t86!. 



NEW ENGLAND EAUMETl. 



287 



claiming other people's ideas and property, and 

 kf the following couplet was not written for him, 

 it is not the less appropriate : 



"The part yoa stole I like the best — 

 Go on, good Sir, and steal the rest." 



The two best works on bees are undoubtedly by 

 Mr. Langstroth and Mr. Quinby, but neither of 

 these are just what is wanted by the farmer and the 

 mechanic. They require a plain, simple, practical 

 treatise, with all theories and speculations left 

 out. Mr. Quinby or Mr. Langstroth, might write 

 such a book, and yet I fear, when Mr. Lang- 

 stroth becomes fully aware of the thieving pro- 

 pensities of Italian bees, he might stop to lecture 

 them on their bad habits ; while Mr. Quinby 

 would guess too much to suit people who want to 

 know plain and simple facts. 



The number of patent hives is very great, 

 amounting to some hundreds. I had supposed 

 that every possible idea had been used up by the 

 patentees, but it seems that I am mistaken. 

 Judging from an article in your paper of the 13th, 

 it would appear that a new and fruitful field is to 

 be opened for patent hives, and Mr. Quinby, who 

 has hitherto had a holy horror of patent hives, 

 now summons to his side the innumerable host 

 of inventors. He assures us, that he has, at the 

 present time, a straw hive, adapted to improved 

 bee-culture — and if he cannot get a better one, he 

 will shortly give us a description of it. Before 

 the country is deluged with these new patent 

 hives, I should like to look into them, and see in 

 what the advantage, if any, consists. Mr. Quin- 

 by says "that they are warmer in winter, and 

 cooler in summer." I will leave this assertion 

 for some future occasion, still satisfied in my own 

 mind that it is like the Irishman's grog, that kept 

 him warm in winter, and cool in summer, and 

 was good at all times. Again, it is said "that the 

 straw hives absorb moisture as generated by the 

 bees, and save the bees the warmth they have 

 generated." If this is true, its author has added 

 a new chapter to the philosophy of heat and mois- 

 ture. I had supposed that where a body was suf- 

 ficiently porous to allow moisture to pass freely 

 through it, that there was a good deal of danger, 

 that any amount of heat inside of such an enclo- 

 sure would be likely to go the same way. I have 

 read a great many wonderful things about bees, 

 and am disposed to consider them a marvellously 

 interesting little people, and if they have led to 

 the discovery of so important a matter as the sep- 

 aration of caloric from steam by means of straw, 

 they have an additional claim upon our attention. 

 Place a swarm of bees in a straw hive, and they 

 will do very diiferent from any bees I have ever 

 seen, if they do not line the inside with propolis, 

 a substance impervious to air and moisture. If 

 this be true, (and I hardly think Mr. Quinby will 

 deny it,) the supposed advantage of the straw 

 hive must be sought for in another direction. I 

 beg to suggest, that among the many disadvanta- 

 ges, some advantages are to be found in the straw 

 hive ; first, as a general thing, no boxes are used, 

 and the bees are not ever robbed of their stores ; 

 second, the conical, or dome-like shape of the 

 hive, lined as it is with propolis, being cooler 

 than the air within, the moisture condenses, and 

 runs down the side of the hive, instead of collect- 

 ing as it would on a horizontal surface, and drop- 



ping down among the bees and comb. The ad- 

 vantage of the straw hive is so connected with its 

 shape, that when used in a square form, it will be 

 found of little or no value. Again, "bees in straw 

 hives, swarm ten days earlier." This statement 

 is not confirmed by many who have the straw 

 hive side by side with wooden hives, where no 

 boxes are used to obtain surplus honey. Mr. 

 Quinby says that the best material for a hive is 

 straw, and that he has clearly shown it. This is 

 not so clear to me. I am by no means sure that 

 there is any real advantage in the straw hive. 

 Certainly not, if the form is to be changed. It is 

 with some reluctance that I differ with Mr. Quin- 

 by. My first ideas of bee-keeping were derived 

 from him, and I might still have regarded him as 

 undoubted authority, had not accident thrown in 

 my way the Langstroth hive, by which I learned 

 more in one season than I should have found out 

 in a life-time by using the twelve by fourteen box 

 hive. As it is, I trust Mr. Quinby will not blame 

 me, if I am not tickled with his straws. 



Winchester, May 4. E. A. Brackett. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 KEMEDY FOR TAPE WORM. 



Mr. Editor : — In one of the Farmers not long 

 since, there was mention made of the tape worm, 

 which brought to mind a statement made by one 

 of my neighbors, a Mr. B., who is considered as 

 good for truth as any other man. The statement 

 was, that when he was a boy, his health was very 

 poor, people thought him to be in a consumption, 

 that his food seemed to do him but very little 

 good, and the smell of victuals often caused him 

 to vomit. He told his mother ong day that he 

 was sure that it was worms that caused his ill- 

 ness, upon which his mother went and got a 

 handful of dried wormwood, and burned it, took 

 the ashes and mixed them with molasses, and told 

 him to eat as much as he had a mind to. He 

 commenced and eat of it freely that day, and part 

 of the next day, when all at once he felt some- 

 thing give way in his stomach, which caused him 

 to retire, when to his surprise. he discharged a 

 tape worm which measured between two and 

 three yards in length, besides several other long, 

 round worms. That the molasses and ashes of 

 wormwood did not agree with those long fellows, 

 was evident from the fact that the monster tape 

 had become spotted about one-third of his entire 

 length. Hiram Baldwin. 



Williamsville, Newfane, Vt., 1861. 



Cranberry Plants. — Mr. F. E. Brummit, of 

 Walpole, has forwarded a letter to us, to send to 

 "N. P., North Providence, R. I.," who inquired 

 through the Farmer, May 11, where he could ob- 

 tain cranberry plants. We know not who "N. 

 P." is. If correspondents would put their names 

 to articles they send — especially when they make 

 inquiries — they would succeed better in their ef- 

 forts, and it would save us some trouble. We 

 have several letters now on hand, which we are 

 requested to send to persons whose address we 

 do not know. 



