46 



(Jl)c jTarmer's illontblij iMeitor. 



The best mode of cultivalion in tlie garden is 

 on a sinj,'le tivllis, nnininir norlli aiiil soiilli — 

 tlio posts of wliicli slioiilil i-itliLT lie ced.ir, or have 

 cudar bottoms, and than In; s|ili(:e(l ahont ten feet 

 hi^'li, and liave Mri|)s oi' lioai-d ahtint two inches 

 wide nailed on llieni almnt ihree feet apart. The 

 usual Way of cnliivnrrnjr them on an arbor with 

 nn arch, is bad. fiir«lhe reason that those clusters 

 whiidi do not i;et the son, will selilotn ripen well, 

 and if they do, they wdl be withmit flavor. 



They slioidd ifiimedialely after the fall of the 

 leaves, be thoriiN;.'hly pruned, and have every 

 rinnier of new wood cm into Hve buds or eyes of 

 the old wood. They should lie kept open and 

 free. New shoots should be enconrafred near the 

 grnnnd, in order to have the bearing wood low, 

 and to protect the frame from the winds. 



They may be cidiivated at the liiot of old and 

 worthless frnit-trecs, or on shade trees, and after 

 three or four yc-O's of protection from the cattle, 

 they will jjive yon no tintlier trouble. Thus the 

 care and expense of trellisin^ and pruninj,' will be 

 wholly spared. 



One single Isabella vine, ridiivated in this way, 

 has been known lo proiluce, for the fom' years 

 last past, from ten to fifteen bushels per year. 

 Such a vine as this, in the vicinity of any of our 

 cities, or large manid'actmiug villages, would 

 yield more profit than two acres of Indian corn. 



Now farmers, do you want to have a few bush- 

 els of fine grapes for winter, to cheer the social 

 circle ami gladden the hearts of yonr friends and 

 gnests during o\n' long winter evenings? If so 

 you have but lo wilt it nnd it is done. Von can ob- 

 tain vines at twenty-five cents apiece. This lux- 

 n;v is at the oonmiaud of the ricli and poor— then 

 go ahead and adopt the mode of cidtnre best 

 adapted to yonr circinnstances; and for this ad- 

 vice we shall ask no greater reward than a rich 

 cluster of delicious jii'apes, when we call on yon, 

 tinee years from next February, if our life shall 

 be so loni; coutiiuied iinlo us. 



From the London Qnirteriy lieview. 

 The Honey Bee and Bee Books. 



It is lime lo say something of Her Majesty of 

 the Hive. She is the mother as well as queen of 

 lier people, laying liom 10,000 lo 30,000 eggs in a 

 year, and it is not till she gives symptoms of con- 

 tiuifing the race that the full tide of her subjects' 

 affection is pomed fbrlh towards her. They pre- 

 fer a Victoria to an Elizabeth. There are differ- 

 ent cells formed for the ipieen, the worker, and 

 the drone, and she ileposites eggs in each accord- 

 ingly. 'J'he bees, like a wise .and loyal people as 

 ihey are, do n<it stint their soveiei^'us to the same 

 narrow mansions as comcut thetnselves: they 

 build iheir royal cells nuicli thicker and stiouger, 

 and of more than twice the size; nay, unlike the 

 surly blacksmith at I?iii;hlou, who hesitated to 

 give up his house for the convenience of his sove- 

 reign, they think uothiug of pidliug to pieces and 

 convening several of their counnon cells when 

 royally reqifnes it, and who vote with alacrity in 

 their committee of supply every demand made for 

 the e.Mension and iinprovement of their sover- 

 eign's palace. Wlien finished, their unuiature 

 Windsors resembles the inverled cup of an acorn 

 somewhat elong.ited. We said that each had its 

 peculiar cells, and that the queen lays only drone 

 eggs in drone cells, and so on. But it has hap- 

 l>ened, either in her flurry, or fr(un some uri;ic- 

 countable accident, that a drone ei!g has fallim 

 into a royal cell : time goes on, and the egg swells, 

 nnd becomes a larva, and then a pup'b '""' ''"^ 

 bees feed it with royal (iiod, watch its progress 

 with anxious care, ajid hover in the ante-chamber 

 in nervous expectation of the royal birth — judge 

 then their surpr?se when, instead of a princess 

 royal.ontwalks the awkward and mystified change- 

 ling of a (hone. Their innale and extreme 

 sense of loyally does not allow them at first to 

 discover their nfistake ; they crowd about bin), 

 backing with reverence, as they always do in pre- 

 sence of their real i]ueeu; meanwhile the foolish 

 fellow, adilled by their homage, and yet chuckling 

 at his tihexpecied diL'uity, tm-ns himself about 

 with the incredulous slare of Hassan, the sleeper, 

 when he awoke in the p.alace and robes of the 

 khalif, .and, with ilie stmt of dear olil Listou in 

 the '■ Illustrious Stranfier," so soon commits him- 

 self by his img.ainly ai-tious, lliat ihey tpiickly 

 find out iheir error, ami turn fiom him in unnut- 

 igated disgust. This scene has been actimlly ob- 

 served. 



