22 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 5,1894, 
m 
m BEE-KBEPER. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
The Weather. 
From June 25th the wintry weather gave way to really genial 
summer days. The tollowing are the temperatures from the above 
date up till the 29th ult. 24th, 38°-52°; 25th, 38°-55° ; 26th, 
38°-70° ; 27th, 55°-75° ; 28th, 43°-79°; 29th, 50°-80°. On the 24th 
a change of temperature occurred. Bees were anxious to be out, 
and many were chilled. They busied themselves puncturing the 
spurs of Aquilegias for the honey they contained. 
Honey Gathering —A Test Hive. 
June 26th, the first bee day of the summer—and the bees 
worked well upon the Charlock—I suspended a good hive on a 
spring balance that evening, and by the next evening it had 
increased 1 lb. The next morning it was back to the original 
weight. On the 27th another pound was gained, and lost again 
during the night. On the 28th 3 lbs. were gained, and 1 lb. lost 
during the night. With a continuation of favourable weather 
the ingathering will increase daily, but not until my test hive has 
increased from 15 to 20 lbs. in weight shall I venture to super, 
and then only if the weather keeps promising. I will keep a 
register of the evening and mornings’weights of the above hive 
until it swarms. It is interesting, and is an index to the doings 
of the other stocks and a guide to the apiarist. 
Rupering and Yentilation. 
In the case of all strong colonies I will give two stories to com¬ 
mence with, while the weaker hives will be supplied with one 
only. I have no swarms yet, nor do I expect any for some days, 
but it must be remembered that there is a vast difference in the 
strength of my hives than those from a third to a half smaller. 
Mine have breeding and storage space for present and future use. 
It is bad practice to raise the hive from the floor during warm 
weather. The hot air rushing in on. all sides raises instead of 
lowering the temperature, and so affects the ingathering of honey. 
If the hives become too warm a little grass, or a wet sack laid on 
them, or syringing with water tends to lower the temperature 
greatly, and increases the activity of the bees. Where water is 
scarce cover the grass or a wet bag with a dry one. 
Fruit Trees and Bees. 
Fruit-bearing deciduous trees are a decided advantage to hives 
in hot weather, while they in no way injure them during the 
winter. The blossom is welcomed by the bees ; not less so is the 
fruit to the bee-keeper. The present year is a repetition of the 
many bad ones experienced by aged bee-keepers, who know what to 
do, and how to do it. During the past week there has been more 
growth than in the two months previous, and the Heather which 
but a short time since had a frosted appearance is now growing 
rapidly.—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. We 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 communications. 
Eelworm In Tomatoes (F. TP.).—Yes, your plant represents a 
bad case of eelworm. By all means try the phenol solution as advised, 
and favour us with the results. We fear, however, the case is too 
advanced for cure. Still, try the remedy in different strengths, and 
you will gain experience that may be beneficial to yourself and others. 
We are obliged by your note, which arrived just in time for insertion 
on page 9. 
Peacb Stones Splitting- (^Sunderland') —The fruit you send is 
Early Rivers, a most excellent early variety, and would be extremely 
valuable but for its proneness to split at the stone. Dr. Hogg says 
in the “ Fruit Manual ” that this probably arises from imperfect 
fertilisation, from the pistil protruding too far beyond the stamens. 
Pollen should be taken from some other variety which produces it 
freely, and applied to the flowers with a soft brush, with the view to as 
far as possible averting the evil in question. 
Cesspool Refuse (A Young Gardener) —Nothing is more variable 
in strength than the contents of cesspools, and in dealing with such 
matter no plan is so safe as proceeding by experiment. We suspect you 
have a rich store of plant food if rightly used, but recklessly 
applied it may be plant poison. Dilute some with six times its volume 
of water, and try it on grass, also on young plants in the garden, such as 
Lettuce and others, as well as on any in pots that you can afford to 
kill. The application may not kill them, it may, indeed, benefit them, 
and in either case yon will gain valuable information. Possibly one 
part of sewage to ten of water may be strong enough for plants in pots, 
if not for Cucumbers and Melons in beds. You are much more likely 
to err in using the sewage too strong than too weak. Proceed cautiously, 
and you will scon find how to prepare the liquid to best suit the 
different plants and crops. 
