362 



NEW Erv GLAND FARMER. 



June 8, lb'27. 



In watering planls a little soap, tar, turpentine, 

 extract of eldt'r, tobacco, walnut leaves, water 

 wliich has been leached througli ashes, soot, &c. 

 or mixtures of any or all these substantes, will 

 usually destroy insects as well as encourage 

 vegetation. Thus you may :it ouce water and 

 manure your plants, and destroy insects. But it 

 may be advisable, 1st To decant or strain your 

 liquid before it comes in contact v.ith the budsj 

 leaves or flowers of vegetables, lest it should close 

 the pores and check or stop perspiration. 2d, 

 Apply nothing too corrosive or stimulating, such 

 us liuie water, strong lye, fresh and undiluted 

 urine, a strong solution of salt directly to grow- 

 ing plants. 3J, If your soil be rich, probably 

 pure water, or water impregnated alons witlj 

 ' ' ' '■' ' ■ ' as tobaoJ 



30utii»of it." On the east and west sides are cow 

 stables, contaiiung IIU well made stalls, and well 

 ventilated hy a sufficient number of uiadowasind 

 double doors. In these stables are in suninieras 

 well as in winter several ranges of cattle, duly 

 littered, and properly secured each by a chain and 

 halter. At the t.-iils of each range of cows, there 

 is a drain made of strong plani; — and so fi.v;cd as 

 to receive all their dung and urine. These sev- 

 eral drains have a sufScient declivity to carry all 

 the fluid matter to their southern terminatiou, 

 where they intersect similar drains which convey 

 all this liquid manure into a cistern fifty foot long. 

 The cistern is so placed and constructed as to re- 

 ceive not only the urine of the stables, but also 



all the liquid matter of the farm yard. Initthere p,,,t: uuier, or water impregnai 

 IS a pump, I y means of which its contents are i some substance hostile to insects, 

 pumped into a large hogshead, fi.\-ed on a pair of I co, elder or tar may be preferable, 

 wheels drawn by oxe\u To the end of this hogs- 

 head is attached a bo.\- pierced with holes, into 

 which this liquid manure flows through a spigot 

 and faucet, and is then sprinkled over \ho ground 

 as the oxen move forward.'' 



If a eistcru or reservoir for containing liquid 

 manure were so shaped and situated that a cart 

 with a tight box appended, with a valve, &c. as 

 above described could be driven into it, and filled 

 without, the labour of pumping, it would be a sav- 

 ing of toil, perhaps, worth atteotioii. Or the 

 liquid mi^ht be drawn from the cistern, by moans 

 of a cock or otherwise into the box, hogshead, or 

 other receptacle from which it is to be d'istributed, 

 which box or hogshead, by means of a sloping 

 dug way might be placed low enough for the pur- 

 pose of receiving the fluid. A box with a valve, 



as above . might in nr.uiy instances be udvanta- . . . 



geously appended to a hand carf, and tho cart I P'"° ''°"'"'^^' ^"^ ^^''''=''' *^''"'" ^'^P^i'^ted, arc terSi 

 Ar<,,„,, o.wi „i 1 ;.. _ , ■ . -led saw dust. The appearance of a board fence 



TAKliMG HONEY FROM BKKS. 



This may be effected, even with hives of 

 common construction, by three modes, partial 

 privation, total deprivation, and suffocation. 



Partial deprivation is performed about the- 

 ginning of September. " Having ascertained) 

 weight of the hive, and consequently the quan; 

 of honeycomb which is to be extracted, begia" 

 operation as soon as evening sets in, by reTert 

 the full hive, and placing an empty one over 

 particular care must be taken that the t<vo hi 

 aie of tho same diameter, for if they diff^-r in th 

 dimensions, it vi^ill not be possible to eftec: 

 driving of the bees. The hives being place,, 

 each other, a sheet or large -ablecloth must 

 tied round them at their poiut of junction, in or 

 to prevent the bees from molesting the oi,cr^t 

 The hives being thus arranged, beat the si 

 gently with a stick or the hand, bnt partiou 

 caution must be used to beat it on tiioso par 

 V. liicli the combs are attached, and which w 



I found parallel with the entrance of the hive. 



j ascent of the bees into the upper hive wi 



;efl 



GRASSHOPPERS. 

 A species of grasshopper apparently peculiar to 

 New England is mentioned by Dr Dwight, as ap- 

 pearing periodically. He says, " As I liad no op- 

 portunity of examining tliem, I cnnnot describe., rr-- ■•., 



their form or their size. Their favorite foot! is I ,'*'^" ° ''^ ^ loud humming noise, indicative ol 

 clover and mai-/C. Of the latter, they devour theK''^^^"'''' '" finding an asylum from their en 



part which is called the silk, tho immediate means '" " *"""' '"'"'""=' *'■" "•'-'^ '-" '" 



of fecundating the car, and thus prevent the ker- 

 nel from coming to perfection. But their voracity 

 extends to almost every vegetable, even to tho to- 

 bacco plant and the burdock. Nor are they con- 

 fined to vegetables alone. Tha garm.ents of la- 

 borers, hung up in the field vvhile they are at 

 work, these insects destroy In a few liour.=;, and 

 with the same voracity they devour the loose par- 

 ticles which the saw leaves upon the surface of 



pond, cistern or reservoir 



drawn and placed 



rV filiiug, and this Kind of machinery made use 



of for watering gardens, &c. There are other 



moans no doubt, which will suggest themselves to I r 



tho ingenuity of our countrymen, by which liquid ' "'^P'^""' '^"' "' attrition, tho cause of wii 

 manure, or pure water may be applied to growing 

 crops. We are of opinion that manure, or food 

 for plants may in many cases be applied in a 

 cheaper as well as more efficacious manner in a 

 hqnid than in a solid form. 



