498 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDEHER. 
[ Jane 17, 1886, 
brood. To the most needful I gave half a pound of sugar to each. On 
the 2nd of June the weather changed for the better, and I withheld giving 
more. On the 7th June the temperature for the first time this season 
stood at 73° in the shade. The hees were carrying in much pollen and 
honey, and had increased in weight greatly. A number of the hives 
appeared as if preparing to swarm. Being too early to put on supers, 
I gave them full doorway and ventilated a little. The bees all retiring from 
the front went to work with extra vigour. To put on supers yet would be 
unsatisfactory, as the yield of honey at this season being from different 
sources will not make a good sample, and whether or not I must have the 
hives filled with stores or nearly so for next season before I attempt 
supering. The strength of my hives will do this in three or four days, 
then all will be surplus after. Swarming is now general, and if the season 
is late will suit the bees all the better. A month’s fine weather in the 
end of June and beginning of July will do much good, and will be very 
acceptable. Until the fine weather and flowers come together, neither 
neglect feeding nor put on supers. If more room is needed, add to the 
body of the hive. Be careful not to neglect the feeding of swarms, and 
preserve as many young queens in nuclei as are likely to be required. 
Have everything in readiness, and he prepared for any or every emergency 
that may arise.— Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
EASTERN DISTRICT OF STIRLINGSHIRE 
BEE-KEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION. 
A MEETING of this Association was held at Carron in the Old Inn> 
Mr. Baird’s, on the evening of Friday, the 4th June. About twenty 
members attended. Wm. Sword, Esq., Bonney View, Falkirk, presided. 
The business of the meeting was the arranging for the coming Show to be 
held in Falkirk end of August, and to co-operate with that Society in 
holding their annual shows. The circulars calling the meeting announced 
that “A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper” would address the meeting. Mr. Sword 
introduced him, and said in addition to what Mr. Thomson would explain 
in his address he would also answer any questions the members desired to 
put. The address embraced the natural history of the honey bee, and the 
system most likely to secure the largest amount of honey in this change¬ 
able climate, together with the best mode of wintering bees, which was 
the key to success. The business and the lecture occupied two hours and 
a half. Thereafter queries were put. It so happened they were identical 
to those answered in this Journal, which were handed round to the 
querists, Mr. Thomson meanwhile urging all present to become not only 
readers, but writers, to the Journal of Horticulture, the pioneer in bee¬ 
keeping, and the only really practical journal on gardening, farming, and 
hee husbandry that was published. The members were favourable to this 
proposal. A good deal of merriment was created when Mr. Thomson said 
we would all have to look ahead if we wished to preserve our laurels, as 
they were being quickly appropriated by young bee-keepers of from six 
to ten years’ standing, who seemed to have the knack of inventing things 
that were in use for a quarter of a century, of which happily the Journal 
of Horticulture carried proof in its earlier numbers. The British Bee- 
Keepers' Becord, too, lay on the table, in which Raitt’s honey press was 
announced as having the Lanarkshire powerful screw attached, which was 
a great improvement over the pump handle; but why it should be called 
the Raitt honey press was a mystery, and the same applied to Raitt’s 
fume chamber for carbolic acid. Amid much laughter the meeting was 
brought to a close, when a vote of thanks to the chairman and Mr. 
Thomson was accorr At the close several very pretty hives were 
Bhown, being the w ? of amateurs, but in this case, as in many others, 
beauty and utility w • enot combined. 
NUTT’S HIVF —BEES ROBBING. 
I have a Nutt’s hive divided into three compartments so that I can 
keep three distinct stocks. I have a stock in the middle compartment, 
and an end one, but the bees in the other compartment died last winter 
of dysentery before I bought the hive. On Sunday, June 16th, about 
2 p.m., there was a great commotion at the end hive ; the bees could not 
get in and out fast enough—in fact, a neighbour’s bees were robbing them. 
Is it not rather an unusual thing for bees to rob in June f In the evening 
I turned the hive up and examined it. They had evidently lost the queen 
some time, as there was a queen cell sealed up, and they were far from 
being in a condition to swarm, as they had been very weak and were still 
far from strong. I cut out the queen cell, and on examining it found two 
fully developed workers in it (dead). It was a young queen, because they 
swarmed last year. While the robbing was going on, the bees in the 
middle hive were very excited, they clung on the alighting board and 
all over the entrance in great numbers all the afternoon, but they went to 
work again all right on the next day.—H. T. S., Lincoln. 
