August 15, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
145 
very showy class of bedding plants, and would be more often seen if 
healthy cuttings could be had in abundance every spring. Too much 
fire heat is responsible for numerous failures with Verbenas, but if a 
good stock of plants were raised in the autumn, and wintered in com¬ 
paratively cool quarters, these would yield superior cuttings when wanted. 
Too often they are rooted thickly, and kept in a hard, starved condition 
through the winter in 5-inch pots, and these fail to produce the requisite 
soft, clean cuttings. The best plan is to at once prepare a frame, large or 
small according to the requirements of the garden, by placing in the 
bottom from 9 inches to 12 inches of half spent hotbed material, this 
being made firm and covered by about 3 inches of fine compost, consist¬ 
ing of loam, leaf soil, and silver sand in equal parts, and which when 
made firm and smoothed over with the back of a spade, is ready for the 
cuttings. Select quite young flowerless shoots, these being found spring¬ 
ing from the centre of the plants. All should be cut to the third or 
fourth joint, and after the lower leaves are removed be at once dibbled 
out thickly. A gentle watering, or enough to well fix the cuttings and 
to thoroughly moisten the soil, ought to be given, the lights being then 
placed on, kept close for a time, and the cuttings heavily shaded from 
sunshine. They must not be hurried, but after they have recovered 
some portion of their freshness a little air may be admitted every 
warm evening, and in dry weather syringing every morning is beneficial. 
When struck, and before the roots are matted together, all ought to be 
placed thinly in boxes or pans filled with moderately rich loamy com¬ 
post. and be kept rather close in a cold frame or pit till well established 
in their fresh quarters. Subsequently they should be well hardened, 
and kept during the winter in a cool house or dry pit. 
Ageratums .—Although these come well from seed, cutting-raised 
plants obtained from a good stock are most to be relied upon for effect. 
Unfortunately they are apt to bloom so very freely that suitable cut¬ 
tings for striking in August or the early part of September are not often 
procurable. What are needed are soft shoots without the bloom head 
being far advanced. These can be rooted in pans or boxes stood in a 
close frame, or the cuttings can be treated exactly as advised in the case 
of Verbenas. After August a little bottom heat is usually necessary for 
propagating these and various other plants. Ageratums may be wintered 
in a moderately warm greenhouse or pit, and the pots, boxes, or pans 
containing them should be well drained. 
Ileliotropiums .—If the advice has been taken of reserving a certain 
number of spring-struck plants for pot culture, these, in addition to 
affording a good late display of flowers, will yield abundance of young 
shoots when placed in heat next spring. Old plants do not lift well 
from the open ground, and if there are no plants it is advisable to 
attempt propagating some now. A mild hotbed is of good service in 
propagating these as well as other plants that will be mentioned. Select 
short young shoots, cut to a joint, trim off the lower leaves, and dibble 
them thinly into pans or well drained pots of fine sandy soil. Being 
kept close and shaded they strike moderately well, and may be 
wintered in any house from which frost is excluded. 
Iresines, Coleuses, Alternantheras. —In each case the simplest method 
of providing a good stock of plants is to reserve the requisite number of 
spring-struck for pot culture. If the two former are duly transferred 
to 5-inch pots and pinched back a time or two, good bushy plants would 
be available for housing any time before cold frosty weather sets in. 
Four-inch pots are quite large enough for Alternantheras, the soil in 
larger sizes being apt to become sour. Failing this, well established 
stock tops from old plants should be rooted in gentle heat and kept in 
the store pots till the spring ; five or six plants or cuttings being ample 
for a 5-inch pot. All should be wintered on shelves in a warm house. 
present, nor can we recall a single year that bees gathered to the 
same extent in July. In a week’s time from the 24th of that 
month good hives rose in weight from 50 to GO lbs., almost filling to- 
completion two covers of supers from 40 to 50 lbs. in weight, and) 
the Heather not nearly in full bloom, nor will it be till about the 
12th August, and will then continue for three weeks longer. We 
have had three days’ rain; but now there are signs of finer weather,, 
and should it continue for a fortnight it will result in one of the 
largest yields of honey ever recorded, and fully substantiate the 
necessity for bee-keepers to adopt full-sized hives. 
