1870. J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



89 



honey and of a ^'ood (iiialit y. The api'l» 'iIdh- 

 sonis aiv Koni-, \n\l wliili; clover i.s lic;;iTtiiinjj 

 to blooin, and lias llui appearatice of IwiiiR 

 very plentiful in this locality. During,' the 

 season they work very hard from early 

 morning nntil dusk, and come home laden 

 with the sweets of many llowei-s. In ahout six 

 weeks they are worked to death, and others 

 of the same family lake their places. If tlu^r 

 lives were six months instead of six week.s, as 

 some writers contend, what an innnenseciuan- 

 tity of bees and stock wtt would have, as they 

 multiply vei-y rapidly — from three to live 

 thousand every eiRlit days during; tlu^ months 

 of April, May and .Tune. At this rate each 

 stock .should iiroduce from three to .six 

 swarms. The (Irst swarm contains ahout fif- 

 teen thousand bees, and weighs live pounds. 

 The second from nine to twelve thousand, and 

 weighs three or four poinids. The drone lives 

 during the summer, unless he has fertilized 

 the (^ueen, after which he innnediately dies, 

 and 1 believe it re(iuires the iiilluence, of sev- 

 eral drones to impregnate the (.Jueen for a 

 brood of the nundiers aliove mentioned. The 

 eggs are laid against the walls of the cells, 

 about a sixteenth of an inch fnmi the bottom. 

 The bee, when growing in the cell, lies \\\»m 

 itsl)ack4intil it reaches the pollen, wliicli is at 

 the mouth of the cell, when it turns over and 

 feeds niKiii the pollen, and when it is all con- 

 sumed it is .sutliciently strong to cut through 

 the capping and come out, and will go to work 

 in two days thereafter. They gather honey 

 and also make it. When it is lirst' gathered 

 it is a sweet liipiid, and then it pa.s,ses through 

 a churning process in the body of the bee. 



The butter (wax) oozes out from under the 

 lirst band, or alKlominal segment of the bee, 

 on each side, and is very white and trans- 

 parent. This is used for making the comb. 

 The balance, or buttermilk we may call it, is 

 thrown up into the cells, where it commences 

 to form into honey by extracting frcmi tlie 

 comb its natural sweetness, and V)y the heat of 

 the bees it goes through a slow "canning" 

 process, and continues so until the virtue of 

 the comb is thoroughly extracted ; liut with- 

 out this heat of the bees it would remain the 

 sjirae white clover honey, which would in time 

 become dry like sugar. At the si^ason of its 

 gathering you will .see the bees at the pum))- 

 troughs and puddles of water, for the jiiu-pose 

 of diluting the honey, it being too tliick by 

 itself. 



The temperature of the hive during the 

 summer months will average about one hun- 

 dred and twenty degrees in the shade, but 

 when exposed to the sun the heat is still greater. 

 For this reason many stocks are lost by the 

 combs melting olf ;uul drowning the bees in 

 their own sweets. AVe have none among tiod's 

 creatures more industrious than the honey- 

 bee, working from morning until night, with 

 economy and on sclent itic jirinciples. The 

 Almighty h;is made all things in wisdom. 

 Yours truly, AV>i. I. Pyle. 



West Chester, May 22, 1876. 



In the the foregoing article on liee-culture I 

 forgot to mention an experiment which Lmade 

 on making honey, and as it may be interesting, 

 or peihaps useful to others, I will here give 

 my plan of doing it, and also the result. Last 

 fall, in the month of October, I fed one of my 

 best stocks with white sugar. I use<l fifteen 

 pounds and made a syrup of it. Itre(|uir(!d a 

 little more than one pound of warm water to 

 reduce the sugar to a syrup. From a hole in the 

 back part of the hive the bees entered into a 

 tight tax, and into this box I placed the .syrup, 

 covered with a thin board iterforatcd with 

 small holes, through which the bi-es could Like 

 up the syrui>, and the board would .settle down 

 as the former exhausted, t^ver the box I 

 placed a pane of gUuss, to witness their opera- 

 tions and to see when tliey required more of 

 the syrup. 



At the Ijeginning the Ikix on the top of the 

 hive had one small comb about the size of my 

 hand, but it contained nothing. In iireparing 

 and administering this syrup I dissolved the 

 sugar as they needed it, although they took it 

 up very fast, aud at the cud oif twenty days 



the tifleen pounds of sugar Were coiisiuned, 

 and 1 had twenty pounds of honey In the Imix, 

 for which I reciiveil Ihirty cents" jier innnid. 

