September 3, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
211 
Strawberries in Pots. —Late runners may yet be potted, giving 
them 5 or 6-inch pots, and if these are filled with roots before winter 
the plants will produce some good fruit, though not as plentifully and 
large as those potted earlier ; nor are they available for early forcing, 
but they do well for succession, especially when brought forward very 
gently. Plants potted some time ago should be examined, and if making 
side buds these should be removed with a piece of hard wood, so as to 
throw the vigour into the central crown. If the plants grow vigorously 
liquid manure will not be necessary, but those that are weakly should 
be supplied with it twice a week. Remove all runners as they appear, 
and loosen the surface of the soil, especially round the sides of the pots, 
•so as to secure the more thorough moistening of the ball. As the plants 
grow set the pots wider apart. If red spider attack the plants hold 
■each inverted with one hand, and with the other dust the under sides of 
the leaves with soot from a dredger. 
Hi 
IE BEE-KEEPER. 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
The weather has been most unpropitious of late, and bees have 
been unable to collect sufficient honey for their daily wants, and 
will, in most cases, have had to draw their supplies from the honey 
already stored in the hives. This is unfortunate, as there is a 
great quantity of white Clover still in blossom ; in fact, I do not 
recollect such an abundance of it at this season of the year. A 
few days of hot weather, such as we expect at this time of the 
year, would have given qui'e a honey flow from this and other 
sources, and enabled the bees to collect a fair amount of honey. 
The continued wet, which appears to be very general, will, I fear, 
also be the cause of disappointment to those who have taken their 
bees to the Heather. At present there does not seem any sign of 
its clearing and having settled weather. 
Taking the Surplus. 
I must repeat my advice that no time should be lost in taking 
such surplus as can be spared, for if this weather continues any 
unsealed honey in the supers will either be consumed or carried 
down into the body of the hives. 
Those who continue to keep bees in skeps will do well to take 
up those selected for that purpose at once, for except in Heather 
districts it is not likely that any additional weight of honey will be 
obtained after this time. 
It is to be hoped that the plan of sulphuring the bees in skeps 
is now seldom practised, for in addition to its cruelty it spoils the 
delicate taste of the honey. 
Driving the Bees from the Skeps. 
Those who have attended the Shows of the Bee-keepers’ 
Association will have seen how easily driving may be done, but 
there may be some to whom a short explanation of the modus 
operandi will be useful. Driving can be done by any person of 
moderate intelligence. In this, as in all manipulation with bees, 
we should proceed quietly and deliberately, taking care not to jar 
the hive or excite the bees, everything being ready before touching 
the skep containing the bees. 
Close Driving. 
An empty skep about the same size as the one to be driven, a 
pail, and a towel or cloth are required ; then blow a little smoke into 
the mouth of the hive before removing it from its stand. The bees 
being alarmed will run up to the honey, and if we wait a few minutes 
they will fill themselves, and in this condition they seldom sting. 
Raise the skep gently, turning it upside down, and place it in the 
pail ; put the empty hive on it, so that the rims touch, and bind 
the two together with the cloth. Should the hive have a flat top 
the pail will not be required. Now commence and continue 
rapping the sides of the skep containing the bees with the open hand, 
hard enough to jar the combs without breaking them down. In a 
few minutes the bees will make a buzzing noise and commence 
running up into, and cluster in, the empty skep. The rapping 
must be continued for some time, usually from five to ten minutes, 
when most, if not all, of the bees will be found in the hive that a 
few minutes before was empty. To ascertain if such is the case 
untie the cloth and gently raise one side of the skep ; if all are not 
up continue the rapping as before until they are. The skep con¬ 
taining the bees should at once be removed and placed on the stand 
that it originally occupied, when any bees that are on the wing 
will join those in the skep. Having now got rid of the bees from 
the honeycombs a cloth should be at once covered over the combs 
to prevent robber bees from getting into it. Remove the hive to a 
place of safety, and extract from such combs or portions of comb 
as contain honey as soon as convenient. 
What to do with the Bees. 
The bees can now be united to any other colony as follows. 
Blow a little smoke in at the entrance of the colony to which it is 
wished to join the driven bees, and give them a few minutes to gorge 
themselves with honey. Lift up the hive and sprinkle them with 
some very thin syrup ; then put it on the ground on its floor 
board, raising up the front edge of the hive on a wedge or stone. 
The driven bees should also have a little smoke to keep them from 
flying, and a very little of the same thin syrup sprinkled among 
them, and should then be thrown by a sudden jerk in the front of 
the raised hive entrance. A cloth or newspaper should be first 
placed under the floor board to prevent the bees from being lost, 
and they will run in and join the others. In my next I will 
further explain what may be done with driven bees.— John M. 
Hooker. 
MODERN BEE-KEEPERS BEHIND THE TIMES. 
It is a well-known fact that I have for years exposed the short¬ 
comings of modern teachers, and taught very much like what 
appears on page 166, August 20th. The system there described is 
an ancient, and not a modern one, as the writer of the notes 
appears to imply. I should be pleased if he would tell us when 
their views were altered, giving date, and where the record is to be 
found, as it is not so very long since extracting from brood combs 
was strongly recommended by the modern school. 
The want of some ready way of getting bees from supers has, 
no doubt, as the writer says, long been felt amongst modern bee¬ 
keepers, of whom he is confessedly one, but not amongst ancient 
bee-keepers, more practical and more experienced. A short time 
before I described the carbolic acid with the paper method, 
modern bee keepers were at their wit’s end how to get the bees 
cleared from them without clearing the honey at the same time. 
Shortly afterwards my plan was pronounced by novices and 
experienced bee-keepers alike as the best and speediest of all 
systems, and the late Mr. William Raitt once duly accredited me 
with the idea, although Mr. Cheshire in hi3 work leaves the im¬ 
pression that it was Mr. Raitt’s ; and many others, as I anticipated 
through the Journal, have also laid claim to it. 
It is not many months since I gave a description of super 
clearers, and as I am fully acquainted with all sorts can speak 
advisedly on the subject. Cone super clearers have been before the 
public for many years, and were not invented last year, as stated at 
page 166 ; nor is the method of working as described so good as is 
practised in America, the home of the invention. Some people 
object to what they term the “ nasty acid,” but it is cleanly and 
safe, and far superior to smoke, which contains creosote. I never 
use smoke, and my first article appeared in the Cottage Gardener 
against its use upon bees at least thirty years ago. 
Clearing supers with carbolic acid paper is almost instantaneous ; 
combs are neither broken nor soiled, and the work is finished 
quicker than the time it takes to replace a super with the cones, 
and sometimes robbers will get in. 
One of my earliest super clearers consisted of a close box, having 
a sliding mouthpiece, and a pane of glass covered by a sliding 
shutter. The super or supers were simply placed in this box, the 
mouthpiece being kept closed until many bees appeared at the 
glass, when the shutter was closed and the mouthpiece opened ; 
then out rushed the bees to a platform leading them to the entrance 
of their own hive. The plan was a good one, superior to the cone 
clearer, but much inferior to the carbolised paper.—A Lanark¬ 
shire Bee-keeper. 
PUNIC BEES AND THOSE WHO KNOW NOTHING 
ABOUT THEM. 
In the “ B. B. J." for August 27th someone signing himself 
“Inquirer” wants to know who I am, my real name, <kc., and he 
also feigns ignorance as to “A. L. B. K.,” Messrs. Stokes and Robinson 
who are mentioned in the Journal on August 20th, and “ if they are 
known in the bee world as men of experience,” and runs to Messrs. 
Cowan and Carr to advise him to have nothing to do with Punics. 
