34 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 0, 1885. 
are therefore valuable on this point. The crosses with these 
varieties with the Carniolian are far the best working bees I ever 
possessed. If irritated they are vicious, but unless when at the 
Heather, and then not always, I never use a veil. My bees neither 
sting me nor anybody else, unless through some provocation. 
The only protection I use is a little carbolic acid on paper, or a 
feather, which if carefully applied subdues the most vicious 
bees instantly. As the season is now at hand bee-keepers will 
have an opportunity of proving its efficacy in clearing supers of 
bees before removing them from the hive. I preserve my sheets 
of saturated paper, so that very little carbolic acid is required to 
be effective. 
The Carniolian bees are not only good workers, flying a long 
distance for forage, but are, perhaps, the most docile bee in ex¬ 
istence. I never knew them make an attack on anyone, and 
neverwas stung unless when I inadvertently crushed them. Where 
there are children or timid ladies, these bees could not fail to 
give satisfaction. They are also very enduring, and will live and 
prosper where some varieties would be a failure I have, there¬ 
fore, confidence in placing the Carniolian bee as the one that 
will give the greatest satisfaction with the least disappoint¬ 
ment.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
KILLING BEES IN AUTUMN. 
Under the above heading, pages 279, 280 (last volume), your con¬ 
tributor, “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper,” says that he was disappointed at 
my omitting some important advice in my reply to Mr. W. Kruze, on 
page 221, and then gives his advice as supplementary to what I said. 
My reason for omitting so important a matter in apiculture was that I 
had already explained the system he supplements in the numbers for 
July olst and. August 7th, 1884, which I considered unnecessary to 
repeat, and which appears to have been unnoticed by your correspondent. 
His remarks, however, are the more valuable and pleasing by giving his 
practical results, which corroborates my own experience, and refutes the 
arguments of those who say that extra large swarms of beea do not gather 
so much as medium ones will do. Then your correspondent hits the 
mark, and deserves credit for purchasing bees from bee-keepers in earlier 
districts when they are no longer of use there, but by the wise action 
secures a profit to the bee-keeper, with a prospective, and very likely one, 
to those who purchase the condemned bees. His plan, however, of 
having 8 lbs. of bees in a light box, with a journey of twenty hours, is 
open to question ; at least there is more risk in driven bees full of honey 
without combs travelling, therefore they require great care in transmission. 
It there is nothing but the bare walls of the hive for the bees to support 
themselves the jarring they are likely to get causes them to become 
heated and die. May I suggest, to prevent the disaster, for him to fit his 
boxes with thin hoards about two-thirds down from the top of the box, 
so that the bees will be divided and get sufficient foothold, so that they 
will not be affected by any rough or undue handling or jarring ? The 
essential ventilation above and below must on no account be overlooked. 
Another important matter is that in such cases it is absolutely necessary 
they should travel by passenger train; and as each package is charged 
separately, a considerable saving would be effected if a number were 
lashed.together or packed into a crate. As your correspondent may have 
provision made to avert likely disaster, still the foregoing remarks may be 
round useful to others who may follow your correspondent’s commendable 
plan ot saving condemned bees.— Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
E. H. Krelage & Son, Haarlem .—Wholesale Catalogue of Bulbs and other 
*** 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 correspon¬ 
dents, as doing so subjects them to unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions relat¬ 
ing to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should never 
send more than two or three questions at once. All articles in¬ 
tended 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 ( Miss Moorewood). —“ The Greenhouse Manual ” is at present out 
of print, and if the name and address of your friend be sent to the publisher 
the order shall be traced if possible and the stamps returned. 
Marechal Niel Rose Blooms.—A correspondent has sent us two very 
fine blooms of this Rose, but his letter appears to have gone astray. We 
shall be glad if he will write to us again, stating the conditions under which 
the plant is grown that produces such handsome flowers. 
Allamanda Leaves Curled (B. C.). —The species, A. grandiflora, is 
naturally more delicate than the larger forms, and more liable to be Bcorched 
by the sun. In the case of your plant the moisture is extracted from the 
shoots faster than it is supplied by the roots, and this break in the supply 
naturally causes the collapse of the foliage. Whether the root-action is 
defective by unsuitable soil, or whether there has been a little mistake in 
watering we cannot tell; but by some cause or other the growths do not 
receive adequate support; and it will be better to shade slightly till the 
root-action is better than to allow the growths to be injured like those 
before us. 
