242 
AMEEIOAlsr AGEIOULTUEIST. 
[June, 
shift the plant into a pot of the next larger size, 
and so on as the plant may require it. This is a 
very important point, and .should not bo over¬ 
looked if strong, healthy plants are expected. 
Fuchsias are espeeially desirable for training on 
trellises. They can be trained over an upright 
trellis, and have a very pretty ellect, but the best 
form is that of an umbrella. Secure a strong, vig¬ 
orous plant and allow one shoot to grow upright 
until about two feet high, then pinch off the top of 
the shoot. It will branch out and form a head, 
each shoot of which, when sufficiently long, may 
have a fine thread or hair-wire attached to the tip, 
by which to draw it downward; fasten the other 
end of the wire or thread to the stem of the plant, 
and all the shoots will then be pendant. When 
each of these branches has attained a length of 
eight inches, pinch off the tip, and the whole will 
form a dense head resembling an umbrella in shape ; 
and the graceful flowers pendant from each shoot 
will be handsome indeed. Kemember to keep the 
stock clear of side-shoots, in order to throw the 
growth into the head. 
If properly taken care of, most Fuchsias will bloom 
the year round ; but some kinds can be especially 
recommended for winter blooming ; among them 
are: F, speriosa, flesh-colored, with scarlet corolla ; 
F. serratifolia, orange, scarlet corolla, greenish se¬ 
pals ; Meteor, deep-red corolla, light-pink sepals. 
The following are the finest in every respect that 
the market affords. Mrs. Bennett, pink ; Sir Colin 
Campbell, double-blue ; Eose of Castile, single¬ 
violet; Elm City, double-scarlet; Carl Holt, crim¬ 
son; Tower of London, double-blue; Wave of Life, 
foliage yellow, corolla violet; F. speciosa, single, 
flesh-colored ; and F.fulgens, long red corolla. 
Cucumbers for Pickles, 
The pickle crop is a fairly profitable one if there 
are pickle factories within easy reach. The seed is 
sown in the first half of the present month. A 
light, warm, and rich soil is needed. The ground 
may be marked off, four feet apart each way, and 
hills made where the marks intersect. A common 
method is to sow the seeds in drills. The whole 
field is heavily manured, and the seed sown in 
drills five feet apart, or furrows are opened, the 
manure distributed liberally in them and well 
worked in with the soil. The earth is then thrown 
back over the manure and the surface rolled. At 
least half a dozen seeds to the foot are then drop¬ 
ped in a slight furrow made by a marker, and 
covered about an inch deep, pressing the soil with 
a light roller or the blade of the hoe. Insect pests 
will appear as soon as the young plants are up, 
and the latter, from the first, must be copiously 
dusted with plaster or a mixture of ashes or 
plaster. Those who live near the coast prefer air- 
slaked shell-lime for this purpose. The dusting 
with either material should be done in early morn¬ 
ing while the dew is on, anrl be kept up until the 
vines begin to run. The plants should be gradual¬ 
ly thinned and finally leave one strong one at every 
foot in the row. When the vines begin to bear, 
the cucumbers should be picked daily or every 
other day, and of the size in demand. A barrel 
holds about five thousand small cucumbers, and 
from twelve to fifteen hundred large ones. Always 
cut the cucumbers, leaving them with a stem. 
Rye for Hay. 
Mr. “A. G. W.,” Manchester, Tenn., writes us: 
You ask for experience in using rye for hay. I 
cut it in bloom. The heads even then are sweeter 
than the straw, and horses will pick it over for the 
former and waste the latter unless cut. When cut 
and fed to cows giving milk I find it equal to the 
best Timothy hay, and with me either makes more 
milk than clover hay.—Rye is better to seed down 
with than oats, I believe, otherwise oats would be 
preferable, as nothing else makes so good hay 
as oats cut just as the most forward heads are in 
bloom. I have tried both.—For a sowed crop to 
make hay Hungarian grass is next to oats. 
Improved Hives and Fixtures. 
■W. Z. HUTCHINSON. 
Since its invention, the movable-comb hive has 
undergone a vast amount of modification. At pres¬ 
ent, however, the majority of bee-keepers have laid 
aside the supposed improvements and adopted the 
original frame, and many of them the original style 
of hive, as given to the world years ago, by that 
prinee of apiarists, the Rev. L. L. Langstroth. The 
standard Langstroth’s frame is nine and one-eighth 
inches deep, and seventeen and three-eighth inches 
long ; and the standard liive shown at a in the en¬ 
graving, is simply a box with rabbets on the inside 
of the upper edges of the end pieces upon which 
to hang the frame. The space between the frames 
and the inside of the hive is three-eighths of an inch. 
A cheap and excellent stand for hives is simply a 
shallow box, without top or bottom, made from 
cheap lumber. It should be the same size as the 
bottom board of the hive, and four inches is of 
sufficient hight. Such a stand is shown at 6. 
