October 22, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
355 
a few degrees higher will do no harm, but when the thermometer falls to 
freezing point outside the temperature must be kept as near the former 
as possible. If a high temperature is maintained Crotons and other 
foliage plants are induced to grow, which disfigures them, for there is 
not sufficient sun to colour their foliage. On all fine occasions the 
syriDge should be used freely to keep the foliage clean. Thrips 
spread rapidly in a dry atmosphere and red spider will soon establish 
itself. 
Crotons. —Young plants that are to be grown for another year 
should be repotted if they need more root room. It is a mistake to 
check them by confining the roots in small pots. They will if carefully 
watered root freely into the new soil if given a temperature a few 
degrees warmer than advised for the stove proper. Small shifts only 
should be given at this season of the year, and the plants potted now will 
be in capital condition for making vigorous growth early in the season. 
Plants that are growing too tall may be nicked and mossed ready for 
growing another year. In brisk heat roots are quickly formed, and 
when severed from the parent they soon become established if plunged 
for a few days in a close case where slight bottom heat can be given. 
Draecenas. —Syringing may be practically discontinued. The bed 
upon which they are standing should be kept moist. Water these plants 
carefully, if given too much or subjected to too low a temperature the 
roots will die. Young stock that it is necessary to grow on may be 
potted. Plants that are damaged in rooms and are needed for stock 
should be kept in a temperature of G0°, and rather dry at their 
roots to ripen and harden their stems ready for cutting early in the 
year. 
Gardenias. —Repot cuttings that have just been rooted singly and 
establish them in brisk heat, afterwards giving them ordinary stove 
treatment. The earliest plants that have flower buds swelling should 
have a temperature of 65°. Later plants will do in a night temperature 
5° low r er, provided they are watered with care. Strong stimulants should 
be avoided, also strong insecticides, after the flower buds once commence 
forming. Those that have not formed their flower buds may be 
thoroughly cleaned if mealy bug or scale infest them. Petroleum and 
water will be found the best solution for this purpose. 
Ixoras. —These soon fail unless careful treatment can be given them. 
Good plants often decrease in health and vigour by the treatment they 
receive during the winter months. The syringe may still be used if a 
temperature at night of 65° can be maintained. If 5° lower it should 
only be attempted on the mornings of very fine days. The water used 
for this purpose should be a few degrees higher than the temperature of 
the house. The same rule applies to that used for the roots. This must 
be administered with care, as too much will prove detrimental, while on 
the other hand an insufficient supply will also be injurious. Keep the 
plants free from mealy bug and thrips. Young stock intended to flower 
in small pots will be all the better if they can be arranged where they 
can enjoy gentle bottom heat, but this must not exceed 70° to 75°. 
Euphorbia jacquiniceflora. —The wood of those that were rooted 
late is still soft. They must be exposed to full light and sunshine. The 
temperature of the structure in which they are placed should not exceed 
55° at night or they w r ill continue to grow. The atmosphere should be 
moderately dry so as to harden them as much as possible. When the 
wood is soft and the plants are placed into brisk heat the eye3 often 
start into growth instead of forming flowers. The same remarks 
as regards heat and temperature apply to Poinsettias that are soft and 
still growing. The earlier plants that have stopped growth and com¬ 
menced to form their bracts should have a temperature of 65°, in which 
they will produce finer bracts of better colour than in a lower tempera¬ 
ture. Weak liquid manure or artificial manure applied to the surface of 
the soil will be beneficial. 
Adiantum cuneatum. —Plants that have been grown cool throughout 
the summer and the fronds have been gathered will soon start into 
growth again if placed into a temperature of G0° to 65°. The growth 
these plants push up will be found useful after the main stock is over. 
Young plants raised from spores and well established in 4-inch pots may 
be placed into 6-inch. These in a temperature of 60° will continue to 
grow, and whether required for furnishing or cutting will be found 
invaluable. 
Begonias. —Plants of the manicata section as they are housed from 
cold frames should not, unless they are needed in flower, be placed in 
heat. This is a mistake, they will do well for the present in a cool 
house that can be kept moderately close where the atmosphere is dry. 
