122 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February XI, 18fc6. 
no brood did the best of any; another lot, 12 lbs., did not get 
8 lbs. of honey, while a lot of hybrids, with fourteen frames of 
brood (14 inches and 10§ inches), and on twenty-three frames, 
had no honey when I brought them home, and not a tenth of the 
bees. I could pick chilled bees up by handfuls from the Heather, 
having been tempted out by its smell and chilled by the cold 
winds. I brought all home at the end of September, and as 
they had neither brood nor honey, I knew from past experience 
that many of the queens would be encased by strange bees 
getting into wrong hives, which proved to be the case, as within 
a week I lost about half of my queens. I got seventeen lots of 
driven bees and doubled the weak ones, and out of the twenty, 
seven stocks of August 12th, and the seventeen stocks of driven 
bees, I made up eighteen stocks for winter, three of which were 
not good ; only one is on natural stores, six are on candy, and 
the rest sugar syrup. 
Thus it will be seen my experience in trying to secure the 
Heather harvest is an utter failure, as complete as possibly can 
be, and yet I believe I got more Heather honey than any other 
bee-keeper in this district. 1 obtained about 5 lbs. of honey per 
stock from my home apiary, while on the hills, where all the 
bloom was two weeks later, the average was over 50 lbs. 
So much has been written and said by the squires and 
parsons about benefiting cottagers by bee-keeping, that 1 am 
constrained to just put things together a little. Now, suppose 
I had been a cottager, and after being at the expense and trouble 
of taking my bees to the Heather, paying the rent there (Is. per 
hive is the usual charge), and instead of getting £30 profit, which 
1 expected, having to find £3 for sugar, or lose the lot. How 
many cottagers, px - ay, could do it ? My observations and know¬ 
ledge of modern bee-keepers lead me to class them as gamblers, 
always expecting better luck, and every good haul being a bait 
to get further in the mire. It will be a sorry day for this country 
when bee-keeping is taught to every village boy as “ A. S. B. K.” 
wishes. 
Cottage bee-keeping was perfected ages ago, hundreds of 
years before the British Bee Journal was published. Is there a 
modern frame hive which displays such profound thought to 
conceive it as thedespised skep P or to compare with it in cheap¬ 
ness ? And how simple the management!—viz., hiving swarms 
and brimstoning those not wanted for stocks. No slow feeding 
brood spreading, manipulating, removing old queens, or the 
thousand odd jobs necessary in a modern apiary; all using up 
valuable time, never to be debited against the profits. Oh, n 
the bees work for nothing and keep themselves. These are they 
who make all the large profits, and goes red hot to drive his poor 
barbarian neighbour’s bees to save them from a cruel death, but 
for all his talk cannot persuade him to alter his ways and never 
will. 
I have nothing to say against modern bee-keeping as a hobby. 
This is all it is fit for at present, probably in a while it may be 
made to pay when plenty of capital can be employed with a good 
reserve fund against bad times, also a reliable table established 
of the average losses from various causes and average yields of 
honey one year with another, and above all something definite 
about the laws that cause a good season to follow a disastrous 
one. Then we may have bee-keeping followed as a business and 
honey selling at 6d. per lb. In fact, let modern bee-keeping be 
scientific in fact as well as name.—A Hallamshire Bee¬ 
keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUE RECEIVED. 
Vilmorin, Andrieur, & Cie, 4, Quai de la Megisserie, Paris .—General 
Catalogue of Seeds for the Spring , 188G. 
*** 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. 
Erratum.—In the notes on “A useful manure,” p.84, last issue, reference 
tij the soil for Primulas, should read “ one barrowload of night soil, three of 
loam,” &c. By a p; inter’s error light soil was substituted for the above. 
Books on Moths (A Subscriber ).—There is really no good and compre 
hensive book upon our British moths. The best extant is Newman’s “Moths” 
(Bogue) reduced to 16s. we think, but this does not take the smaller species. 
Stainton’s “ Manual of Butterflies and Moths ” (Van Voorst) about 7s., has 
all, but this may be out of print. Morris’s “ Natural History of British 
Moths ” in four vols. is costly (£4 4s.), and you would perhaps not think it 
worth the price. 
Bulbous Plant (F. G .).—We do not know the plant by the name you give, 
and we cannot recognise it by the description that the bulb is “ 18 inches in 
circumference.” You also do not state whence it was obtained. 
Gooseberry Branches Dying {Somerset ).—We have received the box, 
the contents of which shall be examined and an answer given in an early 
issue. 
