November 5, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
413 
in most districts, and succeed either on tall or dwarf stocks :—Alfred 
Colomb, Bessie Johnson, Camille Bernardin, Captain Christy, Comtesse 
d’Oxford, Duke of Edinburgh, Dupuy Jamain, Edouard Morren, Etienne 
Levet, Frangiis Michelon, Gdndral Jacqueminot, Horace Yernet, John 
Hopper, Jules Margottin, La France, Lord Clyde, Louis Van Houtte, 
Madame Charles Crapelet, Madame Clemence Joigneaux, Madame la 
Baronne de Rothschild, Madame Victor Verdier, Mdlle. Marie Rady, 
Marguerite de St. Amand, Marie Baumann, Madame Gabriel Luizet, 
Princess Mary of Cambridge, Madame Prosper Laugier, Marquise de 
Castellane, Maurice Bernardin, Senateur Vaisse, Star of Waltham, and 
Victor Verdier. Tea-scented and Noisette Roses as a rule are best grown 
on dwarf stocks, but in mild districts they may last for several years on 
tall Briar. The following are good :—Catherine Mermet, Souvenir d’un 
Ami, Devoniensis, Marshal Kiel, Madame Lambard, Madame Bravy, 
Souvenir de Paul Neyron, Celine Forestier, Adam, Madame Berard, 
Madame Falcot, Amazone, Sunset, Gloire de Dijon, Caroline Kuster, Anna 
Ollivier, Madame H'ppolyte Jamain, Perle des Jardins, Rubens, Jean 
Ducher, Grace Darling, Comtesse de Nadaillac, Marie Van Houtte, 
Souveuir d’EPsp, and Etoile de Lyon. The following Bourbon Roses are 
also worthy of culture :—Acidalie, Bouquet de Flore, Comtesse de Bar- 
hantanne, Souvenir de la Maimaison, Sir J. Paxton, Baron Gonella, and 
Malmaison Rouge. 
NOTES ON BEES. 
SMOKER. 
“ Basil ” appears to have a difficulty in keeping his 
smoker alight, “going out when it is set down.” To avert 
this, keep it on end, and be careful that it does not get clogged 
up. Cleaning its internal parts frequently is necessary, so 
that it may work satisfactorily—but the less smoke the better 
for bees and honey, 
GLASS IN SUPERS. 
I never was favourable to glass in supers or hives to any 
€xtent, and I have still a growing dislike to its employment, 
particularly in hives. Wherever glass is employed in supers, 
it is there the bees are longest in sealing, often so tardy that 
the super is discoloured before it is sealed opposite the glass. 
So I prefer either very small panes, as is in the Stewarton 
hive, which serve as good indicators when the super is 
finished ; or none at all, then a slight tapping with the finger 
over the super will indicate to the experienced bee-keeper, by 
the sound, whether it is filled or not. Or looking between 
the bars from the top gives some knowledge. Many bee¬ 
keepers hav9 holes in their supers stopped with corks, which 
answers the purpose well. 
THE TEMPERATURE OF OCTOBER. 
With the exception of snatches of bright sunshine, October 
has, like its two predecessors, been very low, three and four 
nights in succession registering 9° and 10° of frost, and 
on one 14°; in fact, there were few nights but what frost 
was registered. I do not know whether this early and wintry 
weather augurs a mild or severe winter later, but past expe¬ 
rience proves that, as a rule, there are seldom two winters, 
and that when one occurs in October there is no winter after. 
Be that as it may, the past month has been trying enough 
and puzzled bee-keepers much how to get their driven bees 
fed for the winter, this having been delayed a month beyond 
the usual time in consequence of the lateness of the Heather. 
A number of bee-keepers who were there found a difficulty 
in getting their bees to feed at all after having tried different 
top feeders, including the bottle. In the absence of the frame 
feeders I advised the common tin fountain for under feeding; 
in every case the bees took to it at once, thus negativing the 
opinion of some that top-feeding is the surest and most 
natural. Much could be said on this subject, but it is need¬ 
less to dwell on it; the bees themselves give the best lessons, 
and, no matter what may be said to the contrary, they give 
ample proof that they prefer the frame feeder or the fountain 
underneath to all others, at a time when we ought to know it 
is not only too late but too cold to feed in October. Hundreds 
of hives have been ruined by late feeding, following the advice 1 
given in the British Bee Journal to feed in October for years 
in succession. 
It is one of the most amusing things in the world to read 
bee literature, including trade catalogues. In the one nearly 
all the inventions for apiculture is concentrated to one indi¬ 
vidual, while in the other contradictory remarks provoke and 
perplex the reader. I know that many so called inventions 
of the present day were in use long ago ; that much that is 
written on that and kindred subjects have other purposes to 
serve than instructing bee-keepers who are supposed to be less 
well informed than themselves, but who may be in reality far 
behind. I need not say more on this at present, but I trust 
the hint will not be lost. We are all desirous of information, 
but it can only be rightly appreciated when given in a straight¬ 
forward and uninterested manner. Appropriating others’ 
ideas is as mean as it is contemptible. I may yet have a 
battle to fight to rectify some of these mistakes, as I had in 
the “ battle of the hives,” which is now decided I am on the 
winning side. 
Notwithstanding the opinions of the different systems of 
apiculture, it must be ceded, generally speaking, that since 
bees were cultivated it has been the aim of bee-keepers 
throughout the world to obtain honeycomb pure and uncon¬ 
taminated from brood or other concomitants of the hive. The 
Stewarton hive is perfect in this respect in all its simplicity; 
yet, notwithstanding this, I confess many modern hives are 
as far from this as are the poles asunder. This brings me 
now to a point of importance, and on which I am backed up 
with proof positive that I am right in my argument, by the 
very individuals I hint at having so much to say against their 
neighbour manufacturers’ hives in being so badly fitted for 
bee receptacles and for honey-producing. 
One of the contrivances for obtaining honey in white 
comb is the “ reversible frame.” New in the mode of appli¬ 
cation, but not in principle ; commendable in certain cases, 
but a system which should not be encouraged generally, be¬ 
cause, as your excellent correspondent “Felix” would say, 
can be accomplished an easier way. The woodcut shows a 
plan which appeared about a quarter of a century since in a 
Dumfries paper, and, although the text is wanting, my 
conclusions are that it is a plan for obtaining white comb by 
inverting the full hive underneath an empty one to be filled, 
and as the Dumfries bee keepers only began to leave off their 
primitive styles of bee-keeping after the first visit of the 
Caledonian Apiarian Society to Dumfries in 1879, and as the 
plan has been tried in other places confirms my opinion. 