Many devices have been employed to enlarge or 
contract the entrance to a hive, but there is noth¬ 
ing more simple and effectual than triangular blocks, 
as shown at c. They are sawed from inch boards, 
and are large enough to completely close the en¬ 
trance when placed in front of it. By moving them 
apart the entrance is opened ; while their shape is 
such as to guide the bees into the entrance, even 
though it should be nearly closed. When robber 
bees are troublesome, the entrance may be easily 
made so small that only a single bee can pass, while 
during the hight of the honey-harvest the blocks 
can be entirely removed. 
In a previous article it was mentioned that some 
bee-keepers used queen-excluding honey-boards 
between the brood and surplus departments to pre¬ 
vent the queen from entering and depositing eggs 
in the section boxes. The edge of such a board 
can be seen at d. 
Many bee-keepers are discarding wide frames for 
holding sections, and adopting what is called the 
“ Heddon Case ” : This is simply a box without top 
or bottom, one-fourth of an inch deeper than the 
hight of the sections, with wooden partitions in¬ 
side between the rows of sections. Two of these 
cases are shown in position at e, e, and the position 
of the wooden partitions will be readily understood 
by noticing the heads of the nails that hold them in 
place. To support the sections, a strip of tin, one 
fourth of an inch wdder than the thickness of one 
of the partitions, is nailed to the lower edge of 
each partition, and a similarstrlp to the lower edge 
of each end piece of the case. The top to the hive, 
which is simply a board with wide cleats nailed to 
its ends, is used to cover the cases of sections. 
Each case contains thirty-two sections, four and a 
quarter by nine and a quarter inches square, and an 
inch and a half wide. When the sections in the 
case, first set upon the hive, are one-half finished, 
the case is raised and another case of sections 
placed between this and the hive. When the sec¬ 
tions last set on are partly finished, another easels 
set between them and the hive. When the sections 
in the upper case are finished, the case is taken off 
and the sections removed. In brief, the empty 
sections are put on at the bottom, and the finished 
ones taken off at the top. This is the “ tiering up ’* 
plan, the best with which the writer is acquainted. 
Shade fob Hives :—To secure the best results, 
hives should be shaded in the middle of the day 
during the hot weather. To accomplish this, the 
writer uses a “ shade-board,” two by three feet in 
size, made by nailing the butts of shingles to a strip 
of board four inches wide and two feet long. This 
board, which is shown at/, is placed upon the hive 
with one edge even with the north side of the 
hive, and the other projecting beyond and shading 
the hive in the middle of the day. This allows 
the sun to strike the hive in the morning and 
evening. The board is kept in place by a stone. 
Among tile Farmers. —New Sekies, No. 2. 
BT ONE OP THEM. 
I have been “knocking about” a good deal 
among the farmers the past month, and have seen 
things to make me open my eyes. They have not 
been by any means closed along back, but one can 
never see so much when pursuing the even tenor of 
his daily life, as when “on the go.” This time 
I have been among the so-called 
“Geiitlemeu Farmers,” 
men who make, in a measure, farming a pastime, 
w'ho live in town during the winter, or who having 
other ways of getting money, spend it upon the 
farm, with little care whether it pays in money or 
not. They are paid, no doubt, over and again in 
pleasure, even if their milk and champagne, if they 
drink either, cost them the same price. I have of¬ 
ten said, that I knew no happier men than those 
who have a good business whereat to earn their 
money, and a fine farm to spend it upon. 
I would by no means say that “ Gentlemen Far¬ 
mers ” do not make farming pay. Many do. Not 
pure and simple farming perhaps, but farming in 
their way. A successful merchant ordinarily 
makes a good farmer. So he is just the man to en¬ 
joy a farm. A man who can keep a hundred milch 
cows, and make butter all winter that sells at 
fifty-five to sixty cents a pound, or one who can 
sell his heifer calves at an average of three hundred 
dollars each, and half his bulls at a third of that, 
has merchant enough in his make up to be satis¬ 
fied. There are horse farms that pay; sheep farms 
that pay; fruit farms that pay; poultry farms that 
pay very well, and a good many milk farms that pay. 
Jersey Tests. 
The tide of popular favor is setting so strongly in 
favor of Jersey cows, and their merits are being 
so rapidly developed, that it is no wonder that they 
are the favorites among the people to whom I al¬ 
lude. The Jerseys have been valued and enjoyed 
for their beauty and for their elegant product— 
firm and abundant butter, but now the excitement 
of training them for, and conducting their tests is 
added. As it requires great care, the taking of no 
small risks, and very considerable expense withal, it 
is essential that these tests should be undertaken by 
rich men, and not by men rich only in houses and 
lands and fine cattle, but in character, and a repu¬ 
tation for accurate, conscientious honesty, which 
is worth more even to a poor man than all material 
wealth. 
The reader may wonder why a cow that makes 
twenty pounds of butter in a week, ought to be the 
property of a rich man, rather than of a poor one. I 
will tell them at the risk of letting out a secret. 
Such a cow, when put to her best butter-making 
pace, must be fed and handled without the least 
regard to expense. The question i^, first, how 
