December  29,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
50  L 
FRUIT  FORCING. 
Vines. —  Earliest  Forced. — The  Vines  that  were  started  early  in 
November,  whether  in  pots  or  planted  in  the  borders  inside,  will  now 
have  the  root  action  excited  by  the  development  of  the  foliage.  Great 
care  is  required  at  this  stage  to  avoid  chills.  The  temperature  about 
the  pots  should  be  kept  steady  at  70°  to  75°,  pressing  down  the  ferment¬ 
ing  materials  and  adding  fresh,  but  sweetened,  as  required.  Disbud  and 
tie  down  before  the  shoots  touch  the  glass,  not  being  too  hasty  in  stopping. 
Where  two  leaves  are  made  beyond  the  bunc  i  the  laterals  of  Vines  in 
pots  should  have  their  points  p.nched  off  at  that  point  of  the  shoots,  and 
when  the  leaf  at  the  joint  is  about  the  size  of  a  halfpenny.  Those 
planted  in  borders,  and  there  being  space,  may  be  stopped  three  or  four 
joints  beyond  the  fruit,  and  then  extend  the  growth  so  as  to  secure  as 
much  well  developed  foliage  all  over  the  house  as  can  have  full  exposure 
to  light,  taking  care  to  avoid  overcrowding. 
Superfluous  bunches  should  be  removed  as  scon  as  choice  can  be 
made  of  the  best,  leaving  those  for  the  crop  that  promise  to  be  the  best 
shaped  and  most  compact,  and  it  is  better  to  have  the  Vines  under  rather 
than  overcropped.  The  night  temperature  ought  to  be  maintained  at  <0° 
to  65°,  and  70°  to  75°  by  day,  with  an  advance  to  80°,  85°,  or  90°  from  sun 
heat.  Vines  in  pots  should,  as  soon  as  the  fruit  is  set,  be  copiously 
supplied  with  liquid  manure,  yet  it  must  only  be  gi\pn  when  the  soil  is 
moderately  dry.  Maintain  a  genial  atmosphere  by  damping  the  paths 
two  or  three  times  a  day,  and  occasionally  with  liquid  manure,  not  too 
strong,  or  the  ammonia  volatilised  may  prove  injurious  instead  of  bene¬ 
ficial  to  the  roliage. 
Houses  to  Afford  Ripe  Grapes  in  June.—  These  are  the  first  in  a  majority 
of  establishments.  Black  Hambur  gh,  Mill  Hill  Hamburgh,  and  Madres- 
field  Court  are  good  black  varieties,  and  of  white  kinds  Buckland 
Sweetwater  and  Foster’s  Seedling,  with  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  answer  well. 
The  Vines  should  be  planted  inside  the  house,  and  be  confined  to  the 
inside  border  until  it  is  occupied  with  roots,  when  they  may  be  allowed 
to  pass  into  the  outside  border.  The  house  should  be  started  at  the 
new  year,  watering  the  inside  if  dry,  bringing  into  a  moist  condition,  and 
if  the  Vines  are  weakly  follow  with  liquid  manure.  Damp  the  house 
and  Vines  two  or  three  times  a  day  in  bright  weather,  but  when  dull 
once,  or  at  most  twice,  say  in  the  morning  and  early  in  the  afternoon, 
will  be  sufficient.  Maintain  a  temperature  of  50°  to  55°  at  night  and 
on  dull  days,  advancing  to  65°  from  sun  heat,  and  a  free  circulation 
of  air. 
Houses  from,  which  the  Grapes  have  been  cut  — Pruning  should  be  com¬ 
pleted  without  delay,  but  to  a  round  bud  as  near  the  main  stem  as 
possible,  with  a  prospect  of  a  crop.  Shorten  or  cut  away  elongated 
spurs  where  there  are  others  nearer  the  stem  to  supply  fruit,  or  train  up 
young  canes  to  displace  the  old  rods.  Remove  loose  bark  carefully,  not 
scraping  them  into  the  quick  or  live  bark,  and  thoroughly  cleanse  the 
house  and  the  Vines.  Remove  the  loose  surface  soil,  especially  near  the 
collar  of  the  Vines,  and  supply  fresh  loam,  top-dressing  with  some 
approved  fertiliser.  The  house  should  be  k^pt  cool,  but  frost  is  best 
excluded.  If  used  for  plants  the  temperature  ought  not  to  exceed  40°  to 
45°  by  artificial  means,  and  those  plants  only  that  require  safety  from 
frost  should  be  placed  in  vineries  when  the  Vines  are  at  rest.  If  the  house 
has  a  mean  temperature  of  50°  the  buds  will  be  excited,  and  that  is  pre¬ 
judicial  to  the  after-growth. 
