132 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April., 
vat overflows into the hog-yard, but docs no harm. 
He asks whether the practice is advantageous, and 
whether, as the vat is covered with a floor and with 
earth, there is danger of its causing typhoid fever ; 
also, can anything farther bo done to complete the 
arrangement with a view to protit or to health ? — 
There can be no question as to the value of the 
manure produced, nor of the profit of its applica- 
tion by a convenient sprinlsling cart. This custom 
is almost universal throughout Holland and Belgi- 
um, and is considered the very Iceystone of profita- 
ble farming ; in Japan, where the productiveness 
of the soil is very remarkable, all, or nearly all of 
the manure that is used, is reduced to a liquid 
form, and applied to growing crops. On the score 
of profit, I can suggest no improvement, except 
some arrangement to increase the quantity of the 
liquid. With a good well, conveniently situated, 
it would pay to pump a great deal more water into 
the vat, diluting the liquid and increasing its quan- 
tity ; for one advantage of the i^roecss comes from 
the raanurial constituents of the contents of the 
vat, and another, and vciy important one, from the 
Irrigation of the crops, — the benefit from this latter 
being so great that it would pay, it it could be done 
at a mod 'rate cost, to sprinkle the gi'ound with pure 
rain water only. The danger of malaria may be 
considerable, unless proper precautions are taken. 
The vat should be ventilated, if only by an open 
hole in its top, and this hole should be large enough 
to admit light ; for it is supposed that the produc- 
tion of the peculiar poison which occasions typhoid 
is the most active when the decomposition of or- 
ganic matters is carried on in the absence of air and 
daylight. The ventilation of the vat being se- 
cured, the pipe near the house should be thoroughly 
trapped, to prevent gases formed within the pipe 
itself from gaining access. As good a trap as any 
for such a situation is the ordinary grease-bos, used 
for sinks, and this will have the added advantage 
of keeping out of the pipe much matter that would 
by its accumulation obsti-uct its flow. 
Voices from the Bee Hive. 
INTSRFRETKD BY M. QUINBT, ST. JOUNSVILLE, N. T. 
Recent experiments made in Germany, by care- 
fully washing the stubble and roots of plants so as 
to free them from earth, and thus determine their 
value as manure for the subsequent crop, have 
given important results, as shown by these tables : 
5'^ J^ c 
Lucerne (4 ypars old) 
Red Clover (1 year old"-... 
EsparBcttc (3 years old).. 
Rye 
Swedish Clover 
Rape 
Oats 
Lupine 
Wheat 
Peas 
Serradella 
Buckwheat 
Barley 
,678.1 
,921.6 
,930.9 
,264.6 
,001.3 
4T7. 
,331,9 
,530.9 
4T6. 
,322.3 
,120.1 
1,195.6 
,991.4 
136.4 
191.6 
123.? 
03.3 
102.3 
36.5 
26.6 
03.2 
23.5 
33.6 
0!.8 
47.9 
22.8 
1,201.6 
l,'Ji9.9 
1,023.4 
1,747.8 
974.6 
622.3 
1,444.7 
530. 
1,089.8 
070.7 
545.6 
465.5 
301.1 
CONTENTS or THE ASHES, IN 
POUNDS, PER ACRE. 
1 
•3 
I 
« 
S 
11 
197.7 
202.9 
132.8 
73.2 
136.1 
163.9 
85.5 
80.5 
76.7 
71.7 
79.8 
80. 
42.2 
24.2 
48.4 
28.7 
11.3 
17.6 
12.9 
11.2 
11.2 
10.1 
11. 
13.4 
7.3 
5,5 
36.7 
58.3 
43.6 
31.2 
25.9 
S1.7 
24.8 
16.5 
28.4 
11.2 
8.8 
8.8 
9.5 
26.4 
ao.o 
13.8 
43.3 
3.7 
20.9 
18. 
3.3 
11. 
7. 
4.8 
4.2 
3.5 
18.7 
26.1 
20.6 
11.8 
13.2 
30.8 
8.8 
7. 
7.4 
9.4 
9. 
6.6 
5.5 
38.5 
74 3 
Esparsette 
Rye 
Swedish Clover 
liape 
29.7 
24.4 
24.2 
31.9 
29. 
Lupine 
Wheat 
13.8 
11.8 
11.3 
Serradella 
Buckwheat 
Barley 
18.4 
11. 
•11.2 
In consideriacr the effect of any crop on the sub- 
sequent crop to be grown on the same field, the fig- 
ures given in this table will show not the positive 
value, for this must constantly change, but proba- 
bly the relative value, and also the de^ee to which 
the most necessary constituents of the second crop 
are provided by a preparatory crop of one kind or 
another. The lep:uminous plants stand at the head 
of the list, and of these, as experience shows, red 
clover takes the first rank in all three of the impor- 
tant items of nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid. 
