180 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
and more recently in 1848, and on each and 
every occasion, I took the greatest pains to 
obtain all possible information as to the val¬ 
ue of guano as a manure, and the mode of 
applying it to field and garden culture, as 
well as to its effect upon the land, and with 
one accord, andpvithout a solitary exception, 
I was told that land stimulated by the use of 
guano, soon became utterly worthless, unless 
the stimulus was kept up by repeated appli¬ 
cations. This was the reason assigned for 
so little use made of guano, where the cost 
of the article is merely nominal, not exceed¬ 
ing more than half what we willingly pay for 
leached ashes in the District of Columbia. 
Of all the concentrated manures for sale in 
our seaboard cities, crushed bone or bone- 
dust is undoubtedly the best; its effect on 
the soil is both prompt and permanent; at 
least, a single application made by me 15 
years ago is still quite visible, although the 
ground has been heavily cropped ever since. 
I found that one bushel of crushed bone was 
equivalant to one double horse-cart load of 
good farm-yard manure. Forty such loads 
is the least that will enrich an acre of worn- 
out land sufficiently for a good crop of corn, 
hence at the present price of bone-dust, that 
manure is beyond the means of most farmers 
for the renovation of poor lands. 
Considering lime as the only sure founda¬ 
tion to any good system of farming which 
may be adopted for the renovation of lands 
exhausted by injudicious culture, I will de¬ 
vote a few lines to that particular subject, 
by stating what I would do, if I had my work 
to go over again, and which, of course, I re¬ 
commend to all other beginners in their ef¬ 
forts to improve worn-out lands. 
First, then, when your land has been well 
broken up for corn in the spring of the year, 
spread on it from 30 to 60 bushels of dry 
slaked lime. If you are near enough to 
kilns to get the fine lime fresh drawn, and 
can get it on the land before it slakes, thirty 
bushels of that sort will be still better than 
the larger quantity slaked, but be very care¬ 
ful not to let your lime get wet before it is 
spread and harrowed in. If you are so re¬ 
mote from limekilns as to be able to haul 
only one load a day, it will be better to buy 
the fresh burned and best lump lime, because 
in that state it is much lighter, and when wa¬ 
ter slacked, will increase from three to four¬ 
fold. Such lime ought to be put under cover 
and slaked immediately with strong brine. 
Lime of the quality described, and treated 
accordingly, acts very promptly, mechanical¬ 
ly as well as chemically; mechanically, in 
reducing still', rigid clay to a loose and fria¬ 
ble texture, and chemically, by neutralizing 
acids unfriendly to vegetable production, and 
by combining with loose and light soils, they 
are rendered more adhesive and retentive 
of moisture ; in other words, lime judicious¬ 
ly applied to stiff land renders it light, while 
it gives to lands too light, a firmer or more 
compact texture. This dogma, paradoxical 
as it may appear to many, is fully established 
by every brick chimney or stone dwelling in 
the land. All who build jsuch houses know 
that lime and sand (the latter largely predomi¬ 
nating in all light soils,) with water, are mate¬ 
rials used by masons for the formation of 
mortar, which in a short time becomes as 
hard, if not harder than the bricks. It is 
also well known that if stiff clay or rich 
mould were to be used with lime for mortar 
instead of sand, that when dry, it would 
moulder away and become impalpable dust. 
Now with these plain truths before us, it is 
only necessary to apply smaller portions of 
lime to our lands according to their texture, 
and we can have stiff or light land as we 
may choose or will it. 
Most writers on lime applied to agricul¬ 
ture, and many practical liming farmers too, 
recommend doses of 50 or 100 per cent on 
the previous dressing, until you get up to 
120 bushels per acre at the end of the 8th 
year. I have not done so, nor do I consider 
it absolutely necessary or always expedient 
at such short intervals. Better extend the 
time according to my cycle of six shifts, ap¬ 
plying the lime to your corn land in any 
convenient quantity, not less however, than 
you commenced with ; say 30, 40, up to 60 
bushels per acre. Finally and emphatically, 
be it remembered, that if your land is natu¬ 
rally deficient in lime, that deficiency must, in 
some ivay or other, he supplied, or you never 
can reap the full benefit of manuring your 
crops; particularly wheat will be uncertain 
in quality as well as in quantity, without 
lime, however rich your land may be, and in 
time of drouth your crops of all descriptions 
may fail entirely, whereas, on judiciously 
limed land, similar crops under like circum 
stances, will escape almost unscathed. 
Fairfax Co., Va., Oct. 1853. THOS. AP. C. JONES. 
WINTERING BEES- 
The successful wintering of bees is a sub¬ 
ject of deep interest to apiarians, in all 
climates ; and various methods are necessa¬ 
ry, according to the latitudes in which they 
are kept, the degree of cold to which they 
are subject, and the prevalence of deep 
snows, &c. In all localities where the snow 
seldom remains on the ground but a few 
days ; say south of the latitude of the city 
of New-York, populous families require 
no especial winter protection, and a cur¬ 
rent of cool air passing under them,by hav¬ 
ing a front and rear passage-way, will cause 
them to remain in their hives unless it be 
very mild weather. If the hives be well 
shaded so that the rays of the sun can not 
fall upon the entrances, or passage-ways, 
but few bees will sally out when the ground 
is covered with snow, and perish as is the 
case, when no means are taken to prevent 
such a result. In other locations further 
north, where the weather is severe, and 
deep snows frequently cover the ground for 
months, a different method of management 
is necessary. 
