Xo. 5. 



Poisowus Hone I/. 



157 



They worked eiglit months each, making 



IS112. The extra hire for harvestin<:f, »tc., 



did not make the sum total exceed S~(H). 



The next year the ?aiiie boys worked to the 



amount of (ffilOO, all other "hire did not ex- 



.1 !?100. The next sprinir, 1842, I Iiired 



nnily consisting of four women and tliree 



Ivivs, Pjund tlioir provision, furnished their 



flux, wool, &c., and gave them .*!l(H) per 



mm. Extra work did not exceed 8100. 



At yenr 184:^, tiie same; 1844 had one 



i; iiul at $108 per year; extra labour, by day 



;;nd month, did not exceed SIOO. So you 



will perceive tliat I have over estimated the 



anMrregate for labour. 



Vou will perceive from this, that my opc- 

 ;inis were very limited, for tlic amount of 

 lit. I had but a small farm and no pas- 

 lure when I commenced; I have since en- 

 larired the freehold to some 2000 acres, vvitli 

 12 to 1500 enclosed, and over 500 in grass 

 and clover. 



I cultivated the three last years about 100 



acres in corn, and about the same in other 



'in, and raised cattle, hogs, and horses. I 



e the Berkshire and Grazier mix — a very 



i. ,e breed of hogs. My horses are connnon 



I have shipped my pork, wheat, die, to 



^'i\v Orleans the last three years, and not 



ing a load, have purchased for debts, corn 



I other produce, to make up the load 



ich is estimated above, on which I have 



" money. I purchased pork to the amount 



slOOO, and corn §700 last year, and made 



:ie money on the pork, and lost some on 



t ;•? corn. 



R. W. Thompson brought from the patent 

 "Ice some Mediterranean wheat, and gave 



■ a small paper, not exceeding one pint, 

 .. :.n which I had tliis year 200 bushels, the 

 tiiird crop. Taking the product of the three 

 years it has doubled the average crop of the 

 common wheat. 



I am cultivating the artichokes for hogs. 

 I planted less than a peck last year, 5*Qm 

 which I dug 28 bushels; planted them all 

 this spring on four acres, and find thein too 

 thick. I intend turning the stock hogs upon 

 nifthis fall, and I think they will tear up 



■ ground so effectually, that the roots left, 

 V :ll seed it, and produce a good crop with- 

 c';t cultivatioQ, 



You will perceive from my little opera- 

 tions in the farming line, tliat the man who 

 ].;is the land, or the means to purchase, can 

 not do better than to engage in farming. 

 Tliere is no other pursuit so pleasant and 

 e from care, perplexity, and risk, and 

 ne so independent. The only difficulty 

 iij this country is the uncertainty of labour 

 of the right kind, and at the proper time. 

 You will perceive from my account of pur- 



chase and sales, that I did not expend any- 

 thing except to start, until I realized from 

 the products of the farm. W. M. 



Sept. 4tli, 1845. 



Poisonous Houey. 



The venom of the wasp, bee, and hornet, 

 is a most irritable poison; but it is quickly 

 neutralized by the application of sweet oil 

 to the punctured part. Here we may notice 

 that the honey of the bee is sometimes poi- 

 sonous. Xenophon records that, during the 

 celebrated retreat of the ten thousand Greeks 

 from Persia, the soldiers, when they came 

 to a place near Trebizond, found many bee 

 hives, the combs of which they sucked ; but 

 soon afterwards they became as though in- 

 toxicated, and were attacked with a virulent 

 cholera morbus. The famous botanist, Tour- 

 nefort, when at Trebizond, made some re- 

 searches relative to this occurrence, and 

 learned that it arose from the bees collect- 

 ing their honey partly from a plant which is 

 very abundant there, and the very blossoms 

 of which, exhale a sweet but intoxicating 

 perfume. This plant was most likely either 

 the rose-laurel, (Rhododendron ponticiini, 

 or tb.e yellow azalea, {Azalea pontice;) for 

 Father Lamberti found both of these poison- 

 ous plants, together with poisonous honey, 

 in Mingrelia. Colonel Rottiers, in 1816, 

 observed the rose-laurel growing on all the 

 mountains of Trebizond ; and the inhabit- 

 ants asserted, that "the strong honey" 

 which the bees extract from its flowers is a 

 kind of poison, causing stupor in a greater 

 or less degree, according to the season of 

 the year. M. Dupre, the French consul, 

 assured Colonel Rottiers that he had expe- 

 rienced this effect himself. In the autumn 

 and winter of 1790, there was an extensive 

 mortality among the people of Philadelphia, 

 who had eaten honey that had been col- 

 lected near that city. The American go- 

 vernment having instituted a minute inquiry 

 into the cause of the honey proving fatal, it 

 was satisfactorily ascertained that it had 

 been chiefly extracted from the flowers of 

 the Kulmia Lutifoliu. Plants of the genus 

 Andromeda, also yield a poisonous honey. 

 In the "American Philosophical Transac- 

 tions" Dr. Barton states, that the dwarf-lau- 

 rel, great-laurel, broad-leaved moor-wort, 

 Pennsylvania mountain-laurel, wild honey- 

 suckle, and the stramonium or Jamestown 

 weed, yield a poisonous syrup, and that the 

 honey which the bees make therefrom, has 

 been fatal to man. These facts ought to 

 induce the keepers of bees to be careful 

 how they venture to cultivate plants of nox- 

 ious qualities near their hives. The Greeks 



