366 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 6, 188?. 
the glass and the leaves of the plants, and the forward plants from these 
structures can always be picked to take the places of those that are ripe 
and ripening. Liquid manure should be given at every alternate watering 
to plants swelling off their crops, but care must be taken not to give it 
too strong, and always tepid. 
HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 
Trees planted last autumn should already be pushing roots freely into 
the rich soil of the stations ; and if this early root-action can be induced 
before the swelling buds burst into growth, such growths will he all the 
more vigorous and sturdy. Due care and attention given now to such 
trees goes far to ensure a successful first year. But too often do we find 
newly planted trees making very little growth the first season, simply 
because precaution is not taken to protect the roots from the effects of 
drought, and to keep the trees securely in position. No doubt drought 
does much harm to trees exposed to its baneful influence in a hot dry 
summer, but it is also very mischievous at this season of the year. It 
would not be so if the instructions given again and again to mulch the 
trees when planted were followed. The value of the mulching is so 
obvious that we might reasonably expect ordinary attention would be 
given to it, yet it is not so. Repeatedly do we find newly planted trees 
without mulching, and we also find in such cases a want of intelligent 
appreciation of the causes of success and failure in fruit culture. No 
sympathy have we with such easy-going and careless practice; we are 
bound to go further than this, and to insist upon it that when the work is 
entrusted to a gardener it is clearly his duty to do it in the best way, and 
he ought not to undertake such work if he is incompetent. The fickleness 
of the weather in the first week or two of May is proverbial. A sharp 
frost on May day did much harm to the blossom of unprotected fruit 
trees; in some instances Cherry blossom was destroyed and Gooseberry 
leaves blackened by frost. Small pyramidal or espalier Cherries could 
easily have had protection, and a little dried fern or other litter shaken 
upon the Gooseberry bushes would have saved the crop. Continue to 
guard Peach and Nectarine trees carefully from exposure to cold wind in 
order to save the fruit crop and to prevent attacks of blister upon the 
foliage and stems of the new growth. Liberal applications of sewage or 
other liquid manure may now be given to Strawberries and bush fruit, our 
object being to assist a full development of the fruit, and this can only be 
done by beginning thus early with the sewage. Never suffer the house¬ 
hold sewage to be wasted, but turn the whole of it to account to impart 
fertility to the soil. A systematic use of sewage in the fruit garden 
throughout the season of growth is highly advantageous to all kinds of 
fruit, and is much to be commended. By giving it to Strawberries now 
we promote a stout sturdy growth of foliage, large trusses of blossom, and 
plenty of fine fruit. If, however, we wait till the fruit is swelling before 
using the sewage it will be too late, for then we can only assist the growth 
of fruit, which cannot be really fine if the blossom was small and the 
stalks slender. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Aralias .—Useful decorative species like A. leptophylla and A. reticulata 
are often grown too warm, and in consequence become too tall. Plants 
in this condition may be cut close back, the stem cut into lengths of about 
2 inches, and inserted singly in small pots. The pots used should be filled 
with any moderately light sandy soil, a little sand being placed in the 
centre for the base of the cutting to rest upon. Give a good watering, 
and plunge the pots in brisk bottom heat in the propagating frame or 
under a handlight. In a very short time the uppermost eye will burst 
into growth, and roots will then quickly be formed. When the small pots 
are full of roots they may be transferred into 4 or 5-inch pots, and grown 
on in heat for a time until they are large enough for decorative purposes, 
when they should be hardened to greenhouse treatment. Cold draughts 
must not be allowed to strike upon the plants. In this position growth 
will be slow, and the plants will remain of a suitable size for a 
long time. 
Draccenas .—Young stock raised from the root portion of the stem and 
placed singly into 3-inch pots two months ago, must now be transferred 
into others 2 and 3 inches larger. These should be grown on in brisk 
heat, carefully watered and shaded from strong sun. Young stock now 
in pans must be placed into 3-inch pots. If there is any deficiency of 
young stock of such forms as D. rutilans and congests, stems should be cut 
up without delay, and if placed in brisk heat will not be long before they 
are ready for small pots. These varieties in their early stages grow much 
more quickly in heat than in the greenhouse. It is advisable to subject 
them to this treatment until they are established in 5-inch pots—a 
very suitable size, and then grow them in the greenhouse. The 
growth is slower and more sturdy in the greenhouse than in the 
stove. The whole of the plants required for winter and spring 
use must be pushed on, so that by autumn they are suitable for the 
purpose for which they are required. D. gracilis, one of the best for 
room decoration, will do from this date subjected to greenhouse treatment 
—that is, all plants that are large enough for decoration. By avoiding 
cold draughts and watering the plants carefully, they will remain in good 
condition for use the whole of the summer without becoming too lar^e. 
