No. 12. 



Frequent Stirring of tie Soil. — The Honey-Bee. 



379 



cause the weeds to grow, that they may be 

 turned down at the next ploughing: I sum- 

 mer-fallowed a field when one part of it was 

 burning-dry, the other part dry also, but 

 somewhat moister than the former; at Mi- 

 chaelmas, that part which had been ploughed 

 burning-dry had ten times more weeds on it 

 than the other; from whence I infer that the 

 dryer you fallow, the better for the destruc- 

 tion of the weeds. Again, I fallowed part of 

 a field burning-dry in July, immediately upon 

 which came a very hard rain, which made 

 the land, although ploughed dry, to fall flat 

 and hard, and in which at Michaelmas very 

 few weeds appeared — for the soil was by the 

 rain so completely bound and fastened, that 

 the seeds of the weeds could not vegetate and 

 find their way through it. On sound expe- 

 rience, I am thoroughly convinced that no 

 land, especially that which is heavy and cold, 

 ought to be stirred while it is wet; for al- 

 though the ground may work to appearance 

 mellow, as to the temper of the earth, yet 

 being stirred while wet and heavy, the grass 

 will grow so as to clod it together, and it will 

 become too close and impenetrable for any 

 crop to flourish on it. The air and watery 

 part* in earth ought to have a free circulation, 

 as in our human bodies ; otherwise, a corrup- 

 tion and poison of humours arises ; and the 

 case is the same in earth ploughed up wet, 

 which clings together and confines the wa- 

 tery body, which then becomes very great, 

 until it becomes corrupt, and can imbibe no 

 fresh air, dew, &c. ; but the earih, like our 

 bodies, should be always taking in and per- 

 spiring out. If, then, your land be cold and 

 clayey, take care to plough it up while it is 

 in a perfectly dry state, as well as dry over 

 head ; and stop, when either of these cases 

 is wanting — giving your oxen play, or con- 

 trive other work for them ; and when your 

 land is worked in this state, it will always 

 turn up again mellow, rotten, and in good 

 order. And by such methods, of never work- 

 ing your land while it is cold and wet, it will 

 in a few years become marvellously sweet- 

 ened, healthy and kind to all crops, and you 

 will obtain a dominion over the weeds and 

 natural grasses of the soil, so that after it 

 has lain to clover for a season, the land will 

 turn up in fine style and perfectly friable, 

 which is an auspicious temper to promise a 

 good crop." A. 



The neatest way to separate Bees-wax 

 from the comb, is, to tie it up in a linen or 

 woollen cloth or bag with a pebble or two to 

 keep it from floating ; place it in a kettle of 

 cold water, which hang over the fire ; as the 

 water heats, the wax melts and rises to the 

 surface, while all the impurities remain in 

 the bag. 



To the Editor of the Farmers" Cabinet. 

 ' The Honey-Bee. 



In that very interesting and entertaining 

 book, "Jessie's Gleanings in Natural Histo- 

 ry," there is an extremely curious account 

 of the operations of the Queen-Bee, which is 

 as novel as it is entertaining; and as the at- 

 tention of the public has been drawn to the 

 business of bee-breeding, by the many works 

 and essays that have lately been published 

 both in the Cabinet and elsewhere, I think 

 it probable tliat your readers would be 

 pleased with an extract or two from one 

 of the most pleasing works that has ever 

 appeared on that universal topic, " The na- 

 tural history of beasts, birds, and fishes" — 

 speaking of the honey-bee, the writer says, 

 " I have some experimental hives, which en- 

 able me very accurately to inspect the ope- 

 rations of my bees ; from the construction of 

 these hives, the combs are necessarily built 

 between two panes of glass, so that on draw- 

 ing the sliders, the two surfaces of a comb 

 are exposed to view. In this way I am able 

 to see almost every thing that is going for- 

 ward. And I have observed, that when the 

 queen-bee has an inclination to deposit her 

 errgs, she goes forth, accompanied by six or 

 eight working bees as a guard, whose sto- 

 machs are filled with honey. She is very 

 deliberate in her motions, and seems to pro- 

 ceed with great caution; she first looks into 

 a cell, and if she finds it perfectly empty, she 

 draws up her long body and deposits an egg. 

 In this way she slowly proceeds till she has 

 dropped ten or twelve eggs, when, perhaps 

 feeling exhausted, she is fed by one of the 

 attendant bees, who have surrounded her the 

 whole time ; and this is done by the bee eject- 

 ing the honey from its stomach into the 

 mouth of the queen; when this has been 

 done, the bee goes away and another takes 

 its place. The operation of laying her eggs 

 again goes on, and is again succeeded by the 

 same mode of feeding, the attendant bees 

 frequently touching the antennae of the queen 

 with their own. When the operation of lay- 

 ing the eggs is completed, and it generally 

 occupies some time, the queen retires to that 

 part of the hive which is most filled with bees. 

 During her progress, the surface of the comb 

 is very little intruded upon, and the space 

 seems purposely to be left unoccupied ; some 

 few of the cells, however, in a brood comb, 

 are passed over by the queen, and afterwards 

 filled, either with honey or farina; these 

 serving as deposits of food, from which the 

 neighbouring brood may be fed more readily, 

 as such cells are never covered with wax. I 

 have for many years watched my hives with 

 the greatest care and assiduity, but have 

 never yet seen the queen-bee leave the hive, 

 except at the time of swarming. Her person 



