408 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



farmers. Mr. Lawcs has shown most indisputa- 

 bly, in his admirable papers in the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society's Journals, that we can produce 

 manure cheaper and better by feeding stock, than 

 even by purchasing guano. I mean not feeding 

 on turnips alone, but using the productions of 

 the farm in conjunction with purchased food." 



"Very much depends oil the season and weath- 

 er. In cold weather, pigs and bullocks can 

 scarcely be packed too close, so long as there is 

 room for them to lie down comfortably. Sheep 

 require a little more room, or ventilation and 

 temperature. This is best done by a thermome- 

 ter, because our own feelings are not always a 

 sufficient criterion. Every cattle-shed should 

 feel as comfortably warm as a drawing-room. 

 The opening for ventilation should be at the 

 highest point. 



"Fine bred pigs, having little hair, must have a 

 much warmer temperature than sheep. When 

 pigs huddle together, it is a sure sign that they 

 are not warm enough. Cold, stopping the circu- 

 lation in the skin, drives the blood to the inter- 

 nal organs, and causes inflammation. 



"I have often been struck on seeing how soon 

 my groom will get a horse into condition, by 

 warmth, cleanliness and food." 



AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE. 



"The facilities for acquiring agricultural sci- 

 ence, are now great. We have now the oppor- 

 tunity of rubbing mind against mind, and elicit- 

 ing bright scintillations of intelligence. The 

 priceless volumes of the Agricultural Society of 

 England and Scotland, to which every farmer 

 should belong, the agricultural press and periodi- 

 cals, teem with novelty and science, and bear un- 

 questionable testimony that the agricultural com- 

 munity can no longer be a non-reading class. 

 The Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, 

 and other similar but minor establishments, invite 

 thejuveniles of agriculture to excel their parents." 



CONCLUSION. 



"Can it be possible that England, great in 

 wealth, liberty and industry, superabundant in 

 capital and labor, and superlative in manufac- 

 tures and machinery, — I say again, can it be pos- 

 eible or permissible that Britain, with all these 

 advantages, with merchant princes and baronial 

 traders sweeping the seas, with her navy and 

 merchant fleet, shall be humbly dependent for 

 her daily bread on strange and foreign lands ? 

 I will never believe it can continue. I will never 

 believe that British enterprise cannot and will 

 not compete with the ill-fed vassalage of mere 

 corn-producing countries. Countries whose peo- 

 ple cannot afl"ord to eat the wheat they send us, 

 and whose agricultural practice, tested by our 

 own, ranks low in the scale of comparative per- 

 fection. I cannot believe that our wealthy and 

 patriotic aristocracy will any longer permit such 

 an anomaly to continue. 



Lastly, I commend to your especial regard the 

 noble practice and improvement of agriculture, 

 as beneficial to health, as conducive to longevity 

 and mental repose, and as full of independence ; 

 presenting to your mind, through the charming 

 and ever-varying face of nature, the impress of 

 almighty Goodness and Wisdom. I commend 

 it, not only on the low ground of individual pro- 

 fit, but, in virtue of its employing and feeding 



the people, as a means for promoting the moral, 

 social and political strength of this great and 

 happy nation." 



For the New EiiKland Farmer. 

 THE BEE HIVE. 



Mr. Editor : — Any one who has not given 

 attention to the subject would be surprised, upon 

 inquiry, with the fact of the large number of 

 "Patent Bee-hives" there is before the public, all 

 claiming to be the "best hive out," with tha 

 "moth proof " thrown in. In a general way, Nor- 

 folk has expressed his opinion pretty freely on 

 these, without any particular reference to any. 

 Now in regard to hives — as with every other par- 

 ticular thing made to accomplish a particular 

 purpose — some will be, and in the nature of 

 things must be, better than others. As bee cul- 

 ture in this State is mostly, and will probably b« 

 in future confined to a few swarms — say under 

 ten — to the individual, a good-looking and conve- 

 nient hive will be used rather than the old-fash- 

 ioned box, because in very many cases, bees are 

 kept as much for the pleasure they afford as for 

 the profit ; they will give a large share of each if 

 properly managed. 



The requisites of what any kind of hive ought 

 to possess I have heretofore stated, and now I 

 wish to call the attention of the readers of the 

 Fanner to the Union Bee-hive, invented and pa- 

 tented by Mr. G. H. Clark, of East Washington, 

 N. H., and I do this not to advertise this partic- 

 ular hive — by no means. My advice is, before 

 you purchase, examine all you can conveniently 

 find, and hold fast to that which is good. I have 

 tested this Union hive along with Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's movable comb hive, the two patents 

 which now seem to take the lead in this region, 

 and the Union is decidedly the best hive for all 

 practical purposes ; and if, as is stated, Mr. Lang- 

 stroth has borrowed the only good thing there is 

 about his hive from the Union, and gets cut ofl" 

 from its use in making his hive by the patent — 

 his hive is good for nothing. 



I do not know as you allow one to express his 

 opinion so freely as I have — nevertheless I think 

 truth is on my side. I have no interest what- 

 ever in any hive that has patent attached to it ; 

 but if any one feels interested enough to call at 

 my place, I will shew him the difference between 

 some half dozen patent hives, and how the beta 

 themselves work in the Union. NORFOLK. 



King Oak Hill, April, 1858. 



THE COW-PISH OF SOUTH AMEBICA. 



One day, the fishermen brought us a fi.tM 

 "Poixe boie," or cow-fish, a species of manatus, 

 and is particular abundant in the lakes in this 

 part of the river. It was a female, about six feet 

 long, and about five feet in circumference through 

 the thickest part. The body is perfectly smooth, 

 without any projections or inequalities, gradually 

 changing into a horizontal semicircular flat tail, 

 with no appearance whatever of blind limbs. 

 There is no distinct neck ; the head is not very 

 large, and is terminated by a large mouth and 

 fleshy lips, somewhat resembling those of a cow. 

 There are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few dis- 

 tantly scattered over the body. Behind the 



