350 
JOURXAL OF HORTICULTURE AXD COTTAGE GARDENER. 
t April 26, 188?. 
fruit. Attend daily to syringing the trees, and supply water as necessary 
!to maintain thorough moisture at the roots. Renew the mulching if 
necessary, and keep it moist so as to encourage the roots to and keep 
them at the surface. 
Cherry House. —When the stoning is complete the fruit will com- 
imence colouring. The temperature must not exceed 65° by artificial 
means, and 55° to 60° at night, with a little ventilation, increasing it at 
70°, and not allowing the heat to ri.se above 75° without full ventilation, 
dosing at 70°, subject to the leaving of a little air on constantly at the 
top of the house. From the commencement of colouring until the trees 
are cleared of the fruit syringing must cease, or the fruit will crack, but 
a good moisture should be maintained in the house by keeping the 
surface of the border moist, or if the trees are in pots damping the 
floors, &c., two or three times a day, avoiding, however, a stagnant 
.atmosphere. Aphides must be kept under by fumigation, their presence 
for any length of time disfigures the fruit. See that the borders do not 
want water, and liquid manure should be liberally applied to trees in 
pots. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Steplianoth Jiorihmicla .—If a mass of bloom is required, it is a mis¬ 
take to grow this plant too warm. In a close moist atmosphere the 
shoots e.xtend rapidly, but arc the reverse of short-jointed, and often 
fail to flower from every joint. If grown from the present time in a 
night temperature of 60°, with a rise of 10° by day, with a good circula¬ 
tion of air and the shoots fully exposed to- the sun, the wood will bo 
firm, short-jointed, and the plant in due time will be covered with flowers. 
Train the shoots carefully under the roof to thin cords. If tied to the 
trellis amongst the old wood and foliage they are too shaded to flower 
profusely from every joint. Where this system cannot be practised and 
the growths must be trained amongst the old wood on the trellis, they 
should be pinched rather than allow them to crowd one another after 
they have shown a good number of blooms. The flowers by this system 
come forward more rapidly than is the case if the shoots are allowed to 
extend ; it also gives the growths in a backward state a chance to 
extend. 
Bongaiiivillm qlal)ra .—Do not tie down the shoots of this plant, but 
allow them every liberty until their bracts are fairly developed. When 
they reach this stage they can be evenly disposed over the trellis and 
fully expanded under cooler and more airy conditions, which result in 
the flowers possessing more colour and substance. Grow this plant in 
its various stages fully exposed to the sun. Air must also be admitted 
whenever the weather is favourable. Plants that are full of rooots may 
be fed with weak stimuLants every time water is needed. 
Clerodendnm Transfer young plants into 6-inch 
pots that were rooted early in the year, and which are now well e;tab- 
lished in 3 and -l-inch pots. After potting stand them where the shoots 
can be trained under the roof of a plant stove. They must be fully ex¬ 
posed to the sun, and by autumn they will have ripened shoots fully 
10 or 12 feet in length. When the 6-inch pots are full of roots feed 
liberally, so that the young plants will attain as great a strength as 
possible. Plants that were grown in this way last year and trained 
round fine stakes inserted near the sides of the pots will now bo breaking 
freely into growth. Bring them forward in an intermediate tempera¬ 
ture, so that by the time they come into flower they will be sufficiently 
hardy to bear the temperature of the conservatory without injury. 
Well grown plants treated as described will be masses of bloom, and 
they prove strikingly effective for conservatory decoration in early 
summer. After the plants have flowere 1 they can be thrown away, 
unless it is deemed prudent to grow on a portion into a larger size. But 
when plants are raised annually there is no necessity to retain two-year- 
old plants. 
Clerodoidrtm falla,r .—Seedlings that are large enough for potting 
may be placed in 3-inch pots. Sow seed to provide plants for 
■flowering in 5 and 6 inch pots during November and December. 
The bright scarlet flowers of these plants are most useful during 
those months, and render the stove or intermediate structures very 
attractive. It is a mistake to raise the plants required for this 
purpose too early, for they cannot well be retarded, and if the 
centre is removed with the object of delaying the flowering season for 
a time the heads of bloom produced are small. If too early, however, 
pinch them at once, and if strongly developed each shoot will produce 
a good bead of bloom. Some of the earliest plants are very useful 
for supplying the necessary seed for another year. 