^ Hir John Sinclair's Code of Agriculture cnut.-:in3 

 the following remarks on tliis subject : " The ad- 

 vantages of irrigating grasslands with cow urine 

 almost exceed belief. Mr Harley of Glasgow, 

 ;who keeps a large dairy in that town,) by u 

 ;ow urine, cut "■ 



from which tho particles had been enten in this 

 mnnner, and wiiich I saw, was novel and sintriilar,' 

 and .seemed the result, not of the operatio°!s of 

 attrition, tho cause of wiiic'i I 

 was unable to conjecture. At times, particularly 

 a little before their disappearance, they collect in 

 clouds, rise high in t!ie atmosphere, and take ex- 

 teisive flights, of which neither the cause nor the 

 direction has hitherto been discovered. I was 

 authentically informed in Shaftsbury, that some 

 persons, employed in raising the steeple of the 

 church in Williamstovvn, were, while standino- 



near the vane, covered by them ; and saw at the , .■ > •- — o"! 



me time vast swarms of them flying far above \ "1"!^'' attention to the honey wliich flows from. 



u a few minutes the whole community will (|M 

 ascended, and tiie hive witli the bees in it maj 

 placed upon the pedestal from which the fullj 

 v.as reniovo-J. Tho hivB, fro:n which the { 

 have been driven, must then be taken into, 

 house, and the operation of cutting out the iioi 

 comb commences. Having extracted the r^ 

 -site quantity of comb, this opportunity miisfl 

 embraced of inspecting the hixe, and of clea 

 it from any noxious matter. In cuttin"' the co, 

 huwover, particular atteulion should be paidi 

 to cut into two or three combs at once, butJ 

 ing commenced the cutting of one, to pursue,' 

 the top of the hive ; and this caution is necos, 

 for two reasons. If you begin the cutli.ig of'j 

 or three combs at one time, were you to exB 

 the whole of tlieui, you would perliaps tal;e' 

 much ; and, secondly, to stop in the middle 

 comb, would he attended with vcrv pernici 

 consequences, as the honey would drop froir 

 cells which have been cui in tvvo, and then- 

 bees on being returned to their native hive, ii^ 

 be drowned in their own sweets. The bees, 

 in their return to their natural domicil, be 

 un'ler the impression of fear, would nut 



sorne small fields of grass six 1 ^^^'^^ heads. The customary flight of grasshop- ( "'^'•"^'' cp"s ! and as it would fall on the boj 



Voron-r, ^C 1, ^....- - .^ ^. , nPi'i l-jiVol,' nvn/iarlc- *>.*.... «.. fl..,, J- __ _ _, .1 '. and ffOm that On tll,a (Tj-niin/? ft.n K^^^f. I.,,l 9 



, "" "^'u= "1 glass f l.\ I '--- .' •'■ii'-- "■ giasnuuu- - - "" 



t:mes, and the average of each cutting is fifteen [ P*^''^ rarely exceeds four or five yards, and their =■"<' "o™ that on the ground, the bees belong 

 inches in lengJi. There are disadvantages, how- 1 "''"S'^ "'''= ^PPa'''ently so weak as to forbid excur- 1 ^° "'^ °'^^'' ''i^'es would immediately scent) 

 ever, attending this mode of applying thTs power- N°"^ °-^'^°"'^'^^ much beyond these limits. It is ,^^'''*''^'' treasure, and a general attack upqn ' 

 ;u! manure. It must be applied so'on after it i^ | '° ^^ observed, however, 'that they customarilv re- <;<-'P"^''''-''J 'live miglit be dreaded. The dopr| 

 ioinu'd, or oftentimes tho putrefactive process will ' '^'"■"' '"""^ perish on the very grounds which thev '''°" °^ ^''^ honeycomb being effected, the I 

 ■ «o»>'nence and deprive it of a part of its eflicacy 1'"''"= ravaged " '. j may I'e returned to its former position, and 



And i,s urine is of a scorchins qualilv, it is" un- 1 'r,, . r...-, . ^ ^ ... — TT" : ^ | versing the hive which contains tho be 



■ For an account of the most approved manner 

 of constructing b.rns in Pennsylvania, see N. E. 

 Parmer vol ■ page Ml ; likewise in the Ameri 

 can edition of Rees' Cyclopedia, Art. Bars 



IT "•"•'■'■t.T , 11, v,iti.uiu«s luBu irom may repieiiisn w 



he occupations by which they live ; it engenders Treatise on Bees. 



Idleness and all the vices of h«r train. The man .. Total deprivation is effected in tlip same ira 

 who has been lounging, for a year or two, about a ner, but earlier in the season, immcdiatelv ifl 

 court, awaitin; the trial of, perhaps, some petty the first swarm ; and the bees, instead of bej 

 action, in which his ro.>=eutment3 are more coii- retHirned to a remnant of iwuey in their old ' 

 cerne than his interest, aot only loses his time remain in the new cmpy one, which they j 

 and Ir.bour, so precious to him, but contracts hab- sometimes, tliongh rarely, fill with comb By I 

 Its v.^ich lay the foundation of his ruin.— .^wen"- 1 mode it is to be observed, very little „oncv iJ 

 can qnarMy Revteu: 1 t,i„ed, the bee., in June and July being occuj 



