184 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Fcbmaty H, 1800. 
professional cook, but those who have ventured to try it as a common 
winter vegetable have been more than satisfied with its excellency and 
usefulness, and we recommend it to all as one of the best winter crops 
that can be grown in any garden. It produces tubers almost as 
large as Potatoes, but it is in no way liable to disease, will bear heavily 
in soil where the Potato would fail, is never injured by frost in spring, 
nor does it require protection in winter. They are left in the ground 
and dug as required until this time, but as they should be dug and 
replant^ every spring the time has arrived for this operation. They 
grow in clusters, and if allowed to remain over a second season they 
would become a mass of small growths and small tubers. Dig the 
whole, clear them all from the soil, select a number of the best formed 
tubers for subsequent planting, and store the others under ashes for 
further use. Spread a quantity of manure on the surface of the ground 
intended for their reception, begin to dig it, and as this goes on plant a 
row of the roots every feet. Keep the sets 1 foot apart, and place 
them 3 inches below the surface. Their stems are stout and hardy, are 
not easily injured by wind, and attain a height of from 7 to 10 feet, 
forming a serviceable screen or shelter. 
Vegetable Marrows. —These are not valued much as a vegetable 
in the autumn, but if they can be secured in May, June, or July they 
are greatly valued, and all who can do so should sow a few seeds at 
■once to secure a few early plants which if treated like frame Cucum¬ 
bers, ■will fruit in May. If planted on a bed under a frame at 
first, the latter can be removed when the summer comes, and the same 
plants will continue to bear for months if the fruits are regularly cut off 
as they gain a useable size. 
Celery. —All who require Celery in July or August for exhibition 
or other purposes, should sow a pinch of seed without delay. The main 
or winter crop need not be sown until April, and where only ordinary 
Celery is needed we advise delaying sowing till then. A pinch of seed 
placed into a 6-inch pot will produce many scores of plants. It will 
germinate, and the plants grow freely in a temperature of 6.5°. Old 
Celery is lasting well this winter. We have many rows still almost in 
as good condition as when it was earthed for the last time in November. 
Some may have to dig the remainder of their crop to get the use of 
the ground it is on, but it keeps in very much better condition until late 
in the spring if left undisturbed in the trenches than when dug and 
stored anywhere else. We have sometimes used every alternate trench 
at this season, dug the ground, and sown a row of Peas, and this allows 
ground to be cropped, -while the Celery between the Peas is not in 
the way, and may be left as long as it lasts good. 
Young Vegetables under Glass. — Cauliflowers, Lettuces, 
Brussels Sprouts, and other young vegetables under glass are now grow¬ 
ing rapidly. If they are kept in a close high temperature far from the 
light they will be spoiled, but if near the light, given all the air possible 
without checking them, and never allowed to form long spindly stems, 
they will all prove highly useful. If they have been raised in boxes or 
pots, try and move them from these as soon as they are 3 inches high. 
They may be returned to boxes again, but the better way is to make up 
A shallow hotbed, place any old frame on the top of it, put some good 
soil inside, make it very firm, and dibble the young plants in 3 inches 
apart. By careful nursing for a few days and ordinary care afterwards, 
these may be turned out into the open quarters in the end of March or 
early in Apiil with great success. This is the best of all ways of treat¬ 
ing young vegetables of all descriptions, and it is entirely due to this 
that we secure many fine extra early crops. 
Spring Onions. —This is a common term applied to all Onions sown 
in spring. The crop is one of the most important of all, as on it de¬ 
pends a good or bad supply of Onions during next winter. The ground 
selected for the spring Onion crop should be a strong rich soil fully ex¬ 
posed to the sun and guaranteed to keep free from worms or grub for 
the next seven months. This can be insured by selecting a piece of 
ground that is not maggotty and dressing it while the manure is being 
applied with a large quantity of soot, a small quantity of gas lime, or a 
little ordinary lime, but the former is better applied in the autumn. Dig 
the soil deeply first, then fork it and break it well, and on the first fine 
dry day after March is in open drills all over the piece at a distance of 
10 inches or 1 foot, and 2 inches deep. Sow the seed evenly but thinly, 
cov£:r with the rake, tread the soil over the seed, rake all smooth, and 
success is sure to follow. As to varieties to sow now the Banbury is a 
reliable sort, and James’ Keeping should always be included, as it is 
the best of all for use the following spring after it has been stored in 
the autumn. It is not a large growing variety, but its long keeping 
qualities make it invaluable. 
