October IS, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
335 
Having their ends thrust into the beds these short tops will present a 
neat and fairly attractive appearance during the dullest part of the 
year. 
% 
HE HUE-KEEPER 
nr/ J3H/£V j\jvjwrjyrv. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Since bringing my bees from the moors the weather has 
continued wet and stormy, considerably delaying preparations for 
the winter. On overhauling my hives I was surprised at the singular 
failure of the queens of stock hive3 to become fertile. There is 
only one swarmed stock hive that has a fertilised queen, while not 
a single one of all the nuclei raised has failed. This is all the 
more remarkable, as in other years nuclei were, as a rule, the last 
to become fertile. But what adds more to the singularity other 
hives besides my own are on a similar footing, many hives through¬ 
out the country being either queenless or have drone breeders. I 
have given away all my surplus queens, and have still inquiries for 
more. 
£ WARMING 
took place this year before the hives were nearly crowded, fully 
disproving the argument that timely room will prevent it. Then 
the prime swarms superseding their year-old queens with young 
ones further demonstrates that extra room will not prevent 
swarming. 
This abnormal state of matters at swarming time no doubt 
arose from the queens seeking a rest from over-exhaustion by con¬ 
tinuous laying from January up till 8th June, that most fatal day 
of any throughout the year to bees. It was allowed by many 
experienced bee-keepers, that with a few days more of such weather 
few bees if any could have survived. The safety of bees during 
winter never gave me any anxiety, spring being the most anxious 
time ; but now it appears that it is the summer months we have 
most to dread. 
Punic Bees. 
I am flooded with inquiries about these interesting bees. Some 
of the persons appear to have a similar impression as “ A Hallam- 
shire Bee-keeper,” that “ I have given them an indifferent report.” 
I gave a most faithful report, although I stated that I could not 
confidently recommend them as honey gatherers. How could I ? 
The bees had no chance. There was not a single day the honey 
was plentiful since I had them, and although the Punics were 2 lbs. 
light, if the reader re-reads the article attentively, and considers 
the comb-making the Punics had to do, and their fewness in number 
compared to the others, he will be compelled to conclude the Punics 
had been the most industrious. I am satisfied the Punics are superior 
in many respects to other varieties, but I cannot say they will 
gather more honey until I have ocular demonstration in a good 
season under a fair trial. Since I brought them home they have been 
and still are working more vigorously than any other variety, while 
nuclei having Punic queens have far more young bees ; and, what 
is as satisfactory, every queen I presented has excelled in honey 
gathering while their combs are beautifully white, thus these bees 
have done enough to earn for themselves the reputation of the 
best honey gatherers ; but another season must come and go before 
the pure Punics’ honey gathering qualities will be known by me. 
I trust the foregoing explanation will satisfy all concerned for 
the nonce, and that after a little time with patience, until summer 
weather comes, they may rely upon me—if spared—to give an 
accurate account of their and of others’ doings. Meanwhile, do 
not lose a good chance of punicising your apiaries. 
When drawing out the ventilating floor at the moor3 I dis¬ 
covered what I took to be quite a heap of sealings of drone cells. 
Thinking the Punics had been working on similar lines as other 
varieties do, building drone cells after the bees were increasing 
from their first cluster, after they were home I examined them, 
but found no drone comb as expected, all worker. The question 
now is, Do the young Punics when leaving the cell set themselves 
free in the same manner a3 drones do, and are the seals of workers 
different in any way from the seals of other varieties ? Will 
“A. H. B. K.” say if he has observed, although the Punic is 
a smallish looking bee, its worker cells measure 0 V to the 2 iuclies ? 
Those I have measured are of this size. 
Preparing for Wintering. 
As bees winter better on sugar than Heather honey, but breed 
better on the latter, I have fed all stocks with several pounls of 
sugar ; this insures safer wintering, while it preserves the honey 
for breeding during the earlier part of the year, and raising the 
temperature of the hive enables the bees to gather the scattered 
honey and store it above the cluster of bees, the proper place for 
honey at all times. 
Although bee3 are better to be left alone after September, it i s 
not too late in the season to adnvnister a few pounds of sugar to 
each hive, so as to reduce abdominal distension to the lowest 
degree, should the winter be severe. 
Floor Boards. 
Care should be taken that floor boards do not retain moisture, 
nor project in any way to di’aw it to the interior of the hive, the 
ventilating floor and the insensible upward vent lation obviate all 
this.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
William Rumsey, Waltham Cross.— Catalogue of Roses. 
J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley.— Catalogue of Trees and Shrubs. 
G. Phippen, Oxford Road, Reading.— Bulb Catalogue. 
Dammann & Co., Naples.— General Catalogue of Plants and Seeds. 
Wm. Paul 5c Son, Waltham Cross.— Catalogue of Roses. 
Pitcher 5c Manda, New Jersey and Hextable.— Bulb , Orchid , and 
Plant Catalogues. 
E. P. Dixon 5c Sons, Hull.— Catalogue of Roses, Fruit Trees, and 
Ornamental Trees and Shrubs , 
Jno. Jefferies 5c Son, Cirencester.— Catalogue of Roses and Trees. 
E. H. Krelage & Son, Haarlem.— Catalogue of Darwin Tulips, 
Ketten Freres, Luxembourg.— Catalogue of Roses. 
Al l 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 
anavoidably. 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 (L. B. £.).—The following books will probably meet your 
requirements, and you can obtain particulars as to prices from the 
respective publishers. “ The Rose Garden,” from Messrs. Wm. Paul 
and Son, Waltham Cross; “Stove and Greenhouse Plants,” Messrs. 
B S. Williams 5c Son, Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper Holloway, 
or “ Greenhouse and Stove Plants ” by Mr. T. Baines, from J. Murray, 
Albemarle Street; “British Ferns,” by Mr. Druery, from Upcott Gill, 
Strand ; and “ The Handbook of Hardy Trees and Shrubs,” translated 
by Mr. Helmsley, from Longmans, Green 5c Co., 39, Paternoster Row. 
Tomatoes (J. C.~). —We are glad to see the fruits, for that was the 
only purpose to which they could be put, for all were over-ripe, some 
crushed and broken. Of the Reds Dickson’s Carentan is distinctly the 