If the weather continues as cold through March, as it 
has been in February, very many of us who live in ox- 
posed hives, will suffer greatly. No warm sunny days 
have invigorated our systems, and many of us— kept in 
hives out of doors— have already failed. When in com- 
fortable quarters, in latitude anywhere from 40" to -15*', 
don't be in too much of a hurry to get us out. We mean 
by comfortable quarters, a room or cellar where the tem- 
perature has not been below 40°, nor more than 50°. 
Don't be anxious to get us out the first warm day this 
month, and then let us stand through the cold nights 
that often follow. If we are quiet, it indicates that we 
are comfortable, and are willing to remain bo a month 
longer than is generally allowed us. If any of ua arc so 
cold that our excrement is voided in a liquid state, soil- 
ing everything near us, perhaps it would be best to let 
us take a flight in the open air, on the first warm day. 
If the day should prove very fair, and there arc many of 
us, our exercise would prove invigorating. Those of 
us who had been confined nrar the center of the hive, 
would scatter to the out-side combs, and bring to the 
cluster very much of the honey. The mother, or queen, 
as you call her, as the weather becomes warm, and the 
honey is brought near her.^ thinks it time to commence 
her labors. Eggs will be deposited near the center. 
The temperature* necessary to hatch these eggs, is proba- 
bly not below 70° to flO". Now if the temperature of 
the open air is down to freezing, we must, to get the 
proper temperature for the eggs, consume more houey, 
and consequently exercise more to generate heat, and 
then cluster very closely to retain it. When we are too 
cold, honey is consumed to very little purpose, as but 
little brood will be raised, and every day, if possible, a 
few of UB leave, and many are lost, more in fact than 
the brood that is maturing will replace. The best thing 
to do at such a time, is to return us to winter quarters 
until the next warm daj', when another flight will be 
advisable. This will be needed much more than if we 
had been kept warm and quiet since November. Let 
those which are still quiet remain until flowers appear in 
abundance. In some localities we have been thus kept 
to advantage, until May. A great many of us dwindled, 
and were lost in April, la?t year, many more were very 
much reduced. If we have been kept in the open air 
all winter, and still survive, it would be well to put the 
hive into comfortable quarters, until the chilly boister- 
ous winds of Slarch and April arc passed— except, per- 
haps, a few of the finest dayg, when we might be return- 
ed to the stand. Let us occupy the old stand every time 
we are put out. If we fail to gather every particle of 
pollen that is produced, the failure wiTl be of less con- 
sequence than the loss of bees in trying to collect it. A 
strong force to gather it, when pollen is abundant, and 
the weather warm, is very satiitfactory. 
Report of Producers, by m. q. 
Our North Eastern Association met according to 
appointment, on February 3d and 4th, at Utica, N. Y. 
The president in opening the discussion, alluded to the 
amount of honey brought to the New York market the 
past season. An inquiry among the dealers in the city, 
resulted in the estimate that the surrounding country 
and states, had furnished 200.000 pounds of honey, and 
the same quantity was received in addition from Cali- 
fornia. The report of what each member furnished, is 
not at hand, but I will mention what a few contributed. 
J. E. n ether ington. Cherry Valley, N. Y., himself and 
assistants sent to market 57,000 lbs., collected by about 
600 hives. P. 11, Ellwood, Starkvillc, Herkimer Co., N. 
Y., had the care of 175 stocks, and gathered a surplus of 
17,050 lbs. L. C. Root, Mohawk, Herkimer Co., N. Y., 
from 102 stocks, had 10,()00 lbs. A. H. Root, Palmyra, 
N. Y., and a near neighbor of his, from about 40 stocks, 
averaged a little over 100 pounds from each stock. The 
amount reported by very many others, will be published 
in the report of the session. I mention these, because 
they kept rather more than the usual number of stocks, 
aud used the hive described in the Agriculturist, in 1873. 
When the result from iudividtial hives has been given, 
the question has been asked why I did not give the 
average from a whole apiary. Here it is. I received a 
report from Adam Grimm, a veteran bee-keeper in Wis- 
consin, who formerly kept bees in Germany. He started 
with over 700 stocks, and rnports 25.000 pounds, sent to 
New York market. Has now a greater immber of stocks 
than any other man in America One other point was 
referred to in the opening, that I wish to mention : 
there are dealers in honey, who purchase a small quan- 
tity of the pnre article, and adulterate this with some- 
thing of loss value, and sell it to the consumers as 
honey, thereby lessening the value of the pure article. 
