288 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



cdTjTtjke op bees. 



Within the six mouths just passed, we have no- 

 ticed more said in our agricultural exchanges in 

 relation to the culture of bees, than we have ever 

 before seen in three times that period. When 

 well informed on the subject, bee keeping is found 

 to be not only a pleasant and attractive recreation, 

 but a profitable one to the owner. A cheap, but 

 tasty bee house, or a hive set here and there among 

 the shrubbery about the house, has a wonderful 

 home-like and interesting appearance. The curi- 

 ous habits of the bee, and the lusciousness of its 

 products, have a charm for children which they 

 never forget, if they have once visited the farm 

 and enjoyed them. 



A swarm soon becomes acquainted with those 

 who have the care of them, and will cover the flow- 

 ers of the garden or the farm in search of honey, 

 and scarcely ever molest any one who is careful 

 not to injure them. In picking raspberries and 

 strawberries, it is rarely the case that any one is 

 stung, though hundreds of bees may be visiting 

 the blossoms for their rich treasures, at the same 

 time. 



We visited a bee master recently who informed 

 us that he took 07ie hundred pounds of honey 

 from a single swarm, last fall. This swarm win- 

 tered well, while several others standing near were 

 utterly ruined by mice. 



The greatest drawback, however, in bee-keeping, 

 is the destruction occasioned by the accumulation 

 of then* own breath and the exhalations of their 

 bodies. These are much greater than many sup- 

 pose, so that the stronger and more numerous the 

 swarm is, the more danger there is to them from 

 then- own vapor. It is quite common to hear bee- 

 keepers say, they have lost iJieir strongest and 

 best sioarm, and the loss arises from the cause we 

 have just stated, or, in other words, from the want 

 of proper ventilation. Three-fourths of all the 

 swarms lost, die from this cause. 



For two years past we have used the Maine 

 State Bee Hive, invented by Mr. R. S. Totirey, 

 of Bangor, Me., and we have not only had no 

 losses, but have realized a profitable product from 

 their labor. The inventor seems to have been 

 guided in his efforts by the habits of the bee in a 

 state of nature, and has constructed for them a 

 hive, which, in effect, scarcely varies from the 

 hollow tree to which they usually resort. The ven- 

 tilation is ample, and their vapor is collected and 

 led outside of the hive as fast as it is condensed. 



Another great merit of this hive is the cheap 

 and simple mode of feeding the bees when a weak 

 swarm requires it, or when transfers are made and 

 honey and combs are taken from them. Near the 

 top of the hive are several troughs, into which 

 short tin tubes are inserted, through which honey 

 or sugar and water are poured. The combs are 



attached to the under side of these troughs, so 

 that it is only a few inches fi'om the centre of the 

 mass of comb to the top of the troughs. A glass 

 is inserted over the feeding places, which enables 

 the operator to see all that is going on. 



The hive is so constructed that mice cannot get 

 into it, and it has a simple and efficacious moth- 

 trap, which any one can understand and use, — and 

 it costs nothing. 



Mr. Torrey devotes his whole time to the cul- 

 ture of bees, and is an intelligent enthusiast in his 

 profession. He began the hunting and study of 

 bees in boyhood, and often explored the forests of 

 Maine, bringing home with him rich treasures of 

 honey and swarms of bees from their native 

 woods. The construction of his hive has grown 

 out of his ample experiences with these interest- 

 ing insects, both in a wild and cultivated condi- 

 tion, and seems to us to afford the bee all the 

 convenience and safety necessary for it to work 

 with facility and success. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 VAIiUE OP MUCK. 



A subscriber inquires if it will pay to draw muck 

 at this time of the year ? (the winter.) In answer, 

 I would say that it has always paid me to get muck 

 at any season of the year, when I can get at it. 

 A little preparation is necessary to make it very 

 convenient to draw it in the winter, and when this 

 is done, the winter is the very best time to draw 

 it, as then we have plenty of leisure time. It is 

 far easier loading, and we can draw larger loads, 

 when the ground is frozen and covered with snow. 

 I have been in the habit of drawing out from one 

 to two hundred loads annually, and at all times 

 of the year, when most convenient. Of late years 

 I have di'awn considerable in winter, for the rea- 

 son that it does not cost as much to do it then, 

 and I have more time to attend to it. 



We usually have a period of dry weather be- 

 tween the finishing of haying and winter, when I 

 have the muck thrown into heaps as near the 

 hard ground as possible, where the water will leach 

 out of it. By the time that sledding comes, it is 

 considerably dry, and as soon as I begin to fodder 

 cattle in the yard or stable I draw it into the yard, 

 spreading a coat all over the whole surface, also 

 put a quantity in a small room, built off from the 

 stable for the purpose, which I use for bedding 

 the cattle in the stable. As soon as that in the 

 yard becomes covered with straw and manure, I 

 draw in another coating and so keep doing all 

 winter. In this manner the manure is pretty well 

 mixed, and all thoroughly saturated with the li- 

 quid manure, thus saving a great deal that would 

 otherwise drain off. The heaps which I leave un- 

 til winter I cover Avith weeds, buckwheat straw, or 

 any refuse matter to keep them fi-om freezing. I 

 have sometimes applied the clear muck, with 

 marked benefit, but think it is better to compost 

 it with other manure. It may be applied clear on 

 slaty or gravelly land, at the rate of twenty-five 

 or thirty loads to the acre, and the increase of the 

 first crop will not be as large as it would from the 



