448 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  7, 1895. 
APIARIAN  NOTES. 
STRAW  HIYES. 
It  is  a  recognised  fact  that  since  the  modern,  or  moveable  frame 
hive  was  introduced,  more  particularly  during  the  past  ten  years, 
great  headway  has  been  made  in  the  production  of  honey.  And 
in  a  general  way  a  greater  weight  of  honey  of  a  superior  quality 
can  be  obtained  from  a  given  number  of  moveable  frame  hives  than 
can  be  produced  from  straw  skeps  or  other  fixed  comb  hives.  But 
still  the  fact  remains  that  there  are  a  great  number  of  bee-keepers 
throughout  the  country  whose  ideal  hive  is  the  straw  skep,  and 
who  prefer  it  to  any  other.  Go  where  you  will,  east,  west,  north 
or  south,  in  many  country  villages  are  still  to  be  found  the  primi¬ 
tive  straw  skep,  the  majority  of  them  being  dome-shaped,  and  much 
too  small.  Occasionally  bees  may  be  found  in  ordinary  boxes  or 
packing  cases  in  which  the  swarms  were  put  for  want  of  a  better 
makeshift  hive,  and  if  these  are  kept  dry  it  is  surprising  how  well 
they  sometimes  do.  I  have  on  several  occasions  driven  bees  from 
makeshift  hives  of  this  description,  but  the  bees  do  not  run  up  as 
readily  from  these  boxes  as  from  skeps. 
But  how  is  it  that  so  many  cottagers  still  favour  the  straw 
skep  ?  I  think  the  reason  is  not  far  to  seek,  as  from  conversations 
I  have  had  with  them  on  the  subject  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
I  find  it  is  partly  through  not  understanding  the  working  of  the 
frame  hive,  and  imagine  there  is  some  mystery  in  the  manipulating 
and  handling  of  bees  in  frame  hives,  a  part  of  the  business  many 
of  them  are  not  fond  of  ;  and  as  a  frame  hive  costs  more  than  a 
straw  skep,  they  do  not  take  into  consideration  the  extra  quantity 
and  superior  quality  of  honey,  freed  from  all  pollen  and  other 
refuse  that  may  be  obtained  under  the  modern  system  of  bee¬ 
keeping  ;  consequently  the  bees  are  allowed  to  swarm,  and  are 
placed  in  whatever  is  most  convenient  to  hand,  and  in  the  autumn 
the  honey  is  taken  by  placing  the  hive  over  the  sulphur  pits  (a 
■ystem  which  I  hope  will  soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past),  and  killing 
the  bees,  or  some  bee-keeping  friend  in  the  neighbourhood  will  drive 
the  bees,  and  by  placing  two  or  more  lots  together,  will  save  their 
lives  by  providing  them  with  sufficient  stores  to  tide  them  over  the 
winter.  * 
Straw  skeps  should  be  flat-topped,  and  from  15  inches  to 
20  inches  in  diameter.  The  advantage  of  having  them  this  shape 
will  at  once  be  seen,  as  a  crate  or  more  of  sections  or  shallow  frames 
can  be  worked  on  the  top  of  a  hive  of  this  description,  and  honey 
may  be  obtained  equal  to  the  best  quality  procured  from  a  frame 
hive,  and  are  much  to  be  preferred  to  the  dome-shaped  hive. 
Bees  invariably  winter  well  in  them  ;  still  they  are  not  to  be  com¬ 
pared  to  the  modern  moveable  frame  hive,  which  the  novice  may 
soon  learn  to  manipulate,  and  will  find  a  far  greater  pleasure  and 
profit  arising  Jfrom  it  than  can  be  obtained  from  straw  skeps. — 
An  English  Bee-keeper. 
All  correspondence  should  he  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. 
Book  on  Hoses  QSubscriier'). — “  Eose  Growing  (Gilmour),  Is.  Id., 
from  this  office,  compact  and  useful ;  and  the  “  Book  of  the  Rose  ” 
(Foster-Melliar),  excellent  and  comprehensive,  published  by  Macmillan 
and  Co.,  has  been  advertised  in  our  own  columns,  8s.  6d.  Mr. 
