810 



NEW EN<U.AND FARMER, 



A|)nl 13, 18.31. 



for preserving meat may be very usefully applied 

 to asparagus beds in the spring. The effects as- 

 cribed to it are its stimulating power over the crop, 

 and its tendency tb destroy the seeds of weeds 

 and insects, lying near the surface. E.\periments 

 on this subject should be multiplied, and with pic- 

 kles differing in strength and quality.' In the lust 

 edition of Deune's jVcw England Farmer, it is ob- 

 served that ' to a bed fifty feet by six, a bushel of 

 salt may be applied with good effect before the 

 plants start in the spring.' 



Asparagus is thought to be a very healthy arti- 

 cle of aliment. Loudon says, ' In Paris it is much 

 resorted to by the sedentary and operative classes, 

 when they are troubled with symptoms of gravel or 

 stone. }yiUkh's Domestic Encyclopedia states that, 

 ' Asparagus is allowed to promote the appetite ; and 

 affords a delicious article of nourishment to the 

 invalid and valetudinarian, who is not troubled with 

 flatulency.' 



Dandelion. Leontodon taraxacum. — This hardy 

 plant might probably be improved by cultivation. 

 Gen. Dearborn gave some notices of its success- 

 ful culture, in the JVew Englnnd Farmer, vol. vi. p. 

 337. lie observed that they might ' be set out at 

 any time al'ler the frost is out of the ground. I 

 would recommend that the rows be three feet asun- 

 der, and the plants two feet apart in the rows.' 

 And that ' tlie rapidity with which the leaves shoot 

 out after cutting is greater than in any plant I have 

 ever seen. Some , of them were covered with 

 flower pots, after the fourth cutting, to blanch the 

 kaves for salad, and they are nearly or quite 

 equal to endive. In five days after the pots were 

 put over, the leaves, which had been previously 

 cut close to the crown of the root, the plants shot 

 up five inches in height.' 



The culture of the dandelion is desirable on ac- 

 count of its medical as well as its esculent proper- 

 ties. A writer for the JVational Intelligencer, who 

 appears to have been a inedical man say, ' Dande- 

 lions have always been considered peculiarly use- 

 ful in visceral obstructions, particularly those of 

 the liver, when eaten eather as greens, salads, or 

 taken in ptisans.— They seem calculated from their 

 stimulant deobstruent powers to promote bilious 

 discharges, aiul from long experience have been 

 found highly efficacious in all biliary afleclions of 

 the liver. They are also good to keep the body 

 open and are diuretic and atteuuant. In the 

 dropsy, the dandelion has been known fur ages to 

 be of great utility. The ancients, says VVillicli, were 

 better acquainted with the properties of this excel- 

 lent vegetable, than those modern practitioners who 

 appear to be more anxious to introduce exotics, 

 imported from distant countries, than to ascertain 

 the qualities of those numerous medical plants, 

 which grow in oiu- own climate. I advise all who 

 are Iroulded with bile, flatulences, fulness of blood, 

 and who are fearful of dropsy, vertigo, &,c, to 

 make free use of this precious gift of nature the 

 dandelion. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Early Cucumbers. 

 On Saturday, the 9tli inst. we noticed several 

 large cucumbers, at the stall of Michael Tombs, 

 Boston Market. They were raised by Charles 

 Hovey, Cambridge-port. 



Original Repartee. — A very intemperate inaii, 

 whose face was covered with rum blossoms, insul- 

 tingly said to a clergyman : 'do you know that I 

 have got to be elder ~^ ' ' No,' replied the clergy- 

 man, ' you look more like dog-ivood.' 



BEES. 



Mr Fessenden — In August of last year, a 

 gentleman liorn Kentucky called with a friend to 

 see me, and observing I kept bees, mentioned that 

 a friend of his in that state bad for several years 

 kept them in a dark room in one end of his garret, 

 (a brick house) with some small holes cut througii 

 loadnritthe passage of the bees; by this means 

 he was saved the trouble of hives and swarming 

 (which they never do as long as they have room 

 to work in,) and that he could at any time go into 

 the room (properly guarded) and take 10 or 50 

 lbs. of comb at a time. Early in December, I 

 wrote a letter asking many questions, with an in- 

 tention of giving to your paper the results of my 

 inquiries, but ])resuuie, I did Jiot get a proper di- 

 rection, as I have not received an answer. Dur 

 ing the winter I have made some inquiries, and 

 reflected much on the subject, and herein give 

 you an extract of a letter from T. VV. Sumner, 

 Esq. of Briiokline, Mass. 



' In the S(numerof 1827, a swarm of bees enter- 

 ed by a s.mall hole under the shingled gutter 

 which is on the top of the cornice of one of the 

 dormer windows of tny house ; when in, they 

 found al)uudance of room for working, and no 

 one could disturb them, -but by taking down the 

 plaistered ceiling of my upper rooms. You will 

 recollect my house has what is termed a gamble- 

 roof; the space above the level plaistering, foi'ms 

 a flat triangle, of 7 feet wide, twenty inches high 

 and at least 60 feet long. I think had they not 

 been disturbed, they might have worked twenty 

 years. 



