1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



313 



self, as dry earth is an insulator, and may pre- 

 vent the protection. An iron rod may form an 

 adequate protection ; a copper rod must be a safer 

 instrument, and as it will not rust, it may, on the 

 whole, prove the more economical of the two. 

 The amount of protection and security is the great 

 object." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "EBKORS ABOUT THE HONEY BEE." 



Mr. Editor : — Such is the title of a short ar- 

 ticle in a late number of the N. E. Farmer. The 

 statements therein made are partly true, and 

 partly false. First, it is true, that the wax of 

 which the comb is made is a secretion from the 

 honey bee, and is only worked when there is suf- 

 ficient warmth in the hive as to make it quite 

 soft, or plastic. This is one great reason why 

 comb is made much faster during the night than 

 in the day time. In the former case, the bees be- 

 ing all in the hive, their apartment is warmer, 

 from the animal heat, than in the day time, when 

 many of the bees are off in the fields, gathering 

 honey, &c. A stock very much reduced in num- 

 ber, can build no combs, even when honey is 

 plenty in the flowers, simply because there are 

 not bees enough to produce sufficient heat to 

 make the wax in working order. It is true also, 

 that when bees gather pollen, or bee bread, they 

 make a business of it, as much so as they do in 

 gathering honey, and the two are seldom or 

 never done by the same bee at the same time. 

 The honey bee does one thing at a time, and 

 thoroughly does it. 



Again, it is not true, that the honey bee can 

 manufacture honey, or that he has any contri- 

 vance, or apparatus for this purpose. If this was 

 the case, bee-culture might be made a very prof- 

 itable business. This question can be easily set- 

 tled by any one who has bees. I have tried the 

 experiment time and again, and always with the 

 same results, for the bee is true to its instinct, 

 and that instinct cannot be much, if any, improv- 

 ed, or changed by art. She has no laboratory for 

 making honey. She has a wonderful instinct for 

 gatliering honey, or sweets of any kind, and 

 wherever she finds these sweets, she fills her 

 honey sack, carries it to her house, and then de- 

 posits it, just as gathered. If it be honey when 

 taken into her sack, it will be honey when ejected 

 from it ; if it be molasses, or sugar, or these com 

 bined with any other ingredients, it will be the 

 same when deposited in the comb, nothing more 

 or less ; if there was no true honey in the mix- 

 ture, there will be none, after passing through 

 the honey sack of the bee. Of this fact any one 

 who keeps bees may satisfy himself, without 

 much trouble. The mixture, molasses, sugar, or 

 whatever it may be, may have the peculiar smell 

 of the bee, but it is not honey ; there has been 

 no change, its chemical character is the same as 

 it was before being taken up by the bee. I shall 

 have more to say on this subject at a future time. 

 In regard to gender, I have used the feminine, 

 though the working bee is a neuter, and very 

 properly so called, as the microscope reveals no 

 organs by which to designate its sex. The dif- 

 ferent classes of bees, which make up the family, 

 will constitute a future article. NORFOLK. 



Eing Oak mil, 1858. 



EXTRACTS AND BEPLIEB. 



A BOOK ON AGRICULTURE FOR COMMOX SCHOOLS. 



Do you know of any book on the subject of 



agriculture suitable to be introduced into com- 

 mon schools ? W. 



Newport, N. H., 1858. 



Remarks. — Yes sir. The Massachusetts Board 

 of Education, as long ago as the year 1839, took a 

 noble step in introducing some work on the sub- 

 ject of agriculture into the common schools of this 

 State. That Board contracted with the late Hon- 

 orable Judge BuEL, of Albany, to fui-nish a suit- 

 able work, and he compiled, principally from his 

 own writings which had been previously published 

 in the Cultivator, a work which we have always 

 referred to with entire confidence. It was intro- 

 duced into our common schools, but with what 

 influence we are not able to say. It ought to 

 be there again — in every school of every district 

 in the Commonwealth, and, in our judgment, 

 would lead to incalculable benefits to those suc- 

 cessively entering upon the theatre of life. It is 

 entitled, "The Farmer's Companion; or Essaijs 

 on the Principles and Practice of American Hus- 

 bandry T It is written in a plain, cbmmon-sense 

 style, and now that we have been occasionally 

 referring to it for more than ten years, feel free 

 to say that we have not yet found a paragraph in 

 it which would lead a novice in farming into er- 

 ror. The book is now published by the Harpers, 

 and is for sale for about fifty cents a copy by 

 John Raynolds, at Concord, this State, or at this 

 office. 



practical FARMERS AS WRITERS. 



I often observe articles in your paper which 

 speak in strong terms in favor of agriculture, and 

 I am much rejoiced to see them. But never, or 

 rarely ever, do the writers say anything as to 

 themselves being farmers. Now some men are 

 not apt to pay much attention to theoretical 

 farming ; they do not like to hear anything on 

 the subject from any one who is not a practical 

 farmer. To such I would say, turn to a recent 

 article headed "Hard Times," and read it ; I say 

 Amen to it, and to all others of a like character. 

 I hold the occupation of cultivating the soil to 

 be as honorable as any other occupation in the 

 world, to say nothing of the profit and true happi- 

 ness there are combined in it. o. A. c. 



Easthamjiton, April 26, 1858. 



hall's HAND rOWER STUMP PULLER. 



If "A Subscriber" at Pittsford, Vt., had sent 

 his name with his communication — as all corres- 

 pondents ought to do — we could have communi- 

 cated wuth him. As it is, we have sent one of 

 Mr. Hall's Circulars describing his Stump Ma- 

 chine, to "A Subscriber," Pittsford, Vt., where 

 he will probably find it at the post-office. Nourse 

 & Co., 13 Commercial Street, Boston, are the 

 Agents for New England. 



