JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 21, 1889. 
451 
are careless in not guarding against the decay of the legs of their 
lives, which they readily do when placed upon the ground without 
laving a piece of slate or similar non-porous material beneath ; but 
■even when this precaution is taken decay soon sets in, through the 
eapillary attraction of wood. Although slate is non-porous, still 
the wood absorbs and draws up the water as it lies between the 
foot and the slate, which is always present to some extent when 
the bodies rest upon each other. 
To reduce the attraction of the feet of the hive for water place 
a small pebble or pyramid of lead beneath the foot, so that it will 
have little bearing ; or drill a hole in the centre of the foot of a 
size to hold firmly a small marble bedded in white lead, so that it 
projects about a third. This will entirely prevent premature decay 
in the feet of the hive, and frequent coating of tar or creosote will 
further lengthen their days.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
GLASS SECTIONS. 
Some time during last autumn your correspondent, “ A Hallam- 
■shire Bee-keeper,” I think, promised to lay before your readers the 
secret of how to make glass sections as quickly and economically as 
wooden sections. I tried to draw this secret before he was prepared to 
part with it, and failed. I set to work, and with the aid of the glue- 
pot and some stout note paper succeeded in making a few dozens ; 
but I would not like to tell your readers how long it took me to 
make them, nor how much they would cost per dozen if my time 
was charged at the rate of wage required by a dock labourer for 
overtime ; nor shall I describe how gingerly they had to be handled 
find the difficulty of getting them to stand upright and fixing the 
foundation in them. In searching for something stronger than 
paper a friendly stationer suggested vellum tape, which was an 
improvement, but still it failed in keeping the sections square and 
rigid. Here the matter rested. The sections were put on the hives, 
in due time were filled with honey, and pleased everyone who saw 
them. Amongst others, with an eye to business, I exhibited the 
latest novelty to the representative of a local grocer. This gentle¬ 
man informed me that a neighbour of his also made glass sections, 
and added that he put them together with tin, and that he believed 
he was going to have or had got a patent for it. 
I thought of tin, and at night I made a glass section, which 
turned out to be identical with our friend’s patent. Some weeks 
after this at a local flower show I came in competition with glass 
sections and met the enterprising patentee. My tin-and-glass 
section was produced, and I was most graciously told that he would 
forgive me for making that one, but in the most solemn tone ever 
assumed by patentee added that I must “ never make another one.” 
Now, I have every respect for patents, and wish to give all credit to 
the gentleman who was shrewd enough to think of tin for making 
glass sections and was enterprising enough to patent his invention. 
II have not yet seen it advertised in this Journal, nor in our local 
papers, but from what I hear they will add something over a 
shilling a dozen to the price of the honey without the glass. I 
hope I have been misinformed, as that will prevent their ever 
■coming into general use when compared with wood sections at 
2s. 6d. per 100. 
Now, I would like to ask “ A Hallamshire Bee-keeper,” or any 
who are versed in patent laws, whether I can make these for my 
own use and place the honey in the market in the usual manner in 
them without being sued by the patentee ? If I cannot do this can 
I with safety use tin in another and simpler way for the same 
purpose ? as I suppose it is quite possible to improve on even a 
patent.— A Sussex Amateur. 
° o 0 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. 
TO COP.EESPOK3E5TTS. 
In consequence of the extraordinary pressure that will he experi¬ 
enced during the Chrysanthemum season questions cannot he answered 
with the usual promptitude, and especially those arriving after 
Saturday. See notice below relative to the naming of fruit. 
Chrysanthemum Sport (T. C. IF.).— The bloom you send is -o 
very poor one, and if that is a fair example of the sport you may safely 
discard it, as it would be worthless. 
Chrysanthemum Amy Furze (A C.). — It would be much 
better if the catalogue were adopted as a standard of reference gene¬ 
rally, but in the case of societies which are not affiliated this cannot be 
enforced, and the judges have to be guided by the conditions in the 
schedules, or in the absence of any stipulation they would be guided by 
the character of the blooms. 
