504 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 3, 188&. 
nre placed the atmosphere must be kept rather dry or the foliage will 
decay. Such sorts as B. weltcmiensis, B. Dregei, B. parviflora, and others 
that have been restirig in a cool place, may now be started into growth for 
flowering early in the season. These will scon commence advancing if 
watered and placed in a temperature of 50° to 55°. Then they should be 
turned out of their pots, the old soil shaken from their roots, and the 
plants placed into the pots in which they are intended to flower. They 
do well in a compost of fibry loam, leaf mould, and manure ; the latter 
should be passed through a sieve, a liberal dash of coarse sand added. 
THE FLOWER GARDEN AND PLEASURE GROUND. 
Fallen Leaves and Leaf Soil .—Ihe leaves have fallen somewhat 
earlier than usual, the whole of them in most localities being off the 
trees, this much simplifying the work of putting the lawns, beds, and 
borders in good order for the winter. It is useless to clear the lawns and 
borders without also doing something to prevent the leaves in the 
shrubberies from being driven on to them again whenever a strong wind 
prevails. Where they can safely be allowed to remain they will decay 
and benefit the shrubs, but otherwise they must either be lightly dug in 
or collected and converted into leaf soil. Some are in the habit of bury¬ 
ing great heaps of leaves in any convenient hole, but unless these holes 
are emptied occasionally, and the well-decayed contents utilised, the 
practice must be considered a wasteful one. Good leaf soil is almost 
invaluable to the flower gardener, no material added freely to a compost 
better suiting delicate seedlings, newly struck cuttings, as well as strong 
plants; while if it is freely stirred into the surface of the beds intended to 
be planted more especially with Violas, Verbenas, and Begonias, it will 
induce a free growth, and not readily permit the moisture of the beds to 
evaporate. The very best leaf soil is that naturally formed in the woods, 
or which has drifted into dry ditches. This may be well collected at 
times when other work is not pressing, and when sifted over and all 
decaying sticks separated from it, a valuable addition to the potting soils 
will be secured. Much of the leaf soil formed in the frame ground or in 
heaps elsewhere is not unfrequently spoilt by over-heating, this resulting 
in a spread of mould or dry fungus through the heap, and which has 
quite a poisonous efEect on the roots of many delicate plants placed in it. 
Heaps of leaves intended to be converted into good leaf soil should be 
frequently turned, especially when they are found to be heating strongly, 
and this will insure decomposition without fungus being encouraged. 
Oak leaves are the best, next Chestnut and Elm. 
Flower Beds .—If the various bulbs intended to beautify these in the 
spring are not planted, no time should be lost in getting them in. Unless 
covered by 2 or 3 inches of soil frost may injure them, and as a further 
preventive the beds may well be surfaced over with not less than an 
inch of cocoa-nut fibre or leaf soil. Spring-flowering plants not being 
available, the beds may be made to present quite a bright appearance by 
a judicious arrangement of short neat pieces of variegated Hollies, Box, 
Aucuba, Mahonias, and Tree Ivy. All our carpet beds have a ground¬ 
work of hardy plants, such as Sedum glaucum, Antennaria tomentosa, 
Veronica repens, variegated Arabia, and Herniaria, and these, a3 well as 
the Golden Pyrethrum, are not disturbed, but the figures are filled in with 
Ajuga reptans rubra, small Beetro t, Sempervivum californicum, neat 
sprays of coloured Mahonia, Box, Hollies, Aucuba and Ivy, with small 
Oupressus, Retinospora=, and Iris feetidissima variegata, the three latter 
being used for dotting or single prominent plants. In this manner a very 
pretty effect is easily attained, and which appears to give more pleasure 
than even the summer occupants did. Other conspicuous beds are also 
decorated in a somewhat similar manner, this being preferable to naked 
soil, and obviating the employment of plants that would look dull all the 
winter, and would, as a rule, flower when there was no one here to see 
them. Where the beds are not filltd in any way, they, if the soil is 
naturally clayey or of a bad working character, should be dug as roughly 
as possible, jn order that the frosts of winter, or wind and rain of the 
spring months, may thoroughly pulverise them. It should al&o be re¬ 
membered that many bedding plants are great exhausters of the soil, and 
unless something is done to restore some of the lost fertility, the next 
occupants cannot reasonably be expected to thrive satisfactorily. Now 
is the time to manure the heavy soil, and half-rotten leaves or stable 
manure, or, better still, a dressing of decayed garden refuse, is suitable for 
the purpose. In the case of naturally light or very free working soils, 
these are best manured and dug in the spring, all rubbish being cleared 
off at the present time. When such soils are manured and dug in the 
autumn they become too finely divided, and are liable to have much of 
their fertility washed out of them, besides becoming cold and sodden. 
