PRACTICAL FARMER. 



109 



fiiotioii. so that the real catise, the absence of tlie 

 qiii>en, was undiscovered. The next day the same 

 hnrly-lxirly continued ; when, fearinsj tliat my 

 queen was unseated, I took an apiarian friend to 

 form a judgment. It was his ojiiiiion that th(!re 

 surely was a queen in my new hive, or that, if de- 

 stroyed, one soon would be made out of the brood 

 comb. I pointed to groups of bees on the grass, 

 and around the stand, siili fearing that my queen 

 was among them ; but he so positively said such 

 was not the fact, that I did not tiien examine any 

 of the masses. Naturally inquisitive under such 

 circumstances, I visited my perturbed hive late in 

 the evening, and found, while the others were 

 quiet, that this was in an uncomfortable state. All 

 the masses or companies of bees, which had been 

 licking up tlie dropping sweets through the day, 

 had now retired, save only a lot, about as large and 

 ns round as a small cricket-ball. At dark I again 

 visited them — hope revived, for the mass reinftiii- 

 ed unmoved: by the earliest peep of da/ I rose 

 from bed, after a sleepless night to look for my 

 l)eauty. 



'* I confess myself an enthusiast ; I laid myself 

 at full length on the grass, and with uiy l)and open- 

 ed the benumbed, but still clustering, mass : there 

 was the queen, surrounded by her faithful and 

 watchful subjects, paralyzed, and to all appear- 

 ance quite dead. I picked her up. placed her in 

 my hands, breathed uj)on and cherished her for a 

 considerable time until, I think with joy of a new 

 kind, I saw her move one, joint of one leg; my 

 tender care was renewed until the sun had mount- 

 ed high in the heavens, and by his beams renewed 

 the perturbation of the defenceless liive ; and then, 

 i'jdeed courage was necessary, for the bees had 

 j ist missed their queen. To these alone vvlio 

 (•ave witnessed such commotion can an idea be 

 conveyed. 



"Now came the delightful scene, — my queen 

 was restored by the ge>iial warmth of niy hand, 

 ar.d walked comfortably about it, the bees, her 

 subjects, were whirling in incensed crowds around 

 ihe hive ; the buzz of discontent was incessant, 

 and clearly marked. At this moment, I called all 

 who were in tiie house to witness the scene. I 

 placed the queen on the alighting-board at the 

 door of the hive : she was recogni'.ed in a mo- 

 ment; the pass-touch, or pass-word, or pass-hum 

 was communicated. The great com notion was 

 instantly changed to peace. She was caressed, — 

 li ked over and fondled, — the bees pressing round, 

 woo, with an affection worthy of the best subjects 

 of a beloved monarch, showed their attachment 

 in terms that even human tongues could not ex- 

 ceed. 



" From that moment all was peace and harmo- 

 ny, and joyful labor. Very tew of the brood were 

 destroyed by the accident which gave rise to the 



developetnent of this peculiar instinct; and 1 hojie 

 I treasure up the remetnbranceof the circumstatu-e, 

 as one more proof of the truth of that passage of 

 Scriptin-e, < God doeth great things, and unsearch- 

 able ; marvellous things without number.'" 



Effects of Lightning. — M. Baric, ( f La 

 Haye, has comnmnicatcd to the French Academy 

 of Sciences the remarkable izrowth of a pojlar 

 which had been struck with lightning. It grew in 

 an avenue belonging to him. The lightning broke 

 some branches at the top, and the fluid ran along 

 the trunk, from the top to the bottom of the north- 

 ern side, without injuring the bark, went into the 

 ground at the root and turned up two large masses 

 each nearly a cubic fjot in size. The tree at that 

 time measured twelve inches in circumference, and 

 it was in the month of July that the circumstance 

 occurred. In April foliowing, the trunk had ex- 

 actly doubled its size, wljile the trees close to it 

 retained the same girth ; and the sap flowed in 

 such abundance as to force its way through the 

 bark. 



LiGHTNi.JG. — Perhaj'S human ingenuity and 

 daring were never more strongly inanifested than 

 in a recent instance in Prussia. — !n order to get 

 rid of an enormous rock, the expense of removing 

 which, by ordinary means, would have l»een as 

 enormous, a deep hole was bored in it, into which 

 was fixed a bar of iron, twentyeight feet high, for 

 the purpose ef attracting lightning. 1 he experi- 

 ment was successful. On the first thunder storm, 

 the rock was shattered into fragments vviiich of 

 course was easily carried away. 



Sir Walter Scott in one of his letters, latoly 

 brought to light, alluding to his fondness for plant- 

 ing and agriculture, playdilly says, " I promise you 

 my oaks will outlast my laurels; and I pique my- 

 self more on my compositions for manures, than 

 on any other compositions whatsoever, to which 1 

 was ever accessory. 



A farmer in Southarnptoii took one hundred 

 and fifty buthels of potatoes from a single acie of 

 land for his own use, and sokl the reinainder of 

 its product for one hundred dollars. 



Butter is selling at from twentyfive to tlinty 

 one cents a pound at Columbia, 'i he Sj'y says i' 

 is some fifteen cents more than the article iswo.th* 

 and affords clear ()rofit to the manufacturers of at 

 least one hundred per cent. The editor blesses 

 his stars that bread and molasses agree wonderful- 

 ly with his stomach. 



It is said that the property of the famous Rath- 

 bun, of Buffalo has sold much better than was an- 

 ticipated, it is thought tliat his creditors will get 

 all iheir demands, principal and interest. 



