330 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
the lungs. The final products of the use of the 
food in the body are, then, the excrement, the 
urine, and the expired gases and vapors. To gather 
all these and determine their amounts and compo¬ 
sition, the Respiration Apparatus has been devised. 
Tlie Respiration Apparatus. 
This consists essentially of a large chest or com¬ 
partment with air-tight walls, in which is placed an 
animal, for instance an ox. The interior is fur¬ 
nished with arrangements for supplying food and 
water and collecting the excrement and urine. By 
appropriate machinery a current of fresh air is in¬ 
troduced through openings provided for the pur¬ 
pose, and after it has supplied the wants of the 
animal for respiration, is drawn out, bringing 
with it the gaseous products of respiration, into a 
gasometer, where it is measured. It is then ana¬ 
lyzed, and a comparison of its composition with that 
before it had passed through the apparatus, shows 
what material has been added to it by the respira¬ 
tion of the animal. 
In the engraving, which shows the Apparatus at 
the Station at Weende, in Germany, A is the com¬ 
partment in which the animal under experiment is 
kept. This is made of sheet-iron, and is some 9i feet 
long, 7i feet wide, and 71 feet high, and so arranged 
that an ox may be kept inside for a period of sev¬ 
eral weeks very cbmfortably, as is indicated by the 
expression of the animal which the artist has put 
in to make the picture a bit more real. In the front 
end below the window is a lid, l, through which 
food and water are supplied, in a box fitted for the 
purpose. In the r,ear is a door, shown by dotted 
lines, through which the animal is admitted, and 
an attendant can enter if necessary. Inside are ar¬ 
rangements for collecting the dung and urine. The 
joints and closings are made tight, so that no air 
can enter except through apertures provided for 
the purpose in the rear end. A draft of fresh air 
is drawn in here, passes through the compartment 
and out at the front end through the pipes a and b, 
which unite in one single pipe, c. The air passes 
by this through the cylinder B, into the large gas- 
meter < 7 , where it is measured and proceeds thence 
by the pipe Fto a. large air pump, not shown in the 
picture, by which suction is produced, and a con¬ 
stant current maintained. By appropriate machin¬ 
ery tlie working of the air pump, and consequently 
the current of air through the compartment, is reg¬ 
ulated. The amount is shown by the gas-meter. 
The cylinder, B, contains porous stone saturated 
with water, by which the air is moistened to pre¬ 
vent its carrying away the water in the meter C. 
How tlie Exjierimcnts arc Conducted. 
Now, as is well known, animals in breathing 
inhale the air with its oxygen. This latter unites 
with the carbon and hydrogen of the food, or of 
the materials formed from the food in the body, 
and produce carbonic acid, a compound of carbon 
and oxygen, and water, which consists of hydrogen 
and oxygen. In fact a combustion takes place in 
the body just as truly as in a stove, the products of 
the combustion being the same in both cases. The 
air contains a very little carbonic acid and water 
before the animal breathes it, and still more, of 
course, afterwards. If then we analyze it before 
and after it passes through the compartment, we 
can readily tell how much of carbonic acid and 
water it has gained; that is, how much has come 
from the animal. Connected with the apparatus are 
two long small tubes, d, i ; i starting near the 
apertures in the rear of the compartment, while d 
opens from the large pipe c. On the table E, in 
front of the large gas-meter, are two small air 
pumps, e, e. Connected with these on one side are 
the long tubes d and i, and on the other, the two 
small gas-meters, B, D. While the large pump is 
working and drawing the air through the large pipe 
c, the small ones draw a part of it through d and i 
and the small meters, B, B. On the route it passes 
through the apparatus on the table. A, which de¬ 
termines the amounts of carbonic acid and water 
that it contains. By comparing the composition 
of the air from d, which has been breathed by the 
animal, with that from i, which has not been 
breathed, we can readily learn how much more car¬ 
bonic acid and water there is in one than in the 
other. Comparing the amount thus analyzed with 
the whole as measured by the large gas-meter, it is 
easy to calculate how much carbonic acid and 
water the animal has exhaled. In conducting the 
experiments, the ox is putin the compartment, the 
closings made tight, and the air-pumps set to work. 