It would he an endless work to recount the 

 many stories told of the devoted attachment of 

 these good people lor their queen. Her presence 

 among them is their life and glory. She is the 

 main-spring upon which all their work, their or- 

 der, their union, Iheir happiness seems to turn. 

 Deprive them of her ami all is confusion, disor 

 der, and dismay. They seem to mourn for her 

 when dead, and can with difficulty be withdrawn 

 fioin her corpse. The Ibllowiug extract tiom a 

 private letter describes such a scene as all bee 

 liooks are full of: 



" Last year I was sent for by a lady, w ho, when 

 she wants my assistance, sends all over the parish 

 for me with a little note with the picture of three 

 liees in it, and this calls me at once to her aid. 

 One of her bee-hives — a glass one — 1 found w hen 

 1 arrived in a state <if the greatest coid'usion, the 

 inmates rumiiug up and dou n ami milking a 

 fearlid noise. We soon discovered the re.ison of 

 Ibis. On looking about the bee-house, we ob- 

 served her majesty quietly taking im airing abroad 

 nid<nown to her subjects — she had got thiuugh a 

 hole which had been left for air. We thought it 

 was time fbi- her majesty to return home, so we 

 ipiietly put her back to her subjects. Where all 

 had been confusion perft-ct peace instantly pre- 

 vailed — the news was comniuificaled in a moment 

 — the pleasure of the little loyalists was manifest- 

 ed by a gentle placid motion of their wings, and 

 they returned kirthwith to Iheir former labors." 



lu this case the Queen bad slipped out by a 

 b.ick door, wishing no doubt lo enjoy that privacy 

 and quiet which royalty to often si,i;hs after; at 

 other times, when she walks out in public, she 

 meets with that respecllid homage and freedom 

 fiotu interrnplion which may read a good lesson 

 to the British public. 



" There I saw the old Queen bee walking round 

 the stone at the moulh of the hive as if she was 

 taking an airing, and of all ihe sights I ever saw 

 in my life nothing ever pleased me better. 1 

 would not have lost seeing it on any ai-count — to 

 witness them pay bou age to her as she walked 

 round in the ojien air pleased me exeeedini;lv." — 

 [Smith, p. 94.] 



" When the Queen goes forth to take the air, as 

 she often does, many of the small bees attend up- 

 on her, guarding her before and behind. By their 

 sound I have known when her majesty has been 

 coming forth, and have had lime to call persons 

 who have been desirous of seeing her.'" — [Sydserff, 

 ch. Hi.] 



With the tilteration of a few words, w ho would 



not think this the description of I he Terrace at 



Windsor, or the chain-pier at Brighton, ami of the 



English peojile when oii iheir best behavior ? All 



the wonderful tricks with which Wildman the 



bee-conjurer astonished the last geneialion were 



etfecled by taking advanlage of their instinctive 



loyally. He made ihe bees fiillow him where he 



would, hang first on this hand, then on that, or 



setlle wherever his specl.alors chose. His secret 



consisted in having possesion of the Queen, whom 



ihey clustered round wherever he iniL'ht move 



her. Nor are they merely summer friends : the 



workers will defend their Queen in the utmost 



strait, and lay down their lives for her. For they 



sting but once, and that stiiig is death to them; 



' Aniniasque in vidnere poiiuul.' How many a 



Tuniiaii sovereign has been left in his last hours by 

 . ...['. I I 1 1 — 1 :., .!.„ ^ i.:..« ^i i.;"^ 



same conduct ; perhaps, indeed, if it were so, it 

 would lower the quality of ihe feeling, and re- 

 duce it to too mechanical an instinct. Bees, like 

 men, have different dispositions, so that even 

 their loyahy will sometimes fail them. An in- 

 stance nut long ago came to our knowledge, 

 which probably lew bee keepers will credit. It 

 was that of a hive, which, having early exhausted 

 its store, was Ibund, on being examined one iriorii- 

 ing, to be utterly deserted ; — the comb was emp- 

 ty, and the only sympton of life was the poor 

 Queen herself, " unti iended, melancholy, slow," 

 crawling over the honeyless cells, a sad spectacle 

 of the lidl of bee greatness. Mariiis among the 

 ruins of Carthage — Napoleon at Fontainbleau — 

 was nothing to ihis. 



