290 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  September  26,  1901. 
Ho  Duratioij  of  Cut  Flowers. 
An  ever-increasing  demand  for  cat  flowers  for  decorative  purposes 
makes  this  an  important  consideration  for  those  interested.  I  bring 
a  number  from  my  garden  to  the  offioe  almost  every  day,  and  watch 
the  length  of  time  they  keep  fresh,  and  find  at  this  season  none  can 
come  near  Gladiolus  gandavensis  hybrids.  G.  Lemoinei,  G.  Coivillei, 
and  G.  brenchleyensis  are  considerably  behind  and  less  effective. 
The  various  Asters  and  Stooks,  if  the  foliage  is  picked  off  and  water 
renewed,  will  hold  nearly  a  week  fresh.  Scented  Roses  before  full 
expansion,  are  delightful. — W.  J.  Murphy,  Clonmel. 
- ».#.» - 
Seedling  Briers. 
Tour  correspondent,  “  R.  W.,”  cannot  expeot  to  get  picked  seedling 
Briers  at  the  rate  of  Is.  6d.  per  hundred.  I  get  some  hundreds  each 
year  selected  at  a  price  ranging  from  4s.  to  6s.  6d.  per  100.  These 
are  fit  to  bud  next  season  after  planting,  ard  I  only  find  a  very  odd 
one  which  has  not  got  the  long  clean  stem  of  from  3  to  8  inches.  I  do 
not  agree  with  “  W.  R.  Raillem  ”  as  to  Brier  cuttings  being  the  best 
all-rouDd  stock.  I  find  it  suits  H  T.’s  on  my  very  heavy  soil,  but  Teas 
dp  fully  50  per  cent,  better  on  the  seedling  Brier,  and  are  longer  lived. 
The  surface-rooting  properties  of  the  cutting  may  be  better  for  the 
exhibitor,  as  this  stock  answers  quickly  to  feeding  and  stimulants.  I 
would  therefore  advise  “  R.  W.”  to  write  to  some  of  our  leading  trade 
growers  who  advertise  in  your  columns,  asking  price  of  good  seedling 
Briers.  Most  of  these  growers  import  Briers  from  France  by  the 
100,000,  and  will  supply  their  customers  at  a  reasonable  rate. 
— C.  K.  D. 
Wasps  apd  Hornets. 
A  questiqn  is  asked  on  page  266  as  to  wasps  and  hornets  occupying 
the  same  nestB.  I  suppose  if  I  said  I  had  taken  and  broken  up  thousands 
of  nests  of  wasps,  and  hundreds  of  nests  of  hornets,  I  should  be  within 
the  mark,  but  I  never  found  them  jointly  occupied.  There  is  no  doubt 
in  my  mind  how  the  mistake  comes  in,  as  at  this  season  cf  the  year 
hundreds  of  young  queen  wasps  may  be  found  ready  to  leave  their 
brothers  and  sisters — the  workers  or  neuters — in  the  same  nests,  which 
are  mistaken  for  hornets.  Or  it  may  be  that  it  is  the  reverse,  that  the 
working  hornets  which,  in  some  cases,  are  smaller  than  queen  wasps, 
are  confused  with  queen  hornets  and  called  wasps.  It  is  a  very  common 
mistake  that  people  confuse  queen  wasps  for  hornets,  and  I  have  in 
many  cases  corrected  them,  especially  in  springtime.  Of  course  I  may 
be  wrong,  not  having  seen  these  specimens.  Last  week  I  took  out  five 
wasps’  nests  for  two  neighbours,  farmers,  and  I  may  safely  say  I 
destroyed  a  thousand  young  queen  wasps,  and  also  the  old  ones,  which 
are  quite  distinct  to  an  experienced  eye.  All  were  Vespa  vulgaris  nests, 
and  consequently  smaller  wasps  than  the  largest  species,  Vespa 
germanica.  I  have  had  specimens,  I  believe,  of  every  species  of  wasps’ 
nests,  and,  of  coarse,  many  specimen  nests  of  hornets.  Hornets’  nests 
are  more  numerous  this  season  by  about  six  to  one  than  I  ever  remember, 
over  fifty  years  since  I  began  to  take  notice  of  them. 
