AGRICULTURAL ZOOLOGY. 367 



study, of moderation, of sobriety in all things." To those who may be disposed to ask -why 

 it is that of men destined to live a hundred years, so few do so, M. Flourens answers tri- 

 umphantly — " With our manners, our passions, our torments, man does not die, he kills him- 

 self!" And he speaks at great length of Cornaro, of Lessius, and mentions Parr and others 

 to show that by prudence, and above all, sobriety, life can easily be extended to a century 

 or more. 



On Horse-flesh for Food. 



M. St. Hilaire, the President of the Society for Acclimation of Foreign Animals in 

 France, has recently published a communication demonstrating the advantages of horse- 

 flesh for food. After speaking of the predilection of the ancient Germans for horse-flesh, he 

 has inquired into the aversion now so general. Both the Scandinavians and Germans kept 

 in a sacred pasture a race of white horses for sacrifices to Odin, and after the sacrifice they 

 boiled them for a feast. This is no doubt the origin of the hippophagy, which continued 

 among these people until driven out as a part of paganism by the spread of Christianity. 

 Yet in spite of the efforts of Pope Gregory III. and his successors, the use of horse-flesh 

 continued for a long time in Scandinavia. The race of white horses is still found pure in 

 the stables of Fredericksberg, belonging to the king of Denmark. 



The nomadic tribes of Asia still retain their relish for horse-flesh, although they have an 

 abundance of cattle and sheep. Among the people of Europe, who have anew taken up the 

 use of horse-flesh, the Danes were the first. During the siege at Copenhagen, in 1807, it 

 was authorized by the government, and since then it has continued to be eaten. In the 

 capital of Denmark, there is a butcher's stall for selling horse-flesh alone, licensed by the 

 government. At times it has been introduced into Paris. During the scarcity at the time 

 of the Revolution, the greater part of the meat eaten for six months was from slaughtered 

 horses, and no inconvenience resulted from it. Along the Rhine, in Catalonia, and in the 

 Maritime Alps, the celebrated Larrey many times had recourse to this article of food for his 

 wounded soldiers. He depended on it mainly at the siege of Alexandria, and owed to it, in 

 a great degree, the cure of the sick. From these facts, and a multitude of others he 

 enumerates, M. J. Geoffroy St. Hilaire concludes that horses may be used as wholesome, 

 economical, and nutritious food. 



The Successful Features of Bee-Culture. 



The essential features of successful bee-culture are the following: — 1. bees should be 

 placed in a good hive — one which will bear exposure to the weather ; 2. the keeper should 

 lie able at any time to inspect their condition ; 3. they should be allowed to swarm ; 4. they 

 should be protected from the encroachments of the bee-moth ; 5. the hive should be suffi- 

 ciently ventilated, especially in winter ; 6. no bees should ever be destroyed ; 7. the keeper 

 should be able to avail himself of all the labor which they can perform ; 8. he should ascer- 

 tain and note their weight of stock in autumn and spring ; 9. bees which occupy a good hive 

 (and they should be put into no other) should rarely be dislodged. These are by no means 

 all the important features of a good system of bee-culture. But these I regard as indis- 

 pensable ; others are comparatively of minor importance or incidental. Without each of 

 these, any system which may be adopted must present glaring defects, and must prove un- 

 profitable in proportion as such defects are found to exist. — Dr. Henry Eddy, {Journal of 

 the United States Agricultural Society.) 



The New Silk-Worm, Bombyx Cynthia. 



During the past year, considerable attention has been given in Europe to a new variety 

 of silk-worm recently introduced from the East Indies, and known as the Bombyx cynthia. 

 Various attempts had been made to introduce this worm into Piedmont, Italy, from Calcutta ; 

 but iu every case the eggs failed to arrive in a living state. It was then thought that the 