Clerodendron fragrans .—Where this sweet-scented variety is appre¬ 
ciated either in a cut state or in small pots for various forms of decoration 
cuttings should be inserted at once. To maintain a good supply cuttings 
may be inserted at intervals of a month, singly, in 3-inch pots, a good 
size in which to flower them. If this variety is given too much root 
room it will grow rapidly and strongly, but fail to flower. If confined 
in the pots advised every plant will proluce good heads of bloom, and 
will vary from 6 to 9 inches in height. For cutting only a few may be 
grown on, which will flower freely enough after the pots become crovvded 
with roots. Cuttings strike freely in the propagating frame, and do well 
in a compost of loam, sand, and one-seventh of manure. 
Achimenpg .—Good cuttings will now be plentiful, and more plants 
may be raised by inserting shoots in light sandy soil in 5-inch 
pots. They will root freely enough under the shade of Cucumbers and 
Melons, provided too much water is not allowed to fall upon them. The 
earliest will be better in an intermediate than in a stove temperature. 
They do not run up so quickly, and will by the time they are in full 
'bloom be ready for the conservatory. If a few are wantel for the stove, 
allow them to advance in moderate heat. Ba-skets that have been made 
up by the insertion of tubers after they were started, are improved by 
having the whole of the tops taken off ; these will do for insertion in 
pots. This treatment induces the plants to start freely from the base, 
and four or five strong flowering shoots in the place of one is the result. 
These plants must not be syringed, and the bright rays of the sun should 
be .shaded from them. 
Lily of the Valley ,^—Plants that are intended to flower during 
November and have been grown since they flowered in a temperature of 
50° to 55° may be placed at once in a cold frame in a sunny position. 
Harden them gradually and water them liberally. They should be 
protected in frames until the second w’eek of May, when they may be 
plunged outside. * 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
BEES IN APRIL. 
The month of “ sunshine and showers ” has come in and brought 
with it a pleasant change. Balmy breezes and gentle rain with 
now and then a gleam of the daily growing more powerful suu are 
causing Nature to wake once more from slumber and to bud forth 
with pleasing v.iriety of life verdure and flow’ers. An early 
opportunity was taken in most apiaries—if attention h.as been paid 
to the teaching often inculcated and sometimss followed—of ex¬ 
amining every stock. We ventured to prognosticate that the past 
winter had been on the whole conservative of bee life, and this 
appears to have been the case, for on examining our stocks to-day 
we found that all were alive, and that the food consumption had, 
as far as it was possible to judge, been less than usual, this being 
due, no doubt, to the length of the winter and the small amount of 
brood hitherto reared. 
The first stock examined had passed through the winter packed 
in the following manner. Immediately after the completion of 
extracting last summer an upper tier of fiames was placed upon 
the body hive for the bees to clean out preparatory to storing them 
in readiness for the then future spring. Owing, however, to a 
press of work the.se empty frames were never removed, but a piece 
of ticking and three thicknesses of carpet were placed upon the top; 
the outer case was then put over all, and so it stood, except that a 
considerable amount of covering w^as added about six weeks ago, 
until to-day, when this upper tier wasremovel anl the state of the 
stock was thoroughly ex imined. The honey in the body hive is 
liquid and far from being exhausted, while the bees are numerous, 
bright, and active, working eagerly in the adjacent Willow beds at 
every suitable time. 
The second stock was treated in a different way, and ought to 
have died out long ago and all the honey left have granulated, if 
the teaching of a certain school of boe-keeping must be accepted. 
This hive consisted of thirteen frames, each comb containing some 
honey, and the six outside ones being completely filled. The bees 
were never very numerous, but came from a strain which have been 
remarkably strong workers, and have shown other desirable traits 
of character. On opening the stock and removing the outside 
combs we found that the honey was liquid and in grand condition, 
and on examining further the bees were found to be in good con¬ 
dition, and with every probability of working into a strong stock 
in a short time. And yet they ought to have died, being in a roomy 
hive and with slabs of ice-like honeycomb on either side, but they 
lived ; indeed the loss of life has been small, the consumption of 
honey very little, and the condition of the honey in the outside 
frames excellent. Could they have passed through the ordeal 
better had the hive been reduced to a few frames only? Would they 
have wintered as well ? The top covering was again ticking and 
carpet. 
A large skep, managed entirely on the warm system, being well 
packed both at the top and sides, is doing well, but has certainly 
shown an inclination to 3y at times when the other stocks have 
been quiet and content to stay at home and wait. A stock covered 
with American enamel cloth has—although we hardly expected 
