178 



THE GENESEE PARMER 



JuneU, 1831. 



ginian ; nevertheless, Eclipse has covered 

 but few really good blood mares. 



Duroe was the sire also of Romp, a very 

 fleet runner ; of Cock of the Rock, a good. 

 four mile horse ; of Wildair, Mountaineer, 

 (sire of Hotspur,) and Prospect, who is also 

 3 good four mile horse ; of Splendid ; Mar- 

 ;rhal Duroc, a very fleet horse, and of good 

 bottom ; Trouble, a first rate raeer at any 

 distance ; Sir Lovell, Bleecher, and Welling- 

 ton ; and a vast many other noted Stallions 

 ind blood mares. 



ON THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES 



Most people are fond of honey, and many 

 j<e also fond of bestowing opon Bees those 

 aares which seem necessary to render them 

 the most profitable. One of the most trouble- 

 some parts of the management of these re- 

 publicans, is the time when, from an over- 

 population, like the New-England States, 

 they see fit to emigrate or swarm, as the 

 time which they select for this, is Dot always 

 the most convenient for the farmer to attend 

 to them. Now it is with this, as with other 

 business of agriculture ; it should be done in 

 oroper season, and when it will best suit the 

 convenience of the superintendant. As to 

 the prosperity of the bees, it is altogether in- 

 different whether they fix upon the time of 

 emigration or whether the husbandman does 

 so that he uses judgment in the matter. If 

 he finds in the month of May or June that 

 any of his hives are over-stocked with bees, 

 lie should remove them into another, which, 

 if repeated as often as the old hive becomes 

 over-stocked will prevent their swarming at 

 ajl. Swarms separated from the parent 

 hive in this way, do equally as well as when 

 left to fly out and separate themselves, be- 

 side much time and loss of honey is saved ; 

 for when a hive becomes over-stocked, the 

 major part of the bees which constitute af- 

 terwards the new swarm, do not work at all, 

 but live upon the honey produced by the 

 old and more industrious part of communi- 

 ty, and the quicker they are taken off after 

 their number is sufficient to form a well reg- 

 ulated republic, the better. 



For doing this let the old hive be turned 

 bottom upwards, and the new hive set upon 

 *t; strike lightly upon the lower hive, and 

 many of the bees will ascend into the upper 

 hive; when a sufficient number has collect 

 ijri in the new hive for a swarm, take it off 

 :ind set It npon the bench, and return the old 

 Jne to its former position. In doing this to 

 lOsute success, it is necessary that one of the 

 queens should accompany the new swarm, 

 which may be known in the course of a day 

 or two ; for if they have no queen, they will 

 not stay in the new hive, but will return to 

 the old one ; but if they have a queen, some 

 rrf the bees may be sctu in the course of 

 twenty-four hours, standing near the entrnnce 

 irjtti the hive, amusing themselves by raising 



and giving their wings a rapid motion, ma- 

 king a steady buzzing noise. This may be 

 considered as an indication of their satisfac- 

 tion and the success of the operation. Some 

 consider mid-day, the most favorable time 

 for doing this ; others again, prefer the eve- 

 ning — but either will answer, and the troub- 

 le attending is not greater than that of hiving 

 them when the swarms are allowed to come 

 out in the common manner, and the danger 

 of having them go off, is avoided. Another 

 very great advantage of this method is, the 

 young swarms commence working early, 

 by which they are more certain of laying up 

 sufficient food for winter. Where the com- 

 mon shaped hives are to be continued, we 

 would recommend to those who are keeping 

 j bees, to try one or two swarms as above, 

 which will give them more satisfactory ev- 

 idence, either for or against the practice, 

 than all that can be written on the subject- 

 The present price of bees in this section of 

 country, we believe to be about five dollars 

 for a good hive in the spring ; such as will 

 give on an average, two swarms during the 

 summer. This, after deducting for the 

 trouble of the taking care of them, is a great 

 profit. Each hive of bees that are in good 

 condition in the spring, will make enough 

 honey over their own wants, to pay well for 

 taking care of them, and leaving a profit of 

 two hundred per cent. Now if this can be 

 realized, what better business can a farmer 

 ask for? Surely we have a land "flowing 

 with milk and honey." 



