September 9. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
375 
of very small seeds—such as those of Calceolarias, Lobelias, Rhododen¬ 
drons, &c., is that which we always recommend. Fill the pot more than 
one-half with any rough common soil; any thing will do for the bottom 
half, as the roots do not reach it. For Calceolarias use sandy loam for the 
top half, and sift as much of it as will make a fine thin layer on the top 
for placing the seeds on ; then water the pot, but so gently as not to dis¬ 
place any of the fine surface, and in less than half-an-hour the pot is 
ready to sow the seeds on. Sow them with the fore finger and thumb just 
as you would salt a sandwich, and about as thick. Then press the 
whole surface of the mould with the bottom of a smaller pot, or a smooth 
piece of circular wood ; this is to press the seeds into the soil without 
covering them; then with the finger and thumb again sow the thinnest 
layer you can of the sifted soil over the seeds, and the work is finished. 
The dampness of the soil under the seeds will soon rise to the thin 
particles above them, so that the usual way of watering after sowing is 
dispensed with, and the danger of displacing the seeds is thus avoided. 
Before the pot wants more water the seeds are either sprouting, or are 
now so firm in their bed that a gentle watering will not move them. It 
is a good plan to put a piece of glass over such pots, and a handful of 
damp moss over the glass to keep all cool, moist, and dark, for a few 
days, when the Calceolarias are sure to be up. September is the best 
month in the year to sow Calceolarias , for those who have convenience to 
get them over the winter. 
Salvia patens shedding its Flowers (A Novice). —The “cause 
and cure ” of this failure—flowers dropping ere they open—are equally 
mysterious to us, after all the experiments you have tried with it in the 
greenhouse and open border. Perhaps your stock is from a seedling plant 
with that disposition born with it; at any rate, we would change the 
stock, after trying it in two or three places in the kitchen-garden, where, 
if it drops its flowers, your soil does not suit it. 
Coarse Lawn (Beds). —There is no question or doubt about the best 
way, and also the cheapest in the long run, of improving a coarse lawn 
full of daisies and other weeds. The whole surface ought to be dug over 
a full spit deep, like a piece of the kitchen-garden, then relaid with turf 
which is free from all but the finer grasses, but no such turf can be 
bought any where, therefore, to obtain it we must sow seeds on purpose. 
The seed would answer any time from the first sowing of wheat in 
October, or a month earlier, to the time of barley sowing in the spring. 
As we dislike seeing the bare ground all the winter, we put off lawn 
sowing till the very end of March. The last week in March, and the first 
two in April, is therefore the best. 
Diseased Rhododendron Leaves ( Verax ).—There was no trace of 
insects on the Rhododendron leaves. When the Indian breed of Rhodo¬ 
dendrons are first turned out, or during very hot weather, or when too dry 
at the roots under a strong sun, if only for a few hours, they are very apt 
to turn brown in the leaves, just as yours looked to us. We never saw 
such leaves get wrong when the plants were turned out into the free soil, 
and we expect that some sudden check from want of water at the roots, 
and the very hot sun at the beginning of July, caused the mischief. 
Bedding Geraniums (A. A. W .).—For half-a-dozen of good bedding 
Geraniums, select Punch, Compactum, Pink Nosegay, Tom Thumb, 
Mangle's Variegated , and Salmon. The difference between a “ Gera¬ 
nium,” “ Fancy Geranium,” and “ Pelargonium,” is difficult to define ; 
botanically they are nearly all alike. Pelargonium is the book name 
of all the pot Geraniums, but nine out of ten people think it a pedantic 
name, and to please them we usually use the name Geranium for all those 
we use in the flower-garden, to distinguish the bedders from the ones 
they show for competition ; we often call the latter Pelargoniums ; and 
the Fancies are a new race, with small flowers and gay colours, as Queen 
Victoria , lbraham Pacha , &c. Get a plant of each, and that is the 
easiest way to understand the difference. 
Early Blooming Annuals (Rosetta). —You are answered at page 
354. The Collinsias, Gilias , and Silenes , are particularly suited to come 
in early, and to flower between bulbs while they are ripening their foliage. 
