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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  juiyis.isss. 
the  wood  with  impairment  of  the  energies  of  the  trees  by  carrying  a 
previous  heavy  second  crop. 
Attend  regnlarly  to  training  and  stopping  the  shoots,  keeping  the 
points  well  exposed  to  the  light.  Tie  loosely,  leaving  plenty  of  space  in 
the  ligatures.  Above  all  train  thinly,  stop  side  shoots  at  the  fifth  leaf, 
and  rub  off  those  not  required,  for  spur  growths  to  the  extent  of  crowd¬ 
ing  is  fatal  to  fruitfulness.  Afford  water  copiously  through  a  light 
mulching  of  short  lumpy  manure,  horSe  droppings  duly  sweetened  being 
unsurpassed. 
If  fresh  manure  be  used  and  tcsp  abundantly  there  is  danger  of 
inducing  soft  growths.  Such  light  dressing  admits  air  and  contains 
ammoniacal  elements,  which  both  in  the  soil  and  atmosphere  benefits 
the  trees.  Liquid  manure  or  top-dressings  of  chemical  fertilisers  washed 
in  will  be  necessary,  according  to  the  vigour  of  the  trees  and  the  extent 
of  the  rooting  area.  They  can  hardly  have  too  much  water  in  hot 
weather,  always  provided  the  soil  is  not  made  sodden,  and  they  store 
more  matter  in  a  week  of  fine  weather  than  in  a  month  of  dull.  This 
applies  to  narrow  borders  of  sound  material  incumbent  on  thorough 
drainage.  Forcibly  eject  red  spider  by  syringing  twice  a  day  in  fine 
wea,ther,  otherwise  occasionally.  Admit  a  little  air  constantly  and 
increase  it  early  in  the  morning  ;  close  .early  in  the  afternoon  with 
plenty  of  atmospheric  moisture,  allowing  the  heat, to  rise  to  90°,  95°,  or 
100°,  then  the  fruit  will  swell  to  a  good  size. 
APIARIAN  NOTES. 
The  Honey  fsEASON. 
There  need  be  no  question  whether  arid  winds  and  bright 
sunshine  are  conducive  to  honey  or  not.  On  the  7th  inst.  we 
experienced  one  of  the  most  trying  days  of  this  kind,  and  such 
weather  has  not  beep  unfrequent  this  summer.  There  were  two 
strong  currents  blowing  simultaneously.  An  easterly  wind,  carrying 
leaves  of  trees  and  dust  in  clouds  before  it,  while  apparently  there 
was  an  upper  current  of  as  great  a  force,  the  clouds  moving  in  an 
opposite  direction.  The  atmosphere  was  hot, i and  yet  the  \yind 
felt  piercingly  cold.  Plants  were  blown  about,  and  wilted  und<^ 
the  trying  ordeal.  Towards  evening  it  appeared  as  if  the  much- 
longed-for  rain  was  about  to  fall  ;  but  the  wind  continued  to 
increase  in  force  until  it  became  tempestuous  on  the  9th  and  lOth, 
when  a  calm  occurred  and  a  quarter  of  an  incS'of  rain  fell  ondlie 
latter  date,  since  then  the  temperature  has  been  much  lower. 
Bees  have  been  kept  within  their  hives  for  three'  Weeks,  during 
which  time  very  little,  if  any,  honey  has  been  gathered  during  the 
best  of  the  Clover  season.  It  rarely  occurs  for  Clover  tp-'yield 
honey  after  the  21st  of  July,  so  we  may  rest  assured  there  wiU  pot 
be  a  glut  of  Clover  honey  this  year.  Some  bee-keepers  have  a  few 
sections  of  good  quality,  but  they  are  not  general,  most  having!  to 
be  content  with  fairly  well-stored  bodies,  which  in  undersized  hives-, 
are  against  large  yields  of  honey  from  Heather.  All  such  over¬ 
stored  hives  should  have  another  division  added,  the  frames  being 
filled  with  full-sized  sheets  of  foundation  ;  for  if  fine  weather 
occurs  drone  combs  would  be  built  where  they  were  omitted. 
As  the  weather  has  never  been  productive  of  honey  here  very 
few  of  my  hives  are  supered  ;  doing  so  at  an  early  date  preparatory 
to  going  to  the  Heather  will  give  two  crates  of  sections,  or  a  double 
tier  of  supers,  then  if  required  we  shall  place  the  next  empty  ones 
on  the  top.  This  plan  prevents  the  colouring  of  the  nearly  filled 
supers,  and  also  bees  emptying  them  of  their  contents  if  the 
weather  turns  out  unfavourable. 
Not  unfrequently  have  my  hives  had  three  body  divisions,  and 
from  five  to  six  supers  filled  at  the  Heather  ;  but  although  the 
plan  of  placing  an  empty  super  beneath  those  partly  filled  answers 
perfectly  ■well  when  the  weather  continues  fine  for  a  considerable 
time,  the  risk  is  too  great  and  there  is  not  anything  gained. 
Age  of  Bees. 
One  of  my  best  hives  discontinued  breeding  in  July,  1894. 
The  queen,  had  she  not  died  or  been  expelled  from  the  hive  during 
March  of  this  year,  would  have  been  two  years  old.  Many  of  the 
bees  are  still  living,  to  which  I  have  introduced  a  young  queen. 
