146 
THE HONEY-BEE. 
First, that the organized substance constituting 
peat in its primeval or vital state, contained only- 
traces of several inorganic constituents that are 
found abundant in cultivated plants. Second, that 
a portion of these diminutive constituents have 
during the process of decomposition combined with 
pernicious acids, and are consequently unavailable 
nutriment. Now to the third defect in peat-soils 
for the production of cultivated crops, viz : the 
want of one essential organic element. 
Admitting that the four elements, carbon, hydro¬ 
gen, oxygen, and nitrogen, are essential and did 
once exist in the substance that now composes the 
soil; we have now to inquire whether these ele¬ 
ments exist in the present state of the organic matter, 
and whether the peat in itself is adequate to supply 
all the elements necessary for the growth of culti¬ 
vated crops. 
The organic portions of plants are mainly made 
up by the three elements, carbon, oxygen/and 
hydrogen, the per centage of nitrogen being exceed¬ 
ingly minute in all; but more especially in sponta¬ 
neous ones. Chemical research has thoroughly 
established the fact, that but a diminutive quantity 
of nitrogen exists in spontaneous plants; which 
fact will be at once conceded, when we consider 
that upon the presence or absence of the azotized 
principle, depends the relative value of all fruits, 
grains, roots, and grasses, cultivated for animai sub¬ 
sistence. The major part of all peat-beds consist¬ 
ing of semi-decayed spontaneous plants, can 
contain only those elements peculiar to that class 
which, when compared with the cultivated ones, 
are found to be much inferior in the azotized prin¬ 
ciple. Allowing all the nitrogen contained in the 
growing forest yet to remain in the decomposing 
mass, this vital principle will not be found to that 
extent, that it is in animal excrement, or decom¬ 
posing cultivated plants. But to allow the reten¬ 
tion of all the elements composing an organic body, 
during the process of decomposition, would be an 
absolute violation of the immutable laws that 
govern the eremacausis or decay of bodies. Dur¬ 
ing the transmutation of an organized body from 
an active to an inert state, a slow combustion is 
carried on, and there are incessantly gaseous pro¬ 
ducts evolved; among the most abundant of these, 
is nitrogen in the form of ammonia. This compound 
is evolved most freely in the early stages of putre¬ 
faction, from the slight affinity it possesses for the 
substances with which it is associated. Conse¬ 
quently, a decaying body exposed to atmospheric 
agencies, is soon deprived of the all-essential prin¬ 
ciple, azote. Now, in the process of decomposi¬ 
tion, which results in the formation of our peat 
beds, azote is the most important element eliminat¬ 
ed ; the decaying mass being deficient in ammonia- 
cal attractions, which escapes with aqueous vapor 
into the atmosphere. This continuous process of 
elimination readily deprives the soil of its origi¬ 
nally diminutive quantity of azote. 
If then, the organized soil has relinquishedin the 
putrefactive process, a greater portion of one of its 
pre-eminent constituents, it is evident, by supplying 
this deficiency in the form of animal emanations, 
the luxuriance of those crops requiring a large per 
centage of azotized nutriment, is greatly enhanced. 
Hence, in the application of yard manure, abound¬ 
ing in alkalies and azotized compounds, to peat 
lands, two-fold results are attained, the alkalies 
neutralizing deleterious acids, and the azotized 
matters, by decomposition, supply the deficiency of 
azote. 
By the use of mineral manures the same primary 
object is secured, as by the inorganic elements in 
yard-manure, and as a secondary effect, the una¬ 
vailable nutritive compounds in the soil are 
gradually transformed into appropriate vegetable 
nutriment. W. 
Dutchess Agricultural Institute , Feb. 25, 1847. 
THE HONEY-BEE. 
I observe, with great pleasure, that a very sensible 
writer has commenced a series of articles in the 
Agriculturist on this valuable insect, which I hope 
he will continue until he has thoroughly investi¬ 
gated his subject. 
There is no single domesticated thing so imper¬ 
fectly understood as the honey-bee, and none so much 
the subject of whim, strange conceits, absurd max¬ 
ims, and absolute nonsense, in their notions of their 
management. A pile of books, from first to last, 
has been written of their history and domestic 
habits; and after all, there is not one person in fifty 
who keeps them that knows how to manage them 
successfully. Many of the books which have been 
written about them are very good—among them 
Huber and Bevan rank high; while Thatcher, 
Weeks, and others, are so-so; yet all, according 
to my opinion, strangely misconceiving the best 
plans of increasing their numbers, and of obtaining 
the greatest direct profit from their labors. Many 
projectors have got up new T -fashioned hives, full of 
queer devices and fancied improvements, for which 
they have obtained patents, and then have written 
a book to show the world how much better they 
were than anything else ever invented, which they 
have palmed off to an ignorant or thoughtless 
public; and thus each one in turn has run his brief 
career of popularity until the gullibility of the 
public became exhausted, and wound up his gim- 
cracks as another added to the thousand and one 
humbugs of the day. For bee-hives alone, not less 
than fifty or sixty patents have been issued from 
the American Patent Office at Washington, not one 
of which is worth the journey there and back to 
get it registered. 
The upshot of this whole matter of Bee-ology 
is, that we of the present day probably know no 
more of this insect than did the bee-masters of 
the Nile, who flourished under the dominion of the 
Pharaohs, or than the Chinese now, who tend their 
bees just as they did five thousand years ago. The 
fact is, that the honey-bee is a simple, unsophisti¬ 
cated, capricious creature; unimproved either by 
arts or education ; working solely by instinct; in¬ 
capable of ingenuity, and prone, at any favorable 
opportunity, to escape from the thraldom of man, 
and relapse into its original condition of barbarism 
and natural liberty. The bee is a denizen of the 
forest. Domestication is purely with it an artificial 
state, and a continual restraint upon its wild and 
roving propensities; and all the efforts of man to 
direct its operations, and confine its labors, or to 
