478 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



Hall In one of the dining-rooms, over the fire- 

 place, the words, "Drede God and Honor the King," 

 are carved in raised letters of oak in another is one 

 of the very same old tables, of thick oak plank, on 

 ■which the old knights used to cut up their haunch 

 of venison with a dagger, sitting on the rough 

 \vooden seat. We were shown the very door out 

 of which, on one of Huddan's festive nights, the 

 beautiful Dorothy Vernon eloped with Sir John 

 Manners. Old yew trees, solemn and dark, that 

 heard their whispers of love, still remain, and al- 

 most darken noonday with their shactt. What in- 

 duced the beautiful Dorothy to run away, is not 

 very apparent, as she owned the estate, ami soon 

 returned with Sir John, and lived in peace. In the 

 chapel, you may go up a narrow stair-case of solid 

 blocks of oak,to the confessional, and confess to some 

 imaginary old priest, or perhaps to your lover in 

 disguise. Over a fire-place, in the same room with 

 Queen Elizabeth's bed, is a piece of bas-relief in 

 plaster, representing all manner of beasts, dancing 

 to the playing of Orpheus. I think it must be a 

 genuine antique, executed by some one who was 

 there, for the singular postures of the animals in- 

 dicate that this must have been their first attempt 

 at a hornpipe. If the taste for the antique is not 

 satisfied with the Hall itself, you may see a genu- 

 ine Roman altar, dug up close by, now in the porch, 

 on which is an inscription which looks as if it might 

 have been written by the author of the Dighton 

 rock characters, after a iillle more practice. 



The Romans, by the way, who conquered the 

 Britons in the first century and held dominion over 

 them some four hundred years, have left traces of 

 their works all over the kingdom. I have seen one 

 of their great roads which runs for a hundred miles 

 or more, from north to south. I have seen their 

 canal, called the Fosdyke, about twelve miles in 

 length, which connects the Trent with the Humber, 

 their car dyke, which cut off the water of the hills 

 from the marshes, to dry them, the tassellated 

 floors of their baths, which were laid in the third 

 century, and one really begins to look upon these 

 castles of the time of William the Conqueror, which 

 are scattered all over the country, as quite modern 

 aff"airs. 



Of Chatsworth, the great show estate of England, 

 and really the most magnificent, I have not space 

 to speak. Every American visits it, and a pretty 

 good proportion write a description of it. Sir Jo- 

 seph Paxton, who built the Crystal Palace, was a 

 servant of the great Duke, and planned the land- 

 scape scenery here, and made the fountains, and 

 artificial rock work, but how any body could induce 

 the three hundred cows that I saw there to stand 

 knee deep in the Derwent, and the herd of deer to 

 group themselves under the trees beyond, to help 

 my prospect from the windows, I do not compre- 

 hend. And here we must leave the Derwent and 



Chatsworth, and run by rail more than two hun- 

 dred miles to Salisbury, to attend the great exhibi- 

 tion of the Royal Agricultural Society, of which I 

 am determined, laying aside all poetry, romance, 

 and such vanities, to give you a plain matter-of- 

 fact account. Not one word will I say in my next 

 about Stonehenge, or old Sarum, or the Cathedral, 

 all close by, nothing but plain steam plows and short 

 horns. With the eastern benediction, "May your 

 tribe increase," I close this epistle, of which Charles 

 Lamb would say, "It may be easy writing, but it is 

 very hard reading." 



Your friend, Henry F. French. 



Fiyr the New England Farmer. 



BEE CULTURE. 



Me. Editor : — If a man would love home, let 

 him have a home of his own building, where all 

 the trees and shrubs, fences, and internal and exter- 

 nal arrangements, were done with his own hands, 

 or under his own immediate supervision. If he 

 has a home under these circumstances, he will love 

 it, as he cannot love otherwise ; it will ever be near 

 and dear to him ; the longer he becomes associated 

 with such a home, and its varieties grow up under 

 his culture, the more he may sing "Home, sweet 

 home," and every chord of his heart will vibrate in 

 sympathy with its Heaven-born sentiments. Thus 

 will the apiarist find it, as he avails himself of the 

 instinct of the delightful little honey-bee, and cul- 

 tivates them for his enjoyment and profit. It has 

 been truly said, that the instinct of the bee can be 

 but little improved. For ought we know, their 

 family arrangements, their industry and economy, 

 &:c., are no more perfect at the present day than 

 they were in the days of Samson, notwithstanding 

 the many patent bee-hives to help them along. 

 True, their instinct may be turned to our profit 

 and pleasure in a great variety of ways; some 

 much better than others no doubt ; still, there is 

 that same instinct intact, ever the same, and ever 

 will be, till honey shall be no more. Many per- 

 sons are prevented from the culture of bees through 

 fear — they know the bee is armed with a formida- 

 ble weapon, small though it be — yet its power is 

 fearful when used for defence, which the bee only 

 so uses either from supposed or sufficient cause, 

 and not often otherwise ; it is only when willing to 

 die in the conflict, that the bee stings, and when 

 it does sting, the weapon is left in the wound, the 

 lower part of the abdomen is torn off, and the bee 

 soon dies in consequence. He cheerfully offers his 

 life a sacrifice for tlie good of his family, and dies 

 a martyr to its cause. One who has -never made 

 the attempt would be aslonished at the ease and 

 familiarity with which bees may be handled by cau- 

 tious, oft repeated and patient m:inagement. Their 

 acquaintance should be cultivated; they have no 

 fancy to having a thing forced upon them, though 

 their good may require such a process someiimes. 

 There is no doubt in my own mind but that bees 

 will sting some persons sooner than others under 

 like circumstances. My own case is a practical il- 

 lustration of this fact, and I am often led to doubt 

 whether I am a favorite of theirs. While we man- 

 age to keep on pretty good terms with them, we 

 should always approach them without fear. If you 