Back Numbers ( J. S. U .).—It is quite impossible for us to say whethe- 
there are purchasers for the particular numbers you have or not, and conse 
quently whether it would be of any use to advertise them. Why not bind 
them ? They would be valuable to you for reference. 
Scale on Conifer ( T. S.). —Your specimen, which appears to be Thujopsis 
borealis, is infested with scale. Syringe it well with a solution of softBoap, 
2ozs. of soap to each gallon of water, adding to that quantity a small wine- 
glassful of petroleum, agitating violently and keeping briskly stirred all the 
time the syringing is being done. Ho not apply it at a time when the sun 
v ill shme on the tree while it is wet with the solution, or the dressing may 
be injurious ; otherwise it is quite safe and effectual in destroying all the 
scale it reaches. 
Heat of Mushroom Bed ( G. 77.).—If the temperature on the soil under 
the coveiing can be kept about 50° it will be quite right, a few degrees above 
or below not being material. As it has fallen to 4G° double the thickness of 
covering. Many beds are now covered to a depth of 2feet or more with litter, 
the state of the weather and the condition of the beds alone guiding in this 
matter. We do not apprehend failure in your case if you act as suggested. 
Primula {G. A .).—While we are not prepared to say that your Primula 
is distinct from all others, it is deeper in the purple than most, also very 
good in form and substance and worthy of preservation. There is, as you 
know, a slight variability in the colour of Primulas, even on the same truss, 
and an individual flower is not sufficient for the purpose of forming a defi¬ 
nite and decided opinion as tr its absolute distinctness and superiority over 
other varieties closely resembling it. 
Abnormal Primula {E. J. Stokes ).—This flower represents a freak of 
Nature, the calyx being transformed into a leaf after the manner of the 
Jack-in-the-Green in hardy Primroses. We have seen many similar 
examples, but not often with the peculiarity so fully developed. It appears 
to be to some extent hereditary, but we cannot regard it as a “ new 
strain,” nor “ good for exhibition.” A double Primula of the same 
character would be suitable for coat decoration, but single flowers soon 
wither. 
Peaches under Glass {B. 72.).—We have no work on the cultivation of 
the Peach under glass, and you will not find any better information on the 
subject of your inquiry than is contained in a year’s numbers of the Journal, 
under the heading of “ Work for the Week.” 
Custard Apple (Journeyman ).—The Custard Apples are produced by 
species of Anona. The common Custard Apple is A. reticulata; the Sour 
Sop is A. muricata, and the Sweet Sop is A. squamosa. They are all natives 
of tropical regions, either the East or West Indies, and therefore require a 
stove temperature when cultivated in this country. Give the plants a light 
compost of two parts loam to one of leaf soil, and encourage growth as much 
as possible, afterwards well ripening this by exposure to the sun. It will, 
however, take several years for the plants to reach flowering size, and even 
then it is doubtful if you will succeed in setting the fruits. 
Mushroom Failing {Discouraged). —The firm you mention are not 
growers of Mushrooms, but vendors of very good spawn. Tho process 
described in the work you mention is founded on successful experience, 
and is perfectly correct. Some manure will not grow Mushrooms, especially 
where horses that produce it are systematically under treatment with 
medicine. Some persons also fail with the best of manure, while others 
succeed. It is the same in most other pursuits. We have a letter before 
us in which the writer says he has “just gathered a peck of Mushrooms 
from one end of an outdoor bed.” He carries out the method advised. 
Cover the bed very thickly with litter, and on the return of milder weather 
it may probably become warm enough for spawning. It is of no use 
inserting spawn at present. Beginners should always take care to com¬ 
mence at the most favourable time, and this you have perhaps overlooked. 
Either the manure is faulty or you have erred in management, for it is 
certain the instructions are sound. 
Notice to Leave (-4.).—In the absence of any written agreement to the 
contrary the term of notice to leave is usually determined by the periodical 
payment of wages. If you are only paid half-yearly you are not, in our 
opinion, paid often enough. If you give your master a written notice the 
day before your wages are due that you intend leaving on the expiration of 
the next term he is bound to accept it, or at least you can leave when the 
time comes if you can adduce satisfactory evidence that the notice was 
placed in his hands. If you want to leave on shorter notice you had better 
act on the advice of a solicitor. 
Vines Unsatisfactory {One in Trouble). —The Vines are probably weak 
and the wood not matured, and hence the buds not prominent and well sup¬ 
ported. You have also commenced forcing too early, considering that the 
