NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



looks like milk with which the young arc fed while 

 in the larva state. ILre is the dijficuUij ; some of the 

 bees hatch and become perfect and lively working 

 bees, while others, from the same litter of eggs, burst 

 off the cap of the cell Avhere they were confined 

 during their dormant state, and come forth feeble and 

 emaciated, only " born to die," unable to perform any 

 labor, even without stings, while others, some with 

 life, but unable, through extreme weakncs?, to escape 

 their cell, while a majority of them remain entombed 

 in their little prisons without life, and all the brood 

 combs soon become a complete burial-ground, with 

 only here and there a spot where another of the 

 inmates of the hive could bo entombed, In this 

 way the hive dwindles away, and the number of 

 their companions so reduced that the bees are unable 

 to guard themselves from their enemies, the robbers, 

 or the moths, and are unable to raise animal heat in 

 sufficient quantity to make the honey warm and nu- 

 tritive, and they perish with cold and hunger, even 

 where plenty of food is at hand. 



I make these remarks with a view to call the 

 attention of the friends of the apiary to this subject, 

 and if possible save this most industrious and useful 

 ooinurunity of insects from a pestilence which is by 

 far more threatening to their existence than their 

 formidable enemies, the moths. 



JOHN M. WEEKS. 



West Farms, near Middlebury, Vt., Nov. 1, 1848. 



P. S. Since the potato rot commenced, in 1844, 

 I have lost yearly about one third part of my stock 

 of bees, by this disease ; and unless some remedy can 

 be prescribed, the management of the apiary in many 

 localities will be brought to a close. 



J. M. W. 



For the New Enijkind Farmc)\ 

 AGRICULTURE IN MAINE. 



Mr. Cole : In giving you a few hints in reference 

 to farming in this region, my remarks may bo some- 

 what desultory and wandering, or a sort of a hash. 

 When I say this region, I would premise that we are 

 located on what is frequently termed the " height of 

 land," situated about midway between the Penobscot 

 and Kennebcck llivcrs ; where any one having a taste 

 for rural scenery, and a soil in every respect adajitcd 

 to successful h\i3bandry, would find free scope for 

 his mental and physical powers. 



The past season, with us, has been one of unusual 

 moisture ; is so recorded bj' the weather clerks, and 

 will be referred to in coming time as "the rainy 

 season ; " yet the bottles were scaled up for a time, at 

 a most important period, which enabled the farmer 

 to secure a most bountiful crop of hay. Corn and 

 oats, too, are abundant, and the ways farmers "put 

 in ■■' for those, especially the latter, were neither few 

 nor small. Our wheat crop may be regarded as a 

 failure ; though red bearded, sowed about the middle 

 of June, has yielded a fair return for labor bcstov»-ed ; 

 the successful growing of wheat sowed at so late a 

 time, is at variance with our former modes, and would 

 seem to denote atmospheric changes. 



Of the potato, it is hardly necessary for me to 

 speak ; the unseen destroyer has visited alike the 

 cultivators of this root in every land ; but I am 

 strong in the faith, that he A\'ill again retire, when 

 the potato will resume its wonted fairness. The 

 failure of the two great staples, wheat and jjota- 

 toes, has sadly diminished the profits of farming in 

 Maine ; for the time has been when the farmer 

 could rely at all times upon bread made from the 

 v/heat of his raising, and meet his grocery bills with 

 the jiroceeds of sales from his surplus potato crop ; 

 nevertheless, the country has continued steadily to 

 advance in resources, and in all the means condu- 



cive to the substantial comforts of the people. The 

 causes are obvious to the most casual observer ; the 

 country is dotted over, and apparently sowed broad- 

 cast, with a population unsurpassed for industry and 

 intelligence. We hnow no pastimes but those of pro- 

 ductive labor. We eat, work, and sleep, and then 

 we eat, work, and sleep again. 



Should a circus or a caravan be approaching, they 

 are forthwith warned off bj' the fathers of the towns, 

 in fear that the purses of the dear people would be 

 found minus a quarter. In the improved condition 

 of the country, may be noticed a corresponding im- 

 provement in all our domestic anunals. Some half 

 century since, when our forests first echoed with the 

 pioneer's axe, when our cattle were raised on browse 

 and sheltered in hovels, a pair of oxen six feet in 

 girth were quite as much of a novelty as a yoke of 

 seven feet are now. 



IlespcctfuUy yours, 



HENRY BUTMAN. 



DixMONT, Maine, Oct. 23, 1848. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ON MANU.R.E AND ITS APPLICATION. 



Mr. Editor : The application of manure in a 

 manner best calculated to renovate the soil, is a 

 subject that can never be exhausted. Perhaps there 

 are few subjects, moral, religious, or political, on 

 which there is a greater diversity of opinion, or one in 

 regard to which so few are fully satisfied that their 

 method is perfect, and admits of no improvement. 



It is, however, pretty generally conceded that our 

 fathers were wrong in throwing their manure out of 

 the barn window to be leached through the winter 

 without covering ; and in applying their manure to 

 crops, a shovelful in a hill, without any auxiliary 

 di-essing, and their remissness in neglecting to compost 

 by carting soil, mud, &c., into their barn-yards and 

 hog-stics. Yet we should bear in mind that they cul- 

 tivated comparatively a virgin soil ; thnt they were 

 the pioneers or sons of pioneers ; that the soil they 

 cultivated was less exhausted of its vegetable mat- 

 ter, and scarcely needed renovation. Ey continued 

 cultivation oiu- soil has in a measure been divested of 

 its primitive vigor, and needs in some shape a remu- 

 neration for its former exertions. At this day, there is 

 little disparity of opinion as to what substances are 

 best calculated to renovate difi'erent soils, or the 

 manner of composting. But as to the time and man- 

 ner of its application, a diversity of opinion exists. 

 Some contend that to top dress land with any kind of 

 manure is a wasteful practice ; that it should all be 

 turned under by the plough or buried with the har- 

 row. Others contend that manure should never be 

 covered Avith the plough ; that it buries it too deep 

 and it sinks into the earth, ailbrding little or no bene- 

 fit to vegetation. We are free to acknowledge that 

 no general rules can be laid down for the application 

 of manure, with safety, without a knowledge of the 

 nature of the soil; but so far as our experience ex- 

 tends, we think a suitable compost can be advanta- 

 geously applied to grass lands at a proper season ; and 

 as a general rule, we think that season is as soon 

 as may be after the crop is taken off. 



In the application of manure to arable land for grain 

 crops, where the soil is a sandy loam, and liable to 

 suflcr from drought, we have invariably found it the 

 best policy to spread green, unfcrmcnted manure on 

 top, and plough it under with the plough. This sys- 

 tem we have practised for a series of years with satis- 

 factory results. By this you will perceive that wo 

 till adhere to our "old theory, that in such soils the 

 gases arise from the decomposing manure (buried be- 

 neath the furrow) in proper season to carry out the 

 crops, and that its salts never sink beyond the reach 

 of vegetation. 



