124 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 6, 1885. 
week. Many thanks for your advice in the past. I might say that I 
find your journal more helpful than any pother. I wish you could add 
weekly hints.— Basil. 
[Bees will work out comb foundation quicker than repair broken 
extracted combs. Do not extract honey from combs containing brood ; it 
injures the bees and spoils the honey. Supering is the proper course to 
obtain surplus honey of good quality. About five frames of honey now 
will be required to keep the bees at rest during winter and tide them over¬ 
fill spring, but be sure and give more frames than nine of that size by 
April. I prefer the bees to have honey of their own gathering, they breed 
better on it, although syrup keeps them healthy during winter. You 
might take part and feed up—the most commendable way. There are 
various ways of fastening outside cases. They should be fastened to the 
floor proper of the case; a little hoop turning down on a rod of iron 
passing from side to side of the floor does very well. I should be very 
glad to add weekly hints, but unfortunately these cannot always be acted 
up to unless we know the state of bees and what the weather is likely to 
be. In an early article I will give some notes from my own apiary, 
which may serve a good purpose if note is taken of them. Where old 
queens are still regnant they should be deposed and young ones take 
their place. One frame with bees adhering, and containing brood and 
queen cell, does perfectly well for a nucleus. In my own apiary I have 
a stock hive divided in this fashion, with a comb of foundation on each 
side, and each has a frame feeder, recently described, so that in a short 
time they will be nice stocks, and when they have their hives completely 
filled with frames ot brood and honey from healthy ones in September, 
will stand untouched until I put on supers next June, if spared. Now is 
the time to have hives filled with comb for next season. Condemned bees 
can he made to serve this good purpose.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper.] 
THE SEASON—NOTES ON BEES. 
During the whole of this month (July) up to the 18th, the tempera¬ 
ture has been comparatively low in the north, and accompanied with 
strong withering winds, the average night temperature being 10°, and 
the day 60°, giving a mean of 50°—too low for honey secretion or 
gathering. Vegetation has suffered from the drought up to St. Swithin’s 
day. when rain came, and it has been showery since. 
■ ■■ In consequence of the low temperature bees remain in the condition 
they were in at the end of June, heavy with nearly finished supers. A few 
days' fine weather would enable the bees to finish a yield above the 
average. The first three weeks of June is the best time here for (hi 
Clover, and if the temperature would rise and the weather become fine, 
owing to the lateness of the season a large harvest would result. Farther 
south the yield from the white Clover has been good. The Heather will 
be later this season, and unless the weather improves soon there is not 
likely to be a large harvest from it. Those intending taking their bees 
to it should, however, have strong stocks only, as very often there are only 
a few days favourable to honey-gathering, and only strong stocks will do 
any good. 
There are two ways of strengthening stocks : one is by joining swarms, 
the other by removing from hives the honeycombs that are sealed, and 
substitute those containing brood from others if healthy. If the weather 
is cold feed a little to encourage the bees to breed and hatch out that are 
already in the hives. Strong hives that have young queens will require 
no such manipulation. All my own are of this nature, and will, accord¬ 
ing to precedent, if a favourable opportunity occurs, gather at least 10 lbs. 
daily. When the supers at present on them are removed I will make a 
slight examination of some of the frames, and if they are extra heavy in 
honey will remove some and fill up with brood from a hive or hives set 
apart for that purpose. 
A contemporary advises the extracting of all honey before sending to 
the Heather. Worse advice could not be given. It is most important 
that the body of the hive be filled with both honey and brood, otherwise 
supers will be very rare. With an empty house below, the bees will not 
enter supers ; so I always endeavour to have all my stocks in a state to 
enter supers at once, if not already in them before they are removed. 
Straw hives can either be strengthened with driven bees or two-tiered. 
Stewarton hives are admirably adapted for such, as the sections containing 
the brood of one can take the place of those containing honey removed. 
By this means the stock is reduced to what we wish, while those kept are 
put by the manipulation into the highest state of perfection for collecting 
a large quantity of honey and filling supers, while those with extracted 
and empty combs below may not enter supers at all, and as the nights in 
August and September are likely to get colder attention should be given 
towards keeping the supers well wrapped up. 
A sufficient number of queens should be raised now to take the place of 
aged and unsatisfactory ones in September. Hives having young prolific 
queens are those that are to be depended on next season. Queens, even 
if only one year old, and that have done service in a non-swarmed hive, 
are liable to be deposed in April, when a successor might not be fertilised ; 
whereas they are the only ones that can be depended on in hives not in¬ 
tended for swarming, while they are in every respect the best for swarm¬ 
ing ones. Where small, consequently unprofitable, hives are kept queens 
last longer, but it is desirable with bees as with everything else to make 
the most of them ; we tax their laying powers the first season as much as 
possible. _ Then queens reared now are better able to keep the large-hive 
system going than one hatched in May, which has laid much through the 
summer. Not one of my hives intended as non swarmers hived this year, 
while over the hedge my neighbour with two-year-old queens and hives a 
h ird less in size than mine have swarmed. I have something to say on 
varieties of bees and swarming vagaries, but will defer it unlil another 
time.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper, 
%* 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 (T. C.). —Miss Hassard’s book, to which you refer, is published by 
Macmillan & Co., but we do not know the price of it, nor of any other work 
to suit you better. 
