786 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 3, 1901 
THE APIARY. 
Removing Surplus. 
The end of the honey season is drawing nigh. 
With the exception of those situated in Heather 
districts all honey should be removed within a 
fortnight from now. With a few this is rather a 
formidable task, but thanks to the Porter bee escape 
whole racks of comb honey can be removed at one 
time without hurting a bee or receiving a single 
sting. This is a great consideration with those who 
have timid neighbours to contend with. 
Those who only work one rack of sections on their 
hives remove the sections whenever they are filled. 
This should be done about the middle of the day 
when the bees are gathering honey freely. Remove 
the coverings and give just a little smoke or the bees 
will tear open the cells. Remove the follower, 
" that keeps the sections tight in their place,” when 
those of the sections that are fully capped over may 
be removed, shaking the bees adhering to them on 
to the alighting board ; any stragglers left may be 
brushed off with a feather. 
Bee keepers who go in for tiering one rack above 
another will benefit by receiving more honey and of 
a better quality. It is a well known fact amongst 
beekeepers that the bees, as long as they cover or 
remain on the honey comb, will improve it to a 
wonderful degree. 
When the season is drawing to a close no more 
room should be given and the racks may be taken 
off one at a time or all together by the use of the bee 
escape fixed to a board with bee space on both sides. 
Lift up the surplus boxes ; if firmly glued down use 
a chisel as a lever ; give a little smoke and place 
bee escape on top of frames, replacing surplus boxes 
on top. See that the bees have no other outlet but 
through escape; and if this has been done in the 
evening all the honey may be removed in the 
morning clear of bees. Of course if the queen has 
got into sections, or if there is brood in any of them, 
the majority of the bees will remain. In all cases it 
is the most profitable to use excluder. 
Shallow frames that have been used for extracting 
should have the honey taken from them and given 
back to the bees to clean. All honey whether ex¬ 
tracted or comb should be kept in a warm room for 
a few weeks. A vinery that is ripening is a good 
place for it, shaded from the sun and dust. The 
warm dry atmosphere ripens it up, giving a flavour 
and consistence to it that is well worth the extra 
trouble taken. 
Scrape all propolis and wax off the wood with a 
blunt knife or piece of glass. Glaze on both sides 
and keep in a warm dry cupboard until used. Ex¬ 
tracted honey may be kept in bulk or run into i lb. 
jars. Have two or three grades for your honey and 
lower the price accordingly. 
Although the early part of the year was sore on 
bees and beekeepers alike, those who kept a kindly 
eye on their stocks and had them ready for the flow 
when it did come reaped the benefit. Takes of from 
fifty to hundred sections per hive are fairly common, 
while those who go in for extracted honey are well 
above ioo lbs. 
The Heather season will soon be on us with all its 
excitement of furious bees, frightened drivers and 
horses and the jolly bee-men. 
Before sending bees to the Heather, they gener¬ 
ally have to go through a special preparation if the 
most is to be taken from them. There are a great 
many methods used by different bee-keepers ; but I 
will only give the way adopted by those who have 
been most successful at the Heather. Take a 
nucleus that has a fine young laying queen and a 
strong stock that has done well at the Clover. Two 
or t^ree days before you send them to the Heather, 
remove the old queen and join the two together, 
giving the nucleus nine frames as well filled as is 
possible with hatching brcod. Any that are over 
may be given to other stock. Give at least two 
section racks which will be filled with bees at once 
and will provide ample ventilation when shifting, 
provided a sheet of scrim cloth is tacked over the 
top and the sides between rack and hive firmly filled 
with any old rags handy. Nail a bit of wire cloth 
over entrance, pass a rope round the hive and over 
the roof to keep all firm and convenient to handle. 
These simple precautions will insure safe transit 
in nearly all cases and with any ordinary hives. 
Most firms stock, at least, one hive more or 
less convenient for shifting to the Heather. Heather 
is eight or ten days earlier this year, and with fair 
weather, should help to swell the record for 1901— 
Doonfoot. 
■-"•#*■- 
SWEET PEA BLANCHE BURPEE. 
Amongst Sweet Peas there are two varieties which 
seem to be running one another in competition for the 
first place in the affection and estimation of cultiva¬ 
tors. These are Blanche Burpee and Sadie 
Burpee, curiously enough both from America. Both 
are hooded flowers, the hood being most decided in 
the case of Sadie Burpee. Now and again there is 
a sort of campaign against hooded flowers, but not¬ 
withstanding this a large proportion of the most 
popular or standard sorts possesses hooded flowers. 
There is, however, an element of beauty in hooded 
Sweet Peas, and the public appreciate them. The 
form also assists greatly in lending variety to the 
form of a flower that has been developed into all 
shades o( colour, of which the Sweet Pea seems 
capable, but we do not imply that the limits even in 
this respect have been reached. The next, that is, 
further improvement on Blanche Burpee, would be 
greater size and substance, though in the former 
case some might consider it no advance, or not 
desirable. With increased substance, however, we 
think it hardly possible to make the Sweet Pea 
coarse on account of size. The accompanying 
illustration shows the hooded character of the 
standard of Blanche Burpee. 
SOCIETIES. 
NEWCASTLE SUMMER FLOWER SHOW .—July 
■zyd and 24th. 
The above show was held in the Leazes Park on 
July 23rd and 24th. The society claims to be the 
oldest of the kind in England, having been estab¬ 
lished in 1824. The show was a splendid one from 
every point of view. The entries exceeded those of 
last year by fifty, having reached 370, which 
were divided into sixty-seven classes. The exhibits 
as a whole were of an exceptionally fine character, 
and reached a high standard of excellence. When 
the show opened the weather was dull and threaten¬ 
ing, occasional glimpses of sunshine alternating with 
ominous clouds. However, Old Sol broke out, and 
the weather was all that could be desired. The 
Roses were a superb lot, and were the cynosure of 
all eyes. The herbaceous stuff was splendid, and 
better one could not desire to see. Fruit was up to 
the average, but stove and greenhouse plants were 
hardly up to the usual standard. Table decorations 
were very good, too, and greatly admired by the 
public. The arrangements for the show were 
efficiently carried out by the council, ably assisted 
by the courteous secretary, Mr. Read. The public 
was well looked after in the way of entertainment, 
the committee having arranged with Mr. Will Sley 
to provide a good programme of star artistes, a 
military band was in attendance, and there was a 
splendid pyrotechnic display each evening. The 
judges were Mr. James Douglas, Edenside, Great 
Bookham; Mr. James Hudson, Gunnersbury 
House, Acton; Mr. George Paul, Old Nurseries. 
Cheshunt; and Mr. Henry Hudson, Cragside, Roth- 
bury. 
Appended is a list of the principal prize¬ 
winners :— 
Open Classes. 
There were several very artistically arranged groups 
of plants. That shown by Mr. H. Hilliar, Darling¬ 
ton, was well deserving of its position as first in the 
awards, and in addition to this honour it was also 
awarded a Silver Banksian Medal of the Rojal 
Horticultural Society. Mr. F. Edmondson, of New¬ 
castle, was placed second. His arrangement and 
the quality of his plants was very good, but it would 
