Angnst 18, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
149 
matures their fronds, which assume too brown a hue to be highly orna¬ 
mental. (strong heat in any stages should be avoided, or the plants 
soon become a prey to thrips. 
Selaginella Kranssmna. — This is better known perhaps as 
b. denticulata, and should be prepared in quantity in pots and shallow 
pans for furnishing purposes during the winter. Nothing is gained bv 
pottmg large bunches; the pots or pans should be filled with light sandv 
ivi w” a 8 0<xi quantity of leaf soil has been incorporated 
C v , , yo , Ung S rowin S ends closely together all over the surface 
These should be frequently syringed, and if given gentle heat and a 
shady position will cover the surface thickly, ready for use. When well 
furnished place the pots and pans in a cool structure. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Propagating Stock Plants .—Cuttings of Zonal Pelargoniums are 
very scarce, and if any attempt is made to propagate the usual number 
at this time of year the beds, .in many instances, will be permanently 
disfigured. If a number of cuttings can be procured without leaving 
any blanks in the beds all well and good, otherwise it will be better to 
eventually lift all the old plants and store for spring propagation. 
Many have a prejudice against spring-struck Pelargoniums, and 
before the introduction of the freer flowering sorts the autumn-struck 
plants were unquestionably the best. We find the spring-struck flower¬ 
ing sorts quite equal the autumn-struck in everything but size, while the 
young or spring-struck variegated varieties usually surpass the older 
ones. Any of the green-leaved sorts may be struck and wintered in 
shallow boxes, but the more delicate variegated or golden-leaved varieties 
are more easily wintered rather thickly in well drained 5-inch or 6-inch 
pots. I he boxes also ought to be well drained, a saturated soil and 
damp being fatal to. so many plants. Any good loamv gritty soil is 
suitable, and the cuttings may be stood in the open exposed to the full 
sunshine till.cold rainy weather sets in. A still greater difficulty will be 
experienced in obtaining good Verbena cuttings. Even if the hard and 
wiry young shoots that may be taken oil do strike root they rarelv 
develope into healthy plants. If there are any spare plants in the 
kitchen garden borders these should be freely cut back, and if mulched 
and kept supplied with water, varied with liquid manure, plenty of soft 
clean cuttings ought to result. At the present time such cuttings 
would, if properly shaded, root freely in a close frame, and might be 
boxed or potted off later on. It is nearer, or in September, when suit¬ 
able cuttings are procured ; these ought to be struck in a frame stood 
oyei a mild or nearly exhausted hotbed. Four or five cuttings may be 
placed round the sides of 5-inch pots, a good loamy soil being used, and 
they can be wintered in these pots. Alternantheras strike readily 
enough m a gentle heat or a close frame, but we find well-established 
plants the easiest to winter, and they yield a great number of cuttings 
in the spring. Our stock plants are potted from the frames soon 
after the flower beds have been filled. They grow to a good size, and 
are useful for decorating. Those who have no surplus plants to 
take up should strike a quantity of cuttings at the present time 
in preference to depending upon the stock of frost-touched plants 
that may be lifted in the autumn. Well drained 4-inch or 5-inch 
pots are suitable, and these should be filled with light or rather 
peaty compost. About ten good cuttings may go into each pot. and 
they will strike quickly in a close warm frame. If there arc insuffi¬ 
cient Coleuses left in pots, cuttings of these also ought to be struck at 
once, m much, the same way as Alternantheras, fewer cuttings, however 
being placed in each pot. Our surplus plants are given a shift, and 
these give us abundance of cuttings in the spring. In the case of 
Heliotropes the best, course to pursue is to shift a quantity of youno- 
spring-struck plants into 6-inch pots. These are useful in the autumn 
tor conservatory and.greenhouse decoration, and yield a quantity of 
both flowers and cuttings in the spring. If it is necessary to strike a 
number of cuttings for stock purposes, choose young growing shoots, and 
strike these in pots under a close frame. Petunias and Ageratums are 
quite as difficult to propagate in the autumn, but if the young shoots 
are duly made into cuttings, dibbled in rather thickly into pots of fine 
lairly good soil, and kept close and shaded, many of them may strike, 
the young shoots of Lobelias root quickly in a close frame. Put in 
plenty of them, as they will not grow to a great size. Seedlings of a 
good strain are almost equal to named sorts from cuttings, and the seed 
may be sown now or in the spring. The seed must either be sown very 
thmly, or the seedlings be pricked off rather thickly when large enough 
to handle, otherwise they are liable to damp off wholesale. The small 
side shoots of Centaureas, if slipped off, trimmed, and placed in thumb 
pots, will usually strike freely in a close liandlight or frame. Plenty of 
sand should be added to the soil, and when rooted the plants should 
receive a small shift. Calceolarias, Violas, and Pansies may be put in as 
late as October, no class of plants being more easily struck and wintered 
taan these. 
