182 
.JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
US?U9t 23, 18*3 
forward should have a sunny position, their pots only needing protection 
fronj the burning rays of the sun. A northern position is only advised 
for the purpose of retarding them. While they are outside syringe 
them morning and evening when the weather is bright, and be careful 
that they do not suffer by an insufficiency of water at their roots. 
Those about to complete their growth should have abundance of air and 
as much light as possible, provided they are not exposed to such an 
•extent that the sun will brown their foliage. Plants that flowered in 
May must be pushed on so that their growth can be brought to a stand¬ 
still as early as possible. 
THE LESSON OF THE YEAR. 
Tiif. advantage of using large roomy hives capable of contain¬ 
ing a good supply of food has been made more manifest than ever 
during the last two months. Those bee-keepers who in anticipa¬ 
tion of the harvest contracted the broad nest in order to compel 
the bees to go into the supers have no doubt had time to repent at 
•leisure. A body box crammed with bees and brood in every stage 
•of growth, yet containing but a small quantity of honey, must 
have been an encouraging feature during the storms and rain of 
last June and July. The knowledge that stocks so treated are 
■ever on the brink of starvation must have given zest to the bee¬ 
keeper's disappointment, and have filled his cup of sorrow to over¬ 
flowing. Most people learn by experience, and if experience is a 
hard teacher her lessons are all the more perfectly taught and 
indelibly impressed upon her unwilling pupils. 
The constant fidget and anxiety of knowing that a stock is short 
■of food and yet crowded with bees, the inconvenience of having 
to remove supers in order to remedy this evil, and the consequent 
■disturbance of the stock must be patent to all, and yet many bee¬ 
keepers reduce their stocks to poverty to induce them to work more 
zealously in supers. In fine warm weather such a course of 
management may partially succeed, but when cold, wet, and sunless 
•days intervene before the supers contain any honey at all then the 
stock is in imminent danger, and the bee-keeper may well fear to 
lose—-and richly does he merit the misfortune—all chance of a 
harvest. Such a fatal result may be prevented we know by timely 
-feeding, but where is the common sense of making feeding neces- 
•sary by taking away the food already provided ? Yet this is con¬ 
stantly done. 
How different the result when a little common sense and fore¬ 
thought are brought into play ! Then we see a different system of 
management, and as a consequence a larger result. The man who 
uses a roomy hive and always keeps a good supply of food in reach 
•of his bees has no cause to fear that a week’s bad weather will ruin 
liis stocks unless he renders them constant assistance. He knows 
-that, sufficient food is stored to guard against all normal bad weather, 
and may rest easy with the assurance that a few days’ rain will not 
■do much injury, and that even a longer period of inclement weather 
will not damage his prospect to any considerable extent. But it 
may be urged that bees in lai’ge hives are not so ready to work 
in supers. Is this so ? Provided a stock is strong in numbers, 
•and supers are placed at the proper time—before, that is to say, 
The stock has determined to send out a swarm, and yet not until 
the hive is crowded with bees—supers are readily taken possession 
■of by the bees, and the work makes rapid and satisfactory progress. 
•Of course when stocks are not really strong enough to enter supers, 
then by contracting the space in the body box the bees are com¬ 
pelled to find a proportionate amount of room elsewhere, and con- . 
sequently it is only necessary to contract the brood nest sufficiently 
to compel the bees to enter and remain in supers. Noyv for the 
result of such a masterly policy of activity. The laying space of 
the queen is diminished, therefore the number of bees reared in such 
a stock is limited ; the queen cannot find room to deposit the eggs 
with which she is heavy, therefore the desire to swarm is engen¬ 
dered ; there is not sufficient room for brood alone, therefore every 
cell formerly taken up by honey is, when such honey is consumed, 
used for brood ; the frames being filled with brood there is no food 
supply, and as a result a few days of bad weather endanger the 
well-being of the stock. 
By using roomy hive3 all these evils are averted. The queen 
has sufficient space for the exercise of all her powers ; no desire to 
swarm is therefore, under normal conditions, engendered. The 
stock continues to grow daily more populous, and the bees are 
encouraged to rear brood because there is a proper supply of food 
to encourage them, and supers are entered when the population of 
the hive is in excess of that which it is able to accommodate. Now, 
the swarming mania killed, a large population constantly increasing, 
and an absence of want give to the bee-keeper a much better 
prospect of surplus than starving stocklets artificially compelled to 
enter supers by the measures of a bee-keeper who calculates that 
by taking away space in the place a proportionate space must be 
afforded elsewhere to accommodate the population thus crowded 
into a smaller space than they have previously occupied with comfort. 
If this year of loss has taught the lesson which some bee-keepers 
decline to learn by looking at the experience of others such loss 
will not be without some gain.— Felix. 
• t ® 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 ofice. 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. 
Grapes {Andromeda). —When editorial letters are directed to the 
publisher in connection with matters of business some delay is inevitable 
in their delivery, the departments being distinct and conducted by 
separate staffs of officials. That is the reason your letter did not reach 
us till after the arrival of the Grapes last week ; the reply, however, and 
reference we gave would meet your case. The collapse of Grapes, what 
is known as scalding, has been very prevalent this year. 
Mushrooms { Inquirer). —The specimens you send are of the 
Horse Mushroom, Agaricus arvensis. They are safely eaten when 
gathered dry and in a fresh state, before the laminae or gills assume a 
dark or blackish colour, but lack the delicate flavour of the true meadow 
Mushroom, Agaricus campestris. They are freely used for making 
ketchup Your letter arrived too late to be answered last week. This 
reply will be recognised, though your name is omitted. 
Young- Vines (./. A’.).—We are glad to hear our advice has answered 
so well. The leading shoots we understand reach the top of the house. 
Some growers would let them run down the back wall, and further 
allow all the laterals that might push to grow unchecked to “ encourage 
root action others, of which Mr. William Taylor, who grows Grape3 so 
well, would top the growths and pinch succeeding laterals to a leaf as 
soon as their points could be seized with the finger and thumb. That is 
evidently Mr. Abbey’s plan, as you may gather on reading an able 
article containing reasons for it on page 114. 
Grapes Splitting- {Devonian). —We have received the berries, and 
regret to say if you have no means of applying heat to dry the atmosphere 
that you are almost powerless to check the evil if dull wet weather 
continue. All you can do is to ventilate early and as fully as possible 
on all occasions when it would dissipate the moisture in the house, 
every part of which should be kept dry in your provei’bially damp 
district. The cold and wet have prevented the fruit swelling outdoors, 
and injuriously affected the Liliums. The season has been abnormal, 
and we must hope for better weather and results next year. 
Under Gardener Leaving {T. S.). —The man who has given yog 
a month’s notice to leave, and informs you that he is legally entitled to 
