Jannary 12, 1818. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
33 
be as far apart as not to allow the bundles to touch each other. Keep 
the temperature of the room at about 4.5°, examining the bunqhes occa¬ 
sionally for decayed berries, which should be carefully removed. The 
Vines should then be pruned, dressing the cuts with Thomson's styptic 
or patent knotting, and the house thoroughly cleansed. Air should be 
admitted freely in favourable weather, seeking to give the Vines as long 
and complete a rest as possible. Where the borders are not satisfactory 
lift the roots and relay them in fresh compost, and where the Vines 
have inside and outside borders the renovation may be accomplished 
without loss of crop by renewing the former one year and the latter the 
next. 
Fig-S.— Early-forced Trees in Pots .—The growth being now some¬ 
what advanced the temperature should be increased to 60° at night and 
65° by day by artificial means, and 70° to 75° with sun heat, commencing 
to ventilate at 70°, closing at 75°, and if the temperature rise 6° to 10° 
it will be an advantage provided it is due to sun heat. Avoid a high 
temperature by artificial means, as the sturdier and shorter jointed the 
young shoots can be kept the greater will be the chances of a satisfactory 
early crop. The trees and house will need to be syringed twice a day, 
in the morning and again at closing, but avoid a confined saturated 
atmosphere in dull weather. As the fermenting materials settle firmly 
about the pots add more fresh leaves, bringing them nearer to the rims 
of the pots, taking care that the heat about them does not exceed 70° to 
75°. Water the trees as required with weak liquid manure, and place 
some turves about 2 inches thick, grass side downwards, as already ad¬ 
vised. These should be watered with weak liquid manure so as to keep 
them moist, filling the space between the turves and stems of the trees 
with decayed manure. 
P'ig Trees to Ripen Fruit hi May. —The house containing planted- 
out trees would be started at the new year, or there should be no 
further delay. The border being thoroughly watered, repeating so as to 
insure its thorough moistening, after which the surface may be mulched 
with short manure about 2 inches thick, placing it rather thicker near 
the stem so as to encourage the roots to extend. The surfaces of the 
house and trees will require an occasional syringing, the night tempera¬ 
ture being 50°, and 55° from fire heat by day, and from 60° to 65° with 
sun heat, ventilating freely from that temperature. The mulching should 
be kept well moistened. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Lapagerias. — Most insects that infest plants will attack these useful 
greenhouse climbers, and if mealy bug establishes itself upon them it is 
the most difficult of all to eradicate. To do this is not the work of a 
solitary season, for Lapagerias are the most difficult of all plants to 
clean. Mealy bug in a small state gets behind the buds on the main 
stems, which are generally protected with a sheath of dead matter. The 
plants must be taken down and this removed, and the bug dislodged by 
the aid of a brush over a tank containing a strong solution of Fir tree 
oil, lemon oil, or some other equally useful insecticide. After they have 
been dressed with a brush they should be thoroughly dipped. After 
they have been trained on the roof, or even before, they should be 
syringed with petroleum and water, one ounce of the former to a gallon 
of the latter. This may be practised at intervals of a month, by which 
means, in time, they will all be destroyed. Where insects do not exist 
the main work will consist in the regulation of the shoots under the 
roof where they are grown. Although these are shade-loving plants 
their shoots should not be crowded thickly together to prevent ripening, 
or they will not flower satisfactorily. If the border in which they are 
growing is full of roots top-dress them with decayed manure or give 
them a good dressing of artificial manure on the surface. Manure is 
seldom applied to these plants, but after the borders become full of 
roots they are greatly benefited by such applications. 
Passifloras and Tacsonias. —These should be liberally thinned and 
pruned back at the present time. If too much wood is left in them 
they become crowded before the close of the growing season. If treated 
judiciously during the resting period, thinning during the season of growth 
will not be needed except in solitary cases. After severely pruning 
them, the house in which they are growing may present a rather bare 
appearance, but this can be remedied by training a number of the grow¬ 
ing shoots to the pillars and wires supporting them until after growth 
has commenced. If infested with insects strong solutions may be safely 
used after they are pruned, and this is the only chance of cleaning 
thoroughly plants of this nature. They cannot be done with any degree 
of satisfaction during the season of growth without destroying the 
picturesque appearance they should add to the structure in which they 
are grown. Top-dress the borders if needed with manure and loam in 
equal proportions. 