This was discussed at the American Convention, bht 
nothing was done further than to pass resolutions. At 
our Convention, after approving of their resolutions, a 
committee was appointed to ask our Legislature— in the 
name of the association— to protect us as they do farm- 
ers, dairymen, merchants, aud others. We a&k that 
every honey jiroducor who offers honey in market, should 
label every package of honey with his own name, and 
what it contains to the best of his knowledge, and if 
any dealer or producer, is detected in adulterating it, 
aud not labeling in accordance with the law, let him 
be liable to the penalty of obtaining money under 
false pretenses. We ask every honest bee keeper to 
help in this matter. The foregoing was intended for the 
March number, but accidentally left out. 
Beekeeping i» Spain. 
[Mr. H. Gil, one of o\m subscribers in Spain, in a re- 
cent letter asks, among other things, various questions 
about bees ; these were referred to Mr. Quinby. and as 
his replies will be interesting to beekeepers elsewhere, 
we give them here. The nature of the questions will be 
inferred from the answers.- Ed.] 
In answer to some of the questions of Mr. H. Gil, I 
would say that I still like the hive described in the Agri- 
culturist of 1873, better than the one in my book, 1865, 
lor the following reasons. The bees can be protected 
from the moth-worm better. The clamps at the corners 
will prevent warping, even better than nails. It is im- 
possible to make a hive with joints so close as not to 
leave a crack sufficient for a worm to creep in, as soon as 
the bees generate moisture to warp the boards, from the 
inside'; the 16th of an inch will admit them, and they 
will gnaw out a place largo enough for a cocoon. When 
a worm is so completely enclosed in a hive nailed to- 
gether, it is almost impossible to remove it. It remains 
until it becomes a perfect moth. Suppose the moth- 
worm has made lodgement in a crevice of the new hive. 
In one minute every joint can be taken apart, and every 
cocoon be scrapedoff, and worms destroyed— the frames 
standing on the bottom undisturbed. The outside can 
bo almost as quickly put together again. We think more 
of preventing a permanent lodgement of the moth than 
of getting rid of it afterwards. A \i\\Q full ot bees is 
never much affected by the worms. As long as a swarm 
of bees is strong enough to do anything, this hive— at 
least the combs— can be kept full of bees. As the frames 
stand on the bottom board, and each one holds itself up, 
if the bees become reduced so as not to cover all the 
combs, those outside can be removed until they do. 
Then if tlie panels on each side are set up to them, w-e 
have a hive full of bees. When they increase enough to 
cover more combs, we have only to put in some of the 
combs that were taken out, until we get the number 
needed, or if it is desired, boxes can bo put on instead. 
I have found it much more trouble to diminish the size 
of the hives with suspended frames, and make them bee- 
tight, than with this one. The condition of the hive with 
regard to the number of bees should be watched dili- 
gently. When they become weak from overswarming or 
other cause, the moth will enter^ascertam wbat is the 
matter without delay. The outsitfe of this hive is re- 
moved in a moment. The outside of the outer comb is 
examined without disturbing a bee — no boxes ought to 
be on when bees arc scarce. Now slip the comb side- 
ways, and unhook it and examine the other side. Hook 
it on a few inches from the first, and take the next one 
in the same way until all are examined, not a bee will be 
angered by being squeezed, as they often are by lifting 
out a suspended comb with an uneven surface between 
two others. Whenever the true condition is ascertained, 
the comb.'* can bo set back in a few moments. Suppose 
the worms have gained access to some crevice in the 
bottom on which the frames stand, it is only necessary 
to have a clean hive, one that has had every vestige of 
egS, worm, or moth destroyed by scalding water, and set 
the combs in that, and then the hive from which they 
have been removed can be cleansed with boiling water 
without killing a bee. If necessary to drive the bees 
from any particular place during the operation, a little 
smoke will be needed. Worms breed in a lower temper- 
ature than bees, and when confts are taken from the 
hive to save them from the moth, they should be sub- 
jected to the fumes of brimstone once or twice to de- 
stroy any eggs or larvre that may be in them ; if they 
are kept perfectly safe from the moth, they maybe kept 
for months. If Mr. Gil will learn how to keep his bees 
strong at all times; it can be done by exchanging combs 
filled with brood for empty ones, or other means, he will 
soon cease to fear destruction by the moth in any hive. 
Throughout this conntrj' the product of this hive has 
exceeded any other. I think too that the surplus obtained 
in it would be much superior to that he complains of. 
For his climate I would not transfer to the straw-hive 
by any means. The largest bee-keeper in this country 
has several hundred straw-hives t^irown aside, and has 
transferred to this new one, and finds money in the opera- 
tion. When the temperature is not severe, the straw- 
hive is the best one for winter, but this one is readily 
converted into a substitute, by just tying the frames to- 
gether and unhooking, and then hooking Ihom on a strip 
laid on the bottom, so as to bring the frames the other 
