161 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r February 20,18fO. 
or in as wanted, and the hiving box is made so as to take its place. 
I am not sure if I understand properly which hiving box is meant. 
If the one referred to above the lid is of three pieces pivoted at 
the ends, and about half an inch from the edge ; these are attached 
to a frame with staples, and a wire keeps them closed until 
admitting the bees to the hive. If the upper hiving box the lid 
must be of the lightest material, cleated and close. It is to this one 
that strings are attached, so as to prevent bees being crushed. If a 
joint or two are left open for carbolicised paper to pass between, a 
few minutes suffices to cause the bees to retreat to the hive proper. 
—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
William Strike, C2, High Street, Stockton-on-Tees.— Catalogue of 
Vegetable and, Flower &edg, ISOO. 
John Watkins, Pomona Farm, Witherington, Hereford.— Bcscrigitive 
Catalogue of Seed Potatoes. 
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 
unavoidably. 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. 
United Horticultural Benefit and Provident Society (J.E.P.'). 
—Mr. W. Collins, 9, Martindale Road, Balham, London, S.W., is the 
address of the Secretary of this Institution, and it would perhaps be 
advisable for gardeners as a body to copy it for subsequent reference. 
Palms for a Table (J. G.'). —The following are graceful Palms 
adapted for the purpose you name :—Cocos Weddelliana, Geonoma 
gracilis, Thrinax elegans, Phoenix rupicola, Kentia australis, K. 
Belmoreana, K. Fosteriana, and Phoenix tenuis. 
Ilffettlng' for Prult Bushes (f/. 8.'). —The method you propose is 
safe and good. It has often been recommended in the Journal oj 
Horticulture, the last occasion not being very long ago. No injury 
will occur from the contingencies you mention, but it is advisable to 
have the sides of the enclosure moveable for the admission of birds 
after the fruit is gathered, and so long as they do not attack the buds. 
We know of many such wired enclosures as you propose erecting, and 
they answer their purpose well. 
Bendroblum noblle not Pljwerlng (IF. iZ.).—Growths in place 
of flowers is a consequence of the imperfect ripening of the pseudo- 
bulbs, the plants being kept at too great a distance from the glass, and 
not having sufficient light with a reduction of moisture so as to harden 
them. As the growths reach maturity withhold the supply of water, 
removing the plants into a cooler and drier atmosphere, with full 
exposure to light and sun, in order to thoroughly ripen them. Water 
should only be given during the resting period to prevent shrivelling. 
A temperature of 50° artificially is suitable during the resting period. 
All that is wanted to restore their floriferousness is to secure a good 
growth and ripen it thoroughly. 
Hard and Soft Putty {M. T .').—A little white lead mixed with 
putty will make it set hard in a few days ; but gardeners never allow 
the use of that old kind of putty in these days, because once it gets dry 
they can hardly cut it when repairs or alterations are to be made after¬ 
wards. We have seen a good glazier break four squares of glass trying 
to mend one broken one, besides spending an hour and a half at the job, 
which a mere lad could do in five minutes, and without any breakage, 
if proper putty had been used in the first instance. Hothouse putty is 
inade with whiting pounded down and sifted very fine, and boiled 
linseed oil, making it into dough as the bakers do their bread ; the more 
the dough of putty is worked the better it will be, and it should be at 
least ten days old before it is used ; in that time a large lump of it will 
“ sweat ”—that is, slightly ferment, which is necessary to give it the 
proper adhesive power. When this soft putty, as it is called, is allowed 
to dry thoroughly before it is painted over, it will last as long as the 
hardest white-lead putty, and at the end of twenty years be soft enough 
to be cut away with a knife. If, therefore, you wished to remove your 
greenhouse at any future time, you could easily take out the glass, pack 
it in boxes, and the timber work could then be hand'ed and packed 
without the risk or annoyance of breaking the glass. 
Pruning Apple Trees (^Golden Spire'). —If you do not read more 
carefully than you write you will be certain to overlook what is printed 
for information. You say, “ We planted trees in November, 1889, and 
now in February, 1890, they appear to have been cut back before we got 
them from the nursery ; they appear to have plenty of shoots on for 
forming a tree.” This is a very curious sentence. If the shoots appear 
at the present time as cut back before they left the nursery, surely 
they must have been shortened when they were received from there in 
November, 1889, and in that case they have not had time to make 
“ plenty of shoots for forming a tree.” If you can enable us to under¬ 
stand what you wish us to know, and make clear the actual condition of 
the trees, we will readily advise you how to proceed. You say you have 
“ Writes ” Essay. If you will refer to it again perhaps it may be 
“Wright’s;” and, if so, you will find, on page 79 onwards, that when 
sufficient branches have formed for the framework of a tree the less they 
are shortened the better for the production of the greatest number of 
fruit buds, and an illustration is given on page 81 of the effect of the 
simple method of pruning described ; also on page 18 you will see half 
of a bush tree as it should be pruned, and the other half showing the crop 
of fruit that follows in favourable seasons. 
