206 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March ", 1819. 
Now we believe that many stocks—and we know of some—are 
perilously near starvation point. Last summer honey was not 
plentiful, and in many districts bees were unable to support them- 
•selves, while in others they did manage to store up a little honey 
ready for the winter. It is for these latter stocks that there is now 
most reason to fear. The stocks which could not store in the 
summer must either have been supplied with food, or they must 
have long since passed away; but a careless man, seeing that his 
stocks have stored some honey, may in the autumn have mis¬ 
calculated the amount stored, so that now his bees may be on the 
brink of starvation. 
Every bee-keeper who has the slightest anxiety should at once 
proceed to examine his stocks. Such an examination need scarcely 
take a minute. Some would be able to judge by the weight of the 
hives ; others by just lifting up the corners of the quilts and cover¬ 
ings, but in any case there must not be any more disturbance than 
absolutely necessary. If more food is not required, then let the 
■stock remain quiet. If food is required it may be given in any of 
the ways recommended. If any stocks have ceased to exist let the 
hives be well cleaned and prepared for another stock or swarm. If 
warm weather ensues and feeding is being done by syrup the 
•greatest care must be taken not to induce robbing. Speed and 
cleanliness will do away with all danger of attack, but if vessels are 
placed and removed in a haphazard careless sort of manner then 
the bee-keeper must certainly expect some trouble at a not distant 
-date. In some districts the supply of early pollen is deficient. 
When this is the case pea flour sprinkled over shavings placed in 
a skep is a good substitute, and bees may readily be attracted to the 
skep—if it has ever been inhabited—by warming it before the fire 
until the fragrance of honey and wax can be perceived. If the 
«kep has not been used a little diluted honey will have the same 
•effect. A warm day should be chosen for first using the flour, and 
the skep should be placed in a warm and protected situation. It is 
a pleasure to see the bees—white as millers—working the small 
pellets on to their thighs, and gives many a moment’s amusement 
to those who would never dream of looking at a bee working upon 
a flower. 
We do not advise any bee-keeper to begin feeding and enticing 
the bees out with this artificial pollen until natural pollen may be 
expected. As “ W. B. C.” says in this month’s “ Record,” “ Though 
opinions vary so much as to the proper time for beginning to 
stimulate by giving artificial pollen, we may safely say that no 
guides are so reliable for fixing the date as the bees themselves. 
When natural pollen can be had outside they will find it, and when 
the season is so adverse as to retard vegetation, and there are no 
pollen-yielding flowers in bloom, we may rest assured that queens 
and workers are better for being left unstimulated until such time 
as the return of genial weather warrants an extension of the brood 
nest.” Bees cannot be kept too quiet at present, and if the 
■enthusiasm of the bee-keeper tempts him to force his stocks we 
hope that he will not have cause to regret the course he takes by- 
finding chilled brood and other evils rampant in his apiary. “ Slow 
and sure ” is a good motto. We were very much amused a few 
•days ago at a young man who had a very severe attack of bee fever 
some year or two since. He is now just as despondent as he then 
■was jubilant. We assured him that he had no reason to be despon¬ 
dent if he was willing to use his head and his hands ; to give the 
necessary time and thought; to make up his mind to succeed ; and 
■to use every endeavour to build up his own success. We believe 
that in another few years that young man will have found his 
balance, and we are not without hope that in the time to come 
more will be heard of him as a good practical bee-keeper, who, 
having made up his mind to succeed, did achieve success.— Felix. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIYED. 
Dicksons, 1, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh .—Farm Seeds, 1SS9. 
John R. Pitcher and W. A. Manda, United States Nurseries, Short 
Hills, New Jersey .—Descriptive Catalogue of Chrysanthemums. 
%* 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. 
Address (J. A 1 .).—Mr. J. Collins, 9, Martindale Road, Balham, 
London, S.W. We have given this address dozens of times, and it seems 
as if a standing advertisement were necessary for keeping it before 
those gardeners who omit what appears or forget what they read. 
Propagating' Aralia (Fatsta) Sieboldl ( Inquirer). —Methods 
of raising the plants were published on page 144 last week. In reply to 
your other questions, write to Messrs. Vilmorin, Andrieux et Cie., Quai 
de la Mdgisserie, Paris. 
Phalaenopsis Stuartiana (.7. P.).—The plant must be a fine one, 
and we should like to see the photograph you mention. The variety is 
also good, though the flower sent was not large, and had suffered con¬ 
siderably through being packed in cotton wool. 
disinfectants in Cesspool ( Weybridge). — Not knowing the 
nature and composition of the disinfectants we cannot answer your 
question ; but we could acquire the information in a week or two if 
we had sewage of the nature indicated at disposal by trying it on some 
plants in pots and outdoors, that we could afford to lose; also on a patch 
or two on a lawn, and noting the effects of the application. 
The D Elboui Crape (Mr. Bowker ).— Our correspondent, Mr. 
W. J. Murphy, does not know from whom this variety can be obtained, 
and suggests your writing to Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, New 
York, or Messrs. Hovey & Co., Boston, Mass. We may add that 
American Grapes do not, as a rule, succeed in this country. Many have 
been tried at Chiswick, and several are still grown there, but are not 
likely to be increased for general cultivation. 
Propagating Xieucophyton Browni (IF. U. 31 .).— This is best 
effected in the same way as bedding Calceolarias in the autumn, but 
inserting the cuttings a month or more sooner in very sandy soil under 
handlights, or in a close cold frame in September, shading from bright 
sun. Mr. Graham, who uses this plant effectively in carpet bedding at 
Hampton Court, raises all his plants in that way, and by no other 
method can such good ones be established for planting out in May. He 
says the cuttings dislike even a “ smell of artificial heat,” and he speaks 
from wide experience on the subject. 
Moss on lawn (A Motts Reader ').—After all the efforts you have 
made to eradicate the moss, and the more you do the more it grows, we 
conclude the lawn requires draining. If stagnant water lodges in the 
soil, moss is sure to be troublesome. A free dressing of lime, sifted soil, 
and wood ashes in equal parts might do good, and a subsequent appli¬ 
cation of bonemeal at the rate of 2 to 3 ozs. to the square yard, and 
still much more good if drains were cut and pipes laid carefully 2 feet 
deep and 5 yards apart, with proper fall and outlets into a lower drain 
for the escape of the water. 
Peach Shoots Dying (Foreman). — The cause of the shoots dying 
is directly due to gumming, or a fungus named by Professor Oudemans 
Coryneum Beijerincki, and indirectly by over-luxuriance induced by too 
rich a soil. Excess of food in proportion to the foliage power of elabora¬ 
tion and assimilation causes sappy and long-jointed wood, that does not 
ripen well, and consequently is unable to resist the effects of adverse 
climatic conditions. The remedy is lifting and root-pruning, planting 
in firmer soil, or adding clay marl to it if light, so as to make it more 
retentive and less easily permeated by the roots, to induce sturdier, 
shorter jointed, and more solidified growth. If the soil be deficient in 
calcareous matter a dressing of quicklime should be given at the rate of 
a bushel per rod, and if pointed in as deeply as the roots allow would 
do much to check the tendency to gumming. 
Melons Failing: (T. S.). —We have grown excellent crops of 
Melons in a flue-heated pit, but care was taken that no noxious fumes 
escaped from the flue, and also that the air of the pit was not too dry. 
To one of the evils indicated we attribute the withering of the plants, 
assuming the temperature is correct, and the soil and management such 
as these plants require. If the flue is defective, Melons cannot be satis¬ 
factorily grown in the pit till all faults are rectified, and a genial 
