50 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Februaut, 
and transfer the combs and bees to the movable frames 
the first convenient season. Ton n iil thus get some ex- 
perience, if nothing else. The transferring is as easily 
managed as many farm operations. Above all things, do 
not depend on patent hives helping you to anything. 
Do not forget what was said In December regarding the 
effect of steady cold. 
Itroncs und Swarmiiig.-Mr. J. C. 
Christian, Koanoke, Ind., writes : "When bees kill off 
their drones in early spring, before they are ont of the 
cell, as well as after, will they then swarm before you see 
any of the second crop of drones fly out ? Should honey 
become suddenly abundant, and keep favorable, my 
opinion is that they will swarm about tsvo weeks after 
the second crop of drone-eggs is laid. Am I right?"— 
To this Mr. Quiuby answers : A strong colony of bees, 
with a fertile queen, and abundance of honey on hand, 
will rear drones at the commencement of warm weather, 
usually in May. Yet but few swarm then in this latitude. 
If honey should become scarce between fruit-blossoms 
and clover— it does sometimes— the mature drones are 
destroyed, and even the chrysalis is often dragged out 
and sacrificed. When honey is again abundant in the 
flowers, more eggs are deposited in the drone-cells. The 
swarm may issue before a drone appears. When a stock 
has too little honey to afford to rear drones until the 
flowers yield it, they will occasionally swarm before 
drones appear. The appearance of drones is not a cer- 
tain indication of swarming. Bat when they are de- 
stroyed, it indicates that honey is scarce, and no swarm 
need be expected at such time. If it occurs late in the 
season, they may not swarm, although they may rear 
drones. A hive that has not reared any drones until the 
flowers yield honey is much more likely to swarm than 
one that has destroyed them once. The queen does not 
lay drone-eggs exclusively at auy time, but a nmnber of 
both drone and worker eggs daily for months in some 
seasons. Drones do not appearto control the swarming. 
We consider so many of them a useless horde of con- 
sumers, and take measures to prevent the bees from rear- 
ing so many. We find that if the queen lays her eggs in 
drone-cells they hatch out drones, if in worker-cells they 
arc workers. Acting on this bint, we cut out all the 
combs from a box-hive, transferring them to movable 
frames, rejecting drone-combs, and without them they 
can raise no drones. We think that we know better 
than the bees when we want swarms, and control that 
also. If we want swarms — which is not often now — we 
make them artificially. 
Taking Salmon Spawn ox tiie Penobscot. 
— Good progress is making in the work of re- 
storing salmon to our barren streams. The 
great difficulty has been hitherto in securing 
spawn. Our fish commissioners and breeders 
have had to send to Canada, and pay 40 dollars 
in gold per thousand for the eggs. This pre- 
vented any large stocking of our streams. 
Last year an Association of Fish Commissioners 
and Breeders secured the services of C. G. 
Atkins, and demonstrated the practicability of 
buying salmon of the Penobscot fishermen, 
keeping them through the summer in pounds, 
and taking the spawn in the fall. About 72,- 
000 spawn were taken, and 96; per cent "Im- 
pregnated by the dry method. The cost of the 
eggs wtts about 18 dollars a thousand. This 
year Sir. Atkins purchased over 600 salmon, in 
June and July, and early in November took 
1,500,000 eggs. They are nearly all impreg- 
nated, and doing well. This will make the 
cost of the eggs not far from two dollars a thou- 
sand. This splendid success will make an 
impression upon the New England rivers, in 
which most of the fry will be deposited. 
A New Variety of Cotton. 
At the Cotton States Fair, held at Augusta, 
Ga., in November last, we saw with much in- 
terest a new variety of cotton exhibited by 
Dr. T. L. Anderson, of "Washington, Ga. We 
were informed by Dr. Anderson, a very intelli- 
gent gentleman, that about five years ago he 
noticed in a field of cotton a single stalk of a 
habit of growth so different from the rest as to 
attract his notice. The cotton plant ordinarily 
branches from near the base, with branches 
along the stem gradually diminishing in length, 
so that the plant when well developed is some- 
what pyramidal in shape, with its diameter 
nearly equal to its bight. Upon the plant dis- 
covered by Dr. Anderson the branches did not 
exceed a length of three inches, and the bolls 
were of unusual size. The seeds from this plant 
were carefully sown by themselves, and by con- 
tinuously selecting the short-branched plants for 
propagation, the Doctor feels sure that he estab- 
lished a variety having this peculiarity. At ail 
events, we saw a sufficient number of speci- 
mens to indicate that a large number of such 
plants had been raised, and if the short-branch- 
ing habit is not already permanently fixed, there 
seems no reason why, with proper care in selec- 
tion, it should not be. Besides the marked 
habit of the plant and the size of its bolls, the 
staple is, according to the testimony of good 
judges, of excellent length and quality, while 
the bolls ripen uniformly and earl}'. This new 
cotton excited much interest among the cotton- 
growers present, as it combines several desirable 
qualities. By reason of its short branches, the 
plants can stand much closer than the ordi- 
nary kind, it can be allowed to stand at a dis- 
tance of ten inches in the rows, and it is esti 
mated that on account of this and the large size 
of the bolls, the yield upon rich land will be 
much greater than that of any kind now grown. 