That the mother of so large a family, and 

 queen of so rich a store, passes her honey-moon 

 somewhere may be rejisonably supposed, but such 

 is her innale modesty thai the lime and scene of 

 her nialrimouial trip are still involved in the ut- 

 most mystery. Whethershe loves the pale moon- 

 light, or whether, as we are inclined to suppose 

 with Huber, she prefers a bright May morning, 

 and Hero-like, lights her torch of love on high, 

 in either case she scrupulously shuns Ihe curious 

 eye of man, who has in vain endeavored lo pry 

 into those mysteries which she as industriously 

 conceals. 



tliosi.' wl'o had basked in the sunshine of his 

 power! The bees teach us a better lesson. Dr. 

 Evans, whose poem of •The liees,' though some- 

 limes rather Darwinian, is exiremly inleresting 

 and true to i.atiue, give» in his notes this affecting 

 anecdote : — 



" A queen in a thinlyiicopled hive lay on a 

 honey comb, apparently dying ; six workers sur- 

 rounded her, seemly in intent regard; quivering 

 iheir wings as if to fin her, and with extended 

 slings, as if to keep of iiilrnders or assailants. 

 On presenting lliem honey, though it was eager- 

 Iv devoured by the other bees, the guards weie 

 so completely absorbed in their mournful duty, as 

 entirely to disregard iheprofii^red bampiet. The 

 liillowing day the queen, though lifeless, was still 

 surrounded by her guard; and this faithful hand 

 of aitendanis, /is well as the other members of 

 ihe family, remained at their post till death came 

 kindly to exiiuguish both their affection and their 

 ^uief ; for though constantly supplied with lion- 

 ev, not a bee remained aWve at the end of lour 

 days." 



We must not, however, invariably expect the 



For the Farmer's Monthly \'isitor. 

 Sugar. 

 No one article, perhaps, enters so largely into 

 the use of every class in society as sugar. We 

 scarcely eat or drink that sugar does not form a 

 part, in childhood, in manhood, and in age, this 

 article is ever a favorite, and use makes it a ne- 

 cessity. From the cradle lo the grave, in healih 

 and in sickness, we use sugar. Who then can 

 doubt the impoilaiice of the recent experiments 

 by which it appears that, acre for acre, the corn- 

 stalk will viewiih if not surpass the cine. In 

 every State in this Union sugar maybe produced, 

 and instead of Ihe enormous importalion from 

 abroad we shall be enabled to produce this great 

 article at home, thereby rewarding our own f<eo- 

 ple, and making the return to our own soil. It 

 is true that experience is still necessary, hut the 

 tact and aptitude of our people will soon acquire 

 this, and if each farmer shall not make his own 

 sugar, he may supply the corn-stalk to some 

 neighboring fiictory that will do it for him. Our 

 Indian corn crop is already of great magnitude, 

 .almost reaching the (piantiiy of five hnmlreci mil- 

 lions of bushels, and it can be extended to al- 

 most any further required extent, and the time 

 may not be far oft' when we sli.dl become per- 

 haps the exporters of sugar. It appears liom 

 Mr. Ellsworth's report that tlie heel sugar is di- 

 minishing in France, and liom the policy of the 

 Government there, giving place to that of ihe 

 French colonies : but that the corn-stalk has there 

 already attracied notice, already the experiments 

 made leave no doubt of the preference of the 

 corn over the beet, and induce a slrong probahil- 

 ily that it will also surfiass the cane. What 

 changes will this not produce among ns?-iiolon^'- 

 er shall we depend upon the tropical regions for 

 this supply ; it will be produced ralher in Ihe 

 colder regions of the norih, or medium temper- 

 atures. The corn in fact thrives heller in our 

 middle than in our most sonlherii Stales — the cli- 

 inale may be too hot lor corn lo thrive well, and 

 in these climates man is more able to endure la- 

 bor, necessary in the growth and maiiulaclure. — 

 If we judge from the refineries of sugar, where 

 the brown sugars are converted into loaf and 

 while, it is probable that from the greater chea|)- 

 ness,botli the crude and refined sugars w ill be pro- 

 duced principally at large factories. The mode 

 of evaporaling in vacuum which is so important 

 and so clieaji when on a large scale, can scarcely 

 be expecled in small private establishinents, and 

 Ihis with the facilities of Iraiispoit.ition can 

 easily be accomplished in our country. Such es- 

 tablishments on our railroads will have great ad- 

 vaiitaces. On their borders Ihe corn may grow, 

 ami conquering disl.-ince and time their growth 

 will supply the great factories. One word upon 

 manufactories. What we have done by way of 

 incorporations should stand : but are we not arl- 

 nionished to stay our hand ? We desire not here 

 lo touch upon |)oliiical affairs : ills lijieiiin to 

 the design of ihis woik. Bui if our law makers 

 would refuse acts of incorporation for all objects 



