JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 4,18(9. 
2iG 
queen in a laying state, and at a time when honey is plentiful. 
There are phases of natural swarming, however, which differ but 
little from compulsory swarming, but which even experienced 
persons cannot determine, especially where large hives are used. 
This means simply that nothing w r ill prevent a swarm issuing from 
hives managed on the high pressure system, and points to the one 
remedy only—viz., substitute a young queen at the first oppor¬ 
tunity after a hive has passed its natural time of swarming, had 
it been a smaller hive. Young queens insure strong stocks, large 
yields of honey from late flowers, and well filled hives for winter- 
After-swarms, when natural, make the best of stocks and are 
less troublesome to manage than nuclei, but where they are not 
wanted may be returned to the old stock after forty-eight hours 
from the time of issue ; but the excising of all queen cells on the 
ninth day after the issuing of the first swarm will save all the 
trouble of hiving. 
WIDTH OF ENTR1NCES. 
When swarms are newly hived the entrances should never be 
wider than necessary for the bees to work with freedom. It is not 
only with swarms, but all hives this should apply. When hives 
■have their entrances wider than necessary comb-building goes on 
more slowdy, and the bees cannot leave the hive in such numbers 
for attending to the internal heat as they would if the interior of 
the hive were warmer. There are times, however, that the bees 
cannot have too much air below, but even in such times it is better 
for the hive entrance and ventilation to be closed at night, but 
opened in the morning if the day is warm. Everyone may not be 
able to have this attended to, but wherever it can advantages are 
gained. 
FEEDING. 
From the present time wherever hives are short of stores give 
as much syrup as will tide the bees over until honey is plentiful, 
and rather let that be above than under immediate and future 
wants.—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED, 
Samuel Shepperson, Prospect House, Belper .—List of Florists ’ Flowers 
and Spring Flowering Plants. 
A. M. C. Jongkindt Coninck, Dedemsvaart, near Zwolle, Nether¬ 
lands .—Trade List of Coniferce, Fruit Trees, and Hardy Plants. 
J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, Sussex .—Catalogue of .DaliMas. 
Richard Dean, Ealing, W.— Catalogue of Primroses, Hardy Plants, 
Potatoes, fyc. 
W. & J. Birkenhead, Sale, Manchester .—List of Ferns and Sela- 
ginellas. 
%• 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. 
Books (J. 7?.).—We know of no work published on the subject you 
name. (S. P.).— Johnson's “ Gardener’s Dictionary ” will be of service 
"to you as a handy work of reference, post free 8s., from this office. 
Coelogyne crlstata (IF. B .).—The flower you sent was withered 
considerably in transit through the post, but as nearly as we can judge 
it is only an ordinarily good variety of C. cristata, and if that is a fair 
specimen we should not think it is the variety your friend has 
.mentioned. 
Cinerarias (T. Cresswell).—The flowers are very good, being large 
in size, well formed and varied in colour. Such blooms borne on heads 
2 feet across by plants in 6-inch pots could only be produced by the 
best cultivation, and you might do a service to many by describing your 
method of growing these plants. 
Cattleyas (A .).—Both are good forms of C. Trianas, though not equal 
to Mr. Stephenson Clarke’s variety or Russelliana. The darker variety 
is the better. The flowers are deficient in breadth of sepals, petals, 
and lip to be regarded as superior, or, as you say,“ grand.” They are 
good, but not grand in our estimation. 
Growing- Tomatoes in Frames (TF. C.). —There is no objection 
to the course of treatment you propose—viz., having the plants in pots 
with the shoots trained 6 to 9 inches from the glass. It answers very 
well, care being exercised in the employment of the fermenting 
material, which should be well prepared or sweetened so as to prevent 
injury from rank steam. 
Liming Kitchen Garden (Idem). —Although there may be suffi¬ 
cient lime in the soil for most descriptions of crops, it is not inadvisabl ■ 
to give a dressing of quicklime, particularly if the soil has been heavily 
manured and the crops have a tendency to over-luxuriance or super- 
abundancy of top through excess of humus. Moderate dressings of 
lime we have found useful as a corrective of inertness after liberal 
manuring, also for destroying predatory vermin. A dressing of forty 
bushels per acre is sufficient for soil ordinarily fertile, to eighty bushels 
if the soil is rich. 