 The sugar cost .<fl.K(l, iu'id 1 realized ?f'.l.(l(l 

 from it, leaving nu' a clear profit of ??7.2(), all 

 at the expen.se of bee-labor. In other words, 

 I got (KIcents per pound for my suLrar. The 

 honey was most excellent, anil I believe no 

 one could have told the difference between it 

 and tlie wild-llower linney. I shall lryitag;iin 

 next fall, and I will llaviir the syrMJi with a 

 little tea, which 1 shall make frdio white clover 

 heads, and also add a little brandy, of which 

 the beta are very fond. 



Yours truly, Wm. I. I'yle. 



]Vest Cliesler, June 1, lH7(i. 



Our correspondent seems to have a practinil 

 knowledge of what he is writing about, and is 

 not boinid by mere tlimrirs, as they are elaU)- 

 rated in the closet, and find their way from 

 thence into books. AVe know nothing practi- 

 ("illy on the subject of bee-culture and lioiiey- 

 inaking, but we confi'ss we admire the "ring'' 

 of his experience, and the confident manner 

 in which he relates it ; anil think he would 

 make a "tiji-top" member of our " Lancaster 

 County Hee-Keepers' Society." Hec-culture 

 is attracting considerable allcniion all over 

 our country, and when once I he general statis- 

 tics are all iiubli.shed, the result will astoiush 

 the coinmnnity, especially that jiart of it 

 which is not looking in that direction. 



FROM OVER THE POND. 



EnFiKT, Pkussia, May 1st, IS7Ci. 



Mk. S. S. Hathvom— />(Y(r tiir : Through 

 the " XunseryniaiTs Directory " I got knowl- 

 edge of your honored firm, and to-day I take 

 the liberty of addressing you some lines. 



As my firm is not known enough yet in the 

 west of America I should feel much obliged if 

 you would have time, occasion and space to 

 spend me some words, perhaps under "miscel- 

 laneous," in your journal. 



For tins purpose 1 beg to give you herewith 

 a specification of my establishment, etc. 



During the .season I i)ublislied eight cata- 

 logues, viz.: One wholesale list for Germany. 

 One wholesale list for England and America. 

 One wholesale list for France. One catalogue 

 for private persons in (iwinany. One catalogue 

 for private per.sons in Austria. One whole- 

 sale list for seed. One catalogue for decora- 

 tive plants, etc. One catalogu(^ for liulbs. 



In our cultivation I have .'iOO acres with 

 flowers and grasses for dyeing purpo.ses, but I 

 only cultivate the better species, (about oni'- 

 third of the yearly want,) the other two-thirds 

 I have contracte(l with g.ardeners. 



I have a large steam-dye for llowers, gras.ses 

 and moss, in which about .")() i)crsons are en- 

 gaged. Also, .steam engine for a drying- 

 machine, steam dye halls, aud large rooms for 

 drying flowers. 



In the horticultural establi.shment and 

 nurseries 7.') to lOU men, and 100 lo 1.">U female 

 persons arc engaged. For binding bou(iuets 

 about l.")0 girls are engaged. Working [leople 

 in all, 400 to 4.")0 persons. 



The deiiartment for export contains chiefly 

 fabricates of dyed flowers, gras.ses etc., of not 

 surpassed color of arrangement. Further, I 

 export all the raw stuff for (lorists, viz.: 

 Flowers, gras,ses, mns.ses, bouipict-papers, ]iot 

 covers, basketware, elegant straw baskets, 

 fabricates of wire, all sorts of h<iine adorn- 

 ment, ])lant-.stands, vases, llower tables, reser- 

 voirs for gold fishes, etc. 



The most imixirtant part of my establish- 

 ment is the hot and cold hou.ses, covering 

 nunc than thre(^ acres of sp.ace, (one of which 

 is ISO feet long anil only contains jialms, ) the 

 others are for cultivation of Azales, Caniellias, 

 etc., and all sorts of jilauts for cut llowers. 



You may be convinced that it would do me 

 great pleasure if you would give me the occa- 

 sion to render you a service. 