[A single compartment of a Nutt’s hive is far to 3 small for any stock 
of bees. The inventor intended the three boxes to form one whole : the two 
end ones to he used for depriving, the centre for the brood chamber. 
Robbing in June or at any other time is not a rare occurrence if there is 
little honey to be had in the fields. A weak or queenless stock is sure to 
be first attacked, but every hive will be attacked in turn if care is not 
taken to prevent the success of the thieves. An ordinary queen cell could 
hardly contain “ two fully developed workers.” If at the time the queen 
was lost there were no eggs or young larvm in the hive the bees would be 
unable to raise a successor, but if the queen had laid up to within a few 
days of the time of her loss a successor could easily have been raised. 
Steps must at once be taken to either requeen the bees or to unite them to 
another stock. Probably the latter will be the best plan, hut without know¬ 
ing more about the state of the bees and comb it is not possible to give any 
decided advice.— Felix ] 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
W. Lovel & Son, Weaverthorpe, Yorkshire .—Select List of Strawberry 
Plants. 
%* 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. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS.—We desire to assure those of our corre¬ 
spondents whose letters and communications are not promptly- 
inserted that they are not the less appreciated on that account. 
Our pages are practically filled several days prior to publication, 
and letters arriving on Wednesday morning, except by special 
arrangement, are invariably too late for insertion. The delay in 
the publication of some of these is not of material importance, 
buc reports of meetings and shows held a week previously lose 
much or all of their value if not received in time to appear 
in the current issue. 
Books (Great Barton ).—We know of no book of medium size that gives 
better instruction on all-round gardening thin the “Cottige Gardeners’ 
Dictionary.” It contains information on nearly everything, with full details 
for growing the more important plants, as well as fruit and vegetable crops. 
It can be had from this office, price 7s. Gd., post free 8s. 2d. (A. L. D.). — 
Barron’s “Vine Culture” gives all the necessary information for growing 
good Grapes. The leading varieties are also well illustrated in the work. 
Price, from this office, 10s. Gd. ( J. Marks ).—“ Mushrooms for the Million ” 
is in the preBS and will be ready very shortly. 
Tubes for Exhibiting Roses ( Kittle ).—The tube to which you refer is 
probably Foster’s Rose Holder, an illustrated advertisement of which 
appeared in this Journal a fortnight since. Those tubes are largely used 
and, as the advertisement states, are made and sold by Mr. Foster of Ashford, 
Kent. 
Marguerites Malformed (M. J. T.). — The most common cause of the 
malformation of flowers is the attacks of insects, not necessarily at the time 
of expansion, but as soon as the buds form, and often before they are clearly 
visible. The slightest injury by puncture at that stage naturally developes 
as the buds swell and the petals and florets expand. We have known 
these and many other flowers so distorted as to be quite spoiled by insects 
puncturing the buds some weeks or months previously. We are answering 
your letter on the assumption that your plants are healthy and have the 
requisite support for perfecting their flowers; if that is not afforded failure 
more or less marked must be the inevitable result. 
Bottle-brush Tree, Metrosideros floribunda {Stirling ).—This plant 
requires a compost of peat and sand with good drainage, and the tempera¬ 
ture of a greenhouse or conservatory. Water must be carefully supplied at 
all times, neither allowing the soil to become too wet or dry. It may be 
propagated by cuttings of the half-ripened wood at the end of summer, 
inserting them in sand and placing the pots in a cool frame for a week or 
two, when they can be removed to a house or frame with a temperature of 
about 60°. The cuttings are slow in forming roots, and until that is effected 
they must be very carefully supplied with moisture. 
Cropping Vines {E. M .).—It is quite impossible for anyone to say how 
many bunches you should leave on your Vines without knowing whether 
they are strong or weak, and whether the bunches are large or small. A 
vigorous Vine well supported will furnish 2 lbs. of Grapes to each lineal 
foot of rod better than a weak Vine will ripen half that weight. It is a 
great mistake to overcrop Vines, and it also indicates a lack of judgment to 
have to relieve overladen Vines by cutting off bunches after time has been 
spent in thinning them, as in such a case the time has not only been wasted 
but the Vines needlessly exhausted. Superfluous bunches should be re¬ 
moved as soon as the Grapes set, if not sooner; and if there is a doubt as 
to how many to remove give the benefit of it in favour of light cropping. 
A crop of Grapes that looks “ light ” now will have a very different appear¬ 
ance in two months’ time. If lateral growth practically ceases before the 
fruit commences colouring, that will be proof of the crop being too heavy 
for the Vines. 
