296 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 1,1891. 
rapid feeding. Rapid or fast feeders as they are called are xisky 
to use, as is the custom of opening weak hives and filling combs 
with syrup, the bees in both cases will become gorged and be 
unable to resist robbers. 
The above are some of the conditions that affect bees when 
their hives are robbed and are in the same state we wish them to 
be when manipulating to prevent stings, or when joining two or 
more swarms together to prevent slaughter, and bee-keepers should 
study the different phases. Great care is necessary when feeding 
that it be not in excess of bees and combs, as well as to be careful 
all chinks and ventilators of hives be closed during a dearth of 
honey, or robbing and slaughter will be the order of the day. 
Other points of interest must be held over till a future occasion. 
Colour in Bees. 
Some time since I drew the attention of your readers to the 
various colours in drones of the same variety. It is a well known 
fact that queens and the worker bees of different hives but of the 
same breed assume different colours ; but there has never, so far 
as I have observed, been any explanation of that fact. During 
August of the present year, after the drones were either removed 
to the moors or were well killed off (although many are still living), 
a Carniolian queen was on the wing, and when she returned to her 
hive inside a small bee house having an arched entrance, and 
separated from the hive 4 inches, a light coloured drone came into 
contact with the queen, both disappearing between the hive and 
bee-house for a few seconds, when the queen entered the hive in 
a changed state, her progeny being of a very light colour, and 
similar to their father. We can now understand the cause of light 
and dark coloured bees ; but who will explain the great variation 
in the colour of pure-bred drones ? 
Pure Carniolians. 
I am glad to see an exporter of these bees stating in a Conti¬ 
nental journal that Carniolians having yellow bands or stripes are 
not pure. This news would have come with more grace had he 
thrown more light on the subject, stating why they were ever 
crossed, or why it was that out of fifty queens I had from him 
several years ago only three produced workers free from yellow 
bands. 
I have still the Carniolian in its pure state as imported some 
sixteen years ago, and think themwoith keeping pure, so rare to 
be had from their native haunts in Austria. I am sure many 
beside myself would like to have these bees pure, and can see no 
reason why some enterprising person or firm should not start the 
breeding of these bees for sale in this country. There are 
numerous isolated places in Scotland where a limited number 
might be raised annually, and so preserve the most mild tempered 
bees in the world from extinction.—A Lanarkshire Bee¬ 
keeper. 
® 0 ® 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 
unavoidably. 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 communications. 
Books (II. T., Macclesfield, and F., Slough). — Mr. Lewis Castle’s 
manual on Orchids can be had post free from this office for Is. 2Jd. 
( J . I ).).—We do.not know aDy work of the kind you mention. 
IVXustard and Cress for Market (II. 0 ., Lcytonstone). — The 
number containing the article to which you refer has long been out 
of print, but you will find the same in No. 300 of Garden-Work, which 
can be had from this office, post free, 1 jd. 
Caterpillars on Trees (Inquirer). —The insect appears to be the 
caterpillar of one of the small moths called the Pearl moths. The 
species, we think, is that named Spilonotes cinctalis. It is not usual to 
find it feeding quite so late in the year, but this is a sipgular season. 
The food is various trees and shrubs, such as Hazel and Elin, also Maple 
and some fruit trees. From its habits it is difficult to deal with such a 
species if troublesome to the gardener. It runs with much celerity 
either backwards or forwards. If alarmed it usually falls from the food 
plant, and might be dislodged from leaves by vigorous shaking. We 
never heard of its being common enough to do any noticeable injury. 
Prairie Roses (A Subscribe?•). —These are climbing Roses of 
vigorous habit and rapid growth, well adapted for covering walls, 
banks, wire trellises, and trunks of trees, but they are not much 
grown in this country, and little propagated by nurserymen, because 
in small demand. In your locality it would be necessary to give the 
plants a warm situation, preferably a wall or bank with southern 
exposure. On the latter they should be planted about 6 feet apart, 
and the growths may be pegged on the ground after the shoots are 
full grown and becoming ripened. They are beautiful as standards 
trained as “ weepers,” but the plants in this form are difficult to 
obtain. The only varieties we know to be cultivated in this country 
are Baltimore Belle, pale blush ; and Caradori, flake white. The best 
time to cut Box and Privet hedges is in August, from the early part 
to September, as the season influences the growth. When Box requires- 
much cutting in it should be done in spring, just before or when 
new growth is being made, choosing mild moist weather toward the 
latter part of April, or later if frosty. 
