162 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOV. 29, 1837. 



time to ler.ovjite the land liy clover; but two or 

 tliree {rrowtlis of Inickvvlieat may he tiinieil in, 

 each improved in growtli by the other.*, and fiir- 

 nifliing a mass of manure or mould by its decotn- 

 (xisilion greater than could lie obtained in tiny 

 other way. 'I'o do this erteciually, the huckwlieat 

 should he crushed down with a heavy roller just 

 as it is beginning to blow ; carefully ploughed the 

 same way it is rolled, which will put the huckwiieat 

 well under, and produce immediate termenlalion 

 and decomposition ; the surface levelled with a 

 light harrow, and again sowed with the same kind 

 of seed ; and by coujuiencing at a proper season, 

 the operation may he repeated once or twice if 

 desirable. 



Ploughing in green crops is in fact only an im- 

 proved method of hastening the proci'ss pursued 

 by nature herself in the renovation of exhausted 

 soil.s. I?y ploughing in a heavy growth of clover, 

 buckwheat, or other green substances, we return 

 as nuich to the soil in a siiule year, as it would 

 otherwise receive in many ; and hence the prac- 

 tice of allowing lands to rest for a number of years 

 after a series of cropping, as was once deemeil 

 necessary in England and in this country, has 

 been done away by every enlightened agricidlii- 

 rist in both. 



The queens, while in the conflict, are hugged, 

 breast to breast, lying flat on their sides, with their 

 legs and arms firndy fi.xed around upon the back 

 of each other, thus liringing their breasts and bo<l- 

 ies as close to each other as possible, one lying on 

 her right side, the other on her left. So you see 

 that the abdomen of each of the queens, must 

 likewise be close to and fronting each other. — 

 Now comes the struggle which is tremendous ; 

 thev have not ))o\ver to curve their abdomen back 

 nor sideways very much, neither would they do 

 it if they could, for it would only give her com- 

 petitor tiie advantage, should she do either. Thus 

 you will see that the whole victory depends en- 

 tirely on the one which is able to curve her ab- 

 domen first, for in doing it she enters her sting 

 in the lower region of the chest of her antagonist, 

 and she is dead in an instant, and the two bees 

 are apart in the next. I could never discover the 

 least motion in the conquered queen, except a 

 slight trenddiiig of the limbs- Hut what surprised 

 me most in performing one of these fetes, was 

 the affluvia which seems to have escaped from 



wound inflicted by the deadly weapon of their 

 sovereign without the least resistance. 



J. M. Weeks. 



Salisbury, VL, Sept. 1837. 



[Vermont Free Press. 



(From tile Atbany Cultivator.) 



DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING BUTTER. 



Mr J. BiiEL, — Dear Sir: According to prom- 

 ise, 1 send you the following directions for making 

 butter, they are strictly 



accordance with the 



method practised by my own family, and in which 

 we have been successful in suiting the market foi 

 a o-reat number of years. You are at liberty tc 

 use them as you may think proper. 



1 am, dear sir, respectfully yours, 



Jas. Smealle. 



The milk of the cow is a nourishing and gratet 

 ful food to man. Among the various uses t( 

 which it is jiut for this important purpose, non» 

 are more deserving of consideration than that wel 

 known delicious substance called butter. Butte 



tl,e bodies of the queens during their conflict, is an an almost indispensable necessary of life ; i^ 



■ is used by all classes of people ; it forms an ea 



sential jiart of nearly every repast, and if thequaj 



BEES. 



*3 covftict between Queens, nnd a tragedy between a 

 Queen and several nf her subjects. 



A copv of part of a letter written to pen. Francis VVil- 

 loby, Groton, N. V., by fj friend. 



I was for a while rathrr staggefed with the doc- 

 trine "that both queens never fi(il in a conflict." 

 1 could not see %vhy it might not ,he fatal to both 

 us it may be to the duellists. Hut vnfinrte wisdom 

 lias contrived this. I have often seei> this won- 

 derful/c<e lytaUiuir two qoeensand placing them 

 in n giasH cylinder, so that I could observe every 

 motion ; anil in all cases (which are mtiny) the 

 conflict is the same in all its f atures; when they 

 liave clinched. Although tlie struggle is iiiucli 

 longer in its duration with different queens, yet 

 but one weapon is e\(;r i.sed, and luit one man- 

 ner of using it. Sometimes I have known hos- 

 tilities to coiuBhJiice iusiantly when put together, 

 nnd at other times there seemed to be a kind of 

 shyness like two men who would be gladtoavoiil 

 a duel if their honor would not suffer, (mistaken 

 beings) and remain for sometime looking at each 

 other, in a sort of reflection, before the deadly 

 conflict. 1 have known them to clinch for a mo- 

 ment, and then let go, and take their positions at 

 the two opposite sides of the cylinder, both of 

 which motions, clinching and letting go of each 

 other, is quick as sight. The reason of this in- 

 stantaneous work is obvious, when we view the 

 wisdom of God in (brmiiig their nature and hab- 

 its — which must be altogether instinctive — for 

 otherwise a colony which had lost their queen, 

 and the larviE had all passed beyond their reach 

 so that they could imt change their nature to a 

 queen, then the bees (if they possessed rational 

 faculties) would borrow a larvae of anothercolc'iy, 

 and repair their loss. Tliis may he done by hu- 

 man invention. But to the conflict. When the 

 two conflicting queens have once grapjded and 

 made their hold firm and strong, this hold is nev- 

 er broken until the sharpness of death h.is ilislo- 

 cated one of them, by unuervin:: her of every hod- 

 ly und mental feeling. This also is instantaneous. 



