378 



THE UAKVENER'ti MOMilLV 



[December y 



he can appreciate (he full force of his vivid ac- 

 count. 



The American AoinrrLTiinsT. — It is a 

 pU'asure to note that fliis venerable magazine 

 has lost none of its youthful force ]>y the change 

 of proprietors. It is particularly a plea.eure to 

 trace Professor Thurber's pen through its 

 column's as diligentlj' as ever. It would have 

 been a great loss to agricultural Journalism if the 

 change in proprietor had made any change 

 there. 



The Blessed Bees, — By John Allen. New 

 York, J. P. Putnam's Sons ; through Claxton, 

 Remsen & Hatielfinger, Philadelphia. 



As we said recently' of another work, we do 

 not admire these odd titles to books. They 

 smack of the sensational, and we always take 

 them up with a prejudice against their contents. 

 Bees are no doubt a blessing, and in their way 

 bless and are blest ; but there is no more reason 

 for singling them out for special blessing than 

 other things. We might, with as much reason, 

 write of Blessed Lollj'pops, Blessed Potatoes, 

 Blessed Sunlight, or Blessed Kisses, as of Blessed 

 Bees. But this is a matter of taste, and ought 

 not to interfere with a just estimate of the con- 

 tents of the work. 



It seems to be a fancy sketch in the form of a 

 story book, and intended to lead the young to 

 love farming, fruit growing, bee-keeping and so 

 on, all very good objects. But the trouble with 

 most of these story books is that the fancy 

 figui-es with the fancy results, are not sutficientl}' 

 accurate to satisfy the one who reads pencil in 

 hand. For instance here is the account of the 

 Apple orchard which brought in the first lucky 

 Avind-fall after the threatened financial ruin fol- 

 lowing "father's death." The net sum, after all 

 expenses of gathering and marketing was de- 

 ducted, was 81,196.47. There were 700 trees, and 

 the average yield per tree was seven and a half 

 bushels. Now this should give us .'),2")0 bushels, 

 but in another place we are told the product was 

 3,169 bushels. However, whichever way the 

 figures are intended to be, the result is certainly 

 not exaggerated ; for surely the trees would not 

 be wider than twenty-five feet apart, so that we 

 have at least sixty acres in Apple trees. By the 

 product per tree, we see that the trees had arrived 

 at full bearing age, at least twelve years old, and 

 yet the product under S30 per acre, which is no 

 very remarkable revenue after waiting so many 

 years. If an orchard would really not do better 



than this, it is a question wliether the Westerir 

 farmer had not better stick to Wheat and Corn. 



However, the main object of the book ia to 

 speak of the blessing of bees. We fancy bee- 

 keepers will be glad to read it, and compare 

 the fanciful results with their actual experience. 

 It is only ^1.00, and they will no doubt ^ot their 

 full money's worth. 



HoRTicuLTiTRAL SOCIETIES. — We have a 

 large number of notices of the Winter meetings 

 of various Horticultural Societies to be held 

 early in December, but as that will have arrived 

 by the time the reader gets this, it is of no use 

 to announce them. One in January, the third 

 Tuesday, is the Fruit Grower's Society of Penn- 

 sylvania, which meets this 3'ear at Reading. 



Indiana State Horticultural Society. 

 This Society will hold its eighteenth annual 

 session in Danville, Indiana, beginning on Tues- 

 day, December 17th, and continue for three djiys. 

 A liberal premium is offered on Winter Apples. 

 Governer Furnas, of Nebraska, is booked for an 

 address, as well as other distinguished fruit 

 growers from abroad. "Come over and help us,'* 

 is what they write. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Are Nursery Trees Personal Property ? 

 M. asks : " What is the law about nursery trees? 

 Are they to be considered real estate or personal 

 property? Ought thej^ not, in any event, to be 

 considsred personal property ? I hear some 

 argue that they ought to be regarded as real 

 estate." 



We do not feel competent to answer this ques- 

 tion. Different judges decide differently ; nor can 

 we say what it ought to be regarded. If one is 

 in a part of the countr}' where taxes are levied 

 on personal property, he would be glad if trees 

 were real estate. It requires a great deal of 

 knowledge derived from the study of ages of ex- 

 1 perience to decide this. 



Bahama Pine Apples. — W. G. B., Media, 

 Pa., writes of the statement quoted from the 

 London Colonies^ quoted in our last : " The state- 

 ment in the Gardener's Monthly, that as 

 many as a million and a half of the fruit (Pine 

 Apples) has been collected from a single acre at 

 one crop, in the Bahamas, is most astonishing ; 

 309 to a square yard ! This appears to need ex- 

 planation." 



