September 6, 18J8. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
2-9 
the plants are established place them under glass and gradually expose 
them. When the plants are intended to occupy side or central beds in 
houses lift and place them moderately close together on the border, 
filling in between them with loam and leaf soil, one third of the latter 
may be used. Give a good watering, and apply light shade for a few 
days until the plants will bear exposure to the sun without flagging. 
Encourage young plants in 4 and 5-inch pots from cuttings to complete 
their growth. Give them an application of artificial manure to the 
surface of the soil. Clear soot water will do them good and insure the 
foliage preserving a dark green instead of a light sickly hue. 
Solanums .—Those planted out have not set well, only a very limited 
number having berries sufficient to render them of decorative value. 
Those kept under glass or confined at their roots in pots have done well 
in spite of the weather, but they are in a backward condition. Those 
from the outside may be placed under glass to bring them forward more 
rapidly. Supply water liberally, giving clear soot water and stimulants 
to keep their foliage green and healthy. Once they are allowed to suffer 
by the want of water or from exhaustion the foliage will soon turn 
yellow. In this condition Solanums are worthless for ornamental pur¬ 
poses. Well berried plants are highly ornamental when their foliage is 
of the darkest hue, and this can be attained by liberal supplies of water 
and judicious feeding. 
Lilium lancifolium. — This Lily is very liable to be attacked by 
aphides when grown in pots for flowering indoors. The foliage should 
be kept clean by slight fumigations. After they have flowered the 
plants must not be neglected, or disappointment another year will 
follow. When placed outside the soil is liable to become too wet, and 
serious injury is the result. Place them in a cool airy position, and 
supply water carefully until the stems die naturally. The varieties of 
L. lancifolium do remarkably well in pots under good culture ; they in¬ 
crease rapidly and attain great strength. 
Chinese Primulas .—Admit abundance of air at night when the 
weather allows as well as by day. Protect them from bright sunshine, 
but be careful not to overshade them. If drawn up weakly by over¬ 
shading or too close an atmosphere, they will not flower half so profusely 
as dwarf sturdy plants, and in addition they are liable to go off during 
the damp dull days of autumn and winter. The earliest plants may 
have c'ear soot water, and may be allowed to come into flower if they 
are needed for the conservatory early in October. If not, remove the 
flower truss directly it is visible. Pot later plants as they need it. Those 
for late spring flowering should be placed into 3-inch pots. 
Philts .—The old common garden variety is very useful for forcing in 
4 and 5-inch pots. Insert thickly well-developed cuttings. Water 
and place them in a cold frame, and nearly every one will root if shaded 
from the sun for two or three weeks. Year-old plants may be lifted 
from the open borders and potted, while good bunches may be placed 
together in boxes for forcing when the flowers are needed only in a cut 
state. They must be established before winter sets in. 
PREPARING FOR WINTER. 
Those bee-keepers who have acted on the instructions given 
at different times will find that their stocks are now in a proper 
condition for going into winter quarters, and that in the spring 
the result will be favourable. But there are some bee-keepers 
who have not paid proper attention to the various requirements 
of their stocks, and to these we earnestly appeal, in their own 
interests, to do what must be done as quickly as it may be 
done. This has been a phenomenal year, and as a consequence 
uncared-for stocks are in a precarious state, so much so, that 
unless great care is taken at the present time, a greatly in¬ 
creased winter mortality will be the inevitable result. It is not 
, our intention to attempt, by frightening lazy bee-keepers by holding 
up before them a picture of future loss, to induce them to take the 
proper steps for remedying former neglect, because we have no pity 
for bee-keepers who are enthusiastic in good seasons, and indolent 
procrastinators when their lot falls in a bad time ; but it is a duty 
owing to those who err from want of thought or ignorance, to 
impress upon them the necessity for at once overhauling and 
attending to all stocks which are expected to live over the next 
six months and prosper. 
It is said sometimes that stocks may be put into quarters too 
strong in numbers, and this may sometimes be the case. Over¬ 
population means a greater consumption of honey, and every ounce 
consumed by what we may term the surplus bees is a loss to the 
bee-keepe - . But even here we may think with reason that the 
larger the population the less amount of food need be consumed 
in order to produce the necessary amount of heat ; but it is not 
necessary to pursue this line of argument further, because we find 
that in practice not one stock in a hundred has anything approach¬ 
ing to a surplus population at the end of September. On the 
other hand, very many stocks are undoubtedly most disastrously 
reduced at that period, and unless there is an augmentation in 
numbers, such stocks will not give the results that should be ob¬ 
tained from every stock in a good season. There are exceptions, 
but these prove the rule. 
Driven bees may now be purchased at a low rate, in fact 
“ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ” informs us that they are a drug in 
the market. Here, then, is a chance for the bee-keeper who has 
weak stocks. Such a one should purchase driven bees sufficient to 
bring up the population of each of his stocks to a proper strength, 
and in making the purchase he may bear in mind that at the end of 
September a pound of bees will contain far more young, and con¬ 
sequently valuable bees, than will the same quantity bought at the 
present time. 
No contraction of hives can be allowed. All surplus cases may 
of course be removed, but the hrood nest should in no case be con¬ 
tracted at all ; indeed stocks winter remarkably well with a case of 
empty combs left over the brood nest all through the winter, and 
the mortality in such stocks was last winter comparatively small. 
If stocks are strengthened by the addition of driven bees and fed 
up to contain some 25 lbs. of sealed food they may be wintered 
successfully on many principles provided that they are kept dry. 
Great heat is not essential to successful wintering, dryness is •, 
warm coverings are useful, but it is no advantage to wrap up a 
stock until it resembles an old lady afflicted with rheumatism. 
We suspect that winter flights on unsuitable occasions are often 
caused by too much coddling in the covering arrangements, the 
temperature rising to a great height when the sun shines on the 
exterior of the hive, and the covering on the top preventing the 
heat from escaping raising the temperature, thus making the bees 
uneasy and ready to fiy on days wdren it is dangerous for them to 
stir from home. 
A single thickness of ticking and one pad of felt surmounted by 
a case containing some 4 inches of cork dust is a cheap, simple, and 
effectual covering for a stock ; damp can then escape, and yet 
sufficient heat is retained to preserve the stock in a normal state. 
Entrances need not be very much contracted, and must never be 
closed except when snow is on the ground, and then only by strips 
of perforated zinc ; and even then a board should be placed in front 
of the hive to prevent the sun shining in at the entrance, and 
thus by arousing the bees causes them to find out that they are 
unable to escape, with the result that a tumult may ensue with 
disastrous results. Some bee-keepers are, we are aware, antago¬ 
nistic to thus closing the entrance, but we have never had any bad 
results when the above plan has been followed, while when the 
hive front has been shaded, but the entrances have not been 
stopped, considerable less has in certain instances been the result. 
Hives should be well examined, and all cracks and fissures efficiently 
stopped by working in putty and afterwards giving a coat of good 
thick paint. Weeds should be cut down low, the legs of the hives 
examined, and everything which seems at all deficient be put in 
good condition, and then the bee-keeper may rest happy in the 
assurance that he has done all that it is in his power to do to 
ensure success, and that if failure does by any chance result it will 
by some untoward circumstances rather than by the neglect of 
proper precautions.— Felix. 
NOTES ON BEES. 
I write near the end of August, but beyond the rise of the 
temperature there is no improvement in the weather so far as bees 
are concerned. Ten days or so more, and according to precedent, 
the honey season will be past for another year, and all hopes of a 
surplus of honey gone unless the weather greatly improves, and 
