260 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
March  25,  1897. 
Watering,  Feeding ,  and  Mulching. — From  the  time  the  Vines  are 
started  until  the  fruit  ripens  they  must  not  lack  moisture  at  the  roots. 
It  is  extremely  difficult  to  state  how  often  the  borders  must  be  watered 
through  these  being  so  variable  in  soil  and  dimensions,  in  depth,  and  in 
their  formation.  A  narrow  border  will  need  watering  twice  as  often  as 
one  double  the  width,  and  a  border  of  loose  materials  will  require  much 
more  water  and  frequently  than  one  formed  of  firm  retentive  soil,  con¬ 
sequently  the  cultivator  must  be  guided  by  the  state  of  the  Vines  in 
relation  to  their  rooting  area.  The  proper  plan  is  to  examine  the  border, 
and  when  water  is  needed  give  a  thorough  supply.  Surface  dressings  of 
the  approved  advertised  chemical  manures,  and  supplies  of  liquid 
manure  may  be  given.  The  borders  having  been  dressed  at  the  time  the 
Vines  were  at  rest,  a  dressing  after  the  Grapes  are  set,  repeated  about 
the  completion  of  the  stoning  process,  will  help  considerably,  the 
material  as  regards  inside  borders  being  at  once  washed  in,  or  a  good 
supply  at  those  times  of  liquid  manure,  and  when  the  fruit  commences 
to  colour  will  assure  the  berries  swelling  to  a  good  size.  In  the  case  of 
Vines  restricted  to  narrow  borders  higher  feeding  will  be  necessary, 
affording  liquid  manure  whenever  there  is  need  of  moisture.  Supply  a 
mulching  a  couple  of  inches  thick  of  rather  lumpy  manure,  the  best 
being  stable  manure  freed  from  the  straw,  but  it  must  be  sweetened 
before  introducing  to  the  house,  otherwise  too  much  ammonia  vapour 
may  arise  and  injure  the  Vines. 
Late  Vines. — Syringe  those  that  have  commenced  growth  two  or 
three  times  a  day,  endeavouring  to  secure  an  even  break  by  closing  with 
a  moist  atmosphere  of  75°.  Employ  fire  heat  as  may  be  necessary  to 
secure  a  minimum  of  55°.  Vigorous  young  VineB  do  not  start  regularly, 
therefore  to  prevent  a  rush  of  sap  to  the  upper  part  of  the  canes  they 
should  be  brought  into  a  horizontal  position  until  all  the  buds  have 
started. 
Late  houses  of  Black  Hamburghs  may  be  allowed  to  start  naturally 
next  month,  they  advancing  sufficiently  by  sun  heat  and  a  little  artificial 
warmth  on  cold  nights  to  set  and  have  the  Grapes  thinned  by  early  J une, 
and  the  fruit  mainly  forwarded  by  sun  heat  ripen  in  late  September, 
which  suits  them  very  well,  for  if  ripened  earlier  they  are  liable  to  lose 
colour  and  quality  by  hanging,  which  is  common  to  all  black  Grapes 
with  thin  skins;  even  Madresfield  Court  becomes  quite  red  by  November, 
yet  none  loses  colour  so  badly  as  Hamburghs. 
Young  Vines. — Canes  planted  last  year  as  such  and  cut  back  to  the 
bottom  of  the  rafter  or  trellis  at  the  winter  pruning  must  be  encouraged 
by  gentle  fire  heat,  so  as  to  allow  time  for  their  making  and  perfecting  a 
good  growth.  The  laterals  must  have  their  points  pinched  out  at  the 
first  leaf  up  to  a  height  of  6  feet  of  the  current  growths  on  the  canes, 
which  will  cause  the  buds  in  the  axils  of  the  principal  leaves  of  the  canes 
to  form  fruit  buds  and  become  plump  for  next  season’s  fruiting,  but 
above  that  height  may  be  allowed  to  grow  more,  so  as  to  strengthen  the 
rod. 
