gether. What I shall say may induce some 
others to do likewise. He has about four 
a«res of land, and raised last year 125 bush¬ 
els of strawberries and 25 of raspberries; 
had 7 colonies of bees which gave about 
500 pounds of box honey. He intends to 
increase his stock of bees perhaps to 50 
•olonies. Now who will say this is not a 
good business considering the capital invest¬ 
ed. The late improvement in bee-keeping 
is wonderful, and makes it very pleasant 
and profitable It seems now to be possible 
to get from 100 to 500 pounds from each 
eolony T , when they have plenty of pasture 
and a good seascn. To do this only a few 
things are needed. Have very stiong 
swarms—good young prolific Queens—giv¬ 
ing plenty of room. Such ? colony needs 
Irom 25 to 60 sections, with good foundation 
•omb for starters. This number should 
always be kept in process of filling; it will 
not do to wait till all are filled and then give 
a new set. Such a large swarm needs a 
large amount of room in the honey season 
»o that all can have a chance to work. 
Swarms have been known to make 8 to 10 
pounds in a single day when they had 
plenty of room. 
We intend to try a few mammoth swarms 
in connection with the berry business, and 
will report in due time in regard to our 
■uccess. 
Seed- Time and Harvest comes regular 
and brings many things both new and 
useful each time it visits us. 
Respectfully, N. N. Shepard. 
NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
Onion seed should be put in the ground 
early; the difference between a good and 
poor crop often depends upon a week's 
difference in the time of sowing; this is 
particularly so in the Middle States, where, 
unless the plants get an early start before 
dry and hot weather, they will ripen off 
before they attain the size of chinquapins. 
It is a lamentable fact, as indicated 
by census returns, that insanity is more 
frequent among farmers’ wives than in any 
other class. The confinement to home, 
with its unceasing duties, is one cause of 
this tendency. Farmers are compelled to 
leave home more in marketing their pro¬ 
duce, but their wives do not see enough of 
the world to stimulate proper mental activ¬ 
ity. 
Farmers should remember that change 
is the order of nature, that certain general 
rules are inflexible; but for the rest, keen* 
bright intelligence must direct constantly* 
and such intelligence is never developed 
among men who go in ruts, circumscribed 
and restrained. Among thinking farmers 
discoveries that lead to larger profits are 
constantly made, and those who do not 
avail themselves of them necessarily lag 
behind. 
Nothing in vegetable culture is of 
more consequence than that of keeping the 
upper hand of weeds; when once they gain 
the ascendancy the value of the crop is di¬ 
minished. It is, therefore, well to commence 
the work of preventing the growth of 
weeds as soon as the young plants of the 
sown crop show the rows; a sharp-toothed 
rake should be used in disturbing the soil 
close up to the plants, and this will destroy 
embryo weeds even before they make their 
appearance through the soil. In this way, 
by timely and prompt action, weeds can be 
helped by this frequent stirring of the soil. 
Many a man has broken his back and 
lost his heart on a poor farm which he has 
suffered to run down by bad management. 
He has spread his labor and capital over 100 
acres, when by confining himself to twenty- 
live or thirty he might have become happy 
and rich. The way to repair such an error 
is to begin w r ith one field and get that into 
good condition, and let the rest lie, and so 
go on through the farm. One rich field 
will then make it easy to enrich another or 
two; and while the beginning is slow, it is 
dowhill work, and as the end is nearlv 
reached progress is fast and easy. 
The skin or shell of a fruit is of but little 
value by itself, but without it that which 
is valued will soon go to w T aste. So forms 
in etiquette, religion and business, while in 
themselves of out little value, are the pro¬ 
tection of society. 