' We did not disturb them, neither did they dis- 

 turb us, till I took them up in January, 1829, on 

 a very cold day. I took down the plaistering about 

 a yaril square under tlie comb aiul smothered 

 theui in the usual way with sidphur. We got 

 296 lbs. of comb, bread and honey. I have often 

 regretted I did not try to propagate them, fur hon- 

 ey in a family is a very convenient article.' 



A friend of mine as much as 15 years since, in 

 taking a bou.se to pieces in Boston, found a swarm 

 of bees over one of the dormer windows in the gar- 

 ret, which he had carefully sawed off ami secured 

 and carried to Brighton, where he kept it several 

 years. 



I understand there has been in the roof of a 

 bouse in Brighton a swarm of bees for 7 years 

 past. Tliey l/ave not had much room to work in, 

 but will not be driven away. 



All these circumstances had determined me to 

 prepare a place in my barn, when your paper 

 about a month since staled it was a common prac- 

 tice in Ohio. 



I have made a tight closet of near 10 feetstpuire 

 and about 6 feet high iu the centre, at tiie south- 

 west end of my barn, immediately under the ridge- 

 pole. The floor is al)out 25 feet from the ground 

 and is approached by a fixed ladiler from the se- 

 cond floor, and kept under lock. In this I have 

 placed two hives |)urchased last season from Mr 

 Beard, from the interior of Maine, where as 1 iin- 

 ilerstaiul they have not been troubled with the 

 bee moth. I apprehend from the great elevation of 

 my bee house, I shall not be troubled with them 

 again, as I believe they do not often rise so high 

 from the ground. 



I have kept more or less bees for 20 years ; till 

 about 6 years ago, we were so much troubled 



I began again in the hope, with some of tbeA* 

 improved hives to succeed better, and still intenai|| 

 keeping some in the usual way near. the ground, 

 If the chamher plan succeed, of which I see nof^ 

 reason to doubt we shall be saved a gjeat deal o4 

 troulile, as we shall no longer lie obliged to watchr 

 and hive them. I have put iji some extra rafterij' 

 also a shelf and standards, to enable the bees luow 

 readily to attach the comb. 



Any persons having a wish to see the mrlhod 

 hqned by me, I shall be happy to shew it to 

 tlicm. The bees appear per.'ectly satisfied with 

 their elevated situation. 



I am somewhat apprehensive that a soiuhwea 

 aspect maybe rather loo warm in suimucfr, and 

 rather regret I had not put the room even at the 

 imrtlieast end of the barn. I should have [irefei. 

 ri;(l a southeast front, taking the morning sun and 

 being cooler in the afternoon. I do not think 

 there is any danger to be apprehended from sevew ,, 

 cold, if they are only kept dry. 



Very truly yours, Joh.v Primce. 



Jamaica Plain, Jlpril 11, 1831. 



Edinburgh Review. — Lilly and Wait have j 

 republished the 104th No. of this popidar journj 

 which contains elaborate articles on the folio* 

 ing topics ; East Itidia Comjiauy — Bowrings' Poei 

 c-al Translations — Political Economy — Civil Disa- 

 liilities of the Jews — Spirit of Society in England 

 and France — Princi|)les of Belief and Expectation 

 as applied to Miracles — Ca|)ital Punishment ol 

 Forgery — Novels descriptive of Irish Life — Lifeand 

 Religious Opinions of Bishop Heber; Evangelical 

 School — Irish Courts Quarter Sessions; Assistant 

 Barristers — Sadler's Refutation, refuted — The Late 

 and Present Ministry — Inde.x — published quarterly 

 ta $5.00 per annum. 



if- 



Instead of remitting silver to China in excbangi 

 for teas, we now begin to receive thence, reriiittaiv 

 ces in specie for our domestic goods. We find 

 the following paragraph in the New York Journal 

 of Commerce : 



' The Tide Turned.— The bri^ Delight, at Phib- 

 delphia, from Canton brought $24,000 in s|)ecie. 

 A letter states that half a million has been nccntly 

 exported to Europe. If China is to diseudjoglB 

 its silver upon the western nations, while the 

 usual sup[dy from Mexico and South America co» 

 timies, the effect will be to make the article a great- 

 er drug even, than it is at present. And it is A- 

 ready the dullest commodity in the money-market 

 Any good paper is preferred before it.' 



Lowell Companies. — The names of the sever- 

 al companies in this town, incorporated for niantt- 

 facturing purposes, with their capital, are as fol- 

 lows : 



Merrimack Company, $1,500,000 



Locks & Cauals do. 600,000 



Hamilton do. 1,200,000 



Appleton do. 500, 000 



Lowell do. 500, 000 



Middlesex do. 500, 000 



Suffolk do. 500, 000 



Tremont Mills, 500, 000 



Total, 



$5,800, 000 



Lowell RailRoad.—VrivSile sales of thisstockhaw 

 been efl'ected at thirty five per cent advance. 



P'locks of pigeons, extending miles, have re- 

 bythe bee moth that I gave them up. Last year cently passed southwesterly from Springfield. 



