160 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 24, 1887. 
buds are visible, but directly they can be seen the temperature named 
may be given them. The remainder of the stock in 3-inch pots, in 
which they were rooted in autumn, may now be placed into 5-inch pots 
and given a temperature of 45° to 50°, unless it is desirable to keep a 
batch very late, and in this case they may still be kept in cold frames. 
A few plants of H. paniculata grandiflora may now be introduced into a 
temperature of 45° to start them. This variety must be brought forward 
steadily, or they will fail to flower freely and only produce small instead 
of large heads. 
Bovvardias .—Plants that have been kept dry to ripen and harden 
them since they flowered may now be pruned closely back and started 
again into growth in a temperature of 50°. Unless extra sized plants are 
required the old stock need not be retained, but where a succession of 
flowers for cutting is in demand they will be found most useful, as they 
come into flower earlier than young stock. Young plants in quantity 
may now be raised by cutting strong roots from some of the old plants 
into lengths of about half an inch. Two or three portions of root should 
be placed in sandy soil in 2-inch pots. The pots may be plunged in 
boxes and placed in brisk moist heat, and in a very short time young 
growths will issue through the soil. By placing them in pots at the com¬ 
mencement no check is given the young plant, which is the case when 
the roots are inserted in pans and boxes, and then potting after they 
have formed fibry roots. This is a much readier and quicker way of 
raising a stock than by means of cuttings. When the small pots are 
full of roots only one potting afterwards into 5-inch pots will be needed. 
The old plants when they have commenced growth should be shaken 
out and placed into a smaller pot. 
Standard Pelargoniums .—If a few standards are required for flowering 
next winter healthy cuttings should be inserted singly in 2-inch pots at 
once. They will root quickly on a shelf in a temperature of 60°. For 
this purpose free-flowering varieties, such as Vesuvius, should be selected. 
If stems 3 to 4 feet high are required strong growers may be selected, and 
these varieties grafted on to the top of them. The young, after they 
are rooted, should be grown for some time in heat, and potted as 
they require more root room. All lateral growths should be removed as 
they appear until the length of stem described has been attained. Plants 
with stems varying in height from 18 inches to 3 feet can be used very 
effectively in groups and other ornamental arrangements. 
('alias (Richardia fethiopica).—For conservatory, room—in fact, all 
kinds of decoration, these easily grown plants can be used with great 
effect. Where it is necessary to increase the stock considerably all the 
small suckers that are springing from the base should be taken off and 
potted singly in 2-inch pots. These will soon become established in a 
temperature of 55° to 60°, and afterwards may be grown on in Peach 
houses or vineries until they can be placed in cold frames and hardened 
for planting out. Up to this stage they will need 5-inch pots, and will 
grow rapidly and strongly after they are planted out in June. These 
young plants grow stronger and produce much larger spathes than those 
that are divided and planted out after flowering. 
Lilium Harrisi. — The earliest plants of this variety and L. longi- 
florum will be growing rapidly, but care must be taken not to force 
them on too rapidly, or they will become blind. They should be 
kept close to the glass, and in a temperature that does not exceed 50° 
at night. Later batches will be moving freely in cold frames, and if 
there is any fear of frost touching them they must be moved without 
delay to some structure where frost can be excluded. A slight frost to 
the tender stems and foliage of these plants will practically ruin them 
for flowering moderately early in the season. The same remarks apply 
to L. candidum. The earliest should now be 3 feet high ; but they are 
hardier, and a slight frost in frames willjlo them no harm ; but if it can 
be avoided all the better. 
Freesias .—Plants that have been advancing in cold frames should 
be removed to a position in a cold house, where they will be safe from 
frost. They should be arranged on a shelf close to the glass, where a 
good circulation of air is given daily whenever the weather allows of 
this being done. A close atmosphere will ruin them : the foliage will 
become drawn and the plants fail to flower. But if grown cool they 
will have sturdy foliage, and in due time flower freely. 
