Q98 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Is the Farm a Debtor 1 
Many who complain of farming as a poor busi¬ 
ness, and who are longing to sell tape or peddle 
pills, are unable to tell if the farm is a debtor or 
a creditor to them. Even though they keep an 
account of personal expenses, and know how 
they stand with the world, they keep no account 
of their fanning operations, even in the most 
general way. They cannot tell whether the farm 
has paid expenses the last year, or has run them 
in debt. Much less can they tell what particular 
crop has been most profitable, or what crop has 
cost more than its market value. 
From what we have seen of the statements 
of those farmers who have presented their farms 
for premiums at the fairs, and from what we know 
of the habits of farmers in this respect, we think 
not one farmer in ten keeps an account of the 
expenses and products of his fields, or can tell 
within a hundred dollars whether his farming 
pays. Many do not know how to keep such an 
account, and, indeed, there are some points that 
are not well settled, even by competent authori¬ 
ties. The doctors disagree as to what amount of 
manure is taken up by the crops the first year, 
and how much is to be credited to the increased 
value of a field by high manuring, and thorough 
tillage ; as to what the value of the growth of 
young stock may be ; as to the increased value 
of young fruit-trees ; of forests ; of muck dug ; 
the increased value of land drained, &c. 
But whatever rule may be adopted in regard to 
these points, if the same be followed year after 
year, it will enable a farmer to get at the proxi¬ 
mate value of his farming operations. It is a 
duty which every cultivator of the soil owes to 
himself and his calling, to keep an account with 
his farm, and to determine what are the legitimate 
profits and losses of his business. If farming 
does not pay expenses, he either ought to reform 
his style of husbandry or abandon it, unless he 
is a very rich man, and can afford to amuse him¬ 
self with enriching his acres, and getting great 
crops at the expense of his purse. As a rule, no 
business ought to be followed that does not pay a 
profit on the labor, skill and capital embarked in 
it; it ought to be prosecuted on such principles 
that it will pay, or be abandoned. We are sick 
of hearing of this impeachment of the fruitful¬ 
ness of earth, and insist upon it, that no farmer 
shall be suffered to malign the soil who does not 
back up his charges with a regular account of ex¬ 
penses and income. The following from an ex¬ 
change, is an outline of the kind of account 
wanted : 
The farming for this year (the second) com¬ 
menced last Fall, in getting out about 200 loads 
of muck from ditches, swamps, &c., mixing it 
with about one-fourth its bulk of stable manure, 
a few barrels of lime, ashes, &c., putting it into 
large heaps, well topped up for Winter. The 
new ground was plowed in the Fall, it being part 
bog swamp (drained), and part upland, most of it 
had been covered with bushes and briers for 
years. It was plowed, deep, and most of it, in the 
Spring, was plowed over twice again. About 
twenty-seven and a-half acres were tilled; 
twelve of corn, one of sweet corn fed green to 
hogs, one-half an acre green for feeding cattle, 
three and a-hall of potatoes, one and a-fourth 
of cabbages and turnips, one-half an acre of car¬ 
rots, beets and onions, three and one-fourth of 
*ye, five and one-fourth of buckwheat, one-fourth 
of an acre of white beans. The crops raised 
were as follows : 
512 bush, potatoes, average worth 57} 
cents $203 90 
80!} bush, corn, average worth $1 801.50 
V0 bush white beans, raised in the main 
among corn, $1,37} 37.75 
180 bush, rutabagas, 30 cents 54 00 
08 bush, carrots, 33 cents 22.67 
56 bush, round turnips, 20 cents 11 20 
93 bush, buckwheat,'75 cents 62-25 
10 bush, beets, 33 cents 3.34 
7 loads pumpkins, squashes 28.00 
Cabbages, beets, onions, cucumbers, 
green corn, turnips, &c., sold for 68 43 
187 lbs. butter, 23 cents 43.01 
61} dozen eggs, 20 cents. 12.30 
41} lbs. chickens, 12} cents 5.10 
Increased value of 15 acres of land 
tilled, at least $15 per acre 225.00 
Keeping one yoke of oxen for .he year 
not used in farm work 82 00 
Keeping one cow through the Winter, 
addition to last ye <r 22.50 
Green corn, milk and other feed to 13 
hogs, not included above 65 00 
-$ 1 , 8 : 8,01 
EXPENSES. 
Labor forthe year, Summer and early 
Fall, $1 per day; other seasons, 
83} cents, they boarding themselves $717.31 
Seed corn, potatoes, rye, buckwheat, 
cabbage, &e. 23.55 
Stable manure, $170, one-half allowed 
benefit received 85 00 
Ashes, $105},one-third allowed benefit 
received 35.00 
•Guano 73.25 
Plaster 14.99 
Interest on assessment of farm, $3,600 
(6 per cent.) 216.00 
Expenses, tools, &c. 45.00 
Interest on stock, taxes, &c. 29.00 
-$1,239.10 
tity, kind of lime, and condition when applied, 
and every other particular essential to its proper 
use. Some have said, cut the potatoes and roll 
the pieces immediately, while the cut surface is 
still moist, in quick lime. Is this necessary and 
safe 1 I hope to..see this matter fully explained 
in your columns. Long Island Farmer. 
