428 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE*'GARDENER. 
12 inches in height, as a low porch or weather board, as some call it, 
is detrimental to bees gaining a ready entrance to the hive daring 
«old weather, and should not be less than a foot wide. It will be 
observed that the hive’s entrance is at the extreme side, and, 
although looking east, is fully protected from what may come from 
that direction, and being close all round top and bottom, except 
the south entrance at D, but which is boarded to the ground, there 
is no draught to destroy the bees. This arrangement must be 
completed in August, and be detachable, but close fitting to the 
hive, case, or covering. This arrangement, with other things 
mentioned, is far superior to any cellaring yet contrived for this 
D 
FIG. 69. 
country, and we need not imitate bee-keepers of other countries so 
very different to ours. 
There has never been a winter during our experience in which the 
bees had not opportunities for a flight during January or February, 
but this year there were fewer chances in these months, and none 
in March or April, and the first day of May was the most disas¬ 
trous to bees of any ail the season. To have kept hives cellared or 
buried till that day, and then given the bees their liberty, they 
would have been much better on their summer stands as they will 
always be. It is the cold springs that depopulate our hives, and 
not the winter’s cold or storms, and preventing bees leaving their 
hives in untoward days is to carry out the instructions so often 
laid down in these columns, and in due course the bee-keeper will 
be rewarded withstrong and populous hives, even althoughthespring, 
the most critical time for bees, is unfavourable in the extreme. 
HINTS. 
Hives intended a3 non-swarmers should not be allowed to 
become overcrowded. When I used the compound frame (which 
I consider as useful as any) I increased the size of the hive by 
small degrees, using narrow rims of wood, so that there was not 
the chance of having too much drone combB. These narrow rims 
were added gradually until the full depth of the comb required 
was reached, then, if desired, one having the rebates with bars 
was added. When, in a backward season, the honey harvest was 
delayed I have had very strong colonies, which, when an oppor¬ 
tunity occurred, filled supers rapidly. 
The same end may be attained with other hives by blocking 
the under division with solid blocks, allowing the bees part of the 
division only, but the frames ought to be filled with comb founda¬ 
tion. Where increase of stocks is wanted and natural swarming 
undesirable, a hive fitted with full foundation may be placed under 
the old stock, allowing it a few days to draw out the foundation 
.and occupy the hive, when they may be separated. In nine cases 
out of ten the queen will be in the new hive. The top or old box 
should then be removed on a fine day, and the new one occupy its 
■old site ; the bees occupying it, together with the flying ones, 
will form a fine colony, and favoured with good weather will soon 
rise to a great weight. After nine days the queen cells in old 
stock must be manipulated according to future wants.—A Lanark¬ 
shire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
Messrs. E. H. Krelage & Sons, Haarlem, Holland.— Darwin Tulips. 
Messrs. Carter & Co., 237 and 238, High Holborn, W.C.— Farm Seeds. 
Dicksons (Limited), Chester.— Stove and Greenhouse Plants; Bed¬ 
ding and Border Plants ; Power Seeds and Sundries, 
Messrs. G-. Farmiloe & Sons, 34, St. John Street, West Smithfield, 
London, E.C.— Garden Engines, Horticultural Glass, fyc. 
t May S3, 1889. 
Messrs. Fisher, Son & Sibray, Handsworth, Sheffield.— Bedding and 
Border Plants. 
Mr. W. Holmes, Frampton Park Nurseries, Hackney, London, N.E.— 
Garden Furniture. 
Mr. H. Merry weather, The Nurseries, Southwell.— Roses ; Stove and 
Greenhouse Plants; Hardy Plants ; Fruit Trees. 
Messrs. Merryweather & Sons, 63, Long Acre, London, W.C .—Garden 
Engines, Hose Reels and Fittings. 
Messrs. P. Van der Veld <fc Sons, Lessi, near Haarlem, Holland .—Dutch 
Bulbs ( Wholesale). 
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. 
Pond Weed, Anacharls alslnastrum {L. F.). —The above is the 
name of the weed that has taken possession of your pond and spoiled 
the trout-fishing. It is a native of North America, and was introduced 
to this country about forty years ago. It takes possession of ponds in 
a manner not easily traceable, and after a time gradually disappears, 
doubtless through having abstracted from the bed the nourishment 
requisite for its support. There is, so far as we know, only one ready 
means for subduing it, and that is the introduction of swans! They 
appear to be its natural enemies, soon reducing the bulk, and in time 
“eating it up.” 
Azaleas Unsatisfactory ( E. M. B.). —Without knowing the 
“ treatment ” accorded to the plants we cannot say whether it was 
wrong or not; but as they have usually given satisfaction, and presum¬ 
ing you pursued the usual methods, the last cold and dull season may 
have had much to do with their present condition. If they made good 
growth this was probably not ripened ; if they did not grow well they did 
not have adequate support. They are apt to fail as they get old if good 
cultural attention is not bestowed on them, and if the pots become 
crowded with roots a stimulant, such as Standen’s manure, sprinkled oh 
the soil a few times and watered in is often markedly beneficial. As a 
rule, perhaps neither Azaleas nor Rhododendrons are flowering So freely 
this year as usual, though there are splendid exceptions, their condition 
being mainly attributable to a deficiency of sun last year. 
Suljbate of Ammonia {Inquirer). —This is a very active plant 
stimulant, but by no means a complete manure. It will make almost 
everything to which it is rightly applied grow quickly, and will kill 
almost anything when used in excess. If it is used alone and continu¬ 
ously the soil must eventually become the poorer, because of tbe abstrac¬ 
tion of phosphates, potash, and other ingredients from it through the 
accelerated growth. An ounce to the square yard is a fairly good 
dressing, twice that quantity a very liberal one, though we have known 
it exceeded to some crops without injury. Some soils are much poorer, 
and consequently need more manure than others. If you can mix 
twice the quantity of superphosphate of lime with the sulphate of 
ammonia, and apply at the rate of 2 ozs. to the square yard, you will 
have a better, cheaper, and more permanently satisfactory manure 
than by using the ammonia salts alone. 
Wire-worms in Soil—Woodllce (./. ./.),— When crops arc grow¬ 
ing nothing that we know of can be applied to the soil strong enough 
to kill wireworms without destroying vegetation also. Many of the 
wire-like pests can be caught by burying pieces of old Potatoes or 
Carrots below the surface, marking their positions with sticks, and ex¬ 
amining the baits frequently, and securing the enemy ; but though 
when these and other root baits were tried in a carefully conducted 
experiment, and the “ worms ” caught in each were counted, ten 
times more were secured in squares of newly dug turf buried amongst 
them. This, however, cannot always be obtained by persons who have 
wireworms in their gardens. As soon as the crops are cleared gas lime 
should be applied to the land, but when used at the requisite strength 
nothing must be sown and planted for three months afterwards. You 
can write again towards the autumn if you do not find articles on the 
subject in the meantime. Woodlice can be caught between dry, 
partially decayed, dirty old boards. 
Manure for Pansies {Forest Hill).— The successful cultivation 
of Pansies does not by any means depend on any particular kind of 
