240 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 10, 1885. 
as after paying for all these extra expenses to yield a larger nett profit 
is given than by the other system, then it will be time, and not till then, 
for these bar-frame eulogists to come and subvert the teachers of that 
other system by which any man, not entirely without intelligence, may 
help himself, by the addition of a few stocks of bees, to his garden or 
field. Men of genius, men who have the time and money, may possibly 
make a greater grass profit from these hives with all their charming 
adjuncts, but if they do it is of no practical use, for our object is to give 
to the public the idea of a hive of ideal simplicity both in construction 
and management, and thereby insure that success without which bee¬ 
keeping would be but a useless hobby and a pastime for the well-to-do.— 
Felix. 
part of Great Britain is free from low temperatures suddenly after great 
heat. The present year will be memorable for that ; every month, so far 
as it has gone, having several frosty nights. Besides, my argument that 
bees spread themselves without any external aid, and that spreading brood 
does not hatch quicker, and that it is irrational to cram the bees into little 
space to-day then cool them down the next, has not been negatived by 
anyone. On the contrary, I have proved myself to be correct, and my 
warning has been given accordingly. 
Extracting honey from unsealed combs, all liquid gathered by the 
bees for food to their young from feculent matter, isthiownout by the 
extractor, mixed with the honey, and is swallowed by the unsuspecting 
consumer ; yet this is what our modern sages teach bee-keeper3 to do.—A 
Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
FRAME HIVES v. SEEPS. 
For some time I have endeavoured to assist and advise bee-keepers 
how best to act with whatever hive he possessed without running into 
expenses by discarding them and purchasing more expensive hives that 
would not give better returns. I have also shown how straw hives can be 
made as profitable as any frame hive, as well as the absurdity of those 
who published so prominently that no honey worth speaking of could be 
had from straw hives, or rather that “ honey could be had only from 
frame hives.” A greater mistake could not appear in print. There is an 
apiary near me containing all sorts of hives. The two that have given 
most honey this year were a straw hive and an old cheese box. I am not 
aware of having condemned any hive farther than pointing out those 
which possessed the most points favourable to bee-keeping and those that 
did not. 
Many inexperienced bee-keepers besides your “ Cambridgeshire Bee¬ 
keeper ” have at first thought little of ventilating floors ; none bathe, how¬ 
ever, termed them absurd, and the hundreds who now use them find them 
the key to successful bee-keeping, while my own experience proves them 
the same. Had your correspondent supplemented his sixty-four lines of 
condemnation with some information he would have done some good, but 
I observe he has had only four years’ experience with frame hives, there¬ 
fore cannot be expected to furnish reliable information, or had he but 
needed the advice to take nothing for granted, but test and prove 
everything, his language might have been less hostile. 
I think it is quite safe for me to say that I have had more experience 
with frame hives than any living writer in Great Britain. My experience 
dates back to 1850 with these, and slightiugly as your correspondent 
speaks of what I say, there is not a frame hive made that does not possess 
some contrivance of my own ; and, singular to say, your correspondent 
unwittingly pays me a high compliment when he says “ It is the facility a 
frame hive gives for spreading brood which is one of its most valuable 
points.” The author of that system is not Mr. Cowan, though he, like 
your correspondent, claimed it, but he retracted after I took him to task 
for what he said. The inventor of that was myself, and the second hive 
I made on that principle had it, but the ventilating floor is better. It has 
becomequite fashionable of late for hive-makers to claim others’ inventions. 
Both “ A Dalbeattie ” and “ A Dumfriesshire Bee-keeper ” claimed to be the 
inventor of my hive. The editor of the paper which published this sup¬ 
pressed my replies, but thanks to a contemporary it was exposed. 
The introduction of the quilt was claimed by Abbott in the British Bee 
Journal a few years since, whereas it was fully explained in the pages of 
this Journal by “ A Renfrewshire Bee-keeper,” Mr. Langstrolh, and 
myself more than a quarter of a century since. The Raynor queen cage, 
too, about the same time was explained by Mr. Alexander Ferguson, 
Stewarton, and “ A Mauchline Bee-keeper,” as well as “ A Renfrewshire 
Bee-keeper.” I was the successful introducer of comb foundation, using it 
largely, and urged others to it fifteen years before Abbott requested me to 
instruct him and speak to Mr. A. Neighbour to supply him with plates, 
which he did ; yet, in a year after, told me they were of no use in the 
hands of cottagers. I put him right, and showed him the methods of fix¬ 
ing. Now a patent is taken tut for one of my plans that was made and 
sold before I hit upon the better plan of grooving the bars and fixing with 
wax melted in a glue pot, and lifted out and poured into groove with a 
teaspoon. The splitting of the top bar was also my plan, claimed also by 
that patentee. Mr. Neighbour, too, had apian almost similar. The objec¬ 
tion I had to the block system was that, as it does yet, checked the 
foundation, making it liable to break away. Latterly 1 improved on it by 
putting in two screws, which held it firm without checking or having it 
liable to fall when the bar clung from the heat of the hive from the one 
side of the groove only being waxed. Had the patent been a better mode 
of fixing foundation than the groove I would have protested against the 
patent being granted. 
