THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



U3 



we gently but quickly opened the pane, and en- 

 (Icavoied to seize her. But as soon as the remov- 

 al of the glass afforded room — (wliile shut it was 

 almost iu I'ontact witli lier back) — and before we 

 could accomplish our pinpose, they threw their 

 bodies upon lier to the number of at least a hun- 

 dred, and formed a cone over her of sncli mag- 

 nitude, that slie could not be less than two inches 

 distant from any part of tl]e surfin-e. ^Ve dis- 

 persed the mass \\ith our finger, and got hold of 

 her precious person, and kept looking at her lor 

 some minutes before we restored the cai)tive to 

 her alarmed defenders. It is remarkable that this 

 violence was not resented by them ; tliough they 

 coiu'sed over our hands i)i scores, wliile \\c kept 

 hold of their mistress, not one individual used its 

 Bting. The all-engrossing oliject was the queen. 



The mutual aversion of queens is a striking 

 feature in the natural histery of this insect. Their 

 mutual enmity may be said to be an inborn dis- 

 position with them ; for no sooner has the first of 

 the race on a hive about to throw oft' a second 

 swarni escaped from her own cradle, than she 

 hurries away in search of her rivals, and exerts 

 herself with the utmost eagerness to destroy 

 them. 



The workers, to the nimiber of 10,000, SO,COO, 

 and even 30,000, constitute the great mass of the 

 population, and on them devolve the whole labors 

 for the estalilishment. Tlieirs is the otHce of 

 searcliing for and collecting the precious fluid 

 which not Ojily furnishes their daily food, as well 

 as that of tlieir j'oung, and the sm-plus of which 

 is laid up fbr winter stores, but also the materials 

 from which they rear their beautifid combs. In 

 the little basket sliaped cavity of their hind legs 

 they bring home the pollen or farinacious dust of 

 flowers, kneaded by tlie help of the morning 

 dew into tiny balls, which forms an injportant in- 

 gerdient in the nomishment of the brood ; and 

 also the propolis or adhesive gum extracted fr-om 

 willows, (Sec, with which they attach tlieir combs 

 to the upper part and siiles of the hive, and stop 

 every crevice that might admit the winter's cold. 



The natiu-al term of the woiker's e.\i.steuce 

 docs not extend, we think, beyond six or eight 

 months. 



It is the opinion of Dr. Bevan that all the bees 

 brought into existence at the queen's great lay- 

 iijg in spring die before \\ inter. But many never 

 reach that period. Shovvcrsof rain, violent blasts 

 of wind, sudden changes of atmosphere, destroy 

 them in hunrlreds. In liic clear, cold mornings 

 and evenings of autmiui, tlieir eagerness fbr fiir- 

 aging entices them abroad early and late ; when 

 lighting on the ground, many are chilled and 

 quickly perish. And should lliey escape the 

 blighting atmosphere at the close of autumn, a 

 bright sunshine in a winter day, when tlie ground 

 perhaps is covered with snow, lirings them abroad 

 in multitudes, and the half of them never return. 



The sole office of the male, or at least tlie pri- 

 mary one is, to pair with the queen. He is ihe 

 father of the hive. Indolent and luxurious, he 

 takes no part in liie internal operations of the 

 domicile, and never leaves it with a view of shar- 

 ing in the laliors of the field. When he docs 

 venture abroad, it is only in the finest weather, 

 and dining the warmest part of the day. He is 

 easily distinguished from t'le workers by bis lar- 

 ger size, by his heavy motion in flight, and by his 

 loud humming soimd. His life is extremely 

 short. 



Intermeddling. — The iljol is busy in every 

 one's business but his ov/n, saitli an old pio\ erb, 

 and there is much truth in the saying. We know 

 of many a one who seems to take a vast deal 

 more pains to find out, regulate, and direct other 

 people's business tlian their own. They wulch 

 the movements of their neighbors with as much 

 vigilance as a cat docs a mouse. They peep, or 

 would if they could, into a man's kitchen to see 

 what he is to have for dinner, to see if the cook- 

 ing IS done well, to see if any thing is wasted, to 

 see whether he used Sydney coal or Orrel coal 

 for fuel ; whether he burned" oak wood or iiiaple, 

 beach wood or birch ; whether he drank green 

 tea or black; whether he boiled his coflce or fil- 

 tered h. The Paul Prys are a most grievous nui- 

 sance in a neighborhood, a nuisance which ought 

 to he abated by a sjiecial law made for the pur- 

 pose, as much'as any other which annoys die in- 

 habitants of any piirticidar section of the city. 