Managing Vines (A. C. G. ).—Like some others who engage in 
gardening, we fear you pass over much information that would be of 
service to you if appropriated. Read attentively the reply to “ G. H.,” 
on pp. 246-247 of our issue of the 21st ult., and if you require further 
information write again. You have prooab y not done any harm so far 
by not opening the ventilators, but as you did not know whether you 
were doing right or wrong your safe course would have been to have 
written sooner, as it is evident you are not a close and attentive reader 
of what is published from time to time in our columns. 
Planting Lilium candidum (A. H. G .).—This Lily is quite 
hardy, but as you have started your bulbs in pots, evidently plunged, 
which was a mistake on your part, they had better be kept in a 
cold frame till the blanched portion of the stems has become greener 
and as hardy as the rest. They are most effective in groups of five 
or six bulbs. Any common garden soil will grow them well. The 
bulbs should be buried a few inches below the surface. Lilium can¬ 
did um flowers in June, but L. auratum is much later in the open 
ground, August and September being the time these are at their best. 
Coelogyne Unhealthy (7/. IF. A.).—The discoloration does not 
extend beyond the surface, and we should not anticipate any evil results 
if the plants were healthy ; but that does not seem to be the case, as the 
pseudo-bulb is puny, the leaves small and not well developed. Perhaps 
the plants require repotting, and if you do this give them fresh good 
peat with plenty of drainage. If you can induce a more vigorous 
growth they will flower satisfactorily, but when in a semi-starved con¬ 
dition you cannot expect them to succeed. Try the Schomburgkia in a 
pot with peat and sphagnum. The temperature you name will suit it, 
presuming that you refer to S. Tibicinis. 
Tomato Seedlings Failing (JR. H. G.). —Your seedlings were 
very weakly, and in all probability were raised too thickly in the seed 
pots. They were not affected by either of the diseases by which Tomatoes 
are commonly attacked, nor had the system of glazing the house any¬ 
thing to do with the failure. Sow more seed at once thinly, and keep 
the seedlings near the glass till they are stout and strong enough for 
potting. Should a failure again occur, your wisest plan will be to 
purchase the requisite number of seedlings of the varieties you require, 
and which did so well last season. They are frequently advertised for 
sale at a cheap rate. Cucumbers might also be profitably grown in 
your houses, though we have no doubt you will yet succeed with 
Tomatoes. 
Questions from Zndla (R. C. Lee').—We could probably have 
given a better reply on your first question—Sweet Apples—had you 
stated the purpose for which the fruit is required. As they are not 
suitable for cider, we name a few sweet varieties which ripen at intervals 
over a long period :—Early Harvest, Early Julyan, Early Margaret, 
Sac and Sugar, Irish Peach, Gravenstein, Cornish Gilliflower, Cox’s 
Orange Pippin, Ribston Pippin, Cockle’s Pippin, Court of Wick, 
Ashmead’s Kernel, Golden Harvey, Mannington’s Pearman, Wykeham 
Pippin. Edible Ferns are not grown in England, and we doubt if any 
that might be imported would be of value here for consumptive purposes. 
We should consider it a very “ out of the way occurrence ” for Melons 
and Cucumbers to be grown on the “ same stem or plant.” 
Growing Fruit for Profit (Zebus). — Without cultural experi¬ 
ence it is likely your capital would be absorbed before success would be 
assured, and that you would perhaps consider a dear way of purchasing 
experience. There is such acute competition that even practised and 
hard-working cultivators have difficulty in making profit, some of the 
less expert scarcely making a living, so that we do not advise your 
speculating until you have acquired a “good business experience” of 
the particular branch of horticulture you desire to enter. After gaining 
knowledge by a course of training in a good market fruit garden, which 
would absorb your capital to acquire it, unless you entered as a worker 
at wages, which we advise, investing your capital in Government Stock, 
you will be better able to form an estimate of your business capacity, 
taking the course most suited to your taste. We strongly advise this 
