62 



beautiful, and were made by an unmarried lady. Before we 

 had finished our examination a young gentleman praised the 

 bread very much, and said he would certainly visit the lady 

 before he went home. Now, if this visit should result in 

 marriage, or if any exhibition of bread hereafter should have 

 such results (and nothing can be more probable,) we may feel 

 that where a man gets a good wife, or vice versa, they would 

 be decided friends of the Society. 



In the Honey Department we were disappointed to find but 

 two specimens offered. Your Committee were unanimous in 

 the opinion that our county ought to make a better show of 

 honey than this. -We should have been gratified to have seen, 

 instead of two, twenty specimens of honey, with statements 

 by the owner of the number of his hives, the amount of honey 

 made by each, the number of swarms (natural or artificial) 

 added the past season, with other facts calculated to give in- 

 formation and awaken an interest on this subject. The past 

 season has been an unfavorable one for natural swarms. As 

 very often happens, bees near the sea were taken all aback by 

 the prevalence of chilling northeasterly winds. 



"which sweeping from the ice, 

 And winnowing the fogs of Labrador, 

 Shed their cold blight round Massachusetts Bay, 

 With the same breath which stirs Spring's opening leaves 

 And lifts her half-formed flower-bell on its stem, 

 Poisoning our sea-side atmosphere," (Whittier) 



just as they were preparing to swarm ; and as the result, we 

 hear from all the county no swarms this season. But the 

 season has been a good one for honey. The drought which 

 prevailed throughout the Northern States made a good honey 

 season, as there is a larger amount of sweets in, or on, the 

 flowers during dry weather than wet. We say in, or on, as 

 many bee keepers argue that bees never obtain honey pro- 

 duced by flowers ; or, in other words, that honey is deposited 