Late  Houses. — Muscat  of  Alexandria  and  Canon  Hall  Muscat  Grapes 
are  extremely  difficult  to  keep  sound  on  the  Vines  after  Christmas,  which 
may  be  due  to  the  fluctuation  of  temperature  and  variability  of  the  atmo¬ 
spheric  moisture,  the  principal  difficulties  being  to  keep  the  temperature 
even  and  prevent  tho  deposition  of  moisture  on  the  berries.  This  usually 
occurs  after  a  cold  period,  the  heat  of  the  sun  expanding  the  atmospheric 
moisture,  and  it  is  deposited  on  the  cooler  surfaces  of  the  berries,  which 
do  not  become  warmed  equally  with  the  atmospheric  air.  Some  growers 
prefer  to  keep  the  Grapes  on  the  Vinesr  and  maintain  an  equable  tem- 
parature,with  the  exclusion  of  fogs,  by  covering  the  roof  of  the  house  with 
straw,  keeping  the  house  freely  ventilated  in  mild  weather  and  close  when 
cold,  with  little  more  fire  heat  than  necessary  to  exclude  frost.  Grapes 
so  kept  weigh  heavier  than  those  that  hang  some  time  in  a  drier  and 
warmer  atmosphere  ;  and  Muscats  so  preserved  command  loDg  prices, 
but  the  Grapes  do  not  always  keep  well. 
For  general  purposes  Grapes  are  best  kept  after  the  new  year  in  a 
Grape  room  or  other  cool,  dry  place,  and  as  equable  in  temperature  as 
possible  ;  the  more  wood  the  Grapes  are  cut  with  the  better  they  keep. 
Place  a  lump  or  two  of  charcoal  in  each  bottle  of  clear  rain  water,  and 
there  is  then  a  certainty  that  it  will  keep  sweet  up  to  June  ;  the  tem¬ 
perature  should  be  kept  as  Dear  as  possible  between  40°  and  45°.  By 
cutting  and  bottling  the  Grapes  the  Vines  are  set  free  for  pruning  and 
cleansing  the  house.  Alicante,  Gros  Colman,  and  Lady  Downe’s  succeed 
well  under  the  close  pruning  system — that  is,  spurring  to  one  or  two  buds, 
the  bearing  shoots  being  stout  and  short-jointed.  Grosr Guillaume  and 
Mrs.  Pince  do  best  on  the  long  pruning  system — that  is,  prune  the  shoots 
to  a  plump  bud  on  well  ripened  wood,  as  the  small  basal  buds  are  seldom 
reliable,  often  pushing  fruitless  shoots.  Muscat  of  Alexandria  and  Canon 
Hall  Muscat  also  succeed  best  on  the  extension  system,  but  sturdy,  short- 
jointed,  well-ripened,  and  not  overcropped  shoots  of  these  varieties 
generally  show  enough  fruit  when  pruned  to  two  buds  ;  but  when  the 
eyes  are  small  and  the  growth  weak  or  long-jointed  it  is  better  to  shorten 
the  shoots  to  the  first  plump  round  bud  from  its  base,  always  taking  care 
to  rely  on  those  only  on  well  matured  wood.  Where  the  Grapes  cannot 
be  cut  for  some  time  the  mean  temperature  should  be  maintained  at  45°, 
5°  less  as  a  minimum  and  5°  more  as  a  maximum,  admitting  air  coi>- 
stantlv  in  mild  weather,  but  keeping  close  when  foggy  and  cold,  but  with 
a  gentle  warmth  in  the  pipes  to  insure  the  air  moving. 
■MB 
HE  BEE-KEEPER. 
g)  pZs 
Ventilation  of  Hives. 
It  is  now  a  recognised  fact  with  the  majority  of  hce-keepers 
that  ventilation  is  necessary  for  the  bees  during  the  dull  days  of 
winter  as  well  as  throughout  the  summer  months.  But  how  is  this 
to  he  done  without  lowering  the  temperature  of  the  interior  of  the 
hive  and  thus  causing  injury  to  the  bees  ?  Some  successful  bee¬ 
keepers  advocate  solid  floorboards,  and  the  entrance  to  the  hive 
partially  closed,  allowing  only  an  inch,  or  even  less,  of  open  space 
for  the  admittance  of  air,  and  for  the  bees  to  take  a  flight  during 
a  spell  of  favourable  weather.  Others,  again,  are  strongly  in  favour 
of  a  perforated  zinc  floor,  which  certainly  has  the  advantage  of 
cleanliness,  as  much  of  the  debris,  caused  by  the  bees  uncapping 
their  sealed  stores,  will  pass  through  the  openings  instead  of  remain¬ 
ing  on  the  floorboard  to  the  detriment  of  ihe  stock.  There  is  also 
a  constant  current  of  air  passing  into  the  hive,  whilst  equally 
successful  apiarists  will  use  solid  floorboards  and  allow  the  entrance 
to  remain  open  its  full  width  throughout  the  winter. 
