SUPERIOR MOLASSES GINGER-BREAD.-*—MANAGEMENT OP MONEY-BEES.-NO. 14. 347 
King’s, and the northern parts of the counties of 
Queen’s and Suffolk, being of a superior kind. 
The composition of the drift, which constitutes the 
soil of the northern face of the island, is as follows:— 
Water and organic matter.6.00 
Silicates.87.10 
Peroxide of iron and alumina. 6.25 
Carbonate of lime. 0.25 
Magnesia. trace. 
99 50 
The soil from which the above was taken, is 
what is called a sandy-loam, and is somewhat re¬ 
tentive of manures and durable. The mass below 
is gravel, or fragments of gneiss, quartz, and mica- 
slate. It was taken two and a half miles above 
Oyster Bay. 
The soil of a large portion of Hempstead Plains 
and the scrub-oak lands lying to the eastward, as 
well as of the southern declivity of the “ back¬ 
bone” of the island, is principally composed of ma¬ 
rine sand. The surface is frequently mixed with 
black mould, in which there is a small per centage 
of lime combined with an organic acid. This soil, 
when washed free of vegetable matter, furnishes 
only a trace, at most, of lime or magnesia—being 
merely a white beach sand, or perhaps in this po¬ 
sition a yellow sand, tinged with the oxide of iron. 
The raw, black, vegetable mould, which covers the 
surface of these plains, when first turned up by the 
plow, appears to be very rich and fertile, produces 
moderate crops for a time, but soon fails without 
special manuring. 
A specimen of soil obtained one and a half miles 
west from Hicksville gave the following ingredi¬ 
ents :— 
Water and organic matter....... 5.00 
Silicates.,.87.06 
Peroxide of iron. 2.75 
Carbonate of lime. 0.37 
Magnesia. 0.13 
Alumina. 4.00 
99.31 
From this analysis, it may be inferred that there 
is a great deficiency of the alkalies and alkaline 
earths, and that lime and magnesia are only spar- 
ingly present in all parts of the island, except those 
portions bordering on the Sound. The nature of 
the great mass of the soil of the island from the 
surface downwards, is porous; and is composed 
of so large an amount of washed sand and pebbles, 
that a large proportion of all soluble manures sink 
below the reach of the roots of plants, in a very 
short period, rendering it very difficult for the far¬ 
mer to increase the fertility of his land without fre¬ 
quent applications of manures.* 
In a future number we shall endeavor to point 
out what we conceive to be the best means of man¬ 
aging or reclaiming the poorer classes of these 
lands. 
Superior Molasses Ginger-Bread. —Take two 
tea-cupfuls of molasses, one tea-cupful of butter, a 
table-spoonful of ginger, and two tea-spoonfuls of 
salaeratus and mix all well together. Bake quick. ? 
* See Nat. Hist, of N. Y., Part 5, pp. 318 et seq. 
MANAGEMENT OF HONEY-BEES.—No. 14* 
Hives—their Varieties, fyc. —Everything used in 
this country as a domicil for bees, is generally 
called a hive, whether it be made of wood or straw, 
or whether it simply be a hollow tree cut off at a 
proper length. 
The original conical straw liive, made by the 
cottagers of Europe, in consequence of its cheap¬ 
ness, and sometimes used in the United States, is 
but a poor substitute for the wooden hive. Hives 
should be made of white-pine zWz-boards. There 
is no material so good as pine- boards, that can be 
recommended for general use. They should be an 
inch thick to prevent warping and cracking, and to 
serve as a non-conductor of heat and cold. 
There is a style of hive used in England, denomi¬ 
nated the cross-box hive, recommended by Dr. 
Bevan, in his work on the honey-bee. The prin¬ 
ciple is this:—that in consequence of the bees hav¬ 
ing a tendency to depart from the proper thickness 
in building combs, that is, such thickness as pro¬ 
duces the greatest increase and prosperity, the 
science of man interferes, and furnishes guide-bars 
for the bees to work upon. These bars are loosely 
placed in a rabbit at the top of the hive, and the 
distance is gradually widened from the centre to 
the sides, in order to have the centre-combs closer 
together than those built at the sides. The reason 
of this is, that the 6rood-combs should be, in the 
centre, of a certain thickness, and a certain propor¬ 
tion of the whole number built. Bevar. says, that 
without these guide- bars, the bees will, or may 
construct too many store-combs, which (as I have 
before stated) are unfit for breeding purposes, and 
in consequence of this lack of brood-combs, the 
apiarian will find, after a few years, that his bees 
are greatly deficient in fecundity and general pros¬ 
perity. Thus speaks Bevan. These cross-bars 
being put in their proper places, the top board of the 
hive is put in with screws, so as to be taken off at 
pleasure. This enables the bee-master to withdraw 
combs from his hives at any time he pleases. The 
side connextion with the wood is cut with a long 
knife, something like a spatula used for compound¬ 
ing drugs, and then drawn out at the top of the 
hive. There are some advantages in this arrange¬ 
ment, but for general adoption it is out of the ques¬ 
tion. It involves ^oo much expense and trouble for 
American use. Besides this, I deny his theory that 
the bees depart from a correct thickness of combs, 
when left to themselves. On the chamber- hive plan, 
I know it is not so, if the communication to the 
chambers is left open at the time of hiving and dur¬ 
ing the first month. The bees take it for granted, 
that whenever they wish to build store-combs, they 
can ascend into the chambers to do so; conse¬ 
quently, their works below are in uniform combs. 
I find mine so, and I find the young brood to extend 
to the last outside comb. I am inclined to think that 
Bevan is right, where there are neither lateral boxes 
nor chambers open to the bees on hiving them for 
the season, that the bees consider the space in 
which they are placed, all the room that they are 
ever to have, consequently they make provision for 
the winter to the injury of the production of their 
species. 
If we observe, we find that the holes through 