Other winter kinds need an intermediate temperature. They will soon 
flower freely, and will be found invaluable for cutting. Any that are 
not needed for the present may be pinched. The varieties of B. nitida 
are useful in the stove early in the year, these if in small pots may be 
potted, also a good number of B. Ingrami that are now in thumb pots. 
Late struck cuttings or seedlings of varieties of B. semperflorens may 
also be potted if they need more root room. 
Anthurium Schertzeiianum. — Plants that have completed their 
growth may be removed from the stove to an intermediate temperature 
to rest. While in this structure be careful not to give too much water. 
They enjoy a month or six weeks in a lower temperature, and flower 
more profusely in consequence. 
Antliurium Andreanum. —One of the most useful plants that can be 
grown for the stove during the winter. Its large bright scarlet spathcs 
are very attractive, and equally useful in a cut state. The plants for 
the ornamentation of the stove are most effective in 6 or 7-inch pots. 
When a large plant can be obtained there is no difficulty in raising a 
stock. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Preparing for tiie Future. 
I had just finished my last hive for the winter on October 14th, 
the day of the great storm, when the barometer in several hours 
fell more than an inch, running down from 29'40 to 28. The 
evening was too far advanced before I observed this or I would 
have taken precautions. Fortunately no hives containing bees 
were capsized, only a few untenanted ones. On the following 
morning there were still signs of storms, so I hurriedly loaded full 
and empty ones with bricks or any weighty material that came to 
hand until I have all steadied with a stake driven firmly into the 
ground close to each hive and tied firmly to it, this being more 
sightly than weighty articles, and more easily secured or separated. 
Economy and Utility. 
I employ no superfluous adornments, nor anything that may 
hinder easy transit, or that may add unnecessarily to expense. My 
hives stand complete. Most of them this year are occupied by 
bees in two body divisions. The third division, and the super 
protector above it, serve for holding winter packing and supers. 
The former consists of a piece of woollen cloth next to the frames, 
and 4 inches of dried grass above. The slips between the frames 
are left in, there being sufficient opening to allow the escape of 
moisture. The rest of the space above the packing holds three 
storeys of empty supers. Those not in outside cases are covered 
with two or three plies of sacking or woollen material, and that 
again covered with an oilcloth or felt tarred and limed. 
This arrangement permits all the moisture created within the 
hive to leave before it is condensed within or upon any outer part of 
the hive, thereby preserving it from decay and the bees from injury. 
This same arrangement favours under feeding, which I prefer in 
most cases as being quicker, while the bees sometimes feed more 
readily from below than from above, and it has the advantage of 
never causing a current of cold air in the hive, as upper feeders do, 
which lower the temperature of the hive considerably. The bee¬ 
keeper who follows out these or similar plans will be studying his 
own interest in point of economy and utility. 
When I take my bees to th9 Heather the felt or oilcloth curtain 
is dispensed with, shade being more essential than warmth at that 
season, a single piece of sacking around the hive, and an oilcloth 
on the top, being sufficient. Of course the supers must be well 
covered. Thus lessening the clothing of the hives there is little 
to cumber en route , and as the alighting boards fold up the hive 
becomes of very small dimensions, and enables us to take upwards 
of fifty hives at as little expense and space as a dozen of most of 
the modern make of hives. That is a large item, and stamps in 
a stereotyped manner the disadvantage of the cumbrous and 
expensive modern type of hive. 
Feeding. 
This is another important point in bee-keeping. My motto has 
always been never to feed bees if it can be avoided, but unfortu¬ 
nately we are compelled to resort too often to feeding if honey 
gathering is nil when we expect it would be at the highest. 
Although I have pointed often, and in the foregoing, some of the 
evils of top-feeding, my feeders are a combination of top and 
bottom feeders, and by that means I am enabled to have a portion 
of the feeder inside the hive permanently. These scoops can be 
made to hold from 1 to 8 or 10 ozs., and better they be broad 
than too long, as if the latter, the hive being off the level, the 
syrup would flow away. The scoops, whether they are broad or 
narrow, should have a spale float. 
We would fain hope that such seasons as we have experienced 
for years would never recur; but whether or not, there are few 
