1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



121 



tent the most profitable crop was manure, but this 

 depended somewhat on the manner in which it was 

 applied after you have got it. He made his com- 

 post as Mr. Cluincy did, and top-dressed his land, 

 which was a heavy clayey soil. He thought that, 

 if a farmer stocked his farm to its utmost capaci- 

 ty, while he thought that he was working for his 

 cattle, his cattle were, in fact, working for him. 

 The speaker said he principally devoted his farm 

 to stock-raising and fatting stock. He also kept 

 hogs, but he kept them on the starvation princi- 

 ple, using them for their work, which was valua- 

 ble. He endeavored to carry on his farm at as 

 little expense as possible ; he did not cut his hay 

 for feed, because his cattle had the machinery for 

 cutting it themselves, and he further said that he 

 thought that in the cut and wet state it furnished 

 no additional nutriment. He raised 6000 bush- 

 els of roots last j'ear, and he considered them as 

 profitable as any other crop, as his land was not 

 suited for corn, neither was the climate. He 

 spoke of the productiveness of market gardens in 

 the country, and said he did not think there was 

 an acre of ground in the State that, with the 

 proper labor, cannot be made to pay. 



Dr. MAvSOX, of Dartmouth, said the crop in 

 Bristol county was principally hay, and their mar- 

 ket was New Bedford ; the system of farming was 

 mixed, and but few sheep were kept. 



Mr. Davis, of Plymouth, spoke of an order 

 which was before the present Legislature in rela- 

 tion to dogs. He thought that if the law, as it 

 now stands, was enforced, it would answer the 

 purpose designed, but he blamed the Selectmen 

 of towns for not enforcing it. He suggested the 

 appointment of a commissioner in each town by 

 the executive, to enforce the law, who would be 

 independent of the vote of the citizens, and thus 

 act as a check on selectmen and police officers. 



Mr. BusiiNELL, of Sheffield, suggested that 

 towns be made liable for the value of sheep des- 

 troyed by dogs. 



Mr. Sanderson, of Bernardston, said that far- 

 mers living on the Connecticut River excel in 

 raising and fattening stock, and in dairy products. 

 They loolvcd like a very respectable body of men, 

 and appeared to be in good circumstances, but he 

 did not know whether this was from the profits 

 of the farm or not. 



It having been announced that the subject for 

 discussion at the next meeting would be "Ma- 

 nures and their Application," and that Professor 

 Clark, of Amherst, would preside, the meeting 

 adjourned to Monday evening next, at 7 o'clock 

 precisely. 



How TO Manage Bones. — A correspondent 

 of the Journal of Agriculture gives the following 

 as his experience, every other year, for the past 



ten years; that being as often as he could collect 

 bones enough to fill a tub. 



With a sledge hammer break the bones into 

 pieces of one, two or three inches ; take a hogs- 

 head tub, put in two or three inches of hard wood 

 ashes, the same depth of bones ; then ashes and 

 bones until full ; pound or press solid as conven- 

 ient ; fill with water or urine, all that it will ab- 

 sorb. If done in the spi'ing or summer, by the 

 next spring it will shovel out fully decomposed, 

 the bones being as soft as chalk. 



Then, add all your hen manure, shovel and rake 

 it over once a week, for three or four weeks be- 

 fore planting time ; by that time it will be finely 

 powdered. Put about equal to a handful of the 

 compost into a hill, for corn, potatoes, squashes, 

 melons, &c., when it will be found to forward the 

 crops to a wonderful degree. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MORE ABOUT BEES. 



Messrs. Editors : — The breeding and man- 

 agement of bees is far behind most other pursuits. 

 I doubt whether there are as many bees kept in the 

 country now as there were twenty-five years ago. 

 Bee-culture has been "running down." People 

 neglect their bees, seem not to study their nature 

 and habits, yet attend to their poultry, swine,, 

 sheep, horses, neat stock, farms, &c. Breeds must- 

 be crossed, number of males i*egulatod, suitable' 

 food and shelter prepared, &c., &c., but who thinks . 

 of applying the same principles of inexorable na- 

 ture to bees ? Who has dreamed that bees would! 

 be more profitable for "crossing," or that con- 

 trolling the number of males, and the number of 

 swarms, might be a pecuniary advantage ? I find 

 mother nature just as true in bee-culture as in 

 stock or poultry-culture. Bees need a suitable 

 habitation as well as swine, and though it is not 

 quite so much expense to prepare food and shel- 

 ter for bees as for swine, yet the bees pay me the 

 best. In the poorest seasons I expect an average 

 of $5 apiece net profit, on good swarms ; in good 

 seasons some yield $15. The cost of keeping 

 bees is comparatively nothing after the stocks are 

 procured, and hives should not overrun $1,50 

 each ; nearly all the care necessary can be given 

 at odd times, mornings, noons or evenings, by al- 

 most any adept, Avhether farmer, mechanic, trades- 

 man, doctor, lawyer or clergyman, and will be 

 very pleasant as well as profitable. What is more 

 beautiful than a virgin-wliite honeycomb, or more 

 delicious to the palate, or more wholesome ? Who 

 can look upon it but to admire the mathematical 

 skill in its construction, the ingenuity displayed, 

 and not inwardly ask, is here not intelligence, and 

 an example of industry worth preserving ? 



I find from years of experience, that bees will 

 "run out" Avhere bred in and in without opportu- 

 nity for "crossing," and that they can be im- 

 proved by bringing vigorous swarms from a dis- 

 tance and keeping with others. In some loca- 

 tions bees are kept sufficiently near for all prac- 

 tical purposes of crossing, while in others, they 

 are miles distant. I have usually found wild 

 swarms more vigorous and smart than tame, and 

 profitable to place with them. Bees sometimes 

 swarm too much — then, again, not at all, though 

 apparently they might just as well as not; but 