It is a great mistake keeping bees in small hives when larger 
hives are storing in the body preparatory to the filling of many 
more supers than any undersized hive can possibly do. I am 
writing this on the eve of starting for the moors, where my bees 
will require constant attention. If fair weather sets in I have not 
the slightest doubt but strong hives when the Heather is in full 
bloom will gather 20 lbs. of honey daily. 
STINGLE3S BEE3. 
Some persons are surprised when they hear about the foreign 
stingless bees ; but they will be all the more so when told that there 
are native stingless humble bees. These can be recognised by theix 
white abdomen and yellow and black thorax. 
THE LATEST OUT. 
We are always glad to hear of anything new that is good, and 
always give credit to the discoverer or inventor. I have long advised 
youthful queens, not only for preventing untimely swarming, but 
for strong colonies, and am glad to know that some writers have 
benefited from my advice. It appears, however, that some editors 
do not agree with me, as one of these in a contemporary in reply 
to a querist says, “Young queens breed comparatively slowly 
for the first few months.” This is not my experience, and what 
induced such an answer may be more readily imagined than 
explained. Young queens are as a rule not fertilised until the time 
the greatest laying is past, or at the time it is going on ; and few 
young queens have an opportunity of laying to their fullest extent, 
being generally with second swarms or old stocks. I have practised 
for nearly forty years the system of introducing young queens to 
first swarms suspected of having effete queens ; and never yet knew 
a single case where young queens improved in their laying after the 
first few weeks of their life. As to “ months,” no bee-keeper can 
test properly queens after July. It is to be hoped therefore that 
your readers will know from the above where to place reliance. 
GARDENERS AND BEES. 
Lobelias .—The dwarf bedding sections of these can now be had very 
true from seed, but there are many who still prefer to raise the requisite 
number of plants from cuttings of a superior named variety. For the 
purpose of wintering for stock purposes, plants raised from cuttings are 
preferable to old plants lifted from the open ground. Young flowerless 
shoots taken off and otherwise treated in every way as directed in the 
case of Verbenas, will yield a profusion of strong cuttings in the spring, 
or the plants may be divided freely. It is also a good plan to raise the 
requisite number of seedlings in the autumn rather than in the spring. 
The seed should be sown on the surface of a previously moistened pan 
of fine soil, covered with a square of glass, and set in a shaded frame 
till it germinates. Winter the seedlings on a dry light shelf in a cool 
house, and if prevented from damping off, thousands of sturdy plants 
should be available for pricking off long before it is possible to raise 
them in the spring. 
Antirrhinums, Pcntstemons, and Phloxes may all be raised from 
clings made from side shoots and treated similarly to Verbenas, being 
wintered in cold frames, or the seed of the two former may be sown in 
pans now, and the seedlings pricked out in the spring. 
&OTES ON BEES. 
THE HEATHER HONEY PROSPECTS. 
Perhaps not in the memory of man has the prospect of so 
large a yield of honey from the Heather been so great as it is at 
Gardeners are more inclined now than they were a few years ago 
to combine the useful with the beautiful. Many gardeners are now 
bee keepers on their own account, and many take charge of their 
employers’ bees more cheerfully than was once customary. But 
there is another way bees are managed between employer and 
employed. The former provides all necessaries, the gardener 
attends to the bees, and for this extra work the honey is equally 
divided between them. I know of one case of the kind where the 
gardener this year will get several cwts. of honey.—A Lanark¬ 
shire Bee-keeper. 
A GARDENER’S EXPERIENCE. 
I intended writing to you ere this to thank you for your answers 
to my questions, as well as to let you know how my bees were getting 
on. 1 had a Sandringham hive from Messrs. Neighbour ; it swarmed on 
June 12th ; the swarm weighed 6 lbs., which I thought a very fair one. 
I put it into the hive 1 had from “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper,” giving 
it two boxes as advised, with nearly full sheets of foundation. By the 
28th of June the two boxes were pretty well filled. I placed four of 
the small supers on the top, and when they were partly sealed placed 
four more on as directed. I examined them yesterday, and was pleased 
to find the first four put on nearly sealed over and the other four about 
half filled. I have not taken them to the Heather yet, the weather has 
been so bad of late, but as they are only one mile off some they are not 
taking any harm. My Lanarkshire hive has been much admired by 
neighbouring bee-keepers. They are quite surprised at the weight of it. 
I have persuaded one bee-keeper to do without excluder zinc; he is, 
quite convinced that it is unnecessary.—C. R. 
