388 



Fly-Proof Wheat — Bees and their Hives. 



Vol. V. 



Fly-Proof Wheat. 



J. B. Gray, Esq., near Fredericksburg, Va., 

 gives, in a kte Southern Planter, a descrip- 

 tion of a kind of wheat which is termed 

 " Fly-proof;" it was introduced into that 

 county by the Hon. John Taliaferro. He 

 says, " whether in the abstract or practically, 

 the opinions of several farmers for two or 

 three seasons, authorise the expectation that it 

 is fly-proof; and in one case, the ordinary wheat 

 of the country was entirely cut to pieces by 

 the fly, whilst this wheat, immediately along- 

 side, escaped altogether. Of its productive- 

 ness, last season at least, three bushels were 

 made for one of the common varieties of the 

 country. It has the largest grain I have ever 

 seen, and is a red-bearded wheat ; from whicii 

 it is argued by a miller, with whom I have 

 conversed, that it will not make superfine 

 flour. It admits of being sown as early as 

 the 15th of September: my present crop is 

 80 luxuriant, that some time past I was ad- 

 vised to mow or feed it, notwithstanding a 

 heavy harrow had been passed over it." 



Is this the grey Cone- Wheat which Tull speaks of, 

 which produced liim one liundred and nine grains in an 

 ear ; four hundred ears in a yard ; with straw so stout 

 that the heaviest crop will stand upright; and, from 

 the circumstance "of its being not hollow but full of 

 pith like a rush," — except near the lower part, where 

 it is very thick and strong — is fly-proof? In all pro- 

 bability it is the same. — £d. 



The poorest and humblest man that lives, 

 has an interest in preserving the earth's 

 wealth and guarding her capacity of improve- 

 ment. The possessions tliat now create a 

 eelf-importance in their present owners, will 

 Boon be no longer personally theirs, and may 

 hereafter bear the now unknown names of 

 his children's children ! 



Bees and their Hives. 



Bees seem to be governed by instinct, not 

 by habit — therefore, if we would make use 

 of them, we must conform to their modes of 

 operation, rather than try to make them con- 

 form to our views. And to understand their 

 character, we must not only observe them in 

 their hive, but in the forest, where they se- 

 lect their own hive ; and if there be any 

 points that are similar in the natural hives, 

 we should conclude that it is the effect of 

 choice, and the artificial hive should be made 

 to conform to those points. My opportunities 

 for observing the bees in the forest have been 

 limited, but I have found that for the entrance, 

 the south and east are most frequently chosen, 

 the west occasionally, but rarely the north ; 

 that the main part of the cavity occupied is 



below the entrance, and only in one instance 

 have I known of a tunnel or hollow limb be- 

 ing selected as an entrance, and never an in- 

 stance of the cavity being open at the bot- 

 tom, although the cavity frequently extends 

 far below any part of the comb. I have ob- 

 served that the honey at the top of the hive 

 is heavier and richer than at the bottom : and 

 it is a curious fact, that when the bees are 

 engaged in collecting honey in fine weather, 

 the deposit at the bottom is thin and watery, 

 but if bad weather comes on, this honey dis- 

 appears, being probably worked over again 

 and carried up; also, the honey which is con- 

 tained in cells not closed or waxed over, is 

 insipid, and probably unfinished. 



The moth entirely destroyed my bees, al- 

 though I tried all the different ways recom- 

 mended to save them. Watching their ope- 

 rations very closely, I found that they com- 

 menced operations between sun-down and 

 dark, continuing until late in the evening — 

 their object being, to enter the hive immedi- 

 ately in the rear of a bee, folding their wings 

 close, and assuming as nearly as possible the 

 form of a bee, and following their file leader 

 into the hive, seldom being detected, unless 

 the bee in front turned to the right or left to 

 allow a bee that was coming out a free pas- 

 age, when, being met, he was driven back, 

 or caught and punished for his temerity, with 

 death ; and when the intruder is seized by a 

 bee, others will rush to its assistance, and 

 both moth and bees will tumble together to 

 the ground. The eggs of the moth are de- 

 posited at the bottom of the hive withinside, 

 in some dark corner. When hives have been 

 cracked from bottom to top, I have observed 

 that the bees will enter mostly at the top and 

 come out at bottom ; those entering at the 

 bottom, will frequently stop to rest before 

 they enter, while those that enter at top, de- 

 scend immediately. — Union Ag. 



W^E have constructed a hive for the purpose of test- 

 ing the truth of the above theory, placing the passage 

 for entering at the top, and sliall feel pleasure in the 

 opportunity of reporting upon it occasionally — there 

 appears " reason in the thing." 



Since writing the above, we have received from the 

 author, Mr. T. Affleck, of Cincinnati — and for which 

 he will please accept our thanks— a most interesting 

 pamphlet on bees and their hives, entitled " Bee-Breed- 

 ing in the West," which we strongly recommend to the 

 notice of every one who feels interested in the subject. 

 There is no doubt the perusal of it will induce many 

 to turn their attention to bee culture, and through it 

 we may become a country as famous for honey as is 

 the kingdom of Spain, where, John Bowles says, "The 

 number of bee-hives is almost incredible; I know a 

 parish priest who owned five thousand hives." 



We copy from its pages the drawing of a hive, with 

 very clear directions for constructing it, as Mr. A, has 

 not tied it up by a patent, — Ed. 



