February 18, 1886.] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
141 
during last season. I hope it may not be labour lost if I can draw the 
attention of those cottagers, or any who have straw steps worked on the 
old plan, and try to show them how they can with little expense get 
sections from their old hires and so increase its value. But as the bee¬ 
keeping column is limited, perhaps it will be most acceptable to our 
Editors in small supplies, so having written this much I will defer entering 
into the subject till another week.—A Cottage: Bee-keeper. 
DIVIDING BOARDS. 
I thank you kindly for answering my last query regarding reversible 
frames. I am pleased to say this is the most simple of any plan I have 
seen, unless it be with the compound frame hive explained by “ A 
Lanarkshire Bee-keeper ” which is capable of more diversity of working 
than any other hive, and more in accordance with the nature of the bees 
and well adapted for transferring the honey from body frames to supers 
without reversing, by simply changing the position of the combs. But 
my object in writing at present is not to discuss the special merits of any 
hive, but to get further information as to facts. In the British Bee 
Journal for January 14th (page 19), Mr. F. Lyon, in answer to a correspon¬ 
dent, says. “ When bar-frame hives were originally used it was the 
practice to winter bees on all the combs. The division boards were then 
called ‘ dummies,’ and the only use made of them was to remove them to 
give lateral space for the extraction of the frames without rolling the bees 
between the combs, &c.” He then goes on to show the advantage of 
the close dividing board over the so-called “ dummy.” I know the feel¬ 
ing that exists regarding the invention of certain bee appliances and the 
pirating of others’ ideas. I have also observed the invention of close- 
fitting dividing boards claimed by different parties. I have in use a hive 
which cannot be less than thirty years old, which has a close-fitting 
dividing board of Scotch make ; and although I am an Englishman, and 
would gladly give the palm of victory to England, still I am inclined to 
think from the evidence I am in possession of that Mr. F. Lyon is wrong. 
The close-fitting dividing board is a Scotch invention, and was in use 
long before the “ dummy,” but will be glad to hear what your other 
correspondents have to say in the matter and establish the truth, all the 
more necessary seeing that so many ideas were given in this Journal first 
and pirated in the British Bee Journal. 
I also observe a dispute in the same Journal about the priority of the 
“ Benthall ” crate. Grates similar to these, with the addition of boards 
for top and bottom for convenience for marketing, were made in Scotland 
in hundreds some six years ago. Mr. A. Cameron, Blairathol, is supposed 
to be the inventor.—J. H. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Thomas S. Ware, Tottenham, London .—Illustrated Catalogue of Choice 
Hardy Perennials, Catalogue of Hardy Climbing and Trailing Plants, List 
o Chrysanthemums, and Catalogue of Hardy Florists’ Flowers. 
*** 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. 
Books ( N .).—We think the price of the pamphlet you name ia 6d., but 
why not send a postcard to the author, whose address you have ? 
White Cineraria (F, G.). —The variety is no doubt effective, but not 
new. Messrs. Carter & Co. sent us several white Cineraria flowers last 
year, one of them, so far as we can remember, identical with your own. 
OdontoglOBSum cirrhosum with “branching spikes” {B. P.). —It is 
usual for strong plants to produce 11 branching spikes,” as they are com¬ 
monly termed, but the correct title is panicle. At the last meeting of 
the Royal Horticultural Society a panicle was shown like that you describe, 
but not so large. Tour plants must be in capital condition. 
Si Soil for Roses {Omega). —We do not consider that lumps of clay mixed 
with soil are of much benefit to Roses or anything else. If you can dry 
some clay in a shed so that it can be pounded into a rough powder, and add 
one barrowful to five or six of the turf, yon will have an excellent medium 
for Roses, and healthy plants and fine blooms may be had with the aid of 
rich top-dressings and liquid manure. 
Soil for Ferns ( Filices ).—The soil marked No. 1 would grow Ferns ad¬ 
mirably, potting firmly and giving clear soot water as liquid manure when 
the pots become filled with roots, and you do not wish to place the plants 
in larger. With a supply of this we should certainly not purchase the more 
costly kinds. By adding powdered clay, or any strong soil you can get, it 
can be made heavy enough for many other plants, but you do not say what 
the choice plants are that you desire to grow. 
Climbers for Roof (C. C.). —You appear to want what is not very easy to 
find. Roses thinly trained would not shade the roof to any great extent, 
and their blooms w'ould be useful. The foliage can be kept clean by lightly 
fumigating the house before any insects appear. If you wait for them with 
the object of saving tobacco paper you will lose much more than you will 
gain. It is easy to err in covering a roof when flowering plants are 
arranged on the stages below. Strong-growing Fuchsias, planted out and 
trained and pruned like Vines, have a beautiful effect, but they are liable to 
the attacks of aphides and thrips. Timely fumigating is a preventive of 
both. 