At proper times food and drink are introduced by 
the box at the lid l, and after the animal has con¬ 
sumed what it will, the rest is removed. The ex¬ 
crements, solid and liquid, are collected by very 
ingenious arrangements, it being only occasionally 
necessary for an attendant to enter to insure the 
neat accomplishment of this purpose. The weigh¬ 
ing and analyses of the food and of the products of 
its use require, of course, a great deal of time and 
trouble and expense. Indeed a single experiment 
often requires the labor and attention of several 
men day and night for a number of weeks or 
months. Several years after the Apparatus at 
Weende had been set in operation, one of the chem¬ 
ists remarked to the writer, who was visiting there, 
that they had barely learned how to manage the 
apparatus, the animals, and the food, and were just 
ready to commence a series of researches which 
gave promise of definite results. 
The first successful Respiration Apparatus was 
that devised by Pettenkofer, in Munich. It is 
smaller than the one at Weende, which was copied 
from it some twelve years or more ago. A third 
was added in 1870 to the equipment of the Station 
at Halle, and a fourth was put in operation some 
three years or so since at Leipsic. 
Wesleyan University, Middletown , Conn. 
-■» -- 
Bee Notes for September, 
BY L. C. BOOT, MOHAWK, N. Y. 
The labor necessary during this month depends much 
upon the locality, and the autumn yield of honey. In 
most sections this is the proper time to prepare bees for 
winter. One of the most important things to be remem¬ 
bered by the inexperienced is, to avoid inducing bees to 
rob. In all operations avoid exposing honey, and see that 
the hives are properly closed, and entrances partially 
contracted. If forage is very scarce, the bees will im¬ 
prove every opportunity to rob. Under such circum¬ 
stances it will be best to operate morning and evening, 
when few. if any, bees are flying. At such times smoke 
must be used more freely for subduing the bees. 
Each hive should be weighed, and if movable combs 
are used, combs from the heavier swarms should be ex¬ 
changed with the lighter ones. If after this any hives 
are found to be too light, the bees should be fed. They 
should have at least 25 pounds of stores when put into 
winter quarters. If, as is usually the case with most 
bee-keepers, partly filled boxes are taken from the hive, 
as the season draws to a close, the capping of such combs 
as are partially sealed may be broken, and the boxes put 
upon the hives when feeding is needed. The bees will 
remove the honey to the body cf the hive, when the 
boxes containing these dry combs may be packed away 
for another season’s use. 
Care should be taken to keep all upward ventilation in 
hives closed. All holes in the top of the box hives 
should be well closed, and when mats or quilts are used 
at the top of movable-comb hives, they should be kept 
snugly in place. This will tend to keep the hive warm, 
and help to continue breeding, which is especially desira¬ 
ble at this season. 
I consider this and the previous month the very best 
for introducing young queens, from the fact that when 
introduced, the stock will rear a much larger quantity of 
brood than they would have done had the old queen re¬ 
mained. This is especially the case with swarms that 
are devoted to the production of box-honey. Swarms 
upon which the extractor is used are usually in much 
better shape than others for winter, from the fact that 
each operation induces breeding, thus bringing a large 
supply of young bees late in the season. 
Correction.—In Notes for August, p. 281), in 2Gth line 
from the bottom, the word “glass ” should read “loss.’ 
—-- 
The Department of Agriculture—Centen- 
nially. 
The Government wisely and liberally provided for 
an Exhibition by each of the different Departments, 
and one of the most interesting features of the 
great Exhibition is the Government Building. Here 
one can get in a short time a better idea of the work 
of the various Departments than he could by pass¬ 
ing weeks at the seat of government. Here, under 
one immense roof, the War and Naval, the Postal 
and Treasury Departments, show their materials 
and their workings; the Signal Service and the 
Patent Office make displays of great interest. 
