1882.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



137 



30, which causes a serious error— as July 1882 

 is ihus lost siglit of, wlien it ought to have 

 been stated tliat at July 1, 1882, the stock of 

 old wlieal, including flour, was probably not 

 less than 40,(100,000 bushels. Certainly it was 

 fully as large as the old stock on hand July 1, 

 1880. So that the amounts for the two dates 

 will balance each other, leaving the exports 

 and consuuii)tion to be provided for solely out 

 of the two crops. Another luistalje of lirad- 

 slreeVs is niakiuL; one-half of 010,000,000 bush- 

 els 320,( 00,000 bushels, instead of in round 

 numbers .■ilO,000,000 busliels. Thus in the few 

 lines devoted to the subject there were some 

 six or sev( u serious blunders, well caUnilated 

 to mislead. 



The crop of 1880 was 498,000,000 bushels 

 and that of 1S81, 380,OUO,000 bushels, or a 

 total of 870.000,000 bushels. From this we 

 exported 305,000,000 bushels, leaving a bal- 

 ance of 573,000,000 bushels for two years' 

 consumption, or an average of 287,000,000 

 bushels a year for seed and bread, which just 

 coriespouds with what we have always 

 claimed. The amount required for bread and 

 seed this year will Ijc a little over .300,000,000 

 bushels and no more. — — Baltimore Journal 



of Commrrce. 



^ 



IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A GOOD 

 QUEEN. 



In every season the queen must be aceom- 

 pauied by worlcer bees surticient to produce 

 and retain an increased temperature in the 

 hive. As the queen is not assigned to build 

 the breeding cells, or furnish the brood with 

 food, the workers attend to that for her. Slie 

 is rightly called the "moiher of bees" because 

 she gives life to all the young bees that exist 

 in tlie colony, by producing the eggs which 

 develop into the future worlvers and drones. 

 Tlie success of the colony and its perpetuation 

 depends upon tlie fruitfuluessof the queen. If 

 a weak colony be given a prolific queen, it will 

 ipiickly increase to a strong one and the 

 strongest colony will soon be reduced to weak- 

 ness if the queen produce few or no eggs, 

 either on account of advaned age or other de- 

 fect. Being aware of these facts the apiarist 

 slKnild tenderly care for liis queens and espe- 

 cially to wiuter only such colonies as have very 

 fruitful, faultless and not too old queens. 

 Many queens are nearly useless, even when 

 yonng, and otliers still prolific in old age, but 

 the latter are very liable to lose their strength 

 and fruitfulness at a very inconvenient time, 

 when they slioidd be depositing the most 

 brood and when substitution is very uncertain 

 on account of the scarcity of drones. In con- 

 sideration of this it is very advisalile to su- 

 persede a queen in about the third summer ; 

 and the most favorable time is when the bees 

 are swarming. 



The first patt of tliis operation will be tlie 

 most difficult, especially if the colony is very 

 numerous or has gathered much honey. One 

 method which has been recommended is to al- 

 low the colony from which you wish to re- 

 move tlie <iucen to become ipiiet, then quickly 

 remove her, place the young queen in the hive 

 and the superseding is over — before the colony 

 fairly realizes her presence. But there is no 

 surety of success in this method, for the bees 

 are often so attached to the old queen that 

 they will not brook substitution, and immedi- 

 ately destroy the intruder. 



There are so very many plans given for 

 catching the queen that the operation has bfe- 

 comc so simplified that it can easily l)e accom- 

 plished in the strongest colony. It is not 

 uoccssary to look all over the combs and in 

 every corner of the hive to find the queen, 

 but you can easily locate lier upon a comb, in 

 any part of the liive. This is not done by in- 

 serting combs of honey from the cells but Is 

 fed by the bees — but by giving lier an oppor- 

 tunity to deposit eggs witliout disturbance, 

 especially drone eggs, which occupation best 

 pleases lier majesty. For this pnrpose choose 

 empty brood-combs, or such as are partially 

 filled, for the queen will be in haste to occupy 

 all space and fill tlicsc cells with eggs in order 

 to clo.se the brood. If you will examine that 

 hive in twenty-four hours, without creating 

 disturbance, you will, in nearly every in- 

 stance, find the queen on this comb. 



To get a queen out of a box hive, about the 

 only way is to drum tlie bees out and allow 

 tlie queen to pass out with them. There will 

 be no difficulty in discovering an Italian queen 

 from her golden coior, for she excels the 

 worker bees in lirightness. The astronomer 

 does not have to search the heavens wlien 

 seeking Venus, Jupiter, or Mars, for they so 

 far surpass the surrounding planets in bril- 

 liancy that they catch the eye at a glance. 

