316 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 8,18M, 
made perfectly straight and flat, then pour hot wax on both sides, 
keeping the frame at the proper angles to send the wax from top 
to bottom, and into the groove.— A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
PUNIC BEES. 
In the issue for October 1st “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ” gives these 
bees in their purity an indifferent report for the season, although on the 
whole they have surpassed the stocks he compared them with. I think 
he has not exactly treated them fairly, for in all experiments with these 
bees it must be remembered that their natural months for rest is our 
summer, which is their winter. Next year, when they have become 
acclimatised, he will have a different tale to tell. Then, again, it has 
been a bad season to try them ; no honey from early July, so that when 
the Heather yielded they began breeding. If “ A. L. B. K.” will take 
into consideration the extra young bees they have bred, and the honey 
used in producing them, the balance will be on the other side, as bad 
as it has been. Five imported queens refused to lay at all till the Heather 
opened.—A Hallahshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Ketten Freres, Luxembourg .—Catalogue of Roses. 
Robert 'Veitch & Son, Exeter .—Catalogue of Alpines, Perennial , 
and Border Plants. 
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. 
Tea-scented Roses for Growing in Pots (./. J/.).—The fol¬ 
lowing varieties will probably meet your requirements:—Niphet s, 
Safrano, Madame de St. Joseph, The Bride, Sunset, and W. F. Bennett. 
They are free bloomers and good in bud, forcing well. 
Gladioli in Pots QG. P.).-^-Gradually withhold water, and when 
the foliage turns yellow turn the plants out of the pots, shake aw r ay all 
the soil, and place the cormsin a dry airy place to dry ; then place them 
in drawers, where they will be safe from frost until spring, when they 
may be repotted and grown as in the previous year. 
Southern Tdarkets (i?. A ). — The towns named by you are 
well supplied with all kinds of flower, fruit, and vegetable produce, 
and their markets are not so good upon the whole as those of the 
great towns of the Midlands and the North. Southern growers send 
much of their produce to the great manufacturing centres, more 
being grown than can be profitably disposed of near home. This 
you must bear in mind ; also that competition is keen everywhere, 
and will become keener, success only resting with those having the 
best practical knowledge, business capacity, and enterprise, so as to 
produce at the cheapest rate a superior article. 
nectarines Eaten by Ants ( G. L.~). — The best means of destroy¬ 
ing ants is by poison, and of those the arsenical solution to be presently 
named is very efficacious ; but it must be used with the utmost caution, 
as it is fatal to animal life. White arsenic half an ounce, place in an old 
iron pot with a pint of water, and then boil until reduced to half a pint 
or little more of liquid, then add 4 ozs. of coarse sugar, and stir well. 
Place portions of this mixture in saucers in the haunts of the ants. 
They will eat it and die. Another plan is to lay a quantity of partially 
picked boiled bones in the haunts of the ants. They will soon be 
covered with ants, when throw the bones into hot water. Before laying 
the bones down again let all superfluous moisture drain off. This is a 
safe, cheap, and very effectual remedy. 
Keeping Apples (IF. R. R .').-—“A perfectly dry wine cellar of 
very even temperature, but quite unventilated,” would answer well 
for storing and keeping Apples, provided it is perfectly sw r eet through 
limewashing the walls and cleansing the floor. If the cellar is musty 
the quality of the fruit would be impaired. Ventilation is not essential 
to the keeping of fruit, as you may easily prove by wrapping some 
Apples in tissue paper and placing them in a close swmet box, allowing 
others of the same variety to remain on a shelf in some ventilated room. 
Those from which air is excluded will keep much the longer if the 
variety is a late one, and longer also if early, though in this case 
the difference, for obvious reasons, is less marked. Your other question 
will have attention. 
Woodlice and Mushrooms (J. R. JV.'). —A postcard reply was 
sent to the address you gave, and if this was insufficient the card would 
not reach you. If you have no use for the old litter burn it, and in that 
way you will “ prevent accumulations.” We are not aware that wood- 
lice injure Mushroom spawn either “ duringfermentation or afterwards,” 
but they enjoy Mushrooms and often do injury to the crops, especially 
when the beds and litter are dry in houses and sheds ; when moist out¬ 
doors little harm is done. The most effective way of dealing with 
woodlice in Mushroom beds that we have seen is entrapping them 
between dry dirty old boards, placed face to face under the litter, as 
described on page 116 of the sixth edition of “Mushrooms for tie 
Million.” You may see how to prepare arsenic in our reply to “ G. L.” 