1.I----J  i.  >■!' -i  ■  i  :  i  .  i  -  j~±-i  .  i  .  i  -  r.  i  -  i  -r  -  »  -  i.i  .’i  -  J.  i  -  I -i - re=3i 
m 
iHLBE&KEEPml 
Flowers  for  Bees. 
The  weather  has  been  wet  and  boisterous  for  some  time  past. 
The  temperature,  too,  has  been  lower  than  is  usual  at  this  season. 
Still  flowers  may  be  observed  in  all  directions  in  country  districts, 
not  only  on  the  sunny  banks  by  the  roadside,  but  in  the  sheltered 
woodlands.  On  the  former  the  most  prominent  at  present  are  the 
yellow  Buttercup,  Primroses,  and  the  wild  Violet.  The  latter  will 
soon  be  carpeted  with  the  Wood  Anemone ;  already  in  the  more 
sheltered  spots  the  blooma  are  almost  expanded. 
The  bees  work  more  or  less  on  all  the  above — in  fact,  at  this 
early  season  they  may  be  observed  to  be  hard  at  work  collecting 
from  flowers  which  they  ignore  later  in  the  season  when  flower*  are 
more  plentiful.  Take  the  Violet  for  instance.  Although  they  are 
somewhat  plentiful  in  the  majority  of  gardens  in  the  country  and 
bloom  freely  in  the  autumn,  it  is  an  unusual  thing  to  see  bees  at 
work  on  the  flowers.  At  the  present  moment  during  a  spell  of 
bright  sunshine  the  bees  are  busy  amongst  the  expanded  blooms  of 
a  bed  of  Victoria  Regina  Violet  within  a  few  yards  of  where  I  am 
writing. 
One  of  the  best  pollen- producing  trees  ia  the  common  Palm 
Willow,  which  grows  freely  in  any  situation,  but,  like  all  the  Salix 
tribe,  prefers  plenty  of  moisture.  They  are  not  only  ornamental 
at  a  season  when  the  majority  of  deciduous  trees  are  bare  (not 
having  yet  put  on  their  summer  garb),  but  useful,  owing  to  the 
great  amount  of  pollen  they  produce.  It  is,  however,  many  years 
since  bees  have  been  confined  to  their  hives  so  much  as  they  have 
throughout  the  past  winter,  as  up  to  the  present  there  have  been  but 
few  days  in  which  the  bees  were  able  to  venture  far  from  home,  ao 
have  derived  but  little  benefit  from  the  flowers. 
% 
Garden  Flowers. 
Under  this  heading  may  be  included  some  of  the  flowers 
mentioned  above,  for  are  not  Primroses  and  Violets  cultivated  in 
the  majority  of  gardens  ?  and  what  a  showy  early  flowering  variety 
is  Harbinger  Primrose,  distributed  by  our  old  friend,  the  late  Mr. 
R.  Gilbert,  of  Burghley  ?  A  few  square  yards  of  a  border  planted 
with  this  variety  near  my  bees  have  been  a  sheet  of  bloom  for 
several  weeks  past,  and  should  be  grown  by  all,  irrespective  of 
bee-keepers,  for  its  beauty.  It  has  also  the  advantage  of  being 
perfectly  hardy. 
The  Winter  Aconite  and  Snowdrops  are  now  over,  but  owing 
to  reasons  given  above  they  have  been  of  less  benefit  than  usual  to 
the  bees.  The  Crocuses  are  nearly  past  ;  there  has  been  plenty  of 
bloom.  The  bees,  however,  worked  but  little  on  them.  Scilla 
sibirica  is  fast  opening  its  flowers,  which  will  last  for  some  time  to 
come.  How  handsome  masses  of  this  bulb  look  when  in  flower 
if  planted  under  trees  in  the  grass.  In  fact,  the  majority  of 
bulbs  will  grow  and  produce  seed  freely  if  planted  on  the  grass  and 
allowed  to  remain  without  being  disturbed  for  several  year*.  The 
common  single  Daffodil  will  soon  be  in  full  bloom.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  showy  and  inexpensive  bulbs  grown,  and  when  once 
planted  on  the  grass  may  be  allowed  to  remain.  Bees  work 
freely  on  it  ;  but  it  does  not  produce  pollen  so  freely  as  some  of 
the  others  mentioned. 
