■fOURytAL  OF  HORfrCULTURF  AND  OOfTAGE  GARDENEll 
July  t  1©«, 
care  being  taken  that  none  of  them  is  in  exactly  the  same  spot  as  it 
previously  stood,  or  more  bees  will  return  to  the  hive  placed  in  that 
oition  than  to  the  others.  The  bees,  however,  will  not  desert  the 
rood,  and  being  queenless  for  some  time  their  whole  energy  will 
be  devoted  to  the  i vising  of  a  queen.  It  will  be  advisable  to 
examine  the  nuclei  a  few  hours  after  the  stock  has  been  divided  to 
see  that  there  are  sufficient  bees  to  cover  the  brood,  as  if  not  it  will 
become  chilled.  This  may  be  remedied  by  taking  a  frame  of 
batching  brood  and  the  adhering  bees  from  another  colony, 
replacing  it  with  one  of  the  frames  from  nuclei,  but  leaving  the 
bees  to  strengthen  it. 
By  working  them  on  these  lines  at  this  season  no  fighting  will 
take  place  if  the  nuclei  are  placed  on  the  stand  near  to  the  colony 
to  which  it  is  intended  eventually  to  introduce  the  young  queen. 
It  will  be  an  advantage,  as  all  that  is  necessary  as  soon  as  the  young 
queen  has  commenced  laying  ii  to  look  carefully  through  the  stock 
intended  to  be  requeened,  and  on  finding  the  old  queen  kill  her.  I 
usually  do  so  by  squeezing  her  between  the  finger  and  thumb  ;  then 
go  to  the  nuclei  and  lift  out  the  frames  and  the  adhering  bees  and 
young  queen,  and  place  them  alternately  with  the  frames  in  the 
hive  from  which  the  queen  has  been  removed.  Cover  them  up, 
remove  the  nuclei,  and  draw  the  hive  containing  the  young  queen  a 
few  inches  from  its  original  position.  The  bees  that  are  on  the 
wing  will  then  return,  no  fighting  will  take  place,  and  if  properly 
carried  out  the  queen  will  not  be  interfered  with.  This  is  a  very 
simple  way  of  introducing  a  queen,  being  preferable  to  caging  her, 
which  was  the  usual  system  practised  a  few  years  ago. 
Another  plan  of  queen  introduction  is  to  remove  the  queen 
from  the  stock  intended  ^o  be  requeened  and  insert  a  queen  cell, 
instead  of  forming  nuclei.  These  invariably  do  well,  and  being 
reared  in  strong  colonies,  they  are  hardy  and  prolific.  The  stock 
should  be  examined  a  couple  of  days  after  the  removal  of  the 
queen,  or  other  queen  cells  may  be  formed,  and  if  not  removed  the 
bees  would  probably  swarm  when  the  first  queen  has  hatched  out, 
but  they  will  not  do  so  if  they  have  only  an  unfertile  young  queen, 
and  leave  brood  in  the  hive,  and  no  means  of  raising  more,  they 
will  not  leave  the  brood.  The  only  objection  to  this  plan  ii  tl.e 
loss  of  young  bees  owing  to  the  removal  of  queen,  and  no  eggs 
being  laud  for  at  least  a  fortnight.  I  always  rear  some  queens  on 
this  plan,  as  through  working  my  bees  on  the  non-swarming 
system  I  always  have  ample  bees. — An  English  Bee-keepek. 
TRADE  CATALOGUES  RECEIVED, 
T.  Rivers  &  Son,  Sawbridgeworth. — Fi-vit  Trees  and  Roses. 
Snaith  Bros..  Uitenhsge, —  Ocneral  Catalogue. 
Louis  Van  Hostte,  p6re,  Ghent  — General  Catalogue, 
T.  S.  Ware,  Tottenham. — Begonias  and  other  Plants. 
Young  &  Dobinson,  Stevenage. — Chrysanthemums  and  other  Plants. 
“o'*  All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be 
directed  to  “  The  Editor.'’  Letters  addressed  personally  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,  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. 
Insecticide  (A?.  J,  TV). — We  know  a  little  aboat  the  preparation 
yon  mention,  tbat  little  being  good,  and  we  expect  to  know  more  in 
due  time. 
Seedling'  Raspberry  (iZ.  West). — The  fruiting  sprays  were  shaken 
almost  into  a  jam-like  mass,  but  we  coaid  see  sufficient  of  the  character 
of  the  variety  to  advise  you  to  take  care  of  it,  and  we  shall  be  glad  to 
see  fruiting  sprays  with  the  fruit  in  good  condition. 
Diseased  Tomatoes  (f.  P.  iZ.). — Your  former  letter  misled  us. 
The  samples  make  the  matter  plain.  The  disease  is  not  in  the  plants, 
but  the  fruits  are  attacked  by  the  destructive  parasite  Cladosporinm 
lycoperiici.  This  fungus  causes  the  decay  of  the  fruit,  it  begins  with 
a  minute  black  spot,  which  surrounds  the  t^uall  decaying  style.  The 
black  spot  gradually  increases  in  size  by  new  circles  of  growth,  one 
beyond  another  in  the  style  of  fairy  rings.  The  fungus  growth  at  the 
same  time  fiattens  the  apex  of  the  fruit,  till  at  last  the  whole  substance 
is  blackened  and  entirely  destroyed  by  the  Cladosporinm.  The  fungus 
spreads  from  the  leaves,  also  from  one  fruit  to  another,  till  at  last  leaves, 
stems,  and  fruits  are  all  alike  decayed.  We  reproduce  an  illustration, 
(fig.  6)  of  a  half-destroyed  fruit,  also  a  view  of  the  assailing  fungus 
enlarged  from  the  microscope  500  diameters.  The  brown  spores  of  tiiis 
Cladosporium  are  often  produced  in  such  enormous  numbers  upon  both 
sides  of  the  foliage  that  they  fly  from  the  leaves  in  millions.  Most  of 
the  Tomato  fungi  are  in  their  earlier  stages  quite  superficial,  so  that  if 
Nig.  6. 