Cones on Araucarias (It. C. TV .).—Many Araucarias have produced 
cones in this country, and seedlings have been raised, but not in any great 
number. If you refer to the number of this Journal dated August ‘21st, 
18S4, you will find male and female cones illustrated as grown at Drop- 
more. 
Fungus on Mint ( J. S., Prestwick). —We are not able to explain the cause 
of the presence of the fungus in the stem of the Mint, but have usually 
observed it on plants that have been long established in a bed and hence 
impoverished the soil. We should plant healthy rooted slips in spring in 
fresh soil some distance from the present infected bed. We regret the pub¬ 
lication of this reply has been accidentally delayed. 
Seedling Verbena (J. B. Gaskell ).—The trusses you have sent are good, 
and the colour—crimson scarlet—rich and bright, and as you say the habit of 
the plant, both in potB and beds, is all that can be desired, you may regard 
the variety as a very good one, and worthy of a name. We do not know how 
far it differs from the Hampton Court Crimson, as this can only be deter¬ 
mined by seeing growing plants; if you should visit London this autumn 
you might go down to Hampton Court, taking a handful of your seedling 
with you, and compare for yourself; or if you were to send flowers, with a 
letter, to Mr. Graham, he would no doubt tell you in what respect, if any, 
your seedling differs from his. 
Coloured Water LUies—Filmy Ferns (A. C.). —The Blue Water Lily 
will not stand out of doors during the winter; it may, however, be grown 
in a large pan in a comparatively cool house. The red ones—N. alba rosea 
and N. odorata rubra—both of which would answer your purpose, are per¬ 
fectly hardy, and will flourish freely in any tank or pond where they get 
plenty of sun. They may both be had true from Messrs. Backhouse it Sons. 
York, or from Mr. T. S. Ware, Tottenham, from whom prices can be obtained, 
Effective Filmy Ferns are Todea superba, T. hymenophylloides, Hymeno- 
phyllum pulcherrimum, H. trichoideum, H. tunbridgense, and Trichomanes 
radicans and varieties. We know of no work specially devoted tc their cul¬ 
tivation. 
Lilium candidum (II. M.). —The best time for dividing bulbs of this 
Lilium is as soon as the stems commence withering after flowering, not 
waiting till they have entirely died down. The bulbs then commence root¬ 
ing at once, produce a good growth of foliage before winter, and the plants 
that are strong enough will flower next year. We shall divide a number 
next week. It will be necessary for us to receive a spray with foliage, as 
well as a flower of the yellow Composite, for determining its name, and it 
should be packed in damp moss to arrive fresh. The flower you have sent 
in a dry box is totally withered. 
Cucumbers Failing ( Medicus ).—We have seen Cucumbers successfully 
grown without ventilation of the house, but have never advised amateurs 
to adopt this method except experimentally. If you can raise the night 
temperature of the house to 70° or even 75° we advise you to do so, venti¬ 
lating at 80° and closing at 85° or 90°. If you cannot do this you had 
better apply water less liberally, as the plants do not appear to be able to 
deal with the moisture that is supplied by the root3 in the process of elabo¬ 
ration. Are you sure there is no red spider or other insects on the leaves ? 
If there is not, and an improvement does not follow an increase of tempe¬ 
rature, we should then fear your plants are overtaken with a disease that 
is practically incurable. 
Stephanotis floribunda (It. IT .).—You may pot your plant at once, and 
then it will have ample time to become well established before winter. It 
would have been better if you had done so some months ago. Potting may 
excite the plant into growth, and if so you must use every endeavour to 
thoroughly ripen the wood before winter. If it does not ripen well prune 
the unripened wood well back in spring before you start the plant into 
growth again. Encourage the extension of the roots into the new soil by 
plunging the pot in slight bottom heat, while the top of the plant is kept in 
a little lower temperature to prevent it from making fresh growth. If you 
do this and you rest the plant well during the winter it will start away 
luxuriantly another season. This plant does well in a compost of equal 
parts of fibry loam and peat, to which you may add a sprinkling of bone 
dust, a little crushed charcoal, and a liberal dash of coarse sand. The only 
manual on Orchids that would be suitable for you is the “ Orchid Grower’s 
Manual ” by Mr. B. S. Williams. 
