330 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r April 19, 1838. 
to be unduly shaded by trees. Those species with creepinsr or 
rhizomatous stems thrive best when in contact with large stones and old 
tree roots, but the Athyriums, Lastreas, Polystichums, Scolopendriums, 
many of the Polypodiums, and the Osmundas grow most vigorously in 
OKlinary soil with, or without stones. It is advisable, however, to mix 
plenty of peat or leaf soil or both, as well as lumps of sandstone with 
the soil for hardy Ferns generally, for the purpose of giving them a good 
start. Keep the commoner rank growers in the background as much as 
possible, or otherwise they will soon smother the choicer and more 
weakly growing species and varieties. 
Lily of the Valley .—These pay for good cultivation. Starved and 
crowded together the spikes are poor and not very plentiful, but 
given good room and fairly rich soil fine crowns are formed and large 
spikes of bloom follow. Part or the whole of a bed may be lifted now, 
freely divided, and the crowns thinly replanted in well manured finely 
•separated soil. A rather cool border suits them well, and the strongest 
of the crowns ought to be planted about 3 inches apart each way and 
3 ust covered with soil. Finish off with a mulching of short manure or leaf 
soil, and a surfacing of the former may well be given to undisturbed 
beds. Keplanting crowns does not interfere with their flowering the 
same season, and it eventually leads to the formation of good clumps or 
crowns for forcing. 
QUEEN INTRODUCTION. 
“A Hallamshire Bee-keeper,” at page 288, still holds to 
the opinion that the main point of safe queen introduction has 
neTer been grasped by any writer on bees. 
Unlike your correspondent, I never read Huber nor Rdaumur, 
nor indeed any bee book, for the first thirty years of my bee-keep¬ 
ing life, and but very few since then, the Cottage Gardener, now 
Journal of Horticulture, being my favourite paper, and the only 
one in which I found ideas worth treasuring. My only book of 
instruction h'ls been the book of Nature. The great hindrance to 
the advance of bee husbandry is “ unjust ” criticism in certain 
quarters, and the unfair practice of pirating others’ ideas, which 
naturally arouses jealousy. How much better would it be if all 
would draw honestly together ! 
That my friend has wrought out his ideas given in this 
Journal without the knowledge of what has been written on the 
subject I do not doubt, and but for his interposition to settle a 
point of importance in queen introduction would have been seized 
upon by someone. I cannot point to any particular number of this 
Journal containing the iraformation, but I am certain it was given- 
Mr. J. Lowe contributed several long articles on the subject of 
bee commotion, on bees missing their queen, and although headed 
“ New ” it was well known to all advanced bee-keepers before that 
time. I know your correspondent is unconscious that anything has 
been previously written on the important point of bees missing 
their queen before another should be introduced ; therefore his 
articles are just as valuable as if it had not appeared. If he turns 
to page 58 of my essay to the Highland and Agricultural Society 
he will see the following remark :—“ The only safe method of 
joining queens is to allow sufficient time to elapse, so that the bees 
miss their queen.” If I have forestalled all other writers in this I 
must be content, because I ses looming in the distance wlat will 
or may outstrip me. “ A. H. B.-K. ” has something more to add 
which will help to insure queens after their enthronement. Mr. 
T. Bonner Chambers, F.L.S, has already given us a chapter (vide 
pages 247, 248) not only able in detail, but really new—so far that 
it has never appeared in print at any time previously, although I 
have, without giving explanations of the reasons, stated the result. 
It is the most valuable article on queen introduction I have ever 
read. 
It appears we are now on the eve of knowing more about the 
mysteries that have hitherto been veiled from us. Let us there¬ 
fore continue in search of knowledge that will enable us to under¬ 
stand successes or failures, and enable us to know when to depose 
and when to introduce queens with safety in all the different com¬ 
plex phases. 
It is perhaps superfluous to note here all the various phenomena 
that I have observed, further than that I have introduced queens 
under every known system, and have had success and failures with 
all of them. Many queens are lost by leaving the hive imme¬ 
diately they are placed into it from the top without previously 
caging her and closing the entrance, and this takes place in the 
dark as well as during the daylight. But the most common 
loss of queens is as described by Mr. T. B. Chambers at page 248, 
and it has puzzled me much to know the cause of such unnatural 
phenomena, which is not confined to recently introduced queens, 
but very often occurs with queens regnant from their birth. I 
have observed the seeming neglect of the queen as described, and 
have as often as six times in one season destroyed the royal cells 
being brought forward preparatory to the deposition of the queen, 
who receives rough treatment from her daughter subjects, and is 
at last killed by them, and not by the virgin queens. I cannot 
say these dethronements always take place because of impaired 
fertility, because several times have I rescued the reigning 
monarch, introducing her to another hive, and there she proved 
herself prolific. One I saved and presented to a neighbour after a 
determined attack had been made upon her life, and numerous 
royal cells had been raised by bees and destroyed by me. This 
queen was safely introduced, and lived for three years. 
I am of opinion that the raising of royal cells is owing entirely 
to faulty combs, the queen not finding suitable cells to deposit her 
eggs incites the bees to depose her. It is different, however, with 
those queens recently introduced, and by which more queens are 
killed than by all the other modes of mishap, the lives of such 
queens being always in jeopardy after the bees begin to disregard 
her as their rightful queen. What is the cause of this continued 
determination ? Here is a wide field for research on a topic of the 
greatest interest and importance to every bee-keeper. 
By using the precautionary measures I have advocated so long 
both in this Journal and privately, the losses when introducing 
queens will be, as they have been, few in number, but it will be all 
the better if we can, by a combined effort, discover the real causes 
of the mysteries that present themselves in various forms under 
the same as well as different circumstances.—A Lanarkshire 
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. 
Teddlngrton Carden (Kilter 11011 ). — The particulars required will 
appear in the next issue of this Journal. 
Orchard Houses (IF. It. IT'.).—Your letter has been forwarded to 
Mr. Kivers, and the substance of his reply will be communicated to you. 
Plainly built structures of this character should not be expensive. 
Iiate Chrysanthemums ( 11'. D .).—The blooms sent are fair repre¬ 
sentatives of the variety, which is evidently a very useful one both for 
exhibition and decorative purposes. 
Hellebores (F. I .).—The plants prefer a moist and rather shady 
situation, but any ordinary garden soil suits them, if not excessively 
