160 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER^ 
[ February 23, 1888. 
•visible, and ai soon as they appear they will be kept well in the light 
and always watered. They do not grow so fast as Cauliflowers, but 
they dislike being away from the light, and overcrowding must also be 
avoiled in their case. In transplanting them for the first time use only 
a compost of fine loam and manure, and do not plant more than will be 
really wanted. It is an excellent plan to decide how many plants are re¬ 
quired in all such cases as this, because space is valuable under glass in 
the spring months, and surplus plants should not be tolerated. 
Sweet Basil. —This is a valuable herb, but it is not quite hardy. 
It must be raised in heat and grown under protection. If a little seed 
is sown in a 6-inch pot and treated like Celery the leaves and twigs will 
be ready for use in April. 
Paeslet. —The time is at band when Parsley is apt to be scarcer 
than at any time during the year. The winter does not kijl it, but it 
seems to dwindle in the cold spring months, and many of the plants are 
now very bare. If a sprinkling of soot, guano, or a little short manure 
is spread round the plants and the surface stirred they will be greatly 
benefited. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that all Parsley 
plants of last year will run to flower as soon as the fine weather comes, 
and fresh plants must be raised annually. A row or a small bed may be 
sown the first time the ground is in good order, and the plants from 
this will be ready for picking by May. 
Seed Potatoes. —Planting early Potatoes will soon demand attention. 
It is a great advantage to have the seed tubers in good order at planting 
time. If the shoots are quite dormant it will take them a long time to begin 
growing. On the other hand, if the growths are too long and spindly 
they will be severely checked in coming in contact with the cold soil, 
and this is very injurious to the well-being of the crop, but if the shoots 
are of medium length, very robust, and healthy they will produce 
capital stems and a fine crop. To have them in the latter condition 
spread all early Potato tubers out in a single layer now in a place fully 
exposed to the light but away from frost. They may or may not be 
covered with a little soil. We have quantities of ours packed in shallow 
trays and placed in a Peach house, and they are sprouting beautifully. 
Where it is intended to cut large tubers into several sets do not leave 
this undone until planting time, but cut them at once and allow them 
to heal before being planted. By giving attention to these points no 
blanks will occur. 
Kidney Beans. —Keep those coming into flower in a dry atmo¬ 
sphere, but give them plenty of water at the roots. Syringe them well 
after they are out of flower. Gather all the pods before the beans form 
in them, and sow more seed once a fortnight, as they will grow fast now 
and prove highly acceptable. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Primulas. —Seed of single and double Chinese varieties should be 
sown at once where the plants are required in full bloom by the end of 
October. Sow the seed on the surface of fine soil composed of loam and 
leaf mould in equal proportions with a good dash of sand added. Pass 
the whole through a fine sieve and make the surface as level as possible. 
Do not cover the seeds, but water gently with a fine-rose can. Plunge 
the pots or pans to prevent the soil drying, and cover the surface with a 
square of glass with damp moss laid on the surface, and place in a 
temperature of 60°. As soon as the seeds germinate remove the moss 
and gradually expose the seedlings to light and air. 
Primula obconica. —From seeds sown now some excellent plants in 
6-inch pots will be produced for flowering next autumn and winter. 
Sow.the seed in the same way as advised for the Chinese Primulas, but 
when the seedlings are once up slightly cooler treatment will be found 
advantageous. 
Tuberous Begonias. —The seed of both single and double varieties 
may be sown at once on the surface of even finer soil than that advised 
for Primulas. It is a good plan to scatter a little sand on the surface 
of the soil before the seed is sown ; too much is an evil rather than 
otherwise. Be also careful in watering not to wash the seed in deeply. 
They are best started by covering the pots in the manner described for 
Primulas and then plunging the pots under handglasses, so that they can 
be protected from drying influences. Directly the seed has germinated 
air and light must be carefully admitted, or the seedlings will damp off. 
Be careful also that they never become dry, or they will disappear 
rapidly. 
Rhodantbes.—VoT all ordinary purposes the seed may be sown 
thinly in 6 and 6-inch pots filled with a compost of good fibry loam, 
one-third leaf soil, and one-seventh of manure with a little sand added. 
