90 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
ficiently minute. Artificial swarming ought 
to mean, driving out part of the bees for a 
new colony, and have that and the old stock 
prosper. Now the tyro who undertakes to 
produce this result, with only directions to 
get out the bees, would be quite sure to find 
deep water. For instance : where should the 
new saa arm stand 1 Place it ten feet distant, 
and nearly all the bees would desert and re¬ 
turn to the old stand, notwithstanding they 
would leave the old queen by doing so ; but 
few, probably, beside young bees that had 
never been out to mark the location, would 
choose to remain. Place it on the old stand 
and set the old stock away, the same result 
would attend that. None but very young 
bees would be left to guard the combs against 
the attacks of the moth. Reason dictates, 
and experience sanctions, setting them some¬ 
what close together—the new stand near to 
the old one ; then, if they are not satisfacto¬ 
rily divided, you can add to either, by put¬ 
ting it nearer the old place. 
Another point, of vital importance, belongs 
to artificial swarming, and that is, to provide 
the old stock with a queen. We are assured 
that when the queen “ dies,” or is lost—say 
driven out—“ they rear a new one.” This, 
I suppose, has been true often enough to get 
up the assertion ; but all my experiments to 
bring about such a result have failed. Such 
as lose their queen accidentally, not one in 
ten ever provide another. A portion can 
not because it happens at a time Avhen no 
eggs or larvae exist in the hive ; another 
portion, even when they have the means, 
because—well, I will not say, because I don’t 
happen to know. This is probably one cause 
why Jones's dividing hive was so soon dis¬ 
carded. Now I have not much faith in any 
plan to rear prolific queens from, eggs or 
grubs, destined for workers. Still, others 
may have been more successful; and if so, 
here is a chance for them : If there is any 
process by which the failures will not aver¬ 
age more than one in ten, I will -pay fifty 
dollars to the person ivho teaches me the art. 
In the swarming season, when young queens 
are being reared for the purpose of sending 
off colonies, I have found it safe to make 
artificial swarms; at any other time, extreme¬ 
ly hazardous. Those who are not satisfied 
should try it—nothing like our own experi¬ 
ence. 
Relative to the drones not being expelled 
until “ about six months after they come to 
maturity,” I think, with a little further ob¬ 
servation, you would alter the time, and say, 
“ from a short time before maturity till four 
or five months after—according to circum¬ 
stances.” They are produced with a yield 
of honey, and destroyed with its failure. I 
have known one stock to destroy three broods 
in one season—the first of June, last of July, 
and last of September. Probably not one of 
the whole lived three weeks, except the last; 
and a great many were sacrificed before they 
left the cel). In some sections, the flowers 
of buckwheat, in August, produce facts in 
the rearing of broods of drones, which a 
great many bee-keepers never witnessed. 
If Natural History is important, ought Ave 
not to have all the facts belonging to it 1 
“ The queen, being the mother of the whole 
colony, reigns supreme, and all yield a Avil- 
ling and entire submission.” Now I would 
suggest the possibility of there being as much 
fancy as truth in this assertion. Can we not 
easily fancy the bee-hive a republic—the bees 
controling the queen, as much as she does 
them ? The idea of a monarchy, in any 
shape, in this country, is, or ought to be,repu¬ 
diated ; it is repugnant to my feelings, at 
least. As the mother, she is necessary, and 
is protected by the bees ; and they oppose an 
associate in her sphere as strongly as her 
self. The moment a strange queen is in¬ 
troduced, she is surrounded by the Avorkeis 
and made prisoner—escape Avith life being 
next to impossible. When no help is pres¬ 
ent, she rushes to the attack herself. As a 
republic, we have a President. Should an 
aspiring individual, supported by a feAv of 
the States, presume to divide or share the 
honors, you Avould see a commotion in the 
political bee-hive, so closely resembling the 
one of the insect republic, that it would puz¬ 
zle a philosopher to tel) the difference. That 
the mother-bee has an influence as to the 
labors of those over Avhom she presides, is 
extremly doubtful. I have had some twenty 
stocks that have lost their queens this sum¬ 
mer—averaging one in ten. Three days after 
such loss occurs, it is impossible for me to 
discover it by their actions, or by any differ¬ 
ence in their labors in bringing home loads 
of pollen and honey ; and let me add, I doubt 
whether any one else can—yet, my doubts 
are not proof. Should there be a nice point 
that I never discovered, I Avould give some¬ 
thing handsome to have it explained. I do 
not pretend that I have explained all the 
points mentioned ; it would require too much 
room. I have already taken more than I 
intended; but I Avill respond to any particu¬ 
lar that may be called for. 
