Fiom ihc Genesee Farmer. 



BEES. 

 Mr Tucker — I procured me a hive of bees last 

 spring, and a few days since they swarmed for the 

 first time. It was a large fine swarm, was hived 

 readily in a new hive, and went to work apparent- 

 ly good natured and in earnest. The next day, 

 however, they came out of the hive and went off 

 into the woods. No one saw them until they were 

 fairly under way, and it seemed uncertain whether 

 they came from the new or the old hive, as tliey 

 were standing close together, and no diflerence in 

 the numbers or labors of either swarm could be dis- 

 covered. The activity at the new hive continued 

 till near night, when it suddenly ceased, and at 

 night, the hive was found empty of bees, a few 

 small pieces of comb being left as the result of 

 their labors. Now I should like to know from 

 some of your subscribers who have had experience 

 with the honey bee, whether the bees select then- 

 tree in the forest before swarming ; — the best meth- 

 od of preparing the hive and hiving the swarm 

 — and whether a swarm, intent on leaving for the 

 woods, can be prevented, and in what way. It ap- 

 peared to me that the bees absent from the hive at 

 the time the swarm left, were unacquainted with 

 the movement ; but on returning with the honey 

 they had collected, immediately left for the new res- 

 idence in the woods. This would account for the 

 general activity about the hive uptil the absent bees 

 had returned, and again departed in train of the de- 

 camped colony. If so, there must have been a gen- 

 eral knowledge respecting the new location ; and 

 to tliat point all directed their course, so soon as it 

 was discovered that tlie main body with the sover- 

 eign, had left. A B:;gin.ner. 



From the Cincinnati Gazette. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



The following communication came to us yester- 

 day through the Post Office. It has reached us in 

 thirteen days and after the strawberry season is 

 over; but still it may be of interest to those culti- 

 vating the delicious fruit The conmumication 

 probably remained in the writers pocket until yes- 

 terday. 



Cincmnnti, June 27, 1839. 



Mr Hammond : In your paper of this morning, 



you give an extract from the New York Journal of 



Commerce, by which it appears that a person in th? 



vicinity of that city, "the present season, sold $240 



worth of strawberries, from one acre of ground." 



Mrs Arbigust, for several years, from strawberries, 

 made at the rate of .*1000 per acre, from her gar- 

 den in the vicinity of this city. She raised the va- 

 riety called the Hudson, and they measured frorr. 

 9 to .5 inches in circumference. For many years 

 she was the only person in the vicinity, aware of 

 the fact, that in this and most oth&r varieties of the 

 strawberry, there are two classes of plants — the 

 one defective in the male and the other in the fe- 

 male organs ; and that an acre of either kind, separ- 

 ate, would not produce a perfect fruit. In running, 

 the barren, or male vine, forms ten new plants, 

 where the female forms one, and the latter soon dis- 

 appear. She is the only person, with the exception 

 of her children, that I have ever met with who can 

 tell the male from the female when out of blossom. 

 When in blossom, they can be distinguished at the 

 distance of 20 feet. This subject is, even now, 



but partially understood i and with tlie care used 

 by Mrs Arbigust, in the vicinity of New York, an 

 equal yield may be obtained. 



N. LoNGWo ;th. 



A Hint in Houseici/a-y. — In summer and autumn 

 your soap grease is apt to accumulate beyond your 

 immediate wants; if put it away it is apt to be de- 

 voured by maggots, and if made into soap, you may 

 not have pine or other vessels enough to hold it. — 

 Having suffered loss from being placed in s.ich cir- 

 cumstances, we were much gratified with a piece of 

 intelligence accidentally received, which relieved 

 us from the disagreeable dilemma. By the boiling 

 your soap with salt, about a quart of the latter to 

 three gallons of the former, you can separate lye 

 and water enough to make the soap hard. After 

 boiling half an hour, turn it out into a tub to cool. 

 Cut the cake which swims on the top into pieces, 

 and having scraped off froth and other impurities, 

 melt again, (without the lye and water underneath, 

 of course,) and pour into a box to cool. You may 

 then cut it up into bars of proper dimensions for 

 drying. By adding a proportion of rosin, well pul- 

 verized, at the last boiling, you will have yellow 

 soap like that made for market. 



Families moving to the "far west" or elsewhere, 

 would find it more advantageous to make their soap 

 fit for carriage in this way, than to givj it away or 

 sell.it for next to nothing.- — Farmer's Mo. -Visitor. 



OXEN vs. HORSES. 



