116 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 



board. The next day at night oiien the en- 

 trance, and you have a nucleus as good as any 

 one could desire. 



In this way make nuclei of all the frames 

 which contain queen cells but one, leaving 

 that to form a nucleus on the old stand. In 

 about 10 days your queen will be laying, when 

 she can be used as you desire. Thus I have 

 given how I rear what I term good queens, 

 which have given me the results I have re- 

 ported for years past, and I claim such queens 

 cannot be reared for $1. When our dollar 

 queen-breeders will rear all their queens in 

 this way, I shall be willing to say that a $1 

 queen will bejustasgood for honey-gathering 

 purposes as a $3 queen. — American Bee 

 Journal. 



ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 



Much has been said about increasing our 

 colonies artificially, and many that have prac- 

 ticed the various ways for so doing, have 

 signally failed. Why is this? First, there 

 are numerous ways to accomplish a desired 

 increase, while but few methods are really 

 desirable or practical ; second, whatever 

 course is pursued, we should imitate nature 

 as close as possible. Not so much in allowing 

 them a flight in the air, etc. ; but the condi- 

 tion of the colony must be the same, both in 

 the hive and during a flow of honey ; third, 

 nature cannot be forced, but can he assisted in 

 more ways than one. 



This is the key that should be kept in view 

 at all times. A violation of the laws of 

 nature is the real cause of failure and disap. 

 poiutment in nine cases out of ten. Tlie fol- 

 lowing is the method pursued by us : 



We go to a colony that is sufficiently strong 

 in numbers, having tlie combs well filled with 

 brood, and eggs deposited in the queen cells. 

 Eemove the hive a few feet to one side and 

 place a new hive where the one just removed 

 was taken from, and lay a wide board from 

 the ground to the new hive, so that the few 

 bees falling to the ground may readily run 

 in at the entrance. Now open the hive re- 

 moved and take out one of the frames, after 

 looking it over for the queen ; shake tlie most 

 of the bees off on to the board in front of the 

 new hive, when they will readily enter their 

 new home. Now take out more frames and 

 proceed as before until you have about two- 

 thirds of the bees in tlie new hive. As soon 

 as the queen is found she should be placed at 

 the entrance of the new hive and see that she 

 goes in all right. Replace the combs, etc.; 

 and move the old hive to a new location. If 

 the colony is one you desire to breed from 

 they should be allowed to complete the queen 

 cells, when they can be cut out and intro- 

 duced into queenlcss colonies or nuclei. But 

 if you do not wisli to have the cells completed 

 then introduce a queen cell that will hatch in 

 24 to 48 hours. Cells should not be introduced 

 short of 10 or 12 hours after the manipulation. 



We have practiced the above raetliod for 

 the past 12 years and it proves by far the most 

 practicable, and more desirable than natural 

 swarming. 



I claim and can prove that no man can tell 

 or pick out the colonies thus made from those 

 that have swarmed natural after six or seven 

 days. Such being the case what are the ad- 

 vantages gained ? 



1. We have preceded natural swarming by 

 six or seven days ; thus by the above method 

 the new hive will be well filled with the brood 

 and honey by the time they would have been 

 hived had they swarmed natural. 



2. We have a laying queen in the old hive, 

 about the same time she would be emerging 

 from the cell had the colony swarmed natur- 

 ally. 



3. All after swarming is completely con- 

 trolled. 



4. We do not have to climb trees, etc., dur- 

 ing the heat of the day, and whenever and 

 wherever the bees see fit to cluster, but we do 

 this work when we are ready. — Bee Keei)er''s 



Exchange. 



^ 



ARE TRICHIN/E KILLED BY SALT? 



The prohibition of the importation of Ameri- 

 can pork by the German Government, on ac- 

 count of the alleged presence of the microsco- 

 pic worm known as trichinfe has awakened a 

 large degree of interest among pork raisers 

 and shippers in this country. Tliat trichinis 

 are sometimes found in pork (and in some 

 other food flesh) is not to be doubted. 

 That proper cooking of meats for food destroys 

 them is unquestionable. That all authenti- 

 cated cases of injury to health arising from 

 the presence of this microscopic worn were 

 traced to the eating of uncooked or half raw 

 meat is a fact. But that the salting of meat 

 destroyed the parasite is still a matter of 

 doubt, or, at least, it is a subject of dispute. 



On tliis point United States Consul John 

 Wilson, stationed at Brussels, makes some 

 statements, based on his own observations. 