Tomatoes Diseased (Echo). — The plants are suffering from 
root infection by a fungus, which produces a canker, and is no doubt 
introduced with the soil. The fungus attacks the roots and ascends the 
stem, being on^ of those hitherto considered a saprophyte ; but it cer¬ 
tainly is parasitic in your case, and as there are more than one species 
and of different genera w’e are unable to fix upon the right one, though 
both to our knowledge are parasitic and have active mycelium in the 
living tissues of the plants. We do not recommend the use of bone- 
meal nor of superphosphate of any kind, but lime as advised in last 
week’s issue. The disease is hardly likely to lurk in the woodwork of 
the house, but no harm and possibly good would follow a thorough 
cleansing. Although it has been suggested, we do not know of any 
disease or condition of the plant, constitutional or otherwise, that will 
produce a fungus, but a change of seed is desirable. 
Cucumber Plants Dying (Cross). —We think the plants sent are 
those of young Cucumbers, but through being surrounded with dry 
cotton wool and resting in the post during Sunday they were about as 
dry as well made hay, and almost beyond identification. You say 
“ they were raised twenty in a 32-pot, and as soon as the rough leaf 
showed potted into 60’s, some being twisted round and others left 
straight, then they go off ; the men say by ‘ dry rot,’ while you suspect 
fungus in the soil and errors in watering.” This is one of those cases 
in which the cause of failure was apparent at a glance. It is a case of 
mismanagement, and nothing else. The plants were allowed to make 
spindly stems 6 inches from the soil to the seed leaves, and then another 
joint of growth and rough leaves before being removed. The roots 
would of necessity be interlaced, and all the more active feeding parts 
torn off. It could not be otherwise. Some of the spindled plants were 
“ twisted ” in the pot, others not. There may or may not have been 
errors in watering. We know nothing about that; but we know the 
few broken roots were incapable of imbibing the required nourishment 
for the plants, and in their endeavour to absorb it through the succulent 
stems they perished. You will not have a similar calamity by, as you 
propose, sowing one seed in each 60-size pot, always provided the plants 
are kept stout and sturdy, large seed leaves developing just above the 
soil, and no mistake is made in watering. 
Tomatoes Falling to Set (J. S.). —You ought to have given fuller 
particulars, and we could then most probably have given the true cause 
of the flowers dropping prematurely and wholesale. Some varieties— 
Trophy and Mikado for instance—frequently fail to set good crops 
under glaBs,*though they will crop heavily in the open. Are your plants 
merely trained up the roof or grown in rows across the houses? 
Probably it is the latter plan that is followed, as you say they are 
about 4 feet long and grown on a single stem. Seeing that you have 
not grown them too rankly and have avoided the other extreme, the 
most probable cause of the flower dropping is overcrowding. The 
rows across a house should be not less than 3 feet asunder, and the 
plants 1 foot or rather more apart in the rows. Planted more thickly 
than that the chances are the flowers will be weak and a crop fail to 
set. If overcrowding would appear to be the cause, and of this you 
can now judge for yourself, cut out some of the plants or shorten 
them to any fruit there may be set, also slightly reducing the size of 
the older leaves. Possibly you have not used any fire heat for some 
weeks past, in which case an improvement will soon be perceptible now 
that the weather has greatly improved. Earlier in the year it is also 
necessary to tap the stems or the wires smartly towards noon every 
day after flowering has well commenced, with a view to effectively 
distributing the pollen grains. At this time of year a good circulation 
of air ought to obviate the necessity for any artificial distribution of 
pollen. Over-luxuriant plants frequently fail to set good crops, but once 
a plant is bearing well feeding ought to commence, otherwise the 
later flowers will fail to set owing to exhaustion. 
