March 28, 1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
265 
pinched again as soon as they have made two joints. Keep the plants 
moderately close for ten days after potting, or till they are rooting 
freely, then ventilate, or they will soon run up tall and weakly. On 
fine mild days abundance of air should be given. 
Zonal Pelargoniums .—These should now be raised in quantity for 
winter flowering. Good cuttings should be inserted singly in thumbs, 
and placed directly they are well rooted into 3-inch pots. From that 
stage they should be gradually brought to cool treatment, as they soon 
grow soft and weak in heat. The object is to keep them dwarf and 
sturdy. 
The Conservatory .—Houses kept gay with the usual flowering plants 
at this season should have light shade applied to screen them from 
bright sunshine, and the flowers will last nearly twice the length of time 
Shade will only be needed during the hottest part of the day. 
HINTS FOR BEGINNERS. 
THE WEATHER. 
I write on the 23rd of March, and the cold weather lingers 
with us. Natural pollen has been gathered on three days only, and 
that in small quantities. Were our bees subjected to a deprivation 
of their autumn-stored pollen, or denied the pea meal until the 
weather was favourable for gathering natural pollen, breeding 
would be retarded, and there would be a great waste of eggs, with 
a great diminution of adult bees, and instead of having bees to 
gather honey from the fruit blossoms there would be weak hives, 
with the likelihood of no swarms until the season was gone for 
honey gathering. 
ENTRANCES. 
These will be kept contracted, as they have been during the 
winter, until the bees are seen attempting to widen them by gnaw¬ 
ing the slide and crowding the alighting board. The doorways will 
then be widened a little, and gradually afterwards, until the whole 
width of the hive is given. The practice of contracting bees, so as 
to crowd them on to a few combs during winter for the sake of 
warmth, then giving full doorway and much empty space below, 
is absurd. It is nevertheless good for beginners to proceed experi¬ 
mentally and in a cautious way. 
END OF THE HONEY SEASON. 
Immediate steps should be taken to deprive the bees of all 
surplus honey, introducing young queens wherever necessary, 
pruning excess of drone comb, and filling up with fresh worker 
combs, W'hich in a well-regulated apiary are sufficient for the pur¬ 
pose, and having in hand for any emergency that may arise during 
winter and spring, or even to furnish swarms with. One comb, if 
fresh, gives a great stimulus to bees when nearly swarmed. 
EXPECTING AND STORING HONEY. 
Combs which yield honey to the extractor should be put in a 
box above or beneath stocks for the bees to clean, and if a pane of 
glass is in one or two sides of the box the bees will clean them 
quicker, after which they should be stored in a dry place. As it is 
of great importance to have nothing but superior samples of honey 
unsealed portions should be discarded, and great care is necessary 
to exempt pollen or brood ; both are easily detected, the latter by 
the seals, and the former when held between the eye and window. 
A per-centage of pollen is soluble in honey, and a very small 
quantity of it gives the honey an unpleasant taste, while it and 
brood gives it an opaque appearance most undesirable. It is the 
clearness and not the colour that gives honey an appetising appear¬ 
ance. Some writers have taken great pains to tabulate the points 
which constitute good honey, a pale amber being the particular 
colour ; but that might have been left with advantage unsaid, 
because the finest-flavoured honey is as often found in dark choco¬ 
late greenish coloured, and in the dark ambered grades gathered 
from mountain and seaside flowers, as are the pale amber-coloured 
samples, which are often inferior, although sometimes excellent. 
Then, again, there are the white grades, which we have sometimes 
seen inferior, and at others superior. The main points in good 
honey are clearness, consistency, and flavour, the last-named being 
the most essential. So the beginner need not be disheartened 
should his district not produce amber-coloured honey. It will be 
well and to the bee-keeper’s advantage if he keep each variety of 
honey separate ; it is easily done, as bees do not mix their honeys,, 
and there is always a difference in the colour while in the comb. 
PRESSING. 
As very little of our honey yields to the extractor we have to 
use the presser, and we have not seen one better for the purpose 
than the improved “ Lanarkshire.” We can press all our honey,, 
pass it through the sieves, without it ever coming in contact with 
the hands. Our mode of procedure is to cut the combs from the 
frames and place them in proper size in a tin over a series of' 
sieves through which the honey passes in the jars beneath. After 
the receiver is full the operator, if one only, with the aid of a fork 
lifts the comb into the cylinder, pressing it down with a wooden 
rammer until full, when it is pushed with a lever underneath the 
piston and most of the honey is forced out of the comb, after 
which by turning a slide the cylinder drops automatically into a 
rest, and a few turns of the screw force the cake of wax out ; when 
the screw is reversed it raises the cylinder, which allows the sliding 
rest to pass to its place. It is not possible to improve on the clean¬ 
liness of this method, provided all pollen, brood, and unsealed cells- 
are discarded. It is a great mistake to suppose or say that the 
centrifugal extractor produces a finer and cleaner sample of honey, 
because when honey is extracted by centrifugal force from un¬ 
sealed and pollen-laden comb3 many impurities must necessarily 
be present. It is not only in the interest of bee-keepers, but o£ 
consumers, that these points are touched on, and it is proper that 
facts, not fancies, should be stated. 
MEAD. 
After all the combs are pressed, the cakes, together with those- 
containing unsealed honey and pollen, should be steeped in water, 
and all vessels containing drops of honey washed and the contents 
added to those in the vessel. After about two days break up the 
combs thoroughly and extract all the liquor, passing it through a 
sieve, then boil for an hour or so, carefully skimming the froth as 
it rises. Next pour all into a cooler, and when milkwarm add 
some infusion of hops and a little barm, then stir well and tun, 
keeping the cask in a temperature not less than 55° Fahr. until 
fermentation begins. When it has worked for two days bung it 
close. This insures an equable fermentation throughout all parts 
of the liquor, preventing waste of one portion by too rapid action, 
or the loss of another portion unfermented by too slow fermenta¬ 
tion, as usually occurs in honey. Let it stand in the cask from six 
to twelve months, then bottle. 
BEER, 
This is made after the same fashion, but weaker, and is bottled 
when in a fermentive state. It makes a capital summer drink, and 
is the best way of disposing of the refuse honey. It might be given 
to bees, but it is much safer to feed with pure sugar only. 
FEEDING. 
This should be finished by September, and where hives have a 
sufficient store of honey it is advisable to feed with a few pounds 
of sugar. Bees always winter best with nothing but pure sugar, 
but natural stores are best for brood-rearing. There have appeared 
lately a number of plausible and scientific articles on the necessity 
of the bees having nitrogenous food along with autumn-fed sugar 
in order to accomplish effectually digestion, and heat-giving 
qualities, but the science does not agree with natural facts. Bees 
fed on nothing but sugar, after it was impossible to gather pollen,, 
have, from the experience of old bee-keepers, as w r ell as our own, 
always wintered well. It is well to err on the safe side by having 
hives rather heavy than light. This obviates anxiety on the part 
