1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
251 
main, and will give a decided value to the manure, 
but the leading arguments in favor of the use of 
the earth closet, are the very potent and important 
ones of health, decency, and comfort. The uni¬ 
versal adoption of the dry earth system, would 
largely protect us against the exhaustion of our 
soils, but we must still regard it important to pro¬ 
vide the stimulating elements of nitrogen in our 
artificial manuring. 
Mr. James Ferrier, of Jeffersonville, Ind., sends 
me (for an opinion) a project for agricultural im¬ 
provement, by the aid of loans from the public 
treasury. Briefly, his project is as follows : 
Government to loan money on mortgage at, say, 
21 per cent per annum, for a term of years, to pay 
for under-draining, to be done under the supervision 
of competent government engineers. The money 
to be secured by mortgages on the drained lands. 
His arguments are : 1. That this would give need¬ 
ed employment to laborers, tile-makers, rail-roads, 
engineers, etc. 2. That it would add at least 25 
per cent to the product of much of the laud now 
under cultivation, and would greatly increase the 
area of land fit for cultivation. 3. A large amount of 
produce would be raised for export. 4. The increas¬ 
ed product would cheapen the cost of living, and en¬ 
able us to compete, as manufacturers, with the rest 
of the world. 5. This would bring the balance of 
trade in our favor, and re-establish our finances. 6. 
The intrinsic value of a great proportion of our 
laud would be permanently very much inereased. 
There is no question that if this plan could he 
properly carried out, the result would fully equal 
Mr. Ferrier’s anticipations ; but with a civil service 
the chief object of which is to furnish pecuniary 
reward to the friends of those in power, and with 
the certainty that instead of regarding them em¬ 
ployments as a life long occupation, and an honor¬ 
able profession, our officers are encouraged to look 
upon it as a means of getting out of their positions 
all the money that they can during the short time 
for which they remain in employment, the most 
probable result would be that this money would be 
swamped in a sea of corruption, or would be loaned 
to political adherents, would be badly secured, and 
would be expended under the direction of engineers 
—appointed because of their services to the party in 
power, rather than because of their skill and fit¬ 
ness—whose first object would too often be to make 
hay while the sun shines. Had we such a civil ser¬ 
vice as forms the foundation of the government of 
every other nation in Christendom, I should then 
be disposed to advocate in the most active way, 
just such a project as is here proposed, the more 
so because a similar loan of public capital, has 
done more than anything else to bring about the 
present superb condition of agriculture in England. 
Years ago the British government loaned money for 
agricultural improvements, at low interest, capita] 
and interest to be paid off by regular annual instal¬ 
ments, reaching over twenty or thirty years, and 
secured only upon the increased value of the land 
beyond its assessment before the draining was be¬ 
gun. The very large sums applied in this way, 
were so soon taken up, and proved to be so safely 
invested, that private corporations of capitalists 
have now taken the business into their own hands 
—under the protection of a general law—loaning 
immense amounts every year, on all manner of 
agricultural improvements. With a decent civil 
service, the same result might be hoped for here, 
but under our present loose way of doing public 
Dusiness, there is great danger that money appro¬ 
priated in this way, would only lead to a further 
development of corruption and dishonesty, and 
public loss and demoralization. 
lhad hoped by this time to have for the readers 
of these papers, some interesting material from 
Philadelphia—where my duties as a Judge of 
Awards, give me certain facilities for investigating 
the practical value of agricultural implements, sys¬ 
tems of draining, etc., but the mass of material to 
be studied is so great, that I can at this writing on¬ 
ly urge all who can possibly do so, to arrange to 
spend the most Drofitable week of their lives, in 
seeing for themselves what the industries of the 
whole world offer for their instruction. The Exhi¬ 
bition is beyond all precedent a most successful 
one, and 1 hope in my next to be able to give, with 
some detail, the reason why I think so. 
Forest Tree Planting. 
SIXTH ARTICLE. 
