III. XXII. N ). 2*. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



187 



From ihe Albany Cullivalor. 



HABITS OF BEES, 

 though niucb lias been said and writleii on the 

 loiiiy of l)(;es, there are still many thiiiijs jjer- 

 ng to tlieiii not well understood ; and it is only 

 rescrviiis; facts, as they are from time to time 

 gilt to liiilit, that we may at last he alile fully 

 [iderstaiul their habits and to pursue the best 

 e of management, 

 ime correspondent of the Cultivator denies the 

 enco of the jue^n bee as it is called. It seems 

 e this man's opportunities for observation can- 

 lave been very extensive, or he would not have 



such a denial. The existence of such a bee 

 )t a matter of doubt ; the most ample evidence 

 be hid on this point. As to the office, or all Ihe 

 's of this bee, we cannot perhaps speak so po- 

 ely ; but it is well known that no swarm will 

 Pell for any length of time without it ; and it is 

 y opinion equally certaii> that such a bee is the 

 ier of the country. There are some who be- 

 in the existence of a reigning governing bee, 



who denotninate it a'A-j'ng-." Such people 

 irally consider the " king 4ee" a male, and sup- 



the drones are females. I have often exami- 

 the drone bees at various seasons of the year, 

 pening their abdomens, but could never find 

 appearance of eggs in them. But eggs have 



1 found ill what is called the queen bee. 



lines Righlmirc, ofKnox county, in this state, a 

 1 of German descent, an old bee hunter, and a 

 e observer, (though of limited opportunities for 



ing,) states that he has several times found 

 i in queen bees that had been killed or injured 

 iccident. He also relates some facts which go 

 nile the question whether it is the old queen or 

 lungone which leaves the hive when a new 

 rm comes out. Some expert bee keepers 

 in the practice of closely watching a hive when 



about swarming, and by securing the queen of 



new colony, when she makes her a]ipcarance, 



cropping one of her wings, so that she cannot 

 prevent the swarm from going off to the woods, 

 the bees will not leave their queen. Mr. Right- 

 e states, that several years since, he caught a 

 en bee at the time a swarm was coming ou* of 



ve, and cropped her wings. He put her into a 

 I hive, and the swarm soon followed her. He 

 t this bee for jive years, during which time she 

 le out with seven or eight new swarms, always 

 dnsr out whenever Ike hive she was in siearmcd. 

 is bee was at last killed by accident. She came 

 with a swarm, and being unable to fly, fell 



the ground. Mr. R. noticed the confusion of 

 bees, and went to search for the queen ; but 

 , lying ou the grass, could not be readily seen, 

 I he inadvertently crushed her with his foot. 

 ; was full ofegs;s, and but for her tragical end, 



ht have lived to propagate her species for five 

 irs longer. 



Sometimes there are several queens come out 

 :h a swarm. In this case, the swarm is either 

 )divi(led, each queen taking a portion, or as is 

 re frequently the case, battles ensue between 

 queens, and the right to wield the sceptre of 

 lernment is decided by mortal combat, the con- 



test continuing until only one remains alive. Mr. 

 Rightmire says he has often witnessed these con- 

 flicts, and in one instance knew four queens to be 

 killed in a single hive, before peace was secured. 

 During these battles, the bees seemed in the great- 

 est commotion, doing nothing but run about in the 

 most agitated manner. 



Sa.nford How.vrd. 



Zanesville, O., Sept., 1S4S. 



CANADA THISTLES. 



We are requested to give some good method of 

 destroying Cnnada thistles. We have had some- 

 thing of consequence to do with this great pest of 

 Ihe farmer. They may be very quickly and cheap- 

 ly destroyed by using the land for a mowing field. | 



On tillage, they are a great nuisance. High 

 cultivation makes them grow the better. The 

 common operations in hoeing will not destroy them, 

 and on sowing land down to grain or grass, the 

 thistles almost get the exclusive occupancy, and 

 what of other crops may chance to grow, it is diffi- 

 cult 10 harvest, and before it is ripe, the thistles 

 will have produced a large crop of seed, that will 

 become scattered in every direction. 



By using land that was full of thistles for mow. 

 ing, we have a mixed crop of grass and thistles the 

 first season, and when cut early to prevent seeding, 

 the thistles will be eaten by horses, if not by other 

 stock. On mowing the second year, there will be 

 but lew thistles, and they will be very slim and 

 weak. In this way they may be totally destroyed 

 with very little trouble or disadvantage, when the 

 land can be conveniently used for mowing; and if 

 it is filled with thistle seed that will lie dormant 

 for awhile and start on cultivating the land, it may 

 be kept in grass, and renovated by inverting the 

 sod and sowing to grass again. 