William  Paul  of  Waltham  Cross  is  also  the  author  of  valuable  works  on 
Hoses. 
Diseased  Asparagus  (15  Z). — We  have  unfortunately  seen  many 
acres  of  Asparagus  infested  similarly  to  the  sample  you  have  sent.  It 
is  caused  by  a  fungus  which  Mr.  Abbey  knows  very  well,  and  we  shall 
shortly  publish  an  article  by  him  on  the  subject.  In  the  meantime 
gather  and  burn  all  the  affected  stems,  as  they  contain  a  harvest  of 
spores  for  doing  further  mischief. 
vine  Samples  QF.  G.). — We  have  received  the  samples,  but  yon 
entirely  fail  to  make  clear  the  precise  object  in  sending  them,  or  what 
you  particularly  want  to  know.  One  of  the  samples  is  excellent,  the 
other  not  bad.  You  explain  the  browning  of  the  roots,  but  the  soil,  as 
we  received  it,  was  certainly  too  dry  for  healthy  root  action,  and  corre¬ 
spondingly  healthy  growth  of  stems  and  foliage. 
Scarlet  Fungus  (E.  TF.). — The  showy  specimen  you  send  is 
Amanita  muscaria,  and  is  poisonous.  There  is  probably  no  such  “  cheap” 
book  on  Fungi  as  you  have  in  mind.  The  most  complete  modern  book 
(and  it  is  not  dear)  is  Masses’s  “  British  Fungus  Flora,”  of  which  four 
volumes  are  issued,  7s.  6d.  each,  and  there  are  two  more  to  follow. 
Messrs.  George  Bell  &  Sons,  Covent  Garden,  are  the  publishers. 
Tlie  Cape  Gooseberry  ^Stirling'). — The  Physalis  Alkekengi  which 
you  mention  is  commonly  called  the  “  Winter  Cherry.”  It  is  quite 
hardy,  and  plants  can  be  obtained  from  most  nurseries,  or  raised  from 
seed.  Messrs.  Veitch  &  Sons  are  distributing  a  very  fine  form,  P.  A. 
Franchetti,  the  orange-coloured  vesicular  calyx  being  larger  than  hens’ 
eggs.  The  “Cape  Gooseberry  ”  is  Physalis  edulis  peruviana.  It  is  not 
hardy,  but  usually  grown  against  walls  in  glass  structures  from  which 
frost  is  excluded.  The  fruits  are  eaten  and  by  some  persons  enjoyed, 
those  of  P.  Alkekengi  are  not. 
Storing-  and  Cooking  Celerlac  (^Inquirer'). — A  portion  of  the 
crop  may  be  left  where  it  is  grown,  but  the  roots  must  be  rather  heavily 
moulded  over,  to  protect  them  from  severe  frosts.  Use  these  first.  The 
greater  portion,  however,  should  be  stored  at  once,  as  no  doubt  you  are 
aware,  it  is  the  roots  or  swollen  knobs  that  are  cooked.  Shake  clear  of 
soil,  remove  all  the  outside  leaves  from  these,  leaving  only  quite  the 
heart,  and  store  in  sand  where  severe  frosts  cannot  reach  them.  When 
required  for  use,  trim,  wash,  and  then  place  in  boiling  water  flavoured 
with  salt,  and  boil  till  tender.  Large  roots  would  require  something 
like  four  hours’  boiling.  They  may  be  eaten  hot,  with  white  sauce,  as  a 
vegetable,  or  sliced  when  cold,  and  mixed  with  other  salading. 
