160 Transactions of tee American Institute. , 



bees and bee pasturage. 

 Mr. Thomas Sanders, Afton, N. Y. — I see among the many inqui- 

 ries in the Farmers' Club, an inquiry for the best bee pasture. 

 After many years of experience, I find the only reliable pasture 

 for bees is white clover, which is easily and cheaply produced by 

 the application of one bushel of plaster to the acre, applied each 

 and every year, on almost any soil except wet or clay soils. As 

 the country is being cleared of its original forests, and all the wild 

 and waste places are brought into cultivation, and in consequence 

 the country more frosty, the food for bees has become greatly 

 lessened, requiring of the bee husbandman more care to produce 

 successfully bees and honey than when the country was new. No 

 man should expect to raise bees successfully now, and winter his 

 bees out doors or in the open shed, where the bees are aifected by 

 every south wind or warm sunny days in winter. The best method 

 of wintering bees, in my opinion, is to build a stone house of the 

 size requisite for all the family of bees, well laid up with mortar, 

 should be tight and diy, and when the door is closed, perfectly 

 dark. No floor over head, which gives good ventilation. The bees 

 to be placed on shelves, one above the other, the first to be raised 

 from the bottom board, and holes made near the top to give plenty 

 of air, but no holes sufficiently large for mice to get in. The same 

 building can be used for an ash house without inconvenience to the 

 bees. 



C»RN AND SEED PLANTER. 



Mr. Solon Robinson exhibited one of J. A. Burchard's (Freeport, 

 111.) corn and seed planters, and on motion it was referred to him 

 to report on its merits. 



PROPAGATION OF BLACKBERRIES FROM SMALL PIECES OF ROOTS. 



Mr. F. K. Phoenix, Bloomington, 111., showed specimens of well- 

 rooted Kittatiny plants. The method of propagation is such that 

 they are safely planted to the middle of June, can be sent by mail, 

 are cheap, and will bear next year, when they will produce new 

 plants to be set out. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — We are glad to welcome Mr. Phoenix to 

 our meetings. He is a public benefactor in the way of distributing, 

 at the lowest possible prices, the best and newest varieties of fruits. 



CISTERN REGULATOR. 



Mr. Solon Robinson exhibited a simple invention, by George L. 

 Frankenstein, to be attached to a leader for shutting ofi" the water 



