1! 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JIJIiY 29, 1835. 



but the brute was the wiser of the two, and went 

 out another way. I 



Indolence may get to be a disease. A man, 

 dressed in rags, haggard, and marked with mise- 

 ry, once approached a rich man, and begged for a 

 tew pence. " But why do you beg?" said tlie 

 rich jnan. " I am afflicted with a disease," said 

 tlie beggar, " and shame prevents my naming it to 

 you." " Let us step aside," said the rich man, 

 " and tell me your disease ; if it is in my power, I 

 will relieve you." They stejjped aside, and the 

 pauper opened his robe. But the rich man could 

 discover no evidence of disease. " Listen said 

 the beggar. " Jly disease does not show itself 

 on the skin — it lurks in my bones — it infects mv 

 blood — it reigns over my nerves a:id sinews — " 

 restrains my eflbrts — it paralyzes my body and 

 mind — it makes me weak, imbecile, useless — it 

 makes me a wretch — it makes me what you see 

 me, a beggar!" " What is this horrid disease?" 

 said the rich man. " It is Indolence !" said the 

 pauper. 



And thus, while indolence brings disease and 

 misery, industry brings health. " I pray you," 

 said a poor man who was starving, to one who 

 was fat and bloated with indulgence, " I pray you 

 give me some bread, for my hunger is past en- 

 durance." " I would give yiu all my wealth," 

 said the voluptuary, " for your good appetite." The 

 beggar, then, has the advantage of a man, who, 

 in the midst of abundance, has lost the power of 

 enjoying it. And the idle man loses this power, 

 while the industrious have their perceptions 

 (juickened and their capacities enlarged, by their 

 course of life. 



Society is often spoken of, as divided into three 

 classes — the high, the low, and the middling. — 

 These terms, I am [)ersuaded, often bear a false 

 signification, and are the foundation of infinite 

 mischief. Wealth exerts a magical influence over 

 the imagination ; and those who possess it are 

 honored with an epithet, which implies an envia- 

 ble superiority of condition to the rest of man- 

 kind. But this is mere assumption, and that too 

 in the face of fact and reason. Wealth is 

 not happiness — it is a mere instrument — and gen- 

 erally fails to accomplish the end for which it was 

 designed. In the hands of one who knows how 

 to use it, and has that stern self-control, which 

 enables him to act according to knowledge, wealth 

 is a blessing. But there are few" men of this char- 

 acter. Most possessers of wealth are seduced by 

 its blandishments from the straight and narrow 

 way of peace ; and that which Heaven gave for 

 good, thus becomes the instrument of evil. 



SII.K IN FRYBBVKG, MAINE. 



T. G. Fessenden,|Esq. 



Sir — By sending you the names of two of my 

 neighbors for subscribers to your Silk Manual, I 

 would say a few words about the progress I have 

 tnude in the business, as I expect to p;>y the post- 

 age of this letter, there will be no additional ex- 

 pense to be paid. This is the fourth year that I 

 have fed a few worms; I have now something 

 like two thousand which have done very well, 

 they are now making their cocoons, have had 

 none sick, nor have any died. The young worms 

 began to apjicar tlie fifth day of June ; we kept 

 tliem three weeks on a table in the house, when 

 they wanted more room, and our folks were 

 weaving, and made so much noise, we concluded 



to remove them to our hop house. Seeing in 

 some of the back numbers of the New England 

 Farmer, that a gentleman made some twine nett- 

 ing for them to feed upon, I intended to have pre- 

 pared some for mine, was prevented by sickness 

 from doing it myself, but my wife and daughter, 

 who took the care of them thought of a pigeon 

 net we had. They unstrung it, the meshes being 

 too large, they stretched it in length which 

 brought the threads of it closer together, so that it 

 answered completely well ; it let all the excre- 

 ment and some of the small parts of leaves fall 

 down through and made a great saving of idean- 

 ing the litter away from them ; there ought to be 

 tables underneath the netting, as there will he 

 some fall down through, to stop them from falling 

 to the floor, the space of IJ inches would be suf- 

 ficient, as they then would get up again themselves 

 when fresh leaves were put on ; a common pigeon 

 net might be so managed as to contain 3000 worms 

 that were full grown. A lattice work of twine 

 might he made very cheap, by taking strips of 

 inch boards, two inches wide, nailing them to- 

 gether at the ends, and laceing twine across about 

 half an inch apart, sufficient to contain any num- 

 ber of worms, and froin the little experience I 

 have had, the labor s.ived in clearing away the 

 litter would am])ly pay for making the netting or 

 lattice shelves. 