We  have  wintered  stocks  successfully  under  each  of  the  above 
systems,  and  there  has  been  little  difference  in  their  condition  the 
following  spring  as  regards  the  number  of  bees  in  the  various  hives. 
But  one  point  came  out  strongly  in  our  experiments.  Those  hives 
having  solid  floorboards,  and  the  entrance  reduced  to  1  inch,  were 
damp  and  the  outside  combs  mouldy.  The  floorboard,  too,  in  each 
instance,  was  wet  at  the  corners,  and  the  debris  which  had  accu¬ 
mulated  was  in  the  same  unsatisfactory  condition  ;  the  floorboards, 
contrary  to  our  usual  custom,  not  having  been  replaced  with  dry 
boards  throughout  the  winter.  The  perforated  zinc  floors  passed 
through  the  ordeal  satisfactorily.*? :  But  in  the  early  spring  the  bees 
did  not  appear  to  work  as  freely  from  those  hives  having  them  as 
they  did  from  the  others.  We  therefore  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  owing  to  the  coldness  which  apparently  affected  the  bees 
when  they  alighted  on  the  zinc.  We  were  afterwards  convinced  as 
to  the  truth  of  this,  as  the  following  autumn  we  placed  a  rapid 
feeder  made  entirely  of  zinc  on  one  of  the  hives ;  the  bees  carried 
down  the  syrup  at  a  rapid  rate  when  a  high  temperature  prevailed,  but. 
directly  it  became  cooler  they  absolutely  refused  to  enter  the  feeder. 
Wide  Entrances. 
If  bees  are  wintered  in  ordinary  frame  hives  without  an  upper 
storey  we  have  no  hesitation  in  recommending  wide  entrances  through¬ 
out  the  winter  months,  and  if  there  is  a  thin  wedge  of  wood  of  about 
one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness  placed  under  each  corner  of  the 
hive,  so  as  to  lift  it  quite  clear  of  the  floorboard,  the  hive  will  be 
found  much  drier  in  the  spring  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case. 
Although  we  advocate  this  system,  a  little  judgment  is  required 
in  carrying  it  out.  The  plan  we  practise  to  prevent  robbing  in  the 
autumn  is  to  reduce  the  entrance  to  about  half  its  full  width  after  the 
honey  flow  is  over,  and  when  outdoor  supplies  are  getting  scarce,  as 
robber  bees  are  then  on  the  alert  to  gain  an  entrance  to  any  colony 
which  may  he  weak  or  unable  to  protect  their  stores.  The  bees  will 
thus  be  better  able  to  cope  with  intruders  than  they  would  if  the 
entrance  were  open  its  full  width.  When  all  danger  of  robbing  is 
over  they  are  again  opened,  and  remain  in  that  condition  until  the 
following  spring,  when  breeding  has  comVnenced  and  robbers  are 
again  in  evidence.  They  are  then  reduced,  and  gradually  opened  to 
their  full  width  as  the  colonies  increase  in  strength. 
Any  bee-keeper  having  a  few  stocks  of  bees  may  experiment  on 
the  above  lines,  and  will  find  it  interesting  to  note  the  difference 
between  the  various  colonies,  as  not  two  stocks  will  be  found  exactly 
alike.  If  say  half  a  dozen  stocks  are  of  equal  strength  in  the  autumn, 
and  are  treated  the  same  throughout  the  winter,  some  will  be  found 
to  be  much  stronger  than  others  the  following  spring.  As  stated  in 
previous  notes,  we  have  several  colonies  of  bees  from  which  the  supers 
were  not  removed,  owing  to  the  prevalence  of  honeydew;  As  there 
is  a  great  amount  of  air  space  in  those  hives  we  have  reduced  the 
entrance  to  them  ;  these  will  not  he  opened  until  considered  necessary 
in  the  spring.  Up  to  the  present  very  little  stores  have  been  con¬ 
sumed,  and  it  will  be  interesting  to  note  how  they  compare  with 
those  in  smaller  hives  next  spring. — An  English  Bee-keeper. 
