^m 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



"pi^i^ZlSH^ BY JOSEPH BKKGK & CO.. NO. 52. NORTH MARKET STUEET, (Ack.cultukal W.KKHOcaE.)-T. G. FESSKNDKN, EIMTOR. 



von. XV. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 18, 1837. 



NO. 28. 



.a^^sjsa^wjL'S'wia^ma 



(from the Vennom Chronicle.) 

 BEBS AKD HONEY. 



Honey raised in a cold climate and mountain- 

 ous country, is llie purest and best. As a source 

 of profit, very few persons in Vermont Iteep bees, 

 anil yet wc are convinced that the Green Moun- 

 tains might become as dislinguislied (or excellent 

 honey, as they are for first rate Beef, Pork, But- 

 ter and Cheese. 



We lately cut the following from a New York 

 paper : — 



lloNEY. — In passin;,' througli the garden em- 

 ployed by the .American Institute, our attention 

 was directed to some boxes of Honey, of a clear, 

 white and beautiful trans]iarenl appearance, such 

 «s has selilom been seen in the New York Mar- 

 ket. It is pre;-ented by Messrs Wilcox & Cone, 

 of West Broonifield, Ontario County, Ohio. One 

 of the firm has fun.ished us with the following 

 statement : — 



"Last spring we had not more than 220 swarms, 

 this fall we had over 420 ; nearly all of the young 

 swarms ate good to winter over. We havj taken 

 from our bees 3,700 lbs. of box or cap honey ; in 

 addition to this, we furnish all the vicinity where 

 we live with boxes, showing them how to manage, 

 promising to buy all the honey that was built in 

 them. This added to our own, made 5,641 lbs. 

 All of this was taken away without destroying a 

 sin"le swaru? of bees. Near seven-eighths of this 

 honey was of the white, such as was exhibited to- 

 day ; it arrived in New York market on the 9lh 

 of September ; nearly two-thirds of it is already 

 sold. Wc have adopted this plan io make our 

 bees profitable, and not destroy an insect that is 

 such an example of industry." 



Wishiuf to give our readers more inform tion 

 resliecting such an instance of successfid business 

 in the hive, we wrote to Messrs Wilcox & Cone. 

 From their very obliging answer to cur inquiries, 

 we copy the following: 



Our hives arc of almost all descriptions com- 

 monly used, having bought many of them. We 

 prefer the smaller sizes, such as will hold about 

 thirty pounds of honey when well filled, as that 

 will be sufficient to winter a common swarm, and 

 such hives swarm the most. We procure our 

 honey from a box of about seven inches square, 

 iihiced on the top of the hive. The box should 

 be made to fit v-ery close to the hive, and no com- 

 munication out of it only through the hive. The 

 liole should not be less than thi'Ee inches square. 

 These should be put on the old hives, before the 

 Bees begin to gather from the white clover, and 

 on the yoimg swarms when they are first put into 

 the hives. In this way instead of the bee.'* lying 

 ou the outside of the hive, idle, as they commonly 

 do, they have room within the box, where they 

 continue to build, and gather, till they are ready 

 to swarm. Many of our swarms do not work on 

 ihe boxes at all ; but by boxing them all, we av- 



erage from 7 to 16 lbs., from every old swarm. 

 Last year we got over 16, it being more than a 

 conuiion season for honey. 



We have not been troubled mucli with the 

 moth ; having so many hives together the birds 

 keep them mostly -subdued. We think it the best 

 plan to raise the hive so that the bees can just pass 

 out all round the hive : they keep the bottom 

 board clean of condi dust, so there is less chance 

 for the millers to deposite their (;ggs, where they 

 will not be destroyed. Care should be fiken to 

 kill all that can be found on and around the hives 

 every day or two. 



We use no means to furnish our bees with food, 

 excepting to feed some light swarms towards 

 spring ; which we do, by putting comb filled with 

 honey, in the box on the top of the hive. Bees 

 flourish the best where there is plenty of Elm, Su- 

 gar Maple and Basswood, and where the soil is 

 natural for white clover. Elm and Maple blos- 

 som early in the spring ; after the spring flowers 

 are gone, bees stir but little, until while clover be- 

 gins to blossom ; if it fills well with honey, bees 

 soon fill their hives anil begin to swarm ; if not, 

 they swarm late, and the swarms stand a poor 

 chance; the Basswood and Buckwheat are t.ie 

 principal flowers they have to gather from. — 

 Sometimes there are honey dews which help them 

 nuich. 



