1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



42c 



slate or other substance impervious to water, just 

 above the ground line. To prevent damp from 

 ascending the walls of a house already built, [Lon- 

 don's Enq/clopeEclia of Cottage, Farm and FiUa 

 Architecture, published in 1846, page 246,] intro- 

 duce a water-proof medium through the wall, just 

 above the level of the ground, in the following 

 manner : — First make a hole through the wall, over 

 the ground course, taking out 2 courses in height, 

 and 2 bricks in length ; consequently, the hole will 

 be 6 inches high, and IS inches wide. Then fill up 

 one half this hole at one end with two courses of 

 sound bricks laid in Roman cement. It is clear 

 that the operation could not injure the wall, the 

 width of 18. inches not allowing of any settlement ; 

 2 courses more of nine inches in width are next re- 

 moved, making the hole again 18 inches wide ; the 

 half of which is then filled in with bricks and ce- 

 ment, as before. The operation is to be repeated 

 until the whole of the walls of the house are under- 

 pinned by 2 courses of hard bricks, and 3 joints of 

 Roman cement, constituting a water proof septum 

 through which the damp cannot rise. 



Yours truly, 0. 



Worcester County, Jidij, 1857. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HOW TO TRANSFER BEES. 



Mr. Editor : — I have often thought of writing 

 a little for the Farmer, though some may think 

 that a minister of the gospel should not be dabbling 

 with every thing ; yet 1 know of no reason why a 

 minister should not be interested in every thing 

 that promotes the welfare of the human family. J 

 have been highly entertained with the information 

 obtained through the Farmer. I have a few words 

 now, on one department of the management of bees. 



The best, and indeed the only successful plan 

 that I have ever seen, for changing old swarms in- 

 to new hives, is the following. Make the hive of 

 good inch boards, fifteen inches high, thirteen inches 

 deep, and ten inches and seven-eighths wide. This is 

 the inside measurement. It should be put together 

 with screws. By putting the front and back boards 

 on to the side boards, it will be nearly square on 

 the outside. Instead of the top board, put in slats 

 made of inch boards, the under side of which must 

 be chamfered to an edge, the whole length of the 

 centre. The ends of the slats to be let in v/ith a 

 groove. The width of the slats on the upper side 

 should be one inch and an eighth, and ihree-eighths 

 of an inch apart. 



Now place this hive where the old hive is, and 

 put the old hive on the top of the new one. Stop 

 the entrance to the old hi'-e. At this season of the 

 year, when there is a plenty of feed, the bees will 

 immediately commence working in the new hive, 

 and as the slats are brought to a point on the un- 

 der side, the bees must of necessity build their comb 

 lengthways of the slats. Hence you will only need 

 three sticks to support the comb, and those, of 

 course, put in crossways of the slats ; two within 

 about four or five inches of the top, and one a little 

 below the middle. And that makes the best hive 

 for all practical purposes that I have ever seen. 

 Put a glass in the front or back side, with a slide 

 over it. 



After the bees have worked a sufficient length of 

 time to have young bees in the new comb, take off 



the old hive (lay a board or slide over the new one) 

 carry it off a few rods, turn it bottom side up, and 

 rap gently on the hive, and as the bees crawl up, 

 brush them off carefully with a wing. They will re- 

 turn to the new hive. Should a few linger in the 

 hive, carry it into the cellar, leave the windows open, 

 and in a day or two all will leave. 



A. A. CONSTANTINE. 



East JFaUing-ford, Vt., July 18th, 1857. 



WINE AND LAED PRESS. 



Our neighbors, Messrs. Nourse & Co., have for 

 sale a small press, to be operated by hand, a rep- 

 resentation of which we give herewith. The press 

 is of three different sizes, the capacity of the tub va- 

 rying from about six quarts to eight or ten gallons, 

 well and strongly made, and admirably adapted for 

 farmers' use, as it may be employed in pressing 

 lard, the making of v,ine or- cider, or in the numer- 

 ous uses which would be found for such a machine, 

 were it always at hand. 



Price from $5,00 to $10,00. 



A Pigeon Flight from the Arctic Re- 

 gions. — Sir John Richardson states that "with re- 

 spect to Sir John Ross's pigeons, as far as I can 

 recollect, he dispatched a young pair on the 6th and 

 7th of October, 1850, from Assistance Bay, a little 

 to the west of Wellington Sound, and on the 13th 

 of October a pigeon made its appearance at the 

 dovecote in Ayrshire, from which cote Sir John had 

 the two pairs of pigeons which he took out. The 

 distance direct between the two places is two thous- 

 and miles. The dovecote was under repair at this 

 time, and the pigeons belonging to it had been re- 

 moved, but the servants of the house were struck 

 with the appearance and motions of this stranger. 

 After a short stay it went to the pigeon-house of a 

 neighboring proprietor, where it was caught and 

 sent back to the lady who originally owned it. She 

 at once recognized it as one of those which she had 

 given to Sir John Ross ; but to put the matter to 

 the test, it was carried into the pigeon-house, when 