Striking Cuttings in the Tropics {Cinchona). —It is not necessary to 
insert your letter, as it might not elicit a reply from general readers. The 
ground itself in the tropics affords sufficient “ bottom heat ” for striking 
cuttings, if the right time be chosen for inserting them ; and if kept moist, 
close, and shaded, under a handlight or glazed case, so that evaporation is 
arrested, and the leaves remain fresh, roots will be emitted the same as they 
would be in a hotbed at home. 
Figs Falling {A Kentish Subscriber ).—Figs that form in autumn, and are 
now as large as small nuts, are almost certain to fall in the spring or early 
summer. It is a good plan to remove these, and others that are less than 
the smallest peas may be expected to ripen, assuming surface roots are 
plentiful and adequately supported with water, and also gross growths are 
prevented by pinching that might otherwise attract the sap from the fruit. 
You say the trees have been “ root-pruned occasionally,” but that does not 
indicate their condition, and if they grow luxuriantly root-prune them again 
and fill in the trench with loam and a sixth part of calcareous matter, such as 
lime rubbish, pressing it down very firmly with a wooden rammer. Your 
object should be to induce short-jointed sturdy growth that will be matured 
in the autumn, and the fruit may then be expected to ripen. 
Seedling Zonal Pelargoniums {Amateur). —If your plants are in 
separate pots we should neither repot them nor cut them down, hut allow 
them to flower so as to test the merits of the varieties, then increase those 
only that are worthy of preservation ; some of them may possibly be of little 
worth. If crowded in a box you might take off the tops, insert each in a 
separate small pot of sandy soil, in which they would strike in a temperature 
of 60° and upwards, and soon flower. If you do this the original plants 
might be planted out in the open border in due time, and there flower. It 
is as a rule the best for amateurs to grow named varieties, seedlings occupy¬ 
ing much space, flowering sparsely, and a number of them not worth per¬ 
petuating ; still, apait from producing a display, a certain amount of interest 
attaches to raising seedlings, and florists are satisfied if they get one superior 
variety out of fifty plants. 
Improving Vine Border {J. C., Somerset ).—If you extend the border 
under the glass you will find a difference in your tennis lawn. We think 
you can improve the Vines without disturbing the lawn, though the border 
is narrow. Take off the soil till you bare several of the main roots, but 
keep them with any smaller roots moist. Notch the large roots at intervals 
of 2 feet, cutting straight down almost to the centre, then with upward 
cuts—that is, the edge of the knife facing the house, take out wedges, all to 
be finished smooth and clean. Mix some sandy loam, leaf mould, and 
manure sufficiently decayed and dried to be rubbed through a three-quarter- 
inch-meshed Bieve, and wood ashes in equal parts, with which surround and 
cover the roots 2 inches deep; then spread on 4inches of turfy loam, placing 
on this a covering of manure for keeping all moist. Fresh roots will then 
form, and during the summer you can give liquid manure or a top-dressing 
of some approved fertiliser, one being approvingly mentioned in another 
column by a good gardener, and may be worthy of your attention. We have 
seen Vines greatly improved in a smaller border than yours by the prac¬ 
tice advised. 
Making Bone Manure (IF. B.). —We extract the following recipe from 
the “ Gardeners’ Year Book ” on making superphosphate of lime :—“ Place 
5 cwts. (or twelve bushels) of bone on an earthen floor, surrounded by a 
rim of ashes ; pour on as much water as the bones will suck up, and then 
pour on 2 cwt. of sulphuric acid ; it will boil somewhat violently for a 
while; when this has subsided it will get tolerably solid, and the ashes and 
all may be shovelled up together, and will be fit for use in a day or two.” 
Another mode of dissolving bones is given in the same work which we 
cite :—“Take a large watertight hogshead and cover the bottom with about 
6 inches deep of dry soil; on this put a layer of bones of the same depth, 
and cover them entirely with wood ashes; on these another layer of bones, 
then ashes, and so on till the hogshead is full, placing a good thickness of 
ashes on the top. Leave it exposed to the rains all summer and winter till 
spring. Then on removing the contents of the hogshead, the bones will 
crumble to powder under a slight pressure, and form one of the most 
valuable manures ready for immediate use.” The manurial value of hones 
consists in the great quantity of phosphate of lime they contain. 
Newly Planted Vines and Roses {Old Ebor ).—You had better notallow 
the canes to bear a “ few bunches ” this year, notwithstanding the designa¬ 
tion “ Fruiting Vines.” They would bear fruit, no doubt, but might be so 
exhausted as to be practically ruined. Your object should be to encourage 
the growth of strong canes this year, and to effect this you will in all pro¬ 
bability act wisely by rubbing off several of the buds from the top down¬ 
wards, so as to concentrate the root force and sap on a growth starting from 
the base of the rafter, in fact the lower the better, provided you select a 
bold bud in a light position. As you give no particulars as to length and 
strength we cannot give a more definite reply. If the Rorea have been dug 
from the open ground, shorten them to good buds from a foot to 18 inches 
