138 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



but at noother)jill leave the hive vi'ith the swarms 

 and leave ')Ut fi;\v working; Bees and Drones in 

 the old hives ; which, of course, without a Queen 

 die. Sometimes they will guard their treasures 

 till winter, and then die, and leave the hive well 

 filled wilii honey. 



After swarniing is over, such hives as have 

 swarmed out, we take U[) as soon as they are iiAe- 

 ly to be rohbed.and save the honey. In October 

 we examine our young swarms, and take up all 

 that have not nearly enough to winter on. In this 

 way we obtain much honey, and destroy none of 

 -our good swarms for increase. 



P. S. In a statement of ours that was pnl)lished 

 in some of the In^'cw York jjapers, showing the 

 amount of honey that we raised the past season, 

 there was a mistake made by the Editors. It 

 was printed 700 pounds, but it should have been 

 3700. 



From the Ohio Farmer. 



1.0CATI0N, SOIL AND CULTIVATION OP THE 



MADDER CKOP. 



A location facing the south or south-east is t^ 

 be preferred. A sandy Loam not over stiff and 

 heavy, or light and sandy, or a good brown, deep, 

 rich upland Loam, free fron) foul grass, weeds, 

 stones or stumps of trees. Where a crop of po- 

 tatoes, pt3as, corn or wheat, has been cidtivated 

 the past season, plough deep twice, once in Sep- 

 tember and once in October, and if rather stiff' let 

 it lie after th'; iilough until spring. When the 

 spring opens, and the ground has become dry and 

 warm, (say in Tennessee, 1st of A()ril, Ohio 15th, 

 and New York, 25th to 1st of May ; I speak of 

 the spring of 1836.) Plough again deep, the deep- 

 er the better, then harrow v/ell and strike it into 

 ridges with a one horse plough, three feet wide, 

 and four feet vacant, or making a ridge once in 

 seven fjet, raising it, if on rather moist ground, 

 eight or ten inches, and dry land six or eight from 

 the natural level, then with a light harrow level, 

 and sha[)e the ridges like a well formed 4}ed of 

 beets, &c. 



We will suppose you intend to plant one acre 

 of ground, and that you have purchased 8 bjshels 

 of top roots in the fall and buried them like pota- 

 toes on your premises — count the ridges on your 

 acre, ami take out ot the ground, one bushel of 

 , roots,an(l plant it on 1-8 of your ridges ; you will 

 then be able to ascertain how to proportion your 

 roots for the remainder. 



The following is the manner of planting, cul- 

 tivating, &c., when the quantities of ground do 

 not exceed three or four acres. One person on 

 each side of the ridge to make the holes, (plant 

 four inches below the surface of the bed, or there- 

 abouts, when covered,) one on each side to drop 

 the roots, and one on each side to cover, pressiug 



tJe hill like that of planting corn, or three per- 

 sons on one side, as the case may be, whether 

 you have one or more acres to plant. Let the 

 - owner be the dropper of roots, and his most tho- 

 rough assistants behind him. Make the holes 

 from twelve to eighteen inches apart, and about 

 six inches from the edge of the ridge. As the 

 plants are supposed' to have been purchased in the 

 fall, the roots may have thrown out sprouts, and 

 possibly have leaved. In this case, in dropping 

 Mid covering, you will leave the most prominent 

 sprout or sprouts a little out of the groun.l, as 

 where a plant has leafed, it ought not to be smo- 

 thered. 



Wh.ni the plant gets up three or foiu' inches, 

 weed with the hoe, and plough with one horse, 

 between the ridges or beds, but not on them ; 

 this will take place 2 or 3 weeks alter planting. 

 When up 12 or 15 inches, many of the tops will 

 fall ; assist them with a ten foot pole ; two per- 

 sons cross thetn each way across the bed, cover 

 them with a shovel or garden rake, throwin:>: the 

 soil from between the ridges. — After loosening 

 with the one horse plough, you will, with a shovel 

 scatter the earth between the stalks ratiier than 

 throw it infc heaps; of course we wish to keep 

 the stalks separate, as they are to form new and 

 important roots in the centre of the beds. About 

 the 20th of June, you tnay plough between the 

 beds, and scatter more earth on the fresh tO| e, 

 (all but the ends) and when you get through, you 

 may plant potatoes between the beds if you choose. 

 I do not recotnmend it, if you have plenty of land, 

 although I raised 1070 bushels of Pink Eyes on 

 eight acres the first year, and 60 bushels of corn. 

 If your land is perfectly clear of weeds, you are 

 through with your labor on the Madder crop for 

 this year, excejjt in latitudes where there is not 

 much snow, and considerable frost ; in this case 

 cover in October two inches or thereabout. 2d 

 year ; same operations in weeding, but no crop 

 between ; cover once in June. 3d year ; weed 

 only ; 4th year ; weed in the spring, if a weedy 

 piece of ground. 



Begin to plough out the roots in Tennessee, 

 [3 years old] first Sept. Ohio [4 years] same 

 time. New York, 15th or 20th, after cutting off" 

 the to|)s with a sharp hoe. In ploughing out the 

 roots use a heavy span of horses, and a large 

 plough. We ought to choose a soil neither too 

 wet or too dry, too stifi" or light. Shake the dirt 

 from the roots, and rinse or wash, as the soil may 

 be, stifi' or light ; dry in a common hop kiln ; 

 grind them in a mill after Wilson's Patent Cof- 

 fee Mill ; this mill weighs from one to two 

 pounds. The madder mill may be from 60 to 80 

 lbs. weight- Grind coarse, and fan in a fanning 

 mill ; then grind again for market. The profit 

 of this crop is immense ; the exhaustion of soil 