 No more does the bee-keeper seek in vain his 

 Italian queen, and in queen-i earing this is 

 quite an object. After the queen is captured 

 and the colony becomes fully aware of its 

 loss, the bees will build queen cells and rear a 

 successor. We may also expect some "after 

 swarms ;" and the first one will probably ap- 

 pear in about fourteen days, the time being 

 varieci l)y the strength of the colony. 



But to those bee-keepers who are not seek- 

 ing an increase of colonies but rather depend 

 npon the lioney harvested for tlieir profits, the 

 method we have given would be of no value. 

 Such bee-keepers must immediately i)lace a 

 young queen in the colony from which tlie 

 queen has been removed, in order to [irevent 

 after swarming and cause as little disturbance 

 among the honey gatherers as possible. The 

 new queen must be caged at least 24 hours, 

 when introduced; some prefer pl.acing a queen 

 cell in the hive that is nearly developed, but 

 this requires skill and patience. I have re- 

 cently tried — and with much better success — 

 hanging the entire comb containing tlie 

 queen-cell in the hive which contains no 

 queen. Queen cells are not scarce in tlie 

 swarming season ; every colony which has pro- 

 duced an early swarm will contain several 

 queen cells which must be used at just the 

 proper time — that is, when nine or ten days 

 old, for if delayed longer, some may have fully 

 matured, and if the bees are not inclined to 

 swarm these new queens may destroy tlio.se 

 remaining undeveloped, by biting througli the 

 cells. The bees usually place the queen cells 

 upon one or two combs; attention is necessary 

 to distribute them sutSciently, that every 

 qiieenless colony may be supplied with comb 

 containing one or more queen cells. This 

 method of superseding queens is certainly very 

 simple and practical, as well as expeditious^ 

 Very little disturbance is created among the 

 bees, and scarcely any interruption of labor. 

 The young queen will soon become fertilized 

 and commence depositing e.jgs. Should she 



by any means be lost or destroyed during the 

 wedding flight, a new queen cell should be 

 immediately inserted, and care should be 

 taken to select one nearly matured, that the 

 bees may not become too much excited. 



DRAINING OK LAND. 



Notwitlislanding all that has been .said and 

 written upon the subject of underground 

 drainage, it lias not yet become a popular 

 operation on our farming lands. There are 

 various obvious reasons for this. Many per- 

 sons have doubts regarding its value. The 

 expense of thorough drainage is considerable, 

 although the labor of digging and cost of ma- 

 terials is often exaggerated, yet the difficulty 

 of procuring either is, in most localities, suf- 

 ficient to deter those who have no pructical 

 experience in the execution of the work, and 

 who cannot avail tliemselves of intelligent 

 s'lpervision, for in this, as in all other practi- 

 cal operations, very mush depends upon the 

 economic application and direction of labor. 



The experience of practical drainers, both 

 in this and other countries, proves beyond all 

 controversy the great advantages which ac- 

 crue from the Ihorougli drainage of all soils. 

 Even in lands not jiarlicularly retentive of 

 water the eflect of underground ventilation or 

 aeration is evidenced by the increased capacity 

 for production. With a drained soil the culti- 

 vator is prepared either for a wet or dry sea- 

 son, for it is Well established that draining in- 

 creases the capacity of the soil for retaining 

 moisture or moist air, which is precisely what 

 the roots of plants require. It is a mistake to 

 suppose that draining actually has the effect 

 of drying laud to the extent of depriving it of 

 all available moisture. The reverse is nearer 

 the truth, that there is more av.iilable mois- 

 ture for plants in drained than there is in un- 

 drained land. Every description of soil has 

 its relative degree of porosity or power for re- 

 taining moisture. Piaty or mo.ssy soils, main- 

 ly composed of partially decayed organic mat- 

 ters, are the most porous, and consequently 

 are the greatest absorbents of water, while 

 compact clayey soils have this caiiacity in a 

 very limited degree. Draining a peaty soil 

 will not deprive it of iiorosity ; it may be 

 likened to a sponge which will retain all the 

 water that may be poured on it until its pores 

 are filled, but no more ; so draiuing relieves 

 the soil of suiierfluous moisture that cannot 

 be retained or held in suspension by air, and 

 which, if not removed by percolation can 

 only be removed by the slow process of sur- 

 face evaporation. 



Clay soils cannot porduce to the full extent 

 of their ability unless underdrained. The 

 ordinary routine operation of plowing has a 

 tendency to form a compacted strata immedi- 

 ately below the cultivated or plowed portion, 

 which acts as a basin in the retention of wa- 

 ter. Such soils are cold and late, because the 

 water prevents the heat of the sun from warm- 

 ing the soil until the water has been removed 

 by evajioration, which jiroduees cold ; .so that 

 in addition to the impracticability of early 

 spring cropping of such soils, every summer 

 shower cools the earth surrounding the roots 

 of the growing plants, which thus .sustain a 

 series of checks in their progress to maturity. 



These evils are removed by draining. Even 

 the strongest clays are more or less permeated 



