628 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[Nb. 10 



two or thr^e days, to 'clean put these soil-holes. 

 This is efJected by merely opening the front board, 

 and .shovelling the contenis into a tui), which is 

 emptied into a cart. So compleiely is'every tiling 

 fluid absorbed by the a^^hcs, that no dirl is made 

 by this process^ nor i? it at all oHensive lo pAs.s oiie 

 of these carts in the street: — you rjieroly see vvJKii 

 appears to be a load of allies. ...This manMcS is_ 

 eagerly bought l")y the adjoining (iirniers, and oi'-_ 

 ten shipped and sent up the rivers to a great dis- 

 tance. Ol' course, the price is high; i\nd thejlost- 

 men consider it a favor to be allowed to'elea^ but 

 asoil-iiole gratis. They never lhird< ofdeuianding 

 money; and often, ! bi"lieve,g(t'e a gratuity to the 

 servants. How should they do otherwise', indeed, 

 when they sell this manure lor six and seven shd- 

 lings a carl-load of about a ton? This price I 

 paid some years ago for two hghters-hdhthe Ireighl 

 of which was as much more. Now, I beiievcj h 

 is higher. As a proof of tlie value set upon ma- 

 nure at Hull, it may be stated, t|iat the magis-' 

 trates have more than once publislied threats of 

 punishment to those who sliould secretly sv^pep the 

 s/ree/s, to the injury of the scavengers who had 

 contracted to clean them ; and that thefe is quite 

 a competition amongst cliildren with wheel-bar^ 

 rows, and old men with carts and asses, who' 

 traverse the town, carefully sweeping uj) every 

 heap of horse-dung casually dro;iped. 



The general adoption, in large towns, of the 

 practicable system above detailed, would hilly an- 

 swer ;he wishes ol' Glancus; xvould create a vast 

 atmual accession of national Vi^ealth; and would 

 suppliU'it the %({' d your hmxtT nuisances which are 

 experienced in some places. Still, however, a vast 

 quaniity of valuable manure will always be con- 

 veyed to waste down the sewers of,a larire city. 

 To turn this to account, the plan proposed by Dr. 

 Hunter is very feasible, ' Let the outlets of sueh 

 sewers be surrounded with reservoirs? constantly 

 furnished with a succession of ubsor'nent materials, 

 that would driidi up the precious fluid as fast as it 

 arrived. Nothing could make better manure than 

 such a ssaturated mass. 



tle,'arKl run off without injury lo the bees. On 



these bloclts'I day my floor board, which Hhoypd 

 be sowu/ and full ;ui nndi.thiek; if more, no rnaitt-r. 

 Thq lop oj'.tho iiive shotilti be covered with a two 

 inchjdaiik, or if more convenient, a piece of wide 

 "thlclcskd> with the rpun'ding side up, so that if the 

 frost comes diut; and kie,a\(y rains fall, it may serve 

 its u roof to crfrty the v;uier frOm over the hive and 

 turn iit i/ito the pit belovfr. Stmw is then placed 

 as compactly as may be around rh€ hive, and the 

 ear'th thrown on so as to J'orm a cone above it,"* 

 which aguin ^pel■atesas a roof tdturn the walefl- 

 as it falls. .With reti;ard to the deplh'of burying, 

 vv'e can only, gay, that m our i'ormor experiments, 

 we never sunk the top of the hive belowr the sur- 

 ilice. Whether it would be well to do so we can-i 

 not say. Some, when burying their bees, drive* 

 down a stake near the hive, as they say to admit^ 

 the air; but we do not see why a stake, drove with 

 the earth compactly placed around it, can Ibrra an 

 air hole more than the earth itself! And if it could, 

 we do not see the necessity of it, lor the object of 

 burying bees is to put them as much as may be 

 in a state of dormancy through the winter, by 

 which their stock of provisions is lengthened out, 

 tosecure them trom sudden and often iiatal chan- 

 ges from heat and cold and from storms and sun- 

 tehine. . • . 



In.selecting a place .for burf'ing, it is important 

 that a dry one s'hould be chosen', and we preler one 

 that is coldjo a warm one, and could we'regulate 

 the condition. of the earth around them, we would 

 i'reeze it the nieht after. their burinl, nnd keep it 

 yrp^.'e?i until lime lor their exhumation in the spring. 

 • We, in both iilstances of our fdrmer burying, took 

 them upsoine of the last ,days of J^arch, and all 

 the dead we _ found from -the (ijur hiv^s thus kept 

 would not half'fil!' a person''s hand, and on expo- 

 sure to t!ie sun and atmosphere, the living we're as 

 bright and hvely as though they had known no 

 winter, and they gave swarms earlier and more 

 frequently than did the hives that were not buried, 

 the ensuintr summer. 



BURYir%'G BEES IN WINTER. 



From tlic New England Farmer. 



Our last swarm came of!" in June, and notwith- 

 standing the old adage ihat "a swarm in Jitiie is 

 not worth a spoon" we «:hou!d'r»lii'S3 an; offer ol' 

 two spoons for this, and mor'e^ unldss They were. 

 very nice and very.heavy; '1 rue,'the quftnTily t)f 

 I'loupy which thf.y have gathered is nof very gi^'at, 

 but, wilh our way ofmanagingsucli hive^ we think 

 amply sufficient for their supj^l\^' "We pi^opose 

 burying them through the winter, a practice 

 which we have adopted in two successive years, 

 and had we continued it the Third, our old colony, 

 instead of coining to an utiraely end, would proba- 

 bly have been in existence now through its des- 

 cendants. ■ 



My method of buryirig bees is as follows. The 

 operation is performed the la^t ol'Novcmber. Thp 

 pit in which they are to be placed is ddg considera- 

 bly larger liian the hives, irt' every respect. On 

 the bottom of the pit two sticks say ofscamling, four 

 inches square, are so placed that a cavity may be 

 left into wjiich the water if there i,^ any may set- 



an.'EK.glish grass farm. 



'J' . • 



' , ^ ' From ttio New England Farmer. 



Mr. Editor. — During my residence abroad, I 

 spent one summer and a part of the autumn at 

 JVlertort. in Surry, domiciled with a J\lr. Raine, ten- 

 ant to Mr. Middleton, auUior of the Agricultural 

 Survey of Middlesex, with whom I was acquain- 

 ted.. It was a hay and grass farm, ^ind the manage- 

 n^ent of it was of the best description. It consisted 

 of 160'arres, a'll imfirovell as meadov/, no plough 

 being ijsed on the place except in the garden. The 

 course adopted was as f()lIows." 



•Ea'.rl'? "ri! the spring tho'fields weVe 'sail shut up. 

 As soon' as th.e hay was secured, and this was a 

 ffreat iahbr, fhe teams, commenced carrying it to 

 Londorj'lbr s',\\e, loading back loithmnnure. And 

 now'c'bmmfneed tliat course of judicious conduct 

 which Excited my warmest admiration at the time, 

 and li^s remained my beau ideal of good manage- 

 ment ever since. The second growth of grass 

 beim^ well shot up, Mr. Raine went to the cattle 

 fair, and bought large beeves, in higli 'condition. 

 III. his rich and clean meadows, these were soon 

 ready for Smithiield market, to Avhich they were 