Your flower-garden figure is planted exceedingly well, and the only thing 
you require is to have a full bloom in May and the beginning of June, 
while the bedding plants are getting established; and that can only be 
done by annuals and such as are sown this month. Spring-sown annuals 
arc next to useless on the bedding system, except those that bloom all 
the season. 
Flower Garden (Violet). —Yours is a very pretty figure, and one of 
the easiest to plant. The four horse-shoe-like beds on each side of the 
centre diamond should be planted alike—that is, each bed on one side of 
the diamond should have the same plant, or the same colour and height 
of plant in the one opposite to it, either cross-cornerwise or straight. 
Eight annuals, to fill them in spring, you will find in our list, page 354. 
When the bulbs, and the Collinsias, &c., are removed, and the bedding 
plants are in, let all the bare places between the bedders be planted with 
annuals, to be sown now. 
Novel Half-hardy Climbers (Queen Mab). —Please your Majesty, 
we have nothing new in that style worth recommending, and all the 
Eucalyptuses , in or out of Australia, are not worth the shreds and nails 
to fasten them to walls. Where they will grow as trees and huge bushes 
they are excellent, but wall plants they are not. As this is not the time 
of year to plant out half-hardy or novel things, we will carry your 
Majesty’s request with us on our visits, and in two or three months we 
shall be able to say what are the best and most appropriate. Berberis 
tenuifolia is the only one of them that requires a wall, and is worth it. 
None of the Berchemias are worth your while. The Lardisabala tri - 
ternata is a fast-growing plant after the second year. 
Transplanting Hydrangeas (A Subscriber). — They will easily 
transplant at any age or size. April is the best time to move them; and 
if they have made long bare roots beyond the great tuft near the surface, 
it is best to cut them back to the main stool. 
Cochin-China Fowls (Ibid). —Those without well-feathered legs, 
that is, not “ booted,” to use the technical phrase, do not possess all the 
characteristics of a first-rate bird. The more densely the outside of the 
leg is feathered, and the nearer in colour the leg feathers are to those of 
the other parts of the body, the greater the beauty, so far as the booting 
is concerned. 
Cinerarias (S. S.). —The whole of the new Cinerarias are entirely 
unfit for bedding—“the more’s the pity;” but now is the time to prepare 
the Silver plant (Cineraria maritima ), and also C. amelloides (a dwarf, 
blue bloomer, and one of the best to plant at the end of July), to succeed 
the blue Nemophila that was sown at the beginning of April. There is 
no plant that will mix with the Ageratum Mexicanum; but almost any 
colour, except the scarce one, violet, will suit it, inside a belt of it, or 
outside. The best way is to have it in the centre of a bed, then scarlet 
geraniums, and a white or variegated border outside. 
Bees. — K. F. says :—“The hive B was driven into the new hive pro¬ 
nounced ‘ much too large,’ which surprised her, as it only exceeds by a 
trifle the dimensions given by the ‘ Country Curate of Ross,’ and the 
gardener (a Devonshire man) says, for good swarms they generally use 
bushel hives. However, the result is favourable (for this locality), it is 
nearly filled with comb, was hived June 30th, and a fortnight since had 
gained 11 lbs., but it must be confessed that none remained in the stock | 
hive, through a little bad management; but being so late in the season, 
and the hive so large, that is not to be regretted. Perhaps it is foolish 
to intrude all this information on Mr. Editor’s attention, as he must have 
forgotten all the previous communication ; but that is thought of too late. 
