1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



15 



spring water leaves the sodium and unites with 

 the silver forming an insoluble white powder. 

 which may be collected and weighed, and from 

 it the quantity of salt in the water calculated. — 

 The color of this precipitate changes to a dark 

 blue or purple on standing in the light. 



Principal — Suppose ten thousand grains of 

 soil contain half a grain of magnesia and one tirth 

 of a grain of potash, show your associates how 

 to extract and weigh these valuable fertilizers. 



Cooper — It will take some time to go through, 

 with all the manipulations, but if the boys will 

 take notice I will exhibit the whole process. 



Cooking food for Animals. 



Mr. Editor : — Will you have the kindness 

 to give, in the Farmer, the most approved, or 

 best method, of cooking roots for animals ? 



Yours, &c., Inquirer. 



Fowlersville, Nov. 1846. 



Remarks. — The above should have been at- 

 tended to before ; but the copy got mislaid. It 

 is not easy to say what is " the most approved 

 method for cooking roots for animals." If only 

 small quantities are to be cooked, they can be 

 boiled in a cauldron or potash kettle in an arch, 

 with a board cover to prevent the great loss of 

 heat by evaporation, at a trifling expense. — 

 Where large quantities are to be cooked, a 

 steaming apparatus can be put up and used with 

 a considerable saving in fuel and labor. Contri- 

 vances of this kind are quite numerous. — 

 Having had but little personal experience, we re- 

 spectfully invite some one familiar with the whole 

 subject, to give the readers of the Farmer the 

 benefit of his practical knowledge in cooking 

 roots for domestic animals. We have seen 

 stoves filled up with a large kettle that looked as 

 though they would answer a good purpose for 

 cooking bulky aracles. 



Prolific Corn. 



Dr. Lee : — I herewith wish to exhibit a sam- 

 ple of corn, raised by me in the town of Chili, 

 showing, first, five" perfect ears on one stalk ; 

 second, four ears on a stalk, and third, three 

 ears on its stalk. It so happened that my plow- 

 ing and planting was done late, on sandy loam, 

 the planting as late as the first of 6 mo., (.lune) 

 If this sample is worthy of being mentioned in 

 the Farmer, please do it after examining the 

 samples. I have also selected some of the best 

 for seed, which some perhaps would wish to pur- 

 chase. Respectfully, &c. 



Chili, Vllh mo., 1846. David Bell. 



Remarks : — The specimens of corn can be 

 seen at the puVi?ation office of this paper. — 

 The ears are not large, but sound, eight-rowed, 

 yellow corn. 



Bees. — APIS melifica. 



These insects have been ad- 

 mired from the remotest peri- 

 od in human record for their 

 industry, skill and economy. 



There are three orders of 

 bees in each hive: — the queen 

 bee, (a), drone,, {b), and 

 working bee, (c). There is 

 but one queen bee, which is 

 distinguished by having a bo- 

 dy larger than the others. — 

 She is the only bee that brings 

 forth all the young in the 

 hive. The workers are fe- 

 males whose ovaries are not 

 developed. The drones are 

 males and number from 300 

 to 1000 in a hive. The num- 

 ber of the laborers varies from 

 .5,000 to 20,000. They, only 

 are armed with a sting, and 

 toil with systemand regularity. 

 The bees that go abroad seek for three distinct 

 kinds of matter, viz: honey, farina or bee meat, 

 and a substance called propolis. The honey is 

 the nectar of flowers, and from the same source 

 bees obtain their wax. Farina is stored up in, 

 cells for young bees — is of a whitish color, and 

 very different from honey. Propolis is a resi- 

 nous exudation from the trunks of trees, and is 

 used to close up the crevices in the hive, and to 

 close the cells in which the eggs of the insect 

 are deposited by the queen. She lays first the 

 workers at the rate of 50 a day, then the drones, 

 and lastly the ova for queens. It is the old 

 queen that leaves her home, and leads the emi- 

 grant swarm. The natural history of this insect 

 is a curious, and most interesting study. Great 

 improvements have been made in bee-hives with- 

 in the last twenty years. The number of pa- 

 tents may be counted by hundreds, of various 

 utility. It is for the owners of these to point 

 out the advantages of each hive.* 



Bee-pastures ought to be provided in all cases 

 where natural ones do not exist. No other class 

 of animals pay better for their keeping and good 

 attention. 



About August, the bees of the preceding 

 ye;u- die, the drones are expelled, and the hive 

 is completely under the control of the new gen- 

 eration. Dr. Darwin states that a swarm of 

 bees may be kept through the winter without 

 consuming any food by freezing them, and keep- 

 ing them in an ice-house till May. It is also 

 stated by other writers, that bees cease to lay up . 

 honey after the first year, when carried from a 

 temperate climate where there is snow and frost, 

 to the torrid zone. 



* For some information relative to Dr. O. Reynolds' 

 Hive, see advertisement on cnother page of this paper. 



