March 4, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
181 
■before they become badly root-bound, giving them fairly rich loamy soil. 
During May they are best kept in a cool house or frames, an early exposure 
to our trying climate having the effect of stunting their growth, and from 
this they do not readily recover. 
Wigandia caracasana .—This noble sub-tropical plant in its earlier 
stages of growth is slower even than the Solanums. The seed is very 
small, and should therefore be sown on the sandy surface of a pan of fine 
light soil, plunging this in hotbed, shading heavily, and moistening the 
surface very carefully till such times as the seeds are germinated. The 
seedlings when quite small, or before they are large enough to handle, 
must be pricked out in a pan of fine soil, this being easily managed with 
the fine point of of a dibble, and they will require good attention in the 
way of shading and gentle waterings. Later on they may be treated 
similarly to the Solanums. 
Eucalyptus glolulus. — Now is a good time to sow seed of this tall- 
growing and fairly ornamental sub-tropical plant. Sown in pans or pots 
of light sandy soil, and plunged in heat or merely stood in a forcing house, 
covering with glass, shading from bright sunshine, and kept uniformly 
moist, the seed soon germinates, the subsequent treatment being the same 
as recommended for the Solanums. Any plants that may have been kept 
in small pots through the winter should be given a liberal shift, good 
loamy soil being used, and this will be the means of much improving their 
size and appearance before they are wanted for the flower garden. 
Acacia lophantha .—Although not particularly handsome this is still 
a favourite green-foliaged plant with many decorators, being both avail¬ 
able for planting or plunging in the mixed beds, and subsequently for 
conservatory and house decoration. It is raised from seed, and as these 
are very hard they should be soaked in warm water for several hours, or 
till such time as they have swollen considerably. Then if placed singly 
into small pots filled with warmed soil, plunged in a brisk bottom heat, 
and soaked with water of the same temperature as the hotbed, the seeds 
germinate in a few days. When growing strongly they should be given 
a liberal shift, and be transferred to a greenhouse before they are drawn 
and weakened. For large beds last year’s plants are best. Any fairly 
rich soil will grow them well. 
Ferdinandia eminens .—This is a tall-growing and highly ornamental 
eub-tropical plant, and very effective in masses. They may be raised 
from seed, and otherwise treated similarly to the Solanums ; or if there 
are any stock plants short lengths of firm wood will strike readily in heat, 
and soon grow to a good size if kept (veil attended to. 
Polymnia grandis .—A few plants of these are usually kept through 
the winter, the stems being cut into short lengths and struck in heat. If 
duly potted and given a liberal shift, using a fairly rich loamy compost, 
the plants soon attain a useful size, and if finally planted in good soil 
they will grow G feet or more in height, and a mass of them are very 
imposing. 
Ficus elastiea .—Where tops of these are available they may be struck 
to a length, say, of about 12 inches, without the loss of the leaves, and 
later on they will be found very useful in the flower garden. These long 
pieces are most surely rooted by notching or cutting them half through, 
binding moss round the wound, and if they are then placed in heat and 
the moss kept regularly moistened, roots will soon be emitted into it, and 
these rooted tops can then be severed and potted safely. We have 
also frequently succeeded in striking the tops and side branches with a 
heel attached in a brisk bottom heat with the loss of but few leaves. 
Short lengths of firm wood with a leal attached, also strike readily in heat, 
but if put in at the present time the plants resulting would be of no 
service in the flower garden this season. 
St 
It! 
dE BEE-KEEPER. 
--------•-^-—-' ’ i -A --r- 
REVERSIBLE FRAMES. 
Shall I adopt reversible frames ? This is a question 
which ha3 no doubt been asked by most bee-keepers who 
use moveable frames of any description, and not a few of them 
have, it is to be feared, answered somewhat too hastily in the 
affirmative. A few weeks ago in talking to a bee-keeper who 
has upwards of a score of stocks, the majority in moveable 
frame hives, I asked him whether it was his intention to 
adopt the reversible frame, and he answered “No! it is 
against Nature to reverse the inclination of the cells.” Now 
it does not seem to me of any material importance whether a 
given practice is against Nature or not, so that we fully realise 
the responsibility which attaches to ourselves immediately 
that we upset the arrangements of Nature. If we interfere 
we do so knowing that if failure follows our efforts we alone 
are to blame for unwisely interfering in the internal economy 
of the hive ; if we succeed we have our reward in increased 
profit and pleasure. We may, therefore, consider this reply 
to be altogether beside the question, and may discuss the 
reversing theory from a more practical point of view. 
