No. 11. 



Economy of Labor-saving Utensils. 



357 



spell of weather during the swarming season, 

 that many persons may not be aware of, which 

 is this : The queen, in laying the foundation 

 of new princesses, calculates upon their ma- 

 turity at certain periods; when, if the wea- 

 ther should permit, swarms would be ready 

 to issue, according to her principles of the 

 science; but as she cannot foretell the wea- 

 ther, she is often caught with three or four 

 of these royal scions on hand, and the wea- 

 ther does not permit the issue of a swarm 

 for several days, as fine weather for such an 

 operation alone will do. 



As these princesses ripen to maturity, a 

 spirit of jealousy begins to be engendered, 

 that sets the whole hive in an uproar. Here 

 is a sad dilemma ! The old queen expects 

 to go off with the first swarm, in person, as 

 soon as the weather becomes fine ; in the 

 meantime there are several young expect- 

 ants of assuming the reins of government, 

 who begin to show a spirit of revolt as they 

 grow in strength and age. If this state of 

 things lasts for a week, through rainy wea- 

 ther, their jealoupy becomes so furious that 

 a general fight of extermination takes place, 

 and the one that finds herself alive last, as- 

 sumes the reins of that block; and if all the 

 princesses have matured, there will be no 

 more swarmmg that season. 



This is ar other reason why bees do not 

 swarm, when we think they do not know 

 what is for t])eir own interest; but I assure 

 the reader, that when they do not send off 

 swarms, it is tor a good and sufficient cause, 

 though we may not be able to comprehend 

 it. T. B. Miner. 



Ravenswood, L. I., May, 1847. 



PoT.\TOE Yeast. — To two middling sized 

 boiled potatoes, add a pint of boiling water, 

 and two table-spoonfuls of brown sugar. One 

 pint of hot water should be applied to every 

 half pint of the compound. Hot water is 

 better in warm weather. This yeast being 

 made without flour will keep longer, and is 

 said to be much better than any previously 

 in use. 



Economy of Labor-Saving I'teusils in 

 a Kitchen or on a Farm. 



A LITTLE reflection will show, that to save 

 time is a great gain, while a liberal, though 

 economical expenditure of money is equally 

 so. Labor-saving machines in a farm-kitchen 

 are, therefore, of the utmost importance, as 

 they not only save time, but strength ; for 

 instance, if a farmer expends a few dollars 

 in the purchase of a churn so constructed 

 that it will bring butter in five, ten, or twen- 



ty minutes, and afterwards work the butter 

 fit for printing, and this only by turning the 

 handle (and there are such churns now in 

 use), he will soon perceive that he has gain- 

 ed more than at first sight he could think 

 possible. If he adds to this, pans for hot 

 water, in which the milk-pans can be placed 

 to prevent the new milk from cooling too 

 rapidly, he will find on churning day, that 

 he has gained one-fifth more butter than by 

 the ordinary method. If such liberal conve- 

 niences are allowed the farmer's wife and 

 daughters, as the modern sausage-chopper, 

 that noiseless friend to the farmer's wife, that 

 will silently do in two hours what it would 

 take a man a whole day to accomplish by his 

 single arm, or if a wood-shed in which the 

 kitchen shall open, where a space can be 

 portioned off' for barrels and boxes that are 

 to be receptacles for all sorts of things that 

 the women should have in use close to the 

 scene of their labors, and to receive trash 

 that otherwise would be thrown out, littering 

 the yard, and giving an air of untlirift that 

 is always disgusting, and if saved in barrels 

 and carefully collected on a compost heap, 

 will serve as manure for the garden or farm, 

 of the best quality, the farmer himself will 

 find in a short time, that in saving his 

 (Strength, time, and health, he has gained at 

 the end of the year, at least, the price of 

 the labor-saving machines, and the following 

 year, there will be a clear profit of money as 

 well as time, that can be spent more profitably 

 in lighter and equally useful occupations. If 

 in the above mentioned wood-house, a row of 

 barrels be placed close to the kitchen door, 

 one for ready-made soap, one for soap-fat into 

 which is previously placed 25 pounds of pot- 

 ash, and two barrels of water, one for pig- 

 slop, another for bones and all the worthless 

 scraps and sweepings of the house, and ano- 

 ther for chicken-feed, the following results 

 will take place: — The soap being close at 

 hand, can be used, when it is wanted, and 

 there will be no excuse for things not being 

 kept perfectly clean. If the barrel of pot- 

 ash and water be kept close at hand, ten 

 times as much soap-fat will be gathered and 

 saved, 3iS if the barrel were not there; for 

 it will take no more time to throw it there 

 than into the pig's barrel, or to the dog. 

 The potash will prevent the fat from becom- 

 ing mouldy, or filled with skippers, which it 

 is apt to do when collected in the usual way. 

 The soap will make itself, if stirred once or 

 twice a week. Potash, instead of ley, is 

 most economical, as it is more certain in its 

 results; and the ashes are more valuable on 

 the manure heap or pasture land tlian what 

 the soap is worth. The pig-slop will be un- 

 der the mistress's eye, and ingredients nei- 



