456 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[Notembeh, 
Perennial Weeds, like dock, plantain, etc., should 
be removed from the lawn when the ground is soft 
from the autumn rains. A long chisel with a han¬ 
dle is handy in removing their roots from the soil. 
Evergreens show to the best advantage at this 
season of the year, after the leaves of the decidu¬ 
ous trees have fallen. A diversity of form and 
Variety in shades of green, are pleasing, and can be 
obtained with care exercised in the selection of the 
plants, their location, grouping, etc., and pruning. 
Beds and Paths may be laid out, and much of the 
work upon them done at this season of the year. 
Winter Protection .—A few evergreen boughs, 
sufficient to break the winds, and afford shade, are 
found to answer the purpose of protection, avoid¬ 
ing the danger of smothering the plants which 
often resulted from the old way of covering with a 
thick layer of straw, closely packed about them. 
Bulbs to be housed for the winter should go in 
before the ground is frozen. The hardy ones, like 
the Hyacinths, Tulips, etc., should beplauted early. 
Greenhoiise and Window Plants. 
Insects, when found on the plants, should be de¬ 
stroyed at once by using tobacco water, soap suds, 
etc. Plants, if neglected, may be ruined in a short 
time. Success in the fight with insects depends 
largely upon one’s promptness and perseverance. 
Climbers, like English Ivy, Tropseolum, German 
Ivy, etc., add very much to the beauty of a green¬ 
house or window. Select the plants now. 
Hanging Baskets should be placed where they can 
have an abundance of light and sunshine, and not 
near the stove or register. If the light comes from 
one side, the basket ought to be turned every day 
Watering .—The successful culture of house plants 
depends largely upon the care in watering. The 
pots should have some pieces of broken pots or 
oyster shell put in the bottom to provide proper 
drainage ; with good drainage there is but little 
risk from over-watering, A thorough wetting 
when water is needed, is far better than keeping 
the surface moist, by frequent “ sprinkling.” Hang¬ 
ing baskets may be dipped into a tub of water. 
A Gradual Change .—We should have much fewer 
complaints of failure with house plants if they 
were less subjected to sudden changes, both when 
they are brought in from their summer out-of-doors, 
and while in the house in winter. When the air of 
the room is changed it should be done without 
allowing a cold current to fall upon the plants. 
Bee Notes for November. 
BT L. C. ROOT. 
Wintering the Bees.— In most northern section*, 
bees that are to be kept in-doors should be placed in win 
ter quarters during the present month. Those to be win 
tered out-of-doors, should be properly packed and pro¬ 
tected. We have so often described, in our previous 
Notes, the proper manner of preparing bees for out-of- 
door wintering, as well as a suitable place in-doors, that 
we shall omit it at this time: and besides every bee-keep 
er who needs a detailed description should have the nec¬ 
essary information at hand, in some practical work, 
where it is given much more minutely than we could do 
in the space allotted here. I simply wish to say that the 
subject will require the closest attention and study if 
success is to be attained, as perfect success in wintering 
is ye f far from being established even with the most 
thorough bee-keepers. A system of wintering, by which 
one shall have none but good strong stocks in the spring, 
will go farther in insuring a profitable season than any 
thing else connected with bee-keeping. 
Honet.— Now that the bees are comparatively idle, we 
may well consider some general questions of interest to 
all. A correspondent says: "I have had a number of 
persons ask me about, how bees make honey. Also con 
■cerning the relation of feeding sugar to honey-making. 
Does the sugar become honey, or is it changed to honey by 
the bees ?”—These inquiries are evidently made by par¬ 
ties who are practical bee-keepers, and are of very much 
interest to all classes. When it is remembered that bee 
keeping although yet in its infancy, is becoming a very 
important industry, and that honey is produced by hun¬ 
dreds of tons each season we see that the public, who 
arc the consumers, may well desite to know something 
of the subject In answer to the first question, correct 
ly speaking bees do not make honey, they simply gather 
It We have endeavored in our Notes heretofore, to 
give an idea of the different classes of blossoms from 
which bees gather honey most freely. It is well known 
that honey varies in color and quality. It will be found 
that these variations are according to the different sources 
from which it is obtained. For instance, the basswood, 
or linden tree, blossoms very freely, and yields honey of a 
superior quality in great abundance. The largest part of 
the best and whitest honey placed upon our market is 
gathered from these blossoms Later in the season, 
buckwheat, which is also a free bloomer, yields honey 
abundantly, but, unlike the basswood, it is of a dark col¬ 
or and entirely different flavor. There is as marked a 
contrast in these two qualities of honey as there is be¬ 
tween the finest white syrups and ordinary molasses. 
