140 
JOURNxiL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 16i 1888, 
be subjected to a higher temperature than 50°. Avoid placing them on 
a dry stage, and syringe them freely while in the forcing house. 
HD BDE-KDDPER. 
a 
BEES WEARING OUT AT THE HEATHER. 
“ A. L. B. K.page 9-t, places this matter in quite a different light 
from what I understood him to mean. I have never seen the number of 
dead bees inside the hives at the Heather as he describes, nor anything 
similar. The only case in which I have seen a quantity of dead bees in 
a hive—that had neither been starved nor suffocated—was one winter, 
in one of Abbott’s copyable hives; frames across the entrance, sides 
double walled, front single walled. In this hive I found a full seam of 
dead bees, and the queen—an imported Cyprian—between the front 
comb and the hive wall. The hive stood exposed, and I concluded these 
bees had been chilled to death, as there was plenty of food, and the 
seams between the other frames were well filled with healthy bees. 
Probably the same cause may have had to do with the death of those 
mentioned by our friend. 
ODOURLESS FOUL BROOD. 
I am very much obliged to “ A. L. B. K.” for the information he 
gives, in which he proves my system of curing this disease is practically 
like the one he has taught and practised long ago, though 1 think my 
mode is much less trouble. However, it seems very strange the 
“ authorities ” have never practised or recommended it; others have 
stamped the disease out. Down here in Hallamshire, when one is prais¬ 
ing himself, his ways, systems, Ac., .as being the only true and correct 
way, and deriding those of others, we simply describe him as “ a man 
who likes to hear himself talk.” Do not the various teachers of apicul¬ 
ture resemble the showmen in a fair, each one doing his best to make 
the greatest noise ? 
After all I have said and written on the subjec*', the editor of the 
£ee-keej)ers' Record says it is the true foul brood, though Mr. Cheshire 
was positive in 1885 that it was not. He also says my system of curing 
it “ is the well-known sterling process,” though, be it noted, the bees 
have their full liberty and are fed, if no honey is to be had ; “ that it is 
a costly process,” though it is the cheapest of any, and does not involve 
the expenditure of a penny either for physic or appliances ; and as to its 
throwing back the stock to the position of a weak swarm, the value of 
this contention may be judged when I repeat that I have twice cured a 
diseased stock in one summer, and yet had a splendid stock to go into 
winter quarters, while the best stock last spring in this district was one 
that was built up from a teacupful of bees in August, with no help beyond 
feeding. These were Punic bees, that with their queen were diseased in 
the spring. 1 have previously stated these facts, so there is no excuse 
for ignoring them. As a matter of fact, a handful of bees in a clean 
hive have 100 chances to one against a bucketful in a hive of diseased 
bees. 
In the same journal I have referred to, the editor of the American 
Bee Brumal is quoted on the subject as follows:—“ If’the larva is 
elastic and ropy it is a sure indication of foul brood. This is a sure test, 
but the odour is not to be relied upon.” 
Now the disease I have had so many years’ experience with is neither 
■“ ropy ” nor “ elastic ” in its early stages ; when the larva is three parts 
dried then, if a pin-head is struck into it, it resembles ripe honey as 
much as anything—viz., it can be drawn out into a string, perhaps half 
an inch long before breaking. 
Now what I recognise it by is first a sunken caji—sealed brood cells 
are convex. If I see a sunken cap amongst the brood I take a pin by 
the point and remove the cap. Very often I find only sealed honey, and 
sometimes a white grub, in which case all is right. If the enclosed 
larvie is the colour of coffee and milk, not coffee alone, as generally 
stated, it is diseased ; this colour is a sure test, and one that may be 
relied on. In this stage there is no “elasticity” whatever. At this 
point, if I could not find any pierced cells, I should wash out the 
diseased larvae with undiluted carbolic acid either with a feather or 
oamel’s-hair pencil, for as there cannot be any ripe spores to be given 
off the disease may be localised and thus stamped out. I give this 
advice to be followed out at this stage, as I have thus stopped the disease 
in several hives. 
If a cell cap is sunken, and it also has a little hole in it, I try it with 
a pin-head as before. Often it is a healthy larva nearly sealed over, or a 
honey cell ; but if it is of coffee and milk colour it is diseased ; the 
■colour in this stage is deeper than the first, but in no stage does it 
■resemble pure coffee unmixed with milk. If such cells are found you 
may depend upon it that spores are flying off, and no doctoring will pay 
for trying to preserve the combs. I believe many apiarians have the 
slisease in their hives without knowing it, and therefore I wish to impress 
this simple means of recognising it. Healthy brood is milk white, the 
•disease then through all its stages just looks as if more and more coffee 
had been added. Brood chilled to death is either white or black, nor is 
a full shaped bee diseased. Many dealers and queen breeders boast that 
they never had foul brood, never saw it, &c., and advise those who want 
bees or queens never to buy from anyone who has had it. Now, my 
advice is “ Do not put faith in them.” No one is safe from foul brood ; 
queens and bees may be diseased long before they are suspected. A 
man who has had it in his apiary, is quite clear of it, and makes it a 
point to stamp it out in his neighbourhood, is far safer to buy from. 