Mr Tuckf.p. — There are different opinions a 

 luong the farmers in this vicinity, respecting the ex 

 pense of keeping a yoke of oxen, and a span of 

 horses. Having used oxen from my youth up to 

 the present time, I know pretty well what the ex- 

 pense is of keeping them during one year. A yoke 

 of oxen will not perform more than half the labor 

 that a good team of horses will, and the expense of 

 keeping a span of horses is but a trifle luore than 

 that of keeping oxen. No team can labor without 

 being pretty well taken care of. I will admit hors- 

 es cost something more than oxen, but a team of 

 good horses will perform enough more in the course 

 of a year to pay for all the diftercnce that there 

 would probably be in keeping. 



If a farmer has nothing but an ox team to put in 

 his spring crops, and it should bo excessively warin, 

 (whicKit very often is in the spring,) it would be 

 very late before he would get his seeds into the 

 ground. Farmers who are obliged to have hired 

 labor through the summer season, would do much 

 better to have horses for their teams tlian oxen ; 

 that is, if they desired to get the worth of the money 

 they have to pay for the labor of tJieir hired men. — 

 In a hot summer's day, if a luan were sent into the 

 field for the purpose of ploughing with an ok team, 

 I would warrant you the man would do but very 

 little. 



Oxen are very good in their places ; for instance, 

 take a yoke of oxen into a new fallow(for tlie purpose 

 of drawing logs,) and they are far better than horses ; 

 and there are many other kinds of work on a farm for 

 which oxen are preferable to horses — for ploughing, 

 by all means give me a good span of horses. No 

 farmer ought to be without oxen upon his farm, 

 but in my opinion they never ought to be put into 

 a plough, when horses are so much better. For 

 repairing fences, carting manure, stone, rails, &,c., 

 oxen are preferable to horses ; but they are poor 



animals for the farmer, in any other employment on 

 his farm. Whether any of my brother farmers will 

 agree to the above I know not. If any should not, 

 I hope they will express their opinion" through the 

 Columns of the Genesee Farmer. — Genesee Farmer. 



A gond Cow, good Butter, and a good deal of it. 

 — Mr Editor: As a good deal has been said rela- 

 tive to the quantity of butter exhibited some short 

 time since, by Mr Kenworthy, made from one week's 

 milking of a single cow, I was curious to ascertain 

 the facts, as well with regard to her keep as the 

 produce. I accordingly inquired in the proper 

 quarter, and was informed that the cow Filton, now 

 about seven years old, was purchased of John Zane, 

 of this county, with her dam, both for thirtyeight 

 dollars. Filton, at the time of her purchase, was 

 four months old. This is all the information I have 

 been able to obtain. Mr Kenworthy informed me 

 that her keep was as follows ; a small quantity of 

 hay in the morning, then a mess of bran, while eat- 

 ing which she was milked ; then about half a peck 

 of grains, well mixed with a suitable portion of cut 

 stuff, with the addition of a little salt She was 

 then well curried, then watered, and especial care 

 taken that she did not drink too much. If the 

 v.'eather was favorable, she was permitted to run in 

 the barn yard, if not, she was stabled again, and 

 fed with hay only. At noon and night she was 

 treated in the same way, as above described, in ev- 

 ery particular, except that the grains were omitted 

 at noon. Milked morning and evening, the quan- 

 tity of milk varying from twentytwo to twentyeight 

 quarts per day. The following is the produce of 

 butter fiom the two weeks' milking : 



First week's butter 18 lbs. 



Second week's ]0 1-2 



34 1-2 



Three pans of milk, belonging to the second 



week's milking, were frozen, and thereby lost 



The butter was very beautiful to appearance, and 

 of a very superior quality, and we hope that many 

 of our fair country-women will follow the example 

 of Mrs Kenworthy, who deserves no little credit 

 for her care and attention to the duties of her dairy. 

 — Farmer's Cabinet. 



Memoranda for young silk cullfirists.— Let silk 

 cultivators bear in mind that the careful and atten- 

 tive manager of silk worms, will make his worms 

 spin cocoons in four weeks ; eight pounds of his 

 cocoons will make a pound of raw silk, and a pound 

 and a quarter of his raw silk will make a pound of 

 finished sewing or other silk. The careless mana- 

 ger will require at least six weeks before his worms 

 spin their cocoons — ten pounds at least of his co- 

 coons will be required to make a pound of raw silk, 

 and at least a pound and six ounces of his raw silk 

 will be required to make a pound of finished sew- 

 ing silk. Lot the rules of arithmetic be applied to 

 find how well the silk business will pay for care 

 and attention.,— /our. of the Amer. Silk Society. 



Growth of a drove of pigs. — Col. Merritt, of Jay, 

 informs us that he purchased a drove of pigs or 

 young shoats in Brighton last fall, and drove them 

 vp east into Maine. He was four weeks upon the 

 way, and part of the time was stormy and bad trav- 

 elling. He kept them upon corn and water, and 

 they gained 2000 lbs. weight '1 his was probably 

 growth rather than fat, but at 6 cts. per lb. would 

 pay nearly or all the expenses. — .Maine Farmer. 



