850 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 24, 1890. 
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NOTES ON BEES. 
The Weather. 
From April the 6th to the 11th the weather was raw and frosty, 
2“ being registered every night until the last-named date the 
thermometer sank to 19^° Fahr. Slight showers fell, but not so 
much as in any way to retard outdoor labour ; but the foliage of 
trees and bushes have a sickly hue, and it is to be feared fruit 
blossoms may suffer. Bees are still advancing, but have been for a 
week kept well within doors, and although honey gathering ceased 
there has been no loss of bees. Everywhere I go bees are in a 
forward state, the result of favourable weather, and being put up 
for winter with ample provisions. To all appearance swarming 
will be general in May. 
Feeding . 
This must not be neglected, as the numerous young bees now 
creeping out of the cells daily demand large supplies of food, more 
than is generally gathered until May is out, and even then must 
not be neglected unless the weather is fine. Hives allowed to go 
back from now till honey comes in plenty will remain unprofitable 
throughout the year. 
Drone Comb. 
The health and laying condition of the queen regulate worker 
combs, but it is not always safe to trust entirely to this. Queens 
have laid eggs long already, and when Nature demands a rest the 
bees fill up all gaps with drone combs. To avoid this the bee¬ 
keeper should fill all spaces with comb or comb foundation that 
may be considered unnecessary to be filled with drone comb. 
Queen Bearing. 
This may be begun earlier than in former years, and as youth¬ 
ful, fertile, and healthy queens are the foundation of profitable bee¬ 
keeping, care and attention should be paid to have these in sufficient 
numbers to meet all requirements, and raised in the most natural 
way possible. Never raise queens for stock from a hive that has 
been queenless for a length of time, as the bees are liable in such 
cases to bring forward imperfect queens. Always select a good 
and strong hive. The queen may be simply removed, but it is 
better that a swarm should issue or be taken artificially, thereby 
removing the older and leaving mostly young bees behind, which 
are Nature’s queen rearers. 
Size of the Hives. 
Where common-sense bee-keepers have wintered the bees 
in full-sized hives, except when two swarms are united, it is un¬ 
necessary to put a single swarm into a hive of similar dimensions 
at the first, especially where super comb is wanted, two divisions of 
the Lancashire divisioned hive being sufficient, but it should be 
enlarged to its full size on the introduction of a young queen. 
Then it is in the best of condition for late and abundant honey 
gathering. 
Extracting. 
Where extracted honey is wanted, full sized supers are the best 
to employ, as the combs being shallow the bees fill and seal them 
more quickly than they do deeper frames, and honey should on no 
account be extracted until the combs are sealed. 
Jarring Honev. 
Although the screw cap has a neater appearan«e than the tie- 
over jars, they are not so well adapted for keeping preserves unless 
hermetically sealed. A simple and effective way of doing this is 
to cut pieces of foundation or plain and perfect sheets of wax into 
proper sizes, laying one upon a board previously steeped in water 
and heated a little. Press it firmly to the top of the jar and it 
adheres, making a complete air-tight seal. Tie-over jars should be 
treated in the same manner before the parchment is tied. A gentle¬ 
man who had some of our wild Thyme honey a few years ago, kept 
it in an air-tight jar for some years, and every time it was opened 
he informed me the dining room was highly perfumed from its 
fragrance. The new fangled methods of treating honey has done 
much to lessen the demand. 
Sheeting Supers. 
Filling sections and supers with fall-sized sheets of foundation 
too has had a similar effect, and has tended more to the reduction 
in price than increase of production has done. With all the points 
as a standard for judging honey put forth by our savants, 
the most important one of rejecting comb showing the midrib of 
foundation has been omitted !—A Lanarkshire Bee-keeper. 
* 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. W^e 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. 
Fungus (^Ftmgi). —What you send appears to be a malforined 
example ot the Morel, Morcbella esculenta, and if so it is, as its specific 
name indicates, edible. We are, however, not positive on the identity 
of the imperfect specimen. You should have stated the conditions 
under which it was found growing. 
Waits on Vine leaves (K. A.).— The granulated appearance of 
the leaves sent is the result of sap extravasation through the_ epidermis. 
The warts are injurious as impeding respiration. The affection may be 
caused by too much moisture in the atmosphere with heat. Mr. William 
Thomson, in his practical essay on the Vine, says he can produce or 
prevent the affection by a close, warm, and too moist atmosphere in the 
former case, and a free circulation of air with moderate moisture as 
a preventive. 
Dandelions In a lawn (//. A.),—It is useless cutting out the 
plants and leaving a good portion of the roots in the ground, as fresh 
growths will be sure to push from them. Two or three drops of 
sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol), kept in a stone blacking bottle, and drawn 
out in notches cut in the end of a stick, and placed quite in the hearts 
of the plants will burn out the roots, but the acid must not touch 
boots, clothes, or hands, or it will burn them too. We have seen 
thousands of Dandelions destroyed in the manner described. The work 
should not be entrusted to women or boys. 
Pruning Marechal Wlel Rose (J. B. A.).—You may not only 
cut back what may be termed the lateral growths, or shoots which have 
produced flowers, to good buds nearly close to the main stem, but you 
may cut back the stem to any desired extent in case the upper part^ is 
not so strong and healthy as you may wish. By syringing freely twice 
a day in dry weather, and maintaining a genial atmosphere, fresh 
growths will soon start, and the plants being healthy and kept clean 
the shoots will become strong enough and firm enough for producing 
flowers in abundance next year. As a rule, the closer the pruning the 
better the resulting growth. 
Stepbanotls Flower not Dastlng' (J. T. IF., Beal ').—When the 
plant is grown in a hot moist house and the flowers are cut and taken 
direct to a cold or dry room it is not surprising that they fade quickly, 
and this is often the cause of Stephanotis lasting so short a time. If 
the flowers are cut in the morning with the sun shining upon them 
they are not so likely to last well as if cut in the evening, or at least 
when the sun is off the house. They might be cut and placed for a 
time in a slightly cooler place before being used, and you cannot have 
anything better as packing material than clean fresh moss. This may 
be covered with tissue paper if there is danger of soiling the flowers. 
If the plant is healthy as you say and flowers freely do not remove it, 
for you would find it difficult to secure a substitute as useful. 
Vines from Cuttings (J. C .).—If the cutting you inserted in 
the spring of 1888 have made no growth we should think they are dead. 
