Vol.VII.— No.15. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



115 



"This faculty or instinct, is sometimes at fault; 

 for we often hear of theii- adopting the strangest 

 and most unsuitable tenements for the construc- 

 tion of cells. A hussar's cap, so suspended from 

 a moderate sized branch of a tree, as to be agitat- 

 ed by slight winds, was filled with comb and bees. 

 Any thing, in short, cither near the habitations of 

 man, or in the forests, will serve the bees for a 

 shelter to their combs. * * * 



"We have, for seven years, had a little colony 

 under our iitnnediate inspection, and we began 

 our personal observation with the knowledge of 

 all that ancient and modern theorists have advan- 

 ced, in relation to the habits, customs, and man- 

 ners of this wonderful insect. We came to their 

 superintcndance with a mind tinctured with all 

 That was marvellous and fanciful, and with an 

 ardour that seven years have not subdued ; altho' 

 theory alter theory has now melted away, and 

 most of the wonders and enigmas have been solv- 

 ed, and reduced to the clearest and most simple 

 particulars. Our wonder and admiration, altho' 

 deprived of the charms of the fanciful legends in 

 which the history of the bee was embodied, are 

 still undiminished, nay, increased ; for an eleva- 

 tion of thought and feeling has been produced by 

 the study. * * * 



"After rejecting all the fanciful and marvellous 

 speculations of the theorists, there are still several 

 material points unsettled, on three of which we 

 propose to make a few remarks at the present 

 time. 



"1st. The most modern and the most rational 

 theorists differ in their opinion respecting the ac- 

 curacy of the facts, that are stated in relation to 

 the' queen bee's leaving the hive at any other 

 time, than when she goes forth with a new 

 swarm. 



"2d. They dispute, likewise, on the possibility 

 of the bee's making a queen bee from a neuter, 

 when circumstances require it. 



" 3d. They are still ignorant, whether the drone 

 perform the office of nurse to the larvae when de- 

 posited in the different cells. 



"On the first point we venture to state unhesi- 

 tatingly, that the queen bee never leaves the hive, but 

 when she accompanies a sivarm." The writer then 

 states the facts and observations, which enabled 

 him to arrive at that conclusion, which occur- 

 red during six successive years. With regard 

 to making a queen bee from a neuter, he ob- 

 serves that 



"When a queen bee ceases to animate the hive, 

 the bees are conscious of her loss ; after search- 

 ing for her through the hive, for a day or more, 

 they examine the royal cells, which are of a pecu- 

 liar construction and reversed in position, hang- 

 ing vertically, with the moutli underneath. If no 

 eggs nor larvae are to be found in these cells, they 

 then enlarge several of these cells, which are ap- 

 propriated to the eggs of neuters, and in which 

 queen bees have been deposited. They soon attach 

 a royal cell to the enlarged surface, and the queen 

 bee enabled now to grow, protrudes itself by de- 

 grees into the royal cell, and -comes out perfectly 

 formed to the great pleasure of the bees. 



"The third point unsettled, and which is likely 

 to remain forever a secret, is, whether the eggs 

 of the queen are hatched after the ^uanner of the 

 eggs of fishes, whether they simply are animated 

 by incubation, or by the care and nourishment 

 bestowed on them by the working or neuter bees. 

 On this point experiment ha proved nothing. — , 



Tlie greatest diversity of opinion exists. There 

 are upwards of a thousand writers on the history 

 and policy of the bee, yet no two have either ob- 

 served or reasoned alike. * * * 



"The little work, the title of which we have 

 prefixed to this article, called 'The Farmer's Man- 

 ual,' contains in a small compass, as much of the 

 niinutiffi! of the management of bees as is necessary 

 to the common cultivator. Mr. Butler is a sensi- 

 ble, practical writer, as well on other branches of 

 rural economy, as on bees, and we would recom- 

 mend his book to all who are engaged in these 

 pursuits ; for, with some slight variation from his 

 rules, such as a different climate would indicate, 

 his experience may be beneficial to all." 



The following ])ractical remarks of this author 

 are more particularly worthy of the attention of 

 all nho own or have the care of bees. 



"We esteem it a very desirable object to make 

 the care of the bee more common than it has 

 hitherto been, in this part of the country. With 

 the exception of a small one under the superin- 

 tendance of the Society of Shakers, established at 

 j New Lebanon, we neither saw nor could we hear 

 of more than a single apiary, on a journey last 

 summer to Lebanon springs, although we made 

 many inquiries. Never was there a country more 

 suited to the cultivation of bees. Even in August 

 there is an abundance of white clover, and small 

 springs and shallow rivulets appear at every turn. 

