380 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
may lap over the edge of the back part or wing 
of the mold-board to prevent clogging. 
Polishing Plow Handles and Other Ar¬ 
ticles. —Thomas Blanchard, of Boston, Mass.: 
I do not claim the invention of an endless pol¬ 
ishing or smoothing belt, but what I do claim 
as new and of my invention, is the above des¬ 
cribed mode of applying and operating said belt 
with respect to the article to be smoothed or 
polished, the same consisting in not only mak¬ 
ing the said belt to traverse or run on sustain¬ 
ing pulleys or their equivalents, but at the same 
time to rotate such belt and sustaining contri¬ 
vances in such manners around the article to be 
smoothed or polished as to cause the belt while 
in motion on its rollers to run in contact with 
and around the surface or article to be reduced, 
smoothed, or polished. 
I also claim, the combination of the feeding 
carriage, its guides, and the guide rollers or the 
mechanical equivalents therefor, with the end¬ 
less polishing belt provided with machinery for 
imparting to it its compound motion or move¬ 
ment in two directions, as specified. 
Blocks for Horse Collars. —Louis S. Da¬ 
vis, of New-Paris, Ohio: I do not claim as 
novel, the construction of a horse collar block 
in expanding sections. 
I claim the four-parted collar block of which 
the front pair of sections are hinged together 
at the gullet, and the back pair at the neck of 
the block, as described, the same being com¬ 
bined with a stationary bolt placed at the inter¬ 
section of the partings, the said bolt serving to 
unite the base and cap, and also forming a fixed 
bearing for the right and left hand screw, which 
in conjunction with the'pins on the block and 
the diverging grooves in the base and cap, effect 
prolongation and proportional laternal expan¬ 
sion of the block, or device equivalent. 
Metallic Hubs. —J. B. Hayden, of Easton, 
N. Y.: I do not claim the flanges either with or 
without radial slots or recesses for the purpose 
of admitting the spokes. 
I claim the disc, in combination with the re¬ 
cesses or saw cuts formed in the end of the 
spoke, into which the disc is fitted, and acts to 
secure said spokes in a permanent position, and 
effectually prevent them working in the hub, as 
described. 
Dressing Spokes. — By Ansel Merrell, of 
New-Bedford, Pa.: I claim the combination of 
the cam level’, having a screw thread thereon, 
with the adjustable dogs and supports set forth, 
whereby the rough stick or block may be held 
firmly at any required angle to the carriage and 
at a variable distance below the knives, in order 
that it may dress spokes of variable taper and 
of different length and thicknesses. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
REAPING MACHINES. 
Chicago, Feb. 7, 1854. 
Messrs. Editors :—As a manufacturer, I de¬ 
sire to enter my protest against any more petty 
trials of reapers. They cost a great deal and 
amount to nothing. The decision at one trial 
is reversed the next week at another, perhaps 
with the same machines, and often the competi¬ 
tors can show their defeat was owing to some 
extraneous circumstance, as not having a suit¬ 
able team, bad driving, or unfortunate manage¬ 
ment in some way. 
A reaper trial is not like a horse-race, where 
the sole object is to beat, regardless of every 
thing except the coming out ahead; it is, or 
ought to be, to ascertain surely which is the 
best machine, and not so much to benefit the 
owner, as the farmers, who wish to know what 
kind to buy. 
How absurd is it for any set of men—I care 
not how great their experience and judgment— 
to take from three to a dozen reapers, perhaps 
all of acknowledged merit, and by the cutting 
of two acres each, as was done at the Wooster, 
Ohio trial, where mine was defeated; or even by 
cutting five or six acres as at the Richmond, 
Ind. trial, where mine was victor, decide posi¬ 
tively and absolutely that one reaper is better 
than all others. 
Such a trial might show whether a reaper 
would work or not, but to judge between rival 
reapers, of which there are over twenty of es¬ 
tablished reputation, each having its points of 
excellence, a long and thorough trial must be 
requisite, to see how they work in different 
kinds of grain, and under varied circumstances, 
and how they wear. A trial to be decisive 
should go through an entire harvest. One, too, 
that was thorough and reliable, would be equally 
available in one State as another. They are also 
expensive to all concerned. I would therefore 
propose a general trial on something like the 
following plan: 
Let several State Agricultural Societies unite, 
each appropriating $200 to $500, and appoint¬ 
ing one or two committee-men, in whose ex¬ 
perience, judgment and fairness, entire confi¬ 
dence could be placed. Let the committee 
make their arrangements as early as possible, 
adopt their rules, and appoint time and place 
of first meeting. They might begin South and 
proceeding North continue the trial for weeks 
if necessary, leaving out one machine after an¬ 
other as its inferiority became manifest. 
The committee should have all their expenses 
paid, and perhaps compensation besides; and 
the cost of removing reapers from place to place 
might also be borne by the committee, in order 
to enable every builder to come into the trial; 
and for this reason I would not require any en¬ 
trance fee, though some of the larger builders 
would doubtless be willing to contribute to the 
general fund. If five or more societies can be 
got to unite in such a trial, I will contribute 
$200 to $500, or as much as any other builder. 
The surplus funds should be divided to the 
best machines, say half to the first, one-third 
to the second, and one-sixth to the third, to be 
paid in plate or money as might be desired by 
the winner. 
To save time and expedite arrangements, I 
would suggest to parties interested to corres¬ 
pond with Col. B. P. Johnson, Secretary AT. Y. 