DISEASE  OF  TOMATOES  AS  CAUSED  BY  CLADOSPOBIXTM  LYCOPEESICl. 
remedies  are  applied  in  good  time  recovery  seems  to  be  possible.  All 
such  fruits  as  you  Lave  sent  should  be  gathered  and  burned,  tbe  house 
kept  warm,  dry,  and  well  ventilated.  If  the  plants  become  badly 
infested  remove  the  worst  leaves  as  well  as  the  fruits  attacked  and  bum 
them,  then  spray  the  planta  thoroughly  with  Bordeaux  mixture,  using 
a  weak  one,  say  2  ozs.  of  sulphate  of  copper  dissolved  in  half 
a  gallon  of  water  in  a  vessel  by  itself,  slacking  2  ozs.  of  quicklime  in 
another  vessel,  and  forming  into  a  thin  whitewash  ;  pour  this  into  the 
vessel  containing  the  sulphate  of  copper  solution  slowly  through  a  hair 
sieve,  then  add  enough  water  to  make  3^  gallons ;  stir  well,  and  apply  to 
every  part  of  tbe  Tomato  plants,  coating  them  evenly  with  tbe  thinnest 
possible  film  of  tbe  Bordeaux  mixture,  also  every  part  of  tbe  house.  It 
will  not  injure  tbe  green  fruit  for  use, and  that  near  ripening  may  be  cut, 
as  it  is  not  desirable  to  use  it  over  fruit  approaching  ripeness.  The  lime 
must  be  quite  fresh  and  the  sulphate  pure.  It  may  be  necessary  to  repeat 
the  spraying  in  about  a  week  or  ten  days.  Ventilate  freely,  and  top- 
dress  with  dissolved  bones  three  parts,  nitrate  of  potash  two  parts ;  mix, 
and  use  4  ozs.  per  square  yard  over  a  little  fresh  loam.  The  fact  of  the 
six  affected  plants  which  you  planted  in  the  open  producing  fruit  with¬ 
out  the  least  signs  of  the  diseafe,  while  those  in  the  house  are  seriously 
affected,  shows  tbat  the  atmosphere  of  the  structure  has  been  rendered 
favourable  for  the  increase  of  the  fungus,  while  the  dry  external  atmo¬ 
sphere  has  not.  We  have  seen  the  disease  virulent  in  the  open  air  during 
warm,  close,  and  continuously  damp  weather. 
Raspberries  and  Strawberries  on  Xilght  Xand  {Robin  Hood). 
— Your  proposal  of  preparing  trenches  would  probably  answer,  though  we 
think  the  more  rational  and  the  better  plan  would  be  to  give  the  whole 
ground  a  dressing  of  the  woollen  refuse  and  clay,  dried  and  crushed, 
mixing  these  with  the  soil  to  a  depth  of  18  to  24  inches,  and  instead  of 
using  half  bones  apply  bonemeal  as  a  top-dressing  in  autumn,  along  with 
kainit  in  equal  parts,  at  the  rate  of  3^  lbs.  per  rod  (30^  square  yards), 
and  in  spring,  when  the  Strawberries  and  Raspberries  commence  growing, 
apply  2  lbs.  of  finely  crushed  nitrate  of  soda  per  rod. 
Crapes  Scalded  {P.  P  ). — The  Grapes  are  badly  scalded,  both  the 
Black  Hamburgns  and  Muscats  this  year  being  affected  in  an  unusual 
manner.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  hot  days  and  comparatively  cold 
nights,  causing  the  condensation  of  moisture  during  the  night  on  tbe 
berries,  and  air  not  being  admitted  to  disperse  it  before  the  sun  acted 
powerfully  on  the  house.  Tbe  only  preventive  is  to  provide  sufficient 
warmth  in  the  pipes  to  permit  of  the  top  ventilators  being  kept  open  to 
a  small  extent  all  night,  giving  abundance  of  air  during  the  day, 
commencing  as  soon  as  the  sun  acts  on  the  structure.  There  is  no  disease, 
but  simply  the  scalding,  and  it  is  preventible  in  the  way  suggested. 
Pruning  Cardenias  after  Flowering  {C.  H.), — Old  editions  of 
the  dictionary  you  mention  contain  some  obsolete  advice  amongst  much 
that  is  valuable.  When  the  plants  are  straggling  pruning  may  be 
resorted  to  to  secure  a  bushy  habit,  but  then  the  flower  for  the  following 
season  will  be  proportionately  reduced.  It  is  not  advisable  to  keep  old 
straggling  plants,  as  moch  better  flowers  and  a  greater  quantity  may  be 
bad  from  young  ones  grown  rapidly  by  liberal  treatment.  When  old 
plants  are  kept  the  less  pruning  they  get  the  better  as  regards  flowers  ; 
but  when  pruning  becomes  necessary  tbe  best  time  to  do  it  is  imme¬ 
diately  after  flowering,  and  a  slight  rest  with  moderate  dryness  at  tbe 
roots,  but  not  to  as  to  affect  the  foliage  and  wood  ;  then  by  a  brisk  heat 
and  corresponding  moisture,  much  bushier  plants  will  be  had,  and  the 
knife  being  kept  from  them  they  will  acquire  a  good  flowering  habit  in 
the  course  of  a  year. 