Cover the seed with fine soil. If the pots are stood in a temperature of 
55° to 60° the seed soon germinates. When large enough thin the 
plants, leaving them about 1 inch apart. Place them close to the glass, 
and gradually harden to cool treatment, or they will draw up weakly. 
Dwarf plants are produced by sowing the seed in pans and boxes and 
then transplanting them into the pots direetly they are large enough. 
In doing so the seed leaves should be just above the surface of the 
eoil. 
Nieotiana affinis. —The seed of this easily grown, but useful decora¬ 
tive plant, must be sown thinly on the surface of a pan and placed in 
heat. When the seedlings are large enough prick them ofi singly into 
other pans or boxes 2 inches apart, and from this position they can be 
placed into 6-inch pots. If large plants are needed they can be after¬ 
wards transferred into pots 2 inches larger. From seed sown now 
lants may be had in flower by the end of June. 
Statice SuworoiL'i. —Although useful in beds and borders outside this 
is charming for decorative purposes when grown in 5-inch pots. The 
seeil shouhi be sown thinly in pans, and when the plants are large 
enough transfer them into 2-inch pots, and from these into the size 
in which they are to flower. In their early stages they do well in 
an intermediate temperature, but by the time they are in their largest 
pots they should be grown perfectly cool. Be careful not to allow them 
to become root-bound in the small pots before transferring them into 
the larger ones. 
BEE-KEEPER. 
PRACTICA.L BEE-KEEPING.—No. 29. 
An extractor wisely used is no doubt of very considerable ad¬ 
vantage in an apiary. In the past, however, this means of in¬ 
creasing the honey harvest has been, and is in certain instances even 
yet, grievously misused with the worst results. There are certain 
rules which ought in every case and under all circumstances to be 
observed, and if due care in their observance is taken an increased 
yield of honey of equally good quality will be the result, and the 
bee-keeper will accordingly derive an advantage in more ways than 
one by using an extractor in this common-sense practical manner. 
These rules are 
1, No honey to be extracted except from sealed cells. 
2, No honey to be extracted from combs containing brood 
and eggs. 
The advantage of allowing honey to ripen before taking it from 
the cells is of manifest importance. Schemes and contrivances for 
artificially maturing unripe honey have been invented, and they 
may to some extent answer the purpose for which they are called 
into existence ; but it is perhaps more to the point to inquire 
whether there is any real necessity to take honey in quantity from 
unsealed cells. In case of disease, and possibly in late autumn, some 
small quantities of honey which remain in unsealed cells may need 
extracting ; but it is not against the practice of extracting these 
small quantities that we protest, because it may m some instances 
be absolutely necessary to do so, but against the practice of whole¬ 
sale extracting in the honey season proper with a view to enabling 
the bees to more rapidly store the incoming harvest. The argument 
used by those who advocate the continual emptyings of the combs 
by means of the extractor is, that by doing so the cells are set free 
and ready for refilling in much less time than they would have been 
had the bee-keeper waited until the honey was ripe and the bees 
had sealed over the cells. This may be true to some small extent, 
b'lt it only holds good when there is but a small stock of ready 
built combs available ; for it has already been pointed out—not 
once, but upon many occasions during the last twenty years—that 
if the filled or partially filled combs are removed, and a set of 
empty combs is placed beneath them, the partially or wholly filled 
combs will ripen, or be completely filled and then ripen as the case 
may be, with almost the same certainty as if they had been allowed 
to remain in their original position. The bees will at once com¬ 
mence to fill the cells which are empty, and the fresh space thus 
afforded being continually increased, the top tiers of combs filled 
with honey will be gradually ripened, and may be removed at the 
convenience of the bee-master. Now, this is surely a great ad¬ 
vantage. In the one case it is necessary for the bee-keeper, however 
busy he may be—and June and July are very busy months with 
most people in country districts—to be continually extracting from 
and replacing the emptied combs ; while, on the other hand, no 
other manipulation is necessary except that of lifting the set or 
sets of filled or partly fiUed boxes and placing beneath it a set of 
empty combs. All the tiers may be allowed to remain until the 
harvest is over, they will then contain fully ripened honey and 
nearly every cell will be sealed. Such boxes will contain very few 
bees, and may be taken with a minimum of trouble. 
By this method the bee-keeper secures the same quantity of 