Tecomas. —These are not such rapid-growing plants as the preceding, 
and therefore do not give such labour in keeping them within bounds. 
All that is needed is slight thinning to prevent overcrowding and the 
regulation of their shoots. Clean the plants if they need it, and top- 
dress the border in which they are growing. 
Clematis indivisa lobata .—Where the shoots crowd one another 
weak unripened ones should be removed. Pruning should be deferred 
until the plant has flowered. Aphides and scale are the worst enemies 
this plant has to contend against. The former is readily destroyed by 
slight fumigations, and the latter with the petroleum solution advis ;d 
for Lapagerias. Top-dress the border if it needs it, but be careful not 
to give too much water at this season of the year. Where deciduous 
Clematises are grown indoors prune closely those that flower on young 
w'ood, while those that flower from ripened wood should merely have 
weak ends removed and growths that are likely to crowd the plants. 
PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPING.—No. 27. 
A STOCK of bees when in a normal condition will at once 
destroy a stranger queen ; a stock deprived of its queen either by 
death or the interference of the bee-keeper will show an equal 
antipathy and dislike to a substituted mother unless special 
measures are taken to overcome their prejudice. Bees, it is w'ell 
known, are endowed with a wondrous instinct, and the fact that 
they should be so utterly unable to comprehend the value of a 
queen entering the hive after the death or removal of their former 
sovereign is an emphatic proof of the essential difference between 
instinct and reason ; a queen entering the hive by chance might 
not unfrequently be the means, and the only means, of saving the 
stock from destruction, and yet the bees themselves at once destroy 
her. At certain periods, therefore, when the bees are—either 
owing to the time of the year when the old queen dies or owing to 
her sterility for some days before actual death—unable to raise a 
successor, the death of the queen will, unless the bee-keeper holds 
out a helping hand, entail the total destruction of the colony. Yet 
on the other hand instances have been adduced in which stocks, 
deprived of their queen by her death at a time when there were no 
eggs in the hive and no larvae young enough to be used for queen¬ 
raising purposes, have made most extraordinary efforts to obtain a 
successor, and in one case it is asserted that the bees of a queenless 
stock stole worker eggs from another colony. This, however, is 
by the way. Enough has been written to show the bee-keeper that 
when introducing queens he is under the necessity of combating by 
some means this spirit of hatred to a change of dynasty if he desires 
to effect his purpose with certainty and without incurring needless 
risk. 
The introduction of queens to stocks which have thrown off 
swarms, and giving royal cells to stocks, have been already dis¬ 
cussed, and it is not to them that we now refer. The general 
principle upon which the bee-keeper works when introducing 
queens by means of any of the various kinds of cases available for 
the purpose is that the queen being thus confined for a certain 
period in the hive, and yet out of reach of the bees, she gradually 
loses her peculiar scent and gains confidence, while the bees also 
become accustomed to her presence and fondle her with their 
antennae, thus becoming by degrees friendly, and in the course of 
some forty-eight hours in the majority of cases willing to receive 
and welcome her as reigning queen. One of the oldest and most 
useful cages for the purpose is the ordinary pipe cover cage, which 
is fastened on to a comb by simply pressing its sides or edges into 
the cells until the midrib is reached, or at any rate until it is firmly 
fixed and does not prevent the combs from being brought into 
their ordinary position. The old queen must in any case be first 
removed, and all royal cells should be carefully excised ; the new 
queen then being caged on one of the central combs containing a 
little honey, upon which she may feed when necessary. In thirty 
hours afterwards the cage may be removed, and unless the bees 
sljow signs of attacking her the hive may be closed and the success 
of the operation is practically assumed. If, however, signs of anger 
are manifested a confinement lasting about half of the former 
period will probably induce the most angry stock to lay aside ail 
feelings of anger and distrust, and the desire of the bee-keeper will 
thus be accomplished., 
The other cages are used in a somewhat similar manner, but are 
in some respects superior. These cages allow the queen to be re¬ 
moved without disturbing or removing any of the combs. The cage, 
being inserted between two centre combs, is kept in position there 
until the time—from twenty-four to thirty hours—arises when the 
queen is to be let loose from her confinement. This is done by 
merely pressing a wire or flange, as the case may be, which opens a 
