NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Published hy JOHN B. RUSSF.LL, at the corner of Congrp-i nnd I.inMnll Strcpts. (?ix f!onr« frnm Hip Pn.t Offlrp") noston THOMAS O. rFS?r.M)F\~ Fi 



VOL. III. 



FRIDAY, JULY 22, UVir,. 



^AM.-vr-^tmfrv 



No. .'32. 



RiraAi. Eoo3Toivrs'. 



ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 



[By J. Downs, of Iimitingtoa.] 

 For seven years 1 have been collecting in-, 

 /brmalion concerning the proper management 

 ©f bees. A3 is usual wilh a devotion to 7\ny par- 

 licular object, my labours have been abundant- 

 ly recompensed. The increased satistiiclion ( 

 have taken ir. studyingf the nature, and in ol)- 

 servin"" the habits, of these little iniluplrioiw 

 creatures, has indcpemlently of other considera- 

 tions, been sufficient to induce me to spend manj 

 a leisure hour in watching tlieni at their hives, 

 in following them to the fields, and in tracins 

 out their habitations in the woods. Leavinp 

 their nature and habits to others better qnalifiei 

 than myself, I shall confine my remarks in giv 

 ing directions far their management. 



Early in the spring, from a deficiency in th« 

 stock of winter lioney, the bees of one hive are 

 often found to rob those of another. To pre 

 vent this, 1 know of no bettjr way than to makt 

 the entry-hole of the hive that coniains the mo? 

 honey so small that it will barely admit them to 

 p^o in and out. But the greatest object whici 

 should claim the attention of every one who has 

 the charge of bees, is to prevent their destruc- 

 tion by worms. Perhaps two thirds of the bees 

 on the island have, within a lew years, been de- 

 stroyed by the insert called a miller. It enter? 

 the hives, and lays eggs, ivliich soon produce 

 Tvfirms in such numbers, as tn destroy (he bees, 

 or drive them from their hives. To prevent 

 the access of worms, the liivos should be per- 

 Jcctly tight, and have but one hole nt (ha lowor 

 ed^. of the hive ; the continual passing of the 

 hees will prevent them. But the most sure way 

 of keeping them out is to have a well made hive, 

 to set very level on a board, which shall project 

 out in front of tli« hive seven inches; to have 

 a channel or groove about ten inches long and 

 two wide, & three eighths of an inch deep, cut 

 in this board ; and then to have a board about 

 four inches wide nailed over this groove, out- 

 side of the hive. The hees will enter the hive 

 through this groove. The entry hole being al 

 such a distance (four inches) Irom the hive, no 

 kinds of insects will ever enter. I have observ- 

 ed that bees which deposit their honey in trees- 

 very generally have worms among them, if the 

 hole is large, or if there are two or three small 

 ones. But when the hole has been small, I have 

 always found tlie honey pure and free from 

 worms. Besides this great advantage, the bees 

 are less annoyed by the dust and leaves blow- 

 ing in during dry weather, and rain beating in 

 during heavy storms. All kinds of dirt are very 

 offensive to bees. The hives should be made 

 of new clean boards. To have thom perfectly 

 clean, is much belter than to rub the inside wilh 

 sugar, c salt and water. 1 have knowc bees to 

 forsake hives which were made of boxes which 

 once contained fish or some other oily substan- 

 ces. The empty hives, during winter, should 

 be in some place where they can be kept from 

 dirt, particularly from mice and rats. When 

 tlie bees swarm and light on the iimbs of trees, 



they should not be shaken off violmlly ; but the 

 hive should be put near them or the limb sawed 

 off. 



The next object of attention is to take up the 

 honey without destroying the bees. The old 

 method of killing the bees to get the honey i< a 

 very bad one. — It cnn be easily avoided. About 

 the first of July, as soon as the bees begin to lie 

 idle in the front of the liive, take a hive of the j 

 same dimensions as the one they xre in. and bore ; 

 in the top of it, as many holes as you can. about ] 

 an inch in dinmctrr — raise (near the dusk of p. i 

 vening) the hive that contains the bees — put it 

 on the one that has the holes. The bees will 

 immediately descend into the lower one. and; 

 will soon fill it with honey. If the hive is lixed 

 according to the above directions, thny will go 

 out and enter the same hole th;it they did when 

 filling the first one; and thus ihey will not ho 

 disturbod in the Irast. But if the hole is made 

 in the side of the hive il?olf, you are under the 

 necessity of stopping it np and making them 

 pass through one with which they have not been 

 acquainted. In the fall, after the bee? have done 

 collecting honey, lake off the top hive, and turn 

 it bnttom siile upwards; place the cc!ge of it 

 near the entry-hole ; and. by thumping r\ little 

 the bees xvjll immediately leave it, and enter the 

 other. Take a piece of board of the projier 

 sij;e, and screw it on. over the holes. Bv this 

 method, you get a hive full of fine honey, and 

 a sufhciency in the other for l!ie bees to live 

 on during the winter. Unless the bee-i have a 

 second hive to fill, they are, in good season*, al- 

 most entirely idle, after July, lor want of room 

 to store iheir honey. 



