138 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



formed and appeared as likely to ripen as well as 

 the others. .The result was, the remaining bunches 

 ripened perfectly, and the vines appear m good con- 

 dition for another year. 



I have thus given you my method of raising for- 

 eign grapes, and I should like to have others make 

 the trial for themselves, and prove more successful 

 than I have been. It has taken my personal atten- 

 tion an hour or two almost every day, and in thin- 

 ing them out it took two or three whole days. 

 The rich fruit obtained the premium of the Horti- 

 cultural and Agricultural Societies, yet of ilsdf has 

 amply compensated me for the trouble and ex- 

 pense. Any one who has a taste for the work, and 

 can spend the time, will find it a pleasant, if not a 

 profitable pursuit, but if he depends on others, un- 

 less ho has a skilful gardener, will probably meet 

 with but little success. Okrin Sage. 



Ware, .Yoi;. 20th, 1855. 



man, his son, Associate Editor, and Mr. Abner 

 Haven, of Framlngham. They all participated 

 in the discussion, and gave a new interest to the 

 meeting. Full notes of the debate were taken by 

 Mr. Pratt, the Secretary, which we may obtain, 

 perhaps, for publication at a future time. 



LOOK TO YOUE BEES. 



The want of proper ventilation is scarcely less 

 destructive to bees than the moth. If the hive is mod- 

 erately close, the continued extreme cold which we 

 have had has probably congealed their breath and the 

 vapors of their bodies into sheets of ice, which now 

 line the inside of the hive. The bees pass into the up- 

 per part of the hive, and huddle together over comb 

 well filled with honey, from whence they move away 

 occasionally to feed. Thus they are incased in ice 

 which gradually thaws as the weather moderates 

 and drips upon them or keeps the hive and comb 

 moist so long as to induce mustiness and mould. 

 An examination should be made and this state of 

 things remedied as far as possible. Ventilation is 

 as important — perhaps more so — in winter as in 

 summer, and for the want of it, we have no doubt 

 many swarms annually perish, when the loss is 

 charged to extreme cold. 



On examining several swarms the last week in 

 January, we found those in loosely-constructed 

 hives, having cracks about them an eighth of an 

 inch wide, in better condition than those in hives 

 where the corners fitted closely. If the wind does 

 not reach them, nor moisture, they will probably 

 care little for any degree of cold we experience, if 

 they, at the same time, have plenty of honey. At 

 no time this winter have we opened a hive but we 

 found the bees in lively motion and ready to take 

 wing, although standing in an open bee-house. But 

 an occasional examination is necessary to ensure a 

 successful wintering. 



CoxcoRB Farmers' Club. — This club held a pub- 

 lic meeting on Thursday evening, Feb. 7. The trav- 

 elling Avas bad, and the clouds threatening, so that 

 the attendance was not numerous. Enough were 

 present, however, to go into an animated discussion 

 on the subjects designated — Root Crops and Orna- 

 mental Gardening. Among the visitors were Wm. 

 BuCKMlNSTER, Esq., senior Editor of tJie Plough- 



For the New England Fanner. 



MATTERS IN IOWA. 



Mr. Editor : — The weather has been extremely 

 cold in Iowa, for nearly a month past. Frozen po- 

 tatoes are "thick as blackberries ;" though we have 

 but very few I'rozen apples — for the obvious reason 

 that we have none to freeze. It is no uncommon 

 thing, however, to see frozen hogs, and other crea- 

 tures, in consequence of the piercing winds and 

 imperfect shelter. I have really pitied the poor 

 cows and hogs, as I have seen them wandering 

 about, bellowing and grvmting for a comfortable 

 place to lie down in. But the farmers here seem 

 to think that the south side of a hay-stack is warm 

 enough for any dumb beast ; and the poor creatures 

 themselves, if they could speak, might perhaps won- 

 der, as the little boy did, how their neighbors get 

 along, that don't have any hay-stack to stand under. 

 A good warm barn, is really considered, by some, 

 as a mere Yankee notion, not to be imitated in 

 Iowa ; at least, as a luxury not to be indulged in. 

 (A large part of the people in this vicinity are from 

 Ohio and Pennsylvania.) 



The hogs, both living and dressed, look very dif- 

 ferently from your housed and stuffed porkers in 

 Massachusetts. I have hardly seen a fat hog in 

 Iowa ; seldom one that weighed over 200 pounds. 

 They run at large most of the year, and often fair 

 poorly. A little stuffing, just before killing, does not 

 make much of them. The mode of killmg, too, dif- 

 fers as much from yours, as the mode of raising. 

 There is no squealing about it. That interesting 

 noise I have hardly heard in the West. They are 

 shot down, and dead in an instant. Beeves also 

 are treated in the same way, instead of being 

 knocked down. The gun is a great institution, out 

 West. 



The comparative expenses of living, here, and at 

 the East, difier somewhat from the common notion 

 at the East. In the first place, land has gone up 

 so rapidly, within the last two or three years, that a 

 good farm out here costs about as much as a good 

 one in Massachusetts, I mean one that has been im- 

 proved, and furnished Avith comfortable fences and 

 buildings. Fuel is as high as in most ])arts of 

 Massachusetts ; good woocl being from $4 to $5 

 per cord. All kinds of dry goods and groceries are 

 from 20 to 50 per cent, higher than in Massachu- 

 setts. Furniture, hardware, etc. is from 50 to 100 

 per cent, higher. Horses and cattle about the same 

 as at the East. The principal things that are lower 

 are pork and grain. I speak of the more thickly 

 settled parts of the West. In places remote from 

 all the privileges of society, it may be slightly dif- 

 ferent. 



Nevertheless, the tide of immigration is unabated. 

 The railroad, lately completed to Iowa City, 60 

 miles from ths Mississippi, is thronged daily, as 

 much as your Eastern roads. Where all the folks 

 come from, is "a wonder unto many" — much more 

 so than where thev are all going to. The latter is 



