290 
AMERICAN AGRlCUX/rtjfttSft 
SOMETHING ABOUT BEES. 
There is perhaps no common insect so imper¬ 
fectly understood as the honey bee. Every 
body knows that there are such things as queen 
bees, drones, and workers, but as to the pecu¬ 
liar habits and offices of each class, the time 
and manner of maturing their young, their age, 
proper treatment, &c., comparatively little is 
known. In company with several others, we 
had the pleasure of witnessing last week, at the 
house of Mr. Stephen Knowlton, of Brooklyn, 
N.Y., some very interesting experiments by 
Rev. L. L. Langstroth. 
Mr. Knowlton has several swarms of bees— 
some in common hives, but mostly in the kind 
of hive constructed by Mr. Langstroth, and 
called the “ Movable Comb Ilive.” They con¬ 
sist of an inner and outer box — a large space 
being left between for the free circulation of 
air, and also guarding against sudden changes 
of temperature. In the inner box, wooden 
frames are suspended by projections, in such a 
manner that the frames themselves do not 
touch the top, bottom, or sides of the hive. 
This arrangement gives entire control over the 
combs. They can be separately taken from the 
hive unbroken, and without injury to the bees, 
or a part of the combs may be taken out and 
transferred to another hive, or they may be re¬ 
placed, or reserved for use, at pleasure. The 
combs are built regularly on the frames, each 
being disconnected with the other. 
Before commencing any operations with bees, 
they should be gently sprinkled with sugar- 
water, with which they instantly fill themselves, 
and without which, it would be troublesome to 
manage them. The inner boxes, we may add, 
are constructed with glass, and by removing 
the outer box or case, the bees may be inspect-, 
ed in all their operations. Mr. Langstroth made 
an experiment with old-fashioned hives, and 
showed a very simple and easy method of pro¬ 
ducing artificial swarming. He took a hive of 
bees from the stand, and inverted it upon the 
ground, a short distance from where it previ¬ 
ously stood. An empty hive of about the same 
size was then placed upon it, and all openings 
whence the bees might escape, rvere closed up 
with paper. By rapping on the sides of the 
lower hive, the bees became alarmed, and filling 
themselves with honey — which they always do 
in leaving their old homes — passed into the up¬ 
per hive. 
In his experiments, Mr. Langstroth showed 
the utmost coolness and calmness, which, in¬ 
deed, is the only method of handling bees suc¬ 
cessfully, for they have, so to speak, certain 
ideas of dignity, which they love to maintain, 
as well as beings of a higher order. Treat 
them gently, and they are amiable enough, but 
once tread on their dignity, and they are sure 
to become pugnacious. 
The queen — being the mother of the whole 
colony — reigns supreme, and all yield a willing 
and entire submission. Like other crowned 
heads, she is exceedingly jealous of rivals, and 
puts to death, all young aspirants to office. She 
usually lives from four to five years. When she 
dies, the colony immediately set to work and 
rear a new queen. This takes from fifteen to 
sixteen days. The queen bee is the only per¬ 
fectly developed female in the hive ; the work¬ 
ers being only partially developed queens. The 
drones are the males. In about six months 
after they come to maturity—which takes 24 
days—the workers fall upon and destroy them, 
or drive them from the hive. 
Mr. Langstroth has written a very interest¬ 
ing work on the “ Hive and Honey-Bee,” which 
is well worth reading. His chapter on ventila¬ 
tion speaks strongly of the necessity of fresh 
air to the bee tribe, as well as to man. His list 
of “fifty-four advantages which ought to be¬ 
long to an improved hive,” is rather a slur on 
past improvement. We fear they are like the 
bye-laws appended to certain constituti ons, cal - 
culated rather to make a show than to be re¬ 
garded. Mr. Langstroth, however, appears to 
have investigated the subject quite thoroughly, 
and deserves great credit for somewhat extensive 
and accurate researches into the habits of this 
wonderful insect. 
One word more in regard to such entertain¬ 
ments as the one above alluded to. There are 
a large number of amateurs who have choice 
specimens of birds, bees, fruits and flowers, as 
well as cattle, horses, sheep, and fowls, and we 
suggest that it would conduce much to their 
own pleasure, as well as to that of others, if 
they would imitate Mr. Knowlton’s example, 
and take an occasional afternoon, during these 
days of comparative leisure, and invite in their 
friends and acquaintances to see what they have 
which is excellent, or rare, or interesting. 
-- 
ABSORBING POWER OF CHARCOAL, PEAT, &c. 
Professor Way recently delivered an inte¬ 
resting lecture on the above subject, before the 
Royal Agricultural Society, for the following 
abstract of which we are indebted to the Agri¬ 
cultural Gazette: 
The main points insisted on were—(1,) the 
distinction to be observed between the process 
of deodorising and that of retaining the volatile 
products of the putrefactive process—(2,) the 
absorptive power of charcoal as dependent on 
its porous structure, and on these pores being 
open to the gases thus absorbed—(3,) and, 
lastly, the peculiar structure of animal charcoal 
as compared with that of vegetable origin, to 
which it owed its greater power as a decoloriser 
for the sugar refiner. 
