FARMERS^ REGISTER— HONEY BEE MULBERRY, &c. 



443 



.nnd cleaned by the plough, cannot fail in summer 

 to give a very gay appearance to the field, — even 

 superior to that of the best dressed green crops to 

 which the eye of a British farmer is accustomed ; 

 but at this season, the want of those green crops 

 of turnips, mangel wurtzel, rata baga, &c. which 

 as well as potatoes, arc only raised in small por- 

 tions in the margins of the fields, creates a great 

 blank. The maize is the great article used not 

 merely as the cleaning crop, but for feeding horses, 

 cattle and poultry, for which it is admirably adapt- 

 ed. 



When we returned from the fields, we found a 

 very nice dinner prepared for us, and a bottle of 

 wine on the table. Mrs. Stimson had previously 

 dined, but gave us the pleasure of her company ; 

 and was, I believe, not less inquisitive in putting 

 questions to us respecting land management in 

 Scotland, than we respecting that in this neighbor- 

 hood. 



On coming away, we found that there was no 

 bill to pay for ourselves, Mr. Burtis, or horses. 

 Mrs. Stimson could make no charge on strangers 

 who had paid lier a visit, in order to see the farm ; 

 slie only regretted that we could not stay some days 

 with them. We find all the farmers in this part 

 of the country, whom we meet in our pretty ex- 

 tensive perambulations, communicative and well- 

 informed on the subject of their management, per- 

 fectly aware of the importance of fallows and 

 green crops ; but generally of opinion that they 

 dare not attempt that system, on account of the 

 high price of labor in this country in relation to 

 the value of land, ne s umpt as fr actum superet, ac- 

 cording to the sound advice of Varro. The })rice 

 of labor too, is the great ol)stacle to all sorts of or- 

 namental improvement, such as the formation of 

 gardens, and keeping them up. Making, there- 

 fore, the necessary allowance for change of cir- 

 cumstances and situation, there does not seem to be 

 any ground for charging the American agricultu- 

 rist with want of knowledge, or of activity and 

 enterprize. 



A PARASITE OF THE HOIVEY BEE, ( jipls Mcl- 



lifica.) 



From the Journal of Science. 



For a few years past, many of those people in 

 this vicinity, who have apiaries, have found that 

 in the months of April, May and June, an unusual 

 mortality had prevailed among their bees. This 

 circumstance has led to a thorough investigation 

 of the cause by those who iiave felt a particular 

 interest in the products of this valuable insect ; 

 and the result has proved that this mortality has 

 been produced entirely by a parasite. 



More than two years since, one of my neighbors 

 suggested to me his conjecture, that thei-e was a 

 parasite fiy that was injurious to the honey bee : 

 since which time we have fully ascertained the 

 fact. I have a box now before me containing a 

 great number of bees, in which may be found the 

 parasites, in both the pupa and the perfect state. 

 Usually the bees become sickly and unable to ily, 

 when the parasites are in the larva slate ; but they 

 sometimes live till tiie perfect insect emerges from 

 the pupa. The larva is fi.xed at the inosculations 

 of the dorsal segments of the al)domen of the bee, 

 and is hardly discoverable by the eye unless the 

 abdomen be dissected. The larva is white, near- 



ly two lines in length, and very much resembles a 

 small worm or maggot. The pupa is nearly the 

 size of the larva, and of a reddish l)rown color. 

 The perfect insect is a nondescript, and bears very 

 little resemblance to the [^Styhips] or [A'e/ios] or 

 any other insect, tliat has been found to be a para- 

 site of the bee or wasp. It is of the class Dip- 

 tera of Lin., is little larger than the Hessian fly, 

 but in color and form it is very unlike that insect. 



Kirby, many years since, discovered that the in- 

 sect (Stylops) was a parasite in the black-bronze 

 bee, (ilndrena nigrooinea,) in England, and Pro- 

 fessor Peck afterwards found that the (A'enos) 

 was a parasite in wasps, in America; but I am not 

 aware that a parasite of the iioney bee has ever 

 been discovered till of late, and in this vicinity. 



In conclusion, I would most sincerely request 

 those who have apiaries to examine their hives du- 

 ring the spring and summer months, and if this 

 parasite is discovered, to investigate the history of 

 the insect, and if possible, to find a remedy for the 

 injury it may produce. 



MARTIN FIELD. 



FaydtcvilU, Vermont, May 15, 1833. 



MULBERRY. 



From the Northern Farmer. 

 I wish to communicate a fact in relation to the 

 propagation of the white mulberry, which I think 

 is worthy of notice. During the season of feeding 

 the silk worm, I trimmed my trees very liberally, 

 yet I found it necessary in August to give them a 

 second pruning. The branches separated were of 

 this season's growth, and by way of experiment 

 they were placed in the ground in the usual man- 

 ner of setting out cutttings. In a short time the 

 buds beoan to oi)en, and have now sent forth branch- 

 es from half an inch to two inches in length, con- 

 taining from two to six leaves each. If the season 

 is llivorable, they will not only form buds for the 

 next year's wood but gain sufficient firmness to 

 endure the winter. Would it not be t!ie most eco- 

 nomical and expeditious mode of increasing a mul- 

 berry orchard, to pursue this course. Raising 

 trees from the seed is frequently precarious ; and if 

 cuttings set in the spring will grow to the height 

 of twenty or thirty inches, they will, by getting a 

 start in the fall, far exceed the second year's 

 growth from the seed, which surely reaches four 

 feet. " Cut and try." 



SPLITTING ROCKS BY LIGHTNING. 



From tite Bmiker Hill Aurora. 

 The first experiment of splitting rocks by means 

 of electric fluid, was made in Prussia, in 1811. 

 The process was very simple — into a hole in the 

 centre of the rock is placed a long rod of iron, as a 

 conductor, terminating in a point. When a thun- 

 der cloud passes over the stone, within its striking 

 distance of the earth, the lightning from the cloud 

 strikes the ui)per part of the conductor, and is con- 

 ducted downwards to the heart of the stone, which 

 either rends it in diffei-ent places or splits it at once 

 into a multitiide of fragments. The experiment 

 in Prussia was attended with complete success, 

 during the first storm that passed over after the 

 conductor was inserted in the' stone. 



