460 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 24, 1887. 
foraging bees through returning to their old apiary five miles away, as I 
have explained, yet they gathered as much honey as those placed on the 
Heather, and the hives were also quite full of bees, while those put on 
the Heather were not a third of the strength. I do not think another 
season I shall be able to compare with any bees in this district that have 
been placed close on the Heather, as most now seem satisfied I am 
correct in my theory. Place bees a safe distance away, and the Heather 
harvest puts them in the best heart for winter ; plenty of stores and 
plenty of mature bees. As to the Heather having a weakening influ¬ 
ence, why I took mere nuclei this year, and brought them back 
rousing stocks, and had to give them : more combs to prevent over¬ 
crowding. 
In addition to the advantages I have here depicted, let us consider 
the following. The moors are not inhabited except by a few game- 
keepers and a shepherd or two, in whose care (?) bees are placed. You 
have to arrange your own accommodation the best you can. If there 
happens to be a wall or ledge of rock to act as a wind break you are 
in “ clover,” but as a rule you have only the hollows in the wild moor¬ 
land for shelter. You place vour bees yourself ; do all the work your¬ 
self ; and when you go to fetch them home, you have Is. per hive to 
pay for all that are alive, those that die are not charged for. These are 
the terms charged and enforced by all who take in bees in this district. 
This rent and expens s in a bad season like 1885 is well calculated to 
check moving bees to the Heather. Then the roads are bad ; if the 
rutty tracks can really be called roads. The journey every time you 
want to look at them is a great trial, while a mile or so away you will 
find a village, a good road to it, if not a railway station close to, as in 
my case, and for 2s. fid. you can have the use of a garden, a field, or an 
allotment on which you could place 100 or more hives, and you can 
command good help and accommodation when required. These are 
important matters to a cottager who desires to make his bees pay. 
In moving bees to and fro, I spread cheese cloth over frames which 
are broad shouldered ; two strong strips of wood screwed over their ends 
keeps them in place, and yet allows combs to have a certain amount of 
elasticity, wdiich is important. The hives are loaded on spring drays, in 
such a way that the combs are at right angles with the axle—that is, in 
a line with the dray ; some people say they should be placed the other 
way about, but no one will catch me doing it. The dray requires load¬ 
ing so that the springs show- signs of “ giving,” they will then respond 
to every variation in the road : loading so and travelling at dark, you 
can go at either a walk, a trot or a gallop, even when combs are sealed 
to the bottom. I have never yet had a comb break down in transit, and 
my frames are II inches wide by 10f deep', and mostly weigh from 4 to 
5 lbs. when returning from the Heather. If I have not made this impor¬ 
tant subject clear enough, l shall be happy to do so in reply to questions 
for more information on any point. 
Perhaps it is not generally known that when the wind is light and 
the sky cloudless, during the daytime it is very hot on the moors, parti¬ 
cularly in August, but at night and in bad weather during September 
it is very cold and wretched, so that it is certain death for a bee to turn 
out. At 600 feet lower elevation it is warmer, more sheltered, and they 
are able to return.—A Hallamshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Davis & Jones, Lilford Road, CimberwGl, London, S.E .—Descriptive 
Catalogue of Dew and Old Chrysanthemums, 1887-1888. 
° 0 C ' 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 wo do not undertake to return rejected communica¬ 
tions. 
Books (B. M. D.). —Tbe book by Mr. W. Low is published by Chapman 
and H 'll, Loudon ; or you cjuld obtain particulars from the author, Euston 
Hall Gardens, The fori. 
Primula erosa f J. T. S.). —Your card has been forwarded to our coire¬ 
spondent, who is, like yourself, an amateur. 
Size of Double Tennis Lawn {J. L.). —To allow space and to look well 
the lawn should be 10 yards long and 30 yards wide, atiy extra length and 
width being decidedly advantageous. 
Flowering Plants for North Wall {Idem). —Herbert? stenophyils, C oro- 
nilla Emf-rus, Crataegus Laelandi (for its berries), Cydonia j iponica var. 
prmceps, Forsythia suspensa, Jasminum nudifloruni, and Roses. 
Chrysanthemum (J. B. II.). —We have several times seen the Queen of 
England Chrysanthemum exhibited as light in colour as the bloom you 
have sent, and we do not- think it sufficiently distinct to be invested with 
a varietal name. 
Eucliarises ( T. H .).—We cannot find any mites on the bulbs sent, but 
cense fog and gaslight that have been general in London for some days are 
not the mos", favourable c mditions f r examining small objects. The roots 
appear unhealthy. You cannot err by soaking the bulbs in a strong solu¬ 
tion of so r tsoap, with a win-glassful of petroleum added, before potting 
them, though we are by no meins certain they are attacked by the mite. 
Vines and Plants ( Puzzled i.—In the advice to which you refer plants 
were not considered. Your Vines will rest ill a temperature of 45°, and 
that will suffice for Primulas. A night temperature of 50° is needlessly 
high under the c : rcumstnnces, but the day temperature from sun may be 
higher without injury, the house being kept dry. A moist atmosphere is 
not required by the plants, but they must not suffer through drought at 
the roots, nor yet be watered excessively. With thoughtful attention you 
ought to succeed in your object. 