It is well known amongst bee-keepers of any experience 
that bees always store their honey at the top of the comb, 
leaving the more central and lower parts free to a great 
extent from honey for the use of the brood. Now this is 
apparently considered by many an objectionable habit, because 
the size of the brood nest is seriously diminished, and honey 
is stored in the body hive—from which it cannot be taken in 
a form fit for sale as comb honey—instead of in the supers 
placed ready to receive it. Here is the opportunity for 
reversing, and this being done the bees, strong in their 
determination not to have the honey at the lower extremity 
of the comb, at once set to work to remove it and place it 
in its proper position above the brood nest; but as the cells 
at the top of the comb are occupied with eggs and brood in 
all stages of development, there is no room for the honey, 
which is therefore carried and placed in the supers. For a 
day or two after the manipulation extraordinary progress is 
made in the supers, and the apiarian begins to congratulate 
himself upon the success of his experiment, but suddenly a 
partial stoppage takes place, and honey comes in more slowly 
than previous to the operation. 
Now if we consider what has taken place this will not 
cause any surprise, because a quantity of honey being stored 
in the hive a removal takes place, and this is done more 
speedily than when the flowers have to be visited and fresh 
honey gathered ; this continues until the supply in the body 
hive is exhausted, when, as a natural result, honey comes in 
more slowly than ever, because more bees are required to 
stay at heme to “ set the house in order ” after the strange 
disarrangement. The cells are often pared down to the 
midrib, or at least their inclination altered, and all this 
entails a vast amount of exhaustive toil on the worker bees, 
which are thereby unable to go forth to the fields and gather 
honey in their wonted number. In reality to get, say, ten 
pounds removed from the body hive to the supers, we lose 
five, which at least might have been got from the fields 
without difficulty if the bees had not been engaged at home. 
Surely a roundabout way of getting profit! There is one 
good result from the manipulation, but it is only temporary, 
and constant reversing must take place to render it of con¬ 
tinued use—the brood nest is enlarged so that the queen is 
given more room for egg-laying, and the population of the 
hive is to some extent increased, and the desire to swarm 
diminished; but no sooner does the brood hatch from the 
top parts of the comb than the cells are again filled with 
honey, thus again necessitating the reversing process if 
lasting benefit is to accrue from its adoption. If, however, 
there is this necessity for artificially—may I say—enlarging 
the brood nest, one of two things is apparent, either the 
supering management is faulty, or the capacity of the hive 
is too little. But let me give the nett result from this 
reversing of combs, which appears to be that a temporarily 
enlarged brood nest is obtained, that a great amount of 
unnecessary labour is imposed upon the bee3, and instead of 
getting 10 lbs. of honey in the super and 10 lbs. in the hive, 
we get 10 lbs. in the super, and much less than that amount 
in the hive itself, probably only half at the outside. 
In the case of skeps, however, there is one other advan¬ 
tage which accrues from reversing the hive itself, and this is 
that a much larger surface is available for supering purposes 
and this is a decided advantage, for the ordinary 4-inch hole 
causes no little inconvenience when the hives and supers are 
crowded with bees all eager to work, but the hive being 
reversed the whole breadth of the comb lies ready for the 
super, but even to gain this advantage I should hesitate to 
adopt the practice. On the whole then, reversible frames 
are, as far as I am able to judge, of very doubtful utility, and 
should only be adopted on a small scale by way of experi¬ 
ment, when, if the result is, as I anticipate, unfavourable, no 
great loss will be occasioned, while if favourable they can 
another year be more extensively adopted. 
There is one other improvement upon the above idea to 