Iasi as and Spar axis .—When well grown these bulbous plants are 
charming in pots, but any attempt to hurry them will end in disaster, 
for their foliage will draw up weakly, and poorly coloured flowers will 
result. They may be removed from frames to more genial quarters, 
where a night temperature of 45° to 50° can be maintained. They should 
be kept close to the glass, and a circulation of air given on all favourable 
occasions. Under these conditions they will grow strongly and flower 
freely. They must not be allowed to suffer by an insufficient supply of 
water, or the tips of the foliage will become brown. 
PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPING. 
No. 4, 
It is necessary before entering into details of practical 
management to give a few simple facts about the queen, 
the drone, and the worker. 
The queen, a perfect female, the mother of all the 
bees, is produced in a cell of different form and size to 
that from which the drone or worker issues. Queen cells 
are elongated something like an acorn in shape, especially 
like the cup of an acorn when they are only half built. 
These cells are generally formed along the bottom edges of 
the comb, and from their curious shape are at once easily 
detected. The average time elapsing between the egg- 
depositing and the issue of a perfect virgin queen is fifteen 
days. About seven days from birth the maiden queen 
leaves the hive for the purpose of mating with the drone. 
Whether when the union has once been consummated the 
queen ever again leaves the hive for a like purpose has 
not yet been clearly proved, but that when once she has 
settled down to the duty of ovidepositing she never again 
meets the drone is very generally admitted. The fertili¬ 
sation of the queen may be retarded for many days, and 
if the queen is reared at the season of the year when 
drones have been destroyed she will remain a maiden and 
produce drones only. A queen usually lives three years, 
occasionally tour, but after the second year most queens 
are past their prime, and steps should be taken, unless in 
exceptional cases, to supersede them. One fertile queen 
alone reigns in every hive, except when the state of the 
stock is abnormal. Instances have, it is true, been ad¬ 
duced of an old worn-out queen being allowed to live out 
her days in peace after she has been superseded by the 
bees raising a successor, but such cases are quite ex¬ 
ceptional. A good queen when her surroundings are 
favourable lays from 2000 to 3000 eggs a day during the 
height of the season. In shape she is longer, and in her 
form and movements more graceful than either the drone 
or worker. Her wings lie closer and are also smaller. If 
by accident a stock is deprived of its queen the workers 
have the power, which they at once exercise, to raise 
another queen, provided that there is a worker egg or 
young worker larva in the hive ; this must always be re¬ 
membered. The queen rarely uses her sting. The larva 
which is to become a queen is nourished by the workers 
on a different kind of food from that given to the ordinary 
brood, so it is supposed at least. This food is called 
popularly “ royal jelly.” 
Fertile workers are bees which have a limited power 
of reproduction. Their eggs produce drones only. It is 
most difficult to destroy these fertile workers, as by their 
similarity of form to the common worker they escape ob¬ 
servation. It has been supposed that these fertile workers 
issue from cells in juxtaposition to royal cells. A portion 
of the special food given to the larvie which are to pro¬ 
duce queens having fallen accidentally into the adjoining 
cells, and so endowing the bees issuing from such cells 
with more sex perfection than is attained to by the 
common worker bees when reared under normal condi¬ 
tions. 
The drones are the largest, heaviest, and most mascu¬ 
line in appearance of all the bees. r I heir functions are to 
live well and fertilise the young queens. They also, I 
must with others contend, assist in keeping up the tem¬ 
perature of the hive, and therefore are not an unmitigated 
evil even if there are no queens which require fertilisation. 
From the time the egg is deposited in the cell to the day 
when the perfect drone appears is twenty-five days. 
Drones can at once be detected by the merest novice on a 
fine warm summer’s morning, when their deep lazy hum 
makes the air resound with repeated invitations to the 
young queens to come forth to their bridal. If a stock is 
left to its own devices many drones are usually raised; 
but when we consider that the union takes place in mid- 
