538 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  29,  1899. 
Late  Houses. — Thinning. — In  order  to  secure  large  and  highly  finished 
berries  thin  them  well,  especially  in  the  interior  of  the  bunches,  leaving 
the  large  berried  varieties  about  an  inch  apart.  Only  such  sorts  as 
Gros  Colman,  and  with  the  Vines  in  the  best  condition,  will  bear  this 
severe  thinning,  therefore  regard  must  be  had  to  the  variety,  its  likely 
ultimate  size,  and  oth»r  circumstances,  being  guided  by  experience.  The 
oval-berried  varieties  do  not  require  so  much  room  as  the  round  ones,  but 
all  should  be  thinned,  that  they  will  have  space  for  swelling  fully  without 
wedging,  and  yet  be  so  close  that  when  cut  the  bunch  will  retain  its  form. 
Loose  bunches  that  show  the  footstalks  are  not  so  pleasing  in  appearance 
as  more  compact  clusters,  however  fine  the  berries  may  be.  Not  only  is  it 
necessary  to  thin  the  berries,  but  the  bunches  must  be  reduced  to  the 
number  which  their  size  and  the  condition  of  the  Vines  satisfy  the  grower 
will  finish  satisfactorily.  If  an  error  is  made,  let  it  be  on  the  safe  side,  as 
Vines  that  are  over-burdened  never  finish  the  fruit  well,  and  it  is  inferior 
in  keeping  qualities. 
Firing  and  Ventilating. — It  is  one  of  the  greatest  mistakes  to  rely  on 
solar  heat  alone  for  forwarding  late  Grapes.  Cold  nights  render  fires 
necessary  ;  it  is  folly  to  let  them  out  now  and  have  to  fire  hard  later  on, 
when  the  sun  has  less  power,  to  ripen  the  fruit.  All  late  Grapes  thrive 
best  in  a  high  temperature,  with  abundant  food  at  the  roots,  and  a  genial 
condition  in  the  atmosphere.  Maintain  a  night  temperature  of  65"^,  and 
70°  to  75°  by  day  in  dull  weather.  Admit  air  early,  a  little  at  the  top  of 
the  house  constantly,  increasing  the  ventilation  with  the  temperature, 
allowing  an  advance’  to  8.5°  or  90°,  at  which  keep  through  the  day  from 
sun  heat,  reducing  the  ventilation  with  the  declining  sun.  Close  at  85°, 
damping  the  paths  and  borders  then,  and  again  before  nightfall.  It  is 
well  to  close  for  a  short  time  and  afterwards  admit  a  little  ai'',  which  will 
prevent  a  vitiated  atmosphere,  and  allow  the  foliage  to  dry  in  the  morning 
as  the  sun  acts  on  the  structure.  Avoid  cold  draughts  or  sudden  depres¬ 
sions  of  temperature,  as  the^  cause  rust. 
Young  Vines. — Syringe  copiously  in  the  afternoon  of  fine  days, 
and  close  early  so  as  to  husband  the  sun’s  heat,  mulching  the  border  to 
keep  the  surface  moist,  affording  water  or  liquid  manure  when  necessary. 
Stop  laterals  to  one  leaf,  then  the  sub-laterals  may  be  allowed  to  extend 
on  permanent  Vines,  but  on  supernumeraries  the  canes  should  be  stopped 
when  about  9  inches  in  length,  the  laterals  at  the  first  leaf  and  the  sub¬ 
laterals  to  one  joint  as  made,  keeping  them  clear  of  the  principal  or  cane 
leaves.  The  latter  must  be  kept  free,  and  allowed  to  die  naturally, 
so  that  the  buds  at  the  base  may  be  well  formed  and  nourished. 
Attention  to  Supebs. 
Throughout  the  country  where  the  chief  surplus  is  obtained  from 
field  Beans  and  white  Clover,  the  honey  flow  will  now  be  at  its  height, 
but  without  fine  weather  bees  cannot  store  a  surplus.  During  the  past 
three  weeks  bee-keepers  have  been  favoured  withi  bright  sunshine  and 
a  high  temperature.  Bees  have  made  great  headway,  increasing  at  a 
rapid  rate.  The  country,  however,  was  beginning  to  have  a  parched 
appearance,  although  the  wind  was  in  the  north-east  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  time.  The  wind  has  now  veered  round  to  the  south,  and  with  it 
came  a  heavy  downpour  of  rain.  This  has  been  beneficial  to  all  growing 
crops.  Bees  have  received  a  check,  but  it  only  needs  fine  weather  for 
a  bountiful  harvest  to  be  stored.  It  is  interesting  to  note  the 
difference  between  strong  and  weak  colonies  at  this  season,  and 
inspection  shows  the  advantage  of  having  a  given  number  of  stocks 
strong  early  in  the  season. 