My  experience  is  that  instead  of  hornets  and  wasps  dwelling 
together,  hornets  kill  wasps  for  food,  and  carry  them  to  their  nests,  and 
on  one  occasion  I  distinctly  saw  a  hornet  flying  round  my  Jargonelle 
Pears  until  it  caught  a  wasp,  drop  to  the  ground  with  it,  trim  off  the 
legs  and  wings,  and  soar  off  across  four  fields,  and  by  that  circum¬ 
stance  I  followed  the  line  of  flight  and  found  the  hornet’s  nest. 
Hornets  also  hunt  over  Clover  fields  for  bumble-bees,  which  they  carry 
to  their  nests,  no  doubt  to  feed  the  young  hornets.  A  hornet’s  nest 
is  in  the  Worcester  Museum  which  I  exhibited  at  the  first  show  and 
conference  last  year,  with  a  large  collection  of  wasps’  nests  and  other 
curiosities ;  the  nest  mentioned  I  saw  bumble-bees  being  carried  in  from 
a  Clover  field  near. 
There  is  scarcely  a  day  passes  that  someone  does  not  tell  me  of 
something  fresh  about  hornets  and  wasps,  and  where  nests  are,  if  I  like 
to  take  them  or  destroy  them  for  the  benefit  of  others.  Hornets  and 
wasps  often  build  nests  in  queer  places.  This  season  I  have  both  Been 
and  beard  of  hornets’  nests  in  a  church  tower,  suspended  by  the  work 
of  the  hornets,  one  suspended  in  a  barn  roof,  another  in  a  church, 
another  in  a  bee-hive,  several  in  the  roofs  of  cottages,  about  twenty  in 
old  trees,  and  some  in  the  ground  as  wasps  build.  Some  years  ago  I 
took  one  from  a  rabbit. hole  at  least  2  yards  from  the  entrance,  which 
took  hours  to  exoavate  through  a  thick  bank  and  through  the  roots  of 
Oak  trees. 
Robbing  hornets’  nests  is  exciting  work,  as  one  never  knows  exactly 
whether  they  will  kill  one  or  not,  especially  in  broad  daylight,  and 
even  on  the  darkest  and  wettest  nights  they  frequently  fly  and 
settle  on  me  in  taking  out  nests.  It  is  an  old  saying  that  one  will 
kill  a  man  and  three  a  horse.  A  few  days  ago  a  small  farmer  here 
lost  his  only  cow  by  a  sting  on  the  udder  from  either  a  wasp  or 
hornet.  The  poor  beast  went  almost  frantic,  the  milk  ceased,  and  in 
a  few  days  died  from  blood  poisoning,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  a  noted 
veterinary  surgeon.  The  cow  was  an  excellent  milker,  and  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  producing  12  lbs.  of  batter  per  week.  I  fear  I  have 
occupied  too  much  space  in  my  reply,  but  my  excuse,  if  it  needs  one, 
is  that  it  is  a  subject  in  whioh  I  take  much  interest,  having  leotured 
in  many  towns  and  villages  in  Warwickshire  on  the  subjeot  in 
connection  with  horticulture  under  the  County  Council,  giving  advice 
in  nest-taking,  and  explaining  methods  from  practice  over  a  lifetime. — 
James  Hiam,  Astwood  Bank,  Worcestershire. 
[We  sincerely  thank  Mr.  Hiam  for  his  excellent  and  most  interesting 
information.  We  may  easily  have  been  mistaken  in  taking  the  queen 
wasps  for  hornets.] 
Twelve  Roses,  any  variety. 
This  class  is  very  generally  neglected  at  our  shows,  and  sometimes 
omitted  from  the  schedule  altogether.  Often,  when  included, 
insignificant  prizes  are  offered.  On  the  other  hand,  there  seems  to  be 
a  growing  tendency  to  offer  prizes  for  twelve  blooms  of  certain  specified 
varieties  named  beforehand  in  the  schedule — e.g.,  twelve  blooms  of 
Duke  of  Edinburgh,  twelve  blooms  of  La  France,  &o.,  these  classes 
being  for  the  most  part  open  aud  the  prizes  not  high. 
Now,  firstly,  when  the  schedule  is  formed  it  is  quite  uncertain 
whether  the  se  ison  will  be  a  favourable  one  for  this  or  that  variety,  so 
that  the  e  classes  frequently  produce  no  competition  worthy  of  mention. 
I  need  hardly  point  out  to  exhibitors  how  different  years  are  sure  to  be 
favourable  to  particular  varieties  and  unfavourable  to  others.  Secondly, 
I  venture  to  think  that  few  amateurs  can  make  sure  a  week  beforehand 
of  staging  twelve  blooms  of  any  specified  variety,  and  the  practice  of 
entering  for  classes  in  which  it  is  doubtful  whether  you  will  compete  is 
certainly  to  be  avoided. 
