March 17,1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
221 
Strawberries in Pots.— Although the Strawberry swells freely in 
a high moist atmosphere, yet when the fruit changes colour a drier and 
more freely ventilated atmosphere is most desirable, but there must not 
be a sudden change, or the fruit will not finish satisfactorily. The 
temperature for swelling should be 65° at night, and 70° to 75° by day, 
advancing to 80° or 85° with sun. The second batch has set very well, 
but thinning is often thought a needless operation, yet to produce fine 
fruit not more than half a dozen should be left on each plant. When 
the fruit is fairly swelling, and it is wished to forward the crop, the 
plants may be moved to a house with a temperature of 60° to 65° at 
night, 70° to 75° by day, with an advance to 85°, affording the plants 
liquid manure copiously, looking over them twice, and in very 
bright weather three times a day,.watering such as need it. Plants in 
vineries and Peach houses, which are started periodically, will afford 
successional supplies of fruit, thore being no need in such cases to 
remove the plants except to meet special requirements. If plants be 
placed in ground vineries or plant protectors, fruit very much finer and 
about three weeks earlier than that in the open ground will be secured. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Primulas .—Those raised from seed sown a few weeks ago will be 
ready for pricking from the seed pot or pan into others. Fill the pans 
with a compost of equal parts of leaf mould and loam, pass the whole 
through a quarter-inch sieve, with a liberal dash of sand added. The 
young plants should be placed about 1 inch apart, so that they will have 
room to developc themselves until they are large enough for placing 
singly in 2-inch pots. After pricking them out, give a good watering, 
anil shade from bright sunshine. For the present they should be grown 
close to the glass in a temperature of about GO 0 . 
Double Varieties .—Some of the lower leaves may be removed from 
those that have flowered, and the stems earthed with light sandy soil. 
If the plants are kept in a moderately moist atmosphere in a temperature 
of about 60°, they will quickly emit roots from their stems, and in the 
course of two or three weeks can be divided. This is a more certain 
method of increasing the stock than by means of cuttings. These are 
liable to damp, but after they form roots from the stem above ground 
they can be cut and potted singly in small pots without losing a plant. 
Primula obconica .—Plants raised from seed sown as soon as gathered 
are ready for placing in 3 and 4-inch pots. ' From this time grow the 
plants on a shelf in a vinery just started or some similar structure, 
those raised from seed sown some time ago will be ready for priclcing- 
off singly. These should have the same treatment as the Chinese 
varieties. For conservatory decoration no better or more useful plant 
can be grown, for it continues to flower freely from October until June 
in a temperature of 45° to 50°. Plants should be raised annually from 
seed, which is freely enough produced during the months of May, June, 
and July from plants that have not been too much exhausted by flower¬ 
ing previously. After they have done their duty convey them to the 
rubbish heap, for they do not grow freely if they are subjected to division. 
Primula 'Oeboidi (cortusoides amoena).—Many of the varieties are 
invaluable for conservatory decoration during the months of May, June, 
and July. Those that have been wintered in cold frames or a cool house 
will have pushed into growth. These should be turned out of their pots, 
the roots partially reduced, and repotted in good fibry loam three parts, 
one part leaf soil, with one-seventh of cow manure, passed through a fine 
sieve, ami a liberal dash of sand. These plants .are most serviceable in 
a and 6-inch pots, but may be successfully grown in larger, or even in 
pans. Divide the stock into two or three batches, allowing one to remain 
in a cold frame with a south aspect, another in a northern position, and 
a third place on a shelf in the greenhouse, where the temperature ranges 
about 45° at night. Give air freely on all favourable occasions to prevent 
the foliage drawing up weakly. Stock may be increased by division of 
the rhizomes. 
Primrose Harbinger .—Plants grown in pots for conservatory deco¬ 
ration must be eared for after they have done flowering. Grow them 
for a time in a cool house, and finally remove them to a cold frame to 
complete their growth. From this position they should be hardened and 
plunged outside, where they will not be exposed to the sun during 
summer. A good place for them is behind a north wall. They should 
have liberal supplies of water. 
« 
HE BEE-KEEPER^ 
o) 
CURRENT DISCUSSIONS. 
THE HONEY MARKET. 
In the first place let me thank Dr. Walker for the balance sheet of the 
P.ritish Honey Company, Limited ; and in the second place let me tell 
him and all others that I decline to enter into any discussion when the 
areurnent is foreign to facts. Thirdly, 1 assure him that 1 neither thank 
nor censure him for hrs bit of irony about my pious remark. But I 
rebuke him for the mingling of subjects foreign to the question at stake. 
Fourthly, it is not nationalism I want to discuss, but facts. Scotchmen 
are as a rule patriotic, and few of them would, after assuming hospitality 
and kindness to the Canadians, turn upon them and their produce after 
they hail left this country. No, a thorough Scotchman would have told 
i hem to their face what he thought of them. 