15elieve me to be, gentlemen, 



Your obedient .servant, 



I. C. SciI.AIIDT. 



Accompanying the above, we received from 



Mr. Shiiiidl,*a large and beautifullvemliellish- 

 ed < Altl), 27 inches long ami 20 inches wide, 

 illustrating his manufactory and estalilishment 

 in the town of Krfurt. (iermany. llis pahn- 

 honse, ISO feel long; his Kaleroom of thesanio 

 length; one of his small hot-houses, l.VI (Vet 

 in length ; one of his small cariiellia-lionKes of 

 the same siz^' ; and his sti'ain dve-house for 

 dried llowei-s, grasses and mos.si s ; liiirly en- 

 graved from photographic types of K. Fe.stge, 

 of ICrl'urt ; and also theeast p.irl of his nursenes, 

 situated outside of the town, from which, in- 

 cluding the alMive desiriplive letter, the mag- 

 nitude atid magiiilicence of his establishment 

 may be fairly inferred, and we give the wholu 

 a pl.'ice in our journal to exhibit t" our nailers 

 what is being dour in the nursery line, and in 

 the lloral world U-yond the borden of our 

 country. 



A view of the dyed foreign flowers and the 

 l)eautiful gra.s,M's now onexhlbtion at ourCeii- 

 tennial Kxpnsition in Fainuonnt I'ark, I'hila- 

 delphia, will illustrate to our iK-ople what pro- 

 gress we have yet to make to eompitesuccesM- 

 fully with foreign nations, not only in priHliic- 

 fions of this character, but also in many other 

 deparlmeuts of human industry, and in this 

 (•oni|)arison, we will lie, most uuipuslioualily, 

 greatly benefited.— Ed. 



POISONS IN AGRICULTURE. 



Dr. K. C. Kedzie. 1'rofes.sor of Cheml.stry in 

 the Michigan Agricultural College, has inr- 

 lushed a valuable paper to the trau.siictions of 

 the I'.oard of llialtb of that .State, on the use 

 of poisons in agriculture, and more particu- 

 larly on the cfleit of I'at^is green. He stalea 

 that there are three forms in which arsenic is 

 used ; namely, while arsenic, arsenate of 

 soda, and I'aris green. The first has tn-eu 

 used to destroy weeds in garden walks, but 

 Dr. K. regards this practice as dangerous, as 

 there is nothing in its appearance to distin- 

 guish it from .some other substances used as 

 articles of food, and its ust; is liable lo fatal 

 mistakes. Arsenatt^ of soda is still worse, as 

 its appearance aud flavor is not uidike com- 

 mon salt, and aii imsuspicious housewife might 

 u.se it for flavoring dishes, and destroy a whole 

 family, if it were brought into the hou.se. 

 I'aris green is very widely used for destroying 

 the Colorado i)otato beetle and the collou 

 worm. Its brilliant color is likely to jireveut 

 accidents, from mistaking it for .something 

 else. Dr. Kedzie estimates that more than a 

 hundred tons were u.sed in one year in the 

 State of Michigan. This extensive use brings 

 up the i|uestions : Will it poison the plants, 

 and render crops unsafe as food y Will it 

 poi.son the soil, and injure succeeding crops 'f 

 Will it become washed into drains and poisoiL 

 sjirings and wells ^ What liecomes of it in 

 the .soil > 



Toanswcrthe (irstquestion — cabbage )ilan(s 

 were watered with a .saturated solution of 

 arsenic, and were killed in a week, but the 

 leaves did not contain a trace of the poison, 

 except by a discoloration of the stem near the 

 roots. When the .solution was weaker, so as 

 not to injure the plant, the slightest trace 

 could not lie discovered anywhere. The ex- 

 periments wenr repeated on barley and on 

 turnips. Again they were tried on |iea.-<, all 

 with the s;uue results. Dr. Kedzie says: 

 " Four years ago I made a careful investiga- 

 tion to determine whether the |M)tato tulxT 

 absorlH'd arseiuc when I'aris green was ap|ilie<l 

 to the jilaids to destroy llie iiotalo U-etle. I 

 took potatiH's raised in the ordinary eom-se, 

 and leiieatedly dusted, and others to which all 

 the I'aris green had Ik-cu applied that coidil Ik; 

 used without killing the jilant ; but in no in- 

 stance could I find a trace of arsenic in the 

 tubers. Other chemists have made similiar 

 investigations with the .xaine results." 



To detcriniue the verv iiMportanI ipuwlion, 

 whether the poison ajiplieil one year to ]iota- 

 toes would alTect thei|nality of wheat Iheyrar 

 after, four .si|uare rods of wheal wen- mea.s- 

 nred olT in March, and two ounces of I'aris 



'SivdNninii nnd Ntini<.r>niiin to liU Mij€«tx the Emperor 

 of Gvruiauy aod Kiii({ of TrUHMia. 