It  does  not  surprise  me,  but  is  worthy  of  mention,  that  not  only 
this  but  every  two-year-old  queen  I  kept  is  dead. 
Bee-keepers  cannot  be  too  much  impressed  with  the  fact  that 
the  profit  from  the  apiary  rests  wholly  on  having  youthful  queens, 
m  hives  sufficiently  large  to  admit  of  the  depositing  of  80,000  eggs 
in  twenty  days,  with  additional  space  for  storing  honey  and  pollen. 
This  insures  supers  of  the  greatest  purity,  free  from  pollen  brood, 
spots  or  specks  from  overcrowding,  as  is  the  case  with  supers  when 
too  small  hives  with  full  open  tops,  covered  with  non-essential 
excluder  zinc,  are  used. — A  Lanarkshire  Bee-keeper. 
SEASONABLE  NOTES. 
The  honey  season  in  the  Midlands  is  fast  drawing  to  a  close, 
although  there  is  still  abundance  of  White  Clover  in  ffioom.  The 
Lime  trees,  too,  are  flowering  profusely,  and  are  now  just  at  their 
beat ;  a  few  days  and  they  will  be  over,  and  with  them  the  honey 
flow  will  cease.  Unless  there  is  a  change  in  the  weather  but  little 
honey  will  be  stored  from  that  source,  as  during  the  past  week 
sfiqwers  have  been  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  the  temperalftire 
being  low,  there  has  been  very  few  hours  during  the  time  that  bees 
■wSre  enabled  to  store  a  surplus,  consequently  in  many  districts 
where  the  chief  honey  harvest  is  obtained  from  White  Clover  and 
the  Limes  a  very  small  surplus  will  have  been  stored.  The  quality 
of  the  honey  obtained  up  to  the  present  time  has  been  of  good 
colour,  no  dark  honey  having  been  stored,  a  small  quantity  of  which 
will  often  spoil  what  would  otherwise  have  been  a  good  sample. 
The  price  of  good  samples  of  White  Clover  honey  should  have 
an  upward  tendency,  as  from  the  reports  to  hand  there  will  be  a 
short  crop  in  many  districts,  but  the  price  will  never  be  so  high  as 
it  was  a  few  years  ago,  owing  to  the  amount  of  foreign  honey  that 
is  imported  into  the  country.  This  trade  has  grown  very  much  of 
late  years,  and  during  the  month  of  June  last  year  honey  to  the 
value  of  nearly  £10,000  was  imported  into  this  country,  thus 
showing  the  amount  of  honey  that  is  consumed  in  addition  to 
home  production,  which  is  of  much  better  quality.  Bee-keeping 
is  doubtless  advancing,  and  could  we  depend  on  bright  weather  and 
a  high  temperature  during  the  honey  flow  much  more  would  be 
obtained,  and  we  should,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  independent  of 
the  foreign  supplv.  We  cannot  do  that,  but  we  can  by  judicious 
treatment  assist  the  bees  in  the  early  spring  months  by  feeding  or 
uncapping  stores,  so  that  all  colonies  may  be  strong  when  the 
honey  flow  comes,  and  should  only  a  few  hours  of  favourable 
weather  come  will  store  a  surplus,  whilst  those  stocks  that  may 
have  been  left  to  chance  will  only  obtain  sufficient  for  their  daily 
requirements. — An  English  Bee-keeper. 
TRADE  CATALOGUES  RECEIVED. 
Wm.  Bull,  King’s  Koad,  Chelsea. — New  and  Rare  Plants. 
James  Douglas,  Edenside,  Great  Bookham,  Surrey. —  Carnations,' 
Picotees,  and  Auriculas. 
All  correspondence  should  be  directed  either  to  “  Thb 
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  Secaylngr  (-V. ). — The  decay  in  the  fruit  you  have  sent 
is  not  caused  by  iron  in  the  soil,  but  by  a  fungus.  All  such  fruits 
should  be  burned,  and  it  would  be  well  to  dust  the  plants  before  other 
fruits  ripen  with  the  Fostite  powder  that  is  recommended  by  Mr.  T. 
Williams  on  page  57,  and  which  has  been  advertised  in  our  columns. 
Sparmannla  afrlcana  (J.  A.). —  You  have  probably  been  too 
liberal  in  potting  for  inducing  early  flo-wering.  As  the  plant  is  healthy 
let  it  remain  outdoors,  but  it  may  be  desirable  to  shade  the  pot  from  hot 
sun.  If  the  soil  in  the  pot  is  not  very  firm  make  it  so  with  a  blunt- 
ended  stick.  Do  not  overwater  ;  still  the  leaves  must  not  be  allowed  to 
flag  through  drought  at  the  roots. 
iipples  Cracklngr  (P.  A.  M,). — In  most  cases  the  condition  of 
fruits  such  as  the  example  sent  is  the  result  of  defective  nutrition,  either 
the  root  action  being  impaired  or  the  soil  lacking  in  the  elements  of 
nutrition  that  the  crops  need.  A  thorough  soaking  of  the  ground  with 
water,  followed  by  a  similarly  heavy  application  of  liquid  manure  from 
the  stems  outwards  to  beyond  the  spread  of  the  branches,  might  be  of 
much  benefit  in  your  case.  Guano  dissolved  at  the  rate  of  1  Ib.^to 
10  gallons  of  water  would  answer  very  well. 
