January 13, 1890. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
55 
fork, removing the finest particles by the aid of a sieve, sticks also being 
carefully picked out. This rough heap, when cleaned, will be found 
useful for placing over the drainage of many plants, and incorporating 
with composts that are required as rough as possible. Our leaf mould 
is never stacked or used for potting purposes when too much decom¬ 
posed. We prefer it while the fibre of the leaves is still perfectly fresh, 
which will be the case if the leaves have not laid more than 1 foot in 
depth, and are fully exposed. 
Manure. —Where mueh potting has to be done at various seasons of 
the year it is necessary to wheel into a shed good heaps of manure in 
autumn and at the present time. The autumn supply consists of cow 
manure, from whieh the straw was shaken out, and horse droppings. 
The former, if moderately dry when stored, will rub easily through a 
half-inch sieve. It is useless to sift it if not dry enough, for if laid 
thickly together the labour of sifting would be wasted. If not suffi¬ 
ciently dry place it in boxes or flat hampers for a few days in the boiler 
house or other position to dry. Be careful that it is not baked, for this 
evil is as bad as sifting it when too wet. The horse droppings should be 
in good condition for passing through a sieve. The preparation of 
manure for potting is important ; it cannot well be too finely divided for 
incorporating with other adhesive ingredients. If it is wet and adhesive it 
renders a compost with which it may be mixed unsuitable for use. 
Cow manure may be stored twelve months previous to being used when 
perfectly fresh. Our plan is to place it in an old shed and surround it 
with dry loam to soak up all the liquid that runs from it. This loam is 
equal to manure for many plants afterwards. As it is removed from the 
manure heap it is mixed with equal quantities of dry loam and a fresh 
Bupplj placed round the heap of manure. No waste takes place by this 
method, and the loam that has been soaked with manure will be found in¬ 
valuable for Richardias, Chrysanthemums, and plants of a similar nature. 
Artificial Manures. —The stock required for the year’s supply should 
be ordered, so that it will be ready for.use when required. Amongst 
these may be included half and quarter-inch bones with the fine left in, 
as well as a supply of meal. A box or barrel of soot should also be 
placed handy for use, and a few barrowfuls of wood ashes. Very few 
plants dislike the two latter, and either may be beneficially used in the 
majority of composts where loam, leaf mould, and manure are mainly 
employed. 
Sand and Charcoal. —If the supply of the former is not equal to 
what will be required no time should be lost in getting in the necessary 
quantity. For mixing with composts it is much better dry than wet, 
especially early in the season when other ingredients have a tendency to 
be moist. Charcoal should be sorted and broken into suitable sizes. 
Peat. —Sort this into three classes, that with the most fibre being re¬ 
served for Orchids, the hardest for Azaleas, Heaths, and other hard- 
wooded plants, while the lightest will do for Ferns. For the two latter 
it should simply be broken up with the hand, and Fern roots, pieces of 
wood, and strong roots of Heaths removed ; while that required for 
Orchids should have all the particles of soil shook out of it, which will 
he useful for many small Ferns, Mosses, and other plants. 
Pots and Crocks. —The former should all be washed ready for use 
where they are not washed up as they are emptied and stored away in 
their sizes. The crocks must be thoroughly washed ; this is as important 
as using clean pots. The drainage of many plants is rendered untimely 
defective by the use of dirty crocks. When washed and dry sort and 
break chem into various sizes ready for use, and place them separately. 
This is quickly done by the aid of sieves, except the largest or two 
largest sizes, and this can be selected during the process of breaking, 
and should be placed on one side first. 
Labels and Stakes. — The first we have long since discontinued 
making, for they can now be purchased so cheaply. The necessary 
quantity should be ordered ready for use, and relabelling can be done 
as far as possible. It is a mistake to leave it until the different plants 
require potting, as is too frequently the case. Eepoint stakes and tie 
them in sizes, it can then be seen what sizes and the quantity that will 
be needed. These if bought should be placed in early so that they can 
be pointed. Small stakes for a variety of purposes are generally in 
demand, and for this purpose large Bamboos are bought, cut into lengths, 
and split; the sharp edges are merely taken off with a knife, and the 
stakes pointed off at one end. 
