90 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
Pleasant Subscriptions—Far oflTFriends. 
—Few outside of the business office have any idea of the 
wide range of circulation of the American Agriculturist. 
Here is an item or two: For years past the largest num¬ 
ber of subscribers, in proportion to population, have 
come from Washington Territory, north of Oregon. Over 
3.500 copies have gone by mail to subscribers in New 
Zealand, directly under us—that is, on the opposite side 
of the world. On Feb. 4th, a single letter called for 80 
subscriptions for Barbadoes in the West Indies, while a 
single previous letter contained 79 subscriptions from 
Nyne Tal in the East Indies, a thousand miles or so 
northwest of Calcutta; and so in much the same way 
we might go round to every habitable part of the world. 
Notes from Shaker Village, N. H.— The 
Shakers are such good farmers that we wish they would 
write oftener. We gather the following from a letter 
from the Family in New Hampshire. Bro. John Brad¬ 
bury kept 29 hens the past year. He obtained from these 
4.500 eggs, and raised 58 chickens, “He modestly says 
others in the poultry line may have done better”—we 
wonder who ?_Henry C. Blinn writes that brother R. 
Woodward is rather proud of his stock, that he has a 
Jersey bull, 10 months old, that weighs 598 lbs., a Dur¬ 
ham bull that, at 9 months, weighs 725 lbs., and a heifer 
of the same breed that weighs 615 lbs.—But the Shakers 
are noted for feeding every thing well, whether it runs 
on two or on four legs—is with or without feathers. 
Oil Stones in N. Carolina.— In the article in 
Dec. last describing the manner of making whet-stones, 
it was stated that Novaculite , as the mineral is called, is 
found, among other localities, in North Carolina. Mr. 
W. B. Phillips, Assistant in the Experiment Station at 
Chapel Hill, writes to say that the most noted locality of 
the mineral is about seven miles from that place. There 
are other localities in Person, Anson, and Montgomery 
Counties, but that at Chapel Hill is of superior quality. 
There has been no regular working of the quarry. 
Leached Ashes.— Potash is the principal fertiliz¬ 
ing constituent of ashes, and the one that is removed by 
leaching. The leached ashes contains about one-fifth the 
amount of Potash of the unleached, the Phosphoric Acid, 
Lime, Magnesia, etc., remaining about the same in 
both. A bushel of leached ashes contains not far from 
one pound of Potash, worth 4 cents, and about the same 
amount of Phosphoric Acid, worth 7 cents. Allowing 
something for the Lime, Magnesia, etc., leached ashes is 
worth in the neighborhood of 12 cents per bushel. If the 
unleached ashes contains 5 pounds of Potash per bushel, 
they will be worth not far from 30 cents. A hundred 
bushels of leached ashes per acre is a good application, 
and one that is lasting in its effects. 
Mulching a Hedge.— “ M. C.,” Albion, Ill., has 
been told that mulching an Osage Orange Hedge with 
sawdust is preferable to cultivating it, and asks if straw 
will not answer for this use. Undoubtedly it would ; so 
long as the material used as a mulch contains nothing 
injurious it makes little difference what it is, the opera¬ 
tion of the mulch being wholly mechanical. Several 
years ago it was stated that in some of the western nur¬ 
series where sawdust was used for mulching, a fungus 
growth started in the sawdust, which, it is said, injured 
the young trees. If this is true, straw would be prefera¬ 
ble to sawdust. Our correspondent asks if the straw 
should be partially rotted.—No ; ordinary straw from 
the stack. In absence of straw, tan-bark, swale hay, 
sorghnm begasse, leaves, chips, or whatever cheap ma¬ 
terial that will cover the ground and prevent evaporation 
will answer. He asks: “Should they be mulched when 
planted, or be cultivated one year ? ” Mulch at once. 
The New York Horticultural Society 
holds its meetings on the first Tuesday of each month, at 
2 o’clock p. m., at “Republican Hall,” at the junction of 
Broadway and Sixth Avenue, a place easily reached by 
both elevated and surface railroads. There is always 
something interesting to be seen at these meetings, and 
sometimes the exhibition of flowers, plants, fruits, etc., 
is really very fine. The exhibitions are free to all, and 
not only our many city readers, but our friends from 
abroad who may visit the city at the beginning of any 
month, should bear these interesting meetings in mind. 
