206 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
I Jldrch 8, 1888. 
every queen reared in a nucleus, or the “ cell cutting ” and nursery systems, 
could not fly at all. This system of testing the queens I consider the 
most valuable of any, as all the muscles of the bee are in the thorax, to 
which both the legs an.l wings are attached, and by getting the queens 
weighted with e?gs and noting their powers of flight we can judge very 
well as to what her offspring will be, and when a queen rearer is breed¬ 
ing hundreds of queens he can select the best to keep himself for stock. 
It'will be seen that my theory for producing the coming bee is to breed 
for muscle, and I give the means of judging of it in the queen instead 
of waiting to see it in her offspring. 
In the preceding I have not touched on cross-breeding. I would 
first of all improve the existing races. When we begin crossing we do 
not always have a blending of the two races, it is often more of one 
than another : often the cross shows traits belonging to neither ot their 
first parents, termed sports. These, if good, by careful selection and 
breeding through several generations may be fixed, in which case we 
procure a new breed, but to secure all these we must have our drones 
quite under control. Some say we cannot do this. I think we can ; at 
least, I have been able to do so for several years. The plan was picked 
up through a neighbour 200 yards off keeping Italians while I kept 
blacks. His young queens always mated 'with my black drones, while 
none of my queens mated with his drones. I begged a piece of drone 
brood from him and put it in on$ of mv hives, and when the drones 
began flydng my young queens mated with them, though black drones 
were much more numerous. This led me to study the physical geography 
between his apiary and mine, which has led me to form a certain 
theory on the matter, which I must further test before making public ; 
this I hope to do on a pretty large scale in the coming season. 
It will be seen from the preceding that we are on the eve of quite a 
new practice. Before long there will be men devoting their whole 
energies to the breeding and improvement of bees. Bee-keepers will 
send to them every spring for virgin queens. They could be sold, 
carriage paid, safe delivery and introduction guaranteed, by odd ones 
at 23. Od. each, bred and selected in the way I have described, and 
yield a good profit to the breeder. These the following season would be 
producing improved drones, perhaps long before any other drones were 
flying in the district: a nucleus could be made, and another virgin 
queen bought and given to it. When she began to lay the old queen 
could be dethroned, and the nucleus with the young one imited to the 
old stock hive. Young queens rarely lay drone eggs or load off a swarm 
in their first season ; therefore the stock will always be strong, 'will 
never, or rarely, swarm, and will always have a young queen. 
With well-bred queens at the price I have named it wnTl pay no one 
to re.ar his own, and here it will be noted I have given a new name, 
•“ Swarming S\stem.” in which a young queen always he.ads the stock, 
and fe'w or no drones are reared. Nearly all the other systems leave 
an old worn-out qneen after the first season, or there is an enormous 
amount of manipulation, which, if valued at fid. per hour, would leave 
»io profit after deducting expenses ; also no spare hive are required, and 
no bees will either have to be bought or sold in the fall.—-A Hallam- 
SHIKE BeE-KEEPET!. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIYED. 
Chadborn, C'oldwell. A Co., 223, Upper Thames Street, London.— 
Ltxf of LaH'n Mmerrs. 
J. J. Jensen A Co., 10!), Fenchurch Street, London .—PamiMet and 
Price List of tr'iianos. ,G‘. 
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 tha,n tw'o or three questions at once. All 
articles intended for insertion should be w'ritten on one side of 
the paper only. We canuct reply to questions through the 
post, and we do not undertake to return rejected communica¬ 
tions. 
Books (ir. r.).—You do not say whether you require a dictionary 
of l)otauical tesm.s or a dictionary of plant names. If the former, 
Henslow's “ Dictionary of Botanical Terms,” published by Groombridge, 
price Is., -will suit you ; and, if the latter, Johnson’s “ Cottage Gardeners’ 
Dictionary,” published at this office, price 7s. fid., by post 8s. 
(i?. If. P.'). —Wr. B. S. Williams’ “ Select Ferns and Lycopods,” published 
at Holloway, contains the information you require. 
The Bul'b Itllts (TU. ./.). —The bulbs are seriously infested with the 
bulb mite, but there arc also several other insects which seem to be 
similar to those often found in decaying vegetable matter. The cure is 
not hopeless, as you will see by Mr. Beckett’s notes in another column. 
Perns and Beetles (P. IT.'). —We do not know a Fern which 
possesses the peculiarity mentioned by you, but we have sent your letter 
to an experienced grower, who may furnish some information on the 
subject. 