On the first point it was remarked that the 
loss of the material of which the sense of smell 
took cognisance was not necessarily of any im¬ 
portance. A grain of musk was undiminished 
in weight after it had filled the room with its 
odor for years. And, so, the mere fact of ma¬ 
nure smelling was not, in itself, proof of any 
material loss. Nevertheless, it was found that, 
if the gases resulting from the process of putre¬ 
faction were fixed, the peculiar odoriferous mat¬ 
ter of the manure appeared also, in a great 
measure, to lose its volatility; and so smell be¬ 
came, if not exact testimony, at least, a tolerably 
trustworthy index to the loss of valuable matter. 
The second remark had this important prac¬ 
tical bearing, that while in air charcoal absorbed 
many times its bulk of many gases—that of am¬ 
monia, for instance—in water, this power was 
altogether lost. Charcoal will absorb ammoni- 
cal and other gaseous products of putrefaction, 
and these are rapidly decomposed in its pores, 
but fill those pores with water, and their gase¬ 
ous occupants are at once expelled; and the 
only power which it then possesses will be that 
of a sponge holding so much liquid with what¬ 
ever matter may be dissolved in it. To pass 
liquid through charcoal, in order to its ammonia 
being detained, is therefore most mistaken; the 
liquid will come out of it of the very same com¬ 
position in every respect as it had before enter¬ 
ing it. 
The third point had only an-indirect agricul¬ 
tural bearing. The peculiar porosity of animal 
charcoal is due to the separation of the char¬ 
coal by the mineral particles of the bone. — 
This has been very ingeniously attempted to be 
imitated by Mr. Way, by saturating the now 
well-known silica rock of Mr. Paine’s estate at 
Farnham (which rock is exceedingly light and 
porous) with tar, and exposing it to destructive 
distillation, by which means the resultant char¬ 
coal is distributed amongst the mineral sub¬ 
stance of the rock, much as it is in the case of 
animal charcoal amongst the mineral substance 
of the bone. And the decolorising effect of the 
charcoal in that state is very materially in¬ 
creased. Whether or not it may compete with 
animal charcoal for the purposes of the sugar 
refiner seems doubtful; but, if by its use it 
should reduce the value of charcoal below the 
price at which farmers could afford to purchase, 
it is clear that the ingenuity of Mr. Way and 
Mr. Paine will have proved, in this, as in other 
more important instances, agriculturally benefi¬ 
cial. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
A TRIP IN NEW-ENGLAND. 
Oppressed with the heated walls of the city, 
and longing fog,, the cool breeze and green ver¬ 
dure of the country, I put myself under the 
care of two of my grandchildren, one 12 the 
other 2J years old, and took the New-IIaven 
train at 3 o’clock P. M.; but passed at such 
rapid rate that I could see but little of the 
vegetable kingdom to report, until we ar¬ 
rived at the point to take the Ilousatonic rail¬ 
road, where we found what was called the ex¬ 
press freight train. The speed here was greatly 
lessened from that of the New-IIaven, and 
plenty of time was now afforded as we passed 
along, to view the progress vegetation was mak¬ 
ing, which, owing to the cold wet spring, and 
now severe drouth, was quite backward. The 
corn was quite small for 20th June, but the po¬ 
tatoes looked much better, and it appeared that 
an unusually large crop of this important vege¬ 
table had been planted. It is to be hoped that 
the expectations of the growers will not be dis¬ 
appointed in the quantity and quality, should 
they be in price. Our speed grew less and less, 
as one freight car after another was hitched 
on, and the old black horse whuzzed and puffed 
until 9 o’clock, when the conductor gave orders 
to stop long enough to give him water, and the 
passengers supper; but we were soon alarmed 
by the cry of the conductor, “All on board;” 
but our alarm soon subsided by the gentle voice 
of the landlord saying, “ take time enough ladies 
and gentlemen to finish your supper.” A gen¬ 
tleman then remarked, “ let them go on we can 
overtake them.” 
We were asked the moderate price of thirty- 
one cents for our meal, which was equally sub¬ 
stantial, and answered all the reasonable calls 
of nature, as the one we subsequently took at 
Springfield, for which we were taxed seventy- 
five cents. Supper ended, and the horse watered 
and wooded, w T e moved on moderately until we 
came to Canaan, a happy land to us, where we 
found comfortable beds, and kind attention. 
Starting again in the morning at 5 o’clock, mov¬ 
ing on at the same slow rate, we arrived at 
Lenox depot a 8-J- o’clock, making 17-J- hours 
from New-York, rather slow compared with the 
Hudson River route. I advise those who wish 
to see the picturesque scenery on the Ilousa- 
tonic, to take the morning train from New-York, 
which will take them through to Albany at a 
reasonable rate of speed by day light. 1 have 
been thus particular for the benefit of traveling 
strangers. 
Berkshire is a rough mountainous county, 
with every kind of soil to be found in that lati¬ 
tude, some of which is under the highest state 
of cultivation, while others remain without any 
apparent improvement. I inquired of the intel¬ 
ligent keeper of the excellent hotel at Lenox, if 
the moss-covered barren pastures and mowing 
