78 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
RAISING STOCK IN THE SOUTH, Arc. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — Our country here- 
abouts, this morning, looks more like the Icy South than 
the “Sunny South.'’ The trees everywhere are loaded 
with ice, and still raining, with the wind frdfo North- east 
and the thermometer indicating 33° Fah. What will be- 
come of the stock is a problem I can’t solve ; that will de- 
pend entirely upon -whether or not this weather continue. 
Planters are not prepared for such weather as this, not ex 
pecting it, and consequently their stock are badly provided 
for. More pigs and shoats die in this country than any coun- 
try I ever saw, and the reason of this is to be found in the 
fact that our system of hog culture is defective. Instead 
of managing our sows so as to have them “bring forth” in 
March and April, and September and October, in mild 
weather, and thus the pigs grow up healthy, and get the 
start of hot and cold weather, the boar is permitted to 
run with the sows from January to December, and our 
crop of pigs not unfrequently come in winter, and in the 
spring we have a few little scrubby things that have lost 
all their vitality in such weather as this, and the sows 
are not in a condition to bring them at the time we want 
them. 
If planters would manage like your correspondents, 
Bradbury, of Georgia, and E. Jinkins, of Mississippi, 
they would overcome the difficulty in hog raising, which 
they say exists in the climate. 
I read with no ordinary pleasure Mr. E. Jinkins’ article 
n the December [185G] nnmber of Cultivator. I 
think, from his talk, that he believes that land can be 
improved in Mississippi, by manuring, rotation of crops 
and rest. If so I should be pleased to hear from him on 
the subject through your journal. I have been ridiculed 
hereby some who cal! themselves P-l-a-n-t-e r-s, because 
I contend that a vt?orn-out place may be improved at less 
expense than one can be taken from the woods and 
brought into cultivation and improved in the way of 
building like the old one. 
They say, “what! haul manure enough to improve 400 
or 600 acres of land, and that, too, one or two miles ! ! ” 
No sir, I don’t propose to do any such thing. No man 
that has a thimbleful of brains in his craninm would 
dream of such a thing. I propose to make the manure in 
the field where it is needed, and on the highest points, so 
that it may be carted, and with but little trouble; and in 
this way, together with rotation, subsoiling, rest-abso- 
lute rest — turning under pea vines and stubble, and guard 
draining and horizontal culture by which last to keep the 
manure where I put it, and the soils where Nature’s God 
put it to improve a plantation. 
In conclusion, permit me to say that I intend to make 
some experiment in the application of manure to different 
crops, and subsoiling, which perhaps may throw some 
light on the above subject, the result of which I will send 
you at the close of the year. 
■Fours, &c,, G. D. Harmon. 
Utica ^ Miss., Jan , 1857. 
BEES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — The interrogatories 
of A. T. Sherrill, and Mr. LaTaste’s reply in your 
September [185G] number, and reply of “F. T.” in October 
number, have awakened me to revive my own 34 years 
of experience ; 13 years in Elbert County, Ga.; 13 years 
in Noxubee county. Miss , and 9 in Arkansas, with Bees. 
During which time I have been more liberally assisted 
by a pamphlet, or small book entitled “Buvan on the 
Honey Bee,” in arriving at correct conclusions, than all 
other reading (not s little) put together. Several asser- 
tions in that work I seriously doubted; such as the short 
life of the male bee (drone) 4 months) and worker bee 
5| months, and, long life of the queen, not proved, but 
known to live 7 years; and the- capacity of the wmikers, 
to raise a new queen, upon the sudemdeath of the old one. 
These doubts led me into various observations and experi- 
ments, to prove up for myself; and in every instance I 
found Bevan correct, and' ^vrith all my heart -would T re- 
commend to all w'ho desire correct information on Bee 
raising to purchase that truthful, and truly instructive 
work. Many other writings, that I have read, abound in 
hurtful errors. 
Of all the luxuries vouchsafed to man, I know of none 
that man takes so little pains to cultivate, and on account 
of his ignorance, abuses so badly as tlse Bee. Often it is 
said, the moth, or insects have destroys d the bees ; but 99 
times out of 100 this is not so ; they are lost either by the 
ignorance, or neglect of the owner ; and I can unhesitat- 
ingly say, that I do not believe insects ever did destroy 
a strong healthy swarm. The simpleton takes the effect 
for the cause. The dunce when he finds his bees gone 
from a gum turns it up and finds it lined with cobwebs 
and insects, then he is certain that the insects have de- 
stroyed them. Thus charging on insects the very charge 
he ought to make against himself, for murdering by his 
neglect or ignprance his ow-n most faithful and industrious 
slaves. But how is this % Do you set your gums exposed 
to all kinds of weather, cracked in many places % Do 
you set them on the ground, or so near that the toads and 
fowls of your yard can eat your bees at pleasure % If sOy 
you deserve to lose your bees — you are the true murder- 
er. 
Bees are valiant and v/aichful, and when in full force, 
will defend their entrance from all intruders; that en- 
trance should never be more than 5 inches long and 1-4- 
incli wide, 
I have already invited the reader to Bevan for much 
useful information, and, to avoid being tedious, I will now- 
give him my plan of management, which for simplicity, 
economy, and profit, is better than any I have seen or 
know of, and w-hich makes my bees worth, in a poor- 
honey country, at least $10 per stand ; yielding me 2 1-4 
gallons of the best honey, and 2 pounds of wax per stand 
a year ; worth ®2, or 20 per cent,, on $10. 
I utterly repudiate the stoppage of swarming as destruc- 
tive. Vv^here is the fool that ever thought of raising hogs 
without new families, or anytihrig CISC'! So important 
a law of nature cannot be violated without ruin ; hence 
all the fancy tales of bee palaces, bee houses, &c., are 
nothing but ingenious contrivances to destroy bees. The 
size of the gum should conform to the capacity of the 
country to produce honey. 
[Here follows a description of gums, which we are 
obliged to omit, on account of not having the requisite cuts 
to accompany it. We will indeavor to illustrate the matW 
in a future number.— Eds.] 
My gum bench is two inches higher on the back than 
the front, which gives a handsome descent from the back 
to the front — a material aid for the bees in carrying out 
their dead and filth. The lower end of the gum is so 
sloped as to stand erect on the bench, and is also 1-3 
smaller than the upper end. The importance of this is to 
lessen the waste apartment, for it is here and at the mouth 
that all the battles are fought between the bees and their 
enemies ; and the smaller this apartment is the less chance 
for the moth, especially with weak hives. The bench 
should not be less than 2 1-2 feet from the ground. And 
as much room diminishes swarming, when one vvisbes 