I would also, as I am writing, say a few words 

 respecting the Chinese mulberry ; I have six, for 

 which I paid in Boston two years ago last spring, 

 six dollars, besides other expenses irom that place 

 to Fryeburg. I set them out, they all took root, 

 three of them I put in a rich loam, the other three 

 I set in stony ground, the south easterly side of a 

 stone wall. The first three grew very luxuriant- 

 ly ; I had leaves 11 inches wide and the same in 

 length ; but they all died down to the ground ; 

 they came up again next spring and had a heavy 

 foliage. The last winter killed them all down 

 hut one, which lived, one and a half feet high, 

 which was in the stony ground sheltered by the 

 wall.* I have some hopes that they will become 

 acclimated, but how that will j)rove, time only 

 must bring forth. The winter was extremely se- 

 vere hereupon all trees in this vicinity. 



Yours very respectfully, 



James Walker. 



Fryehurg, 21 July, 1835. 



[From the Genesee Farmer.] 

 BURYING BEES. 



Mr Tucker — It is two years this spring since 

 I first commenced bee-keeping. In the outset I 

 had no knowledge whatever of their management 

 and it was a stipulation of the bargain with the 

 person of whom I obtained them, that he should, 

 as soon as occasion required, impart to me such 

 facts as his experience would justify, in regard to 

 their culture. This agreement was satisfactorily 

 jierfornied ; and, aided by the infortnation thus 

 received, my success, for a tyro's, was such as to 



* We do not understand this sentence and apprehend 

 there is some mistake in the manuscript. We give it as 

 we received it, but should be glad to know what suc- 

 cess Mr Walker met with regard lo the " three set in 

 stony ground." We think the communication valuable, 

 and Mr Walker's mode of feeding and keeping the 

 worms clean we should think quite an improvement. — 

 Editor. 



create an almost enthusiastic interest in this 

 branch of rural industry, 



In the autumn of 1833, J selected four hives, 

 (double the number with which I commenced,) 

 for wintering. Three of these had so limited a 

 supply of honey, that I was advised to bury them, 

 an operation which, in my mind was little prefer- 

 able to throwing them away. But I concluded to 

 " try the experiment," and on one of tlielast days 

 of November, they were " deposited beneath the 

 little mound," where wy mind figured them as 

 possessing the interminable repose of " their last 

 resting place." My absence on " the return of 

 spring," that season when the dying worms arc 

 wooed again to life, and the faded whig of the in- 

 sect receives new colorings, beautifully wrought, 

 from nature's dye, prevented me the pleasure of 

 witnessing their exhumation, but the person who 

 took them from their temporary sejjulchrc, (which 

 was done about the 20th of March,) informed mc 

 that on their first introduction to the air and light 

 their animation was as perfect as that usually ex- 

 hibited by bees in June. He said he did net find 

 half a gill of dead bees in all the hives. These 

 hives gave swarms earlier and more frequently 

 than the one that remained above ground, during 

 the ensuing summer. 



Last fall I concluded to continue "the experi- 

 ment" with a single hive. The one selected was 

 very light, probably not containing a sufficiencyof 

 honey to carry them half through the winter, had 

 they been kept the usual way. In consequence of 

 a rainy season through the last of November, 

 they were not inhumed until December, probably 

 as late as the 10th. They were occasionally fed 

 in the fall, lest their supply should not be sufficient 

 to insure a subterranean existence. My faith was 

 as wavering when these last was buried, as on the 

 previous winter, and as often as I looked at the 

 spot where they were interred, I viewed it as the 

 grave of mj^ little insect friends. 



They were taken up on the 28th of 3Iarch, and 

 much to my satisfaction, I found that the second 

 experiment had terminated with the same happy 

 results as the first. Not two dozen were lost and 

 netv comb was actually formed ivhite they were in 

 their " dark abode." 



My " modus operandi" is as follows. A hole is 

 dug considerably larger th.m the hive, or hives, in 

 every respect. On tli^e bottom of the hole two 

 sticks of three or four inches in diameter are 

 jilaced for each hive, and on these the floor board, 

 which should be a sound one, is placed. Another 

 board, (two inch plank is preferable,) is put on 

 the hive, and dry straw is as compactly as is con- 

 venient placed around it. This, in rainy weather, 

 if the ground is clear from frost, allows the rain 

 to pass freely down, while the space between the 

 blocks furnish a ready reservoir from which it ig 

 absorbed by the earth, without offering any inju- 

 rious effects to the bees. The earth is placei 

 upon the hive in a conical form, to turn the water 

 from the hives, the top of which are about four 

 inches below the surface. With respect to the 

 experiment of 1833-4, I cannot say whether the 

 apertures of the hives were closed, but in that of 

 1834-5, they were not. This experiment suc- 

 ceeded, 'jut whether it is the best way of pro- I 

 ceeding I shall not advise. I 



I regret that I did not weigh my hives, in both ' 

 instances, previous to burying and ou disinterring 

 them, that the amount of food consumed mii'ht 

 have been ascertained. But my experiments 



