448 



NEW ENGLAND FAfi:MER. 



Oct. 



THE COMMOlSr, OR SMOOTH, SUMAC. 



This shrub, or sometimes 

 small tree, is occasionally in- 

 troduced into the grounds 

 about dwellings, and whero 

 it has plenty of room to 

 branch out, forms a fine con- 

 trast with other shrubbery and 

 trees. It branches yery ir- 

 regularly, which leaves an 

 open head, so that other plants 

 are readily seen through it. It 

 flowers in June, and its berries 

 are matured in September or 

 early October, and may be 

 found all over the eastern slope 

 of the Union. Whether it is 

 common in the West, or not, 

 we have never learned. 



A vigorous plant, and one 

 that has fully fruited presents 

 a very pleasant appearance, 

 after its berries have assumed 

 their autumnal purple hue. 



The berries are used in coloring 

 are a somewhat important article in commerce 

 We are not aware that it is injurious to the far- 

 mer, otherwise than, as it is a hardy plant, it 

 propagates itself rapidly when left unmolested. 



morocco, and 



For the Netv England Farmer. 

 CROPS TN IOWA. 



Not until to-day has our crop of wheat been 

 really secure, though we have seen reports to that 

 effect, in the Eastern papers, for weeks. Two days 

 ago, nearly one-half the wheat in Cedar, and ma- 

 ny other counties of Iowa, was un stacked, with 

 frequent showers and a very warm and sultry at- 

 mosphere, which, had it continued a short time 

 longer, would have essentially damaged a large 

 amount of our ample, excellent, and now secure 

 crop. The late showers have put the corn and 

 potatoes out of danger from drought, and our 

 prospects for unprecedented harvest are very flat- 

 tering. 



I have frequently, and honestly, written discour- 

 aging letters about the West. I can now, as 

 honestly, write one of a different tone. Indeed, I 

 might almost rc])eat what I wrote some four or 

 five vears ago, about a certain "farm in Iowa," 



be Dought in Cedar Co. for $5 an acre ; and cer- 

 tainly that can be paid for in one year, like the 

 present. And there is my friend McNeil, "the 

 bee man," (one of your subscribers,) rather badly 

 in a year ago ; but this year making honey and 

 money, at the same time, at a rate that will clear 

 him up, if no unusual disaster occurs, in another 

 year. With Langstroth's hive, and a perfect pe/i- 

 chant for bees and their work, he is like David 

 "as a Avonder unto many." In fact, it seems to 

 run in the blood, for a bee seldom stings either 

 him or his children, though they are among them 

 all the day. And if a unamiable "worker" hap- 

 ])ens to light on the baby, as one did yesterday, 

 it hardly hurts him enough to make him cry. 



On the whole, we can now venture to invite 

 our Eastern friends to come to see us, and buy a 

 hit of land, which is as cheap as it ever can be, 

 and as anybody ought to desire. M. K. C. 



Tipton, Iowa, Aug. 10, 1860. 



Impoktation of Stingless Bees. — Our old 

 friend, A. O. MoORE, Esq., who has done a world 

 of good by his agricultural publications, and who 

 went to Central America last year on account of 



his health, has just returned from Guatemala, and 

 which coct the owner .$S an acre, and which he ! has brought with him two swarms of the stingless 

 proposedjo nearly^payfor, with the first crop of bees common to that country, which he has giv- 



whcat. Why not ? Figures, properly used, Avill 

 not lie. 



Here is my neighbor Starr, for instance, with 

 2.5 bushels of wheat to the acre, on land broken 

 for the first time last year. At 75 cents per bush- 

 el, the current price at Muscatine and Davenport, 

 that would be .518,75 per acre. Allowing one- 

 half for cost of raising and harvesting, and we 

 shall have left $9,37^ per acre. 



But, just as good land as his or mine, can now 



en in charge of Mr. Parsons, of Flushing, who 

 will propagate them for the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of the Patent Ofl[ice, which Avill in due time 

 distribute them, if it is found that they can be 

 kept in any part of the United States. 



Satan is on the tongue of him who slanders, 

 and in the ear of him who listens. 