During the months in which no planting can be done, 
our space may be profitably occupied in giving more de¬ 
tailed accounts of desirable trees, than we were able to 
do earlier in the season. The planter who wishes shel¬ 
ter, fuel, or fencing material, at the shortest possible 
time, will select very different trees from the one who 
wishes to turn his laud to the best possible account, and 
plants as an investment, if not for himself, for his chil¬ 
dren. Among trees for the latter purpose, none stand 
more prominent than the 
American Wliite Ash, 
an account of which was alluded to last month. The 
article here given is extracted from a valuable paper on 
Tree Planting, presented to the Massachusetts State 
Board of Agriculture, by one of its members. Prof. C. S. 
Sargent, Director of the Botanic Garden and Arboretum 
of Harvard University, who says: 
In consideration of its market value at all ages, the ra¬ 
pidity of its growth, and the length of time it continues 
to throw up suckers, the white ash (Fraxinus Americana , 
L.) is the most valuable of all our native trees for planting 
in this State. Valuable as Massachusetts grown white oak 
is, it can never compete with that produced in other sec¬ 
tions of the country for purposes which call out its high¬ 
est qualities ; while the slowness of its growth, and the 
difficulties which attend the early years of its cultiva¬ 
tion, seem still further to reduce its value for the general 
planter as compared with the ash. Already there is a 
rapidly increasing export trade of ash lumber to Europe, 
Australia, and the Pacific coast, from Boston and New 
York, and the possibilities of this business can only be 
limited by the supply. The American is generally ac¬ 
knowledged to he superior to the European ash in the 
qualities for which it is specially valued, toughness and 
elasticity, and in which no other wood can equal it. 
Australia possesses no tree which is at all its equal for 
carriage-building, while west of the Rocky Mountains 
there is but a single one which can supply its place—an 
ash (.Fraxinus Oregana , Nutt.) which, developing into a 
large and valuable timber tree in Oregon, is less frequent 
and less valuable south of the California line. Of the 
economic value of several species of ash which grow on 
the Eastern Asiatic seaboard, nothing is as yet known. It 
seems, then, that the New England States could com¬ 
mand the markets of the world for one of the most use¬ 
ful and valuable of all woods, had they but a sufficient 
supply to offer. 
According to Mr. Thomas Laslett, Timber Inspector to 
the British Admiralty, the specific gravity of American 
ash is .480, while that of the European is .730. The for¬ 
mer is, therefore, on account of its greater lightness, far 
more valuable for the handles of shovels, spades, hoes, 
rakes, and other hand implements. 
According to the United States census of 1870, the 
number of spades, shovels, rakes, hoes, and hay-forks 
made in that year was 8,347.478, and as our exportation 
of such implements is rapidly increasing, although still 
in its infancy, it is evident that the value of ash will be 
greatly enhanced at no distant day. It is also used in 
making ships’ blocks, in turnery, and for making the 
oars of boats. In speaking of the white ash, Laslett 
says, *• it stands well* after seasoning, and hence we get 
from this tree the best material for oars for boats that 
can be produced. They are much and eagerly sought af¬ 
ter by foreign governments as well as our own, and also 
by the great private steamship companies and the mer¬ 
cantile marine of this country; consequently there is of¬ 
ten a very keen competition for the possession of them.” 
The manufactory of oars (surely a seaboard industry), in 
pursuit of materia], moved from Massachusetts first to 
Maine, and then to Ohio and other Western States. 
Ash is coming into extensive use for expensive furni¬ 
ture and for the interior finish of houses, while an im¬ 
mense number of the young saplings are annually con¬ 
sumed in the coopers’ trade. Its value for firewood, ac¬ 
cording to Bull, is 77, the standard, hickory, being 100, 
while only four other American woods are its superior in 
heat-giving qualities. 
In view of its many uses for purposes for which no 
other wood can supply its place, it is not astonishing that 
the value of ash lumber has largely increased of late 
years. The present price in the Boston market of the 
best New England ash is $85 the 1.000 feet, or about $15 
higher than that grown in the West. 
To develop its best qualities, the white ash should be 
planted in a cool, deep, moist, but well-drained soil, 
where it will make a rapid growth. That the plantation 
may be as early profitable as possible, the young trees 
should be inserted in rows three feet apart, the plants 
being two feet apart in the rows. This would give 7,200 
plants to the acre, which should be gradually thinned un¬ 
til 108 trees were left standing, twenty feet apart each 
way. The first thinning, which might be made at the 
end of ten years, would give 4,000 hoop-poles, which, at 
present price, would be worth $400. 
