^ O!,. XVII. NO. 7 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



51 



by, to the depth of about eight or ten inches. Upon 

 this earth I foddered my three cattle during tlie 

 winter, occasionally depositing more earth upon the 

 litter as it collected tliere. 



Your readers will readily judge, that the object 

 of all this preparation was not so much for the sake 

 of saving the materials collected tliere as to obtain 

 a menstruum, or rather sponge, if I may so call it, 

 calculated to absorb and retain all the urine depos- 

 ited in the yard during the winter. The compost 

 masses, however, or layers, thus collected together, 

 are not to be considered as manure prepared for the 

 soil, but only as materials that require to be thor- 

 oughly mUed, in order to reduce them to a state 

 fitted for a rapid and complete incorporation with 

 the soil. Accordingly, with this view, I commenced 

 late in April the operation of turning it, which, from 

 its having become closely packed to the depth of 

 twenty inches, with the stalks at the bottom, could 

 only be done with tlie aid of a grubbing hoe, turn- 

 ing it in strips about a foot wide, reaching across 

 tlie yard, and throwing the loosened manure back a 

 sufficient space to allow a trench between, wide 

 enough to work in. After removing the whole 

 cover from the stalks, along a strip, as before men- 

 tioned, they were easily grubbedup, by first cutting 

 them through all along the solid edge of the strip 

 with the lioe, it being made pretty sharp for the 

 purpose. In addition to this pile of yard manure, 

 I have also emptied tlic contents of my hog pen and 

 stables, extending the pile several feet, and lying 

 upon the ground, when first loosened, more than 

 two- and a half feet deep. Of this manure I have 

 used sixteen loads this spring, for truck and garden, 

 and, judging from Uie size of the pile yet remain- 

 ing, there cannot be less than sixty loads, which, 

 being turned once more, I intend ito use for wheat 

 next fall. 



In this manner, from only three head of cattle, 

 and the fattening of four hogs, I have made from 

 seventy to eightytwo horse loads of manure, the 

 highly'fertilizing properties of which are abundantly 

 attested by my own former experience. I will not 

 say that it is stronger than the best barn-yard ma- 

 nure, but from its closer affinity to the nature of the 

 soil, and greater facility for being rapidly combined 

 and incorporated, without loss by evaporation, I 

 have no doubt it will be frequently found, upon 

 trial, more effective and more durable. 



In the process of turning manure, thus prepared, 

 I hold it of the highest importance to mix we?ll the 

 earthy and vegetable parts together. Few persons 

 are perhaps aware how rapidly the earth facilitates 

 vegetable decomposition, and to what a surprising 

 degree it absorbs the excess of fertilizing effluvia, 

 which must otlisrwise be evaporated during the 

 process of decomposition. This circuuistance, I 

 believe, taken in connexion with the careful econo- 

 mising of all animal excretions, constitutes chiefly 

 the great secret (I might, perhaps, add alkgei ne- 

 cromancy,) tliat has added already so much verdure 

 to my previously exhausted soil, and been so 

 profitable to me, and so surprising to my neigh- 

 bors. 



No farmer can imagine, that has not tried the 

 experiment, what a prodigious quantity of rich, veg- 

 etable, and fibious earth may be collected from 

 corners and bye-places which lie out of the way of 

 cultivation, and which, from their retired position, 

 have perhaps, never so much as attracted his notice. 

 All such refuse trash, and fibrous earths and weeds, 

 by being conveyed to liis barn-yard, at intervals, 

 during the fall and winter, and judiciously combined 



w^nh~its'conrents, will be converted into a rich, 

 fertilizing, and durable manure, merely by absorb- 

 ing and retaining that excess of-putrcsccnt fluids a7id 

 effluvia, which is otherwise lost by filtration and 

 evaporation ; that is, bv soaking away and drying 

 up. ■ W.II. 



Piftstown, Sakm Co. .V. J., May '30(/i, 1^'3P. 



Frum Smith's E^say on llie Hoiiey-Uce. 

 LONGEVITY OF BEES. 

 " The several members of a hive have very dif- 

 ferent periods of existence The general law 

 among insects is, that both male and female shall 

 perish soon after sexual union ; a few days or weeks 

 at furthest, according to the time, probably, that 

 the female occupies in maturing and depositing her 

 eggs. By retarding sexual union, the lives of some 

 insects may be very much prolonged ; — even ephe- 

 mera have been kept alive by ths means for seven 

 or eight days. Annual plants, if prevented from 

 seeding, may be rendered biennial. The ancients 

 were very deficient in knowledge upon this subject. 