With regard to the entertainments you 
mentioned, I Avould say, that I can not boast 
of “ choice specimens, of either fruits, Aoav- 
ers, horses, cattle, sheep, or fowls ”—per¬ 
haps not of bees, unless their numbers and 
thrift Avould render them such. Neither have 
I the “ fifty-four advantages of an improved 
hive,” like Mr. Langstroth, belonging to mine; 
yet, I have some improvements ; but endea¬ 
vor to have wo more than will pay. If you, 
or any one else sufficiently interested in 
bees, would stop, on the New-York Central 
R. R., Palatine Church, Montgomery Co., I 
will try to get up something interesting in 
this line. Those who do not keep bees, I 
Avould urge to do so. Those who have some, 
I would recommend to keep more. Of the 
profits, I can produce weighty arguments, by 
the hundred, of snowv whiteness; and should 
they fail to be persuaded, they would have 
to resist some of the sweetest inducements 
ever offered. M. Quinby, 
August, 1854. Author of “ Mysteries of Bee- 
Keeping Explained.” 
-—■ ■ 
Real “ English Plum Pudding.” —One lb. 
each of flour, beef, suet, sugar, currants and 
raisins ; four eggs, one pint of milk, spice to 
the taste; tie in a bag—allow no room for 
SAvelling, and boil four hours. This rule is 
from an English family. R. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
JOTTINGS AT SODTJS POINT. 
Sodus Point is situated on Lake Ontario, 
about half way between Oswego and Roches¬ 
ter, and is formed by Sodus Bay, being be¬ 
tween that and the lake. There is but little, 
except Nature’s work, to admire at the 
Point. Nature has formed one of the best— 
said to be the best—harbors in the northern 
States. Many efforts havfc been and are still 
being made, to secure at this Point some¬ 
thing of a commercial place. All that is ne¬ 
cessary, is an outlet by Railroad. A Com¬ 
pany was formed in the winter of 1851-2, to 
construct a Railroad from Sodus Point to 
Newark, from thence to Hall’s Corners, to 
intersect with the Canandaigua and Elmira 
Road, thereby forming a direct route to New- 
York City, by the New-York and Erie Rail¬ 
road, and to the coal mines of Pennsylvania. 
Nearly one half of the grading is completed, 
but for want of funds the Company have 
abandoned the work, or, at least, ceased op¬ 
erations until means shall be raised to com¬ 
plete it. 
Should this road be completed, it would 
furnish a good market at the Point for the 
surrounding country, whereas farmers are 
obliged to go to Lyons-—a distance of 14 
miles—with their produce. Many years ago, 
Sodus Point was the great market for all of 
the country south as far as Geneva and Can¬ 
andaigua. 
Sodus Point, previous to the Avar of 1812, 
was quite a village. At that time it was all, 
or nearly all, destroyed by fire. A few of 
the old houses yet stand, as relicts of days 
gone by. Great quantities of fish are caught 
here, and many come a great distance to 
amuse themselves Avith the finny tribe. 
Chestnuts are also abundant, and people 
may be counted by hundreds, in chestnut¬ 
time, gathering these nuts. I was informed 
by a resident, that he had seen hundreds at a 
time, in the woods and groves, chestnuting. 
The land lies rolling, and much chestnut 
timber groAVS on it. 
The soil is a mixture of yellow sand and 
clay, and is good for wheat and grass. Fruit 
is grown in abundance, and of the best kinds. 
There are some very fine farms within tAvo 
or three miles of the Point. As a general 
thing crops are not so forward, by ten days 
or tAvo weeks, as they are a few miles south 
of the lake. But fall frosts never injure the 
crops. s. a. c. 
--MwntirnTin - 
[For the American Agriculturist. 
SUBSTITUTE FOR A SPRING-HOUSE- 
A very good substitute for a spring-house 
was made a few years ago, by a gentleman 
in Hinds County, Miss.—Jesse Lott, Esq.— 
as follows : When near the bottom of a large 
cisetrn Avhich he was digging, the workmen 
opened a vein of water, and resolving to 
change the cistern to a spring-house, he 
made a box about four feet deep, to contain 
the water, which does not rise above it; ce¬ 
mented or walled the sides with brick, built 
a flight of stairs, closets, and a house over it, 
and thus had a supply of good water, and one 
of the coolest and best places for keeping 
milk, butter, fresh meats, vegetables, etc., I 
have ever seen. 
In the absence of natural springs, might 
not a similar method be profitably adopted 
for making spring- houses ordairies, forkeep- 
ing milk, &c., where water can be obtained 
sufficiently near the surface of the earth, and 
when, as in the case mentioned above, there 
is not too great a rise of the water during 
the wet seasons, on or near hill sides, where 
the surplus water could be carried away by 
drains, constructed at a trivial expense 1 
Cincinnati, September, 1854. D. 2>. Si 
