56 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 18, 1889. 
lifted up before. It is exciting work after the bees are shaken off 
to catch the queens as they hatch out. 
When just cleared of bees the noise made by the queens much 
resembles the crackling of burning white deal sticks, and all cells 
will have a little hole in them, through which the enclosed queens 
will be thrusting their probosces. But this does not last more 
than half a minute before some of the queens are creeping out, and 
if not caught they will take wing or try to kill each another. These 
must at once be given to nuclei or queenless hives, and all those cells 
which have no hole in them should be thrown away if good mothers 
are required, as their development has been retarded during the 
time the cells have been out of their hive, for though queens would 
hatch from these cells they would be of inferior quality ; they, 
however, can all be saved by “ swarming ” the hive and catching the 
queens in the swarms. 
When I reared the two Punic queens sent to our friend—not 
« Pumice,” please—there were about 150 sealed cells. I had nearly 
fifty queens from them, and some twenty or thirty took wing, or 
were killed ; the undeveloped cells I threw into the waste comb 
box to melt up for wax. I had more than I required or could find 
nuclei for. These queens, though one or two days old, are not fit 
to send a distance, but must be given to good nuclei of at least 
three combs well covered with bees for two days more ; thus it will 
be seen good virgin queens cannot yet be reared for sale at “ tuppence 
apiece,” even if I can get 100 per week from one stock. 
Those queens sent to “ A.L.B.K.” were not selected in any way, 
and if they have mated to good drones he will be able for once to 
see bees truly hybernate, though they are natives of a country in 
which frost and snow is never known, and where the swarming and 
honey months are in the winter, so that next year he will be able 
to say whether my way of breeding is any improvement or not on 
the old plans. 
Your able correspondent speaks of the queens being “ lively ” 
and trying to conceal themselves. This is just what well bred 
queens will or should do. One day I was ten minutes trying to 
find one on a comb that had not twenty worker bees on it, and they 
were all of another race and colour. She ran round to the other 
side every time I turned the comb round. A queen quick on her 
feet is the one to fill the cells with eggs before the workers do so 
with honey. She never looks extra large when laying. A weak 
queen always looks large when laying for two reasons—firstly, she 
•does not lay fast enough and the bees stimulate her all the more. 
The novice seeing such a queen crawling with difficulty on a comb 
would remark on her being such a “ fine one.” The queens of my 
own breeding, though laying upwards of 3000 eggs daily, run about 
like spiders.—A Hallamshire Bee-keeper. 
HONEY PROSPECTS. 
We had up till the 5th July five weeks of fine weather, but too 
dry for either bees or crops. The latter are languishing for want 
of moisture, and the former are denied the large flow of honey 
that they usually gather in fine weather, when the atmosphere and 
ground are humid. It is too early to anticipate with certainty 
what the honey yield will be, but it is certain without some rain 
there will be little surplus, and with it, unless of very short dura¬ 
tion, results will be much the same. In some districts we hear of 
heavy hives and well filled supers, but as yet we have only the 
former. The season throughout has been peculiar, being so cold 
and uugenial until the middle of May that bees could not advance, 
consequently breeding in earnest did not begin until the above 
•date. The Apples, Pears, and Plums were the only flowers, includ¬ 
ing the Dandelion, the bees could visit. There was no Plane 
blossom. Fine weather set in with June, and most hives, notwith¬ 
standing the previous drawbacks, were well forward, but strange 
to say the bees are not more numerous now than they were then, 
owing to their wings becoming worn and tattered. No year passes 
without a per-centage of loss from this cause, but in no year has 
there been so much mortality amongst bees, which puzzles the 
oldest bee-keepers, who cannot account for it. 
The fatality usually begins with the appearance of the Char¬ 
lock, as it has done this year, but whether it is owing to it or not 
we cannot say, but perhaps owing to the extreme dryness and 
little honey in the flowers, the bees have extra flying to perform 
before they can secure loads, thereby wearing their wings sooner 
than usual. 
Although our hives were full of bees long since I did not deem 
it advisable to super before the 3rd inst. We want now to get a 
large surplus, a few showers which would benefit crops and bees 
alike. 