If a pasture be much infested with thistles, the 

 best way is to turn it to mowing, and in a few years 

 they will be destroyed. We have mowed thistles 

 several years in succession in a pasture, without 

 reducing them any of consequence. On using the 

 land for mowing, most of the thistles disappeared 

 the second year. This is the cheapest mode of 

 destruction. — Exeter JVews Letter. 



./lid of Science to ^Agriculture. — If the earth is 

 to be tilled at all, it must be tilled according to 

 some ride. But that rule, we are told, is fi)unded 

 upon experience. And upon what is natural sci- 

 ence founded, but upon this same experience, aid- 

 ed by experiments, and the whole digested and ar- 

 ranged by talent and industry .' It is rare to find 

 any one so very prejudiced as to reject the wisdom 

 of /lis oicii experience ; how blind and selfish, then, 

 to reject the experience of others! If there were 

 no other advantage, the time saved by substituting 

 experiment for experience, when it can be done to 

 advantage, is of the utmost importance to the hus- 

 bandman. Time is money — and such men as Da- 

 vy, Liehig, and Sillnnan, can extract in a few days, 

 more solid information from a few well directed 

 experiments, than can be gleaned from the experi- 

 ence of a whole life, unaided by the lights of sci- 

 ence. Hence a partial acquaintance with some of 

 the sciences — chemistry, in particular — becomes 

 necessary to the farmer who would not be a mere 

 drudge, doomed to follow in the worn-out track of 

 Ills ancestors. — Browne's •'Iddress to the Philad. 

 Jlgricul. Soc. 



NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Messrs. Tappan & Dennett have published a 

 little work, entitled " The Revised Statutes of the 

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and additional 

 laws up to 1841, reduced to questions and answers, 

 for the use of Families and Schools : by Wm. B. 

 Wedgewood, A. B." This work will be found 

 highly useful to enlighten the nunda of our youth 

 in relaticm to our laws, which are here presented 

 in a simple and attractive form. 



Transactions of the Worcester County Jigrmdlu • 

 ral .Society for the year ISi'l : Printed by order of 



the Trustees We are indebted to J. W. Lincoln, 



Esq., for this report. It contains the Hon. Cliarlea 

 Hudson's address, and other matters of interest, 

 which we shall occasionally publish for the benefit 

 of our readers. 



" The Farmer's Museum." — We have received a 

 specimen number of a new agricultural periodical 

 with the above title, to be issued monthly, com- 

 mencing with January, from the office of the Al- 

 bany Cultivator. It will be of half the size of that 

 popular magazine, and furnished to subscribers at 

 50 cents per year. The " .Museum" will be made 

 up of selections from the well-filled pages of the 

 "Cultivator," — and this is a sufficient guarantee of 

 its worth. 



Seasonable Hints. Shut Ihe Door. — You 

 found it closed when you entered — why, then, 

 should you leave it open ? A man who is thought- 

 less in this particular, we regard as one who con- 

 ducts all his business rather loosely. 



Square up .Accounts. — The first of January is not 

 far distant: prepare yourself to settle with all you 

 owe, and make all who owe you, do likewise. And 

 first of all, remember the printer's I'ill. "Dow, jr." 

 the preacher, says somewhere in hij " Potent Ser- 

 mons," that he never knew a man to prosper in 

 life who defrauded the printer. Whether this be 

 so or not, they only deserve to prosper who " deal 

 justly." 



Tlie Cattle's (Quarters. — See that your cattle are 

 well secured against cold. " Comfort is cheap fod- 

 der," — and it is hardly less a dictate of self-interest 

 than of duty and humanity, to see that your ani- 

 mals are comfortably provided for. 



Gates for Bars. — If you liavo any bars on your 

 premises, substitute gates in their stead. TJiese 

 are both time-saving and labor-saving fixtures, and 

 have the additional merits of being more secure 

 and more convenient. 



Barn Cellar If it can be as conveniently done 



now as at any time, construct a cellar undcryour 

 barn, or a portion of it, for the storage of roots, 

 and the preservation of manure. The farmer who 

 has no barn cellar, is getting to be considered be- 

 hind the ago. 



The Children. — Do n 't keep your children from 



school in the day time, nor make them shell corn 

 in the evening, if they are disposed to pursue their 

 studies or to read any useful book. Next to the 

 duty you owe your God, is that which you owe your 

 offspring — and you cannot more faithfully discharge 

 it than by giving them in their youth every possi- 

 ble facility for the acquisition of knowledge, while 

 you impress upon their minds the precepts of mo- 

 rality and illustrate them by your own consistent 

 example. 