 ,.We could point out several who are conlimiaily 



poking their noses and introducing their imperti- 

 nent interference into matters which concern 

 theni no more than they do the man iu the moon. 

 Such people are the pests of .society, the plague 

 of a ueigliborhood which is ciu-scd with them. 

 Meddlers and tattlers are evils which are, we sup- 

 pose, inlroduced into the world to m.ake mischief, 

 and stir up strifes and contentions. They are 

 continually buzzing about your ears, like gnats, to 

 annoy but never to benefit you. Such beings 

 help to make up a population, and we suppose 

 must be considered as necessary evils, hut it does 

 seem to us that we who make it a matter of prin- 

 ciple to mind our own afiiiirs anil let other peo- 

 ples alone, could contrive to get along, ujion a 

 pinch, with a fewer number of such sort of an- 

 noyances. 



We cannot but throw a word or two of " ad- 

 vice gratis " to the numerous, too numerous, class 

 of pensonages, who are wise in their conceit, to 

 mind their own business and let other people's 

 alone. Ye meddlers, when jour assistance is 

 wanted, wait till it is called for, and it will be 

 much more acceptable than when it is intruded. 

 There is a vast difterencc between people's per- 

 forming a kind and friendly act, and intermed- 

 ling with affairs which do not concern or belong 

 to them. Let people mind their own business, 

 and remember and profit by the proverb with 

 which we commenced this article ; " the fool is 

 bus}' in every one's business but his own." — Bos- 

 ton Transcript. 



A Hint to the Girls. 



We have always considered it an unerring sign 

 of innate vulgarity, « hen we have heard ladies 

 take particular pains to impress us with an idea 

 of their ignorance of all domestic matters, save 

 sewing lace or weaving a net to encase their del- 

 icate hands. Ladies, by some curious kind of 

 hocus pocus, have got it into their heads that the 

 liest way to catch a husband is to show him how 

 profoundly capable they are of doing notliing for 

 ids comfort. Frightening a piano into fits, or 

 murdering the king's French, may be good bait 

 bait fbr certain kinds of fish, but they must be 

 of that very small kind usually found in very 

 slialtow waters, 1'he surest way to secure a good 

 husband is to cultivatate those accoinplishinents 

 which make a good wife. 



Dru.nken Crows. — A South Carolina paper 

 relates a curious incident, which tells well for 

 the moral character of some of the jiarties con- 

 ccnietl— iu one point at least. A gentleman on 

 finding that his cornfields were beset by a great 

 i)Umber of crows, steeped a quanlity of corn in al- 

 „cohol,and threw it forth as a s])ecial " treat." The 

 nsusiiecting spoilers swallowed the bait greedi- 

 'y, and soon began to manifest all sorts of funny 

 censequeiwes, being most essentially fuddled. 

 They staggered al>out, even in mid-au", as they 

 sliauibled towards a neighboring forest; where 

 ihev held a most loquacious and uproarious con- 

 fab in the Cawcaw language, resulting, it seems, 

 in a resolution to avoid that shop in future ; 

 which resolution they faithfully fulfilled, after hav- 

 ing regained their sober senses — (a lesson to oth- 

 er bipeds) — although they continued to plunder 

 tlu^ neighboring fields in all directions. 



Amkrica.n Cottons. — The Chamber of Com- 

 merce and Manufactures of Amsterdam has pub- 

 li.shod a notice to the effect, that, according to ar- 

 rangements made by his Majesty tlie Emperor of 

 Russia, in concert with the Danish government, 

 American cotton, no matter under u-hat flag, and 

 coming from any Eiu-opeau porfs excepting those 

 of the Mediterranean, will be henceforth admit- 

 ted into the Russian ports in the Baltic without 

 being furnished with clean bills of health deliv- 

 ered l.iy the Dutch qtiarautine . officers. The 

 American origin of the cotton must be proved by 

 the requisite certificates delivered by the Rus- 

 sian Consuls in the ports fiom which it is con- 

 signed, or in the absence of consuls, by certifi- 

 cates of the local authoi-ities. — Baltimore Jiepjib- 

 Hcan. 



the most elevated, arc but slaves of imperious 

 lords, and panders to the most debasing passions. 

 Their mental culture is almost i\ holly neglec- 

 ted ; and they are invariably treated, as belong- 

 ing to an inferior order of beings. 



