February 14, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
139 
the leaves may remain for a few days la f er, removing them from the 
upright stem by degrees as the plants elongate, and from the base 
upwards. When the roots appear on the surface, add a couple of inches 
of fresh soil and so on, and when the pots are fairly filled with roots 
give copious supplies of weak liquid manure not lower in temperature 
than that of the house. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Davallias .—Although Davallia bullata, dissecta, elegans, Mariesi, 
and others do well in the greenhouse, they make much greater progress 
iu heat. When grown specially for cutting purposes they should be 
introduced at once into a temperature of 55° where the atmosphere is 
moderately moist.. They will start quickly into growth, and when 
they have developed a number of fronds they can be removed to a 
cooler place to harden. Remove portions of decayed material into 
which the roots have not entered, and replace it with rough peat and 
lumps of charcoal. Encourage the plants by pegging the rhizomes 
down to cover the upper portion of the basket before allowing them to 
furnish the lower portion. These plants are handsome when elevated 
in the centre of baskets about 18 inches across, and furnished with 
their creeping rhizomes. Baskets of this size yield a large quantity of 
fronds for cutting. They do well suspended at the back of vineries 
and in other positions early in the season, and during the summer will 
grow freely enough in the greenhouse if shaded from the sun and 
liberally supplied with water. Stove Davallias, such as D. Mooreana. 
D. tenuifolia, D. Yeitchiana, D. fijiensis, and others, are very effective 
in baskets, as they can be suspended from the roof over pathways where 
plants in pots would be out of place. All stove Davallias should be 
top-dressed or repotted if they need it. These plants do better in pans 
than pots, for they do not require a great depth of soil. It is an 
advantage to break up large plants occasionally ; they become crowded 
with rhizomes, only producing fronds near the ends. These plants do 
well in equal parts of rough peat and fibry loam, with sand and char¬ 
coal freely intermixed. The majority of stove Ferns can now be re¬ 
potted. Where it is necessary to grow the plants to a larger size they 
may be placed into larger pots without disturbing the old ball further 
than is necessary to remove the drainage. Where plants have to be 
placed again in the same size pots the balls may be reduced by one- 
third ; nearly all Ferns will bear this treatment without injury. If 
done at once they will quickly commence to make fresh roots and new 
fronds. Take off small pieces of Microlepia hirta cristata, for this is 
one of the most useful Ferns for room decoration in 5 and 6-inch pots 
that can be grown ; small pieces quickly grow into shapely plants. From 
one large plant a good stock may quickly be obtained. 
Gloxinias .—Those started in pans and boxes should now be potted 
s’ngly in pots according to the size of their tubers. They will do well 
in a compost of loam, leaf mould one-third, one-seventh of manure and 
sand. Place the plants in a moist atmosphere where the temperature 
at night ranges 60° to 65°. Do not syringe the plants, and supply water 
carefully at their roots ; thin the growths if the tubers are large, and 
when the shoots are large enough draw them outwards towards the rim 
of the pots. If the varieties are good any shoots removed will root 
freely if inserted in sandy soil and plunged in the propagating 
frame. Introduce more tubers into heat, place them in boxes of leaf 
mould. Seed may now be sown on the surface of fine soil in a pot or 
pan ; water gently and cover the pan with a square of glass. If prac¬ 
ticable plunge the pot or pan and cover the glass with damp moss to 
prevent evaporation until the seed germinates. 
Achimenes .—The earliest will have started into growth, and as soon 
as cuttings are ready fill 5-inch pots with light soil with a little sand on 
the surface, and insert them thickly together, in fact so that their 
leaves just cover the surface of the pot. These will make better 
flowering plants than transplanting the tubers. If quantities are 
wanted for baskets insert them thick'y in pans, and transplant them 
into the baskets as soon as they are rooted. By this means a large 
stock of flowering plants can be raised from a few pans of tubers, and 
these when no more cuttings are needed will make capital plants for 
late flowering. Introduce into heat without delay the whole stock of 
tubers that have been kept cool and dry up to now. 
Caladaims .—The earliest plants will be ready for potting singly. 
Introduce more roots as advised for Gloxinias. 
NOTES ON BEES. 
DRIVING BEES. 