There is a large class of consumers who are particularly 
fond of buckwheat honey, choosing it in preference to 
the lighter grades. While in most localities these two 
kinds constitute the larger part of the honey gathered, 
there are very many classes of flowers yielding honey in 
various degrees of quality and quantity. While it is 
true that these different varieties of honey undergo 
some change in being gathered from the flower, as indi¬ 
cated below, it is also true that they retain their original 
characteristics, and can easily be identified. 
“ Is sugar made into honey by the bees ?”—Certainly 
not. The fact that the bees handle sugar-syrup, and 
place it in the cells, does not make honey of it. If sugar 
syrup, or molasses, is furnished to them, and they store 
it in their combs, it will be found to be the same there, 
just as certainly as the fine linden honey or darker buck¬ 
wheat are found to possess their peculiar qualities. When 
the honey is gathered from the flowers it is quite thin. 
It is so handled by the bees that the moisture is evapo¬ 
rated, and when stored in the cells the air is all exclud¬ 
ed. so that it will remain in a liquid state, and not be¬ 
come candied, as it does when exposed to the air. Sy¬ 
rups would likewise undergo a change in these respects. 
containing a great variety of Items, inc'vding many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form, for want of room elsewhere. 
We Don’t Like It.— It is impossible to attend 
many of the fairs, coming crowded as they do, into two 
or three weeks, and scattered far and wide over the whole 
country from Maine to California. The last one we were 
at reminded us too much of a place to sell goods at retail, 
rather than a display of the wares to please and instruct 
the visitors, and a healthy striving for the prizes. Mr. 
Smith was there occupying a permanent place in the 
machinery hall witli a soap to cleanse the skin, and was 
calling upon every one who passed him to buy and try it. 
Another man, Jones, the cutler, was there with a full 
assortment of Jack-knives, and was making it a point to 
close out his stock at cost. What right has a drygoods 
or hat store to the space—and much of it in many places 
—in any building in an Agricultural Fair. We fail to see 
how it helps agriculture ; it is not for the greatest good 
of the greatest number. Shop keepers we should sug¬ 
gest had bet'er go the rear and let their places be filled 
with those things which cannot be constantly on exhi¬ 
bition in the street windows of every city, large or small. 
Read tlie Atlvertising; Columns.— 
Letters are daily received by the editors, asking where 
pigs, fowls, seeds, fertilizers, machinery, etc., can be 
procured. We consider all the information of this kind 
that is given in the advertising pages sufficient, if those 
needing anything will only look there ; and can not find 
room to repeat what is already plainly told elsewhere. 
Every page of the American Agriculturist, including the 
covers, is interesting reading, and should all be carefully 
examined every month. In addition to looking after what 
one may want, the reading of what others have to say, in 
offering their wares, etc., starts up some new idea in the 
mind of the reader.—When writing to any advertiser, al¬ 
ways tell him in what paper his advertisement was seen. 
Sliow of tlie IV. If. State Agricultural 
Society.— Much of the success of such a show depends 
upon the weather. The exhibition may be fine, or it may 
be meagre, to the majority of those who attend it makes 
little difference; but the attendance really is “the mak¬ 
ing" of the show. This year two days were unpleasant 
—showery, and muddy under f"Ot—with slender receipts 
and a discouraging outlook. The next two days were 
all that could he desired, and happy thousands crowded 
the gates all day, and went home tired, and gratified. 
Thus the show was a grand success, and ns an exhibition 
it was most excellent. There were indeed many fine 
herds of cattle unrepresented, but the credit of the cattle 
of The Empire State was well maintained. The striking 
feature of the show was perhaps the prominence of the 
Herefords. We have never before seen so many of thi* 
fine race of beef cattle together. Excellent specimens 
they were too. The large-uddered ldne of Holland made 
a great show also, as did the trimmest, most compact and 
beautiful of all neat cattle—the Devons. These last are 
old favorites which seemed to lose favor a few years ago, 
but now seem to be gaining again as is meet. Short¬ 
horns, Ayrshires, Jerseys, and Guernseys, were well rep¬ 
resented, by some of the finest herds in the State, with 
some from New England. The show of Horses contained 
an unusual number of heavy draft horses, both of the 
Clydesdale and Norman breeds. We were not especially 
impressed witli the excellence of either the sheep, pigs, 
or poultry, though the entries were numerous and the 
show good. There was a remarkable exhibition of plows. 
