No. 12. Changing Bees. — Green Fodder for Cows. 



363 



soil on which I expected it to grow. Do 

 my brother farmers ever make mistakes of 

 a similar kind ? 



M. A. 

 Salem co., N. J. 



Changing Bees. 



The Massachusetts Ploughman says, there 

 are various modes of transferring bees from 

 one hive to another, but the best that we 

 have known to be tried, is at the same time 

 the most simple. In May or in June, if you 

 find the moths abound in a hive, you may 

 without much labour, drive the swarms into 

 a new one, and thus, for a time, avoid this 

 great destroyer of the bee. 



Choose a fair day, and the hour of ten, 

 A. M. Provide a new hive of about the 

 same dimensions as the old one ; then take 

 the old one from its stool and set it on the 

 ground, bottom side op, and a rod or two 

 distant from its old place ; now cap it with 

 the new hive right side up, so as to make 

 as good joints as you can, and wind a sheet 

 or blanket around the two hives, at the joint, 

 so as to prevent the escape of the bees, and 

 tie it fast. Next, beat the sides of the old 

 hive with sticks the size of your thumb, for 

 ten or fifteen minutes, to make the bees quit 

 their old hive and go up into the new one. 



Now untie the blanket, and set the new 

 hive precisely on the stand of the old one, 

 and the bees will gather into it and make it 

 their home. The whole operation should be 

 in the sun, that the bees may more readily 

 quit the old hive. You may now take out 

 the comb and endeavour to save the lives of 

 as many of the bees as you can. In the sun 

 they will soon be able to fly; though they 

 have become dashed with honey, and they 

 will go directly to the old stand. 



After the middle of June, there is more 

 risk in driving them out, though we have 

 known them to make honey enough for win- 

 ter, after the first of July. Some bee-keepers 

 are fearless of the stings of bees, and they 

 handle them without mittens, but it is more 

 prudent to cover your face, at the first move- 

 ment, with a bit of gauze, and your hands 

 with woollen mittens; but after a few min- 

 utes, when the bees find their house is down, 

 they are usually very tame and will not at- 

 tempt to sting ; any one may handle them. 

 Another mode of driving bees to a new 

 hive is, to invert the old one and set it in a 

 tub of water, letting the water rise gradu- 

 ally, so as to make the bees retreat. Some 

 bee-keepers smoke them with pufF ball, or 

 with tobacco, so as to render them stupid for 

 a time, while removing the old hive and set 

 ting the new one on it. But this is unne- 



cessary, in case you cover your face and 

 hands for a ?ew^ minutes, when you first re- 

 move the hive. We have often driven 

 swarms from an old hive to a new one, 

 without being: stunsr. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Green Fodder for Cows. 



]\Iany farmers are perhaps not aware of 

 the great amount of excellent food that may 

 be obtained for their cows, by sowing at in- 

 tervals small patches of corn or oats. I 

 make the following extract from the Maine 

 Farmer, and send it to the Cabinet, hoping 

 it may be the means of procuring plenty for 

 the cows of some of our farmers, which 

 would otherwise have been obliged to go 

 with unsatisfied stomachs. 



" Those who keep but one or two cows, 

 and have a plat of land, cannot devise a bet- 

 ter metiiod of furnishing them with a good 

 bite of fodder occasionally, in the fall after 

 the grass begins to decay, than by sowing 

 some Indian corn. We have found the fol- 

 lowing plan a good one. Make drills, and 

 fill in with manure — cover the naanure over 

 slightly, and in the drills put a quantity of 

 Southern corn — as you would peas. Keep 

 it free from weeds, and in the' fall you can 

 cut an armful every night and morning, for 

 your ' kine,' which will be amply repaid to 

 you in the extra quantity and quality of the 

 milk. 



" We have sowed the northern variety in 

 this way, which does well, only it" is earlier 

 and will ear out — you can cut it by the last 

 of August and first of September, and feed 

 it ears and all. Or if you keep a porker^ 

 you can pull the ears for him, and give the 

 stalks to the cow. It would be a good plan 

 to sow some of both kinds. The northern 

 variety would do to cut first, and the south- 

 ern will come on in succession. Some re- 

 commend sowing the corn broadcast To 

 succeed in this way, the land should be rich 

 and very clear from weeds, otherwise there 

 will be a struggle, weeds versus corn, and 

 ten chances to one if the weeds do not come 

 oft' victorious." 



There is almost every season, and on most 

 farms, a period of scarcity, when the drought 

 has cut up the pastures, and some contriv- 

 ance is needed to keep up the necessary 

 supply; I do not know of any plan so effec- 

 tual as that recommended above. I would, 

 however, prefer sowing the corn broadcast, 

 rather than drilling it: the stalks would thus 

 not grow so large, and would be better for 

 fodder ; there need be little fear of weeds, 

 if the ground is previously in good order, 

 and the corn is sown pretty thick. Oats 