 He says: 



" I have myself been present when oflicially 

 appointed microscopists at some of the abat- 

 toirs of this country have been engaged in ex- 

 amining American pork for trichinse, and 

 have been invited by these gentlemen to see 

 for myself, through their microscopes, the 

 peculiar cell and spiral coil of the animal; but 

 on carefully examining them I have only 

 observed, blended with the tisue and minute 

 salt crystals, the entomed animal, evidently 

 as destitute of life as the structure in which 

 it was embedded. 



" It is claimed by most trichinic observers 

 tliat the process of generation and birth of 

 this little animal invariably takes place in the 

 stomach and intestinal canal, and tliat within 

 a few days from its birth it has so matured as 

 to penetrate the walls of the intestines and 

 rapidly make its way through the various in 

 tervening structures to the remote muscular 

 tissue of the animal it infects, there to be 

 speedily encysted and'endowed with a subse- 

 quent dormant existence of several years, dur- 

 ing which time its presence occasions little or 

 no inconvenience. Of tliis theory of the life 

 and movements of this little worm I can only 

 say that it involves an almost unparalleled 

 exception to the law generally regarded as 

 determining animal life, and ought not to be 

 accepted but upon the most positive proof. 

 The law governing parasitic existence in liv- 

 ing tissue usually involves the speedy death of 

 tlie parasite after the pabulum upon which it 

 feeds has passed from under the domain of 

 vital force ; hence, unless this tiny worm con- 

 stitutes an exception to this law, its life must 

 be short after the organic structure upon 

 which it feeds has ceased to live." 



Consul Wilson very pertinently adds that 

 "if salt really kills trichinse, and of it I have 



scarcely a doubt, it is evidently an injustice 

 on the part of foreign governments to lay an 

 embargo on our pork product, which, of all 

 others, in order to secure it against decom- 

 position on a long journey to foreign markets, 

 is better salted than that of any other coun- 

 try." — Scientific American. 



ANALYSES OF FERTILIZERS. 



Impressed with the value and importance 

 of the analyses made by Professor A. F. Genth, 

 Chemist to the Pennsylvania State Board of 

 Agriculture, under the act of June 2^^, 1879, 

 this journal two years ago published a com- 

 plete table of the analyses made up to that 

 time, 121 in number. 



Since that time Professor Genth has been 

 .steadily at work, and has run the number of 

 analyses of fertilizers sold in this State to 

 above four hundred. 



Every farmer will at a glance understand 

 the value of this table. It gives the amount 

 of potash, ammonia and phosphoric acid, the 

 three chief ingredients in all fertilizers, and 

 their money value, estimated by the present 

 price of these articles in the open market. 

 Parallel columns show the selling prices of 

 the fertilizer and their actual money value to 

 the farmer. If all farmers cannot tell whether 

 their soils need a manure with more potash 

 than ammonia, or vice versa, tliey can never- 

 theless determine at a glance that when they 

 are asked twenty dollars per ton for an arti- 

 cle worth only five dollars, that they are being 

 cheated. Herein consists the great value of 

 these tables. They show at a glance what a 

 certain fertilizer is worth. By the act autlior- 

 izing these analyses, every bag, box or bale In 

 which they are contained must be plainly 

 stamped by the analyses furnished by the 

 State Chemist. In this way imposition on 

 farmers is no longer possible. The worthless 

 articles are at once exposed to the public, and 

 are in consequence rendered unsalable. It 

 may be taken for granted that no intelligent 

 farmer will buy a manure at ten dollars a ton 

 when he sees by the analysis that its actual 

 valuction is only thirty-two cents. Yet num- 

 bers of these goods selling from eight to 

 twenty dollars per ton, are shown to have an 

 actual value of less than one dollarper ton. 

 These published tables have had the natural 

 result of driving the worthless so-called fer- 

 tilizers out of the market on the one hand, and 

 of increasing the value of those still on the 

 market. Out of one batch of one hundred 

 and seventeen samples recently analyzed, no 

 fewer than sixty-nine were nearly worth the 

 selling price nor exceeded it. 



As nearly as can be ascertained, the annual 

 consumption of fertilizers in this State is 70,- 

 000tons,or about one-third of a ton to each farm 

 in the commonwealth. Estimating tlie cost 

 at $30 per ton, we have the sura of .$2,100,000 

 paid annually by the farmers of Pennsylvania. 

 It is safe to say that from five to ten dollars 

 per ton too much has been paid for them, 

 lliis has resulted in an aggregate loss of .1500, 

 000 per annum, out of which the agriculturists 

 of the State have been openly swindled by 

 purchasing these several compounds at prices 

 beyond their actual value. But now all this 

 is changed. The wide awake agriculturist 

 need not pay one cent more for his fertilizers 

 than their actual worth. The State has come 

 to the farmers' assistance and saved them 

 half a million dollars yearly. Every man who 

 uses these commercial manures ought to keep 

 himself posted. 