The forms being more or less new and varied. They 
were furnished with the “skim” instead of the coulter, 
almost without exception, and in other respects the show 
of implements was of universal interest. The Dairy De¬ 
partment seemed meagre, the Horticultural, good, and on 
the whole the show was fully up to the high average 
of the recent exhibitions of this excellent Society. 
“ Snobbishness” or “ Laziness.”— An item 
going the rounds, says that a young man in Madison, 
Wis., bought six collars and a neck-tie, weight under 4 
ounces, and through snobbishness or laziness, ordered 
them sent to his residence ; he wouldn’t carry a parcel in 
the street. They were sent in a heavy freight wagon; 
two men laboriously carried the parcel into the hall, and 
inquired if it should be left there or carried upstairs. 
His “ affianced ” happened to be there, and saw the exhi¬ 
bition. Served him right.A certain lady (?) bought a 
spool of thread, and ordered it “ sent home”—over half a 
mile. .. A farmer of our acquaintance, an old subscriber 
to the American Agriculturist, was stopped in the rain 
by a wealthy man, who haggled about the price of tur¬ 
nips for several minutes, finally getting them down from 
33 to 25 cents a bushel, and then ordered a peck; and 
ended by asking that half of them be yellow turnips for 
his wife, and half white ones for himself! We saw their 
delivery, tn a immense carl, drawn by 17 yokes of oxen, 
with a driver for each yoke, each driver carrying and 
wielding a long whip, and vigorously shouting, “haw, 
gee, g’long, etc.” The oxen’s horns were ornamented 
with white and yellow ribbons, and the white and yellow 
turnips werd marked by ribbons of corresponding color 
tied around them 1 The cavalcade made a tour of the 
town and three wide circuits before successfully backing 
up squarely to the purchaser’s gate. Four men delivered 
them in a huge basket, and the farmer refused to receive 
more than 0$ cents, the contract price. A mechanic, 
previously engaged, was present to chip off the quarter 
of a cent to make the “change” right. The seller and 
drivers—neighboring farmers—then went to a hotel, “ put 
out” their teams, and had a bounteous dinner together. 
Did it Hurt Him ?—The above suggests another 
incident. The writer of this lives some distance in the 
country, going to the city daily, or as needed by business 
there, in company with hundreds of others. On the train 
goes a man reputed to be wealthy and liberal, who almost 
always has a parcel in hand—some purchase for home, a 
weekly package of books or papers for his Sunday School, 
etc. On the same train travels a man whose family dresses 
extravagantly, and he himself fares sumptuously at the 
noon lunch ; but he is always “ short” when a subscrip¬ 
tion paper goes through the cars for a public or benevo¬ 
lent object. One evening, seeing the first-named gentle¬ 
man carrying a rather heavy package, he said, “ Why 
don’t you send home your parcels by express? I always 
do ; I would not carry them.” The simple but withering 
reply was, “My friend, I have done this for more than 
twenty years; it does not hurt me any ; I have saved not 
less than $2,000 thus, and when I want to give one or five 
dollars to any good object, I find it in my pocket.” Did 
it hurt him? Tli e. American Agriculturist thinks it did 
him good. .. .In Philadelphia, in a store one evening, a 
young man just starting in business, bought a parcel of a 
few pounds weight, and taking it up, said, “I would like 
to give some one a shilling to carry this home for me.” 
A gentleman, from whom the young man purchased some 
of his stock in trade, on credit, stood near, unrecognized, 
and immediately accepted the offer. Arrivingat the house 
and receiving the shilling, he remarked, “young man, 
when you want any other such parcel carried, please call 
on me,” handing him his card, which read, “Stephen 
Girard” (the millionaire). The lesson was a useful one 
to the business man, and, taken to heart, it made the 
learner a most successful man in all his after years. 
Plants for Name.— “W. G.,” Warsaw. La. The 
plants sent belong, as you think, to the order Scrophula- 
riaceace. The large flowered one is Gerardia flava or 
Downy False Foxglove. The other belongs to the same 
genus, and is the Purple Gerardia, or G. purpurea. We 
could not tell the species of Sunflower without specimens. 