Fruit Trees on Walls (Y. S. P ). —As your letter suggests the 
wall contains fissures in the joints, by all means unfasten the trees 
and have the masonry well pointed. If it is a stone wall you may wash 
it with lime toned to a darkish tint with soot. This may be done as 
soon as convenient after the leaves fall, and the trees can be pruned and 
secured to the wall as soon as the mortar is set, or before growth com¬ 
mences in the spring. It is not necessary to remove the branches every 
year, though the fewer and narrower the shreds are the better, and care 
must be taken that no ligatures are allowed to bind too tightly round 
the branches.^ Some gardeners unloose Peach, Nectarine, and Apricot 
trees in the autumn, and prune and secure them to the walls in spring, 
as by this means the swelling of the huds is sometimes a little retarded. 
Trees and walls may be advantageously syringed in winter with a solu¬ 
tion of softsoap into which a quarter of a pint of petroleum is well 
mixed with each three or four gallons. This should be done before the 
buds swell in spring. Earwigs can be caught with flower pots contain¬ 
ing moss or hay, or with hollow stems of beans, or any others of the 
same nature. 
Vines and Frost—Croppingr (J/. P.). —We do not know how 
many degrees of frost Vines will endure without injury. Very much, 
we apprehend, would depend on the maturation of the wood. We have 
not known Vines on walls in the open air in the south of England to be 
injured by frost even when the mercury in the thermometer has almost 
fallen to zero. If there is nothing in a vinery besides Vines, and the 
wood of these is well ripened in the autumn, they will not be injured 
by frost in winter if no fire heat is employed ; hut we have known 
something else to be injured under the circumstances - namely, the pipes 
that are provided for heating, for if these are filled with water and this 
is permitted to freeze, bursting and dislocation often follow. The weight 
of fruit that Vines are capable of bearing depends entirely on their 
condition. We have seen some Vines more overloaded with a pound of 
fruit to every lineal foot of rod than others were with twice the weight 
of fruit. If each of your rods produce 18 lbs. of good well-finished , 
Grapes you will not have much cause for complaint. The Grapes may 
hang on the Vines till after the leaves fall, provided the atmosphere of 
the house is favourable for the keeping of the fruit. 
Fropag-atlng Hardy Ferns from Spores (Y. H). —Choose a pot 
which a bellglass will just fit within the rim, place a large crock over 
the hole, half fill the pot with smaller pieces, and on them place half an 
inch of moss ; then fill the pot to the rim with the following mixture— 
viz., sandstone broken in all sizes from that of a grain to a hazel nut, 
sandy fibrous peat and yellow fibrous loam, of each equal parts, adding 
to the whole one-sixth of silver sand. Put over the surface a very 
small quantity of sifted soil, and make it firm by pressing it with the 
hand. Put on the bellglass, and if it fits closely on the soil it is all right. 
Remove it, and stand the pot in a pan in a rather shady but not dark 
part of the greenhouse, for what is wanted is a diffused though not a 
strong light. Give a good watering all over the surface through a fine- 
rosed watering pot, filling the pan with water. Now take the frond 
with the spore cases open, and, holding it over the pot, rub it with the 
hand on the under side, and a kind of brown or yellow dust will fall on 
the soil. You may scrape the spore cases from the back of the fronds, 
but if the dust fall so as to make the soil hrown or yellow it is enough. 
Press the surface gently with the hand and put on the bellglass, taking 
care that it touch the surface all round. Keep the pan or saucer full of 
water, and give none on the surface except it become dry, which it never 
ought to do, nor will it if sufficiently shaded and the saucer be kept 
full of water. When the surface becomes green tilt the bellglass a little 
on one side at night, and as the soil becomes greener tilt it higher, 
giving a gentle watering now and then to keep the surface from becoming 
dry. When the plants have made two or three fronds gradually remove 
the bellglass, and pot off the Ferns when they can be handled safely. 
The pots may be placed in a pit or a shaded position in a greenhouse. 