1 have no intention of prolonging tke discussion further than making 
a remark or two on what has appeared. Dr. Walker still accuses me of 
being concerned in the proposed “ Bee-keepers’ Union,” which I 
repudiate; but may tell him and all others that when self-interest out¬ 
side bona-fide bee-keepers becomes a thing of the past, and the British 
Bee Journal allows both sides of the question to appear in its pages, 
then will bee-keepers become alive to the snare they have been trapped 
in. I feel certain, Mr. Editor, you -would be glad to see many more 
persons engaged in profitable Grape culture, but 1 am also certain that 
you would not like to encourage them in that pursuit; then, when they 
asked where the market was, you would turn round and tell them that 
3d. per lb. was sufficient ; that that was a high price for American and 
Almeria Grapes, and they must be content with that ; but for their sake 
and “ your own interest ” you would start a Grape company. That is 
exactly the position of the bee-keepers and the Honey Company. Apart 
altogether from the profit question, the cultivation of fruit, flowers, and 
bees raises both the mental and moral qualities of those engaged in 
the put suits. We want to see more bee-keepers as well as fruit growers, 
and less monopoly ; and when that occurs, and unanimity is established 
amongst bee-keepers, then will the “British Bee-keepers’ Union” 
appear. But even with all the opposition the proposed Bee-keepers’ 
Union was exposed to, I had numerous inquiries about it, from persons 
ready and anxious to join it, and had it been but started I would have 
given it and the promoter my hearty support. It is a scheme well 
adapted for bee-keepers, and I trust it will find favour with bee-keepers 
throughout the kingdom. 
My argument from the first was simply for the purposes of bettering 
bee-keepers by bringing consumer and producer together, so that 
middlemen’s profits might be avoided ; but instead of the Honey Com¬ 
pany bettering bee-keepers they have simply done the reverse." I am 
acquainted with some honey merchants who in one season bought more 
honey than the Honey Company has done, gave the producer a good 
price for it, and made a handsome profit on the honey ; but it must be 
observed they would not sell an ounce of foreign honey. They kept 
faith with their customers, and the customers in turn had" faith in their 
merchant; but it would have been otherwise had they sold or purposed 
selling an inferior quality, like that which Dr. Walker condemns, but 
which he and his colleagues mean to make money out of if they could 
not buy British honey. 
Then there is another thing, Mr. Editor, with which you along with 
many others will agree, that bee-keepers as well as fruit growers should be 
rewarded for their labours, even although it be during their pastimes. 
The members of the British Bee-keepers’ Association have been very 
loquacious in times past about what they have done gratuitously for 
bee-keepers—which is also a question—yet they turned round and told 
the bee-keepers of the United Kingdom that their time employed in 
attending to bees was not to be taken into account. I do not feel 
inclined to say more on this matter at present, but in conclusion say 
that if Dr. Walker has overstrained himself attending to “ babies and 
Chrysanthemums ” he should call in a physician. 
Erratum.— At page 162, tenth line from bottom, instead of “ 20 lbs. 
annually ” read £20 annually. 
FOREIGN RACES OF BEES. 
At page 202 “ Notts Bee-keeper ” gives some particulars regarding 
his own and an expert’s bees. He also makes a quibble over the colour 
of the bee, and puts a construction upon my words contrary to facts. As 
to the colour of bees, they are not unlike some creatures, changing colour 
according to circumstances. Like himself, we are all doing our best to 
instruct the novice, which is, owing to so much diversity of opinion 
often through want of experience, no easy task. So far as the nomen¬ 
clature of the colour of our native black, brown, blackish brown, 
brownish black, or greyish bees are concerned, we need not bother nor 
quibble about it. since everybody knows what is meant by the expression 
common black bee. There is no black bee of a uniform colour. I 
have some bees the progeny of a pure Carniolian, and I sent to a gentle¬ 
man in England last autumn another queen which also bred bees almost 
black, which were so conspicuously so as to excite an inquiry, What was 
the male parent? I could not answer, but I have often witnessed drones 
from imported Ligurian queens jet black. There is something more than 
the question of colour by which we can decide a pure race of bees ; 
shape and character must be taken into consideration. I have known 
apiaries of black bees so thoroughly ligurianised that judging from the 
appearance few if any person could tell their origin. Yet after Ligurian 
bees were discontinued to be kept in the neighbourhood, the colour, by 
breeding back and intermingling with Carniolian drones, has entirely 
disappeared. Yet the owner persists in saying his bees are pure black. 
I have witnessed drones returning eight miles bee flight to their original 
site after they were removed to the Heather, which gives us an idea how 
the drones spend their time during their midday flight, as well as how 
queens are so liable to mate with alien blood. 
“Notts Bee-keeper” tries to make it appear that my Ligurians 
gathered most honey, or rather that they are the best honey gatherers. 
I said no such thing. It is true that the highest weight I have on record 
is from a Ligurian cross, but neither the Cyprians, Syrians, nor Carnio- 
lians had the opportunity of so good a season as the Ligurians had, 
which have for long been the exception and not the rule, and what we 
northerners have to contend so much with, which our brother apiarians 
in the sunny south know little about, and which tells more in their 
favour than even good management. 
Your correspondent says, “‘L. B.K.’s’ best results appear to have 
been from Ligurians and their crosses, but through being subject to 