Late-budded Poses.—A great many buds have been inserted into the 
stocks only to perish in a few hours. Expeits, as well as the more 
inexperienced, have failed to successfully bud even one-fifth of the 
stocks. It is all owing to the long spell of intensely hot and dry 
weather, the almost sapless shoots failing to sustain the buds in a 
parched atmosphere. Those who have put off the operation in the 
°P.®. ot ™ re suitably weather being experienced are in the best 
position. They may well delay budding still longer. Buds inserted 
‘‘ , e 83 September do not burst into growth the same season, but 
Tl c y become united to the stock, and start strongly the following spring. 
1 “ ese dormant buds are hardier than young shoots. 
HEBEE-KEEP£F® 
PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPING.—No. 15. 
If the honey flow of the year commences on June 7th, 
and stocks are not ready to yield a swarm on or before 
May 15th, the bee-keeper will at once consider whether it 
will be to his benefit to lose the early part of the honey 
flow, to entirely prevent swarming, or to take half a swarm 
from each stock. If there is no honey coming in during 
May, and under the circumstances mentioned in a preced¬ 
ing ai tide he decides to adopt the modified increase 
method in preference to the two extreme systems, he will 
gam a very large measure of success with practically no 
risk of failure. In the swarming system unless the 
swarms come forth naturally there is certainly some risk 
to stocks manipulated by those without sufficient experi¬ 
ence to judge how large a swarm a given stock can spare. 
Again, in the non-swarming system there is, unless the 
gieatest care is taken in following out the directions given 
on the subject, a risk of a swarm issuing at an unforeseen 
time and being lost. But when half a swarm or less is 
taken from a stock it is hardly possible to materially 
damage the stock without very gross carelessness, and yet 
the swarming desire being to some extent gratified there 
is little probability if ordinary care is exercised of a swarm 
issuing during that season. Again, two stocks and a 
swarm are ready to take advantage of the honey flow 
instead of two stocks only; there is at least one young 
queen gained, and the bees have by judicious feeding been 
kept in good heart and strength at a time when natural 
stores are not sufficiently abundant to stimulate the queen 
to sufficient exertion. 
If in May there is no honey to be gathered in the 
fields nothing will repay the bee-keeper better than to 
utilise this period for increase—either full or proportionate 
—especially if there are spare combs to use when the 
great flow commences. Those who are able to take 
artificial swarms will have no difficulty in taking half a 
swarm from their stocks. In the middle of a fine day all 
the bees and queen must be taken from a stock, which, 
may for the sake of lucidity be called A; these bees form 
the swarm, and must be placed in a hive which must stand 
on the exact spot occupied formerly by a: a has thus 
given up all its brood and stores. It is intended then to' 
take from another stock, say b, sufficient bees to hatcK 
out the brood in a, and to rear a queen unless the bee¬ 
keeper has one ready to insert: a must now be placed on 
the exact spot occupied by b, and b must be moved some 
distance away from its old location. The flying bees of r 
will go to a, recognising no change in the outward appear¬ 
ance of their hive at least, and will stay and rear the 
brood and form a strong colony in a very short time, 
while sufficient bees (many of them too young to leave the 
hive) will remain in b to hatch out its brood and to 
attend to the eggs which the queen will continue to 
deposit. If, however, after a few hours b seems to be 
depopulated too much, by bringing it some feet nearer to 
the old stand a few more stray bees which have not yet. 
settled in a will be gained. In practice, however, this 
difficulty is rarely experienced, provided that the whole 
manipulation is performed in the middle of a fine warm 
day, or some other time when the great majority of the 
bees are on the wing. The outward appearance of the 
hive in which the bees taken from a are placed should be 
as similar as possible to the stock, and a itself should be 
made most nearly to resemble b, while less care may be 