Concerning A, the weaker of the two, it was also driven into a box in the 
greenhouse, but only a very small swarm issued ; they are working 
extremely well (both the driven hives were fed for three days, or rather 
nights); at first, the stock A seemed to do well, and a prosperous colony 
was hoped for, but after three or four weeks they ceased to work, and it 
was concluded that they had not been able to procure another queen, 
neither were drones ever seen, and as K. F. had not then seen the 
remarks in the July number, and on weighing, found it very light, she 
thought it better to join them, as advised, by fumigation, to their friends 
in the greenhouse; not having succeeded in procuring German tinder, 
paper soaked in sulphur was used, which seemed to answer, but that they 
too soon recovered. However, they were put into a bell-glass of nine feet 
diameter, on the top of the box, and a piece of perforated tin over the 
whole ; the next morning the tin was withdrawn, thinking to follow the 
direction of * The Country Curate’s ’ English Bee-keeper, page 60, and 
that they would unite, when lo ! there was soon a pile of slain at the 
bottom of the box; the whole community was in excitement, carrying 
out their victims as fast as possible. After witnessing this warfare with 
much regret for a couple of hours, she replaced the straw hive, and 
carried the glass, with its remaining contents, into the garden, and there 
seemed yet a great many. That was a fortnight since, and she thought 
to attempt the union again, by fumigating both parties; but alas l how 
they have disappeared is a mystery ; but there are none to be seen in 
the hive, though occasionally one or two enter—perhaps strangers. 
The end and aim of this long history is only to beg the favour of any 
little hint as to the probable cause of failure.” “ Better luck next 
time." “ Practice makes perfect .” Let “ K. F.” derive consolation 
from these wise proverbs. The “ Country Curate ” has not been 
able to guess the cause of “ K. F.’s” mishaps, because he is ignorant of 
the particular method of treatment of A. and B. at swarming time. 
His directions in the “English Bee-keeper” cannot have been strictly 
followed, or success would have been the result. As to the failure of 
union of bees, attempted by setting a glassful of bees over a hole in the 
top of another hive, with a piece of perforated zinc interposed between 
them for several hours, there must have been a queen in the glass. Bees, 
in this way, will not peaceably unite, if each family has its queen. If 
“ G. K.’s” bees only weigh 11 lbs. now of contents, they must be liberally 
fed till they attain a weight of 20 lbs. contents. 
Bees. — Cymro says—“I have one hive of bees, and have been promised 
the bees of four hives at the taking of the honey (three of them are three 
miles away, and one about quarter-of-a-mile). If I united the three or 
four lots to my present hive (common straw, with the centre hole stopped 
up by a pin of wood), would it not be necessary to increase the size of 
the hive by placing another under it—say an eighteen-inch square hive, 
which next year could be made the stock hive, and allowed to swarm to 
increase the number of hives, which would be strong ones: would there 
be any advantage gained by this proceeding ? I should have said that 
I am to fumigate the bees with Racodium ; what length of time should 
the smoke be kept blown into the hive, so as not to carry it too far ? A 
cottage bee-keeper told me that he once found a swarm of bees in a 
hedge in a field, and took them home, and hived them, and put them 
along-side of others in his garden, and found that they were continually 
at war with each other. Numbers were slain, and, fearing the loss of all 
his bees, he was obliged to destroy the stray swarm. How can it be 
accounted for ? On referring to a back number of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener, I find that you say, bees from every county would live peaceably 
together in the same place ? ” The common straw hive, with a centre 
hole, will suffice for the four lots of bees. Do not use the square hole 
under it, if unnecessary; you will not get the bees to work in it now. 
The smoke may be kept in the hive until everything is perfectly quiet, 
after most of the bees have dropped down. If you use the dredger, have 
the spike at least five inches long. The bees fought, probably, because 
there was little honey to be obtained in the fields. 
Chrysanthemums turning Yellow (Tyro). —The most of the 
sorts you mention we have often seen yellow-leaved. Your soil maybe 
of a too-adhesive character, and, probably, you water all your chrysan¬ 
themums alike. You say they are well-drained, but, probably, not well 
enough. Yellowness and sickly appearance is caused from either stagna¬ 
tion of water, or sourness of soil at the root. Stir the surface well, and 
let them get dry before they are watered again. It is too common an 
occurrence to sec an inexperienced grower water all alike, whether 
already too wet or not. 
Taking Honey.— Mr. H. W. Newman says:—“Your correspondent, 
Rusticus, inquires the best way to take honey at this season, without 
destroying the bees. I have mentioned in The Cottage Gardener 
my own idea of ‘ humanity.* I am no advocate for driving or any 