 Virgil fixes 4ie term of a bee's existence at seven 

 years, having probably copied from Aristotle ; 

 though Aristotle says that bees who live to extreme 

 old age, may reach to nine or ten years. Columella 

 and Pliny have been supposed to regard their ex- 

 istence as extending to ten years ; Uiough the Ian- 

 guage of the former applies to tlie existence of the 

 community, and not to individual bees ; and pro- 

 vided the hive be never changed, nor the combs 

 renewed, it is not likely that any one family should 

 have its existence prolonged beyond that period ; 

 as the accumulation of silken pellicles with which 

 the breeding cells are successively lined, would 

 render them unfit for use in a very few years. In 

 addition to the diminution of the cells by this suc- 

 cession of silken linings, they are also diminished 

 further by the excrement of the larva;, which is 

 never cleaned out, but confined behind each lining : 

 both together, therefore, soca render the cell unfit 

 for use as brood cells. Mr Hunter found three of 

 these layers deposited in a single season, and count- 

 ed upwards in the cells of the old comb ; which, 

 upon an average of three a year, would correspond 

 with the period fixed by the ancients ; though this 

 observation by no means proves that the hive upon 

 which it was made, or any other, might not have 

 had a much more protracted existence. Mr Es- 

 pinasse tells us that he once took a hive which 

 had stood fourteen years, havmg found it had be- 

 come weak ; it had, nevertlieless, sent off a swarm 

 the year previous. There is an instance or two on 

 record, of one family having continued in the same 

 hive for thirty years. 



" One of tliese is mentioned by Reaumur, another 

 by Mouftet. Thorley speaks of a colony having 

 occupied the same domic il for one hundred and 

 ten years. The spot chosen was under the leads 

 of the study of Ludovicus Vives, in Oxford : the 

 original swarm settled there in 1590, and kept pos- 

 sesion till lUaO. Query :— may not the bees, when 

 the combs become very old, and the cells much 

 diminished in size, remove them and construct 

 fresh ones ? To those who may wish for their own 

 satisfaction to examine the linings of a brood cell, 

 I would observe, that Mr Hunters mode of proceed- 

 ing was, to soak the cell in water, till the linings 

 were swelled, when he had no difficulty in separa^- 

 ting and counting them ; he found them separate 

 most readily at the bottom, on account of the in,, 

 closed excrement. 



"To common observers it might appear, that the 

 lives of the bees were coeval with the foundation 

 of the colony, presuming upon all the young bees 

 leaving the parent stock in swarms. But I have 

 already stated that all swarms consist of a mixture 

 of young and old bees ; the difference between, 

 them is very distinguishable ; those of the present, 

 year being brown, plump, and clothed with light 

 hairs, whilst the old ones have red hairs, notched 

 and ragged wings, and are paler and more shrunk 

 in their bodies. The cases which I have related, 

 and others of a similar kind, have led to the erro- 

 neous o])inion that bees are a long lived race. But 

 this, as Dr Evans has observed, is just as wise as 

 if a stranger, contemplating a populous city, and 

 personally unacquainted with its inhabitants, should, 

 on paying it a second visit, many years afterwards, 

 and finding it equally populous, imagine that it 

 was peopled by the same individuals, not one of 

 whoin might then be alive. ' Such strangers are 

 we to the honeyed hive; where, however quickly its 

 generations may have passed away, the same face 

 is presented to the beholder.' 



' The race aiul realm from a^e to a?e remain, 

 And time but lengthens, with new liuiis, the chain.' 



" The usual term of the male's existence, is two 

 or three montlis only : I say the usual term, for his 

 life is always cut off by violence, when no peculiar 

 circumstances arise to render his existence any 

 longer useful. Such circumstances having arisen, 

 (as has heretofore been observed,) he may be kept 

 alive a much longer period, for a year at least, but 

 how much longer has not as yet been ascertained. 

 Messrs Kirby and Spence, in like manner, seem to 

 think it not improbable, that when the workers 

 (females) become too old to be useful to the com- 

 munity, they are either killed or expelled the so- 

 ciety. Reaumur also throws out a hint to the 

 same purpose. The length of a working bee's life 

 I has not yet been ascertained ; but the general 

 opinion is tliat it is short lived. Butler says that 

 ' the bee is but little more than a year's bird ;' and 

 some think the period of their existence- shorter 

 still. ' The bees of the present year,' says Butler, 

 ' will retain their vigor and youthful appearance till 

 (Gemini) about the 21st of May in the following 

 year, when they begin to decline, and from (Cancer 

 to Leo) June 21st to August 21st, the ground in 

 front of the apiary may be seen strewed with them, 

 some dead, some dying, and a few alive, but inca- 

 pable of rising again, and by (Libra) 22d Septem- 

 ber, scarcely an old bee will be left.' " 



CuaE FOB THE STIiNG OF A WaSP OR BeE. A 



Liverpool paper states as follows : 



A few days ago happening to be in the country, 

 -^* witnessed the efficacy of the remedy for the 

 stino- of a wasp mentioned in one of our late papers. 

 A little boy was stung severely and was in great 

 torture, imtili an onion was applied to the part af- 

 fected ; when the cure was instantaneous. This 

 important and simple remedy cannot be too gener- 

 ally known, and we pledge ourselves to the facts 

 above stated. 



Spring Wheat.— So far as we have heard at 

 homa und abroad, tlie experiments made witli the 

 sprino- wheat have proved successfiil, notwithstand- 

 ing the cold and otherwise unfavorable weather at 

 I the time of sowing. In the neighborhood of this 

 town as many bushels have been raised to tlie acre, 

 as could reasonably have been expected on the 

 1 same ground from the winter wheat.— ;fin. Repub. 