State Agricultural Society, Albany v N. Y. I 
have not communicated with him, but am quite 
sure his interest in agricultural matters will 
cause him to bear the labors with cheerfulness. 
Yours respectfully, J. S. Wright. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
BEES. 
Why is it that nine of every ten who com¬ 
mence bee-keeping must fail at the end of a 
few years? When a farmer commences with 
Horses, Oxen, Sheep, Swine, in short any other 
stock, he begins with the expectation of contin¬ 
uing the business, as long as it suits his conveni¬ 
ence ; their nature and habits are studied and 
understood. But with Bees, in his ignorance 
of their nature and wants, he is uncertain, and 
exclaims, “ I will keep them as long as I can,” 
and when they are gone, adopt the closing re¬ 
marks of some one in the Agriculturist —“we 
lost the whole by not guarding them sufficiently 
against the attacks of the moth.” 
In tracing effects to their causes, it is impor¬ 
tant that we go back along the chain as far as 
possible; that we discover all the links belong¬ 
ing to the subject, and if a remedy is to be ap¬ 
plied, apply it when it will have the proper 
effect. The moth is said to destroy our bees, 
and so she does; but how many ? Let us not 
accuse her of more than she is guilty. The 
comb is her field of operations, and here is 
only the first link, or cause, preceding the effect. 
We call her an enemy to bees—is not an effort 
to provide her offspring with food praise-worthy, 
or would it not be, providing it resulted to our 
advantage? The good mother never forgets 
the wants of her offspring. The apple-tree 
moth glues to the end of the twigs her burden 
of eggs, and covers them with a water-proof 
coating—the vernal sun of another spring 
warms them into life and activity, just as the 
leaves constituting their food have burst from 
the buds. The flesh-fly, true to her instincts 
scents out the putrid carcase, and there deposits 
her eggs in the midst of proper aliment. The 
wax-moth is aware that a different material must 
feed her young, and accordingly she seeks the 
combs of the honey-bee often protected by her 
deadliest foes. Her task is not to be envied, her 
duties are onerous, and she has difficulties that 
but few of her tribe encounter. She must elude 
the vigilance of her numerous enemies. By 
day, she contracts herself into the smallest pos¬ 
sible dimensions, and remains motionless; but 
at night becomes active and endeavors by per¬ 
severing sagacity to find the natural guardians 
of the honey-comb unmindful of duty. It is in¬ 
teresting to witness her proceedings, to see her 
flit from hive to hive, dreading to enter from 
fear of the fatal sting, and a rude repulse follow¬ 
ing nearly every attempt. One while realizing 
that her whole object in life, her only anxiety is 
the welfare of her offspring, can hardly help 
half hoping she may succeed. A passage left 
for bees to enter a hive containing combs, will 
be surely found by her continuous search, and 
our attempts to guard it from her attacks with¬ 
out the assistance of the bees , would be entirely 
ineffectual. Whoever had a full and thriving 
family thus destroyed? Is it not our weak 
stocks, reduced from some other cause, that 
suffer? It is important then, that we go back 
another link in the chain beyond the effects of 
the moth, and attend to causes that reduce the 
number of natural guardians; ascertain, if the 
same causes would not as effectually result in 
destruction, as if assisted by this sagacious foe. 
By a little closer attention, we should find 
much of the blame wrongly applied—loss of 
queen, diseased brood, and other causes, operate 
surely and fatally! Diseased brood with me 
has been more fatal a thousand-fold than the 
moth; and I am disposed to think there are 
many others, equal if not greater pests than the 
moth. As long as the return of good seasons 
brings out new swarms to supply the place of the 
old thus lost, the effect is less perceptible; but 
when a season occurs like the last, in this and 
the adjoining counties, where not one stock in 
ten casts a swarm, the strides of “ bad luck” are 
very lengthy. This disease alone will reduce 
the stocks by the first of June next one-half 
from the year previous! I have taken consid¬ 
erable trouble to ascertain in regard to this mat¬ 
ter. I found in some apiaries that four-tenths 
were dead already in December last, and many 
others too weak to withstand the first turn of 
severe weather. Another portion will survive 
the winter, to be plundered in the spring, or, es¬ 
caping that, when they should be throwing off 
swarms, will be sufficiently reduced for the 
moth. Now ask these discouraged bee-keepers 
the cause of their loss, and there will not be 
more than one in twenty, that will go beyond 
the moth, the robbers, or the winter. And yet, 
when the larva of the flesh-fly, consumes the 
putrid flesh of a favorite beast, it would be about 
as rational to charge them with the life of the 
animal. It is the healthy families alone that 
can escape downright ruin; and we shall be re¬ 
compensed by assisting only such as mat^ be 
temporarily weak, but will soon get strong and 
defend themselves. This article is already lon¬ 
ger than I intended, and I cannot at present de¬ 
tail all my views, as to the origin and spreading 
of the disease, but will recommend, however, 
this motto, “ Enow the actual condition of your 
bees at all times," and whenever too few bees 
are present to defend their stores, (unless it is a 
temporary result,) be sure and secure the honey 
and wax in advance of the moth. 
M. Quinby, 
Author of “ Mysteries of Bee-keeping Explained.” 
St. Johnsville, Mont. Co.,M. Y., Feb., 1854. 
When the late Lord Erskine, then going the 
circuit, was asked by his landlord how he had 
slept, he replied, “ Union is strength—a fact of 
which your inmates seem to be unaware, for 
had the fleas been unanimous last night, they 
