THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 116 



very superior com, with scarcely a soft ear to a -wagon load. Last year (1851) I dressed twenty acres 

 in the same way, at the same rate, and had as the result 1300 bushels of ears — a larger quantity than 

 has been raised on the farm for the last tweiity years in all. 



I am not sure that the manner I adopted of applying the guano is the best It is evident from the 

 experiment made with the Oregon, that its immediate application to the seed is injurious, though 

 applied in smaller quantities it might not prove so. On vines, (cucumbers, squashes, melons, &c,) 

 api)lied near the stem in the hill, the effect was astonishing. A Subscribee. — Bear's Gap, Pa. 



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Bees. — The greatest difficulty I have with bees, is their robbing each other. To prevent it I have 

 tried several experiments, but have failed in all except this : If hive A attacks hive B, change them 

 — put A in the place of B, and B in the place of A ; and if three or four should be in the fuss, eliange 

 them all in the same way. By this means I have never failed to stop them in less than half an hour. 



In regard to the moth I have but little trouble. I take corn meal and make a paste with strong 

 salt water, spread it just the bigness of the hive half an inch thick, and place the hive square on the 

 dough, making it all tiglit except the entrance, and this tlie bees will gti.ard against the miller, which 

 lays her eggs under the edge ef the hive ; and with this preventive 1 have no trouble with the 

 motli. The liive should not remain in this condition after it is filled by the bees, but should be raised 

 on blocks one inch thick. Tliis gives the bees fresh air, and prevents the comb from melting down, 

 which frequently happens in extreme hot weather. In this way they will also stand the winter 

 better than if set close down, when their breath forms a frost which melts and runs down tlie hive, 

 freezing when it strikes the board at the bottom. In this way I have lost several good swai'ms, with 

 thii'ty to forty pounds of honey in the hive. Ira Young. — Conquest, N. Y. 



Culture of Tobacco. — We have received an excellent article on this subject, from 

 Mr. H. N. Howe, Marcellus, N. Y., from which we give such facts as throw additional 

 light on the subject : 



lla^ang prepared the beds, sow the seed (a table-spoonful to tliirty square yards) if possible just 

 before rain on a still day, or you may find the plants in some other place. Keep the beds free from 

 weeds. It will answer to sow the seed from March till the first week in May. Any land that is 

 natural for corn is good for tobacco. To ensure a large crop of either, any man knows that the ground 

 must be well prepared and manured before planting. Mark the ground from three to three and a 

 half feet one way and two and a half to three feet the other : this is for Connecticut Seed Leaf ; the 

 small kinds will bear to be thicker. Some think the plants should be three to four inches high before 

 setting ; but this I think a mistake. I commence setting when the plants are no larger than a fifty 

 cent piece, and I invariably have good luck with my early set plants. A plant five inches high 

 before setting will generally die to the ground ; whereas a small one, if well set, will scarcely mind 

 tlie removal. It will do to set in missing plants till the first week in July. The cultivator may be 

 used as long as it will pass without breaking the leaves. The plants require no hill : they should be 

 hoed two or three times ; the first as early as practicable. When the plants show the buds fairly, 

 they can be pinched off, leaving from sixteen to twenty leaves on a stalk ; late plants must be topped 

 lower. After topping, the suckers must be kept off; the cleaner the better for the growth of the 

 plant, and the convenience of handling when stripping. When the leaves become spotted with 

 yellow, the plant is fit to cut It is best to have the dew off before cutting ; and after rain the plants 

 should not be cut for a few days, as the rain washes the gum from the leaves. When cut, the plants 

 must be laid carefully on the ground to wilt. If the sun is hot, care must be taken or the plants will 

 burn, and the places burnt are spoiled- In hanging, fasten the twine around the butt end of the 

 first plant, fetch it across the pole, give it a turn round the next plant, and so on to the other end of 

 the pole. The poles, or whatever is used to hang them on, ought to be sufficiently large to prevent 

 the plants from pressing each other too much, as in such a case they are apt to spoil before they get 

 sufficiently wilted to hang independently of each other. When the leaves are all cured and the 

 middle stem of the leaf has become dry, and there come a few damp days, the plants will be moist 

 and can be taken down without breaking the leaves. They should be laid in piles of two tiers, the 

 tops together. Aft«r lying a few days it can (if the weather is not too dry) be stripped and done up 

 in hands and packed away till ready to be boxed. Sweating can be done before or after stripping. 

 If done before, it must be closely watched or it will become too hot and damage. Care should be 

 taken in every operation to not break the leaves. The crop ranges from ten to twenty hundreds 

 per acre. 



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