Planting Pmonies (B. K. D.). —A position much shaded by trees is not 
a good oue for the plants; but if not under the drip of the trees, and the 
ground is not impoverished by their roots, they would succeed fairly well. 
Tli - b d should be well manured and deeply stirred. Good sorts are Albi- 
flora chineusis plena, white; Albiflora Whitleyi, whit9; AtrosiDguinea, 
crimson; Decandolle, purplish rose ; Henry Demay, violet-purple; Eten- 
darj du Graud Homme, rosy purple; Marie Lemoine, rosy blush, centre 
creamy while; Madame Bollet, pink tipped white; Splendida, rose; 
Madame Cliaimay, deep rose; Souvenir d'Auguste Meillez, crimson-purple; 
and Doyen d’Enghieii, light carmine, tipped white. They may be planted 
when tae weather is mild. 
Storing Fruit (K. S. A.). —The top of the house and very light is the 
worst possible pla'e for storing Apples and Pears. Light is prejudicial to 
the keeping of fruit. A dark cellar is in every respect preferable, as it 
insures uniiormity of temperature, and a moderate degre; of mo sture is 
not injurious, as it keeps tbe fruit plump. Tbe fruit takes no harm laid 
oil beech or other non-resinous wood shelves ; or if the shelves are deal a 
thin layer of cl-:an dry straw will form a good bed, and prevent any taint 
arising from the wood. It is best to place the fruit in single layer, espe¬ 
cially the choicer sorts, and there is no necessity to turn it. The fruit 
should, however, be occasionally examined for the removal of any decayed, 
handling them carefully. Commoner sorts of fruit may be placed in layers 
or several deep, care being taken to remove any that show symptoms of 
decay. 
Composition to Prevent Rabbits Eating Shrubs {Idem). —There are 
some compositions that have a more or less deterrent effect on rabbits 
eating shrubs. One of the best is fish oil, which may be had at most 
fishing stations, but its smell is very nauseous. There are few shrubs that 
rabbits will not eat, especially in severe weather. The best remedy is to 
exclude them by wire netting. For shrubs that rabbits do not care much 
about see the issue of November 10th. 
Boiler and Piping for Heating House ( R. B .).—To maintain a tem¬ 
perature of 50° by artificial means in ordinary weather two rows of 4-inch 
pipes along the front would be sufficient, having them one over the other— 
i. e., a flow and return; but to maintain that temperature when tbe weather 
is very severe you would require at least another row of pip ug, or two 
flows and a return. If you do not miud the expense it would be best to 
have four rows of 3-inch piping, two flows with corresponding returns, 
which would prevent the necessity of heating them highly to maintain the 
proper temperature. A saddle boiler, IS inch's long, 10 inches wide inside, 
and 11 inches high, would heat the pipes. Perhaps you would prtfer an 
imp-oved form of boiler ; but we never recommend any particular make of 
boiler for reasons that will be obvious on reflection. 
Dressing for Vine Borders {J. S.). —With the roots deep a trp-dressfng 
is not of much consequence, as they are not readily attracted upwards. 
By all means put the damage right, then remove tbe surfa-e soil down to 
the roots, and lift some of them, laying them in fresh material. If this be 
impracticable without prejudicing the c op much may be effee'ed by remov¬ 
ing the soil amongst the roots at the collar, aod replacing with fresh, so as 
to encourage fresh roots, which may, by judicious surface dressings, be 
induced to spread over the surface or npp r part of tbe border. If you leave 
the border otherwise as it is, apply a dressing of lime an inch thick, and 
mix it with the soil as deeply as can be done without disturbing the roota, 
or very little, aod it may be repeated in spring, but ODly then, pointing it 
in. Good loam with a twentieth of half-inch bones is a good surface- 
dressing 2 or 3 inches thick, mulching during growth. 
Stands for Exhibition Blooms, Chrysanthemums ( A Would-be Exhi¬ 
bitor). —M>\ Molyneux sends the following reply :—“ Yon need not meet 
troubles half way regarding the Bizes of boards whereon to stow blooms, 
because it is rot likely that you will have many blooms of the size quoted 
—0 inches. Blooms of that size are rare. Where they do occur, and the 
stands are not allowed to be larger than 2 feet by 1 foot 6 inches wide, then 
one bloom must overlap another. This will not make any material differ¬ 
ence to the exhibitor’s chance of success, because good judges do not pass 
such flowers without notice. It is seldom that the front row blooms on 
any stand are so lar^e that they cannot be set up on the o thodox stands ; 
therefore if larger s’ands were used to accommodate the few extra large 
blooms the front and middle rows would suffer by having too much space. 
Tbe National Society admits the use of larger boards for Japanese vatieties, 
but they are seldom used. Exhibitors are alive to the fact that if larger 
boards be employed many of tbe bloom3 will not nearly touch each other 
