382 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



toes, and upon an average double your crop ; tins | longer than one year. Perennial flower ^eeds the 

 .3 no small advantiige ; and no careful farmer will same. Tree seeds. Stone, two vp.r, • n,,^ =n.,„ 



June 22. 162/ 



:« k 



neglect it. Ten loads of such manure, spread up- 

 on your g-rass grounds in autumn may be conside- 

 red equal to 15 or 20 loads of farra-yard manure, 

 laid on in the spring, especially if the season in 

 the spring or summer following should be dry. 



NEW SEEDS AND OLD SEEDS. 



Gardeners, in general, prefer new seeds to old 

 for their principal crops, as they are believed to 

 come up sooner, and with greater certainty, and 

 to grow more luxuriantly. But peas and beans of 

 a year old, Mr Marshall observes, are by some 

 preferred to new, as not so likely to run to straw. 

 And cucumbers and melons are best to be sev- 

 eral years old, as they shoot less vigorously, and 

 thence become more fruitful. But this principle 

 is carried too far by some gardeners, who say, 

 these seeds cannot be too old, and will allow ten 

 years to be within bounds; three for cucumbers, 

 and four for melons, however, is age enough. 



Peas and beans will germinate very well at sev- 

 en years of age ; but the seeds of lettuces and 

 kidney beans, and some others are not to be de- 

 pended upon «fter a year or two, and, generally 

 speaking, the smaller seeds are of the least dura- 

 tion. 



A correspondent of the New England Parmer, 

 says, vol. ii. page 225, " Do I mistake in suppos- 

 ing that it is generally thought that the newer 

 the seed the better ? When the produce is look- 

 ed for under ground this may be true. Also when 

 it is to be in leaves and vines. But when in 

 things produced upon vines, as peas,beans, cucum- 

 bers, &c. the seed should not ordinarily be used 

 till It is two years old. If it were twice that age 

 It would not be the worse, except in planting, a 

 attle more seed would be required." 



Loudon says " The latest periods at which the 

 rally in demand me 



to grow freely are the following : 



Cabbage tribe, four years. Leguminous ciili. 

 nary vegetables, [peas and beans] one year. Es- 

 culent roots. Beets, ton years. Turnip, four 



years. Carrot, one year. Parsnip, one year 



Radish, two years. Salsafy, two years. Skirret, 

 four years. Spinaceous plants. Spinage, four 

 years. White beet, ten years. Orachs, one year. 

 Purslane, two years. Herb-palicnce, one year.— 

 Alliaceous plants. [Onions, leeks, garlic, &,c.l — 

 two years. Asparaginous plants. Asparagus, four 

 years. Sea-kale, three years. Artichoke, three 

 years. Cardoon, two years. Rampeon, two years. 

 Ahsanders, and the thistles, two years. Acetari- 

 ous plants, [such as are used for salads and condi- 

 ments] in general two years. Lettuce, three 

 years. Endive, four years. Burnet, six years.— 

 Mustard, four years. Sorrel, seven years. Cel- 

 ery, ten years. Pot-herbs and garnishing plants 

 m general two years ; but parsley will grow at 

 SIX years. Dill and Fennel, five years. Chervil, 

 SIX years. Marigold, three years. Borage, four 

 years. Sweet herbs, generally two years; but 

 Rue and Rosemary three years ; and Hyssfp, six 

 years. Plants used in tarts, &c. generally two 

 years; but the Rhubarb only one year; and 

 Gourd-Pompion, &c. ten years. Herbaceous fruits. 

 The cucumber and melon, ten or more years— 

 Love apple. Capsicum tribe, and egg plant, two 

 years. Annual and biennial flower-seeds, gener 



same. Tree seeds. Stones two years ; and some 

 as the Haw, three ; but they arc in general of 

 very doubtful success the second year ; Blni, Pop- 

 lar and Willow seeds not at all. 



YOUNG FRUIT TRKES. 



Sir John Sincliir says, in the Code of Agricul- 

 ture, '* It cannot be too strongly inculcated that 

 to permit young fruit trees to bear fruit too early, 

 is eventually to do essential injury to their future 

 fruitfulness and duration." The fruit should at 

 least, on young trees, be thinned by plucking it 

 carefully by hand, till there is no more left than 

 will be anfficient to serve as a sample of the pro 

 duct of the tree, and show whether it would bo 

 desirable to engraft it. 



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l-On THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 

 BEES. 



Mr I'ESSENDEN, — There have been great com- 

 plaints in this part of the country, of worms des- 

 troying bees ; and a large part of the bees have 

 been destroyed. I think I have found a remedy, 

 VIZ. early in the spring raise the hive, so that the 

 bees can pass out all round the hive, and the bees 

 will soon start the worms out. I have formerly 

 lost bees by the worms, and when I first began to 

 raise the hives, I could see the bees pull them out 

 at a great rate. Yours, &c. J. STONE. 



N. B. To raise the hives at this time will answer 

 the purpose, if the worms are not too numerous. 



Sudbury, June 17, 1827. j 



Ilk of" 

 iliji! 



