surplus even 
in the best of good seasons. 
Mr. Pettigrew used to say that it was believed in his 
■day that “ a 20-acre field of grass well sprinkled w r ith 
White Clover yielded every fine day 100 lbs. of honey; 
and that 20 acres of Heather yielded 200 lbs. of honey 
■each day.” This is, I believe, by no means an over-esti¬ 
mate; in fact it has always appeared to me probable that 
in fine warm weather such an acreage of Clover would 
yield at least half as much again. This is, however, simply 
a matter of conjecture on my part. In some seasons the 
honey is almost ruined by the black aphides’ fluid which 
bees sometimes persist in collecting even when flower 
honey abounds. A very little of this dark compound will 
spoil the finest honey and make it unfit for market. Bee¬ 
keepers can do nothing to prevent this evil, and it is there¬ 
fore doubly hard to see our bees collecting honeydew 
while we are powerless to direct their labours to a more 
legitimate supply. Oaks and Sycamore and Limes are 
often covered with it; the whole tree sometimes resound¬ 
ing with the glad hum of busy bees wasting their energy 
and precious time in collecting honey useless to man and 
unwholesome for winter consumption in the hive. In con¬ 
clusion it may be said that unless there is a good supply 
of honey-yielding plants within two miles of the apiary 
not all the Clover and Heather in the kingdom will be of 
much use to the bees if at a greater distance. Occasionally 
bees do travel even longer distances than two miles, but 
for practical purposes I believe with many other bee¬ 
keepers that any source of supply more than two miles 
distant from the bees is practically worthless.— Felix. 
CYPRIAN BEES—CROWDING BEES. 
I bead with much interest the remarks of “ A Lanarkshire Bee¬ 
keeper,” and hope he will continue describing his experience. But 
when we read of the extraordinary result of the Cyprian’s it makes us 
wish we coul-d have them. There are, no doubt, many working men 
that would like to have what others have too much of. I hope the day 
will come when I shall be able to add them to my apiary. I was in 
hopes someone would have advertised the best hive in creation, but have 
been disappointed. I should like information on taking bars from 
hives after the honey season, and crowding the bees on as few as 
possible for the winter, then adding more in spring. There is a small 
bee-keeper a little distance from here that practises the above, but he 
canrot give any reason for so doing. Is it a good.plan, or is it better to 
let them alone ?—R. C., Kent. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Cbr. Lorenz, Erfurt, Germany.— List of Bulbs, Flower, and Vegetable 
Seeds (illustrated). 
James Dickson <fe Sons, 108, Eastgate, Chafer.—Catalogues of Bulbs, 
Foeontes, Narcissi, and Strawberries. 
W. Cutbush ifc Sons, Highgate.— Catalogue of Bulbs. 
° 0 ° 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 un¬ 
avoidably. 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 communica¬ 
tions. 
LATE INQUIRIES.—It is necessary to again remind correspondents that 
letters arriving on WEDNESDAY MORNING cannot be answered 
in the “ next issue,” which is then far advanced for press. 
Chrysanthemums (C. II. R.). —You may take two shoots from the 
break, and after the buds are safe and swelling freely remove one of them if 
you desire to produne the finest blooms the plants are c*pable of developing. 
If you only have one shoot an accident might occur in setting the bud, and 
it is advisable to provide for contingencies. 
Rose Sporting (Mis. Toionshend Mainwairing). —The stem you send 
bearing a yellow and a pink bloom affords clear evidence of sporting. It is 
not a common occurrence, though is occasionally seen, and we think dis¬ 
tinct varieties have been established by propagating from sports by budding 
or grafting. Most of the new incurved Chrysanthemums are produced in 
the same accidental way. 
Rose Buds Starting ( C. F.). —It is not unusual for Rose buds that are 
inserted early to start into growth almost immediately, and when they 
grow thus early in the season there is a fair chance of the wood maturing 
before winter. Cut back the stems on which the buds are inserted with the 
view of encouraging the Roses to grow and ripen their wood. We have 
often known the buds to grow and flower the same year. It is when the 
buds spring in September and October that they are so liable to be de¬ 
stroyed in the winter. 
Pea (E. B .).—It is next to impossible to form a cl ar and definit e 
opinion as to the distinctness of a variety from an examination of half a 
dozen pods. We can only say that those before us resemble in size, shape, and 
fulness the variety sold as House’s Perfect Marrow, the new Pea Six F. 
Milbank (Sharpe’s) bring of the same character. They are productive and 
excellent, of the Ne Plus Ultra type, and to this fine old Pea the pods 
before us are not very dissimilar. We have no doubt it is a good Pea and 
worth growing, but doubt if it is sufficiently distinct to possess any special 
commercial value. 
Large Onions (O. E. S .'\.—It does not follow, as you seem to think, that 
if you sow your winter Onions much sooner than usual that they will 
necessarily be larger ; on the contrary, they may be smaller, as if sown too 
early they are apt to produce flower stems in the spring, and in that case the 
bulbs seldom attain a good size or shape. As a rule the end of the first 
week in August is early enough, though localities and seasons exert an 
influence on the plants. We have seen no finer Onions this year than those 
exhibited by Mr. C. J. Waite in his prize collections of vegetables, and we 
believe they were grown from seed sown about August 10th. Deep, rich 
soil, with plenty of water and surface mulchings in hot weather, induce 
free, unchecked growth that results in large handsome bulbs. 
Grapes Mildewed (Constant Reader). —The cause of mildew is vari¬ 
ously attributed, but it mostly arises from a variable atmosphere, periods 
when the air is dose and moist, followed by a sudden change to cold and dry. 
Happily it is easily destroyed, the parts infested being dusted with sulphur, 
which, taken in hand when the pest first appears and persisted in, is au 
effectual remedy. Your case, however, is a bad one, and we should advise 
you employing sulphide of potassium, following the instructions of the 
vendors. Messrs. Philip Harris & Co., Bull Ring, Birmingham, prepare it 
specially for horticultural purposes, and have advertised it in this Journal. 
You ought to have applied for a remedy sooner, for though you may 
destroy the mildew on the Grapes you cannot now expect well-finished 
fruit. 
Watercress (Water). — This can be grown in the midlands and northern 
counties with the ordinary water of the district. We have Seen it growing 
luxuriantly on a small seals in Staffordshire, Notts, Lincolnshire, Durham, 
and Northumberland, and it would grow equally well if cultivated on a 
large scale in those districts. If you wish to enter into Watercress cul ure 
for commercial purposes we strongly advise you to inspect some beds, and 
you will gain more information in half an hour than you could gather from 
columns of print. It is impossible to give an estimate of cost, that 
obviously depending on the extent of culture and other circumstances. You 
may plant in the autumn or very early in spring. Near Hackbridge station 
on the L.B. & S.C. Railway you may see Watercress growing in beds sup¬ 
plied with Croydon sewage, and others in pure water. You are not very 
far from London, and Hackbridge is only about half an hour’s journey from 
Yictoria. 
Roses not Opening (Kittie) —The buds you have sent are small, hard, 