Proliferous Perns (G. R. C.).—The Fern you describe as pro¬ 
ducing a number of little plants along the midrib of each frond is 
probably Polystichum proliferum. When the frondlets are half an inch 
long or so, the portions of the fronds bearing them, if pegged down in a 
free mixture of leaf soil, peat, a little loam and sand, or even cocoa-nut 
fibre refuse, and kept moist in a box, such as a biscuit box, and a square 
of glass laid across to exclude air, will be kept fresh for supporting the 
“ little plants ” till they form roots. If not kept close and moist as 
suggested the fronds are apt to wither in a room window and the frond- 
lets perish. You may try some now, and if they fail try others next 
summer when the w r eather is warmer, but they must be shaded from the 
sun. It is scarcely fair to send an inferior Pear to be named when you 
have “ several larger and better.” We can only say the variety is 
possibly Louise Bonne of Jersey, a free-bearing excellent October Pear, 
worth planting, though the fruit does not keep very long. 
Mushroom Bricks Spawning (IF. II. IF).—The right condition 
to have the bricks for spawning is barely half dry, effecting this by 
standing them edgeway similar to ordinary clay bricks preparatory 
to burning, turning them occasionally, and having them under cover. 
After spawning, the bricks are placed on a floor in a shed or house 
with a little straw beneath, and close together on edge, except that 
a few straws are placed between the bricks. They are covered with 
sweet hay or soft straw, and, if necessary, enough fermenting material 
to raise a gentle heat of 75° to 90° ; but in summer this is not 
necessary, though some practise it to insure the speedy and certain 
running of the spawn. Care must be taken not to have the ferment¬ 
ing materials too hot, and not too moist; all that is w r anted is a 
gentle warmth and enough moisture in the bricks to insure the spread 
of the spawn. Are you sure the spawn from the haystack bottom is 
the proper kind and in right condition ? 
Flower Garden Resigns QFloicer ).—There are as many plans 
and designs for bedding in Cole’s “ Royal Parks and Gardens of 
London” as in any cheap work we know. It can be had for 2s. lid. 
by post from this office. It contains much information on propagating 
different kinds of plants and other appropriate matter. We have no 
recollection of the Australian seeds, and all letters received more than a 
week ago have been answered. We are always glad to receive your 
notes, and if they are not inserted immediately you must not think they 
are on that account lightly regarded. Light sketchy notes, as well as 
what you describe as “ weighty ” articles, are equally acceptable when 
suitable for publication. Some of the heavy brigade order arrived by 
the same post as yours, but cannot be inserted this week, as the printers 
had more than enough matter in hand for filling the pages. The articles, 
however, like your notes, lose nothing by the delay, and are worth 
waiting for. 
ZVXuscat Grapes Spotted ( Ten-years SiilserHer ')—The remark¬ 
ably fine berries, over 1 inch by nearly 1£ inch in diameter, are affected 
with spot. This is caused by a fungus known as Glceosporium lceticolor, 
which seems powerless to penetrate the skin of the Grapes by its 
spores (germinal tubes) until they are rendered tender, if not actually 
decomposed by moisture resting upon them. Hence we find the berries 
most affected on the upper part of the bunches, on the upper side of the 
berries, and at their base. There is no remedy, but it may generally be 
avoided by pursuing a course of treatment, which gives density to the 
surface by judicious ventilation and a moderate amount of atmospheric 
moisture, espec : ally at night, much moisture has a weakening tendency. 
The disease does not affect the Grapes generally until the trans¬ 
formation of the juices takes place in ripening, and it is very 
common in Grapes that have hung some time, and are undergoing 
acetous fermentation. We can only recommend a gentle warmth in 
the pipes and a little air constantly so as to prevent the deposition of 
moisture on the berries. Remove the affected berries and burn them. 
Plum Trees “ Cankered ” (J. 15.).— Plum trees never canker 
in the sense applied to Apple and Pear trees, but they are very liable to 
a similar disease—namely, gumming. The trees evidently make too 