“ I have more crows to pluck ” of a like nature, which I may take up 
again ; but even the above I would not have mentioned had it not been 
to show your unprejudiced readers that what I have written carries more 
weight than some, including “ Cambridgeshire Bee-keeper,” represent 
Now that I have given eomebim information, and I am willing to give 
more. His one question as to which half of the hive I had the sections on. 
I gladly answer. It was the right half, but my hives have no wrong side. 
It is the sections that are wrong. If he follows my advice and arranges 
his supers as I explained he will get more honey, retaining the small 
pieces of comb ; 126 lbs. of finished sections is not the maximum by 
nearly 100 lbs. that has been taken from a hive here. I stated why and 
where supers were more saleable in a recent article, and I do not wish to 
go over that again. So did I about the evils of spreading brood, which if 
attempted in many parts would be the total annihilation of bees, while no 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
J. Carter & Co., 237 & 238, High Holborn, London.— Catalogue of Bulbs, 
Winter and Spring blowers (illustrated). 
William Bull, King’s Road, Chelsea.— Catalogue of Btilbs. 
Smail & Co., 23, Lime Street, London, E.C.— List of Dutch Flower Roots. 
E. G. Henderson & Son, Maida Vale, London.— Catalogue of Dutch 
Bulbs. 
Hooper & Co., Covent Garden, London.— Bulb Catalogue for 1885. 
Barr & Son, 12, King Street, Covent Garden.— Catalogue of Bulbs and 
Plants. 
W. Dobbie, G2, Preston Street, Faversham.— List of Pelargoniums and 
Fuchsias. 
H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, Kent.— Complete Booh of the Best Plants 
to Flower all the Winter ( illustrated). 
*** 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. 
National Auricula Society (B. C.). —There are two sections of this 
Society—the Northern and Southern sections. The Hon. Secretary of the 
latter is Mr. J. Douglas, The Gardens, Great Gearies, Ilford, Essex, from 
whom you can obtain all particulars. 
Iberia coriacea (C. It.). —The above-named plant is a hybrid between 
I. sempervirens and I. saxatilis, as stated on page 176 ; but your con¬ 
fusion is probably caused by the fact that the last-named plant, I. saxa¬ 
tilis, is usually regarded as synonymous with I. corifolia, of which a figure 
was given on page 177. This, however, is quite distinct from I. semper¬ 
virens. 
Fertilising Cereals (W. J.). —Grasses can be artificially fertilised in the 
same way as other plants—namely, by transferring the poUen from the 
flowers of one variety to those of another, and it is to experiments of this 
kind that the letter noted by you refers. In some Grasses and other plants 
the anthers are mature and discharge the pollen before the stigmas are 
ready, or in other cases the stigmas reach maturity first, and this necessi¬ 
tates a careful examination before fertilising is attempted. 
Seedling Viola (E. C.). —The flowers were very much withered. We 
could see sufficient, however, of one of them to observe that it was attrac¬ 
tive, but whether distinct from all others or not it is impossible for us to 
say. Send a flower to Mr. William Dean of Walsall, enclosing a stamped 
envelope for reply. He will perhaps compare it with others in his large 
collection and favour you with a reply. 
Vines Infested with Thrips (P. S.). —You can eradicate the thrips from 
your vinery by fumigating the house with tobacco smote. Two, three, or 
even more applications will he necessary to accomplish this, for unless the 
house is well filled with smoke it will not destroy the eggs. The smokings 
should be done on successive evenings during calm weather, and in the 
space of a week, if you still find living insects, it must be repeated. Do not 
have the house too full of smoke, for it is always better to fumigate two or 
three times than to give one strong smoking, which is very liable to injure 
the foliage of the Vines. If you do the fumigating carefully you may 
destroy the thrips without injury to the Vines or the fruit. 
Fungus on Vines (C. B. Contich). —Several of the leaves sent are in- 
