NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



331 



for body and mind, by snatching a few hours from 

 the calls of professional duty, to apply thcin to the 

 grateful ])ursuits of tilling the earth. Why should 

 we mention the statesman and the warrior r They, 

 too, aie inclined to become farmers : the one leaving 

 the field of ambition, tlic other his harvest of laurels, 

 both seek a soil more congenial to the best feelings 

 of man, and end tlic career of life, like Cincinnatus, 

 at the plough. Even the mariner, the adventurous 

 son of Neptune, whose home has been for many 

 years, professionally and practically, on the deep, — 

 who has sailed to all lands and visited every sea, bring- 

 ing with him the rarities of every country and the 

 products of every clime, — purchases a home on the 

 land, transplants his exotics into his native soil, and 

 prefers that his last rest should be in the rural church- 

 yard with his kindred, to finding a bed in the bosom 

 of the deep. The mechanic, too, is smit with the love 

 of farming, and exchanges the dust of the shop for 

 the furrows of the field, the confined air of crowded 

 rooms for the free atmosphere of the heavens, and 

 the noise of machinery for the music of birds. 



Nor is this prevailing love of agriculture, which 

 sooner or later in Ufe discovers itself, to be wondered 

 at, whether we consider it as implanted in our na- 

 ture, or whether it be the result of reason and expe- 

 rience. If it be innate, it is merely kept down for a 

 while by the engrossing pursuits of wealth, the calls 

 of ambition, or the strife of glory. But, these being 

 satiated or disappointed, the mind, set free, returns 

 to its native desires, and applies its remaining ener- 

 gies to their peaceful gratihcation. But reason and 

 experience may well be allowed their share in bring- 

 ing so large a portion of mankind ultimately to the 

 cultivation of the earth. Who, that values his na- 

 tive dignity and independence, would not prefer to 

 be lord of a few acres of land, with nobody's humors 

 to consult but his own, and nobody to please but his 

 Maker, to the cringing, the fawning, and lying that 

 are apt to enter so largely into political, professional, 

 mercantile, and mechanical life ? If any man on 

 earth can say, "/ cisk no favors," it is the farmer. 

 Skilful and honest labor is all that the earth requires, 

 and it yields a due return — no favors dearly bought 

 with the surrender of independence, of honor, of 

 truth, and of all noble and manly feelings ; no truc- 

 kling for office, no fawning for popularity, no lying 

 for gain. No man can say of farming, " I have served 

 a faithless master ! I have sacrificed honor, and 

 conscience, and independence of mind ; and what 

 have I gained r " Among farmers there arc no de- 

 serted Wolseys, and no Belisarius lives a reproach 

 to agricultural pursuits. The choristers of the field 

 never sing to deceive, the flowers of the mead never 

 bloom to hide a deformity, and nature never smiles 

 to betray. — Berkshire Ainaricaii. 



BEES AND THE MOTH. 



Messrs. Editors : Among the numerous humbugs 

 of the day are some patent beehives, recommended 

 to the public as infallible protection against the bee 

 moth. And as the moth is very troublesome and 

 vexatious to bee-keepers, they seize hold of any thing 

 with avidity, which their credulity leads them to 

 believe will afford relief; and thus they are gulled 

 out of their money, and set oft" upon a false track — 

 inevitably to meet with disappointment. Now, as 

 patent beehive- venders have harped upon this one 

 string, "Protection from the moth! Protection 

 from the moth ! " until I, for one, have become per- 

 fectly satiated with the sound, I am provoked to 

 give my views on the subject. It is said of some of 

 these hives, that the peculiar construction is such, 

 that the miller v.ill never enter them. But I think 

 it not within the scope of human wisdom to construct 

 a hive in such a manner as to admit the bee and ex- 



clude the moth. The moth, in its pei-fect state, is a 

 winged insect — a miller — and is smaller, lighter, 

 and quicker on the wing or on foot, than the bee ; 

 and by the infallible laws of its natiire, is led to seek 

 the abode of the bees as a place congenial to its 

 wants for the reproduction of its species, and will 

 enter, in spite of all that man can do to prevent it, 

 short of closing the hive. 



Another and equally fallacious hope of protection, 

 is from miller traps, (falsely) so called, formed of 

 metallic substances, and placed in or about the hives 

 for the millers to deposit their eggs in, that they 

 may perish before coming to maturity, as they cer- 

 tainly would do if placed there ; for the reason that 

 the insect, while in its chrysalis state, subsists upon 

 the material upon which it is placed, which must be 

 vegetable or animal substance, for it cannot consume 

 mineral substance. But who believes the miller sub- 

 ject to such random operations, in following out the 

 laws of her nature, as to deposit her eggs in such a 

 place, or upon such a material, as that they must of 

 course perish, while, at the same time, she is in the 

 immediate vicinity of that place and material which 

 she chooses, above all others, for that purpose ? 



The fact is, no such contrivances are miller traps, 

 but they are perfect and eftectual traps for all who 

 purchase the right to use them. They are not based 

 upon any good philosophy, and have nothing to 

 recommend them but the inventors and venders. 



The only thing, in my opinion, upon which we can 

 rely for protection from the moth, is to give the bees 

 a hive of such dimensions that a naturally consti- 

 tuted or common-sized swarm of bees densely pop- 

 ulate the same. They will then be able to protect 

 themselves ; not that they will, or can, prevent the 

 moths entering the hive, and depositing their eggs 

 there; but they wiU. eject the grubs, and no serious 

 injury will be experienced by the bees. And this, 

 I am happy to say, is not a patentable subject : any 

 man can make a beehive, of whatever dimensions he 

 pleases, without paying any one for the privilege. 

 These are my views upon the subject of protection 

 from the moth. D. EATKROP. 



La Salle, III., Jime, 1849. 

 — Prairie Farmer. 



NEW MODE OF BUILDING. 



A small house may be built in the following man- 

 ner, with a saving of expense, wherever lumber is as 

 plenty and cheap as in this city, and where planing 

 can be done by machinery : Take two inch plank, 

 plane them on one side, and tongue and groove them. 

 Provide good sills ; and erect the building by set- 

 ting the plank upright, and battening the joints with 

 strips of half-inch stuff, the strips two inches wide. 

 This forms the outside wall. Furr out on the inside, 

 with half-inch stuff, and lath to that. The half-inch 

 furring gives sufficient room for the plastering to 

 clinch, j'et leaves the space too narrow for mice. For 

 small one-story houses, this is a very pretty mode of 

 building, cheaper than by studs and clapboards, and 

 in many respects better. Several such houses have 

 been built in this city, and give good satisfaction. — 

 Selected, 



PLANTING AND BUILDING. 



It was a very just remark of an eminent author, 

 " The works of the person who builds begin immedi- 

 ately to decay ; while the works of him who plant* 

 commence immediately to improve." Lord Bacon 

 also remarked, " When nations arrive at civility and 

 elegancy, men come to build stately sooner than to 

 garden finely, as if building were the greater per- 

 fection." — Selected. 



