280 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



ends nailed on pieces of wood or joist from two to 

 four inches square and put directly on the ground, 

 with the hive on the back end. The advantages of 

 this arrangement are sufficient to balance any little 

 trouble of keeping down weeds, grass &c. 



The roof is made by two boards 10 by 24 inches, 

 nailed together like a house-roof, and laid on loose- 

 ly. One great advantage of separate stands is, there 

 is no difficulty in allowing plenty of room between 

 stocks, which is an important consideration. 



The purest white combs can be obtained only by 

 taking off the boxes as soon aa full. When the 

 boxes are of glass, this point can be ascertained very 

 accurately, without disturbing the bees in the least, 

 by merely raising the outside cover. By using glass 

 boxes, the bee-keeper is quite sure to obtain more 

 surplus than with wooden ones, because empty ones 

 can replace the full ones as fast as filled, and no 

 time lost for want of room. 



This article is already sufficiently lengthy ; yet 

 there are many particulars left out, that would be 

 serviceable to the beginner. Those who wish my 

 whole system of bee culture, may obtain a full trea- 

 tise. Please see advertisement in the Farmer. 



^l. Johnsville, JV. Y. M. Quinbt, 



Author of Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained. 



I*. S. I wish to make a little correction in the ar- 

 ticle on bee-hives, in the Farmer, April 4th, as it 

 might convey the idea that a part only, of the 2000 

 pounds of honey was obtained from flowers. It 

 reads, "the simple part of that amount being pro 

 duced by flowers alone," but should read the simple 

 fact, Sec. M. Q. 



For the New England Farmer, 



PURE WATER. 



Within a few miles is an institution in which are 

 constantly housed and supported sixty or more in^ 

 dividuals, of all ages, from ninety years downwards 

 In this establishment, erected by the town at 

 an expenditure of more than $10,000, is no wa- 

 ter at all, except as it is drawn from a well in 

 the yard, or brought in buckets or casks, from a 

 brook that passes about two hundred feet in front 

 of the building. This brook starts from a natural 

 pond, about half a mile distant, and flows gently 

 along, falling about twenty feet in its course, all the 

 way in the lands of the proprietors of the establish- 

 ment. A very slight expenditure of money, say 

 not more than $200, in placing a Hydraulic Ram, 

 would so regulate the flow of water, as to abundantly 

 supply every room in the premises, as also the stables 

 and yards adjoining, with sufficiency of pure ivater, 

 and this v.'ithout any trouble of drawing, carrying or 

 pumping. How long, O, how long will ye thoughtless 

 neglect the proffered benefits ? I speak what I do 

 know, and hope that the needy will be admonished 

 by what I say. South D.\kvers. 



March 22, 1857. 



government, in order to avert the disastrous conse- 

 quences that would ensue should the epidemic be 

 introduced into the United Kingdom, have issued 

 an order prohibiting the importation of cattle, horns, 

 hoofs or hides from those parts of R,ussia, Prussia, 

 or Mecklenburg-Schwerin, bordering on the Baltic 

 Sea, between the Gulf of Finland and the free city 

 of Lubec. 



The Royal Agricultural Societies of England and 

 of Ireland have dispatched an eminent professor to 

 Prussia, in order to ascertain the nature and extent 

 of the disease. Meanwhile the alarm is such that 

 the graziers, especially the Irish, are sending their 

 stocks to market to get them off their hands with- 

 out delay, and prices have considerably fallen. The 

 presence of murrain would be a severe blow to Ire- 

 land, whose wealth consists largely of live stock. 



The Murrain. — The distemper which has ap- 

 peared among the cattle of the North of Europe 

 has excited great apprehension among the English 

 people, who have hitherto derived a very large por- 

 tion of their beef cattle from that region. The ex- 

 act nature of the murrain has not been ascertained, 

 but all accounts agree that it is of a most malignant 

 type. As has already been announced, the British 



For the New England Fanner. 



RAISING THE HUBBARD SaUASH. 



A little more than a year ago, I made an inquiry 

 through the Farmer for the best kind of winter 

 squash. In doing so I was very fortunate, for in 

 a short time I received a package of the Hubbard 

 squash seed through the post-office, from J. J. H. 

 Gregory, of Marblehead. And here, Mr. Editor, 

 permit me to deviate a little for the purpose of 

 thanking Mr. Gregory for the very generous act. 



May 30th, I planted, in five hills about five feet 

 apart, twelve of the seeds. They came up and 

 grew finely. The soil was a yellow loam, spaded 

 about one foot deep, which was deeper than it had 

 been worked before. The hills were made by the 

 side of a patch of early peas, so that the squash 

 had the ground that had been occupied by the peas, 

 to spread over. As soon as the plants were up, 

 the hills were covered with boxes made in the 

 shape of a miniature desk, 12 or 14 inches square, 

 without a bottom, about 7 inches high in front, and 

 9 inches high on the back side, inclining to the 

 south, and covered with mosquito bar on the top. 



For fear the ground would not be rich enough, 

 I set an old barrel near by, and put in a few shov- 

 elfuls of dressing from the hen-coop, and filled up 

 with soap-suds every washing da}'. Then I dug a 

 little circular trench around each hill, about two 

 feet in diameter, and deep enough to hold a pail- 

 ful without running over. Once a week, I put two 

 or more pailfuls to each hill, until the vines cov- 

 ered the ground. The boxes were kept on most 

 of the time, until the plants got too big for them, 

 and too big for the striped bugs too. 



A heavy hail-storm, August 10, beat the vines 

 down a good deal. But I got thirty-eight good 

 ripe squashes, which must have weighed over 300 

 lbs. The largest weighed 1(5.^ lbs. 1 did not weigh 

 them all, but think they would have averaged over 

 9 lbs. 



The Hubbard squash keeps well ; I have them 

 now. I put into my cellar Hubbard and marrow 

 together; the last of the marrow were thrown in- 

 to the cow-yard the first of February. I think a 

 cellar is a poor place to keep squashes, but here, 

 in Maine, few people have any other place free from 

 frost. I think they may be kept into summer in 

 a cool, dry place. 