Plants that have become too tall may have the tops cut off and re-rooted 
at once. The heads of this variety will root in brisk heat under a hand¬ 
glass without losing a single leaf. When well rooted place them into 
5-inch pots, allow them to become established, then gradually harden 
them, and place them in the greenhouse. Young plants raised from side 
shoots are the best for table decoration, because their foliage is much 
narrower than is the case with strong plants. These if not required for 
this purpose may be grown on strongly in the stove until they have well- 
developed heads, when they may be taken ofE and rooted. Plants of 
D. Goldieana that have been raised from side shoots have always a number 
of small leaves at the base, which detracts from the beauty of this plant 
when used singly in vases. The heads will root as freely as those of 
D. gracilis if cut off where the wood is soft, plunged in bottom heat, 
covered with a handglass, and kept shaded from the sun where a brisk 
temperature can be maintained. Large-growing varieties, such as 
D. Chelsoni, D. Baptisti, and others that have been raised from heads 
this spring and are now in 7 and 8-inch pots should, if fine specimens are 
required, be transferred without further delay into 10 and 12-inch pots, in 
which they will develope into very large plants either for furnishing the 
stove or various p isitions in rooms where they can be surrounded witR 
Ferns and other plants of a dwarf nature to form small groups. 
Gardenias .—Young plants rooted last August and now well established 
in 5-incb, may be shifted into 7-inch pots. The shoots may be tied out 
towards the rim of the pots, and in a short time growths will spring 
freely from the centre. These must be pinched from time to time to- 
prevent the plants becoming straggling. If grown on in heat and 
moisture they will develope rapidly, and by autumn be 2 feet or more in 
diameter. For spring flowering, young plants raised every autumn are 
decidedly better than the retention of old ones. For autumn and winter 
flowers the best of the old plants should be selected that have their pots 
full of roots, so that they will only make a dwarf sturdy growth, which, 
can be brought to a standstill early by cool treatment. Where it is neces¬ 
sary to retain the old stock for spring flowering they should be cut close 
back after the flowers are over, and repotted when they have broken, 
into growth. 
Taberncemontanas.—ks these plants cease flowering they should be 
well cut back, or in a short time they soon become bare at the base. If 
liberally pruned annually they will be well furnished with foliage. When 
they have commenced growth after pruning they may be turned out of 
their pots and the old soil shaken from the roots. They can be placed in. 
the same or smaller pots and if kept in brisk moist heat and shaded from, 
the sun will soon be well established again. 
JEsehynanthus .—These are beautiful plants when well grown, and ara 
much more effective in baskets than when their cultivation is attempted, 
in pots. If cuttings are now rooted they may be placed round the sides 
of baskets in a compost of fibry peat and loam in equal proportions witb. 
charcoal and sand freely intermixed. The cuttings, if practicable, should 
ba rooted singly in small pots, so that they can be placed in the baskets 
without the risk of checking them. They will then grow away freely, 
and their shoots will hang gracefully from the basket. Fresh baskets 
should be made up annually, so that a few of the oldest can be destroyed, 
for in time tbe soil becomes exhausted and they then fail to do satisfac¬ 
torily. The small but free-growing Lobbianus is a splendid basket plant, 
and from this season of the year is most attractive with its dark chocolate 
and scarlet flowers. All the varieties enumerated in catalogues are well 
worth growth, but if two only are required select the one named and. 
grandiflorus. 
Ml 
HE BEE-KEEPER. 
£ 
NOTES ON BEES. 
TRANSFERRING STOCKS. 
There are few bee keepers nowadays who are content to 
begin with the common straw skep as they sneeringly term 
it; the teaching of the day is to a great extent making men 
believe that it is easy to manage an apiary, and that no 
particular experience is required in this industry in order to 
ensure success. To commence with a skep would indeed be 
a degradation It is, perhaps, this false idea of the relative 
merits of the straw removeable frame hive which makes' 
beginners ask so manv questions on the subject of transferring 
stocks from one hive to another. A bar-frame hive, too, looks 
so neat and compact, and, in comparison with the homely 
skep, seems quite a palace, so they are all anxiety to change the 
abode of the bees, sometimes quite irrespective of the value of 
the hives. Transferring waa a few years ago much more 
prevalent than is now the case, but the evil results induced 
by so essentially false a practice have effectually prevented 
its adoption except in the case of men who, from an interested 
motive or in the pride of new learnt power, venture to remove 
the combs and bees from a skep and place them in a bar 
hive in the spring. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to say that- 
there are some few men who can perform this operation witb 
success, but for the generality of bee-keepers the operation is 
one often attended by loss which cannot be at all compensated 
for by any benefit derived from the change of hive, even when 
the removal is managed in the most successful manner 