Supers  placed  on  strong  colonies  at  the  end  of  May,  or  later, 
will  now  require  attention.  Already  we  have  some  perfectly  finished 
sections,  better  than  we  have  obtained  for  several  years  past  so  early 
in  the  season.  A  fair  sample  of  run  honey  has  also  been  extracted 
from  supers.  This,  however,  is  somewhat  brown  in  colour,  as  it  has 
been  obtained  from  field  Beans.  Other  colonies  which  were  left  to 
chance  are  not  of  sufficient  strength  to  store  a  surplus. 
Stocks  supered  with  a  crate  of  twenty-one  sections,  and  which 
are  partly  sealed  over,  should  now  be  removed,  and  a  crate  of  empty 
sections  placed  underneath.  If  the  weather  is  dull  at  this  season, 
the  bees  will  draw  out  the  foundation,  and  seal  over  the  sections  in 
the  top  super  without  loss  of  time.  When  a  hive  is  crowded  with 
bees  at  this  date,  and  the  sections  are  full  of  honey,  the  bees  will 
prepare  for  swarming  by  forming  queen  cells  if  extra  space  is  not 
provided  for  them.  Timely  attention  to  supers  is  thus  necessary  if 
full  benefit  is  to  be  obtained  from  the  bees,  and  this  can  only  be 
done  by  providing  room  in  advance  of  their  requirements. 
Extracting  Honey. 
We  recommend  all  extracted  honey  to  be  obtained  from  supers. 
In  our  own  apiary  we  never  extract  honey  from  the  combs  in  the 
brood  nest.  There  are,  however,  both  a  right  time  and  a  right  way 
of  extracting  honey.  It  must  never  be  extracted  during  the  middle 
of  a  bright  day  or  in  the  evening.  Early  morning  is  the  most 
suitable  time  for  the  purpose.  The  honey  obtained  during  the 
previous  day  will  have  been  removed  from  the  cells  in  which  it  was 
originally  placed,  and  after  being  treated  by  the  bees  will  be  ripened. 
It  will  then  not  ferment  after  storage  in  bottles,  which  it  often  does 
when  extracted  in  an  unripe  condition. 
In  addition  to  choosing  the  right  time  of  the  day,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  combs  and  honey  be  in  the  proper  condition.  The  coml:« 
should  be  old  and  tough,  so  that  they  will  not  break  down  in  the 
extractor.  The  honey  must  be  partly  sealed  over,  as  we  have  found 
when  honey  is  in  this  condition  it  is  perfectly  ripe,  and  will  keep 
for  any  length  of  time.  If  early  morning  is  not  a  suitable  time  for 
extracting,  another  crate  of  supers  may  be  placed  on  the  hive  in  the 
manner  recommended  for  sections. — An  English  Bee-keeper, 
All  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should,  until 
further  notice,  be  directed  to  “  The  Editor,”  8,  Rose  Hill  Road, 
Wandswortb,  S.W.,  and  iffOT  to  12,  Mitre  Court  Chambers, 
Fleet  Street.  It  is  requested  that  no  one  will  write  privately  to 
any  of  our  correspondents,  seeking  information  on  matters 
discussed  in  this  Journal,  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.  If  information 
be  desired  on  any  particular  subject  from  any  particular 
authority  who  may  be  named,  endeavour  will  be  made  to  obtain 
it  by  the  Editor.  Letters  of  inquiry  must  be  accompanied  by 
the  names  and  addresses  of  the  writers,  but  these  will  neither  be 
published  nor  disclosed  when  initials  or  nom  de  'plumes  are  given 
for  the  purpose  of  replies. 
