December 17, 1886 .1 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
549 
they will be ready for 5-inch pots and a little higher temperature if they 
•are wanted in flower as early as possible. 
Double Petunias .—These are very useful for conservatory decoration 
as early as they can be brought into flower, and the young plants rooted 
in August should now be bushy little plants in small pots. It is 
necessary to sort the plants prepared for this purpose, for all will not 
have made the same progress. The bushiest plants, if in any way back¬ 
ward in growth, should be placed on a shelf close to the glass, where the 
night temperature will not fall below 45°. They will advance slowly in this 
temperature, and the growth made will be sturdy and compact ; they 
must not be at this period of the year unduly excited, or they will make 
weak puny growth and be ruined. The remainder can be pinched if they 
show signs of becoming too tall, and allow them to grow for the 
present under cool conditions. If these plants are sufficiently advanced 
until they can be placed into larger pots keep them moving and as cool as 
possible consistent with attaining this end. 
Callas. If wanted in flower as early as possible these may be intro¬ 
duced into a temperature of 55° to 60°, and they will not be long before 
they unfold their pure white spathes. Where these plants are well 
grown many spathes will be already well advanced under the cool treat- 
ment the plants are now receiving. These are highly prized for church 
and other forms of decoration in a cut state at Christmas. For deco¬ 
ration in pots for the conservatory they are really not needed until the 
following month if due provision is made for a late batch of Chrysan¬ 
themums. . Princess of Teck is probably the best variety for this purpose 
in cultivation, for we shall have it this year until February has well 
advanced. 
Solanums. —Those past their best by being employed in rooms and 
other not very favourable positions should now be pruned and placed in a 
cool house to commence growth, so that they will have a good chance to 
set and ripen their berries for early use another autumn. If necessary to 
increase the stock of these plants place them in heat, and they will soon 
start into growth, producing shoots suitable for cuttings. To produce 
good-3ized well-berried plants in one season cuttings must be rooted early 
and grown on quickly for a time afterwards. 
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ii i 
iE BEE-KEEPER. 
IS 
SWARMING AND NON-SWARMING. 
The wisdom of coming to an early decision as to whether 
increase of stocks is desirable is very evident, and it is for 
this reason that the subject seems to be one suitable for the 
present time, when each one has in the dark evenings time 
to spare to make use of in any way which is likely to be 
useful. To the bee-keeper it has always been a source of 
constant doubt whether in the following year the apiary shall 
be managed on the one or the other of these very opposite 
systems, the principles of which are so diametrically opposed. 
The one allows some scope to the natural instinct of the bee, 
the other thwarting instinct and substituting in its place an 
artificial desire to gather more honey than would, if the bees 
were in a natural state, be gathered without throwing off a 
swarm, and so giving scope to the laying powers of the queen, 
and also providing for the perpetuation of the species. Mr. 
Pettigrew gave several reasons why the swarming system 
was the preferable mode of management, and these are so 
often quoted that I cannot do better than state them very 
briefly :— 
1, The stimulus of an empty hive makes the bees work 
harder. 
2, The combs of swarms are sweet and free from a'super- 
abundance of bee bread. 
3, By swarming the number of hives is annually doubled 
and often trebled. 
4, By the adoption of the swarming method the stocks’ 
hives are changed every year. 
5, On the non-swarming mode of management the queens 
grow old and die. 
For these five reasons, after adding that in the swarming 
system there is a certainty of success, he maintains that 
moderate increase is desirable. I am not able altogether to 
agree with this great bee-master, for although great results 
may be obtained from either mode of management, it seems 
to me that if comb honey in supers or sections is desired, the 
absolute prevention of increase is the surest way to gain a 
large quantity of the best quality with the least trouble. 
It may not be out of place to consider the five reasons 
which seemed to Mr. Pettigrew to prove the soundness of his 
conclusions, and^so I will very briefly do so. There can be no 
doubt that the stimulus of an empty hive makes bees work 
harder than they do in the old hives, unless sufficient super 
room is given to the old stock at the proper time, when it is 
quite an open question whether a stock which has thrown a 
swarm can—both old stock and swarm—together produce an 
amount of super honey as great as a stock which, supered 
with judgment, is continually working freely all through the 
season. 
With the second reason—namely, that the combs of 
swarms are sweet, &c.—I have no concern, for it seems to be 
the wiser plan at the end of every season to break up all the 
stocks and form sugar-fed ones for another year. Then we 
come to an argument apparently of great force, in that by 
the swarming system the number of hives is doubled and 
often trebled. Now, the first thought that occurs to me is, 
Is there a market for stocks ? Can the surplus be disposed 
of ? If not there is no reason in producing an article which 
is unmarketable, unless, indeed, we desire to increase our 
stocks, which must generally be done at the expense of comb 
honey. If run honey is the object, then the question bears 
a different aspect, and to this reference shall be made again. 
Another saving is effected by this method, and that is that 
there is no necessity to buy bees in autumn to unite to the ones 
with which it is proposed to form the sugar-stock, or with 
which to strengthen the stocks selected to stand the winter. 
By the adoption of the above method the stocks are 
changed each year, but here again this is no argument in 
the mind of the man who uses sugar-fed stocks, and never 
keeps stocks formed from swarms. And lastly, as to the 
queens growing old and dying, this is a point which needs 
attention, but if the bee-master does as I am convinced it is 
wise to do—that is, strengthen each stock in autumn by a 
numerous addition of bees—he can very easily, if necessary, 
substitute a young fertile queen in the stead of the one grown 
old and feeble. The conclusion, then, arrived at is that for 
comb honey swarming must not be allowed; that the best 
plan to make most profit is to prevent swarming by judicious 
supering ; each year to break up all stocks and form sugar- 
fed ones for the following season. The honey taken from 
the stocks is generally a good deal more than sufficient to 
pay for the sugar and the extra bees required, and the 
remainder is left, together with the wax, to pay for the time 
and labour spent in driving, feeding, &c. A stock of new 
sweet comb, with good patches of brood, sufficient pollen and 
sealed store of the healthiest description, are insured, and 
the seed for a bounteous harvest in the coming season is 
sown. Disease, if any existed, is nipped in the bud. Moths 
and insects are all extirpated with the least possible trouble 
and no expense. Why, then, shall we trouble about having 
swarms to provide good sweet comb for the stocks another 
year ? Now, for the man who wants run honey, his best 
plan is to allow a moderate increase, a swarm and a cast, 
thus trebling his stocks. The swarming will gain great 
weight; he will have three queens laying instead of one; he 
will have three hives to break up at the end of the year, three 
hives of wax, three of honey, but the quality of the latter 
will be a little inferior to that run from supers which have 
never contained brood or pollen. 
There is only one more point to which I need allude, and 
that is the uncertainty with which in some apiaries the 
attempt to prevent swarming is successful. If to prevent 
increase it is necessary to excise queen cells, to cut out drone 
comb, to examine the hives at frequent intervals, the expense 
and labour attendant upon such a course would deter me 
from endeavouring to persuade others to follow it. If by the 
simple means of judicious supering swarming cannot be pre¬ 
vented, the advocates of the modern increase method must 
be considered to have gained their point. Anything and 
everything which tends in the slightest degree to increase 