Boxes. —Some will decay, and to keep a good stock in condition 
for use a few should be made annually. We use common floor boards 
0 inches wide. The ends and sides only want sawing into lengths. 
The bottoms are soon nailed on if the width is such that two or three 
boards without sawing will cover it. For three boards placed length¬ 
ways the boxes should be 19 inches wide, which will allow two half-inch 
spaces for drainage. If shallow boxes only are needed the boards may 
be sawed straight down the centre. Boxes last half as long again when 
thoroughly painted inside and out before they are used. 
NOTES ON BEES. 
A Retrospect. 
l.\ looking back on the year that has closed upon us, and re¬ 
flecting a little on the lessons it h.as given, more knowledge will be 
added to that we already possess, which will guide us better in the 
future in all things rural. “ As a little spark sometimes kindleth a 
great fire,” so will the neglect of doing a small thing give us mucb 
vexation, and often much labour and disappointment afterwards. 
Confining myself to the bee department, there were many instances 
where the honey harvest was nil. For similar reasons 1888 closed' 
unfavourably for bees and the bee-keeper, and 1889 until the middle- 
of IMay was even more so in many places ; but wherever judicious 
management was adopted there was also a harvest of honey, greater 
in some places than in others, as is always the case, but in many 
instances there has not been an ounce of honey taken, although the- 
bees were often situated short distances from successful apiaries— 
positive proof that there was something radically wrong in the- 
management of the first named. If I were to write all the corre¬ 
spondence T get on bee matters it would sometimes fill up the 
greater part of the pages of this Journal, and would perhaps serve 
no good purpose, so care has been taken to write only that which 
experience has proved to be serviceable to bee-keepers in a pro¬ 
fitable point of view. 
One instance which will perhaps surprise some is worth record¬ 
ing. A number of straw hives which stood at the Heather in a 
northerly direction, and about fourteen miles from my own, rose 
in weight somewhere abont 100 lbs., and the station master 
over that place told me his bees never did better. The geo¬ 
graphical formation of the country had perhaps something to do- 
with this. It lies in a broad valley between high hills north and 
south of it, so that the rain which deluged some parts of the 
country was almost absent there. One singular thing, for many 
miles round the ram fell in circles, and the places between these 
escaped. This was most frequent during August. 
I do not for a moment think of advising bee-keepers to adopt 
straw hives, neither will I advise their owners to put them away 
and adopt frame ones. By simply pointing to results I should, for 
once at any rate, have the worst of it, and when everything is taken 
into consideration, including the teachings of those who advocate- 
that extracted honey pays best because of the greater demand for 
it, much is in favour of the straw hive. I will not discuss the 
question further than that if the two kinds of hives had been 
standing near each other I have not the slightest doubt but that the- 
owners of the straw hives would have seen the superiority of th* 
wooden ones. Ocular demonstration, experiments and facts, are 
the best things to convince and reason on. 
There has been very little if anything new in appliances for the 
apiary. Some old appliances have been termed new, and several 
we discovered and first gave to the world have been appropriated- 
by and credited to others. The Editor of one paper credits 
someone with the discovery of carbolic acid for clearing bees 
from supers, as well as repeating the error that before “honey 
could be extracted by the Lanarkshire honey presser the combs- 
had ta be broken to a pulp ! ” Then in the December number,, 
page 252, he says, “ But there was more excuse for us twenty- 
three years ago than there is for the bee-keeper of to-day ; we. 
had no bee journals to guide us, and the sources of information, 
now available were very limited indeed.” An unmistakeable error.. 
I grant there were not so many letters from bee-keepers published, 
in those days, nor were so many novelties and peculiar ideas printed 
as now ; but the more stable and sensible modes of management,, 
which many are now returning back to, were taught, and queries 
answered, often, too, in a more rational manner than they are now in 
journals which have existed for a year or more—the Philosophical 
Journal and Philosophical Transactions, Farmers' Magazine,. 
Scottish Gardener, and others ; then in England there were the 
Journed of Horticidture, tlie Cottage Gardener (the leader in bee 
I matters, which the back numbers show), the Gardeners' Chronicle, 
and the English Mechanic. Every one of these taught bee 
husbandry. The only interest tlie editors of any one had was the 
dissemination of bee husbandry, and it is to these publications that 
the bee-keepers of to-day are so much indebted. 
