March 14, 1SS9. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
225 
If, however, sufficient cuttings cannot be had, remove the tops from a 
few of the plants that have flowered, and they will quickly yield good 
cuttings from the stem and base. 
Dieffenbacliias. —Some of the compact growing Dieifenbachias are 
very useful in small pots for decoration, and as they are easily raised 
and grow quickly they are amongst the most useful plants that can be 
grown where foliage plants are appreciated. The stem of plants that 
have grown tall, or have been damaged by use in rooms and other posi¬ 
tions may be cut into inch lengths. These can be inserted in small pots 
or in pans, the latter being preferable. They will soon break into 
growth if laid in light sandy soil or cocoa-nut fibre refuse in brisk heat, 
where they may be transferred singly into 3-inch pots. Employ a com¬ 
post of loam, one-third leaf mould and sand, but they are not very 
particular about soil after they once start to grow and root. 
Cyperus alternifolivs. — Where suitable plants for decoration are 
needed in 5-inch pots, division should not be resorted to. Cyperuses 
raised by this means are never very presentable, they grow too tall in 
most cases, and are not sufficiently furnished at the base. The old 
flower heads should be taken and secured on the surface of the soil in 
3-inch pots ; they soon form roots and break into growth, and in a short 
time well furnished plants result. If these flower heads are placed in a 
tank of water in the stove they arc not long before they form roots and 
commence growth, when they should be potted singly. Young plants of 
the variety known as C. distans, raised from seed last August, and now 
in 3-inch pots, may be placed in 5-inch. Grow these in an intermediate 
temperature, and they will soon gain sufficient strength to produce one 
main flower stem and three or four smaller ones from growths that issue 
from the base. 
Panicum variegatum. —Insert cuttings in quantity in from 3 to 
5-inch pots for hanging from the stage in the stove and other purposes. 
If plants for this purpose are kept over a year they soon become untidy 
from bearing decaying leaves upon them. Neat plants now in 3-inch 
pots, that were rooted in autumn, may be placed into others 2 inches 
larger, and the shoots pegged over the surface. These will quickly 
make good plants. For baskets and other similar purposes cuttings 
may be rooted in pans. Like plants hanging below the stage, baskets 
are best made up annually, for they never possess the same fresh appear¬ 
ance when kept the second year. 
Svlaginella casia. —These may be divided and potted in a compost of 
loam and peat in equal proportions, with a liberal quantity of sand 
added. If the plants have been kept cool during the winter place them 
in a temperature of 60° and they will start into growth. This plant is 
most effective when used alternately with Panicum variegatum in the 
stove or other structures ; the light foliage of the latter displays it to 
great advantage. 
A CHAPTER FOR BEGINNERS, 
FEEDING. 
Those who have but lately commenced bee-keeping will no 
doubt be anxious about their newdy adopted pets, and what is 
likely to be derived from them in the way of pleasure and profit. 
To assist such persons to secure both will be my aim in the follow¬ 
ing lines. Disappointment is the opposite of both pleasure and 
profit, not always avoidable ; but by following our instructions the 
chances of it will be reduced to a minimum. 
In bee-keeping, as in other things, we must study Nature and 
Nature’s ways, making and giving always full allowances for inci¬ 
dental and other changes, as well as being able to distinguish 
between £hat which is natural and which is adaptation. But many 
things adapt themselves to the arts of man, and bees are prominent 
in this, frequently have I traced truant swarms to where they 
had clustered and built combs in a hedge of Thorn. In every 
instance the combs were in a twisted state, not unlike that of a 
shell with its apex upwards, only opposite every opening another 
piece of solid comb was built, ostensibly for the sole purpose of 
keeping out the wind ; overhead there was nothing but an elaoorate 
waste of wax, expended probably with the view of forming a roof ; 
but, unlike the wasp, the little architects have no knowledge what¬ 
ever of house building. As plasterers and dressers they are adepts ; 
they have by Nature the tools for the former, but their plaster 
they have to gather, employing the propolis solely to shut up 
crevices and varnish over the walls of their houses, and sometimes 
their combs, the most extensive building operation being that of 
building up entrances at the end of the season, sometimes to the 
extent of more than a foot, leaving at intervals near each other two 
or more little openings, to allow a free passage for one or two bees 
only. Thus the bees knowing their wants their instinct guides 
them to so protect themselves against the inroads of enemies, both 
from their own species and other animals, as well as the elements. 
