116 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February B, lt88. 
surface room upon which their rhizomes can creep. Pans are the 
most suitable, ami these shouhl be liberally drained. Very few of the 
■varieties need potting below the rim of the pans, in fact only those that 
«do not creep. Use for a compost rough fibry peat and loam in eqinal 
proportions, to which should be added liberal quantities of coarse sand 
jrnd charcoal in lumps. Nearly all Davallias do well in baskets and add 
materially to the attractiveness of any structure in which they may be 
suspended. U. Mooreana creeps rapidly round the sides of a basket, 
and the same may be said of D. dissecta, D. bullata, and others. Many 
of the smaller growing species are admirably adapted for cutting, and 
when grown in quantity yield abundance of fronds that are highly 
prized, for they arrive fresh and last a l')ng time in that condition 
mfter undergoing a railway journey of several hundred miles. 
Poly.iticlium proliferum .—This is a grand Fern for decorative pur¬ 
poses in from 2 to 5-inch pots. It is readily increased by keeping two 
or three plants in pans and pegging down the mature fronds, all down 
the centre of which quantities of young ones are produced. Those 
pegged down in autumn will be ready for cutting off, for all the young 
ones are rooted. Transplant them into pans or boxes until they are 
ready for placing into pots. If two or three are planted together 
Instead of singly the plants are fuller and more beautiful when they 
attain a decorative size. When grown singly the plants are too thin for 
many purposes. 
Pteris tremula .—Transfer small plants from 2 into 4 or 5-inch pots, in 
which they will make handsome decorative Ferns. For a variety of 
purposes they are beautiful in a small state. Sow spores, and treat 
them the same as advised for Adiantums. 
Lorn aria gihha .—This is one of the most attractive Ferns in a small 
state for decoration. Place those in 3-inch pots into others 2 and 
3 inches larger. If spores are sown at once and the young plants after¬ 
wards grown on in heat they will be excellent by autumn in 5-inch 
pots. The same may be said of Blechnum corcovadense and Nephro- 
tlium molle ; the latter when growing freely must not be grown too 
warm, or it will certainly be attacked by scale. 
IHE BEE-KDEPER. 
..... i. i . I.,. I ■,.,- I■ I ■ I . I., ■, ■ I 
NOTES ON BEES. 
EARLY ACTIVITY. 
On a mild clay in January, with a temperature of 54^, the bees 
were out in myriads, and by ten in the morning, to prevent their 
leaving the garden, I gave them a supply of both water a'ld pea 
meal. Before my hrnd was withdrawn from the feeder the bees 
were in working upon it. Most of the hives carried a great quantity 
of it, as they also did of water, carrying at both at 4.30 r.M. when 
getting dusky. The day being so exceptionally fine I remained 
mostly outside, watching and enjoying the movements of the bees 
as also the flowers. So great was the growth on that day. Snow¬ 
drops that were barely peeping through the ground in the morning 
were up half an inch or more at night, and Rose bushes were 
pushing forth their buds. But what was even more interesting 
-than all that was the enormous number of young bees upon the 
alighting boards and taking short flights. 
the best stimulants and the only ones bee-keepers should attempt to 
provide their bees with. To prevent over-propolising, the hives 
should be made tight, and all superfluities, such as excluder zinc, 
should be kept out of the hive. 
How this hive, so far advanced now, will turn out during 
summer, I know not, but I have every faith that my weakest 
nuclei will perhaps surpass my present very populous hives, as 
they have almost invariably done in past years. I certainly do 
not over-estimate the ulterior advantage of the present advanced 
state of some of my hives ; still there can be no doubt in the minds 
of reasonable persons, that hives of such a nature, in the hands of 
bee-masters who are situated in early districts, must be a decided 
advantage. Then what a world of troubles and disappointment 
are disposed of in the proof, to those who have been taught that to 
be successful with bees a certain but great amount of manipulation 
and artificial work were necessary with bees before they would even 
respond to the dictates of Nature. Happily for bee-keepers the 
whilom pupils are becoming teachers, by and through observations 
made, demonstated to them from living proof, contrary to what 
they, in their novitiate days, had been taught. 
WINTERING BEES. 
I have more than once in the pages of this Journal shown that 
in this country the best and safest mode of wintering bees with the 
least amount of trouble, was to leave the bees alone on their 
summer stand, and with the same dress or covering. To imitate 
Continental or American bee-keepers in this, or to offer advice to 
them on the subject, is, in my opinion, assuming too much. The 
Syrian bees excepted, I have never known bees suffer much from a 
low temperature, provided they had the opportunity shortly there¬ 
after of airing themselves in a clear atmosphere and the ground 
free from snow. It is the latter that depopulates our hives, which 
judicious ventilation and confinement prevent. A protracted 
season with a very low temperature tell sadly against the bees. 
But in reality how seldom does this occur. I have never, in all my 
experience, known bees to be kept within doors throughout No¬ 
vember or January. In December I have, but never saw November 
or January pass but the bees had an airing on one or more days. 
When bees are kept in confinement during the winter months it 
matters not what the day is after being set at liberty the bees 
will be out and fly. That would be all very good if a proper day 
could be decided upon for their release, but unfortunately in this 
country the weather is so variable and treacherous that a fine 
morning is often followed by a cold day, and often till far on in 
the spring, when it proves fatal to thousands of hardened bees. 
The longer bees are confined in hives the less able they are 
to stand the vicissitudes of the weather when liberated. Bees 
Hives that I mentioned in an article in December as having 
turned out the last of their drones on the first day of that month 
were still clearing them out on that eventful day. The hive that I 
mentioned having the appearance of breeding much at the same 
Rate, and supposed to have a young queen, fertilised as late as 
the 27th October, has turned out exactly as I supposed. So numerous 
.are the young bees that the hive is already perceptibly increasing in 
strength, and should the breeding continue at the same rate for a 
month or two longer it will be necessary to enlarge the hive. What 
was even more interesting thin so many young bees were the drones 
flying out and in without the slightest interruption. Whether 
these were young or old ones I do not know. 
Altogether this hive has had no parallel in all my experience. 
It was my best hive during last summer, and •sv'as the weakest one 
throughout the whole of the winter and spring months, and located 
in a Stewarton hive of the old type, wrapped in a piece of old 
caching, over which a piece of inodorous felt is tied, and on the top 
a few pieces of carpet. A piece of semicircled galvanised iron 
placed over .all sends the water off, keeps all dry, and the bees com¬ 
fortable ; the cheapest and best of all coverings. Plenty of food, 
pollen, and a young fertile queen at the head of plenty of bees are 
which have been kept upon their summer's stand, after the first 
flight (which often takes place in January), are more able to fly 
out and return to their hive than before. It is therefore evident 
that a flight in January conduces more to the health of the bees 
and their preservation than if they had been confined in any cellar 
or structure whatever built expressly for preserving bees. Owing 
to the loss of bees that in many cases and seasons that is sure to 
take place after confined bees are liberated, not speaking of the 
extra expense and trouble involved in preparing a cellar, placing 
the hives therein, and thereafter returning them to their original 
stands. 
Bees commence breeding soon after the shortest day, and as 
that proceeds the desire to fly out becomes greater every day, and 
they cannot be kept healthy unless when in a semi-listless state 
at a temperature of about 45°. Neither need the fact be over¬ 
looked that bees when kept in confinement are as sensitive to the 
change of temperature outside as if they stood there, and when the 
temperature rises confined bees will assuredly become active and 
restless, which tends greatly to aggravate abdominal distension; 
encouraging incipient disease, which may in all probability render 
every hive confined unprofitable. 
