83(j 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



f ro:u ono siJo of th-j box to the other, when the box 

 is aa:iiin sot down su IJenly; and while the bees are 

 at the bottom, the queen is let to run through the 

 s.nill hole, in with the bees. They are now mixed 

 a little m jre, when the box is set in the cellar, or in 

 s)m.' cjol dark place, and loft. If the eag-ing is 

 done in the forenoon, the box is not disturbed till 

 about sunset; while if thecafiring is done in the aft- 

 ernoon, the bees are left in the box until early the 

 next morning-. 



At sunset, or early morning-, as the case may be, 

 a hive is placed where I wish the united colony to 

 stay, and prepared with enough frames of sealed 

 stores for the bees to winter on; or combs absolute- 

 ly free from pollen can be g-iven, and enough sugar 

 s.vrup fed for their winter's food. When the hive is 

 thus prepare 1, the box of bees is brought from the 

 cellar, the removable wire cloth side taken off, and 

 the bees emptied out and hived, just as a natural 

 swarm is hive 1. In this way all are united peacea- 

 bly, the selected queen safely introduced, a hive fix- 

 ed in complete winter trim, with no bees to bother 

 while fixing: given them, and, best of all, no loss of 

 bees by returning, sustained in the operation. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Dec. 1, 18 4. 



Tlie above plan no doubt answers the pur- 

 l»ose, and the ])rocess as gone over l)rings to 

 view many points basad on a knowledge of 

 the habits of bees; but still it seems to me 

 that it involves a good deal of unnectssary 

 work. We have reduced over 4tJ0 colonies 

 to less than 200 during the past few weeks, 

 and no bees have been stung, and we think 

 that very fdw indeed have been lost, from 

 the fact that we have not found dead bees 

 around the entrances. When a hive is moved 

 away, the returning bees unite with other 

 liives near by, and, as a rule with us, are 

 very kindly received, especially as it is done 

 at a time when we are feeding almost all 

 colonies in the apiary. They are so busy 

 with their feed that they take little notice of 

 the new comers. A year ago we did almost 

 no feeding at all, and yet we united in the 

 same way, with very little loss. Our api- 

 arist, however, is constantly among them, 

 and watching ; and if any bees are being 

 stung,the colony is vigorously smoked. After 

 that, they usually take in new comers with- 

 out any trouble. Many times, however, it 

 will be (luite convenient to use Doolittle's 

 wire box. AVe can pick up bees in this way 

 from different locations, until we get such a 

 sized swarm as we deem best, then make 

 one of them. 



HOW THE FARM PAYS. 



fllE above is the title of a new book, 

 written by William Crozier and Peter 

 Henderson. Mr. ilendcison is, as you 

 know, the great market gardenerof the 

 world. Well. William (Irozier is the 

 great farmer of Northport, Long Island. 

 The book is mainly a conversation be- 

 tween these two great farmers in their 

 special lines of work, comparing notes, as it 

 were, and the talk was taken down by a 

 shorthand writer. The two together discuss 

 almost every crop, implement, and animal 

 known on the farm. Henderson's wonder- 

 ful success V, ith crops has been, as you may 



know, by thorough culture and abundance 

 of manure ; that is, getting large crops from 

 a small amount of land. Mr. Crozier has 

 done much the same thing with farm crops, 

 and it is exceedingly interesting to see how 

 the two agree in rehearsing their experience. 

 I will make a couple of quotations, to give 

 you an idea of the work. Discussing pota- 

 toes, Mr. Henderson related the following: 



HOW TO IXCKEASK YOUR STOCK OF VALUABLE PO- 

 TATOES. 



I remember very well, when the Early Rose vari- 

 ety was introduced, that I purchased a tuber weig-h- 

 ing five ounces. 



In April I cut this five-ounce potato in two i*feces, 

 so that each surface would present the greatest 

 number of eyes. I then placed them on a shelf, 

 keeping them entirely dry until the cut part had 

 healed over, when they were placed on soil on the 

 bench of the greenhouse. The shoots soon began 

 to start from the eyes, the temperature of the 

 greenhouse averaging, perhaps, 75 degrees. 



As soon as the shoots got to be three or four 

 inches in length, they were cut off about ^i of an 

 inch from the surface of the potato, or far enough 

 from the surface so as not to injure the dormant 

 eyes that were yet to start. The slips were then 

 placed in the propagating-house. and shaded and 

 watered until rooted in the usual way. They were 

 then potted in small pots, in ordinary soil, and 

 started to grow in the same temperature in which 

 the potato had been placed. As the season ad- 

 vanced, shoots in great numbers were thrown out 

 by the potato, which, in turn, were submitted to the 

 same process of rooting. As the first shoots grew 

 to lengths of five or six inches, the tops were cut 

 from these and used as cuttings, so that by the end 

 of May this small potato of five ounces had given 

 me nearly IfiO i>lants, every one of which was equal 

 to a " set " tiiaiie from a tiiber. These were planted 

 out on the first week in June, in land very ill suited 

 for the j;ro\vth of the potato, and the crop, when 

 dug, weighed exactly 450 pounds, or an increase of 

 about 18(10 fold. It may be asked if this process is 

 of any practical value, or whether it will pay. It is 

 not claimed that there is any use in the practice 

 when potatoes are sold at ordinary rates; but, when 

 they are sold at the rates even yet paid for new 

 varieties, there is no doubt of its utility. For in- 

 stance: f)iic pound of potatoes so grown will easily 

 produce -^OO plants, making .500 hills, which, with 

 ordinary culture, will give three pounds per hill, or 

 15U0 pounds. The jirocess of rooting the slips is 

 neither dilticult nor costly, and can be done in a 

 common hot-Led. TIh> onliuiiry hot-bed sash, four 

 by six tcct, will hold ti(Ki i)lants, if placed in the soil 

 of the hot-lied, j\ist as lettuce or cabbage plants are 

 planted out, and treated much in the same way bj- 

 careful shading and watering- until the cuttings 

 ha\e roott'd. These, as they grow, make other cut- 

 tings from the top, as before described. Without 

 resorting to the glass propagation at all, a potato 

 crop may bo doubled or trebled in (juantity by 

 " slipping " the shoots, and planting them out at 

 once in the field, if there is a continuance of rainy 

 weather for two or three days at the time. This 

 should be done in Juno. The thinning-out of shoots 

 from the regular planting will do no injury to the 

 plants. It is not claimed that the growing of pota- 

 j toes in this way is new; in fact, it may be doubted if 

 there is much new in agriculture; processes that 

 are suggested to us by circumstances to-day may 

 have been practiced by others centuries ago, and if 

 published to the world at all have long since been 

 forgotten ; but there is little doubt that this prac- 

 tice of growing potatoes from cuttings will be new 

 to nniny who will read this book, though the princi- 

 ples iii\ ()!\ed, ami. perhaps, the practice followed, 

 have been lonjr known to many farmers and g-ar- 

 deners of cxiicrifMice. 



Althout;h this s.\stem of propagating the potato 

 may l:)e (if \< ry little use to the farmer in a greneral 

 way, when tlierc is plenty of seed, yet whenever he 

 invests at the rate of one or two dollars per pound 

 for new varieties it will be worth his while to try it, 

 and he may be assured that if properly done it will 

 give good results. 



Again, in discussing what may be done in 

 the way of forage plants, the foUowing is re- 

 lated : 



