258 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March SI, 1887. 
the pots to encourage surface rooting and increase the number of feeders 
for absorbing the stimulants applied in liquid form. 
PLANT HOUSES. 
Acliimenes .—The best means of producing even specimens of these 
plants, in pots, pans, or baskets for various forms of decoration, is to strike 
cuttings in the pots, &c., in which they are to be grown and flowered. 
Tubers started some time ago will now be sufficiently grown to yield a 
good supply of cuttings. These should be taken above the lowest joint 
of the parent, which in due time will break again freely into growth ; 
two or three shoots will be produced in place of the one removed. It 
is immaterial about the tops being cut just below a joint, as is general 
in making cuttings, for Achimenes root freely from the stem, and the 
tops may be inserted as they are taken without dressing. The pots or 
pans should be filled within half an inch of the rim with fibry loam, 
one-third leaf mould, one-seventh of decayed manure, and a liberal dash 
of sand, a good layer of sand being placed on the surface. Insert the 
cuttings as thickly as possible without crowding them. A good water¬ 
ing may be given, and the pots placed in the propagating frame or in 
a shady position in the Cucumber or Melon house. They will root more 
quickly in the first position, but a close frame is not absolutely neces¬ 
sary. Plants raised by this means do not become so tall before they 
commence flowering as when the tubers with growth attached are trans¬ 
planted. When required for baskets they may be rooted thickly 
together in pans filled with sand, and from these transplanted into 
baskets. Our stock plants are topped several times—in fact, until the 
necessary stock for the season has been raised, when they are allowed 
to grow. These come in well for late flowering, and are reserved again 
for stock. All the plants raised from cuttings are conveyed to the 
rubbish heap as they cease flowering. 
Gardtnias .—Young plants rooted last September and wintered in 
3-inch pots may now be transfered into 5 or 6-inch pots. Pinch the 
shoots from time to time as they extend until six or eight have been 
formed, when they may be allowed to grow until they are 6 inches in 
length, when they may be stopped and tied out towards the rim of the 
pots. This will induce the formation of suckers from the base, which 
must be encouraged if large well furnished plants are required by 
autumn. If grown in moist brisk heat and placed in 8-inch pots 
when ready there is no difficulty iu producing specimens 2 feet in 
diameter by the time they are a year old. Those who have not plants in 
this condition may select healthy growing shoots and insert them singly 
in small pots in sandy soil, or three or four may be inserted in the same 
pot and grown together. Divide flowering plants into two or three 
batches, so that the supply of bloom may be prolonged as much as 
possible. The earliest plants may be pushed forward in brisk heat, 
while the latest must not be starved by keeping them in a lower 
temperature than 55°. If starved the flower buds invariably are de¬ 
formed. A little artificial manure may be applied to the surface of the 
soil, or feeding with liquid may be resorted to, but it must be used in a 
weak state, or more harm than good may be done. 
Tabernteinont/inag .—Where buttonholes, wreaths, and bouquets are in 
demand few plants are more serviceable than the double forms of this 
plant. A lengthened supply of bloom may be had by a system of push¬ 
ing some plants forward while others are retarded. Two or three large 
plants are invaluable, but where room is limited and small ones only 
can be accommodated grow them on the same as advised for Gardenias ; 
the same treatment suits them exactly. Plants that have become bare at 
the base may be cut hard back, and in the space of a season they will 
make well furnished handsome specimens again. After cut-back plants 
have broken well into growth they may be turned out of their pots, the 
roots reduced, and repotted again in a smaller size. They will bear this 
without the slightest injury ; in fact, will be benefited by having fresh 
compost. They can be repotted as growth extends. Young growing shoots 
root as freely as those of Gardenias, and will make bushy flowering 
plants in 5-inch pots in a year. 
