332 PISCATAQUIS CENTRAL SOCIETY. 



Statement of B. F. Wilbur, the Secretary of the Society, who 

 introduced this hive into the county : 



" The platform bee hive which is hereby placed on show, was 

 made by my son, B. F. Wilbur, Jr., at my request — was manufac- 

 tured in Monson, and has never before been offered to the Society 

 for premium. This hive has been used to a limited extent in this 

 county the past season, and highly approved by those who under- 

 staridingly and properly managed with it. The advantages of it are 

 many, and it cannot but be liked by every bee keeper who is thor- 

 oughly conversant with the habits and wants of the honey bee. I 

 make the statement without the fear of contradiction from any expe- 

 rienced, intelligent, practical apiarist, here or elsewhere, that, with- 

 out the platform, such as the one here presented, or something very 

 like it, bees cannot be safely and successfully cultivated." 



B. F. Wilbur. 



Monson, October 8, 1857. 



Crops. The Committee say, that it is much to be regretted that 

 so few entries are made for premium crops in this fertile and thriv- 

 ing county. Premiums were awarded — 



To Geo. A. Childs, on twenty-nine and one-third bushels of wheat 

 per acre. 



To Jacob Leeman, on one hundred and fifty-two bushels of ears 

 of corn per acre. 



To Charles Loring of Guilford, on thirty-eight bushels of barley 

 per acre. 



To Seth Lee of Atkinson, on seventeen and one-fourth bushels of 

 beans per acre. 



Statement of George A. Child on Wheat. The crop of wheat 

 for which I ask a premium, was a yield of thirty-three bushels on 

 one and one-eighth acres, or a fraction over twenty-nine bushels per 

 acre. The field was run out grass land, and was broken up in 

 November, 1854, with four oxen; in 1855 was sowed to oats; crop 

 very light ; plowed in the spring of 1856, and seven-eighths of an 

 acre planted to corn, beans and pumpkins ; well manured ; eleven 

 loads long manure spread on and ten loads of compost, made of 

 Bwamp muck and hog manure, put in the hill ; crop, twenty bushels 

 shelled corn, four and one-half bushels beans and ten loads pump- 