Some Corn in Illinois.— The corn crop of the 
single State of Illinois for the year 1879 is reported to 
be 305.813,377 bushels, and estimated to be 
worth $97,483,052, or about 31!4 cents per bushel. It is 
difficult for the mind to take in the full magnitude of 
these figures. Here are some calculations that will help 
the conception : Load this corn upon wagons, 40 bushels 
to the load, and start them off on the road so near to¬ 
gether that there shall be 100 teams in every mile. The 
line of wagons carrying this one crop of Illinois corn 
would stretch away 76,453 miles, or more than three limes 
around the world .•'—Again: Load this crop upon railway 
freight cars, 285*4 bushels or about 8 tons to the car, and 
make up these cars into a continuous freight train, al¬ 
lowing 30 feet of track to each car. The train would ex¬ 
tend 6,080 miles, or nearly twice across the continent, 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans I—Again: Sup¬ 
pose we put this com crop into a square bin 20 feet deep. 
Let the arithmetical young readers of the Amencan 
Agriculturist reckon how large this bin would be each 
way. Also, how many acres it would cover.—Also, how 
many pounds of pork it would make if given to pigs 
weighing 100 lbs. each when they begin feeding upon 
the corn, and 250 lbs. when killed for pork. 
Assorting Apples. —At this season of the year 
apples will be decaying to a greater or less extent, de¬ 
pending upon the variety, care in picking, handling, 
storing, etc. If kept in barrels, they may be turned out 
and the decayed ones removed, after which these that 
remain had best be spread upon shelves in thin layers, 
where they may be kept dry, and where the “ specked ” 
ones can be removed so soon as they are affected. In 
this way sound fruit may be had until late in the spring. 
Bee Notes for March. 
BY L. C. BOOT, MOHAWK, N. T. 
As spring approaches the risk of injury to the bees by 
any disturbance is much greater than earlier in the sea¬ 
son ; hence we should keep the bees entirely undisturbed, 
or as nearly so as possible. A recent writer has truthful¬ 
ly remarked that it may be said of some colonies that 
they were “disturbed to death.” Over anxiety to ex¬ 
amine into the condition of the bees, and to do something 
which might make them winter well, has brought failure 
to many an inexperienced bee-keeper. 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 
Wood for Hives.— A correspondent in Bridgeport, 
Conn., asks: “ What kind of wood is best for hives and 
frames. Would pine answer?”_Pine is the very best 
lumber that we have ever used for this purpose, and we 
know of nothing better. 
Transferring Combs. —Another writes: “ Please let 
me know how to fasten combs that are transferred from 
box-hives into frames.”_The process of transferring 
is described in the Notes for May 1876, or if a more full 
and illustrated description be desired, he will find it in 
Quinby’s “New Bee-keeping,” where it is given in detail. 
Wintering Bees.— A correspondent at St. Johns, N. 
B., misunderstands our directions for wintering bees. If 
he will follow closely our instructions as given from time 
to time in these Notes, and especially those given in our 
new edition of Mr. Quinby’s work on Bee-Keeping, he 
will find that we urge the necessity for keeping the room 
containing bees warm and free from moisture. His idea 
of putting a stove in the room with the bees is open to 
objections. The stove should always stand outside of 
the room to avoid disturbing the bees when building the 
fires. The pipe may be allowed to pass into the apart¬ 
ment if not too near the hives. 
Do Honey-bees Injure Sound Fruit ?—This ques¬ 
tion is one that comes very frequently, and from all parts 
of the country. It now comes to us from New Jersey, 
though not in the form of a question, so much as an un¬ 
qualified assertion, a most positive statement, that un¬ 
questionably honey-bees do destroy fruit. This gentle¬ 
man says that all of his early peaches were destroyed, as 
were also two-thirds of his grapes, and that “ first, last, 
and all the time” it was the work of honey-bees. The 
statement is a most positive one, and were it not that we 
have had extended experience in the matter, and made it 
a subject of particular study and investigation, should 
be disposed to hesitate somewhat in taking the part of 
the bees. That honey-bees are often a source of annoy¬ 
ance to fruit growers, is freely admitted, as it will be by 
every one who is well informed on the subject. That 
bees, in times of scarcity of honey, will eagerly take the 
juice of any punctured fruit, is also a well understood 
fact. Dealers in fruit and owners of cider mills are of¬ 
ten much annoyed by bees. Whenever the skins of fruit, 
from the occurrence of hot weather after a rain, or from 
any other cause, become broken, the bees will at once 
suck the juices from the fruit. I have on my place a 
Creveling grape-vine, which stands near the corner of a 
building, in such a position as to be seriously affected by 
the wind; as a consequence, the fruit becomes broken, 
and the bees of course sip the juice from it as fast as it 
is exposed. I have never picked a perfect bunch of 
grapes from this vine, yet I have many other vines of the 
same variety, standing in ordinary position, which are 
entirely undisturbed by the bees, and yield fruit in abun¬ 
dance. The late M. Quinby was not only interested in 
bees, but also had much interest in fruitgrowing, having 
several hundred grape-vines of different varieties. He 
depended upon these for a good share of his income in 
seasons that gave a poor yield of honey. If bees were 
capable of puncturing fruit, it might reasonably be ex¬ 
pected that during those seasons, if at all, when little 
honey could be collected, bees would be more than ever 
untiring i n their efforts to puncture the fruit. Here wa# 
one earnestly endeavoring to find the truth in this mat¬ 
ter. He was interested in both bees and fruit, and of 
course would investigate without prejudice. As a result ' 
of his investigations he repeatedly stated that he found 
the bees unable, in a single instance , to puncture sound 
fruit of any variety whatever. In 1869, while yet asso¬ 
ciated in business with Mr. Quinby, our yield of honey 
was an entire failure, while, on the other hand, our grape 
crop was particularly fine. At the very time that the fruit 
was ripening, the bees were actually dying of starvation. 
