AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
once in every four or foe years." On the other 
hand, a correspondent in our August number, 
page 237, speaks of bees which had undisturbed 
possession of a.hive for twenty-two years , after 
which period, the bees seemed to be “one-third 
smaller in size than bees in young stocks adjoin¬ 
ing.” And Mr. Quinby, commenting on this 
statement, page 269, says. “ I have known combs 
half that age to be used for brood, and the bees 
bred in them could not be distinguished from those 
reared in new combs !” Mr. Langstroth, in his 
work, page 312, also says,in reply to the suggestion 
(hat combs may be so old as to produce dwarfs: 
“ When I find such a colony, I shall think it worth 
while to give specific directions as to how it 
should be managed. The truth is, that of all the 
many mistakes and impositions which have dis¬ 
gusted multitudes with the very sound of ‘ patent 
hive,’ none has been more fatal than the notion, 
that an old colony of bees could not be expected 
to prosper. Thousands of the very best stocks 
have been wantonly sacrificed to this chimera; 
and so long as bee-keepers, instead of studying 
the habits of the bee, prefer to listen to the in¬ 
terested statements of ignorant, or enthusiastic, 
or fradulent persons, thousands more will suffer 
die same fate. * * * What old bee-keeper 
nas not had abundant proof that stocks eight or 
ten years old, or even older, are often among the 
very best in his whole Apiary, always healthy, 
and swarming with almost unfailing regularity ! 
I have seen such hives, which for more than fif¬ 
teen years have scarcely failed, a single season, 
to throw a powerful swarm.” 
It also appears from Mr. L.’s experience, page 
42, that drones reared in worker cells where they 
had not space for full development, “ were 
dwarfed in size, although the bees, in order to 
give them more room, had pieced out the cells so 
as to make them larger than usual; size except¬ 
ed, they appeared as perfect as any other drones.” 
What then is established by these facts ! Not 
that a piece of comb may be incessantly used for 
brood, for fifteen or twenty years ; but that a large 
hive, well supplied with worker comb, need not 
be pruned of its comb to prevent the dwarfing of 
the bees, except at very long intervals of time. 
One may safely wait until his bees have actually 
become reduced in size ; and even then it would be 
a question whether they would prove less efficient 
and serviceable. If such degeneracy occurs, it 
may be presumed also that the queen does not 
participate in it This is the great practical les¬ 
sen to be learned. We have much more to fear 
from the abundance of drone cells., and of thick 
combs fitted only for storing honey, than from 
cells so much contracted as to be unsuited for 
brood. 
It is well known that brood cells are used in¬ 
discriminately for brood and honey. As the 
Winter’s supply of food is consumed, cells are 
made vacant for the eggs from which the hive is 
to be repeopled in the Spring. So that the rate 
at which cells become filled up by cocoons must 
he much slower than if a generation of bees was 
raised every month of the year. And then in 
these old hives it may be true that some of the 
old comb ceases to be used for brood. If a hive 
is twenty years old, it is not certain that the 
combs used for brood have been constantly de¬ 
voted to that purpose. 
We have before us a piece of comb taken re¬ 
cently from an old hive, whose age we could not 
ascertain. It contains, chiefly, regular drone 
cells. On one side, these seem to have been 
cut away, so as to be too shallow for use; on 
the other they are apparently of unusual depth ; 
but this is due to the accumulation of cocoons, 
ih» thickness of which is so great that the bot¬ 
toms of the cells are more than half an inch from 
where they were at first, in other words the cells 
have been gradually filling up with cocoons, and 
have been lengthened out about half an inch in 
the other direction, in order to give them suffi¬ 
cient depth for the brood. We succeeded in sep¬ 
arating twenty cocoons from one cell, which 
seemed to be an average specimen ; and between 
some of these we found deposits of thick black 
matter, which may possibly have been bee-bread ; 
though we are in doubt about it. One such lay¬ 
er was nearly a tenth of an inch thick. The di¬ 
ameter of the cells seems to be but little dimin¬ 
ished ; and their appearance would not lead one 
to expect a dwarfing of the bees. Half a dozen 
thimbles fitted into one another will show how it 
is possible for the cocoons to be multiplied with¬ 
out diminishing the capacity of the cell. We 
presume that while the cells of one comb have 
thus been extended, those of the comb directly 
opposite must have been cut down to make the 
passage way sufficiently wide. This piece of 
comb, taken from a hive in July, after the forcing 
of one swarm and the subsequent expulsion of 
the residue, contained neither brood nor honey 
when it came into our possession, but it may 
have been occupied by brood this very year. 
--- 
King 1 Philip Cora in Michigan. 