QUEEN BREEDING—PUNIC BEES. 
In the Journal for January 30th “ A Lanarkshire Bee-keeeer ’’ 
•appears to slightly misunderstand me. Let me assure him that I 
did not intend in the slightest degree to construe his remarks into 
3k condemnation of my plan of rearing queens, and I very much 
regret that he should have been led to think I meant so. 
I understood him to put the matter in this -way. “ Yes, 
‘A. H. B. K.,’ the queens you rear in the way you direct are 
bound to be good ones, if it is possible to rear a good queen, and 
bee-keepers who practise the method are sure to be gainers ; but I 
do not admit that the progeny of such queens will hybernate, nor 
do I admit that queens reared in nuclei will turn out worthless, as 
I have for many years divided up stocks into nuclei with queen 
cells, and such queens have always been satisfactory.” Of course 
these are not his exact words, but are what I understand him to 
mean. I do not doubt or question his assertion that his queens 
were always satisfactory, because, being an old practical hand, and 
having noted that when cells are chilled or retarded in hatching, 
the queens hatched out with wings or legs deformed, he would be 
sure to guard against the cells being chilled. Here, again, is a 
difference between his plan and what has been the practice or 
advice of noted queen breeders. He reared his queens in full 
strong stocks, and then divided them, just as the queens were ready 
to hatch. Others have nuclei ready—just a handful of bees—and 
though they rear the cells in full stocks they cut them out as soon 
as sealed and give them to nuclei, or hatch them in nurseries, and 
then set the stock to re.ir fresh cells, so that before the first cells 
hatch there are others sealed and cut out. It is this practice that 
I condemn, and which I assert can never result in any but a worth¬ 
less queen. 
In practical hands the plan described by “ A. L. B. K.” will turn 
out “ satisfactory ” queens—that is, queens that will satisfy anyone 
who has never seen any better ; but I am one of those who are never 
satisfied, and having found out how to breed better queens with 
less risk of getting faulty ones, I prefer to use and recommend it in 
preference to any other. 
Supposing, for argument, I drop the question of “ hybernation.” 
The fact remains that queens reared in the manner I have laid 
down will, after the third generation, produce bees that will never 
have winter dysentery or abdominal distension, or even spring 
dwindle. Whether it is because they hybernate, have stronger 
constitutions, or eat less food, or what not, this fact remains, and 
of which I am positive. 
I have also shown that while I condemn cell cutting out, queen 
nurseries, and all other means of hatching queens, I can rear more 
queens with less trouble on my new plan than any person ha® 
ever been able to do by any other means, no matter how carried 
out. What do all these authorities on queen rearing say about my 
system of rearing a daily or weekly supply of queens from one 
stock all the season without cutting or losing a cell ? Who knew 
that when bees were under the swarming fever they would rear and 
seal fresh queen cells while had they ever the opportunity to pre¬ 
vent such queens from killing each other as long as the swarming 
fever was on them ? There has been no end of talk about getting 
queens reared from the egg and all kinds of dodges to accomplish 
it, but in my plan all that is necessary is to give the bees a comb 
with some eggs in, and queen’s cells will be started at once on such 
eggs, even if they are drone eggs, and this, with queen cells sealed 
or unsealed, or queens piping in their cells, or already hatched. 
Our friend says the Punic bees I sent him do not appear to be 
hybernating. In my case, since I wrote last, they have shown 
signs of activity consequent on the very warm weather we have 
been having, and if his report of weather and tempeiature is 
worth anything, his locality, though 200 miles further north, is 
considerably warmer than it is here, hence his bees may be in quite 
an active state. Ido not imagine that bees of any kind will hyber¬ 
nate when warm weather sets in, or after they have been induced 
to commence breeding. Punic bees, again, are more active than 
any others, beginning work in the summer before sunrise, and 
working on days that are too cold for any other race to venture 
out. Again, these bees in their native land never do hybernate. 
They come from North Africa, near the great Saharah desert, 
where everything is dried and burnt up in summer. The rains fall 
in November, which speedily starts everything growing. In 
December the flowers expand, from which time onwards until May 
