4G 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 12, 1894. 
prepared border. Duly pricted out and lightly protected during the 
winter, the plants should flower well next spring or summer. 
Herbaceous Iiobellas. —Properly grown these are grand bedding 
plants. The foliage of strong young plants nearly rivals the Iresine in 
colour, while, later on, handsome spikes of rich scarlet flowers are 
produced during the summer. They can be raised from seeds, and now 
is a good time to sow with a view to having strong young plants for the 
beds next summer. Sow in pans, place these in a cold frame, cover 
each with a square of glass, and keep close, moist, and shaded till the 
seedlings appear, afterwards admitting more light and air. Either place 
singly in 2-inch pots, or prick out in pans or boxes, wintering the 
plants in a cold frame or pit. 
IWCyosotlses. —These may still be raised in boxes as advised in the 
case of Campanulas. When large enough prick out on a well-prepared 
border, shade lightly, and freshen up with water on the evenings of hot 
days. In this way good plants will be prepared for the beds and borders 
next autumn. 
Polyanthuses and Primroses. —Seedlings raised in February or 
March and kept steadily growing, first in the seed pans, and then more 
thinly in boxes, and further prepared in cool kitchen garden borders, 
should make grand plants for flowering in beds next spring. Where so 
many err is in keeping the seedlings too long thickly in pans, and in 
giving them a poor dry position after they are turned out. They like 
rich soil, partial shade, and abundance of moisture. 
APIARIAN NOTES. 
Ingathering of Honey, 
We have had a week of fairly fine weather, although it has not 
been the best for bees. On the 29th ult. the test hive, previously 
referred to, gained 3 lbs., but lost f lb. during the night; 6 lbs. were 
gained on the 30th, but 1 lb. lost at night. On the 1st of July it 
again rose 5 lbs., losing 1 at night, the same occurring on the 2nd. 
That ended the honey gathering for a time, none being gathered 
up till the 6th. So far as these recorded experiments have been 
made, it is observed that immediately after heavy rains the liquid 
gathered by bees may be sweet, but contain no honey. As the 
heat continues the yield increases, but as a rule it takes about a 
week after heavy rains before honey becomes plentiful. The hive 
in question could, had there been a good honey flow, gathered 
easily 10 lbs. or more daily. At this date it has gathered 12 lbs. 
only, and it was the 3rd of July before I saw a single sealed cell in 
any of my hives. 
I had my first and only swarm on the 1st of the month. The 
bees being Carniolans will form the contents of the stock hive into 
nuclei for 1895 stock hives. I have supered part of them only. 
All of these took to the supers at once, but I cannot obtain honey 
to store in them. Most of my bees are in full-sized hives, and 
these are the most advanced, being in much better condition than 
the few in smaller hives. One experiment, valuable to bee-keepers, 
was made and fully tested. In May, when stores were in most 
cases exhausted, I fed part of the bees liberally, ttien discontinued. 
The others I fed in driblets, after the “ stimulative ” fashion. 
The latter in most cases made no progress—indeed, went back ; 
while the former are in first-class condition, just as I presumed 
they would be. 
The Clover is blooming, and with eight or more fine days a 
surplus will be had from good hives. Punic bees are making a 
fine show whenever they have an opportunity, but when honey is 
not to be had they lose themselves flying in search of it, and are 
the first to appear at any spoliation. Their prolificacy is wonderful. 
If the weather settles every hive will be supered, and if any throw 
a swarm it will be placed in its permanent hive immediately, and 
the supers transferred from the stock hive to it at the same time. 
In most cases I may unite two prime swarms, and eight days 
having expired I shall prevent after swarms by excising all queen 
cells less one good one. If the after swarms come sooner than 
that I shall place the first one into a separate hive, then by degrees 
give it the combs and bees of the original hive. In cases where 
bee-keepers wish an increase, after swarms are the best to preserve. 
Diseased Bees. 
Since writing on the disease, termed by me chloric dropsical 
fever, I have had a number of inquiries relative to it with samples 
of bees. None of the bees sent me are affected with the above 
disease, but with an affliction nearly as bad, the result of improper 
management. In every instance the bees were gorged with pollen, 
that in times of scarcity of honey they appear to consume, which 
they cannot assimilate nor discharge. 
