Goto',  er  1 5,  1 85*6, 
JOURKAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDEN  ER. 
385 
»nd  flowers  for  their  kind  contributions,  and  to  Miss  Lilian  Hudson  for 
€0  artistically  disposing  the  flowers  upon  the  tables. 
Some  capital  songs  and  sketches  were  rendered  throaghout  the 
evening,  and  at  an  early  hour  “  Auld  Lang  Syne  ”  brought  the  pleasant 
j)roceedingB  to  a  close. 
FRUIT  FORCING. 
Vines. — Houses  of  Ripe  Grapes, — Thin-skinned  Grapes  are  more 
ensceptible  to  damp,  cold,  and  climatic  changes  generally  than  the  thick- 
skinned.  This  applies  equally  to  Hamburghs  or  Sweetwater  Grapes  as 
to  Muscat  of  Alexandria  and  other  Muscats  with  thin-skinned  berries, 
but  Hamburghs  require  5°  less  heat,  50°  being  necessary  for  the  good 
keeping  of  Muscat  of  Alexandria,  and  there  must  not  be  any  deficiency 
•of  moisture  at  the  roots,  otherwise  the  Grapes  will  shrivel.  Remove  all 
slead  or  decayed  leaves  from  the  Vines  where  Grapes  are  hanging,  and 
look  over  the  bunches  for  any  damaged  berries,  removing  and  burning 
them.  A  temperature  of  50°  should  be  maintained  for  Muscats,  no 
opportunity  being  lost  in  giving  air  when  the  days  are  fine,  turning  on 
the  heat  so  as  to  cause  a  gentle  warmth  in  the  pipes.  Turn  off  the  heat 
.at  midday  or  soon  after,  so  as  to  allow  the  pipes  to  cool,  but  not  so  as 
to  lower  the  temperature  below  the  night  minimum,  which  for 
Hamburghs  must  not  be  less  than  40°.  When  the  heat  falls  too  low 
and  the  temperature  is  raised  moisture  condenses  on  the  berries,  and  the 
skin  of  the  berries  is  more  or  less  decomposed,  hence  micro-organisms 
find  a  fitting  medium  for  development,  secure  the  needful  food  elements 
dn  the  weakened  epidermal  tissues  and  ready  access  to  the  pulp,  thus 
setting  up  speedy  decay. 
Late  Grapes.  —  Notwithstanding  the  exceptionally  sunny  season 
-many  late  Grapes  are  very  deficient  in  colour,  especially  in  the  southern 
counties.  Something  more,  therefore,  than  sun  heat  is  required  to 
secure  colour  in  Grapes,  hence  recourse  must  be  had  to  elements  which 
promote  the  energy  of  the  chlorophyll  and  at  the  proper  time  promote 
-the  intensity  of  the  ripening  hues.  Thick-skinned  Grapes  also  require 
time  to  mature  after  they  are  apparently  ripe,  though  Alicante  improves 
nothing  whatever  in  keeping  and  is  at  its  best  when  well  ripened,  and  the 
same  may  be  said  of  Gros  Maroc.  Mrs.  Pince  is  the  best  flavoured  thick- 
skinned  Grape,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  to  finish,  and  it  is  at  its 
best  shortly  after  it  is  ripe.  Its  great  defect  is  not  colouring  well  up  to 
the  shank,  and  it  makes  little  difference  whether  the  bunches  are  large  or 
email.  Started  early,  say  in  March,  the  berries  set  better  and  the  fruit 
ripens  quite  up  to  the  shank,  and  when  covered  with  its  fine  bloom  is 
-very  taking  in  appearance.  It,  however,  loses  colour  rapidly,  becomiag 
quite  red,  and  though  keeping  excellently  is  very  liable  to  shrivel. 
Alicante,  on  the  other  hand,  retains  its  colour  well,  and  as  a  prelude  to 
■Gros  Colman  is  a  very  desirable  Grape,  as  it  is  fairly  good  in  quality, 
the  vinous  flavour  being  refreshing,  and  the  earthy  smack  of  Gros 
■Colman  entirely  absent,  whilst  its  appearance  is  unrivalled  by  any  oval 
Grape  unless  it  be  Gros  Maroc. 
