NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



541 



continues cold, and the honey which remains is 

 more distant from the bees, the comb is found so 

 cold that it cannot be uncapped by them, and so 

 covered with frost that a portion of the bees run 

 about the hive as though to find some new way to 

 get at the honey, when they become chilled, and 

 full to the bottom of the hive, where a greater de- 

 gree of cold prevents their making another move ; 

 and thus they daily decrease in number, until they 

 become so much reduced that the remaining few 

 are found chilled or frozen in the cells. 



I have noticed that where bees die of this pre- 

 dicament, the cells (in a portion of the comb) in- 

 stead of being uncapped, are cut through at the 

 sides, as a last resort ; this I have noticed is the 

 case with young swarms only, as in such hives the 

 comb is thinest and softest. But bees seldom live 

 when brought to this great strait. To prevent 

 them from dying from this cause, is simply to pro- 

 tect them better from cold. Bees sometimes die 

 from this cause by the first few weeks of freezing 

 weather, if they are very few in number and are 

 much exposed to cold. The most effectual and 

 cheap plan of protecting bees from cold, is to make 

 a box of rough boards, 4 or G inches larger each 

 way than the hive, without top or bottom, cut a 

 corresponding opening with the door or entrance 

 of the hive, place this over the hive and fill between 

 this and the hive with straw and also on the top, 

 to the height of the box, then put a board over this 

 with a weight upon it. J. Ide. 



East Shelby, N. Y. 



MR. FRENCH'S ADDRESS. 



are all to be educated, and of course have no time 

 to work. Your boys must be fitted for college, and 

 your girls must be taught music, and French, and 

 drawing, besides the common branches of learn- 

 ing. Your wife is expected to see that your ele- 

 gant house and furniture are kept in order — that 

 the children are kept neat and orderly, at all 

 times. You have a fancy for Devon and Ayrshire 

 and Short-horn cows, and perhaps exhibit them at 

 the Annual Fair, and your wife must take inter- 

 est enough injyour affairs to look well to the dairy. 



You have a great propensity to clear up swamps, 

 and build stone walls, and improve your farm, 

 and your kitchen is filled with hired men, and no- 

 body but your wife knows what to get for break- 

 fast, dinner or supper for them or the family. 



Then you area generous, hospitable sort of fel- 

 low, and often invite your friends from other towns, 

 whom you happen to meet, home to dine, and your 

 wife is relied on, to do the thing up handsomely, 

 for the credit of the establishment ; and, although 

 the three youngest children have just had the 

 whooping cough, and have kept her awake half 

 the nights for the last month, the amiable lady is 

 expected to appear at the table, dressed like the 

 wife of a gentleman, as bland as a moonbeam, an<i 

 play the agreeable to your guests, with the same 

 matronly grace, as if she had passed the whole 

 morning over her books and music. 



You expect to see your breakfast upon the ta- 

 ble punctually at the hour, and the children 

 washed and neatly dressed in their places, at the 

 table. You expect to see the table handsomely 

 laid, and the food properly cooked and served up. 

 You expect the good lady to be ready and at lei- 



We have been favored with a perusal, in man-| sure , at all times, morning and evening, to receive 

 uscript, of an Address delivered by our Associ-j calls of friendship or ceremony, and especially those 

 ate Editor, Mr. French, before the York County of your own friends. 

 Agricultural Society, at Saco, Me., in October L ^u expect to find your wardrobe always in per- 



° ■" I feet order, with no button or loop or string mis- 



las }' , , . , ... „ ,. .,. sin^r. If a child is ill, there is nobody but the 



Under his description of "the peculiar position j m0 £ her to watch over it by nighfc or b J da ^ and 



which Woman occupies in New England Society,"] the depressing, never-ceasing solicitude, and ex- 

 we make an extract, and under that of "Washing hausting offices due from a mother to her infant, can 



Day, another, being all we can find room for at 

 present. We have no hesitation in saying that the 

 Address is one of the three best we have ever seen. 

 When the reader has perused the extracts below, 

 he will be glad to see more of it. 



Look, for a moment, at the condition of a ma- 

 jority of the wives of respectable farmers, aye, 

 and of men of all other classes in your own coun- 

 ty. What are the duties, which, by general con- 

 sent, devolve upon them'? 



What do you, sir, and you, expect of the lady 

 who presides over your household! Did you ev- 

 er consider for a moment, how many and various 

 and constant are her cares and trials ? 



You are, perhaps, an amateur farmer; you have, 

 like a true and thriving Yankee built a large and 

 elegant house — not so much because you need it, 



be delegated to no other. 



In short, sir, you expect your wife to be at the 

 s.ime time cook and chambermaid, lady and serv- 

 ing girl, nurse and sempstress and governess, laun- 

 dress and dairymaid. 



At length, you see, with a sad heart, that her 

 eye is losing its lustre — that her form is becoming 

 daily more frail — that the elasticity of her spirits 

 is gone, and at last the thought, the sickening, 

 crushing thought is forced upon you, that she, 

 whose youthful image, radiant with health and 

 happiness, has never passed from your heart — she, 

 who alone has remained to you true and constant., 

 through sickness and health, in trials and pros- 

 perity — she, the mother of your children, who has 

 so long been about you and your pleasant house- 

 hold, li've a good angel, doing all kind offices for 

 you and your loved ones — she who is more to you 



as because your neighbors live in fine houses.- tha . n f- tho wovl * beside-m«y die 



And, besides, you are a growing man in the world, 

 and have been Representative to the Legislature, 

 and are liable to go to Congress, or be President of 

 the United States. There is no knowing what may 

 not befal you, and it is well to keep up appearan- 

 ces in the world, and be ready for any honors that 

 may be thrust upon you 



You have a large family of children, and they un ™ r c " eB *' " uu . 

 ° J J sadden everv heirt 



And now, perhaps, an effort is made to relieve 

 her, and changes are effected in the household ar- 

 rangements — and housekeepers and servants are 

 procured ; the daughters are called on to aid in 

 the domestic affairs, and the grand schemes of im- 

 provement are suspended and no company is in- 

 vited. But it is all in vain. The hectic flush is 

 on her cheek, and sorrow and fearful forebodin 