Sept. 4, 1858. 
Bees—Old Hives and Comb—Do the Bees 
Become Dwarfed, etc. 
We have already stated some facts concerning 
the development of the bee, from the egg to ma¬ 
turity. The tiny egg that is laid by the queen, 
when hatched, gives birth, not to a bee, but to a 
worm, which grows rapidly for several days, and 
then is covered up in its cell, to undergo, in dark¬ 
ness and repose, an amazing change, as the result 
of which it becomes a perfect winged insect. A 
casual glance at a sheet of brood comb would lead 
Difference, nut profits $598.91 
This is a much clearer account than we usually 
see in such statements, because it happens to be 
made by a gentleman who unites merchandize 
with his farming, and is accustomed to keep ac¬ 
counts ; but even this contains an important 
omission. 
Some would criticise the item of $225 for the 
increased value of the land under cultivation. 
But from personal inspection of the premises 
before and after the crops, we have no doubt it is 
within bounds. To clear an acre of land of 
scrub oaks, and to plow into it fifty loads of com¬ 
post, will add more than fifteen dollars to its va¬ 
lue, if it lie near a good market, as the land in 
question does. But here there is no estimate 
of the value of the manure made upon the 
premises during the year, which is an item of 
profit as legitimate as the corn or the potatoes. 
If one hundred and seventy loads of stable manure 
were made, it is worth just as m uch for the next 
year’s operations as the same amount purchased. 
This single item in this case would add about 
twenty per cent, to the profits of the year. One is 
struck here with the large amount paid out for la¬ 
bor, and with the proportion it bears to the whole 
expense, and with the fair profits of the farming. 
We trust that our readers, if any such there 
are, who mistrust that farming does not pay, will 
just sit down and make out their account for the 
past year, and strike the balance. It may he found 
that the farm pays very well, in some instances, 
where the farmer does not. A farmer may be 
reckless, may speculate, may dissipate, may ne¬ 
glect his business. It is manifestly unjust to 
charge his sins to the farm. We are concerned 
for the honor of the soil, and claim that no man 
should bring against it loose accusations. Good 
farming, we believe, always pays, and is a credit, 
both to the character and purse of the cultivator. 
Lime on Seed Potatoes. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Having lost most of my potatoes by rot for the 
last three years, I applied lime this season, and 
up to this time when they are mostly ripe, they 
have not shown any evidence of rot. I applied 
lime on the potato after it was dropped in the 
hill, and on the vines at two different hoeings. I 
believe lime the best and almost only preventive 
for rot. To know how to apply it is of vast im¬ 
portance, considering the large annual value of 
this crop. I trust your correspondents who have 
tried experiments with lime on their potatoes, 
will give through your valuable journal full parti¬ 
culars of the mode and time cf application, quan- 
one to suppose that the worms were perfectly 
motionless, as they lie coiled up at the bottom of 
the cell. A careful observer, however, will not 
(ail to detect their motion, which is especially no¬ 
ticeable when for any reason the cell has been 
left uncapped a longer time than usual. The cov¬ 
ering of the cells is the work of the bees, who 
have already provided the helpless worm with a 
sufficient supply of food. After the time h-as 
come for sealing up the cell, the worm begins to 
spin its cocoon, moving its head (!) back and 
forth, while its thread, like that of a spider or a 
silkworm, is paid out and attached nicely to the 
inner walls of the cells. After weaving the co¬ 
coon, the worm, turning its head toward the 
opening of the cell, quietly awaits its transforma¬ 
tion into a perfect bee, which finally works its 
way out from the cell about eighteen days from 
the hatching of the egg. The drones are a few 
days longer coming to maturity. The queen 
bee, on the other hand, is perfected in a shorter 
time. 
These cocoons are never removed from the 
comb by the bees. The queen, on finding a cell 
vacant, proceedes to lay an egg within the co¬ 
coon, and the worm that is hatched from it 
weaves its cocoon within the other; and so on, 
generation after generation. Any one can easily 
satisfy himself of this fact, by taking a piece of 
old brood comb and carefully tearing it to pieces ; 
or by melting it before the fire, when the wax 
will melt away, leaving each nest of cocoons sep¬ 
arable from the rest. Then, with care, the differ¬ 
ent cocoons may be taken apart, like sheets of 
paper from a quire, though their thickness is much 
less than common paper. The texture resemble-s 
paper, and so far as we can see, is not capable or 
being unwound. 
It is natural to suppose that the cell may be¬ 
come too small, as one cocoon after another has 
been left in it, and that the bees may become 
dwarfed. We do not know of any observations to 
show exactly where this point is reached The 
“ Cottage Bee Keeper ” (page 93) says, “ renova¬ 
tion of comb should take place not less often than 