Ou  the  other  hand,  most  amateurs  of  any  considerable  pretensions 
could  stage  a  creditable  twelve  of  some  variety  when  it  comes  to  the 
point,  and  it  not  unfrequently  happens  that  A  or  B  may  grow  some 
less- known  or  weak-growing  variety  especially  well.  It  is  not  very 
often  that  we  see  Chas.  Lefebvre  shown  at  his  best,  yet  at  one  of  the 
shows  this  year  I  could  have  staged  twenty-four  blooms  of  that  variety 
which  would  have  surprised  its  depreoiators.  The  reform  that  I  would 
advocate  is  to  abolish  these  olasses  for  twelve  looms  of  Duke  of 
Edinburgh,  twelve  blooms  of  La  France,  &o.,  and  substitute  two 
classes:  1,  Twenty-four  blooms  (any  varieties),  nurserymen ;  2,  twelve 
blooms  (any  variety),  amateurs.  The  prizes  must  be  good,  and  there 
should  be  not  less  than  four  in  each  class.  Exhibitors  should  be 
enoouraged  to  stage  more  than  one  twenty-four  or  twelve  if  able  to  do 
so,  and  I  would  advise  that  t  ey  should  be  allowed  to  takers  many 
prizes  in  the  class  as  they  oan,  of  course  for  different  varieties.  I 
believe  that  these  classes  would  be  largely  supported  and  greatly  add  to 
the  attractions  of  our  shows. — T.  H. 
Sea  Lavender  for  Bees. 
Some  years  ago  you  allowed  me  to  inquire  what  your  apiarian 
correspondents  thought  of  Sea  Lavender  (Statice  Limonium)  as  bee 
pasturage.  It  blossoms  about  the  same  time  as  Heather.  No  one 
seemed  to  know  anything  about  it,  so  I  now  send  you  a  sample  of 
honey  made  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  from  this  flower,  aud  shall  be  glad 
to  have  your  opinion  upon  it.  I  have  not  found  it  so  muoh  approved 
of  as  Clover  honey,  the  slightly  bitter  taste  offending  some  palates. 
But  tastes  differ,  and  the  Sea  Lavender  is  at  all  events  a  great 
resource  for  late  swarms  or  stocks  which  have  done  b  idly  in  the  early 
summer,  when  sufficiently  in  reach  and  when  the  weather  is  propitious. 
I  live  myself  about  two  miles  from  the  coast,  and  have  been 
singularly  unfortunate  with  the  hives  I  have  taken  down  to  the  sea, 
in  the  hope  that  they  would  strengthen  themselves  against  the  winter 
from  this  source  and  save  me  in  sugar.  Three  stooks  “  skedaddled,  ’ 
not  liking  their  new  quarters,  one  I  had  to  take  home  and  feed,  and 
the  most  promising  of  all,  which  really  did  gather  honey,  has  this  year 
been  robbed  and  starved  to  death.  I  have,  however,  a  friend  living 
very  near  the  salt  marshes  whose  bees,  “being  to  the  manner  born,’ 
get  a  good  deal  of  honey  from  the  Lavender,  quite  enough  to  com¬ 
pensate  them  for  their  diminished  area  of  pasturage,  and  to  set  them 
up,  when,  as  sometimes  happens,  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  is 
more  favourable  than  the  earlier. 
Putting  aside  the  inferiority  of  the  flavour  of  the  honey,  Sea 
Lavender  can  never,  I  take  it,  compete  with  Heather  as  bee  forage, 
if  only  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  supposes  tides,  whioh  throw  the 
poor  bees  quite  out  of  their  reckoning,  and  the  caprioious  and  often 
boisterous  winds  which  prevail  on  the  sea-coast.  Yet  I  cannot  but 
hope  that  these  few  lines  will  be  some  encouragement  to  intending 
bee-keepers  who  live  within  easy  distance  of  a  salt  marsh.  Many  of 
these  have  been  reclaimed,  and  now  grow  something  more  valuable  than 
Sea  Lavender.  But  wherever  this  beautiful  though  soentless  flower 
still  adorns  the  flat  and  monotonous  waste  with  its  delicate  col  uring, 
let  the  merry  hum  of  the  bee  add  another  element  of  oheerfulness. 
— E.  H.  R. 