By this method of management, bees are ren- 

 dered very profilahle. Two years ago, [ bought 

 a swarm of bees, on the limb of a tree, for three 

 dollars and a quarter. From this one, I now 

 have five ethers, which, independently of the 

 honey they have produced me, 1 value al twen- 

 ty-eight dollars. And should the three follow- 

 ing seasons prove favorable, I shall, from this 

 one hive, have bees enough to support my fam- 

 ily. From one hive of bees, I can generally get 

 two others every year. At a moderate calcula- 

 tion, I shall have, in three years, sixty hives : 

 and, should the season be favourable, ] shall 

 have one hundred. When my number of hives 

 is sufficiently increased, each one will, every 

 season, produce honey to the amount of seven 

 and a half dollars. — Long Island Journ. of Philos. 



VALUABLE IMPORTATIONS. 

 The editor learns that Col. Powel has import- 

 ed some fine Southdown sheep, and has ordered 

 more of that, and of the New Leicester breed, 

 in addition to a portion of the flock in France, 

 of which Mr. Brown, our minister, had, at the 

 desire of his brnther, conveyed information to 

 Col. P. through Mr Carey. We understand there 

 is now no legal i>b5tacle to the exportation of 

 breeding sheep from England. Col. Powel has 

 purchased Mr Champion's celebrated heifer 

 " Jlf ijj Points,'''' and expects her, with others of 

 great value, in November next, in time for the 

 Pennsylvaoia Cattle Show, — AinericuH Farmer, 



PARSNIPS IX SPRING POISONOUS. 

 A writer in the Farmers'' Jovrnal, an agricul- 

 tural paper, printed in London, says, " Parsnipi 

 should never be dug up in the spring; hccaose, 

 when the roots at that season are growing up- 

 wards for producing their seeds, their juices ac- 

 quire a poisonous quality; and instances have 

 o'crurred in which the in'trrnal u«e of them hat 

 bcei productive of fal:il offects on the humas 

 roTi=!ifiiiion, such a^ furious madness: this re- 

 markable ph<nomenon in vegetable nature wc 

 relate on the aulhorily M. Bechsteir." They 

 may, however, be tak^n up in the spring, before. 

 they bcqin to vcgrtnfe, pnd eaten wilh impunity. 

 Etit the best way is to take them up late in au- 

 tumn, and pack them in sand for preservation, 



TO FARMERS. 



Canada Thistles. — Fifteen years have elaps- 

 ed 'ince this most troublesome weed began to 

 infest my farm, f had made various, though un- 

 s\jcces«l'ul, experiments for their extermination; 

 and at last, when I had nearly despaired of suc- 

 cess, I determined to tnake three new experi- 

 ments on three different patches, at the same 

 time ; which I commenced the lore part of June, 

 182.3, 



1. I completely covered one patch of 4 rodg 

 square wilh boards and bark, until August 1824. 

 The thistles have not appeared since. 



2. 1 kept the foliage, (leaves and stems,) 

 wholly down by the hoe and the close feeding 

 of my sheep, on another patch of 3-4lh5 of an 

 acre, until the lOlh of July in Ihe same year; 

 since which lime but three stalks have appear- 

 ed. 



3. Another-parcel, covering about 3-4ths of 

 an acre, was plotjghed six times during the sea- 

 son ; they were also exterminated, except a feve 

 eolitary stalks which appeared in 1824. 



I had in Ihe spring of 1 823, ten patches on my 

 farm, which together, covered a surl'nce of two 

 and a half acres Now June, 1825, tlmre is 

 not the quantity of half a rod of ground, on whick 

 the thistles have appeared. 



MARTIN E. WINCHELL. 



Duchess County, A". Y. 



FINE FRUFT. 



Within the last week there has been presea- 

 ted to the Editor of the American Farmer aa 

 aj)ricot from the garden of John Willis, Esq. 

 and gooseberries from that of Major I. M'Kim, 

 so much beyond the ordinary size and quality of 

 such fruit, as nearly to excite a doubt, at first 

 sight, to uhnt species of fruit they belonged. — 

 The apricot measured in its largest cicrcumfer- 

 ence 7 3 8 inches. The gooseberries between g 

 and 4 inches, and weighed half an ounce each. 



Mr. Willis calls his the true Roman apricot^ 

 and says he has sixty trees for sale. 



The British House of Commons have raised 

 the salaries of the Judges. Those of the King's 

 Bench are to receive 10,000 pounds per annum, 

 (upwards of ^40,000,) and the otbes Judges if 

 proportion. 