Remarks hy Ike Editor— The insect to which 



Mr Stone alludes has proved very destructive to 



bees in the United States. It is, we believe, the 



same which is thus described by M. Reamur : 



-^~ ",;"".— r-" F-...u= ... ...i,^„ i„f "These creatures are of the caterpillar kind, 



^r,rrnr°«Lr"°''''"^'",f'''"-''°'^ ""^^ ''®®^P'^'^^°'^ and have sixteen legs. They feed on wax, and 



for food enter the bee-hives ; where they boldly 

 engage the bees, and are not to be prevented from 

 feeding, though at the expense of their habita- 

 tions ; so that it is no uncommon thing for a swarm 

 of bees to be forced to change their place, leaving 

 this contemptible victor in possession of the hi\c. 

 " All the authors who have written on bees have 

 complained of this destructive animal. It never 

 eats the honey, but feeds only on the wax; at- 

 tacking principally those waxen cells where the 

 female bee deposits her eggs for the future pro^-- 

 eny. " ; 



" The bees would readily destroy these crea- 1 

 tures, were it not for the armour they are covered : 

 with. They form themselves a coat of armour of 

 a double matter. The first next to the body is^a 

 kind of silk of their own spinning ; and the outTr 

 covering is of bees wax laid on considerably thick. 

 The creature just thrusting its head out to feed, 

 goes on dsTouring the cells ; while the bees are 

 buzzing about him, attempting in vain to pierce 

 him with their stings. He never forsakes his cov- 

 ering, but lengthens and enlarges it as he goes ; 

 and, gnawing down the sides uf the cells Tn his 

 march, without staying to eat them one by one, 

 the destruction he occasions is hardly to be con- 

 ceived, j 

 " Wljen the time of change approaches, it con- I 

 tracts its body within its double covering, and j 

 there changes into the nymph state ; where after 



I " The bees know their enemy in the new for 

 , and destroy all the moths they can meet with. 

 j They are seldom so fortunate, however, as to fc 

 the whole race as soon as produced ; and if oii 

 jOne escape, it is able to lay a foundation of i 

 [venge for the death of its brethren. 

 I " AH the flies of the moth kind lay a vast nui 

 ber of eggs; and the young ones produced 

 one female are sufficient to destroy many hives 

 honey combs. The moth produced by this cate 

 pillar flies but little ; but is very nimble in avoi 

 ing danger by running, which it does with gre 

 swiftness." ■ 



It appears that this insect began its ravages, 

 this country in some place to the southward' 

 New York, and Mr Van Schaick, a writer who -,„., 

 quoted in The Farmer's Assistant, asserts that till liloK 

 most efi"ectual mode of destroying the insect 

 " to raise the hive about an inch above the fl 

 and keep it there, when the moment the bees 

 cover their unmasked enemies, whether in , 

 shape of eggs, or of caterpillars, they attack tht™|tB 

 with fury, and toil incessantly until they ha? L 

 destroyed or removed every vestige of them o 

 1 the board." 



i The same writer recommends the construclio 

 of the floor or ph.nk, on which the hive standi* '>„ 

 and also the rim of the hive to be " of such dimem , 

 sions and materials as would afford no place c 

 ! concealment for the fly or its eggs." Dr Low „ 

 ! another writer, quoted in the same work, advisei „, 

 , to suspend the hive, by a cord fastened in the tow 

 and have the plank forming the floor moveable o^ 

 and down. During cold weather the plank 'iiil 

 brought up close to the rim to keep the bees s\tt» 

 ficiently warm ; but on the approach of spring, o 

 when the weather was become suitably moderat- 

 ed the plank was let down about four inches, am. 

 , kept in that situation during the warm or grow 

 >ng season. At particular cold spells, during thf . 

 hrst of the spring or latter end of the fall, the- i, 

 floor, no doubt, ought to be raised up, until the. f, 

 return of warmer weather, but it should only ht- 

 kept in this position while the comfort of the bees* 

 require it. 



Two farther advantages are mentioned by Dr 

 L. as being gained by this treatment. The hive- 

 has always sufficient fresh air within, so as to save- 

 the labor of some of the bees, which are allotted' 

 in every close hive to perform the business of ven- 

 Illation ; and the bottom of the hive being entire- 

 ly open, the bees are not impeded by each other, 

 in coming in or going out. 



A friend informs us, that by encouraging wretiit 

 to take up their abode near beehives, they will e*. 

 terminate the moths, if the h.ves are raised oi 

 blocks, about two inches, so that the bees can pusK 

 the moths out. 



oil,, t ,.~ . -— •-.Ao, e-=">-i- iiiciu Liiiinjfus inio me nymnh state • where aftpr 



second year , they are seldom kept by seedsmen | with granulated horns and a crooked proboscis 



THE SEASON. ' 



Mr. Fessenden— You have below a statement 



lofthetimeat which certain Trees and Shrub^ 



blossomed in this town the last four years. It 



will show the relative forwardness of those years, 



and enable you to compare this town with otbei 



places. Yours, D. W. ■ 



Worcester, June 17, 1827. 



Cherries 



.oo^.^i"""; ^"'''"- ^'"''- -^I'l''"- ^''""^ S'/ringot^ 



1824 May 4, May 8, May 7, Mny 13, May2;j; June U 



1825 Ap. 19, Ap.23. Ap.2(;. May 7, May 18, June I 

 182G May 4, May 6, May 7, Mayl4, May 14, May 31 

 1827 Ap. 20. Ap.2.3. Mav5, Mayl2, Mayl8, June 5 



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