Draining Shrubberies .—When choice and even common trees and 
shrubs are planted on cold undrained positions, the wonder is, not that 
they refuse to grow, but that they keep alive so long as they do. Too 
often much of the work of planting shrubberies is completed without any 
regard being paid to the state of the drains, and from experience we find 
it very unwise ta trust to any natural system of drainage. In one instance 
that came under our notice a large number of Wellingtonias, Cupressuses, 
Cedrus Deodara, Salisbuiia adiantifolia, and other Conifers and shrubs 
would only grow in places owing to the subsoil being a cold badly drained 
clay, the water frequently laying on the surface for days. As it was 
almost impossible to provide a suitable outlet for drainage, a good-sized 
hole was formed at a distance from the trees, and to this surface or open 
drains were led. The effect was most surprising, the trees during the 
following summer making strong and healthy growth. This afforded 
most convincing proof that a well-drained and very clayey soil will grow 
almost anything, and the trees will attain much larger dimensions than 
they do on lighter and apparently much more suitable soils. Not many 
dra : ns are required, over-draining frequently proving nearly as injurious 
as no draining at all. On heavy clayey land we would dispose them 
about 12 feet apart and 3 feet deep, while land of a medium texture 
would require rather fewer drains, these, where possible, being disposed 
rather deeply in order to prevent a too rapid drainage. Surface drains are 
advisable when the ground has been trenched and the clayey subsoil 
brought to the surface, this, during the process of planting, becoming 
like so much puddle, and preventing the ingress of either water or air. 
Trees planted in such uncongenial surroundings ought to have a liberal 
quantity of good light soil, including plenty of leaf soil worked round 
and about the roots, and from this they will gradually spread into the 
surrounding soil, always supposing it is properly drained, and therefore 
rendered warmer and sweeter than it otherwise would be. 
ARTIFICIAL SWARMS FROM SEEPS. 
The man who first discovered and gave to the world in a 
practical form the art of artificial swarming, conferred an 
inestimable boon on all apiarians, and one the full value of 
which is year by year becoming more widely recognised and 
made use of; so much so, indeed, that in the not distant 
future a natural swarm will become a rare phenomenon or a 
luxury enjoyed only by those who can afford to risk the loss 
of a swarm, or are so continually in the bee garden as to 
obviate any chance of such loss taking place. There are 
several ways of forcing swarms, each one differing slightly 
from the other, and being in some cases more suitable than 
the method which in another case may be the wiser one to 
follow. The usual way of taking an artificial swarm from a 
skep is to drive two thirds of the bees, with the queen, into 
an empty hive, and place the old stock from which the bees 
have been driven, not less than 4 feet on one side, and the 
swarm 4 feet on the other side of the old stand. The 
object of this is to avoid a great number of bees deserting 
either the swarm or the old stock, and so either materially 
weakening the swarm or imperilling the brood, upon the 
hatching of which the future prosperity of the stock must 
entirely depend. This is the simplest plan, and it is not 
necessary to see the queen, as her presence in either hive can 
at once be detected by the behaviour of the bees, which will, 
if the queen is not with them, run about in a state of wild 
excitement seeking her. If the swarm evinces these signs 
the old stock must be drummed again until the queen goes 
with the swarm, for the presence of the queen with the swarm 
is an absolute necessity. 
All other plans are but adaptations from this one, and it 
would not be necessary to enter into any other method in 
detail, if it were not well known that many bee-keepers are 
quite unable to have their hives so far apart as to allow the 
requisite displacement necessary to insure success, although 
some say that if the hives are placed even less than 4 feet 
on either side of the old position, and the entrance is dis¬ 
guised for a few days, all will go on well. Suppose, then, 
three hives are standing in close proximity to one another, 
and it is desired to take a swarm from each of them, there is 
ordinarily no little misgiving as to whether the operation can 
safely be performed. 
By the following method,which is not objectionable except 
that it sometimes incurs a little extra expense, such difficulty 
can be overcome. The method is to get a friend living at a 
distance of at least two miles to exchange or sell a swarm. 
The effect of this will be to facilitate the operation. From 
each of the three stocks drive all the bees into three separate 
hives, and place each swarm on its old stand. Here, then, 
we have three swarms of unusual strength, and three stock 
hives filled with comb, brood, and honey. We next divide 
the strange swarm into three equal parts, and to each stock 
give one part, and place it in any convenient spot. There 
can be no failure, and if a swarm of equal weight is sent in 
return for the one made use of in the operation no expense 
is incurred at all. Even if an exchange cannot be effected, 
in country places a swarm never costs a sum so large that a 