Such a man is always on the look-out, and he will never overlook a 
sunken cap in the brood nest.— A Hallamshire Bee-keeper. 
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 we do not undertake to return rejected communica¬ 
tions. 
Improving- Iiawn ({?. A. B.'). —The pressure is so great that your 
letter cannot be fully answered till next week, nor can some others that 
arrived only a day before going to press. 
Early Tomatoes—Koses (U.).—-Probably Sutton’s Earliest of 
All Tomato would suit you as well as any for outdoor culture. It is 
very productive, and the fruit is as good in quality as the variety you 
name. Probably you could not plant two Roses better likely to answer 
your purpose than Marechal Niel and Gloire de Dijon, and they succeed 
quite well with the roots in good soil outside, and the stems brought 
inside the house after the manner of Vines ; but the outside portions 
should be protected from frost by haybands. They also grow well 
planted in good soil in the house and adequately supplied with water. 
The shading of the soil in the house would not be injurious. 
Plants -with Blue Plowers (J. .Tame .^').—Plants of various shades 
of blue for the greenhouse are Agapanthus umbellatus, Burtonia 
violacea, Crowea saligna major, Diosma capitata, Hovea Celsi, H. pun- 
gens major, Kennedya bimaculata variegata, K. inophylla fioribunda, 
Pleroma elegans, Plumbago capensis, and Witsenia corymbosa. For 
outdoors—Verbena venosa, ’’’Verbena Blue Boy, Anemone apennina, 
Aubrietia purpurea, Campanula carpatica, Gentiana acaulis, Hepatica 
double blue, Myosotis .arvensis, M. palustris, Scilla sibirica, ’•’Ageratum 
Imperial Dwarf, Delphinium Barlowi, D. Belladonna, D. Hendersoni, 
D. formosum, ’’'Heliotropes of sorts, ’’'Veronica Blue Gem, and Cen- 
taurea Cyanus major and minor, which are annuals. The blue varieties 
are very useful for cut flowers. All the others are hardy perennials, 
except those marked with an asterisk, which require the protection of a 
greenhouse in winter. 
Camellias from Cuttings (JD-eri/.-.s’).—The best time to put in 
cuttings of Camellias is when the wood is nearly ripe, which it will be 
by the end of June or early in July. Take cuttings of the current 
year’s growth 4 or 5 inches long, cut the bottom off smoothly just below 
a bud, trim off the lowest two leaves, and leave the same number on the 
cuttings. They may be inserted in (i-inch pots, which should be clean, 
and have a crock large enough to cover the hole at the bottom ; on it 
place an inch of crocks of smaller size, and another inch of very small 
ones, and then a very thin layer of moss. The pot should be tilled to 
the rim with two parts sandy loam and one part sandy peat, adding a 
half part of silver sand. The soil should be made very firm, but use the 
hand only for pressing. Insert the cuttings about an inch apart round 
the sides of the pot, and to the extent of half their length, and set the 
pots on ashes in a cold frame. Keep the cuttings just moist, nearly 
close, and shade from bright sun. By the middle or end of September 
they will be rooted, and should lie {)otted off singly and placed in the 
cold frame ; there keep them close, and they will soon become estab¬ 
lished. Afterwards they should have air freely, and be removed to a 
greenhouse or pit where they will be safe from frost. This is the mode 
usually adopted for propagating the single varieties for stocks, and will 
answer for the others ; but experience has shown that the double sorts 
do nor grow nor ilower so well on their own roots as when grafted. 
Chrysantbemums after rio-wering (^Ed. D .').—The old shoots 
should be cut down to the ground, and the young shoots which come out 
of the soil at the base of the old plants should be taken off, either with 
or without a small portion of root, when 3 or 4 inches long, and should 
be potted singly in 3-inch pots, placing them half their depth in the 
soil. The latter should consist of two parts turfy loam and one part 
leaf soil or well-rotted manure with a sixth of sharp sand. If the 
shoots have roots they may be plunged in ashes in a cold frame ; but if 
they have none they may be kept in a house with a temperature of from 