Xilmlng  Xand  to  Prevent  Clubbing  (^Suiscriier).  —  There  are 
so  many  diseases  called  “  clubbing  ”  in  the  Cabbage  tribe,  especially 
Cauliflower  and  Brussels  Sprouts,  that  it  is  difficult  to  make  out  what 
is  meant.  If  caused  by  any  of  the  usual  agents  a  dressing  of  gas  lime 
would  be  the  most  effective,  using  to  each  square  rod  about  28  lbs.  of 
the  article  fre.sh  from  the  gas  works,  mixed  with  enough  charcoal  dust 
or  dry  wood  ashes  to  enable  it  to  be  easily  spread,  which  should  be  done 
evenly,  and  then  left  on  the  ground  about  three  weeks  or  a  month, 
when  it  may  be  dug-in  in  the  ordinary  way.  If  you  trench  the  ground 
and  use  it  should  be  given  on  the  surface  after  the  trenching,  as  it 
will  descend  quite  fast  enough  without  burying  it.  All  that  would 
then  be  necessary  would  be  to  point  in  lightly  as  you  propose. 
Xady  Downe’s  Grapes  Imperfectly  Coloured  (TF.  A.  F.). — 
The  berries  of  the  bunch  are  large  for  this  variety,  excellent  in  quality, 
except  those  shanked,  and  where  not  rubbed,  coveied  with  a  fine  bloom. 
The  shanked  berries  are  about  10  per  cent.,  and  there  are  a  few  that 
show  the  remains  of  the  scalding  that  had  occurred.  The  colour  of  the 
berries  is  nearly,  and  in  some  cases  quite,  green  at  the  shank,  the  other 
parts  being  variously  tinted  with  purplish  red  and  streaked  with  deeper 
colour.  At  the  stalk  end  the  berries  are  very  firm  and  crackling  in  the 
flesh,  the  greener  the  more  hard,  but  the  other  parts  of  the  berries  are 
soft  in  the  flesh.  The  cause  of  defective  colour  is  usually  overcropping, 
but  considering  the  size  of  the  berries  and  their  texture  we  do  not  think 
that  is  relative  to  your  case.  The  hardness  at  the  shank  end  of  the 
berries  is  probably  due  to  the  “  fixation  ”  of  the  starch  and  chlorophyll 
granules  in  the  cells,  and  that  there  has  been  only  such  transference 
in  ripening  as  results  in  fruit  sugar  in  the  soft  part  of  the  berry. 
Similar  conditions  would  no  doubt  be  found  in  the  leaves,  which  will, 
if  we  are  right,  be  unusually  stout  in  texture  and  abnormally  green, 
dying  off  tinged  with  purple  instead  of  a  clear  yellow  colour,  thus 
indicating  that  there  has  not  been  sufficient  transference  or  change 
of  the  starch  and  chlorophyll  as  to  give  a  due  proportion  of  sugar 
through  the  whole  fruit  and  of  the  colour  over  the  entire  skin  of 
the  berry.  Such  cases  are  not  uncommon  in  hot  seasons,  especially 
when  the  Grapes  are  highly  fed  and  attain  to  more  than  normal 
size.  The  deficiency  of  colour  has  been  attributed  to  a  defecti-ve 
amount  of  available  iron  in  the  soil,  but  there  is  no  great  need 
of  that  mineral  where  so  much  chlorophyll  abounds,  nor  of  magnesia 
either,  but  the  chief  requisite  is  possibly  sulphur,  and  certainly 
potash,  therefore  you  may  afford  a  top-dressing  of  sulphate  of  potash 
now,  using  3  or  4  ozs.  per  square  yard  if  the  roots  are  not  very  near  the 
surface,  or  half  the  amount  if  they  are,  applying  the  other  half  at  the 
time  of  starting  the  Vines.  This  will  usually  prevent  the  fixation  of 
the  starch  and  chlorophyll  and  afford  the  requisite  means  for  trans¬ 
ference.  Of  course,  overcropping  must  be  strictly  guarded  against. 
For  the  shanking  you  may  use  a  little  sulphate  of  iron  and  magnesia, 
^  oz.  of  the  iron  and  ^  oz.  of  the  magnesia  per  square  yard  about  the 
time  or  a  little  before  the  Vines  are  started,  mixing  the  sulphates  with 
twice  their  amount  collectively  of  air-slaked  lime,  which  will  facilitate 
their  distribution  and  benefit  the  Vines. 