MEAD A CUBE TOR HAY FEVER. 
For some years past I have been subject to severe attacks of 
what is termed hay fever, but cannot say whether that is a proper 
term or not. This year has been no exception to the rule, and I 
have suffered more than usual. Happening to have some mead 
beside me I partook of some of it, and derived great relief.— 
A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
s jj c ' 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 un¬ 
avoidably. We request that no one will write privately 
to any of our correspondents, as doing so subjects them to 
unjustifiable trouble and expense. 
Correspondents should not mix up on the same sheet questions 
relating to Gardening and those on Bee subjects, and should 
never send more than two or three questions at once. All 
articles intended 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 communica¬ 
tions. 
Books (A Reader ').—As the books you mention are not on our list, 
we are unable to supply the information you desire. 
missing- Parcel (Nottingham ).—We have received a direction 
label which has presumably been. detached from a parcel that was 
intended to reach us, but has failed to do so. The label bears the post¬ 
mark of the town above mentioned. 
Seedling Picotees (Job Cox'). —The varieties are very good for 
border decoration, but few, if any of them, possess the requisite pro¬ 
perties of high-class florists’ flowers ; or in other words, they are not 
equal in merit to the best named varieties. 
melons Cracking (A. C.'). —Wednesday morning’s letters can only 
be answered in the briefest possible manner. An excess of water at 
the roots, or of moisture in the atmosphere, coupled with too late morn¬ 
ing ventilation, are the chief causes of the cracking of the fruits. 
Sparmannia africana (Salopia). —You have probably been too 
liberal in potting for inducing early flowering. As the plant is healthy 
let it remain outdoors, but it may be desirable to shade the pot from hot 
sun. If the soil in the pot is not very firm make it so with a blunt- 
ended stick. Do not overwater ; still the leaves must not be allowed to 
flag through drought at the roots. 
Insects on Chrysanthemums (Novice). —Perhaps the insects to 
which you refer as ‘-Jack Jumpers” do not do much harm. Try the 
effect of syringing with perfectly clear soot water. It may be made as 
bright as wine by placing a few lumps of lime in it and removing the 
scum from the surface, and should be of the colour of very pale ale 
when used in the evening. All you can do is to take the first bud that 
forms in the end of each branch. These will be crown buds, and under 
good management should develope into fine blooms. Three branches 
from a main stem are sufficient. 
Clover In Tennis Lawn (E. Wilkins). —We doubt whether you 
can destroy the Clover without spoiling the lawn. Nitrogenous manures, 
such as nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia, applied at the rate of 
about an ounce to the square yard encourage the growth of grass at the 
expense of Clover, but there is the risk of the grass being coarse for a 
time, then of the lawn eventually becoming thin. We have no doubt 
several persons would be glad of such a lawn as the one you complain 
of. New lawns can be made without Clover by sowing a suitable mix¬ 
ture of grass seeds in well prepared soil. The flower you send is a very 
bright form of Lychnis Haageana. 
Seedling: Carnation (II. I ).).—The scarlet Carnation, which you 
say is of good habit with sixty blooms on a plant layered last year and 
easily forced, is worth preserving, whether it is distinct from other 
varieties or not. This can be ascertained by sending flowers to the 
National Carnation and Picotee Society’s Show, Volunteer Drill Hall, 
Westminster, on the 23rd inst. You may write previously to Mr. J. 
Douglas, Great Gearies, Ilford Essex, and send him blooms if you 
wish. It is a.‘decorative variety, and if the plant is vigorous and 
floriferous it might be useful for affording flowers for market. Those 
before us have close not split pods, which is a point of merit, but are 
scarcely fragrant, which is not. 
Chrysanthemum Shoots Injured (J. S. R.). —If you had seen 
the shrivelled state of the small shoots that had been pushed into a 
small box without a particle of anything to keep them fresh, you would 
perhaps have been a little surprised. So far as we can see the plants 
have been attacked with either caterpillars or earwigs, perhaps both, 
and you should examine them after dark by suddenly turning a light on 
| them. Earwig traps, such as hollow stems, or small pots with hay in. 
