July  19,  1900. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
67 
beds,  transplanting  taking  place  in  due  course.  An  economical 
practice  is  to  sow  a  fairly  large  breadth  of  ground,  arranging  the  drills 
6  inches  apart,  and  sowing  thinly.  When  the  plants  are  large  enough 
to  move  there  will  be  more  ground  available,  and  they  may  be  put  out 
10  inches  to  12  inches  apart  in  rows  12  inches  apart.  The  plants  left 
will  press  against  each  other,  closing  up  accordingly,  and  abundance  of 
well  blanched  hearts  be  obtained  for  early  consumption  without  any 
further  trouble. 
Late  Beans. — A  few  late  gatherings  of  Kidney  Beans  are  frequently 
most  acceptable.  In  order  to  obtain  these  seed  should  be  sown  at 
once  on  a  warm  border,  where  protection  can  be  afforded  the  plants 
as  need  be.  Syon  House  and  Canadian  Wonder  are  varieties  that  can 
be  recommended  for  this  purpose,  sowing  the  seed  in  drills  18  inches 
apart. 
Turnips. — That  excellent  Turnip  Chirk  Castle  Black  Stone  must  be 
sown  at  once  if  the  roots  are  to  attain  to  a  good  serviceable  size  before 
the  winter,  and  the  same  remark  applies  [to  Orange  Jelly  or  other 
extra  hardy  late  sorts.  These  do  not  form  much  top  growth,  and  may 
be  sown  thinly  in  drills  16  inches  apart.  The  best  roots  are  grown 
on  firm  rich  ground.  If  the  soil  is  somewhat  poor  soak  the  drills  with 
liquid  manure  prior  to  sowing  the  seed. 
HE  BEE-KEEPER. 
Work  In  the  Apiary. 
When  honey  is  coming  in  freely  and  the  weather  continues  bright 
for  several  days  together  the  bees  delay  the  sealing  over  of  some  of 
their  stores  in  their  anxiety  to  secure  a  surplus.  During  a  spell  of  dull 
weather  the  honey  is  sealed  over,  and  if  allowed  to  remain  in  the  hive 
for  many  days  before  being  removed  the  cappings  will  become  dis¬ 
coloured,  owing  to  the  bees  constantly  passing  over  the  combs.  This 
should  be  avoided,  if  possible,  by  removing  all  supers  as  soon  as  they 
are  ready.  Often  at  this  season  the  cells  round  the  outside  of  the 
sections  will  contain  honey  not  sealed  over.  When  this  is  the  case 
they  should  be  placed  in  the  upper  crate,  and  the  bees  will  remove 
the  honey  into  other  cells.  The  crates  of  partly  sealed  sections  should 
always  be  placed  on  the  top.  Crates  of  sections  filled  with  foundation 
or  guide  comb  should  be  placed  underneath.  This  will  have  the  effect 
of  keeping  the  combs  clean,  and  the  bees  will  draw  out  the  newly 
added  comb  at  a  rapid  rate. 
Stocks  worked  for  run  honey  should  also  have  attention  by 
extracting  the  honey  as  soon  as  it  is  ripe.  This  is  usually  the  case 
when  each  comb  is  about  three  parts  sealed  over.  The  queen  must 
not  be  allowed  in  the  supers,  or  the  combs  will  be  spoiled  for 
extracting  purposes  until  the  brood  is  hatched  out.  It  will  then  be 
too  late,  as  the  honey  harvest  will  probably  be  over.  The  queen 
may  easily  be  kept  in  the  lower  chamber  by  using  excluder  zinc. 
This  should  be  placed  carefully  over  the  top  of  the  frames,  other¬ 
wise  the  queen  will  pass  through  any  vacant  space. 
Introducing  Queen  Cells. 
We  explained  in  previous  notes  how  we  utilised  a  certain 
number  of  stocks  for  raising  young  queens,  it  is  now  a  good  time 
to  form  nuclei  hives  for  as  many  queens  as  are  required.  The 
stocks  that  were  robbed  a  few  weeks  ago  of  part  of  their  combs, 
and  many  of  the  bees  for  strengthening  those  intended  for 
extracting  purposes  will  now  have  beceme  strong  in  bees.  The 
hives,  too,  will  be  nearly  filled  with  frames  of  brood.  They  will 
thus  be  in  the  best  possible  condition  for  rearing  queens.  We  will 
presume  a  stroi  g  colony  ot  bees  have  been  rendered  queenless  by 
removal  of  the  queen.  The  combs,  too,  were  at  the  same  time 
prepared  for  queen  cells.  There  will  now  be  numerous  queen  cells 
ready  for  removal. 
The  stocks  rhculd  be  divided  into  as  many  nuclei  as  are  required. 
The  queen  should  be  removed  from  each  colony  before  it  is  divided, 
otherwise  the  queen  cell  would  be  destroyed  before  it  had  been  in  the 
hive  many  hours.  If  a  comb  has  only  one  queen  cell  on  it,  the  comb 
and  the  adhering  bees  may  be  lifted  out  and  placed  between  the 
frames  of  brood  in  the  nucleus.  ^  he  division  board  is  closed  up,  and 
the  bees  are  not  disturbed  lor  at  least  a  fortnight.  Other  queen  cells 
may  be  removed  with  a  knife,  about  2  inches  of  comb  be;ng  taken 
with  it.  This  will  be  found  useful  to  hold  the  cell  in  position,  either 
by  pressing  it  into  the  comb  which  is  to  receive  it,  or  by  using  a 
small  skewer  of  wood,  which  will  answer  the  purpose.  The  queen 
cell  should  always  have  its  point  hanging  downwards  in  the  same 
position  it  occupied  in  its  original  comb.  Care  must  be  taken  that 
there  are  suflficient  bees  in  each  nucleus  hive  to  cover  the  brood. — 
An  English  Bee-keeper. 