Destroying' Ants (.7. TU. A*.).—Numerous modes of trapping and 
destroying ants have been described in this Journal, and jmu will find 
several letters from correspondents on this subject on page 147, February 
24th, 1887. 
Piping for Greenhouse (.1. 77 C .).—Your statement is insuffi¬ 
cient. You do not even say whether the house is a span-roof or lean-to. 
Please give its height, length, and width, indicating the glass exposure ; 
also repeat your question, and it shall be answered. 
Cineraria Blooms (77. C.). —It is not necessary to publish your 
letter, as the remark alluded to had no reference to yourself. We are 
glad to recognise superior productions, and to give the growers credit for 
their work, but do not covet boxes filled with ordinary varieties sent 
with the object of advertising some wonderful “ strain.” A correspon¬ 
dent, “ W. W.” has sent us some trusses, but withholds his name, and 
we can only say they did not arrive in good condition, the flowers being 
much curled and withered through lack of damp packing material for 
keeping them fresh in transit. 
Pruning Roses QXorice). —All that you can do to preserve the 
centre bud or main flower on the stem is to disbud. But this will not be 
needed to such a large extent if you prime closely the weak growths and 
leave the strong ones longer, say from 18 inches to 2 feet in length. 
These, if laid horizontally or pegged near the surface of the ground, will 
give you more than three times the quantity of Roses that you are now 
having under a moderately close system of pruning. When quality 
alone is the object aimed at, it can only be attained by close pruning and 
disbudding freely. 
Asparagus plumosus (.7. C. Perry). —The "most certain method 
of propagation is the division of the crowns. This is best effected just 
before growth commences. Small pieces taken off with the roots 
attached are not long, if placed in a warm house, before they are estab¬ 
lished and growing freely. This variety flowers and sets its fruit freely 
when well established and grown under the influence of light and air. 
We have no doubt that the berries would germinate freely, although 
we have never raised young plants by this method. A. tenuissimus, 
which is not infrequently seen under the name of plumosus, may be 
increased by striking the upright growths. 
Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Melons under Vines (71 J .).— 
A’ou cannot grow either of them satisfactorily under your Vines, which 
would shade them too much. Tomatoes require plenty of light and air. 
Melons full light, and although Cucumbers are benefited by slight shade 
the foliage of the Vines would prove too heavy for them to give you any 
satisfaction. You could ripen Tomatoes in pots under the Vines pro¬ 
viding yiu had the fruit set in some other position where the plants 
enjoyed full sunshine with plenty of air. You could grow Adiantums 
aru.1 other Ferns successfully under your V^ines. Eichardias are referred 
to in another column, and a very simple and successful method of cul¬ 
ture was described on page lfi7 last week ; another eipially simple and 
good awaits publication. 
Protests at Shews QPvhihifor ).—There is a clause in most 
schedules, and ought to be in all, to the effect that no protest can be 
entertained if not m.ade in writing to the secretary by a stipulated time, 
say 2 or 3 P.ii. on the day of the show, and while the jiuLes are still in 
attendance to examine with the officials any class in which the awards 
are alleged to have been made erroneously. Judges are quite ready to 
do this, as it is quite immaterial to them to whom the prizes are awarded, 
their whole object being to do justice. It is useless and worse for ex¬ 
hibitors to enter objections to awards months after a show, because 
nothing can be altered then, but meetings are disturbed, and conten¬ 
tions often provoked where harmony ought to prevail. Those who act 
as described simply afford evidence of their own neglect of duty in not 
having objected to the awards at the proper time. 
Various (.7. G.). —The top 3 or 4 inches dug from a pasture or road 
side where grass grows clo.«ely and well, and stacked till the grass decays 
results in turfy loam, the nature of the soil governing its quality. It 
should neither be very sandy on the one hand, nor a stiff clay on the 
other. It is good when a few Buttercups and plenty of Clover grow 
in the pasture. Half of this or a little more, the remaining portion con¬ 
sisting of equal parts of leaf mould, manure so far decayed and dried 
that it can be rubbed through a wire sieve Liuch mesh, and wood ashes 
or crushed charcoal, with a dash of saml is a suitable mixture for 
Fuchsias, Pelargoniums and softwooded plants generally. Spring, 
when fresh growth is commencing, is a good time for potting. Deca}'ed 
leaves and silt from a wet ditch arc not suitable for your purpose. Leaf 
soil is m.ade from leaves that decay by exposure in the open air. Those 
you mention are too dry. Good leaf mould can be scraped from the 
surface of the ground in plantations and from hedge bottoms, not from 
wet ditches. Cauliflowers and Cabbage plants raised now in good soil 
and a sheltered position would, if well grown, be ready for cutting in 
