SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
79 
many swarms, the head of the gum should be placed in 
August under the upper apartment, to remain until the 
next swarming season is over. 
HOW TO MAKE A WEAK HIVE STRONG. 
Take oiF the head of the gum, cut out the comb, until 
you come to the eggs that produce the little bee; then 
cease to use smoke; patiently wait awhile, and you will 
see the bees crawl up freely, and among them the queen 
will be easily known ; capture and destroy her, 
for her v/eak laying qualities is the sole cause of 
the weak hive. But you will destroy the hive. Be 
easy ; just , close it up snugly and your faithful work- 
men and best of servants, will do the balance. The little 
workmen will go to work and build some rough cells over 
some of the eggs intended to raise the worker bee, and 
by feeding them on different food new queens are raised. 
These new queens fight for the- rule until all are slayed 
but one, and in 50 days you will see your hive stronger. 
I don’t believe it, some will say. You don’t. Very well. 
Then tell me, if you ever knew anything to lay three kinds 
of eggs. Then how does it happen that there are three 
kinds of bees, unless one kind of egg produces 2 kinds of 
bees. Answer this, or no longer doubt a truth that I have 
proven. 
THE PROPER TIME FOR ROBBING. 
There is but one season of the year that will do every 
year to rob bees, and that is immediately after the swarm- 
ing season. You can then with safety rob all but the 
young hives, and you can take all the good honey at or 
near the upper end of the gum. 
Robbing after that must be done with caution, or else 
you destroy your bees. But you can rob as often as you 
please after that, even in the dead of winter. But you 
must always leave them enough for winter food. It is no 
uncommon thing for bees to gain no weight after the 1st 
of June; and hence close robbing is dangerous. By 
weighing, I have known them to gain finely one week, 
and lose the next. Once I had a very large swarm of 
10 pounds to gain 44 pounds in 11 days, and after 5 
weeks old it gained but 10 pounds the ballance of the year, 
and I have had a swarm that come the last of August that 
gained but 6 pounds, yet lived through the winter ; anoth- 
er that weighed but 10 pounds, including bees, that also 
lived ; but these are rare cases. I have had some eight 
swarms in August and all lived, but rarely ever had one 
the last of May that did live. Fifteen pounds clear of the 
gum, makes a safe hive, to live through the winter. 
I doubt the propriety of cultivating anything to feed 
bees. But it is just to say that 1 have tried only Buck- 
wheat, and then I observed, by actual weighing of bee- 
hives, that when thejr gained fastest they paid the least 
attention to Buck- wheat ; although it was blooming finely, 
I have often watched bees on flowers, and find all gather- 
ing bee bread, and I seriously doubt whether they collect 
any honey from flowers ; but where they get it from is a 
mystery to me. But I believe the perspiration from leaves 
is the main resource, having noticed many employed oh 
green leaves when they were making large gains. 
Bevan is right about the life time of bees. Now I close 
by assuring the reader that proof and proven facts, have 
been my only guide. And if I can advance the cause of 
my little, but great favorite, I will respond to queries put 
in the Cultivator. Yours, &c., 
M. T. McGehee. 
Bradley Co., Ark., 1856. 
Cheap Fruit. — An American, at Gibraltar, writes that 
he bought “two pounds of grapes, two pounds of apples, 
two of peaches, two of lemons, and a basket to carry them, 
and all for a quarter of a dollar.” 
SOWING AND REAPING. 
Sow with a generous hand. 
Pause not for toil or pain, 
Weary not thro’ the heat of summer,, 
Weary not thro’ the cold spring rain ; 
But wait till the autumn comes 
For the sheaves of golden grain. 
Scatter the seed, and fear not 
A table will be spread ; 
What matter if you are too weary 
To eat your hard-earned bread'? 
Sow while the earth is broken. 
For the hungry must be fed. 
Sow ; while the seeds are lying 
In the warm earth’s bosom deep. 
And your warm tears fall upon it — 
They will stir in their quiet sleep; 
And the green blades rise the quicker, 
Perchance for the tears you weep. 
"Shen sow — for the hours are fleeting, 
And the seed must fall to-day ; 
And care not what hands shall reap it, 
Or if you shall have passed away, 
Before the waving corn-fields 
Shall gladden the sunny day. 
Sow, and look onward — upward — 
Where the starry light appears — 
Where, in spite of the coward’s doubting, 
Or youc own heart’s trembling fears, 
You shall reap in joy the harvest 
You have sown to day in tears. 
{English Paper. 
ECONOMY OF FEEDING FARM STOCK. BY 
Steamed Food. 
The scarcity of grain in the years 1854 and 1856 has 
led to the investigation of more economical methods of 
feeding farm stock. Thousands of farmers who had for- 
merly been in the habit of feeding hogs, cattle, and horses, 
npon dry corn in the ear, have found a saving of at least 
twenty per cent, in grinding or cleaning the corn fed to 
their stock. But recently, still greater improvement has 
been adopted by a system of more thorough preparation 
of the food by steaming or boiling, which renders it more 
perfectly adapted to the natural demand of the animal 
economy, thus securing the perfect digestion of all the 
grain consumed. 
On the 16th of July last, Mr. Samuel H. Clay, ofBour- 
bon county, Ky., put up six thrifty hogs, averaging in 
weight about 2.jU pounds each. 'Ihese he fed twelve days 
on cooked meal — taking fifty pounds of meal, adding wa- 
ter, and boiling it until the meal had absorbed sufficient 
water to increase the bulk to four hundred and fifty 
pounds of mush. This was fed to the six hogs twelve 
days. The gain of each hog was from twenty five to fif- 
ty pounds. This was by the way’of preparation for the 
experiment. The hogs were then separated into three 
lots, and placed in close pens, and fed as follows : The 
first lot, Nos. 1 and 2, were fed on boiled corn, and roa- 
sumed, in this time, nearly seven bushels when dry. Un- 
der this treatment the two gained 102 pounds. Nos. 3 and 
4 were fed the same length of time on boiled meal, pre- 
pared as detaded above. The meal, when dry, was less 
than five bushels; No. 3 gained thirty pounds, and 4 
gained fifty pounds. 
Numbers 5 and six were fed on dry corn for the same 
period, and consumed seven bushels and one peck. No„ 
5 gained 10 pounds and No. 6 gained 32 pounds. Taking 