Ail  correspondence  relating  to  editorial  matters  should  be 
directed  to  “The  Editor,”  12,  Mitre  Court  Chambers, 
Fleet  Street,  Xondon,  E.c.  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  depart¬ 
mental  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  accom¬ 
panied  by  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  writers,  but  these  will 
neither  be  published  nor  disclosed  when  initials  or  noms  de  plume 
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. 
Grub  Infesting  Potatoes  (Boothby). — The  grub  was  so  dried  and 
smashed  as  to  be  beyond  recognition,  and  from  the  conformation  of  its 
mandibles  does  not  appear  a  vegetable  feeder,  but  a  oarnivorons  crea¬ 
ture.  Send  specimens  carefully  packed,  and  we  will  do  our  best  to 
determine  the  species,  though  this  is  somewhat  difficult  in  the  case  of 
uncommon  species,  it  being  necessary  to  rear  them  to  the  perfect  stage. 
Strawberries  Diseased  {B.  E.). — There  are  no  traces  of  insects,  but 
the  fruit  or  some  of  them  appear  to  have  been  nibbled,  perhaps  by  the 
red  field  vole  (Arvicola  glareolus).  For  this  pest  we  have  found  the 
small  steel  spring  traps,  commonly  called  “bird,”  baited  with  cheese 
and  set  in  their  haunts,  effective.  But  the  Stawberries  are  badly 
infested  with  white  mould  fungus  (Botrytis  vulgaris)  owing  to  wet 
weather.  The  fungus  has  probably  been  introduced  in  the  straw,  and 
by  the  wet  period.  Bemove  all  the  damaged  fruits  and  cut  off  as  much 
of  the  top  of  the  plants  as  can  well  be  spared,  burning  the  whole  along 
with  any  rough  remains  of  the  straw.  Then  when  cool  enough  spread 
the  ashes  on  the  ground  evenly  all  over  the  plants,  and  dress  with 
quicklime  slaked  with  the  smallest  quantity  of  water  necessary  to  cause 
it  to  fall  into  an  apparently  dry  fine  powder,  distributing  over  the  plants 
at  the  rate  of  14  lbs.  of  the  unslaked  lime  per  rod.  In  the  autumn  or 
early  in  the  spring  the  dressing  of  lime  may  be  repeated. 
Packing  Peaches  (T.  6f.  F.). — Mr.  W.  H.  Divers,  Belvoir  Castle 
Gardens,  an  experienced  grower,  describes  his  method  of  packing  as 
follows  : — “  The  Peaches  must  be  gathered  as  soon  as  they  begin  to  feel 
soft  at  the  base,  and  then  sent  to  market  (or  their  destination)  as 
quickly  as  possible.  They  require  very  great  care  in  handling,  or  they 
show  every  finger-mark  in  a  short  time,  and  only  realise  very  low  prices, . 
or  arrive  in  an  unsatisfactory  state.  For  marketing  the  fruit  the  sales¬ 
men  generally  supply  boxes  about  3  inches  deep  that  will  hold  about 
two  dozen  in  one  layer.  Each  fruit  should  have  a  strip  of  white  tissue 
paper  wrapped  round  the  sides  so  as  to  cover  the  lower  half  of  the 
fruit.  A  twist  at  the  bottom  after  wrapping  it  round  will  help  to  keep 
it  on.  Strips  of  cotton  wool  about  If  inch  are  then  cut  across  the 
piece  and  opened  out  from  one  end,  so  as  to  form  a  strip  of  wadding 
about  2^  feet  long  and  If  inch  wide.  This  is  carefully  rolled  round 
each  fruit  as  many  times  as  it  will  go  over  the  tissue  paper.  The  boxes 
should  he  lined  with  cotton  wool  inside,  and  the  Peaches  placed  in  them 
closely  together  as  they  are  wrapped.  When  the  box  will  hold  no 
more  small  pieces  of  wadding  may  he  gently  pushed  in  the  corners  of 
the  package  and  wherever  there  is  room,  so  as  to  make  all  secure  and 
prevent  any  movement  of  the  fruit.  If  they  are  packed  in  the  way  I 
have  described  they  should  now  be  firmly  in  the  boxes  with  nothing 
around  the  upper  half  of  the  fruit,  so  that  everyone  can  see  their  size 
and  colour  when  offered  for  sale.  A  sheet  of  tissue  paper  must  next  be 
laid  over  them,  and  th'^n  one  or  two  pieces  of  wadding,  the  same  size  as 
the  box,  so  as  to  fill  up  and  prevent  any  movement  when  travelling. 
Packing  Peaches  requires  great  care,  but  pays  for  all  the  attention 
bestowed  upon  it.  I  have  adopted  this  system  for  several  years  past, . 
and  had  no  complaints  from  anyone  about  damage,  although  some  of 
the  fruits  have  travelled  400  to  500  miles.  There  is  no  system  equal  to 
it,  although  moss,  dried  grass,  and  other  things  are  sometimes  recom¬ 
mended.  The  table  on  which  the  packing  is  done  should  always  have 
a  strip  of  wool  on  it  to  lay  the  fruit  on.  Peaches  will  keep  several 
days  if  laid  on  some  dry  and  soft  material  in  a  cool  and  dry  room.” 