We have adopted several ways of winter¬ 
ing bees under such circumstances, and the 
best one, in our opinion, is to let the hives 
remain in their summer position, and protect 
them either by an outer hive, or by sur¬ 
rounding the hives by hay or straw. The 
outer hive is made to slip over that in which 
the bees are, to be let down on the same lev¬ 
el as the hive proper, with a passage-way 
in front to correspond with that of the inner 
hive. The hay or straw covering is ar¬ 
ranged as follows : The hives are first 
placed on low stools; say, from six to 
twelve inches high, if they do not rest on 
such stools permanently, and without chang¬ 
ing their position, except by placing them 
nearer the ground than they previously 
stood. Stakes are then driven into the 
ground around them, two on each side of 
each hive, large enough to support the hay, 
and long enough to reach about, four inches 
above the hives when driven into the ground. 
The hay is then stuffed around the hives on 
all sides firmly, and when complete, cover 
the tops of the hives with hay; then take 
strong twine and tie the tops of the stakes 
together, in order to hold the hay fast; then 
remove the hay from the passage-ways, so 
that the bees can pass out and in, and then 
place a board in front of each hive, to darken 
the passage-ways, and your work is done. 
An inch augur-hole should, however, be 
bored through the center of each stand, as 
the passage-ways arc liable to become stop¬ 
ped up with dead bees during the winter, 
and cause suffocation if no such holes are 
made. 
Bees managed in this way will consume 
but little food, will not suffer from the most 
intense cold, and will come out in the spring 
in a healthy condition. So says Mr. Miner, 
in the Northen Farmer. 
COAL OF OHIO. 
Prof. Mansfield has an article in the 
Railroad Record, entitled “ The Coal Fields 
of Ohio, and Coal consumption of its cities, ’ 
from which we draw some interesting facts : 
Coal is cheaper at 20 cents a bushels than 
wood at $3 a cord ; also for manufacturing 
purposes, it costs more to build and keep a 
dam in repair, than to run a steam mill. 
Hence steam mills all over Ohio, alongside 
the streams that formerly furnished the 
power. 
Ohio is estimated to contain a coal field 
equal in extent to twelve thousand square 
miles, or one-third the surface of the State. 
The eastern and southern boundary of the 
Ohio coal fields is the Ohio river; the west¬ 
ern commences some ten miles above 
Portsmouth, and runs on a line a little east of 
north to the western line of Summit County. 
Within this limit are some counties, such as 
Fairfield, in which coal has not yet been 
found. It is nevertheless quite certain that 
coal underlies them, and probably at no 
great depth. The counties at present pro¬ 
ducing most coal are Meigs, Athens, Musk¬ 
ingum, Summit, Jackson, Jefferson, Trumbull, 
Tuscarawas, Belmont, Guernsey, Stark, 
Flocking, and Vinton. Besides these, coal 
is found in Gallia, Coshocton, Washington. 
Licking, Morgan and Carroll. The present 
amount of coal dug, including that consumed 
on the spot, is estimated at the following 
amount: 
Counties. Bushels. 
Meigs. 8,000,000 
Lawrence.2,000,000 
Athens.1,500,000 
Stark.1,000,000 
Belmont.1,000,000 
Tuscarawas. 500,000 
Licking. 200,000 
Morgan. 100,000 
Monroe. 200,000 
Aggregate.23 800 000. 
The above is probably an under estimate, 
and certainly will be for the future, in which 
the demand and supply will probably be 
doubled in the next two or three years. 
The following is the amount of coal ar¬ 
rived, as near as we can ascertain, in the 
chief towns of Ohio : 
Towns. Bushels. 
Cincinnati.8,000,000 
Columbus.1,000,000 
Circleville. 200,000 
Other towns consume enough to make 
20,000,000 bushels. The town population of 
Ohio will, in a half dozen years, amount to 
half a million, and this will require 15,000,000 
for household consumption ; while the foun- 
deries, factories and shops of various descrip¬ 
tions will require 25,000,000, independent of 
the furnaces and forges. We thus see, that 
independent of the coal consumed at the 
mines by furnaces, forges and other works, 
forty millions of bushels will be required in 
the towns, and this amount will be increased 
annually at a rapid rate. 
Winter Gardening. —There are a few 
golden rules to be observed during winter, of 
which may be enumerated the following : 
“Water all plants that require it in the 
morning ; leave no water in the saucer of 
any plant after the whole has become satur¬ 
ated through; never water by drips, but 
give the whole a good soaking, or the conse¬ 
quence often is that the top of the mould is 
wetted, while the lower, containing the 
roots, is dust; sponge over the foliage as 
often as it becomes dusty; take a pointed 
stick, and, once in a while, stir the surface 
Counties. Bushels. 
Summit.4,000,000 
Jefferson.1,000,000 
Muskingum.2,000,000 
Jackson.1,000,000 
Coshocton. 300,000 
Vinton. 300,000 
Washington. 200,008 
Trumbull. 500,000 
Towns. Bushels. 
Cleveland.0,000,000 
Chillicothe. 300,000 
Dayton. 120,000 
