No. 8. 



Wonders of the Honey Bee—Capons. 



239 



From the Farmers' Jlontlily Visitor. 

 Wonders of the Honey Bcc« 



Hon. Isaac Hill: — I am pleased to find 

 your Visitor what I anticipated it would be, 

 the Register of the agricultural improve- 

 ments of the day. I have read in it one or 

 two treaties upon Bees, that family of insects 

 which is the pattern of industry, system and 

 good order, and wliicli should have their habi- 

 tions near the dwellings, and before the eyes 

 of every farmer and horticulturist in the 

 country. He who is fond of studying the 

 wonderful works of Nature, will find but few 

 subjects, which will more excite his curiosity, 

 than the history of the Bee. 



The bee possesses tjie united skill of the 

 mason, the architect, the geometrician, and 

 the civilian. Many naturalists of this and 

 other countries have devoted much time in 

 .searcliing out their habits, admiring their sa- 

 gacity, and in giving to the world the result 

 of their researches. They have learned much, 

 and there is much more yet to be learned of 

 this wonderful insect. I have myself kept 

 bees for thirteen or fourteen years. I long 

 since felt the necessity of preserving these 

 little creatures from the barbarous custom of 

 annual suffocation. For a while 1 tried the 

 box-hive, but found my bees unwill:'»g to en 

 ter it, and I lost several swarms in trying to 

 force them into it. I abandoned this kind of 

 hive, and finished a room in my garret, dark 

 and tight, with a communication through tlie 

 external wall of the house, through which to 

 give them a passage way. I placed a hive 

 of bees in this room, their entrance into the 

 hive being on a level with the communica- 

 tion, and near to it. To this room I have a 

 door from my garret, never accessible to chil- 

 dren or intruders. The room should be made 

 impervious to rats and mice, which are very 

 fond of bees, sparing not even their weapons 

 of defence. This young swarm soon filled 

 their hive, and then commenced their opera- 

 tions, beneath, above, and around the hive, 

 filling in their white virgin comb, without 

 the aid of bars, slats or cross pieces to build 

 to, from the roof of the house to the floor of 

 their room. At times, I stole into this apiary, 

 and by the aid of a light, viewed the progress 

 they were making, and the splendid columns 

 of comb they were erecting. They had the 

 benefit of the labour of all their increase — 

 all their progeny; there was no swarming, no 

 colonizing from this numerous family. Give 

 bees room and they never swarm. Whoever 

 heard of bees swarming from a hollow tree, 

 till the space within was filled ] After the 

 second year of their operations, and during 

 the coldest of the winter, while the bees all 

 laid dormant at the centre of their nectarine 

 pile, I took my family stores from the external 



layers, which always contain the whitest and 

 purest in the store-house, and is the only por- 

 tion which can be taken without injury to the 

 residue. For many years my table was sup- 

 plied from this room with tlie choicest of 

 sweets, from wliich many a friend iias en- 

 joyed a treat, and lingered to admire this sim- 

 ple contrivance for the preservation of the 

 bee, and the store-house so well adapted to 

 receive the fruits of his labour. 



In 1834 my dwelling-house was destroyed 

 by fire, contaming,in its garret, at least eight 

 hundred pounds of honey, and of living beings 

 a multitude which no man could number. 

 J. S. Keith. 



Ciiinesc Mode of Making Capons. 



The Chinese, who are very expert in the 

 art of making capons, use the following me- 

 thod : The wing of the tbwl being folded 

 back till they meet, the left foot of the ope- 

 rator is placed on them, the fowl being laid on 

 its left side : the great toe of the right foot is 

 placed on its legs; the feathers are then 

 plucked off by the side — an incision, about an 

 inch in length, commencing about an inch 

 from the back-bone and extending obliquely 

 downwards, is made with a knife, the cutting 

 part of which is bevelled to a point, like a 

 dissecting scalpel. This incision is carefully 

 carried through the skin, muscles and mem- 

 branes, till the intestines are laid bare, while 

 flat blunt hooks are put into the incision, 

 which is extended and kept open by the elas- 

 ticity of a bamboo, or whale-bone: the intes- 

 tines are then pushed aside with a pair of 

 forceps, which are used to lay hold of the 

 stone, when it is by this means brought into 

 view, while there is passed over it, through 

 a bamboo or elder tube, a horse hair, which 

 is drawn backwards and forwards through the 

 tube till the spermatic chord is cut through ; 

 the stone is then scooped out. The other 

 stone is removed in the same manner. No 

 blood issues from the spermatic chords, nor 

 does the animal seem to feel pain. The 

 hooks are then removed, the wound is closed 

 up, the feathers which have been plucked off 

 are stuck upon the wound with the blood, and 

 the wing being put down on it, the animal 

 walks off as if nothing had happened. Young 

 cocks, three month old, are made choice of 

 for the operation, which must, if possible, be 

 performed before July, as it has been re- 

 marked that capons made later than this never 

 prove fine." — Dickson on Poultry. 



He who maintains the rights of private 

 conscience in religion, and individual judg- 

 ment in politics, will be regarded as a sophist 

 l)y the bigot in place, and as a radical by poli- 

 tician power. 



