THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



253 



it was in some places, the yield was 

 small indeed. 



My home lot, 54 colonies, aver- 

 aged 107 lbs. for those run for ex- 

 tracted against 75 lbs. last year and 

 70 lbs. for those run for comb. 



Of two lots in which I have an 

 interest, each having about the 

 same number as the home lot, one 

 right in the basswood gave 100 lbs. 

 average ; the other had two to four 

 miles to go to get basswood and 

 only gave 80 lbs. average, against 

 lid and 100 lbs. last year. 



So you see we have made quite 

 a crop after all. 



C. A. Hatch. 



Ithaca, Richland Co., Wis. 



EXCHANGES. 



Apiculture and Agriculture, 

 BY T. J. M. — The "■ British farmer" 

 has always been credited with a 

 talent for grumbling, and it must be 

 admitted that his patience is often 

 enough put to the test. In the old 

 country, under the full operation 

 of a game law system, he has been 

 accustomed to see his substance 

 more or less wasted by birds and 

 beasts strictl}' preserved for the 

 pleasure and profit of others, and 

 even if he cast his lot in the 

 "Britain of the South" he may 

 have reason to remark that pheas- 

 ants, for example, are not the most 

 desirable class of visitors to his 

 garden, and if the introduction of 

 hares should be encouraged (as has 

 been more than once proposed by 

 some lovers of sport) he would 

 probably have but little satisfac- 

 tion in cultivating either garden or 

 orchard. We all know what di- 

 mensions the "rabbit nuisance" has 

 attained to in the southern island. 

 The peculiar circumstances of this 

 Colony as to climate, and the scat- 



tered nature of the settlement and 

 cultivation of the land are calcu- 

 lated to intensify the mischief in 

 such cases as the above, the climate 

 being so favorable to the rapid in- 

 crease of the animals, and the large 

 tract of bush and waste lands af- 

 fording them unlimited cover 

 whence they may issue and, as it 

 were, concentrate their attack on 

 the comparatively small patches of 

 cornfields, gardens, and orchards. 

 Here, too, the farmer may find 

 wandering cattle, not merely stray- 

 ing, but actually turned adrift by 

 their owners to seek a living where 

 they can find it, and whose chief 

 instinct appears to be a desire to 

 injure his fences and break down 

 his trees ; he may on occasions 

 (fortunatelj- rare ones) find a host 

 of caterpillars marching across his 

 paddock and leaving no food for 

 his stock behind them ; or he may 

 chance to see a cloud of young 

 birds spread over his newly-sown 

 field, making a premature harvest 

 in a way never intended by him. 

 In all these cases he suffers a certain 

 amount of actual damage, and al- 

 though some of the trespassers, 

 such as the small birds, may find 

 champions to defend their charac- 

 ter, and point out that they do some 

 good in other ways (which may or 

 may not counterbalance the harm 

 they occasion), still most people 

 will be free to admit that others, 

 such as caterpillars, hares, rabbits, 

 and stray bulls can only be looked 

 upon as unmitigated evils. There 

 is, iiowever, one class of trespass- 

 er, if such a name may be applied 

 to it — the honey bee, against 

 which the aforesaid British farmer 

 is sometimes found complaining, 

 although its visit in fact only 

 brings him unmixed advantage. 



It is not perhaps surprising that 

 at the first blush of the matter, the 

 agriculturist should form some 

 vague idea that he was being in- 

 jured in consequence of a lot of 