Here is also the Smithsonian, which is a ward of 
the government, and last, but by no means least, is 
the Department of Agriculture, the show of which 
is exceedingly attractive, and creditable to its sub¬ 
ordinates. The horticultural division makes a fine 
display : the museum is represented by numerous 
and excellent models of fruits, while birds, quadru¬ 
peds and insects that are of agricultural interest 
are displayed. The statistical division presents a 
world of information by means of large and inge¬ 
nious maps. The chemist makes an attractive ex¬ 
hibition, and the botanist has a collection which 
shows the wood, leaves, and flowers, of every tree 
in our broad territory—a collection that must have 
demanded an immense amount of pains-taking la¬ 
bor. The exhibition of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture is highly creditable to every one concerned 
in preparing it, and an honor to the country. We 
have more than once said that there was excellent 
working material in the Department, and that it 
only needed a head, in order to be of use to the 
farmers of the country. It seems that Congress 
entertained some such idea, for in making the ap¬ 
propriation for this exhibition, it placed its dis¬ 
bursement, not in the hands of the head of the 
Department, but in that of his subordinates, a ra¬ 
ther unusual proceeding, but in this case the result 
appears to have warranted it, as it shows that in this 
extraordinary duty of making an exhibition, the 
Department can get along without any other than 
a nominal head, just as it does in its every day 
workings. The Monthly Report of the Department 
of Agriculture for May and June, may he regarded as 
a Centennial number, as it gives a very full account 
of the exhibition made at the Centennial by the 
heads of the various divisions of the Department. 
Though the Commissioner was ignored in the law 
directing the exhibition to be made, he is not by 
any means to be kept in the back-ground, but he 
comes out strong in this Centennial number in an 
article entitled : “ Cross-breeding of Grain,” which 
we are told is “ By the Commissioner”; this was 
hardly necessary, as we know of no one else in the 
Department, or out of it, who could have written 
the article. We do not like to use slang, but extra¬ 
ordinary occasions demand unusual words, and we 
have no hesitation in saying that this article is a 
“ stunner ”—we were about to say a “ sockdologer,” 
but not being quite sure as to the full force and 
meaning of that word, we refrain. We read : “the 
farmer is especially called upon to bestow industri¬ 
ous thought as well as laborious labor upon the 
work which he is daily called upon to perform.”— 
We now know what ails the farmer, it isn’t too 
much middleman, or too little Granger, but it is this 
“laborious labor.” Then we are told that “the 
earth itself is a set of mouths and lungs, which 
feed upon the natural elements of the air, and im¬ 
bibe its moisture and light and heat.”—It seems 
rather hard on old Mother Earth to be told she is 
all mouths and lungs, like some Congressmen—and 
she “imbibes ” too.—Well, it must be so, for we 
have seen the same statement by the same authori¬ 
ty on a former occasion. The article goes on in 
much this style for over a page. What it is about 
we are not at all sure, but the final sentence is as 
follows : “Theleaf or flower which protrudes from 
the glume of wheat is neither an anther, a pistil, 
nor a stamen, and neither emits nor receives the 
fertilizing pollen.”—Oh Mr. Commissioner how 
could you stop there ?—you tell us what that tliing- 
a-my isn’t and what it does’nt, but why not tell 
what it is and does ? Jack Bunsby never gave “an 
opinion as is an opinion ” that equalled that. The 
absurdity of this sentence may not be so striking to 
the unbotanical reader, but it would be just as sen¬ 
sible were one to say “ The cellar-door or gridiron 
which protrudes from the chimney of a nouse is 
not a hoot-jack, a coffee-mill, nor an andiron, and 
neither mends the cellar stairs nor puts the baby to 
sleep.” One has just as much meaning as the 
other. We can not boast much of our progress, 
when at the end of a century, the man chosen to 