Yet at this season, when the bees should resort to the 
fruit if ever, and when the fruit was far more perfect 
than usual, and consequently more tempting, in this sea¬ 
son, even a less proportion of it was disturbed by the 
bees than during ordinary seasons. We made our obser¬ 
vations on this point with the closest care, yet we were 
unable to find a solitary instance in which the bees at¬ 
tacked or disturbed the sound fruit in any manner, yet 
there were hundreds of colonies within easy reach of the 
vineyard. There is one important thing to be remem¬ 
bered in this matter. Nature has assigned to the honey¬ 
bee certain work, and provided it with proper imple¬ 
ments with which to execute it. The bee has no piercing- 
and tearing jaws, or any other organ with which it can 
rupture the skin of a fruit. On the other hand it is a part 
of the occupation of hornets and wasps (or the majority 
of them), to build their nests from partly decayed wood, 
which must be torn from rails, boards, etc. These insects 
are provided with cutting jaws which are very strong, 
and of such a form that they can tear even the toughest 
fruit skins with ease. That careful observer, the Rev. L. 
L. Langstroth, investigated this matter many years ago, 
and in his work on “The Honey-Bee” is most em¬ 
phatic in his assertion that bees are not the aggressors 
in the attacks upon fruit, and to confirm his statement 
gives engravings showing the jaws of both the Honey- 
Bee and Honey Hornet, magnified. These engraving*. 
1.—HONEY bee’s MOUTH. 2. —HORNET’S MOUTH, 
are here reproduced. Figure 1 shows the blunt and un¬ 
armed mouth-parts of the honey-bee, and figure 2 the 
corresponding parts of the honey-hornet. 
It is earnestly hoped that, before advising the destruc¬ 
tion of bees in any neighborhood, our correspondent will 
first investigate more closely, and see if the fruit dis¬ 
turbed by the bees is not first injured by other causes. 
The views here given are not only the result of our own 
personal experience and observations, but are sustained 
by many other careful observers whose interests were 
enlisted on behalf of fruit as well as bees. 
Queen Beei by Mail.— At the last meeting of 
the National Bee-Keepers’ Association, Prof. A. J. Oook 
was appointed to induce, if possible, the Post-Office De¬ 
partment to rescind the order excluding queen bees from 
the U. S. mail. Prof. Cook has been successful, and 
hereafter the queens can be sent by mail—a very im¬ 
portant item to many, especially those living at a con¬ 
siderable distance from an express office. 
Pleuro-Fneuinonla in Pennsylvania-— 
Under the provisions of the Act of Assembly passed last 
winter. Governor Hoyt placed the whole matter of deal¬ 
ing with Pleuro-Pneumonia in the hands of Sec’y Edge 
of the Board of Agriculture. Since the first of April, 110 
animals have been killed; 31 herds containing 595 ani¬ 
mals have been closely quarantined and regularly visited 
by Veterinary Surgeons; when any animal showed un¬ 
mistakable symptoms of infection, it was at once ap¬ 
praised and killed. In addition to this, a large number 
of herds supposed by their owners to be infected, and so 
reported by them, have been examined, and all cattle 
imported from Europe have been placed in the hands of 
the State authorities for quarantine. Since April last, 
the cost of the work has not exceeded $2,750, of which 
$1,200.50 has been paid for animals appraised and killed. 
At present but 8 herds are in quarantine, and of these 
four are considered clear of the disease, but not beyond 
the danger of communicating it to other stock. All herds 
are kept in quarantine for three months after the termina¬ 
tion of the last case of disease. 
The Michigan Agricultural Society lias 
just closed its accounts for the year, aDd with its receipts 
for 1879, at $52,447, disbursements $30,597, and a balance 
on hand of $21,850, the organization is on a firm finanoiat 
foundation. The State Fair is set for September 13-16, 
but as yet the place of holding it is not designated. 
(Basket Items continued on page 115.) 