The remaining thinnings, made at different periods up 
to 25 or 30 years, would produce some 3,000 trees more, 
worth at least three times as much as the first thinnings. 
Such cuttings would pay all the expenses of planting, 
the care of the plantation and the interest on the capital 
invested, and would leave the land covered with trees 
capable of being turned into money at a moment’s no¬ 
tice, or whose value would increase for a hundred years, 
making no mean inheritance for the descendants of a 
Massachusetts farmer. The planting of the white ash as 
a shade and roadside tree is especially recommended, and 
for that purpose it ranks, amom: our native trees, next 
to the sugar maple. 
Bee Notes for July. 
BY L. C. ROOT, MOHAWK, N. Y. 
It has been suggested that I did not make myself clear¬ 
ly understood in June “ Notes,” in regard to the time to 
place surplus boxes on the hive. It is impossible to in¬ 
dicate a stated date when this should be done, as the 
time that tiie bees will occupy the boxes will vary so 
widely in different seasons and localities. It is safe to 
say that boxes are usually placed upon the hives too 
early. As to the exact time, each bee-keeper must bo 
governed by the yield of honey in his own locality. In 
Central New York, where white clover yields well, boxes 
should be in place during June ; yet, in 1874, our entire 
yield was from basswood, when boxes were not neces¬ 
sary until the 20th of July. 
Removing Pull Boxes. 
Boxes should not be allowed to remain on the hive 
after they are filled. They should be frequently examined, 
and removed as fast as full, and empty boxes supplied in 
place of the first.ones taken off. In removing the boxes, 
take them from the hive and turn them bottom up, near 
the entrance of the hive. After blowing smoke into the 
holes of the] boxes, rap them gently, and the bees will 
leave them, and return to the hive. 
Old Combs. 
I regret to learn from various parties to the effect, that 
in changing their bees from old box hives to those with 
movable frames, they have thrown away combs and 
brood, because they thought the combs were too old. 
The combs and brood are of more value than the bees. 
The value of old black combs is very much under-esti¬ 
mated by most bee-keepers. I have advised beginners to 
select colonies in old combs, in preference to those in 
new. It is a fact that cannot be disputed, that the losses 
in winter and spring are very much more numerous with 
young swarms in new combs. In view of this, and of 
the fact that they can be handled with less danger of 
breaking than new combs, old combs are much to be pre¬ 
ferred. The value of the brood thus lost at the time of 
transferring cannot be overestimated, as the whole effort 
for the previous month is to secure brood. Save all good 
pieces of comb, and especially all that contain brood. 
What isOvcr-swarining, anti how Prevented! 
When bees make preparations for natural swarming, 
they start several queen cells, and usually about the time 
they are sealed over, the old queen comes out with the 
first swarm. About nine days later, the first hatched 
queen will bring off the second swarm ; a few days later 
a third issues, and at times a fourth. This is over¬ 
swarming, and in no way desirable. To prevent this, I 
would advise the following: When the first swarm issues, 
remove the old hive, from which the swarm came, to a new 
stand, and put a new hive in its place, into which put the 
new swarm. If the old hive has movable combs, open it 
on the following day, and clip oft' all but one queen cell; 
or what wouffl be still better, clip them all off, and intro¬ 
duce a laying queen. There being none but young bees 
in the hive, they will readily accept a queen. It is de¬ 
sirable to take one comb from the old hive, and place it in 
the new hive, as it will aid in securing straight combs. 
Caution in Regard to Feeding Sugar. 
I have a neighbor who used “ A” sugar the past spring 
for feeding bees, in which he found a blue substance, 
which settled by the spoonful to the bottom after melt¬ 
ing. He had 00 colonies when he commenced feeding, 
and lost nearly all of them. Being acquainted with all 
the circumstances, I have reason to believe that the bees 
were poisoned by this substance, whatever it is. [We 
regret that you did not send us some of the sugar 
for examination,— Ed.] I have known similar cases 
where such sugar has been refused on account of its 
suspicious appearance. The need of caution is obvious. 