Pollen is very abundant in the bottom of cells containing 
Heather honey, especially in those in the body of the hive. H ves 
so conditioned are in the best of order for breeding ; but when the 
pure honey becomes exhausted the bees take to honey and pollen 
for brood, hence the fatality of so many bees this year. The past 
winter was abnormally mild ; bees were almost daily on the wing, 
breeding went on briskly, and stores went down proportionately 
rapid. The unsuspecting bee-keeper accustomed to 15 or 20 lbs. 
of honey bringing through strong stocks in ordinary years, was 
taken by surprise, and the bees died, owing to their master lacking 
knowledge. 
For many years I have been reminding bee-keepers to feed 
liberally with sugar syrup all Heather hives. So conscious were 
our forefathers of this that they made it a rule never to take a 
hive to the Heather intended as a stock hive, although they knew 
well that Heather hives were the best breeders in the spring if they 
passed the winter ordeal unscathed. Many cases of the so-called 
dysenteric hives during winter are but the result of bees eating 
pollen in scantily honeyed hives. 
Bees affected with chloric dropsical fever have no pollen in 
their intestines, and the disease is comparatively local.—A Lanark¬ 
shire 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. 
Tomatoes not Rlpenlngr (J. W. B .').—The box of fruit arrived 
too late to be examined for the purpo.se of giving a reply this week. The 
matter shall be attended to, and your questions answered in our next issue. 
Diseased Tomatoes (J, B. 0. and Cross), — The Tomatoes 
sent are attacked by Cladosporium lycopersici, a disease which was 
described and illustrated on page 23 of our last issue. Follow the 
instructions there given as regards removing and burning the worst 
infested leaves and fruit, also spray the plants with the Bordeaux mixture 
as recommended. 
Bolllngr Iilme and Sulphur togrether In Water (71 C. C.),— 
When lime and sulphur are boiled together in water, the sulphur 
dissolves and unites with the lime (base), forming bi-sulphide of calcium. 
It is not likely you will kill the Peronospora sparsa by a few dressings 
of the Bordeaux mixture, as the tissues of the Rose leaves were 
permeated by the mycelium of the fungus, and from that outgrowths 
will push for some time. By continuing the treatment, and if need 
arise, increasing the strength of the mixture, but taking care to only do 
so to a safe extent, the parasite will be successfully overcome. It is 
necessary to collect all fallen leaves, and cut away dead or dying 
growths and burn them. The fungus, so far as we are aware, has not 
been described and illustrated in a similar manner as Mr. W. G. Smith’s 
on Rose mildew was some time ago in this Journal. 
Culture of Hertera depressa (77. B .).—The following note 
regarding the culture of this plant is doubtless the one to which you 
refer:—“The plants were kept in a greenhouse until the berries died 
away, when some plants were started for the succeeding year. This 
would be in autumn, about the end of August. Pans about a foot in 
diameter were well drained and filled up with soil, the soil being put 
in firmly and slightly raised above the level of the pots, small pieces of 
the Nertera being pricked in like seedling plants or cuttings. The pans 
were then set on a shady shelf in a stove, keeping the plants moist at 
the root, and syringing the tops. After the plants had filled the 
pans they were removed to a cool vinery, only supplying sufficient water 
to keep the plants moist and in a fresh condition. The soil used was 
similar to what young Cinerarias will thrive in—a mixture of loam, leaf 
mould, decayed manure, and sand. In spring to start the plants into 
growth they were put on a shelf near the glass of a Peach house, and 
watered overhead sometimes three or four times a day, according to the 
weather. On this shelf the pans remained until the berries began to 
colour, when they were removed to the greenhouse. With this treatment 
as fine specimens were produced as could be desired, and they were 
particularly noticed by visitors.’’ 
Calceolarias Diseased (6*. F.). — The plants are “diseased,” as 
you conclude, and it is one of those ailments which have not been 
satisfactorily elucidated. It consists of the destruction of the bark, and 
