October 8,1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
315 
the base. The change from the moist atmosphere at night, •which they 
enjoy at this season of the year, is too great for them when placed under 
glass and subjected at once to the drier conditions of those structures. 
♦Select the plants, so that special treatment can be given them according 
to the time blooms are required. Those for very late flowering should be 
left outside, but arranged so that some protection can be given them in 
case of sharp fros's. A temporary structure, where blinds can be drawn 
over them at night, insures their safety for a long time. An open shed 
in which they can be placed at night and stood out again in the morning 
will also do very well. 
Continue to feed the plants carefully, avoiding strong stimulants, 
they do more harm than good, and often burn the roots to such an 
extent that the flowers fail to develop properly. Keep the roots active 
until the last. 
Vallotas .—These make a beautiful display at this season when grown 
in quantity. We find they succeed best when kept under glass the 
whole year round. After flowering they are returned to the greenhouse 
and stood amongst Azaleas. During the winter they are never allowed 
to become dry. They are equally as useful for decoration as Amaryllises, 
and well repay for care and good treatment. Keep the foliage clean, 
especially from thrips. 
Lilium canclidum .—Throw off the lights during favourable weather, 
but as soon as severe weather arrives place them where the temperature 
does not fall below 45°, and they will quickly commence to throw up 
their flower spikes. Lilium Harrisi is growing rapidly. These need 
some care to prevent them from drawing up weakly. Place them for 
the present in a light position in the greenhouse close to the glass, where 
they can enjoy air day and night when the temperature outside does not 
fall to freezing point. Stand them on some moisture-holding material, 
and do not allow them to become dry. 
Azaleas .—Prepare the structure in which these are intended to be 
wintered. Clean the house thoroughly. Tie and regulate climbers that 
are on the roof ; thin liberally where they have become crowded, so that 
light can reach the plants below. Wash the pots, and push on the tying 
of these plants where trained specimens areiappreciated. It is a mistake 
to delay the completion of this work too long. If tied at once the shoots 
quickly assume a natural position again. Wash all plants in a solution 
of tobacco water if infested with thrips. Stand the plants on a moisture¬ 
holding base, and syringe them once or twice daily to keep their foliage 
clean and fresh. No treatment is more detrimental to Azaleas than a 
dry atmosphere. 
SI 
ISO 
n 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
s 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Punic Bees. 
I have to modify my statement on page 295 that Punic bees 
are robbers. With my experience of them at the Heather, and 
after they were brought home, I was about wishing I had never 
been in possession of them, so great was the uproar among the 
bees. It was a puzzle to know which hive would succumb in 
the general battle. My attention was particularly turned to one 
hive, and from it to several others that had been subjected to 
an attack at the moors by the Punics. No time was lost in 
making an internal examination, when, to my surprise, every one 
of the attacked hives had unfertilised, or drone-breeding queens. 
These were at once removed, when order was promptly restored 
in the apiary. 
It will be observed that this discovery does not differ mate¬ 
rially from what “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper ’’ has said about 
them. I am now convinced that instead of their being a dis- | 
advantage they are an advantage in the apiary, pointing out 
abnormal stocks, giving the apiarist a timely hint as to queen¬ 
less colonies. The whole of the hives attacked had June-bred 
queens. The days suited for fertilisation were few, and there 
is little wonder that so many hives are at the present time 
useless on that account. Nor is that all, for we fear that 
95 per cent, of prime swarms have changed their queens, and 
50 per cent, of these are also either unfertilised, or are drone- 
breeders. Many of them have but few bees left. 
Had I not been prepared with extra nuclei having young 
queens my stock would have been reduced 50 per cent, from what 
it was in the spring, and the bees reduced in each hive to a third. 
I never experienced a season so destructive to bees as it has been 
from March till October, nor have I ever witnessed such splendid 
blooms of Clover and Heather, and so little honey gathered from 
them. Renfrewshire and Aberdeenshire appear to have been an 
exception in this all-through exceptional year ; I know of some 
heavy yields of honey from both counties. 
I have experienced seasons with less honey, but then the 
flowers were absent. Very few of my stocks require feeding, so 
we must hope on and try again ; another season, it is to be hoped, 
will be a better one, and the country demands bees whether there 
be honey or not. Bee-keepers on reading the foregoing will do 
well for their own interest if they make a thorough examination of 
every stock, and see that they have a fertile queen of the current 
year, and the hives well supplied with ample stores. All hives 
should be made wind and water-tight, and covered so that a zero 
temperature will neither affect bees nor stores. 
Can Bees be Improved ? 
I have been prompted to put this question, and to answer it in 
consequence of an article by Mr. Gr. M. Doolittle in an American 
paper, in which he says the common <! black bee is a fixed race or 
variety,” while “ the Italian bee is nothing more than a hybrid.” 
Now, Mr. Doolittle is wrong in saying the “ Italian bee is a hybrid.” 
It may be a cross, but that is very different from hybrid. I do not 
know how he can make out the Italian not to be a pure race, any 
more than trying to make out the common black bee the original 
one. It is as likely as not that there were variety in the honey 
bee from the earliest times. There is one thing certain, that all 
the varieties imported into this counti’y have different markings 
and different traits in their characters. 
Neither Mr. Doolittle nor any other person will ever be able 
to prove conclusively which is the pure race or which crosses. He 
argues as a proof that queens of the black race can be bred to a 
colour, but not so with Italians. My own experience is there is 
as much variation amongst the queens of the black race as 
in any other race or races. How he makes out that a 
“ hybrid ’ can be improved and not a pure breed is beyond my 
comprehension. The Americans, with the assistance of dealers in 
this country and on the Continent, have managed by crossing to 
produce bright, almost all yellow, coloured bees, which they 
tei'm “pure five-banded Italians,” but they are neither more 
nor less than crosses between that bee and the Cyprians 
or Syrian bees. The first crosses of any variety may show 
improvement, and the Punic crosses are the best, but after the 
first cross we are never certain. Sometimes the after crosses are 
as good as the first, while from others there is a decided backward 
tendency. 
Preparing for Next Season. 
All hives should be overhauled. Where there is an excess of 
drone comb it should be removed, and frames filled with worker 
comb, taken from the condemned hives, substituted. All the 
frames containing drone comb, and those that are emptied of filled 
comb, should be cleaned, and filled with foundation forthwith, so 
as to be in place and in readiness for next season. 
I observe that on page 234 Mr. Hooker recommends the cutting 
of the top bar through as “ the most convenient way of fixing 
foundation in a satisfactory manner,” and am glad to see that it 
has found its way into his “ little book.” The groove plan which 
I introduced is far superior, and gives the most satisfaction to all 
who have tried the different methods. Where the groove is used 
the top bars are stronger, neater, and easier kept clean and free 
from comb attachments. 
To clean the wax from used frames lay them in front of the 
fire for a few minutes ; when the wax softens scrape immediately, 
and run a bradawl through the groove. I sometimes use a tailor’s 
goose for softening the old wax, it answers the purpose well. 
There is no danger of splitting the bar when there is a groove as 
when it is sawn right through. Then, with the groove the sheet 
drops easily into it, and is never warped, as is the case sometimes 
with sawn bars. Simply drop the sheet into the groove, previously 