Peter Fournie, of Saginaw Co., Mich., writes 
under date of August 21 : I have been here eight 
years “milling it,” but the present year I have 
worked both a farm and a mill; and though this is 
my first farming in 13 years, I believe I shall 
hereafter follow this occupation. [A good decis¬ 
ion.— Ed.] Hearing much about the King Philip 
corn, I decided to try it, but could not get seed 
before June 22. Two acres were planted from 
that to the 25th. We had green corn August 18, 
less than two months after planting ! My corn 
is now better than any of the other kinds around 
me, though mine was planted two weeks later. 
I am satisfied that the King Philip variety is the 
kind for this section of the country, as the grow¬ 
ing season is very short. Some think this county 
(latitude 43^°) is too cold for corn, but I say, do 
the work well and adopt the right variety and it 
will pay. 
Remark. —Our correspondent does not state 
whether his soil and the manuring were like that 
of his neighbors. Superior culture in these re¬ 
spects, may have made considerable difference in 
favor of his plot. It is generally desirable to have 
these particulars stated. We have repeatedly 
remarked that for colder sections of the country 
with “short” seasons between Spring and Autum¬ 
nal frosts, the King Philip is one of the best va¬ 
rieties if not the best—owing to its early maturi¬ 
ty. It has a much smaller stalk than other kinds, 
and should be planted nearer to get a large pro¬ 
duct. The ears are of pretty good size, and the 
cob being small the amount of shelled corn is 
large.— Ed. 
-»_-->«--- 
Land-Side Cutter on Plows.—Objections. ... 
“ C.” of Sussex Co., N. J., raises the following 
objections to this implement, described and illus¬ 
trated on page 237.—1st. When a narrow furrow 
chances to be cut, the plo w would shove off into 
the furrow, and it would require some force and 
skill to get it back again. 2nd. In stony ground 
the plow would be constantly shoved out by 
stones against the beveled cutter. 3d. In stony 
(or rooty) ground, when the plow must be fre¬ 
quently lifted over or turned aside, the cutter on 
the left side would prevent a free management of 
the plow.... [These are manifest injections, es- 
UiYO 
pecially the last two, and we would not advise its 
application on very stony ground in any ease. 
On clean land it may work well.—E d.] 
-q>—* ■ii a ^B c w t -. q . 
Shocking Corn Implements. 
We are indebted to Mr. James Hau, of Daven¬ 
port, Iowa, for the description of a simple (un¬ 
patented) implement which strikes us as being 
very convenient to use in tying corn in shocks, 
and we have engraved the above sketch. The 
longest part is a round piece of wood, 4 or 4$- feet 
in length, 3 inches in diameter at one end, and 
running to a point at the other. Upon the blunt 
end, there is a crank, say 2 feet long, fitted with 
a handle, similar to a common grind-stone 
crank. A hole is made in the pointed shaft, near 
the crank, through which one end of a rope or 
cord 7 or 8 feet long is thrust, and fastened with 
a knot, and upon the other end of the cord is a 
small loop. The mode of using this implement, 
which is quickly and easily made, will be readily un¬ 
derstood. The pointed shaft is thrust through the 
shock ; the cord is then thrown around and the 
loop put upon the projecting end of the crank. 
Turning the crank will wind up both ends of the 
rope, and bring the stalks as tightly together as 
may be desired, when they are tied with a straw 
band, or with stalks, withes, or twine. 
While on this subject we will re-introduce 
another implement described a year ago. A num¬ 
ber of readers who adopted it at once, have ex¬ 
pressed themselves highly pleased with it. A 
Maryland subscriber wrote that “ this single lit¬ 
tle hint was worth five times his subscription.” 
The implement is made as follows : 
The round pole a, is about ten feet long, and 
three or four inches in diameter, according to the 
weight and strength of the wood. It is supported 
by two legs which are simply round sticks let 
into augur holes. The larger end of the pole is 
sharpened out to a point. About 1£ feet from 
the point is an augur hole through which is thrust 
loosely a stick, b, say 4 feet long. When set down, 
as in the engraving, the corn is set upright around 
the crossing of the two pieces, and bound. The 
cross-piece; b, is first taken out, and then a, is 
withdrawn. The whole implement is light enough 
to be carried around by hand. With only an ax 
and augur any one can cut the sticks from the 
woods and complete the making in half an hour. 
-«-—aaa^ Cl ini. » - 
Loving vs. Liking.— The distinction between 
liking and loving was well made by a little girl, 
six years old. Site was eating something at break 
fast which she seemed to relish very much. “ Do 
you love it 1” asked her aunt. “ No,” replied the 
child,” with a look of disgust. “I like it. If I 
loved it, I should kiss it.” 
The following contains the alphabet:—John P. 
Brady, gave me a black walnut box of -(iiite a 
small size. 