Francises <*.—Few plants are more beautiful in the stove, for their 
soft blue and deep violet coloured blossoms are most conspicuous 
amongst others. Small bushy plants suitable for home decoration can 
be grown and flowered as profusely as those of a larger size. Propaga¬ 
tion is readily effected by cuttings of the young wood, which should be 
inserted in sandy soil and covered with a bellglass, or plunged in the 
propagating box, where gentle bottom heat can be given. When rooted 
the young plant must be induced to branch by pinching, which must be 
practised until a dwarf bushy little plant has been produced, when the 
shoots may be allowed to extend and bloom. While growing give 
abundance of light, especially during the time the growth is being 
formed from which flowers are required. Francisceas delight in heat 
and moisture during the growing season, and while making their growth 
should be syringed at least twice daily. When a number of plants are 
grown together, and a portion of them are required for successional 
purposes, this can be accomplished by retarding them in a lower tem¬ 
perature. These plants are of a very accommodating nature, and can 
bo had in bloom for a considerable portion of the year ; in fact the 
period can be regulated by a judicious system of pinching and pushing 
the plants again into fresh growth. Plants that have enjoyed a good 
period of rest may be pruned well back and pushed again into growth 
in brisk heat. If well furnished with branches their shoots can be 
allowed to extend until they come into flower, but if the plants are thin 
pinch the shoots two or three times after a few inches of growth has 
been made until they are well furnished. These plants do well in loam, 
leaf mould, and sand, but good peat and sand is preferable. 
Spheerogyne latifolia .—Plants that have become too tall for ordinary 
ornamental purposes may have the leading growth removed from between 
the last pair of leaves made. This will induce the formation of side 
shoots, which, when large enough, should l>c taken off and rooted in 
sandy soil in brisk heat in the propagating frame. Cyanophyllum mag- 
liificum may be subjected to the same treatment. 
, , , i . !■: , .ti , i I I . f,-| 
1 
If 
mi 
IE BEE-KEEPER. 
* i *J -J • ' * > --i ' • .i --i --I. -■ 1 -.A- ' • ' • » •- 
V liSM 
PRACTICAL BEE-KEEPING. 
No. 7. 
It is now necessary to point out the best method of 
obtaining the bees with which to stock our hives. In 
bee-keeping a good beginning is very conducive to a good 
ending, and I am therefore most anxious to assist all who 
desire this year to become bee-keepers to obtain either a 
good stock or a good swarm. It may be noticed that a 
swarm is the surplus population of a stock; a stock is a 
swarm which has become established in its hive. There 
are three principal ways in which a bee-keeper may attain 
the desired object. These are:—1, By purchasing a 
swarm; 2, By purchasing a stock; 3, By feeding driven 
bees into a stock. Of these in their order. A swarm 
must only he bought under the following conditions:— 
1, That it is delivered before the 15th of June; 2, That 
it weighs at least 4 lbs.; 3, That the queen at the head is 
only in her second year. An early swarm is valuable, 
and the price will therefore he comparatively high. A 
swarm fulfilling the three conditions above laid down will 
cost at least 25s., often more. Such a swarm is, however, 
cheaper at that price than a smaller or later one at a 
much less sum. Who does not remember an old saying 
once often heard in agricultural districts ?— 
“ A swarm in May is worth a load of hay ; 
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon ; 
A swarm in July isn’t worth a butterfly.” 
Unless the man who desires to purchase a swarm such 
as we have attempted to describe knows some local bee¬ 
keeper in whose honesty and judgment he can implicitly 
trust, it is better to buy the swarm from one of the great 
dealers, who will supply exactly what is required, at an 
increase of price perhaps, but without the risk otherwise 
incurred by one who, knowing nothing himself about bees, 
has to trust to another who may be equally ignorant but 
less ready to confess it. The advantage of stipulating for 
a young queen in the prime of life and vigour is quite 
manifest, but it maybe remarked that when a May swarm 
is purchased from an ordinary bee-keeper the queen is 
quite as likely as not to be in her third or even fourth 
season. And why ? Because the stock from which such 
swarm issues or is taken was probably itself an early 
swarm of the preceding year, and therefore headed by a 
queen of at least the year before. Now it has been for 
many years, and still is, a very common custom to take 
up old stocks from which swarms have issued, and to 
leave the first swarms to form the stocks for the succeed¬ 
ing year. This habit largely prevails even in apiaries 
managed upon new principles not thoroughly carried 
out. 
I do not advise anyone to commence bee-keeping by 
the purchase of a swarm, for it is, I believe, needlessly 
expensive without any corresponding advantage for the 
increased outlay. For the price given for a swarm a 
stock can be purchased in March, and in the stock we 
buy the swarm ; we may, therefore, pass on to the second 
means of starting our apiary. 