A Curious Error (A. D .).— The description to which you allude 
of Mr. Prentice winning all the first prizes in the fruit classes at East 
Grinstead “ with very fine blooms,” is both curious and amusing. The 
error is obvious, and the word “ blooms ” ought to have been printed 
“ examples.” It is not very surprising that the heads of reporters are 
filled with “ blooms ” at this period of the year, but the hurly burly will 
soon be over. 
Chestnut Trees Eying (Twenty-years Subscriber'). — If there is 
no noxious matter in the soil, but a fungus, as you suggest, is the cause 
of the misfortune, you cannot do harm by syringing the trees with a mix¬ 
ture of softsoap and petroleum, dissolving the soap at the rate of 
2 or 3 ozs. to the gallon of boiling water, stirring in briskly while the 
solution is hot a quarter of a pint of the oil. If this fails try sulphide of 
potassium, following the directions that accompany it from the chemist. 
Hibiscus Cooperl Treatment (T. T. j.—The plants may be rested, 
allowing them to become tolerably dry during the winter, but not so 
dry as to cause the wood to shrivel. In spring they require a little 
cutting in so as to bring them into shape, and starting in a brisk moist 
heat, afterwards affording plenty of heat and water throughout the 
summer. When the plants break repot, keeping shaded until re-estab¬ 
lished. A compost of peat and loam, both fibry in equal parts and 
not broken too small, with the addition of a sixth each of sand and char¬ 
coal, suits this plant perfectly. The plant generally is best treated as 
an evergreen— i.e., not dried off in winter, though rested as other stove 
subjects. Strike some cuttings in spring and grow them on, young 
plants being more satisfactory than old stunted plants. 
Destroying- the Eggs of the Winter Moth (T. I.). — We are 
not aware that there are any means for the destruction of the eggs of the 
winter moths, the most widely destructive of which is Cheimatobia 
brumata. The moths appear between the beginning of October and end 
of December ; the females being wiDgless must crawl up the trees to 
reach a suitable situation for laying eggs, or they may be carried from 
one place to another by the males, which are winged. That something 
of this kind occurs is evident from trees being infested with the cater¬ 
pillars which have their stems protected by a sticky ring of grease which 
no crawling insect could possibly pass. The eggs are laid in the crevices 
of the bark and other places suitable for protection. The larvae eat at 
first into the buds in early spring and completely destroy the prospect 
of fruit, and as the leaves enlarge the larvae spin two or three leaves 
together and feed between them. When full grown the larvae lower 
themselves to the ground, burrow, and form cocoons, in which they 
become pupae at the end of May or the beginning of June. As to remedies, 
the best is that which aims at the destruction of the females. This is 
effected by wrapping the stems of the trees with a strip of Hessian 
about a foot wide, and smearing it with grease, tar and grease in equal 
proportions answering ; but whatever is used it must remain soft and 
sticky, and be renewed as necessary to keep it in ihat state. Another 
means is to shake the trees when the larvae is nearly full grown, cloths 
being placed on the ground to receive them, on to which the larvae will 
fall, or let themselves down by silken threads, when of course they may 
be destroyed. The stems also should be smeared with some sticky sub¬ 
stance to prevent the re-ascent of any larvae falling and not being 
destroyed. After the larvae pass into the pupa state, the only means 
that can be employed against them is to dig the ground occasionally so 
as to expose them to the discerning eyes of birds, which make quick 
work of the pupae. Those means of riddance do not apply to your ques¬ 
tion of destroying the eggs, which we fear must from the care taken by 
the females in their deposition, be precarious, but we see no reason why 
means should not be taken when the larvae are about to issue from the 
eggs, or before they have eaten into the buds, to combat them. Probably 
a solution of Paris green would be effectual, applying it at such time 
in March or early April as the buds commence to swell for expansion, 
mixing 1 lb. of this substance with thirty gallons of water. It may be 
applied with a syringe or garden engine, well wetting all the parts. 
It must be used with great care, kept from vegetables, and the 
operator must have hands free from sores or scratches, as it is very 
poisonous. 