Vine Leaves (G. A).—The leaves have had their surfaces injured 
by some deleterious substance, or been acted upon by heat so as to cause 
the destruction of the tissues to the extent of the blotches, which extend 
over much, and in some cases, the whole of the leaf. There is no trace 
of animal or vegetable parasites—insects or fungi—but there is a whitish 
deposit on some of the leaves, which may be a result of using water 
containing lime. The petioles of the leaves are perfectly healthy ; no 
trace whatever of shanking, nor does it affect, the leaves. The blotches 
are simply caused by scorching. It may be by the use of a corrosive 
solution ; by keeping the house close and moist during cold and pro¬ 
longed sunless weather, and then the sun in a bright subsequent period 
acts on their watery tissues, heating them, and thus causing them to 
scorch, because air has not been admitted early and insured evaporation 
from their surfaces, and consequently heating slowly and correspondingly 
with the surrounding air. They may also scorch through inferior glass, 
or its clearness would cause the leaves to scorch by admitting more light 
and heat, especially after a dull period, than they are able to endure. 
This often occurs with Vines under large panes of clear glass, and their 
tissues being soft, both through the cultivator’s effort to induce as much 
growth as possible and the inherent tendency of young Vines to have tender 
tissues. Hence we find these scorched by sun whilst older Vines under 
more rational treatment have their foliage intact. Fumigation would 
also produce the scorching when excessive, especially if the foliage were 
moist. That something of the kind indicated is the cause of the leaves 
being scorched we have no doubt. The leaves certainly are very small, 
very thin in texture, but they are perfectly healthy, and their footstalks 
and veins have the rich reddish purple tint or the yellow hue so character¬ 
istic of a due supply of nutriments of the chlorophyll-forming character, 
and we should say that all the Vines want, as regards soil constituents, is 
a supply of phosphatic manure, as steamed bone meal or superphosphate, 
and may be potash, but that would be supplied in the leaf soil. 
Provided the natural soil is a good loam, containing over 50 per cent, 
of sand, not more than 20 to 25 per cent, of clay, and 5 to 10 per cent, 
of lime, there is no reason why it should not grow good Grapes with the 
essential humus—5 to 10 per cent., which seems to have been added— 
namely, a lot of rotten leaves and old hotbed manure. That soil,, 
naturally or artificially well drained, ought to grow good Grapes under 
judicious management. The soil, however, may not be suitable, yet it is 
a mistake to assume that the turfy loam of an old pasture only will grow 
Grapes, for we have found that the soil of many gardens is far better 
suited for Grape growing than loam had at great expense off soils not 
suitable for Vine growth. 
Cucumber and Melon Leaves (T. 2?.).—The Cucumber leaves- 
are large, thin in texture, and have the appearance of those produced by 
plants that are infested with eelworm (Tylenchus or Vibrio devastatrix} 
in the stems and roots. Though large, the leaves appear ill nourished, 
and they flag and scorch under powerful sun, some becoming blackened 
at the edges, and over a considerable portion of the leaves ; whilst other 
parts turn yellow, and are blotched as if scorched by sun. The fruit 
exudes a gum-like fluid, and extravasation of sap also takes place from 
the stems. For this disease there is practically no remedy for infested 
plants, but it certainly is not caused or accelerated by “ too much soofc- 
and burnt refuse in the soil,’’ unless it produces over-luxuriance and 
weakens the tissues. This, however, will not cause the infestation by 
eelworms, though it may facilitate their attacks; for these pests are- 
present in the soil, and usually attack plants that lack a proper supply 
of potassic elements, as Clover, and plants which, through a deficiency 
of that substance and phosphoric acid, are unable to assimilate nitrogen.. 
Burnt refuse ought to supply the necessary potash, and soot the needful 
nitrogen, but there may be a deficiency of other ash elements which are 
essential to give soiidity to the growths, and better enable them to- 