wliicli was very warmly contested for several 

 minutes ; the glass was so filed with vapor that 

 the conqueror could not be distinctly seen, ex- 

 cept when she was at the bottom of the cylin- 

 c.'er. 



I thiiik you will he interested in a description 

 of another experiment which I recently tried. It 

 is this : 



I took a queen, put her under a glass tumbler 

 on the table. I then caught a common worker, 

 and put into the same tumbler with'ihe queen. — 

 My interest was much excited in observing the 

 mancEUvres of the queen. Although the queen 

 manifested ardent signs of hostility, and would re- 

 [lentp.lly nlijflit on the common worker, yet the 

 common worker was perfectly subordinate, and 

 would yield to any position her majerty see fit to 

 [ilace her in, without the least resistance ; and al- 

 though the queen curved her abdomen repeatedly 

 and seemed to sting the worker, yet the worker 

 was unhurt. At last the queen assumed the posi- 

 tion of the conflict of queens by lying on her side, 

 and by her boilily strength, rolled up the common 

 worker upon its side, (for the common worker 

 seemed to yield perfect obedience,) so as to bring 

 it in the right position of a competitor queen ; — 

 then she curved her abdomen, which produceil 

 insiant death in the worker. Now as 1 was not 

 jierfectly satisfied with the experiinent, I took a 

 worker fro n the same family of her highness; on 

 introducing this bee to the queen, thefe seemeil 

 to be no signs of hostility by either the queen or 

 the worker, but contrarywise. For a few mo- 

 ments the queen seemed to manifest kindness and 

 sociahility ; but afier all, in a few minutes, I no- 

 ti.":ed a kindof arhitriiry power in the queen, which 

 she began to exercise, by trampling on the work- 

 er, the worker at the same time manifesting the 

 most profound reverence and subordination, by 

 lying clear down for her royal highness to tram- 

 ple upon, and pass over her. At last the queen 

 became so enraged, that the poor worker had to 

 suffer death precisely as the former one did, with- 

 out the least resistance whatever. Now I am of 

 the oidnion, could the queen have communica- 

 ted to the understanding of these two working 

 bees, the precise |)osition she would have them 

 take, they would have done it, and received the 



ity is good, there are few indeed who do nothigj 

 ly relish it. But it will he readily admitted, thi 

 the qualities of butter differ extremely ; some a4^ 

 viMy fine, while others are unfit for the purjiosr 

 of the table. Yet both the good and had are pri 

 duced (rom milk jjossessing exactly the same pn 

 perties. Milk is cowiposed of a peculiar oil, (i 

 butter) curd and whey, which can be easily sej 

 arat;d. The same proportion of these ingreilien 

 may not exist in the iiiilk of every cow, but tl 

 combination is the same in all. The foUowir 

 position will therefore hold good, viz : If goc 

 ..li^'Jler may he made from milk, and all milk po 

 sesses the same properties, then all milk (of hea 

 thy cows is intended) is susceptible of [irodiicir 

 good butter. It is admitted that the food of whit 

 the cows partake, for the time being, will morei 

 less affect the quality of the butter. Winter ar 

 summer make, for example, are very difl"erent,hi 

 both may be good of their kind, — diflerence 

 quality arising from the cause, therefore, will n 

 affect the principle laid down. It is evident th 

 it is not to the miik, but to the iTianagement of i 

 that we must look for the cause of thiit diversii 

 of quality existing in butter. 



W heu milk stands to rest for some time,crea 

 collects upon its surface, which it will contim 

 to do if kept in a proper state, until very little 

 left in the milk ; but under certain circumstanci 

 it becomes sour and coagulated, after which tl 

 cream ceases to gather. It is generally admiiti 

 that the greatest quantity of butter is ohtained I 

 churning the whole of the milk. If this cour 

 is to be pursued, churning ought to he done 

 soon as possible after the milk has thickened.- 

 Hut the gcHieral practice is to churn the cream o 

 ly, iu whicti case means must he used to keep tl 

 uiilk sweet, iu order that the greatest quantity pc 

 sible of cream may he ohtained. The mi'kii 

 pails, ndlk pans, &c., must he regularly cleanse 

 and scalded before being used. Let this e.xtei 

 to the whole apparatus of the dairy. 



Zinc or tin milk pans shculd be used, they b 

 iiig most cooling and easily kept sweet. The mi 

 room must be well ventilated, ami all cool as po 

 sible. In very warm weather it will be of adva 

 tnge to place the milk pans upon the floor. 