STRAWBERRIES. 



This fruit is fast approaching maturity, 

 and is highly valued by most people. In order 

 to insure a good crop, the gronnd about them 

 should be kept free from weeds, loose and 

 rich ; and should the season prove dry, they 

 should be frequently and plentifully watered. 

 As the roots of the plant run near the top 

 of the ground, tbey are soon affected by 

 drought, which should be carefully guarded 

 against. At the time of ripening, if tb e 

 ground is not covered, the dirt is dashed up 

 on the fruit which materially injures for 

 the table ; as by washing them to free them 

 from it, the flavor is injured. The practice 

 formerly, was to spread straw amongst them 

 which had the effect of keeping down the 

 weeds, tbs earth cool and moist, and pre- 

 senting the dirt being spattered upon them 

 by rain or moisture. It was from the com- 

 mon practice of using straw amongst them, 

 that tiiey derived the name of strawberry. 

 If the cultivation of this fruit was more at- 

 tended to and understood, we think it would 

 be held in higher estimation-. It thrives well 

 in gardens in this section, although it Is not 

 found very abundantly in the fields'. We 

 earnestly recommend to our readers, fo try 

 the experiment of raising new varieties from 

 seeds; also of marking those wild vines 



their bwltesto the full length rtf ahciv re^s, which produce. large am) well flavored rhiit, 



and after the season for fruit is past, of re- 

 moving them to their gardens, and trying the 

 effeet of cultivation. The English and 

 Scotch gardeners, are constantly coming on 1 

 with new varieties, and we like silly Jona- 

 than's are paying them round sums for their 

 pains ; living at the same time in the natur- 

 al region of this fruit ; where nature produ- 

 ces it without the assistance of art, and where 

 thousands of varieties are plucked in the 

 fields; which, when taken into the gardens 

 and cultivated, would perhaps be equal to 

 those for which we pay foreigners one dollar 

 each. W r e ought to begin to think that A. 

 mericais capable of producing one thing in 

 perfection, even if it is as humble as a straw 

 berry. — — 



ON WEEDING YOUNG CROPS* 

 " To keep off the sun and bugs from our 

 cucumbers," was our reply to our neighboi 

 L. who on seeing a parcel of weeds standing 

 in our garden, interrogated us why they 

 were left. We noticed the muscles of his 

 face were a little disturbed, but nothing more 

 passed on the subject. Yesterday as we set 

 chatting on various subjects, lie took up 

 Cobbet's Gardener, and began very accident- 

 ally reading his observations on Stocks.-* 

 Now there has always appeared to us, to be 

 such a love of quackery in everything, with 

 this man, that many of his observations have 

 been underrated by us. Notwithstanding, 

 he has written many very excellent things 

 both in politics and horticulture. Our neigh 

 bor L. read as follows : 



I cannot help observing here, upon art 

 observation of Mr. Marshall: as to weed- 

 ing," say6 he, "though seedling trees must 

 not be smothered, yet some small weeds may 

 be suffered to grow in summer, as they hejp 

 to shade the plants, and to keep the grounf! 

 cool." 



"Mercy on this gentleman's readers ! Mf» 

 Marshall had not read Tull ; if he had, he 

 never would have written this very erroneous 

 sentence. It is the root of the weed that' 

 does the mischief. Let there be a rod of 

 ground, set even with small weeds, and nnoth 

 er rod kept weeded. Let them adjoin each 

 other. Go after fifteen or twenty days of 

 dry weather, and examine the two ; when 

 )ou will find the weedless ground moist and 

 fresh ; while the other is dry as dust, to a 

 foot in depth : the root of the weed sucks \u 

 every particle of moisture. What pretty 

 things they are then, to keep seedling tree* 

 cool." 



After he was gone, we went to ourcucum* 

 bers and found that the weeds had not shel- 

 tered them from the bugs; but that thev 

 were actually eaten more than thos.e. tha f 

 were weeded, besides they were not as farce, - 

 We have frequently asked farmers when ra 

 have seen their cornfields full of weeds, ivhj 

 they did not hoe their corn ? and they haw 

 answered, "because the ground is too div.' ; 

 It will be found that fc'obbet's theory in this 

 respect is correct. The dryei the ground, 



