260 



Culture of Coffee. — Editorial Notices. 



Vol. VIII. 



of sugar parsnips 868^ bushels to the acre, 

 of forty pounds to the bushel, $ 8. 



To James Gowen, for the best quarter acre 

 of field carrots, 687 bushels to the acre, of 

 forty pounds to the bushel, $ 8. 



To Samuel S. Richie, second best quarter 

 acre of field carrots, Colman's Agricul- 

 tural Tour, $4. 



The statements of the different competitors 

 will be laid before you, describing the man- 

 ner of cultivation and the yield. Your Com- 

 mittee congratulate the Society upon the 

 generally improved appearance of the farms 

 in this vicinity, giving evidence of science 

 and skill in cultivation; and fully sustaining 

 the high standing of Philadelphia county as 

 an agricultural district. 



Samuel C. Ford, 

 Henry Chorley, 

 Samuel S. Richie, 

 Manuel Eyre, Jr. 

 Cornelius J. Smith, 

 Committee on Crops for 1843. 

 Philadelphia, Feb. 6th, 1844. 



From the Louisville Journal. 



Culture of Coffee. — The cultivation of 

 coffee is simple, and I see no reason why it 

 could not be advantageously introduced in 

 our Southern States. It flourishes well on 

 the Jamaica mountains, at a height above 

 the sea, where the climate is quite as cold 

 as South Carolina, Georgia, or Louisiana. 

 The labour is very light. The tree, when 

 once planted, will bear thirty, and sometimes 

 fifty years, with scarcely any attention. The 

 preparation for market is very simple, and 

 can be performed by children. It would be 

 equally profitable with cotton, and I think 

 far more so than either rice or sugar, with- 

 out the sacrifice of health attending the cul- 

 tivation of the former, or the terrible using 

 up of flesh and muscle, demanded by the 

 latter. The only point to be ascertained is, 

 whether it w^ill bear the climate of our 

 Southern States ; if so, there can be little 

 doubt that for productiveness and facility of 

 culture, it will be preferable to any other 

 Southern crop. 



S. B. Parsons. 



Flushing, Long Island, Nov. 23rd, ]843. 



THE FARMERS' CABIl^ET, 



AND 



Philadelphia, Third Month, 1844. 



It has been said that every man who has a font or 

 two of ground, may raise his own grapes: abundance 

 too, has been said from time to time, recommendinj 



the farmer and the citizen to supply themselves with 

 a stock of bees, and thus enable their families to luxu- 

 riate on the fruit of their labours; and we have been 

 ready to conclude that every one who has a spare win- 

 dow, whether in town or country, may make his own 

 lioney, if he chooses to do so. 



On the 11th of Third month, of last year, while the 

 weather was cool, the editor was furnished by his 

 friend Jeremiah Comfort, of Spring Mill, with a swarm 

 of bees in a very simple box, or rather in two glass 

 boxes, each about eleven inches square, and nine 

 inches deep, communicating with each other by a 

 couple of holes in the top of the lower box, and ac- 

 companied by tight covers, somewhat larger than the 

 boxes in which the bees were living, so as to exclude 

 the light from them. They were placed in the second 

 story of our residence, at the window of the bath 

 room, on a stand made to support the hive, the en- 

 trance for the bees being under the window sash, 

 which was raised a little for the purpose. Here they 

 have stood ever since, apparently as contented, and 

 just as industrious as if in a hollow tree in their na- 

 tive forest, or as if in a more classical position on 

 Mount Hymettus. Through their busy season of sum- 

 mer, they were a source of great amusement and in- 

 terest to the editor and his family, a day rarely pass- 

 ing, but the covers were two or three times removed 

 to watch the rapid movements and efficient labours of 

 these admirable creatures. The light to which they 

 were exposed, when the covers were off, did not ap- 

 pear to annoy them in the least, as all their opera- 

 tions continued as if undisturbed. 



Strong indications of swarming were exhibited for 

 several days previously to the 17th of Sixth month, 

 last; on that day, about one o'clock, vs'hile the editor 

 was in the bath room, and the covers were olT the 

 glass cases, the customary steady, quiet movements of 

 the colony, were in an instant, and quick as thought, 

 changed to the hum peculiar to the occasion, and thou- 

 sands of those which happened to be near the outward 

 passage, were on the wing, and hurry, and bustle, and 

 confusion, as if their very house was on fire, indicated 

 that pell-mell resigned within. The greater part of 

 the swarm remained thus on the wing for five or ten 

 minutes, when they gradually settled directly under 

 the window sill, and inunediately commenced return- 

 ing into their box. All was soon again quiet, and so 

 remained till next day, when about noon, the same 

 manoeuvres began, and closed in the same way: they 

 settled in the same spot, and again retired into their 

 old home. Now a curious question presents itself, 

 and we ask, why were these two fruitless demonstra- 

 tions made? Had the queen — which, by the way, we 

 obtained a sight of but once through the whole sum- 

 mer—overrated her powers? Did she come out, ex- 

 pecting to lead ofl" her dependants in fine style, and 

 from some cause or another, find herself unable to 

 leave the window sill? and did her dependants, disco- 

 vering this, instinctively cluster around her there? or 

 did the scouts— the pioneers, sent out to reconnoitre, 

 —happen to return just at these junctures, and report 

 that no resting place had been found for the sole of 

 their foot? We leave these points to be settled as 

 best they may, by Huber, and Huish, and Sevan, and 

 our friends Affleck and Comfort, and proceed to state 



