1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



349 



ease in their hogs, which might have been avoid- 

 ed by less heating food, as boiled potatoes, or 

 other roots aud vegetables with a little bran, 

 shorts, ground oats, peas, barley, &c., mixed there- 

 with. Such a mode of feeding is not only more 

 wholesome, and more promotive of growth, but, 

 also, decidedly more economical. 



Another good point in Mr. S.'s mode of man- 

 agement is, he never keeps any spring pigs over 

 winter, or any pigs whatever over a year old, ex- 

 cept breeding sows. He aims to have two litters 

 every year ; the first he butchers at ten months 

 old, if not earlier, and the second litter, coming 

 in the fall, he disposes of as roasters and in oth- 

 er ways. 



And now, what is the result of all this superior 

 good management ? It is this : — Mr. S. makes 

 his pigs, at ten months old, dress over four hun- 

 dred pounds, (400 lbs.,) this weight being about 

 his average aim and attainment. He has some- 

 times exceeded even that large average, some of 

 his hogs, at ten, or ten and a half months, weigh- 

 ing, when dressed, 450 pounds. This remarkable 

 success, and the hope of enabling others to come 

 somewhat near it, have induced me to write out 

 the abov« statement of his mode of management. 



More Anon. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MK. KIDDEB AND HIS HIVE. 



In a communication published in the Farmer, 

 May 18, I incidentally alluded to Mr. Kidder's 

 hive and book. I see by your paper of the loth 

 that Mr. Kidder does not seem pleased with what 

 I said, and endeavors to turn aside my remarks by 

 insinuating that I am interested in the sale of 

 the Langstroth hive. Mr. Kidder is mistaken. 

 I am not interested in the sale of any hive, wheth- 

 er patented or otherwise. My sole object in 

 speaking of his hive, was to caution the public 

 against what I had good reason to believe was an 

 imposition. Mr. Kidder says in his book, page 

 147, that he is "well aware that the public have 

 been swindled out of much money by highly ex- 

 tolled patent hives." This is just what I meant 

 to convey when I spoke of his hive. Believing it 

 to be a swindle, and knowing that the best part 

 of it was purloined from the Langstroth hive, I 

 did not hesitate to speak of it as is deserved. Mr. 

 Kidder's denial of my statement is a matter of no 

 consequence. Any one who will take the trouble 

 to compare the two hives, will see that I have 

 done him no more than justice. His book is, if 

 anything, worse. It is a complete system of 

 wholesale plunder from well known authors. The 

 engravings are transfered from Langstroth's book, 

 and whole pages are copied from Bevan without 

 credit or acknowledgment. Occasionally traces 

 of Mr. Kidder's marvellous intellect may be found 

 scattered throogh the book. On page 99 he 

 states that a good swarm of bees will store up 

 300 pounds of honey, and build their own comb, 

 in one season. He had a swarm that stored up 

 125 pounds in eleven days, and there were three 

 days of bad weather in the time. It was a young 

 swarm that came out on the 14th of July.' 300 

 pounds honey at 20 cts. a pound — net proceeds 

 per swarm, $60,00 ! Can any sensible bee-keeper 

 read this statement without coming to the con- 

 clusion that Mr. Kidder is blessed with a large 



share of invention and a happy faculty of steer- 

 ing clear of the truth ! Perhaps Mr. Kidder ought 

 not to be blamed for all the faults the book con- 

 tains — as the gentleman who wrote it for him 

 knew nothing of the natural habits of the bee, 

 and made use of such material as came in his 

 waj\ Mr. Kidder thinks that I "may be tickled 

 with a communication from Mr. Quinby, pub- 

 lished in the Rural New-Yorker of Dec. 18, 

 1858, wherein he says, 'that he had a large num- 

 ber of the Langstroth hives in use, and two- 

 thirds of the swarms that were put into the hives 

 built their combs in every possible direction, 

 without any regard to the frames, making them, 

 so far as movable combs were concerned, no bet- 

 ter than a common hive.' He also adds, 'that 

 the frames were worse than useless, and that par- 

 ties that had purchased the Langstroth hive, had 

 lost both time and money,' and at the same time 

 recommends the use of the common hives in their 

 stead." * 



If this quotation proves anything, it proves 

 that the Kidder hive is utterly worthless ; both 

 hives have moveable comb, and the device for ob- 

 taining straight comb is the same in each. Mr. 

 Kidder having taken his from Mr. Langstroth, I 

 confess that I am pleased with the quotation, and 

 will proceed to acknowledge my gratitude by an 

 extract from the last edition of Mr. Quinby's 

 book published in 1858. As this is Mr. Quinby's 

 authorized work, I take it that the public have 

 quite as good a right to consider it authority as 

 any newspaper article certified by Mr. Kidder. 



Mr. Quinby says, page 377, after speaking 

 highly of the Langstroth hive, 



"That in the summer of 1857, he put nearly 

 one hundred swarms of bees into these hives, and 

 although several made their combs somewhat 

 crooked, they all could be taken out but one. 

 That season proved a very poor one for honey, 

 and to prevent a worse evil they were doomed to 

 the brimstone pit. All the combs in these frames 

 were saved, as so much work accomplished for 

 another year. Such as contained enough honey 

 to make it worth the trouble, were given to light 

 colonies, a number of which were by this means 

 enabled to pass the winter safely. For this sea- 

 son, (1858,) these frames with dry combs were 

 used with empty ones in most of the hives for 

 new swarms. Two or three frames only, contain- 

 ing combs, were put in a hive, as an occasional 

 guide between the empty ones. In this way, I 

 have secured all straight comb." 



From the above it will be seen that Mr. Quin- 

 by ended the season of 1858 with all straight 

 combs. Mr. Kidder's quotation proves that his 

 own hive is a failure. While my quotation proves 

 that Mr. Kidder's pretended quotation is a hum- 

 bug. I. hope Mr. Kidder will give me credit for 

 helping him out of the dilemma. I have no pre- 

 judice for or against Mr. Kidder. I know him 

 principally through his book, his hive, and a no- 

 tice in the papers, that he had appeared in sun- 

 dry places with a swarm of bees in his hat. Af- 

 ter a careful study of his hive and book, I saw no 

 reason why an ordinary-sized hat upon his head, 

 should not leave room for a fair swarm of bees — 

 and in the absence of anything better, I did not 

 feel disposed to call in question his taste in thus 

 filling the vacancy. 



The following statements, one from Mr. Cros- 