Tulips  treated  in  the  same  manner  are  growing  well,  but  th& 
more  forward  varieties  will  not  be  in  bloom  for  several  weeks  yet. 
Many  other  bulbs  might  be  mentioned,  useful  as  well  as  ornamental, 
but  the  above  are  amongst  the  most  common. 
Fertilisation  of  Fruit  Trees. 
The  buds  of  many  of  the  fruit  trees  are  now  very  pro¬ 
minent,  the  excessive  rainfall  experienced  causing  them  to 
swell  and  expand  earlier  than  might  have  been  expected.  Some 
of  the  more  forward  of  the  Apricots  on  south  walls  are  a  mass  of 
bloom,  and  being  within  easy  reach  of  the  apiary  the  bees  will 
fertilise  the  flowers,  and  in  doing  so  will  obtain  sufficient  pollen 
for  their  daily  requirements.  The  fertilisation  of  fruit  trees  must 
not  be  ignored  by  bee-keepers,  and  the  benefits  derived  from 
bees  should  be  constantly  kept  in  mind.  I  believe  it  would  be  of 
great  advantage  to  all  hardy  fruit  growers  if  they  kept  bee*  in 
proportion  to  the  extent  of  their  fruit  farms. 
If  no  account  were  taken  of  the  honey  they  would  obtain,  in 
fact  make  that  a  secondary  consideration,  the  fruit  grower  would 
still  be  a  great  gainer  by  having  better  crops  of  fruit,  and  a*  ia 
well  known,  if  the  bloom  i3  properly  fertilised  there  is  a  much 
better  chance  of  the  fruit  coming  to  maturity  than  if  the  reverse 
is  the  case. — An  English  Bee  keeper. 
All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be 
directed  to  “  The  Editor/’  Letters  addressed  to  members  of 
the  staff  ofter  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,  and 
departmental  writers  are  not  expected  to  answer  any  letters  they 
may  receive  on  Gardening  and  Bee  subjects,  through  the  post. 
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,  as  a  rule,  reply  to  questions 
through  the  post,  and  we  do  not  undertake  to  return  rejected 
communications. 
Kangaroo  Vine  (IF.  IF). — This  is  the  popular  name  of  your 
window  plant,  botanically  Yitis  sntarctica.  It  is  of  easy  culture,  bat 
some  of  the  leaves  are  prone  to  fail  after  a  winter’s  sojourn  in  a  room. 
If  the  roots  are  healthy  the  plant  will  improve  now.  Stand  it  out¬ 
doors  now  and  then  during  a  warm  shower,  cleanliness  of  the  foliage 
being  highly  conducive  to  health. 
Green  Fly  on  Gooseberry  Bushes  (Amaieur'). — The  bushes  may 
be  dusted  whilst  dormant  and  damp  with  mist,  or  after  rain,  with  quick¬ 
lime.  This  has  a  good  effect  on  the  eggs,  cleanses  the  trees  of  lichen 
and  moss,  and  does  good  to  the  soil.  Upon  the  first  appearance  of  the 
aphides  the  bushes  may  be  syringed  with  quassia  water,  1  lb.  of  chips 
to  3  gallons  of  water  ;  let  it  stand  twenty-four  hours,  and  strain  before 
use.  Another  plan  is  to  use  the  following  : — 4  ozs.  of  quassia  chips 
boiled  a  quarter  of  an  hour  in  a  gallon  of  water,  adding  2  ozs.  of  soft- 
soap  whilst  hot,  dissolving  it  thoroughly,  and  straining.  Both  the 