Alnwick  Seedling  is  as  fine  in  appearance  as  excellent  in  using  and 
keeping  qualities.  The  magnificence  of  Gros  Colman  gains  for  it  a 
host  of  admirers,  and  that  is  not  its  chief  merit,  but  looks  go  a  long  way 
•even  with  table  Grapes,  and  is  all-important  for  market.  Its  beautiful 
appearance  whets  the  appetite,  being  far  ahead  of  its  compeers  in  size  of 
berry,  and  when  started  early  so  as  to  give  time  to  mature,  the  berries  are 
not  only  superb,  but  the  quality  is  vastly  improved.  But  its  chief  claim 
to  popularity  is  its  easiness  of  growth  ;  the  bunches  are  always  compact, 
4he  berries  set  well,  they  swell  to  a  good  size,  and  when  the  Vines  are 
■not  overcropped  they  colour  first-rate,  but  not  always,  as  there  are 
4)lenty  of  greenish  white  and  purple  streaked  this  season.  It  is  usually 
best  in  colour  and  quality  when  grown  on  the  old  red  sandstone 
formation,  though  it  does  well  on  alluvial  silts  and  almost  everywhere. 
Where  there  is  defectiveness  in  colour  and  not  a  result  of  late  starting 
or  overcropping,  a  somewhat  liberal  use  of  potash  salts  with  magnesia 
and  iron  will  generally  set  matters  right. 
For  vinous  quality  no  thick-skinned  Grape  beats  the  old  West’s  St. 
Peter’s,  but  it  is  no  use  where  appearance  at  table  is  the  chief  merit  in  a 
Grape.  Lady  Downe’s  is  not  only  the  best  keeping  Grape,  we  have  had 
it  excellent  in  June,  but  it  is  unapproached  by  any  very  late  Grape  for 
uniform  excellence  in  quality,  thongh  only  about  half  as  taking  in 
appearance  as  Gros  Colman,  and  not  giving  nearly  as  much  weight  of  fruit 
per  Vine  or  space  is  not  in  favour  with  growers  for  market.  It  retains 
its  richness  to  the  last,  simply  because  it  contains  more  sugar  and 
mostly  has  a  decided  smack  of  Muscat. 
In  white  Grapes  Mrs,  Pearson  stands  first  for  quality,  being  also 
good  in  looks,  and  keeping  excellently.  Trebbiano  will  not,  however, 
go  out  of  cultivation,  for  when  well  done  it  is  an  enormous  counterpart 
of  Muscat  of  Alexandria  in  looks,  and  the  flesh  is  firm,  crisp,  and 
sweet.  This  Grape  also  likes  red  soils.  There  must  not  be  any 
deficiency  of  moisture  in  the  border,  and  the  atmosphere  not  allowed 
to  become  stagnant,  but  have  enough  warmth,  with  air,  to  keep  it 
in  motion,  the  temperature  not  being  permitted  to  fall  much  below 
b0°  until  the  leaves  fall. 
w 
BDE-KEEPBR. 
^  r-T- 1  - :  -~r-~i~T-'i  -l  - 1  •  l  .-i  -  r^-r^iT-  r  - 1  .'r"!  - 1  - 1  -  i'iTV: 
SEASONABLE  NOTES. 
Contracting  Hives. 
This  is  still  practised  by  many  bee-keepers,  who  go  through  their 
apiary  and  examine  all  stocks  at  this  season,  removing  combs  that 
are  not  covered  with  bees,  afterwards  placing  the  division  board  close 
np  to  the  frames  that  are  left  in  the  hive.  There  is  thus  an  empty 
space  left  between  the  division  board  and  the  inner  wall  of  the  hive. 
The  idea  is  by  contracting  the  hives  and  only  allowing  the  bees  to 
have  access  to  just  as  many  combs  as  they  can  well  cover,  the  tem¬ 
perature  of  the  hive  will  be  much  higher  throughout  the  winter  than 
if  the  whole  of  the  frames  had  been  allowed  to  remain. 
In  theory  this  would  seem  a  sensible  way  of  keeping  the  bees 
warm  in  the  winter ;  but  in  practice  I  doubt  if  there  is  as  much 
benefit  derived  from  treating  them  in  this  manner  as  some  bee¬ 
keepers  would  have  one  to  believe.  When  I  first  started  bee-keeping 
in  modern  frame  hives  I  practised  this  plan  for  several  years  with 
fair  success,  but  with  a  greater  amount  of  hard  work  than  I  now 
think  necessary. 
