Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 559 



which contains an equivalent of azote for the development of the 

 muscular power of a man, equally with meat, and thus renders 

 meat as food unnecessary in China and Japan. The product far 

 exceeds that of any potato, and it never rots, but will remain per- 

 fect for a year. It will flourish best on the sandy lands of New 

 Jersey, Long Island, and the whole coast range, which have been 

 hitherto deemed valueless, and its culture may be successfully 

 extended to the most northern limits, and to all the British territo- 

 ries. There are more than fifty varieties, white, yellow and red, and 

 varying in length from seven inches to two feet. It is this most pro- 

 lific and nutritious of all vegetables which has always preserved the 

 400,000,000 of the Chinese from famine, when other countries, far 

 less populous, have been direfully afflicted by the deficiency of food. 



BEES. 



Mr. E. G. Holcomb, Brasher Iron Works, N. Y. — There are but 

 few successful bee-keepers in this section. I think they do not 

 inform themselves so as to be competent to manage as they ought. 

 The style of hive makes some difierence, but nothing near what is 

 generally claimed. Bees cannot make honey; they only gather it. 

 If the season is good, the hives well filled with worker combs, 

 excluding nearly all drone combs, allowing but few swarms, and 

 giving them a good start in the boxes, with clean, empty combs, 

 you may expect good returns, taking ofi" boxes as soon as filled, 

 and replacing them with empty ones. Quinby on Bees, is an excel- 

 lent work for those wishing information on this subject. One thing 

 resardinff the manufacture of wax: all authorities with which I am 

 acquainted, say that the scales of wax are detached from the abdo- 

 men of the bees by using a claw on the hind legs. From this I 

 difi'er, having watched them repeatedly. One bee takes the wax 

 from between the rings of the abdomen of another, with his for- 

 ceps, and chews it till ready for use. Bees brought in the first 

 pollen the thirty-first of March, fifteen days earlier than last year. 

 According to previous observations, I have found the various crops 

 of the season to keep pace with the first blossoms. 



i A PRAIRIE IMPLEMENT. 



Mr. J. F. Doud, Plattsmouth, Nebraska. — Last spring I made a 

 narrow for destroying weeds, which cost but three dollars, and 

 benefited me many times that amount. The shape is like the letter 

 A. It is in length sixteen feet; its width in the widest place, twelve 

 feet. It is made of oak scantling, two by four inches. It has two 