 There is co doubt that bees were formerly more 

 frequently kept in America than at present. In 

 many places in New Jersey, where there is now 

 scarcely a bee to be seen, there once existed mil- 

 lions of these insects, to the great profit of their 

 owners. It was common for one dealer in a coun- 

 try town, to sell from fifteen to twenty barrels of 

 strained honey alone — to say nothing of wax and 

 comb hStiey, as well as a kind of wine, made of 

 the washings of combs, called mclheglin. These 

 articles of commerce have almost disappeared, 

 and we find that it is mostly attributable to the 

 millers, or night moths, which have of late years 

 spread destruction through the hives. 



"The attention of naturalists has been directed 

 to the history of this fatal enemy of the bee, and 

 many attempts have been made to construct hives 

 that would prevent the miller from depositing its 

 eggs in them ; but the plans were defective, be- ) 

 cause there was no contrivance for inspecting the j 

 hives. Before we close this article, we will en- 

 deavor to give a description of a hive, that is so 

 constructed as to enable any one to see the inter- 

 ior and to free it from all extraneous matter, as 

 well as to protect it from the inroads of the night 

 miller. 



"On the general subject of the care of bees, the 

 following remarks, the result of personal experi- 

 ence, may be acceptable to the reader. 



"The situation of the apiary is of httle impor- 

 tance. We have seen bees thrive as well with 

 an eastern as with a northern aspect. If the en- 

 trance of the hive face the north, the bees may 

 possibly be detained within, a minute or two later 

 in summer ; but this is more than counterbalanc- 

 ed by the same cause operating in winter, when 

 it is desirable that the bees should remain in the 

 hive. But for ourselves, we have seen no differ- 

 ence in the time of quitting the cells between 

 those that faced the north, and those that had the 

 southern exposure. Nor have we observed that 

 there is any difference in the welfare of liives as 



placed in valleys or elevated on hills, meaning of 

 course of thirty or forty feet in height. 



" We have seen hives prosper, adjoining a ster- 

 corary, and oftentimes near a piggery. We have 

 known colonies of bees to exist for a term of 20 

 years, with no other protection from the heat and 

 the cold, than the top of the hives. They have 

 niulti[ilied equally well under an open shed ; but 

 as a free circulation of air is necessary to their 

 health and comfort, we have ne\er known thenr 

 to thrive when qidte enclosed. A house, there- 

 fore, strictly so called, which is shut on all sides, 

 may serve to amuse the observer for a year or 

 two, hut there must be an extraordinary combi- 

 nation of fortunate circumstances, if the bees in 

 crease, while confined in it." 



(To be continued.) 



NORTH CAROLINA GOLD. 



A correspondent of the N. Y. Statesman sujipo- 

 ses that the gold region in this country forms a 

 belt on the east side of the Blue Ridge, extending 

 from Georgia througli South Carolina, North Car- 

 olina, Virginia and Maryland, to the Susquehanna 

 in Pennsylvania. In North Carolina it is about 

 70 miles wide. The gold is found in three posi- 

 tions — in alluvial beds washed in former times 

 from elevated regions ; in ranges of white quartz, 

 (flint stone); and in white quartz now forming 

 veins in argillaceous rock. The mines should be 

 called iron nunes ; gold is associated with the iron, 

 but the iron is fifty times as abundant as the gold. 

 It is estimated that there are 50,000 places in 

 North Carolina where gold may he found. The 

 miners and gold diggers get from 60 cents up to 

 two or three dollars per day, each. They are 

 generally a worthless, drunken people, without 

 character, scieiu^c, skill or capital. When they 

 have worked a week, they resort to some whiskey 

 shop in the neighborhood, and squander their gold- 

 en treasures in rioting and drunkeimess. Each 

 operation about the mines is conducted in the 

 most wretched manner Hamp. Gazette. 



AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



The sale of articles, exhibited by this associa- 

 tion, took place on Saturda)', and attracted an im- 

 mense crowd of spectators and piuchnsers. Many 

 of the articles were sold, some of them at high 

 prices. Among them we were informed that the 

 broadcloths of which we made mention in om 

 pajier of Saturday, sold at from 6 to 8 dollars ])er 

 yard ; and three pianos, the manufacture of Du- 

 bois & Stoddard, at the high prices of .f 475, -$330 

 and S;295. The blankets, many of whicli were 

 fine speciuiens, sold for from 5 to 9 dollars the 

 pair — and two of the Long Island Leghorns bro't 

 55 and 29 dollars. 



Thus it will be perceived, that splendid encour- 

 agement is given to the native manufacturer, by 

 our wealthy citizens, to go on and improve his 

 products. The excess of price given on such an 

 occasion, is a patriotic sacrifice to the cause of 

 domestic industry. That the time will come when 

 most of the manufactures, which we now obtain 

 from abroad, will be supplied cheaper at home, 

 we have never doubted ."V. Y. Statesman. 



Plausible Theory. — The Williamstown Advocate 

 accounts for the forbidding aspect which our good 

 New England people wear towards strangers, by 

 supposing that it is produced by drinking vile sour 

 cider. 