Correspondents  should  not  mix  up  on  the  same  sheet  questions  relating 
to  Gardening  and  those  on  Bee  subjects,  and  it  is  convenient  when 
each  question  is  written  on  a  separate  sheet.  All  articles  intended 
for  insertion  should  be  written  on  one  side  of  the  paper  only  ;  and 
the  name  and  address  of  each  writer  must  be  known  by  the 
Editor,  though  not  necessarily  for  insertion.  We  cannot,  as  a 
rule,  reply  to  questions  through  the  post,  and  we  do  not  under¬ 
take  to  return  communications  which,  for  any  reason,  cannot 
be  inserted. 
Cattleya  Mendeli  (J.  D.'). — It  is  rather  difficult  to  give  exact  statistics 
as  to  number  of  flowers  produced  on  a  single  spike  of  any  kind  of  Orchid, 
as  someone  is  almost  sure  to  be  found  beating  the  record.  Five  flowers 
is  certainly  not  a  record  number  for  the  C.  labiata  species  as  a  whole, 
whatever  it  may  be  for  C.  Mendeli ;  but  we  strongly  suspect  that  this 
number  has  been  often  reached.  We  have  had  four  flowers  on  a  spike  of 
the  large  flowering  C.  M.  grandiflora,  and  should  certainly  not  be  sur¬ 
prised  to  get  five  from  such  excellent  growths  as  yours  are,  by  the 
measurements  sent.  We  have  had  seven  flowers  on  C.  gigas,  and  six  on 
C.  g.  imperialis. 
Begonia  Gloire  de  Lorraine  (Puzzled).— Your  plants  should  succeed 
in  the  soil  you  have  potted  them  in  if  both  loam  and  leaf  soil  are  of  the 
right  kind.  The  probabilities  are  that  ycur  loam  is  not  good.  The  right 
kind  for  this  Begonia  is  good  fibrous,  mellow,  rather  light  loam,  which 
pulls  to  pieces  easily,  and  does  not  form  hard  lumps  when  dry.  The 
leaf  soil  should  be  only  half  decayed,  perfectly  sweet,  and  be  rubbed 
through  a  half-inch  sieve.  Procure  loam  and  leaf  soil  of  the  above 
description,  and  form  a  compost  of  two  parts  of  the  former  to  one  of  the 
latter,  adding  the  usual  amount  of  sharp,sand  and  a  few  lumps  of  charcoal. 
Shake  the  plants  out,  repot,  and  grow  in  an  intermediate  house,  syringing 
freely  till  good  progress  is  made,  after  that  only  occasional!}’.  If  you 
cannot  procure  good  loam  pot  entirely  in  peat,  such  as  Perns  thrive  in. 
A  stove  temperature  is  too  hot  in  summertime.  You  will  have  no  difficulty 
in  succeeding  if  you  follow  this  treatment. 
Discoloured  Leaves  of  Chrysanthemums  (Dunkeld). — The  leaves  are 
affected  with  eelworm,  Tylenchus  devastatrix,  and  by  the  mycelium  of 
some  fungus.  It  may  not  have  anything  to  do  with  the  discolouring  of 
the  leaves,  but  is  only  a  consequence  of  the  eelworm  attack,  this  being 
accompanied  by  bacterial  organisms,  causing  the  clamminess  on  the 
destroyed  parts.  The  best  treatment  under  such  circumstances  is  to  spray, 
using  an  atomiser,  with  methylated  spirit  diluted  with  an  equal  part  of 
water.  The  spirit  sinks  more  or  less  into  the  affected  parts,  and  destro3's 
the  fungoid  hyphie  as  well  as  the  eelworm.  Good  results  also  follow 
syringing  with  nicotine  essence,  one  part  in  ninety-six  parts  water.  The 
thing  is  to  act  promptly  and  give  the  plants  more  mineral  food,  they 
being  very  succulent  in  foliage  and  deficient  in  lime.  A  little  superphos¬ 
phate,  three  parts,  and  two  parts  kainit  mixed  would  do  good,  using  a 
pinch  between  the  finger  and  thumb  per  10-inch  pot,  and  washing  in,  or 
preferably  mixed  with  an  equal  quantity  of  soil,  sprinkling  in  after 
watering.  If  desired  the  mixture  may  be  used  in  liquid  form,  half  an 
ounce  to  a  gallon  of  water,  and  supplied  at  every  alternate  watering, 
or  about  twice  a  week  for  a  time. 
