S6 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



to come out when they are unable to endure the cold 

 winds. 



"Without regard to the loss of bees in this way, it 

 is far better to keep them shaded in winter, to avoid 

 the extremes between cold nights and the warm sun 

 of noonday. By keeping them in an equilibrium 

 of temijcraturc, as far as possible, the bees will be in 

 a more healthy state ; and, as they will lie dormant, 

 they will consume far less honey than will be requij-ed 

 when they are occasionally active. 



By very exact experiments, in weighing boc-hives 

 weekly, we have found that a swarm would consume 

 honey much faster in July or Aiigust, in time of 

 severe drought, when the flowers afforded no honey, 

 than in the coldest months of winter. 



"VVe have put feeble swarms of bees, that had only 

 a few pounds of honey, into a cellar, early in winter, 

 and let them remain till spring, when the weather 

 was sufficiently warm for them to go abroad ; and the 

 difference in the weight of the hive, at the time of 

 putting it into the cellar .and taking it out, was not 

 percei^tible, without weighing. 



Bees require attention, but they are often neg- 

 lected. A friend of ours had seven hives of bees, 

 early in winter, which he put into a closet, in a cen- 

 tral part of the house, whore the temperature was 

 nearly even, and they were all in good condition in 

 the spring. The same season, another apiarian had six 

 hives, which stood out in a shed, open at the south, 

 exposed, during the winter, to occasional hot sun, 

 cold winds, and the most rigorous cold by night, and 

 one extreme often following another in rapid succes- 

 sion. The consequence of this improvidence was, a 

 loss of one half of the swarms. 



Large Hogs. — Major Daniel Tenncy, of Sutton, 

 sends us the following account of the weight of hogs 

 raised and slaughtered by Mr. Daniel Day, of North- 

 bridge : Two hogs were killed November 2, 1849, 

 when fifteen months old, and weighed one thousand 

 and sixty-one pounds. Two others were killed De- 

 cember 27, 1849, when sixteen months and twenty- 

 seven days old, and weighed one thousand two hun- 

 dred and fifty-nine pounds. As productions so large 

 must be, in a great measure, the result of skill in 

 majiagement, we should be pleased to have Mr. Day's 

 mode of feeding. 



The next Patent Oi'fice Report. — Tlie Commis- 

 sioner of Patents has employed Dr. Daniel Leo to 

 aid him in the preparation of the Patent Office 

 Report, assigning to him the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of that ofHce. Dr. Lee has edited the Genesee 

 Farmer, and Southern Cultivator, with distinguished 

 ability, and we are pleased to learn that so able 

 assistance is employed in a document that may be 

 made the medium of diffusing a large amount of 

 highly valuable matter, but which has often been 

 burdened with selections without taste or judg- 

 ment. 



CATTLE MARKETS. 



For some time past, a cattle market has been held 

 at Cambridge on Wednesdays. We understand that 

 the sales at Cambridge are as large as those at Brigh- 

 ton ; and, from the superior advantages of the loca- 

 tion, it is supposed that Cambridge will become the 

 principal market. It is on the Fitchburg and Lowell 

 railroads, which, with their extensions and ramifica- 

 tions, run great distances into different parts of the 

 country. The cattle driven from !Maine pass through 

 Cambridge, when on the way to Brighton. 



We have engaged an able reporter, to give us an 

 accurate account of this market, condensing the mar- 

 kets of the two weeks into one, with remarks that 

 will show when there is any change from one week 

 to the other. 



Bureau of Agriculture. — Our attention has 

 been particularly called to the suggestion that a cer- 

 tain gentleman should be placed at the head of the 

 Bureau of Agriculture, should one be established at 

 Washington. We would observe to those who make 

 these suggestions, that we consider it altogether pre- 

 mature to nominate candidates for professorships 

 before they are established, and that it is a move- 

 ment that will have a tendency to defeat the whole 

 plan. We hope that nothing further will be pub- 

 lished on this subject at present. 



Maple Sugar. — A good man will make six or 

 seven hundred pounds in three or four weeks. The 

 man that took the premium at the State Show at 

 Auburn, N. Y., in 1846, kept all vessels clean. He 

 run the hot sugar into conical vessels, having a half- 

 inch hole, plugged at bottom, until the sugar was 

 thoroughly hard; then put three layers of woollen 

 cloth on top, and poured on a pint of water every 

 morning, for three weeks in succession. The water 

 looked like brown molasses, and the sugar, when 

 done, like loaf sugar. 



MOSS UPON APPLE-TREES. 



We suppose it is a fact that no apple-tree that is 

 covered with mosses can be considered a healthy 

 tree. It is, however, a matter of doubt with us, 

 whether these mosses fasten upon the tree while it is 

 vigorous and healthy, and reduce it to a diseased 

 state ; or whether it is necessary that there should be 

 some diseased condition of the bark, before it will 

 afford suitable ground for them to flourish in. These 

 mosses or lichens are, to the trees on which they 

 flourish, what lice are upon animals. Their effects upon 

 the vegetable system are analogous to the vermin 

 above named upon the animal system. It is, there- 

 fore, necessary, in order to insure a perfectly healthy 

 circulation to the tree, that they should be removed 

 and destroyed. 



Diffusion of Seeds. — In boring for water, at a 

 spot near Kingston-on-Thames, some earth was 

 brought up from a depth of three hundred and sixty 

 feet. This was carefully covered with a hand-glass, 

 to prevent the possibility of any seeds being depos- 

 ited on it ; yet, in a short time, plants vegetated 

 from it. 