Having  experimented  with  half  a  dozen  colonies  by  leaving  the 
whole  of  the  combs  in  the  body  of  the  hive,  which  were  fed  up  early 
in  the  autumn  and  covered  up  warm,  and  were  not  disturbed  or  again 
examined  until  the  following  April,  these  proved  on  examination  to 
be  some  of  the  beet  stocks  in  my  apiary  ;  breeding  was  going  on 
apace,  and  in  comparison  with  colonies  from  which  all  spare  combs 
had  been  removed  were  far  in  advance.  This  convinced  me  that  it 
was  quite  unnecessary  to  remove  all  spare  frames  in  the  autumn,  as 
when  one  has  several  dozen  hives  to  examine  it  takes  up  valuable 
time.  I  now  leave  the  whole  of  the  co-mbs  in  all  my  hives. 
*  Winter  Passages. 
This  is  still  advocated  by  some  bee-keepers,  and  to  those  who  do 
not  know  the  meaning  of  the  term  I  may  state  that  it  consists  in 
cutting  small  holes,  about  as  large  as  one’s  finger,  through  the  combs, 
so  that  the  bees  can  pass  from  the  cluster,  in  which  position  they  are 
found  throughout  the  winter,  to  their  food,  which  may  be  stored  in 
the  outer  combs.  They  will  thus  not  become  chilled,  as  is  sometimes 
the  case  when  they  have  to  pass  round  the  ends  or  the  bottom  of  the 
combs.  Bees  often  prepare  the  combs  in  this  manner  themselves, 
even  when  given  full  sheets  of  foundation,  and  are  called  “  pop 
holes.”  It  is  not  advisable  for  the  bee-keeper  to  cut  these  winter 
passages,  as  a  better  plan  is  to  place  two  or  three  laths,  about 
one-eighth  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  across  the  top  of  the  frames 
directly  under  the  ticking  or  whatever  they  may  be  covered  with.  On 
the  top  of  this  place  several  thicknesses  of  warm  material.  The  bees 
will  thus  have  a  winter  passage  over  the  top  of  the  frames  without 
danger  of  being  chilled,  let  the  weather  be  never  so  severe,  i’he  bees, 
too,  will  often  place  propolis  on  the  frames  between  them  and  the 
covering,  which  provides  a  ready  means  of  passing  from  one  to  the 
other.  If  they  are  found  in  this  state  after  the  honey  season  is  over 
there  will  be  no  necessity  of  placing  laths  on  the  frames.  It  should, 
however,  be  scraped  off  clean  in  the  early  spring,  or  it  will  be  a 
harbour  for  the  wax  moth.  Where  there  is  a  number  of  stocks  time 
means  money,  and  it  is  advisable  to  save  labour  as  much  as  is 
possible. 
Making  Wax. 
This  by  some  people  is  not  considered  a  very  genial  operation, 
and  I  have  yet  to  meet  the  bee-keeper  who  says  he  likes  the  job. 
There  are  various  ways  of  obtaining  the  wax  from  the  combs,  but  it 
cannot  be  done  without  heat  being  applied  in  some  form  or  the  other. 
“  The  Solar  Wax  Extractor  ”  is  recommended  by  those  who  have 
used  it.  In  this  instance  the  sun  supplies  the  heat,  but  as  it  is  expen¬ 
sive  will  not  come  into  general  use  except  in  large  apiaries.  “  The 
Swiss  Wax  Extractor  ’’  is  also  highly  spoken  of.  This  is  a  vessel 
made  of  stout  tin,  18  inches  high  by  11  inches  in  diameter.  The 
lower  portion  is  partially  filled  with  water,  and  may  be  set  on  a  fire 
or  gas  stove.  The  wax  is  placed  in  a  perforated  zinc  receiver  in  the 
upper  part,  and  when  melted  by  the  ascending  steam  may  be  run  off 
into  moulds. 
By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  wax  obtained  in  countrj'  districts 
in  this  country  is  by  the  old-fashioned  plan  of  placing  the  corahs  and 
debris  in  a  bag,  putting  the  whole  in  a  copper,  and  covering  it  with 
water.  The  bag  should  be  securely  tied,  and  have  a  weight  placed 
on  it  to  keep  it  at  the  bottom,  so  that  there  is  2  or  3  inches  of  water 
over  the  top  of  the  bag.  The  fire  is  then  lighted,  and  as  the  wax 
melts  it  will  float  to  the  top,  where  it  must  be  allowed  to  rernain 
until  it  is  cold.  The  wax  will  then  be  found  to  have  settled  in  a 
solid  mass  on  the  surface  of  the  water.  The  dirt  should  be  scraped 