But even .hidaisni, though designed for a peo- 

 ple compai-atively barbarous, and adapted to a 

 rude state of society, exalts woman to her just 

 rank, as, in a command of the decalogue, it re- 

 quires children to honor their mother equally 

 with their father. 



Mothers. — It is the glory of Our* religion, that 

 it assigns to woman her n])propriate sphere. In 

 all nations, ancient or modern, not bles?ed with 

 revelation, and even among the followers of Mo- 

 hammed, whose imposture is ingrafted on the 

 sacred script ires, women, the best instructed and 



Redemption of Bog Meadow. 



Rev. II. CoLMAN, 



Dear Sir:— At the request of Mr. Brown, I for- 

 ward you this paper. It is well wortli notice. I 

 have rarely seen labor more successfully ajiplied. 

 I saw the field in the month of August, and I 

 have no question of the correctness of the state- 

 ment. JOHN W. PROCTOR, 



Secretary of Ihe Essex ./Igricullural Society. 



I have myself been at the place two or three 

 tiines, and witnessed with the highest pleasure 

 this valuable improvement ; not so extensive as 

 niajiy in the State, but remarkable for the good 

 judgment, per.severance, and labor, which its ex- 

 ecution evinces. H. C. 



" The swamp in which I have been engaged for 

 two years past, is situated in Saugiis. "Between 

 5 and (i acres of it I have wrought upon. The 

 mud or soil varied from two to twelve feet in 

 depth. Two years ago this land was so thickly 

 covered with briars and bushes, that it was almost 

 impossible for a dog to pass through it. These 

 bushes were mowed and burnt on the ground. 

 There wei-e so many stumps and logs that it was 

 not possible to plough ; .so I commenced cutting 

 the turf or sods into squares, about 1.5 inches 

 over, and then with forked hoes, made very 

 strong, pulled them up ; and at the same time 

 cleared out the .stumps and logs, also cleared out 

 all the small roots with the hoes, and replaced 

 the sods the other side up. This part of the work 

 was done in strips of about one rod in width. 

 I commenced a year last August. I mowed the 

 bushes and dug one ditch in 183(). The stumps 

 and logs were cleared out without the help of 

 oxen. Some of the stumps had nearly half a 

 cord of wood in them. There were m,anv trees 

 blown down, and the meadow had fornie"d over 

 them. Many of them were sound, and some 

 measured 60 bfeet in length. The stumps were 

 very numerous. In some jjlaccs, apparently three 

 tiers, one above the other; and under the bottom 

 one, lay a pine log, that had been on fire. The 

 expense of clearing the land as above described, 

 and of digging the necessary ditches to drain it, 

 and to protect the adjoining land from fire, in 

 burning the bushes, I estimate to have been ,'S504. 

 In the winter I took off the wood and piled it up 

 for coaling. The largest of the roots I collected 

 for my own fire. The small ones were burnt 

 upon the ground. This part of the labor I esti- 

 mate at J*;i.5. In the spring, as seen as the frost 

 began to come out of the ground, I commenced 

 harrowing the land. The sods being fastened 

 down by the frost, and the harrow passing over 

 the upper side ; they mouldered away as "fast as 

 the frost would admit ; and when the "harrow had 

 got to the depth of the sods, they were worked 

 up [iretty fine. The frost below" facilitated the 

 passing of the teams. This part of the expense 

 I estimatcil at ,ftl2. About the 1st of Mav, I be- 

 gan planting the potatoes, without anv liianure. 

 I cut the seed very fine, and planted "them near 

 together. I merely marked the hills with a hoe ; 

 then a man followed after with the seed ; then 

 another to cover it. I calculated to have the seed 

 one inch from the surface. I u.sed 89 bushels of 

 seed. I should not have seeded so light, had it 

 not lieen for the uncertainty of obtaining a crop 

 without the use of manure! There was but one 

 man who gave me any encouragement, fllany 

 said I should lose my labor. But to their aston- 

 ishment I harvested 927 bushels of excellent po- 

 tatoes. The expense ef plaining, cultivating and 

 harvesting this crop, I estimate at SH". I^Iy land 

 is now in ;i condition that I can plough it when I 

 please. On a smidl piece, I |danted corn, v.ith- 

 out manure, and it ripened well. I sowed a small 

 piece with wheat, but it did not come to any 

 thing, either in the straw or grain. 



The wood procured from the stumps and logs, 

 I made into charcoal. 



