248 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March J2,188». 
floorboard, and no doubt would soon have been despatched had I 
not rescued them. As they receive so little homage they thus 
quickly present the appearance of non-laying queens and are nearly 
as capable of flight, as no partly or wholly digest food is offered 
them (the food bees feed the queen with being about the same as 
they feed to the brood.) 
But why is she superseded ? It is no use saying dethroned, as 
■she never had the honour of reigning. Of course I am now 
speaking about alien queens, and if she was in a stimulated condi¬ 
tion eggs would be deposited or dropped, and while there is an egg 
in the hive (whether queen cells are present or not) the bees will 
try to develope it into a queen, so that if the first started cells were 
on the old brood the new queen might destroy them as soon as they 
become nymphs. Then if she left the hive in disgust or because 
she got no homage, why of course a daughter of hers takes her 
place. 
I have found by repeated experiments that as soon as a queen is 
taken out of a seam of bees, operations are commenced to raise a 
mother bee, and by even placing the queen on to another frame 
these operations will be commenced. Sometimes she will then be 
crushed to death. By means of the so-called dummies a number 
■of queen cells may be started and completed in the same time, pro¬ 
viding each cluster is separated. I do not mean cork packed or 
great thick dummies, but perforated zinc. The main point being 
to place the queen on to a different frame after a few eggs are laid 
in a few cells. But why is she not destroyed on the new frame ? 
Simply because the whole family is working in natural harmony or 
habit. It is the habit for tlie queen to move from frame to frame ; 
but mark well, it is not the habit of the queen to do so until the 
whole of her business is transacted upon that particular frame, 
hence the break appearing it is the habit of the bees to perform the 
operations of raising a new queen. During the summer so many 
®f the brood cells become clogged with stores that the queen 
wanders from comb to comb, which causes the same thing to be 
done, hence the swarming fever. The queen gradually becomes of 
a non-laying appearance and quite capable of flight, owing to the 
want of the necessary amount of feeding and attention she should 
have to keep up her former state, and leaves the hive as an insect a 
idttle removed above the habit of a worker. If this is not so, for 
why do they do it ? Moreover, no attention is paid to an alien, as 
it is not her, or the custom, fashion, or habit for queens to be 
carried from one hive to another. 
Now, suppose there are no eggs in the hive, how can the bees 
raise a queen ? They cannot do it. Place a frame containing a few 
eggs into the hive. Why do the bees recognise this gift ? It 
is their habit to obtain all they can, which we all know perfectly 
well ; and as I have already stated it is their habit to raise a suc¬ 
cessor from the egg. They therefore gladly commence operations 
upon this frame of eggs. The same conditions as above being 
present—i.e., in a disorganised state. 
Now, suppose the whole of their eggs and means of raising a 
new queen are withdrawn, or more naturally their queen dies in a 
state of nature perhaps there is at no time of the year a hive -with, 
■out eggs in a normal state. If this death happen at a time when 
fertilisation cannot be obtained the hive died out, or else should a 
fertile queen, say at mating or swarming time, fly to this hive, the 
habit is (we challenge anyone to contradict this) that this queen is 
accepted. Hence the Hallamshire law is on natural and correct 
lines. I have no hesitation in saying from my own experiments 
that if the law is truly and faithfully tried it will invariably succeed, 
excepting those few persons who believe and state their own way is 
best, and who omit or cannot discern some of the particulars and 
conditions of the Hallamshire law.—T. Boxnkr Chambkrs, F.L.S., 
Tref Eglwys Caerows, Mont. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
Rawlings Bros., Old-Church, Romford, Essex. — Catalogue of 
Dahlias, 
All correspondence should be directed either to “ Tub 
Editor” or to “ The Publisher.” Letters addressed to Dr. 
Hogg or members of the staff often remain unopened un- 
avoi^bly. AVe 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. 
Shortband ( C. II.'). —The work to which you refer can be obtained 
by ordering through any bookseller i)i your locality. 
Oncldlum undulatum (//. S.). —Many thanks for flowers and list, 
but they arrived too late for a note this week. They shall have a para¬ 
graph next week. 
Stove Climbers (ff. S.). —Four good plants for training up thereof 
of a stove are Stephanotis floribunda, Allamanda Hendorsoni, Dipla- 
denia Brearleyana, and Bougainvillea glabra. 
Cbrysantbemums (It. CiumlingJ. —We have received the blooms, 
which will be referred to when your letter is published. It is too late for 
this week. Your experience is interesting and the results of it satis¬ 
factory. 
Repottlngr Orcblds (S. J. M.).—Letters arriving on Wednesday 
cannot be satistactorily answered in the current issue. Do not disturb 
the plants at present. Information will be given in time to be of service 
to you. 
Tbe Eucharls Mite (d/. C.). —The bulbs are undoubtedly in¬ 
fested with the mite, and are in an extremely bad condition. The pro¬ 
spect of their recovery is very small, but we shall publish something 
farther on this subject shortly. No doubt low temperature and exces¬ 
sive moisture often cause a very unhealthy condition in these and other 
heat-loving plants. 
Abutilons (P. J/.).—The dark coloured seedling is a very good one, 
and well worthy of preservation, hut we have seen others quite as dark 
in colour. If you exhibited well grown plants of the seedling and 
parent they might receive some notice from the Floral Committee, but 
you had better write to Mr. A. F. Barron, Royal Horticultural Society, 
Chiswick, who will advise you where they should be sent. There is a 
meeting on the 27th inst. 
Piping for Heating Greenbouse (A. B. C.). —You give no par¬ 
ticulars regarding the form or size of the house, which makes a consider¬ 
able difference in the piping required, and the heating is also consider¬ 
ably influenced by the arrangement of the pipes, a'so by external 
surroundings. To heat 2600 cubic feet of air, and maintain it at a 
greenhouse temperature in all weathers, you would require about 80 feet 
of 4-inch pipes. N.B.—Your second letter arrived too late for this week. 
Megarrhiza callfornlca {Ih-gular Suhscriber). —The plant is of 
little horticultural value, but is interesting to a certain extent botani- 
cally, chiefly for the enormous! root it produces, from which character it 
derives its generic name and also the popular title Californian Big- 
Root. It is of trailing or climbing habit, not unlike the common 
Bryony, with lobed leaves, inconspicuous flowers, and roundish fruits 
covered with soft spiny projections. The seeds should be raised 
under glass, but the plants can be left out of doors if protected in 
winter. 
Insects on Peacb fSJiillingstone). —As your specimens travelled 
to us in a cold drying wind they reached us in a shrivelled condition. 
It is preferable to enclo-e such small insects in a glass tube or tin box, 
with a little bit of damp moss. The insects appear to be a species of 
Psylla or Chermes, a pest resembling the Coccus or scale insect in its 
habits, but of somewhat larger size. There are several kinds not unfre¬ 
quent in houses, and th*y are readily killed by tobacco in the form of 
fumigation or wash. Some have strongly recommended for their 
destruetion a wash containing softsoap and sulphur, applied moderately 
warm. 
Cucumbers and Tomatoes (^Cambridge ).— We have seen excel¬ 
lent crops of Cucumbers and Tomatoes grown in the same house ; but 
not when the latter were much shaded by the former. The plants must 
have both light and air, or they will not bear good crops. Cucumbers 
are equally well grown with “ little or no ventilation,” and with sufficient 
to enable Tomatoes to prosper; but we are not certain that a person 
who had been accustomed to either routine exclusively would succeed 
equally well the first season with the opposite. He might or might not, 
so much depending on individual aptitude. Perhaps you will proceed 
tbe most safely by not materially lowering the temperature for the 
