FORMATION OF A POULTRY-YARD.-BAGGING AND BALE-ROPE. 
321 
at once gathers all the straggling bees. The old 
hive is now half depopulated, and the combs are 
quite bare at the ends near the mouth of the hive. 
I then cut out about half of the comb, and lay it 
around in some convenient place for the bees to 
depast at leisure. This operation must be done 
with a dexterous hand, and with such implements 
as I shall hereafter describe. The bees must not be 
injured by getting that part of the comb left 
out of their natural position, nor must the work be 
done so slow as to allow much drainage of honey 
among them. The combs should be cut horizontally 
about half way to the top of the hive. This allows 
enough comb for the bees to work upon, and at the 
same time they will be able to defend themselves 
against moths, when they could not if all the 
combs had been allowed to remain. 
The old hive should now be placed in a new po¬ 
sition near the spot where the operation has been 
performed. If it should be found on the following 
day, or at any time within three days, that either of 
the hives has a large majority of the bees, the hive 
may be transposed , that is, place the old one in the 
new one’s place and vice versa. Do not disturb 
them after the third day, because the bees will com¬ 
mence fighting as soon as they become firmly at¬ 
tached to their respective domicils. I can generally 
manage to get them equally divided. If the queen 
is driven out into the new hive, many more will go 
there than would if she remained in the old one. 
In this way we get two good stocks for the next 
year that will thrive well. T. B. Miner. 
Ravenswood, L. I., October, 1847. 
FORMATION OF A POULTRY-YARD. 
As soon as it is determined to have a poultry-yard, 
and the breed or breeds have been determined on, 
for some of them should be sitters, and others should 
supply the nests and the table with eggs, great care 
should betaken in the selection of the fowls ; for on 
their healthiness, or freedom from disease, success 
will chiefly depend. The signs of health are as 
evident and as certain in the feathered tribes as in 
the quadrupeds. The glossiness and smoothness of 
the feathers, the brightness of the eye, the cleanness 
of the nostrils, the florid redness of the comb, the 
soundness of the legs, and the shortness of the 
claws, will be sufficient pledges of health. The 
male should be large of his kind, and bold and ac¬ 
tive ; the hens should be gentle and tame; and, as 
sitters, by no means above the middle size; a small 
comb on the hen may be pardoned, but should not 
be chosen. A large comb is a frequent pledge of 
her unquietness, and rarely belongs to a good sitter 
or careful nurse. They should be of a middle age, 
from eighteen months to two years. Before that 
period, the eggs will not have attained their full 
size, and the young broods will be proportionably 
small. The first inhabitants of the fowl-yard, and 
which will give it to its future character, should not 
be bought from a stranger; but there should be a 
certainty that the hens are good and early layers, 
and that they begin to lay again as soon as their 
brood is disposed of. 
Where a considerable number of fowls are kept, 
a poultry-house, however small and simple it may 
be, should be devoted exclusively to their use. In 
a farm-establishment, it is particularly necessary, 
otherwise the owner will materially suffer. They 
will wander away, and be liable to be killed by 
j foxes, hawks, &c., and the eggs will be laid in all 
| kinds of places. This building, although well ven¬ 
tilated, should be warm and comfortable. Few 
animals suffer more from cold than our domestic 
fowls. The roosting-places should be easy of ac¬ 
cess to the poultry, but sufficiently high to be out of 
the reach of vermin, and they should consist of one 
or more level ranges. The boxes for laying and 
sitting, should be convenient and warm, apart from 
each other, and sufficiently numerous. If there be 
sufficient space, a yard-house should be fenced in, 
communicating with the poultry-house,and in which 
the whole stock may be occasionally confined. If 
it contain a stream or a pond of water, that would 
be a considerable advantage. At all events, if the 
poultry wander about the yard, or other parts of the 
premises, their roosting, laying, and sitting-place 
should be comfortable, closed at night, and there 
they should always be fed. 
The poultry-yard should be dry. It should be 
sheltered from the northerly winds; oyster-shell 
lime, gravel, and bricklayer’s rubbish, should 
be strewn in different parts of it, in which they may 
roll themselves at their pleasure. This is more 
conducive to the health of the fowls than is gene¬ 
rally imagined, not only cleaning the feathers, but 
getting rid of eruptions and vermin, and favoring 
that most important of all functions—cutaneous 
perspiration. Zach. 
BAGGING AND BALE-ROPE. 
The manufacture of cotton-bagging and bale-rope 
in the West having increased to an over supply, 
causing a reduction in price below its actual cost, it 
was sold, as low as 7£ to 8 cents for bagging, and 3 
cents for rope. Up to 1845. nearly the whole crop 
of hemp had been used for cotton-bagging and bale- 
rope ; there being but little foreign demand, the price 
per ton for dew-rotted hemp fell to fifty dollars per 
ton. At this price the farmers declined growing it 
to any considerable extent. The quantity of; land 
sown in 1846, was quite limited, and but a very 
small quantity of hemp-seed was saved of the 
growth of that year. 
In the winter of 1847, the demand for Western 
dew-rotted hemp in the Eastern seaports, caused 
the price to go up from fifty dollars to double that 
sum, a price (ninety to one hundred dollars per ton) 
quite satisfactory to the farmers. They were then 
anxious to sow a full crop, but the seed was not to 
be had at even three dollars per bushel—so there 
being a short crop of 1846, the same, from the 
scarcity of seed, will be the case in 1847—produc¬ 
ing not more than will be required for the bagging 
manufactories, leaving none for export. Indeed, 
the bagging factories are now importing dew-rotted 
hemp from St. Louis. 
The farmers of the West will secure an abun¬ 
dance of seed of the growth of 1847, and will no 
doubt put in a much larger crop next spring than 
has ever been sown It is an easy matter for the 
farmers of the West to produce as much hemp as 
the U. S. Navy consumes, and for all the commerce 
of the U. States merchant-service, if the price does 
not fall below ninety dollars per ton for dew-rotted 
hemp. Kentucky 
