MANAGEMENT OF HONEY-BEES.—NO. 11 . 
253 
and the annual interest upon it (which is another 
pretty tax'), a sinking, or sunken fund, and let it go. 
There is, however, a perpetual entailment for re¬ 
pairs, which will be suing its claims for more or 
less every year, in order to give a finish to the tor¬ 
ment that such a state of things brings with it. 
Then again, especially at the North, where storms 
are the almost constant attendant of long winters, 
they convert the highways, which should always 
be free and clear, for the use of the traveller, into 
regular reservoirs where every whirling eddy of the 
wind deposits the driving snows. How often have 
we in New England seen our highways filled more 
than level from fence to fence by the contributions 
of the recent storm ! And how often has the dis¬ 
heartened traveller been obliged to urge his exhaust¬ 
ed beast beyond its strength through these accumu¬ 
lated drifts, or else take a circuit through the ad¬ 
joining field, to seek a shelter, perhaps far short of 
the point that would have been gained, had not na¬ 
ture, aided by a foolish and unnecessary device of 
man’s art, thrown obstacles in his way to greatly 
hinder his progress. Then, too, how many days of 
precious time are spent in many neighborhoods in 
breaking out the roads, which the storm of yester¬ 
day rendered impassable, and which the winds of 
to-morrow as they whistle in mockery of human 
toil, may fill again, so as to render every vestige of 
former labor illegible and unavailing. Here, then, 
we have another tax upon the farmer as well as 
vexatious obstacles of frequent recurrence thrown 
in the way of the traveller, by these expensive, un¬ 
necessary, and very often ill-looking appendages of 
highways—the fences. Oh ! when will the agri¬ 
cultural public be sufficiently awake to their inter¬ 
est, comfort, and those of the travelling public, to 
remove these appendages from their premises and 
rid themselves of a grievous burden. 
' W. Bacon. 
Richmond, Mass., Jane 20th, 1847. 
How to Preserve Tomatoes. —Take clean, ripe 
tomatoes, sufficient to cover the bottom of a large 
kettle, and place over a slow fire until their skins 
break,which must then be peeled off; cut out the hard 
core, and slowly boil the remainder until it becomes 
quite thick and of a dark-brown color, stirring it 
well to prevent burning. Spread it upon plates 
about an inch in thickness, and dry in the sun for 
seven or eight days, afterwards placing it in a 
moderately warm oven until thoroughly dried. The 
substance thus prepared will keep for years, and is 
so highly flavored, that a piece two inches square, 
stewed in half a tea-cupful of water, will be suf¬ 
ficient to mix with the gravy of five pounds of beef¬ 
steak, or a ragout. 
Philosophy of Churning. —The cream, of which 
butter is made, consists of minute globules, about 
TWiJoth part of an inch in diameter, each sur¬ 
rounded by a very thin transparent pellicle or film, 
that prevents them from adhering to one another. 
During agitation by churning, these little pellicles 
break, and the fatty portions of the globules unite 
into a mass, forming butter, whilst the buttermilk 
is left behind, which consists principally of caseum 
(the basis of cheese), milk-sugar, and a watery 
fluid, called serum . 
MANAGEMENT OF HONEY-BEES.—No. 11. 
The length of time that bees prosper and do well 
in the same hive, is a matter of considerable impor¬ 
tance. As a general rule, they do not flourish in 
their greatest perfection after the third or fourth 
year. This is attributed to the yearly contraction 
of the cells, in consequence of the young bees 
leaving behind them the thin silken encasement 
that shrouds them in infancy, which adhering to 
the cell, and diminishing its size by degrees, thus 
prevents the full development of the bee, in its full 
natural growth and vigor. This is the only reason 
hitherto assigned by apiarians; yet I am fully per¬ 
suaded, that it is not the only cause of the want of 
prosperity, if it may be so considered. Bees in the 
busy employment of successful gathering, do not 
stop at the period when a sufficiency is accumulated, 
but continue to labor so long as a cell remains un¬ 
filled. In this manner a larger proportion of the 
cells which should be retained for the young brood 
than ought to be used, are filled with bee-bread, or 
pollen, and this often remains hoarded up a season 
or more in advance of the time of its requirement, 
thus diminishing the room fo,r breeding. Such cells 
as may be filled with honey, are generally empty in 
time for the use of the young brood, and, conse¬ 
quently, it matters not if they are filled in this way; 
yet breeding is often diminished from this cause, 
when the bees, in the spring, have more honey 
stored up than they require. Now, I consider that 
one cause of a lack of success, after a few years, is 
the aforesaid season of the surplus storage of pol¬ 
len, which is the cause of a lack of prolific increase ; 
and where this is lacking, all other evils follow as a 
natural consequence thereof. 
Another good reason why the bees retrograde 
after a few years, is, what must be obvious to every 
philosophic mind—that the constant use of the same 
domicil, with the occasional lodgment of the bee- 
moth, which no hive ivholly escapes (there is no 
hive, however powerful the bees may be, that does 
not show an occasional worm in the spring, if 
closely inspected), and the accumulation of matter, 
causing exuviae from the combs, that our olfac¬ 
tory nerves at once acknowledge, must be deleteri¬ 
ous in its consequences upon the general prosperity, 
and especially the fecundity of the bees. 
In regard to the diminution of the size of each 
successive generation of bees, which must be the 
result, if the encasement of the embryo bee is 
always left behind, and never removed, as the 
apiarian savans of all ages past affirm, I have a 
word to say. I have a friend who has a stock of 
bees, the lineal descendants of a swarm, hived in 
the same box twenty-nine years ago. He informs 
me that these bees have done well; that is, what 
people generally consider doing well, on the old 
box plan, with no attention paid to the bees. I 
found no perceptible difference in the size of the 
bees, and I have a stock of my own, ten years 
old, in which no difference can be seen. But we 
do know that from the second to the fourth year, 
bees see their most prosperous days, and whatever 
the cause may be, we will let it pass, and endeavor 
to surmount the difficulty, if we can. On the old 
plan of destroying the bees with brimstone to get 
the honey, this matter is soon settled—the old 
stocks may be destroyed, and the young ones 
