134 



Dori't kill yoitr Bees — Improvement. 



Vol. III. 



cant smile, asking her, as he was going tol 

 the table, if her pigs had had their breakfast ;| 

 she arehly replied, "They have all been fed 

 except the strange pig that I am now about to 

 feed." 



SUCCESS IN AGRICULTt'RK 



And horticulture, depends not alone on 

 doing things well, but in doing them at the 

 right time. Some people are generally a 

 week or two too late with their work, and 

 this is, six times out of seven, to want success : 

 for it is said, 



That the lazy man has but one year out of seven. 



A well fed cow, kept clean, is like a well 

 manured garden free from weeds ; she is a 

 credit to her owner and produces abundant 

 returns. 



Children may be governed too little or too 

 much, but never too well. 



There is no worse sign in children, nor any 

 thing more necessary to be nipt in the bud. 

 than a strong propensity to exercise cruelty 

 upon the brute creatures within their power. 



The fruit of age is generally correspond- 

 ing to the education of childhood. 



Education goes far, very far, in determin- 

 ing and fixing characters. 



'I>oi]'t kill your ISccs. 



The bee and the silk worm are almost the 

 only insects permanently useful to man, and 

 it has always been a source of regret that 

 the rich stores of the first could not, in ordi- 

 nary cases, be obtained without the destruc- 

 tion of the owner. This difficulty can now 

 be obviated in an easy manner. 



Mr. Cotton lately read before the Ashmo- 

 lean Society at Oxford, some notices on bees, 

 and his first position was — " never kill a bee." 

 The bee owner has in Xhe fungus waxivins, 

 or common puff ball, a powerful instrument 

 ready to his hands, by which he is able to 

 adopt a more humane and profitable mode of 

 treatment. The smoke of this fungus, when 

 oriedso as to hold fire, has a stupifying efiect 

 on the bees, and renders them as harmless as 

 iJrimstone does, without any of its deadly ef- 

 fects. By means of thi.«, weak swarms, which 

 would not live through the winter, may be 

 united to strong stocks. Mr. Cotton stated 

 it as a fact, borne out by experiment, that a 

 hive thus doubled will not consume more ho 

 ney in the winter than a stock in its natural 

 state. This was discovered by a Swiss pas- 

 tor, De Gelior. The ndditional heat seems 

 to serve instead of additional food, to keep up 

 the vitality of the half-torpid bees. He re- 

 commends a cold, dry, dark room, the colder 

 the bettf>r, as the best winter quarters for 

 bees. They will consume less honey than if 

 lelt on their sunuiier stands, and will not be 



weakened by the loss of thousands, which 

 tempted out by the premature warmth of 

 some early spring day, are caught by the cold 

 winds, fall to the ground and never rise again. 

 Dryness, however, is essential ; and he de- 

 scribed the principle of ventilation, or proper 

 airing of the hives in summer, as the most 

 valuable improvement in bee keeping. 



Every farmer should keep bees; a few 

 swarms to furnish honey for his own use, if 

 no more. They cost little, forage wherever 

 the wild flower grows, have no ideas of land- 

 ed property, and furnish the individual who 

 has a taste for studying the habits of insects, 

 or observing the wonders of that power we 

 call instinct, an ample field of surprise and 

 gratification. — Gen. Farmer. 



Bees are among the most profitable append- 

 ages to a farm house or any other sort of a house. 

 They toil with unremitting industry, asking 

 but a full sweep of the wing, and no monop- 

 oly. Every man, in either town or country, 

 can keep "bees to decided advantage. Dr. 

 Smith of Boston has an apiary on his house 

 top, from whence his little winged laborers 

 traverse the air eight or ten miles in search 

 of food. What a delicious banquet they af- 

 ford, from the rich nectar gathered. Nothing 

 like pure honey in the comb, except, as the 

 ancients used to say, the " dew distilled from 

 maiden lips." Its golden hue, unctuous con- 

 sistency, and the way in which it elaborates 

 itself over a fastidious palate, how delicious ! 

 Strange it is, that any man possessing a home- 

 stead, can forego the pleasures of a bee hive. 

 Not merely the sweets it affords to sour dis- 

 positions and acrid tempers, but the patterns to 

 diligence they exhibit, is worth not a little as 

 a stimulus to all to be frugal and industrious. 

 Let every one keep a bee hive. — Northamp- 

 ton Courier. 



Iniproveinciit. 



Farmers should aim at constantly improving 

 the soil of their farms — they vshould study the 

 existing defects, and endeavor as fast as cir- 

 cumstances will permit to remedy them ; if 

 their land istoowet, they should drain it — if too 

 stiff and clayey they should apply looeening 

 manures; if light and sterile, they should make 

 use of green crops of clover as manure, with 

 plaster and lime — if sour (generally indicated 

 by the growth of sorrel, broom grass or scrub 

 pines,) they should apply all the enriching 

 manure they can possibly obtain ; for good 

 farming, and the application of manure, are 

 inseparable. They will thus not only increase 

 their capital by the increased products of their 

 farms every year, but they will do it by the 

 constantly augmenting value of their land ; 

 their profits will be two-fold, and in their in- 

 crease mutually accelerate each other. 



