256 
CULTIVATION OF CORN. 
safety, they then begin their store combs. In order 
to illustrate the effects of a wrong application of 
space in a hive, we will suppose a swarm to be 
hived in a box nine inches in diameter, by fifteen 
inches deep ; the result would be, that the space 
would not admit of as many brood combs as the 
bees would construct in a hive twelve inches wide ; 
but says one, “ the difference is made up in length .” 
Not so. After the bees have worked down some 
six or eight inches, they have then a tendency to 
build drone cells, which nature also teaches them are 
essential to their prosperity; yet they may exceed 
their actual requirements in this kind of ceil, so 
much so, as to be the means of the impossibility of 
their ever doing well, in consequence of there not 
being a proper proportion of worker cells in the 
hive, causing a sparseness in the only kind of bee 
that is manifestly of use, at the same time produc¬ 
ing a legion of lazy drones that gather no honey, 
but consume the scanty supply stored by the 
workers, too weak in numbers to be able to afford a 
particle of their labors to be lost. This, I contend, 
is one cause of ill-success, and if any of my readers 
has hives of such dimensions, or of any dimensions 
in which the depth exceeds the breadth, I would 
advise him to look to it; for, in order to have bees 
prove as prosperous as it is possible for them to 
be, they must be able to give all the increase that 
nature would grant them. 
I will now give a view of the tout ensemble of 
my hites, in order to arrive at other no less im¬ 
portant points. The material is prepared as for a 
hive twelve by twenty-one inches in the clear. At 
a distance of twelve inches from the bottom, a cen¬ 
tre or dividing board is placed with six holes about 
one inch in diameter, through which the bees pass 
into the boxes above. These holes are so arranged 
that three of them come under the centre of each 
box. The top board or cover of the hive projects 
an inch or two over the sides all round. At the 
back of the hive, a door of the size of the upper 
space is placed, which may either be hung on 
hinges, or so secured by two wooden or brass 
buttons, with a small knob in the centre, as a 
handle. This part of the hive is secured against 
rains by having the back fitted in with a groove, 
and the centre-board extending one-half its width 
above the division connecting the main part of the 
hive with the door, and being made on a level at 
this junction, and the door to correspond, causes the 
water in the out-door apiaries to run off without 
the least detriment to the operations of the bees. 
This upper space is of no importance as regards 
the general welfare of the bees, and it may be just 
as large as one pleases, only that I consider a space 
of eight inches by twelve as large as we should 
exact the bees to fill, as our chief security lies in 
seeing that they have an ample supply of honey 
for winter consumption, and two boxes made 
very light and thin, fitted to fill the above space, 
will contain about thirty pounds, which I deem a 
sufficient tax upon the labors of the bees generally ; 
under some favorable circumstances these boxes 
may be emptied and replaced for a second filling 
with safety. These boxes should have an opening 
at the bottom, and the inner edges, to admit the 
bees to pass from one box to the other, for where 
the box is filled first, the bees remain inactive, 
without any regard to the partially filled one ad¬ 
joining. I think that one box is preferable to two 
as far as regards the facility afforded the bees in 
storing honey; for more honey can be obtained 
from them with a single box filling the space, but 
it is not as convenient for those who vend their 
honey. 
We now come to the bottom of that kind of 
hive which I am attempting to describe. I 
said that I made the body part of my hives one 
foot square, but it is very important that a little 
inclination should be given to the bottom board 
from back to front, and to effect this, I make a 
difference of one inch between the depth of the front 
and back sides of the hive; say, front twelve and 
a half inches, back eleven and a half inches. This 
I think fully sufficient to answer the purpose, 
being principally to carry off water and afford the 
bees facility in removing dead bees, &c. The bot¬ 
tom board is made to fit, except it projects two or 
three inches in front, and it is hung with wires 
about three-eighths of an inch from the bottom. 
This kind of hive is a combination of the good 
qualities of hives now in use, adapted in size to 
ensure success. T. B. Miner 
Ravenswood , L. I., July 6, 1846. 
CULTIVATION OF CORN. 
Under the above head, Dr. Philips of Missis¬ 
sippi wrote an article which appeared in our June 
number, page 183. In it he wished us to make an 
extract from the Anniversary Oration, delivered 
before the Burke County Central Agricultural 
Society of Georgia, by M. C. M. Hammond. Our 
copy of this oration being mislaid, we could not do 
so at the time, but having procured another, we 
now give it to our readers. So far as we are capa¬ 
ble of judging, the method recommended by Mr. H. 
is highly worthy of practice at the south. He says: 
“ But our common culture I fear has its evils, 
and with the hot sun, must share the responsibility 
of failure. Perhaps we usually work our corn too 
late in the season, and thus cut the roots at the 
critical periods of tasselling or shooting. We may 
plant too wide apart, in the stronger lands particu¬ 
larly, and lose the benefit of shading the soil, which 
checks the growth of grass and protects the roots. 
W e should break the land deep at first, since the 
roots will not spread so much if they can descend, 
and will be less apt to be cut, will gather more 
nutriment when manured in the hill, and suffer less 
in a dry season, provided the surface has strength 
to impel them to the clay sub-soil where moisture 
is perpetual. We should plant early, since it 
always increases the grain, and is equally'important 
to gather as early as it can be preserved, for 
here likewise the grain is augmented. In short, 
by careful experiment and judicious reflection, I 
have no doubt any ill effects of climate may be 
overcome, and this invaluable plant grown in its 
utmost perfection on our soil and under our sun; 
and that, from corn alone, sold in the grain, or 
manufactured into sugar, or fed away and sold in 
meat, every planter will soon make it, as all should 
do, an invariable rule to pay all his plantation and 
family expenses.” 