Om- box honey which is pure and free from 

 bread, is gathered principally from Clover and 

 Basswood blossoms. 



Our hives stand in the same situations winter 

 and summer. We are careliil to have the tops 

 secured so as to keep th» snow and water out, and 

 not admit a draught of air through the hive. Ev- 

 ery hive should have a three quarter or half inch 

 hole from four to six inches from the bottom, in 

 front, to afford air in winter. In very cold weath- 

 er, frost accumulates in the hive, from the breath 

 -ef the bees, anil in mild weather it melts and riins 

 down to the hole at the botioni and freezes to ice 

 and shuts out the al«-, if there is no other airhole. 

 Many bees are smothered greatly for want of this 

 knowledge. Bees winter the best in straw hives, 

 hut do as well in summer in board or tub hives. 

 There is a vai<iety of opinions on the subject of 

 bees, owing we think, to lh<'ir being liable to 

 change. Two swarms in the spring may stand 

 side by side, and to appearance, be equally good ; 

 one may prosper well, the other dwindle away and 

 die ; or they may both swarm equally well, and 

 one a few weeks after swarming be robbed ; the 

 other wititer well. 



Our reason for this is, that in swarming time, 

 the Queen or Queens, if there h • more than one, 

 (as there frequently is at this season of the year, 

 but at no other) all leave the hive with the swarms 

 and leave but few working Bees and Drones in 

 the old hives ; which, of course, without a Queen 

 die. Sometimes they will guard their treasures 

 till winter, anil then die, and leave the hive well 

 filled with honey. 



After swarming is over, such hives as have 



swartned out, we take up as soon as they are like- 

 ly to be robbed, and save the honey. Jn October 

 we examine our young swarms, and take up all 

 that have'not nearly enough to winter on. In this 

 way we obtain much hoi:ey, and destroy none of 

 our good swarms for increase. 



P. S. In a statement of ours that was published 

 in some of the New York papers, showing the 

 amount of honey that we raised the past season, 

 there was a mistake made by the Editors. It 

 was printed 700 pounds, but it should have been 

 3700. 



ON POTATOES. 



The potato wil'. grow upon almost any kind 

 of soil, provided it be not too wet and clayey ; but 

 li"ht, dry, and friable loams, or sands of tolerable 

 consistence, are the most aptiropriate. Reclaim- 

 ed bogs and peat land, when well drained, pro- 

 duce iar"e crops ;, and some of the finest qualities 

 are grown on alluvial soils, and in the warped 

 land in ih« neighborhood of the Iluntber. Grub- 

 bed wood-land is also favorable to its growth, and 

 the j.lanting of potatoes will probably be found 

 the most profitable mode of bringing it into im- 

 mediate cultivation ; indeed, as much as 550 bush- 

 els per acre have been thus obtained, but the land 

 was manured with twenty wagon-loads of dung. 

 A sward, or first ley, is, however, the most desir- 

 able ; and it is for this purpose the common mode 

 of breaking up grass-land in Ireland, where it is 

 frequently let to the peasantry at extravagant rents, 

 in what are there termed "Con-acres," and yields 

 crops of superior quality. The climate, indeed, 

 is there more genial to the growth of esculents, 

 than that of England, and the soil is generally so 

 much richer, that in no other country has cul- 

 ture of the (iotato been carried to such perfection. 



The produce of four eyes cut frorn the cluster 

 species, and planted in four different kinds of soil, 

 was — 



On a strong rich loam, .... 34 lbs. 



light rich loam, .... 29 lbs. 



. a good gravel, 19 lbs. 



sandy soil, 15 lbs. 



But, although some idea may be thus formed, of 

 the proiluce, yet no definitive conclusion can be 

 drawn from this experiment, regarding the crops 

 to be obtained from the laud, furother sorts might 

 have been better adapted to the soils ; they must 

 be all heavily manured, and good sands are es- 

 pecially favorable to the growth of the larger 

 roots. 



CULTURE. 



In Yorkshire, and other parts of the north, the 

 ground is ploughed into one-bout ridges, and the 

 " sets," or cuttings from the potatoes to be plant- 

 ed, are. I)laced in heaps or baskets, and laid by 

 wo'men and children in the finrows ; the manure 

 is laid at the same time, and the ridge is covered 

 with eaitli by the plough dividing it, and making 

 a fresh one over the potatoes. As soon as the 

 plants make their appearance above ground, the 

 ridges are harrowed down, and are suflered to 



