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SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
year after year, and what must be the result'? Ultimate 
barrenness, of course. There is no remedy but to sup- 
ply in the form of manures what is thus taken away. 
The farmer must feed the land which feeds him and so 
many others, or in the end all must starve together. In 
!be older portions of our country at least, the time has 
^me when the importance of manuring should be more 
&jlly appreciated. — The Farm. 
The above article is timely, and contains truths oft re- 
peated, and not sufficiently heeded by cultivators, but at 
the same lime some of the inferences are erroneous. The 
opening of the article infers that soils in woods grow 
jicher oy the additions added to them from the decay of 
the current growth. This of course is true so far as addi- 
donal organic matter, or that solidified from the atmos- 
phere by the growing forest, as carbon, &c., is returned 
io the soil; but it is not true that any new portions of the 
more valuable inorganic matters are added. The greater 
sause of improvement is from the fact that the portions 
taken from the soil, and which would develop themselves 
as ashes if the woods were burned, are progr£ssed or ren- 
dered capable of feeding a higher class of plants by each 
appropriation in organic life. The quality, and not the 
, quantity, is improved, and it is for this reason mainly 
that old forest lands, when cleared, are found to be pro- 
ductive, and particularly when the forests are burned in 
place. In such case, all the alkalies and other inorganic 
constituents of the trees are not only restored to the soil 
in an improved condition for re-assimilation, but they also 
decompose the leaves and other organic matter in the 
soil, and thus cause them in turn to give up their progress- 
sd mineral constituents. 
In the last paragraph the writer says ; “With each crop 
that is taken from a plot of ground a greater or less 
amount of each of the elements of fertility — silex, potash, 
lime, soda, &c., — is necessarily removed.” Now all this 
is tru^ and particularly in shallow plowed soils, but the 
inference of the total removal of these inorganic constitu- 
ents from the soil is certainly erroneous, as in most soils 
the same ingredients continue a depth of many feet, if not 
all the way to the earth’s center. But unless the soil be 
deeply plowed, and for a considerable time, it is true that 
progressed portions, ox those which have occupied or- 
•ganic life before, may be removed so as to leave the un- 
progressed portions only, which cannot be assimilated 
by crops of a higher order, and hence the necessity for 
manures as well as for deep plowing, so that atmospheric 
and other influences may progress new quantities of the 
constituents of the soil so as to replace those removed by 
crops. Manures simply supply progressed constituents 
Tsrhen placed in soils made up of un progressed constitu- 
ents, and thus supply the current wants of a crop until na- 
•'Ure’s laws can progress new quantities from the soils 
fhemselves. These processes go on most rapidly in un- 
der-drained and sub-soiled lands. — Working Farmer. 
SOURCES AND QUAEITIES OF HONEY. 
Editors Southern Cultivator. — One intelligent man, 
hy promulgating a few errors over his own name, can do 
isaore harm to the cause of truth than all the old believers 
m death-watches and ear-wigs put together. For this 
reason, men should be cautious, and not essay to establish 
a great truth, until they are certain they can support 
^eir theories by sound philosophical reasoning. I have 
Ibeea led to this train of reflection from reading an article 
ia the Dec. Number of the Medical Journal, “ on the 
resources and qualities of honey, by Dr. Baker, of Eufala, 
.Alabama.” 
The Dr., sets out, as he intimates, “ to combat the 
erroneous, yet almosr universal impression that bees 
“ extracF honey from flowers, and that as some blooms 
possess poisonous properties, the honey extracted from 
them must, of necessity, be more or less deleteriourfy 
impregnated,” The article is intended as a partial reply 
to a short one of mine, written for the same Journal ; and 
in which I assumed the position, that the notion that 
honey is ever poisonous, is nothing more nor less than 
a popular error — and I am of the same opinion still. In 
the examination of Dr. Baker’s communication, I shall in 
the first place notice the first branch of the subject, viz . 
the resources of honey, and that I may do the Dr. fafl 
justice I will quote all he says upon it : 
“About the middle of June, 1850, 1 was at an old hun- 
ter’s house, in South-Western Georgia, preparatory te 
starting with him on a deer drive. This man was a great 
lover and minute observer of Nature ; in his yard there 
was a great number of bee-hives, and he sold the honey 
in large quantities to the neighboring villagers. While 
at his house, I heard him complaining that there was a 
honey famine — that the hives were all ready for its recep- 
tion, but that they were utterly destitute of honey, and that 
the bees would soon starve. I asked him, how such could 
be the case, when it was then the middle of June, and 
the country full of flowers, and why the bees did not col- 
lect it'? 'To my great surprise, he replied, that bees did 
not get honey from flowers, but that it “ fell Irom the 
clouds.” I was amused at the idea, but, of course, wholly 
sceptical concerning it. He, nevertheless, assured me of its 
correctness ; and to my question, why did we always 
find bees at work upon flowers '? — he answered that, they 
were gathering pollen, from which they made bee-bread 
for their young, and that they were also collecting mate- 
rials for forming the honey-comb and arranging the cells, 
— to convince me, he exhibited to me a hive, where, sure 
enough, existed the comb, cells, and all else, perfectly 
prepared, yet not a particle of new honey, and the old 
supply nearly exhausted. There was prevailing at the 
time a severe and protracted drought. Of course I had 
to believe what I saw, but was still an unbeliever as to 
the “ honey falling from the clouds.” 
“The evening of the same day, we went fifteen miles in- 
to the wild woods, where our hunting party camped, far 
away from any dwelling. The Old Hunter and I slept 
under two beautiful young hickory trees, and at dawn 
the next m.orning he roused me up, exclaiming, with 
great enthusiasm, “ the honey dew has fallen ! — get up, 
you unbelieving Thomas, and and see for yourself.” 
Upon rising, the first thing that attracted my attention 
was the buzzing of bees, and on looking up to the top of 
the hickory trees, I saw myriads of them working, and 
coming and going ; the limbs of the trees grew low to 
the ground, and upon its being pointed out, my astonished 
eyes beheld, for the first time, the “honey dew,” on the 
leaves,_and occasionally actually roping down and drop- 
ping from the pendant points of the smooth leaves; I 
tasted it frequently, and at once recognized the peculiar 
flavor of the common honey. I saw, and felt, and tasted 
it, and my mind was convinced by these means, which 
God had given, to lead it to correct conclusions.” 
I would not make the Dr. answerable for the errors of 
his friend, the old hunter ; but I do assure him that bees 
never starve, so long as the weather will permit thena to 
go out ; of this fact, he can satisfy himself by a little con- 
sultation with his bee-keeping friends. The only instance 
in which T have known them to starve, occurred with me 
last year — I had two swarms to issue on the first of April. 
The weather continuing very fair for a few days A«y 