Disbudding Chrysanthemums ( Cambridge ).—We have consulted one of 
the best growers on the subject of your letter, and he thinks you have not 
gone far wrong in the treatment of your Chrysanthemums. He advises 
leaving only 1 and 4 in your diagram, as No. 2 is invariably the weakest' 
shoot. He would trke that off entirely. At the end of July Nos. 1 and 4 
will be showing each a flower bud again, which should be removed promptly, 
allowing two side shoots on each growth to extend for flowering. Four 
flowering shoots are sufficient to leave, and there is always a chance of one 
being damaged or going blind. If the plants are not very robust, he would 
only leave one shoot this time, but leave two or three at the next pinching, 
and be satisfied with that number of flowers. 
Carbonate of Soda as a Manure ( J. M.). —In reply to your inquiry as to 
whether this is of “ any value ” as a manure we reply in the affirmative, but 
we do not know that its exact value has been tested on any extensive scale. 
The fertile fields of Syria and some of the most profusely luxuriant fields of 
the Orientalists abound in carbonate of soda. This alkali enters into the 
composition of many vegetables and is calculated to accelerate the growth 
of most crops. It has been used as a liquid manure with advantage to Straw¬ 
berries, a pound of the soda being dissolved in fourteen gallons of water. 
Mixed with bone dust or guano it could scarcely fail to be serviceable to the 
majority of crops. You may safely try it and thus ascertain how far it is 
beneficial to the soil in your garden. Your Fern is, we think, Polystichuin 
Lonchitis, the Holly Fern. 
Fungus on Tomatoes (W. S. T .).—Your plants, judging by the portions 
sent, appear as if they had been too generously treated. Either the soil is 
very rich, or liquid manure has been given so freely that the leaves seem to 
be unable to elaborate the sap, and a fungus has taken possession of them 
similar to that which attacks Potatoes " We should feed the plants less, 
supporting them chiefly with pure water and an occasional top-dressing if 
needed of fresh soil or some such phosphatic manure such as superphos¬ 
phate of lime. We should also apply sulphur to the leaves. A simple 
method is to dissolve an ounce or two of softsoap in a gallon of water, 
adding sulphur to form a kind of cream that will pass through a syringe ; 
or it may be dusted on the parts affected. Maintain a buoyant atmosphere, 
never wholly closing the house at night, and increase the ventilation very 
early in the morning. 
Gall-mites on Trees (G. M. Dougall). —It has been discovered that the 
Alder is infested by at least four species of the gall-mite tribe. The first 
you describe, showing itself by silvery patches, usually beneath the leaf, is, 
we presume, Erineum Alneum. The second scatters thickly over the leaves 
galls of green or yellow tints : this is Cephaloneon pustulatum. By the 
third galls are produced along the nervures, the upper showing most traces, 
this would be Phytoptus Alni, a less frequent kind. Upon the Plane or 
Sycamore the first gall described is very common, it is the work of Phytoptus 
Aceris, similar to that produced by its congeners that haunt the Lime and 
the Maple. We should attribute the second kind to a species of Erineum, 
possibly as yet unrecognised by naturalists. To Phytoptus Pruni must be 
attributed the raised galls on the Plum, sometimes like purses or clubs in 
miniature. Continental observers describe another gall-mite of the Plum, 
which infests the twigs of young trees, and even occasions their death in 
some instances. As to Ckermes Abietis, we do not think the specimens you 
mention are males, but rather immature females. The males are invariably 
winged ; of their partners there are both winged and wingless forms, appear¬ 
ing at different seasons. 
Pruning Junipers—Clipping Yews—Cutting Down Old Holly [Sussex). 
—Junipers will bear clipping, but not to such an extent as Yews, as they 
do not break from the old wood, or very tardily. It is best to only cut 
back irregularities during moist weather in April, confining the pruning to 
the removal of those parts detracting from the symmetry of the specimen. 
Yews should be cut or clipped in August, as they have then made the 
growth for the season, consequently they keep the form then given through 
the autumn and winter. If they require much cutting-in it should be done 
during moist weather in April, which will cause them to break freely even 
from the old wood, and any irregularities may be removed early in Septem¬ 
ber, as the growth from cutting back will be later. The present is not an 
inappropriate time for cutting down ah old Holly, but it would have been 
better performed in April or May. We have, however, cut Hollies very 
hard in even as late as the middle of July, and giving them some good 
soakings with water and liquid manure alternately, preceding and after 
cutting in they have made good growths, and in a year or two were con¬ 
verted from ungainly into symmetrical specimens, than which there are none 
finer for lawns, both the green and variegated kinds being highly 
ornamental. 
Exhausted Peach Trees (A. B. T. T.). —Judging by the examples sent, 
your trees are in a very enfeebled state indeed. Either the border is ex¬ 
hausted or sour, or what amounts to the same thing, the root-action is de¬ 
fective.. The trees are certainly not receiving anything like the support that 
is requisite for supporting the crop and at the same time producing satis¬ 
factory growths. Only a very light crop of fruit should be permitted to re¬ 
main on the trees. One fruit to every 18 square inches will be ample, and 