If man treated them with the same wisdom the bees would not 
only have been saved the labour, but in many cases their lives. A 
solid wooden floor with its death-dealing damp is not found in 
Nature, and the power to contract or widen at will the entrances to 
their natural homes is all the otherwise clever little architects can 
do. That, coupled with our hive with its ventilating floor, is proof 
conclusive that we are treating our bees according and nearest to 
Nature. 
We have seen them, too, under the shelving rock with their 
twisted shell-like combs. When they were found in hollows of 
rocks and trees their combs assumed different forms ; without a, 
single exception they always built their combs with their ends 
towards the entrance, whether they were crooked or straight, and 
in every case the honey overhead. Leave bees to their nature in a 
hive suitable to their natural ways of building their combs and 
storing their honey, and with sufficient of the latter no colony will 
die by want, and if kept dry with sufficient protection no cold will 
injure them. 
It must bo understood that bees in hives and in this country are 
not in their natural habitat, consequently if a draught is created by 
any means the bees suffer, so we must guard against that, and by 
judicious covering preserve them in good health. If the interior of 
a hive is reduced in temperature below 40°, and the cluster below 
60“ Fahr.,the bees will be liable to abdominal distension through being 
unable to throw off the vitiated watery vapours. When bees are so 
affected (but not too much swollen) and unable to fly at a tempera¬ 
ture of 45° take them to an apartment with a temperature of 65°' 
Fahr. ; they will immediately revive, and through free perspiration 
by the increased temperature will become visibly less in size, and 
will then take wing and fly away. This demonstrates the fact that 
bees in this country should be domiciled in hives in which they can 
keep up the necessary temperature for their health, without having 
to resort to unnecessary means of protection, which in many cases 
aggravates the evil we are so desirous of banishing—viz., damp and 
draught, brought on by various causes, untimely feeding being one 
of them. 
The time has now arrived when beginners will be attempting the 
feeding of their pets, in the hope of having them in full strength at 
the proper time for the honey harvest. This requires caution. A 
hive short of food is soon depopulated, so i3 the slowly stimulated 
fed hive when short of stores. Whenever a hive is known to have 
a short supply of meat provide it at once with sufficient to last for 
at least two months, or until Nature can supply the want. After a 
hive has a sufficient supply cease giving more, as it only encourages 
robbing and flying, as well as the waste of thousands of eggs. Let 
your mottoes be, Feed at one season only, unless the season is 
unfavourable, and swarms immediately after hiving if honey is 
scarce ; if plentiful, do not feed at all. 
NUCLEI. 
These sometimes require nursing, and must be attended to. 
They are indispensable in a well-regulated apiary, and should follow 
the first swarm in not more than ten days. These should be of the 
same number of the stocks the bee-keeper intends keeping, but to 
allow for unforeseen accidents an extra one or two should be created. 
Twelve is the highest number that I create from a stock that has 
swarmed once, but for beginners the half of that number will be 
sufficient from one stock. Nuclei formed in June and the weather 
favourable ought to have increased and built their combs to at least 
one-third of a full-sized hive, and in some cases to two-thirds by 
September. There nuclei should as early as possible after that be 
supplied with full-built combs or full-sized sheets, so that no combs 
will be required to be built the following season. Where the 
beginner is desirous of increasing his stock the profit will not be so 
great as when the increase desired can be made from a small portion 