It is a singular fact that at the time bse-keepers’ associations 
were denouncing the straw hive and its management, it was the 
very hive they seized upon to demonstrate the art of bee-keeping 
and manipulation to novices and the public generally, while the 
hive they were attempting to bring before the public, now becoming 
obsolete, and out of repute even with its introducers, had no pro¬ 
vision in it for driving, nor for transit when stocked with bees, 
i 
"W 
HE BEE-KEEPEF 
without having to spend much time and labour in wedging frames- 
This would have been quite unnecessary with properly constructed 
hives such as those I have had in use for forty years, and which aro 
now being adopted by many, amongst whom are those that first 
denounced them. Some, both here and in America, even claim the 
hive as theirs. Whenever a query was put how to drive bees from 
a frame hive, or to send a tenanted hive to a distance, the answer 
was always one that could scarcely be put into practice, certainly 
not without great difficulty. 
The frame hive, in a great measure, obviates the necessity for 
driving, still there are times when it is advisable and necessary.. 
Those unacquainted with the hive may not quite understand the 
instructions, but those who are, will, and the query column will 
explain all to the former. When a hive is to be driven, close the 
entrance and open the ventilator. This is but the work of two or 
three seconds. Some people when driving bees remove the hive to 
a distance and place a decoy hive on the site of the stock removed. 
I do not approve of this, because, no matter how like the decoy is 
to the hive removed, bees will not be deceived, and will seek to 
enter stocked hives near where their own stood, resulting sometimes- 
in the death of one or more queens. I therefore prefer to manipu¬ 
late all hives on their own site. 
To prevent stinging, the plan mentioned as to shutting iu and' 
ventilating is perfect, as it is only the bees which rush out when 
a hive is disturbed that attempt to sting, never those on the way 
home, nor those gorged with honey. 
After the hive is closed lay a board flat on the ground behind 
and close to it, then turn or invert the hive upon this. Slightly 
raise the floor and stand, slip in a sheet of tin gently, which if done 
carefully will prevent any bee escaping ; when the tin is in its' 
position turn back the stand and place the empty box where it may. 
be made firm and secure by two screws in binges on box. The 
sheet of tin should then be withdrawn, when the usual drumming- 
with two double sticks— i.e., two willows bound together at the 
end held, the loose ends producing a better effect on the wooden 
hive than the hands or a single rod. The box the bees are driven, 
into will be all the better of two panes of glass, so that the operator 
may see all the movements of the bees. This is perhaps the first 
time the practical driving of bees from a frame hive has been given, 
and from the only hive that it can be satisfactorily accomplished. 
I have taken much interest in the independent and original 
experiments on bees and ants by Sir John Lubbock, because he 
started making his investigations in a hitherto unexplored path. 
Although in one or two cases he was slightly in error, and not accord¬ 
ing to known facts, did not justify his accusers in the sneering 
manner they attacked him, when they were further at fault in the 
common management of bees long since made plain, while Sir John’s 
were simply experiments, made and given freely at his own expense 
for the sole purpose of adding to the science in connection with the 
honey bee. In all the manipulations with bees at shows I never 
saw one of a humane and practical nature, nor calculated in the 
slightest to teach the proper art of bee-keeping, which is the best 
to give, and the best proof that they have been in error. Although 
not acknowledging it, they are but followers of—A Lanarkshire. 
Bee-keeper. 
THE PRIZE SCHEDULE FOR THE ROYAL SHOW. 
Since writing my notice of the unofficial schedule on page 78, I 
have received an official one, in which I find there are slight but impor¬ 
tant differences. Class 3 is numbered 79, and “general use” reads 
“ general uses.” This is a decided improvement, and seems to require 
that the best hive must be suited for every purpose imaginable. 
There are some paragraphs and references inserted, which make 
matters clear that did not seem so, there are also the rules given. The 
only objectionable one I can see is No. 96, which says, “ The selling 
prices of all articles entered for competition in classes 77 to 87 inclusive 
(i.e., all the appliance classes) must be stated in certificate of entry, 
which must be properly filled up and signed. Exhibitors in these 
classes must undertake to supply at such prices any number of similar 
articles so included during the ensuing twelve months at the prices 
named in their certificate of entry, otherwise the entries cannot be 
received.” This rule was introduced several years ago, to check or 