Should the plants all grow like the specimens 
we saw, one of the greatest difficulties of pick- 
ing by machinery will disappear. Where the 
plant grows in a pyramidal shape, the bolls are 
placed at such irregular distances from the main 
stem of the plant that it is hardly possible to 
invent a machine that will collect from all ; 
while in Dr. Anderson's variety the bolls upon 
one side of the plant are in no case more than 
six inches distant from those upon the opposite 
side. "We hope that future experience with this 
new cotton will sustain the hopes of its 
discoverer and introducer. v 
Artificial Manures. 
As we discover how necessary it is for us to 
add to our resources for fertilizing our farms by 
the use of artificial manures, it becomes the 
more necessary to know how to avoid be- 
ing defrauded by having worthless articles 
palmed off upon us. It is also more necessary 
to know that there are fraudulent so-called 
manures, that are not manures in any sense, 
but worthless stuff, mainly sand or water, offer- 
ed at prices equal to the best fertilizers. It is on 
these artificial manures that we mainly depend 
for our necessary supply of phosphoric acid, an 
element that more than auy other is most diffi- 
cult to replace in the soil, and one that is car- 
ried off in large quantities by every valuable 
crop, as well as by milk and meat. It is not 
only a necessity for our soils, but a costly one ; 
and when we pay $60 for a ton of superphosphate, 
which we expect contains, and ought to contain, 
150 Ibs.of phosphoric acid, at least, in a soluble 
state, and find on examination that it is entire- 
ly deficient in this costly ingredient, as in fact it 
is of all value whatever, we not only are de- 
frauded of our money, but are led to throw 
away vainly much labor and careful preparation 
of ground for crops which we fail to reap. 
Frauds in fertilizers are the basest of all frauds, 
and the most reprehensible. It is well that 
farmers should be on their guard against them, 
aud buy only from responsible dealers, and with 
a guarantee of quality and with :i certificate of 
analysis attached to each package. When the 
manure is used, a sample of about a pound from 
each package should be retained with the cer- 
tificate and guarantee, aud if a suspicious failure 
of the manure should occur, the remedy may 
then be sought and restitution be enforced. In 
some of the States stringent laws for the pro- 
tection of farmers are in force, as they should 
be everywhere. Their necessity is proved by 
the fact that the tabulated analyses of fertilizers 
sold in Vermont prepared for the report of the 
Vermont State Board of Agriculture, now be- 
fore us, show that one of these so-called fertil- 
izers had a value of $16 per ton, another of only 
$6, and some others had actually no real value 
at all; while genuine articles ranged from $40 
up to $75 per ton. 
An English Agricultural Libel Case. 
A few months ago the Mark Lane Express 
contained a report of the Chemical Committee 
of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 
in which some cases of so-called poisoning of 
cattle by adulterated linseed cake were referred 
to, and the public generally cautioned to avoid 
the use of such cake. This was construed by 
the manufacturers of the cake as a libel, and an 
action for damages was instituted by them 
against the Society. It was proved on the trial 
that the cake, which was called "Triangle Best 
Linseed Cake," was neither best linseed cake, nor 
in fact really linseed cake at all, but consisted 
of a mixture of various seeds of weeds, some in- 
nocent and some injurious, a large percentage 
of sesame cake, bran, and about 50 per cent 
only of linseed. The evidence also proved con- 
clusively that the death of some valuable Short- 
horn cattle had been occasioned by this indi- 
gestible cake. But the law of libel in England 
confines the defendant in such a case as this 
very closely to the exact proof, literally and not 
constructively, of his statement from which the 
libel has grown. It seems that the Society were 
uuable to show that the cattle were really poi- 
sontd by the cake, although there was no ques- 
tion that they died from eating it. Out of this 
small loophole the plaintiffs were able to escape 
with the very nominal damages of about $50. 
The result of the trial wits really a victory for 
the Society, although formally otherwise, for 
the cake manufacturers throughout England 
immediately changed their brands, and now no 
longer sell mixed and adulterated cake as " best 
linseed," "pure linseed," or "genuine;" but 
make use of those words in the sense in which 
ordinary purchasers would understand them. 
The judge, Mr. Justice Blackburn, in his sum- 
ming up of the evidence, made this necessary 
by saying that "the calling an} - cakes linseed 
cakes, except those made from linseed either 
screened or as imported, was a commercial 
fraud." As the manufacture of oil-cake is 
greatly increasing in this country and its use 
for feed becoming continually greater, the 
above brief history becomes interesting to us. 
Culture of Sugar-Beets. 
It is a question whether the culture of tobacco 
now so extensively carried on in the Eastern 
States, could not be profitably replaced by 
the culture of sugar-beets for the manufacture 
of sugar, combined with the feeding of cattle 
for market. It is useless to speak of the fact, 
that the one article is a luxury and the others 
