10 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[January, 
only the very first of American botanists, but if we 
enumerate the five leading botanists of the world, his 
name must be included. He remains as Director, and 
the magnificent herbarium which he founded, and his un¬ 
equalled library, are accessible to students. While Prof. 
Gray has transferred a portion of his duties to others, he 
still remains as supervisor and “ court of last appeal.” 
Botanists everywhere will be glad to know that he is de¬ 
voting himself to the “ Flora of North America," and 
will join in our wish that he may be spared to complete 
this much needed work, one which no one else is so well 
able to undertake. His labors on this are much inter¬ 
rupted by correspondents in all parts of the country, who 
send him plants to name, and his time is much frittered 
away in doing that which any one fit to edit an agricul¬ 
tural or horticultural paper should he able to do—and we 
know that he would be very glad to be relieved of much 
of this. Plants from the higher Rocky Mountains, 
Arizona, Alaska, and such out of the way places, he 
would be glad to see, but do not trouble him with near-at- 
home specimens. We may add that a postal-card en¬ 
closed for an answer is no small saving of time. Every 
man of science is annoyed by descriptions of wonderful 
things in his department. A poor specimen is better 
than the best description; such things only take up 
time and are only after all conundrums to be given up. 
Wo volunteer this in behalf of Prof. Gray, knowing how 
much his time is taken up by inconsiderate people, who 
might as well get their information elsewhere. 
Prof Sereno Watson, formerly botanist to Clarence 
King’s Expedition, is now the curator of the herbarium, 
and attends to its accessions, and looks after the wants 
of those who consult it. Besides this he is doing much 
valuable work, not the least of which is an index to the 
scattered materials of North American Botany. 
Prof. Goodale takes the work of general instruction in 
botany. The classes, which now number 50 or GO, meet in 
the new lecture room and laboratory; this building com¬ 
municates on the one side with the herbarium and library, 
and on the other, with the conservatories and hot¬ 
houses. The laboratory is very conveniently arranged 
and well equipped; each student is provided with 
a simple dissecting microscope, and each advanced 
student with a compound microscope for his special use 
in minute investigation. 
Prof. W. G. Fallow, a former pupil of Prof. Gray, and 
later abroad with De Bary and Tliuret, has charge of 
the botany at the Bussey Institution, (also a department 
of Harvard), where he is establishing a laboratory, with 
all the modern appliances for cryptogamic botany. He 
will give especial attention to the lower fungi so injurous 
to plants and animals, and about which there is a great 
want of positive knowledge. Prof. Farlow also gives 
instruction in the regular course, in cryptogamic botany, 
especially to intending medical students. He is full of 
enthusiasm in his specialties, and we look for valuable 
results from his work. 
Prof. C. S. Sargent is in charge of the botanic garden, 
which contains many old specimens of rare plants, and 
which has recently been greatly improved by bringing the 
species into botanical order. He has charge of the horti¬ 
culture at the Bussey Institution, and will establish the 
Arnold Arboretum, for which there is abundant pro¬ 
vision, and which, with his thoroughess and enthusiasm, 
will be the finest arboretum in America. 
Besides the regular collegiate course, there is at Har¬ 
vard a summer course especially for teachers ; this was 
started by Prof. Gray, and is now continued. Last sum¬ 
mer there were about 20 teachers from various parts of 
the country, a majority of whom were ladies, who, as 
Prof. Gray says. “ worked like good fellows.” Some 
have been there two and others three years in succession, 
and all are learning to be good investigators and better 
teachers. In addition to these, Prof. Farlow contem¬ 
plates a summer course on the lower cryptogamic plants, 
at some place upon the sea shore not yet selected. 
It will he seen from this account, that there is at Cam¬ 
bridge, ample provision in the way of instructors and ap¬ 
paratus for all who would study botany in general or 
in special departments. The herbarium is not only 
the largest in the country, but one of the most valuable 
in the world, and is well supplemented by the great 
abundance of living plants in the garden and houses. 
Voices from the Bee Hive. 
INTERPRETED BY St. (gtUNBY. 
An acquaintance of several years with the Queen Beo 
and her numerous subjects, and a close attention to her 
and their teachings, load mo to believe that I can faith¬ 
fully report what is-done within the hive. There can be 
no doubt that bees have what answers them the purposes 
of language, but these reports will give what is seen 
quite as much as what is heard. 
(low cold the weather is 1 No man unless be bo a per¬ 
fect coward, will be afraid of stings at this season. 
Indeed, it is the fault of his own careiessnes, if he ever 
gets stung at all. We love warmth, and the colder it 
gets, the closer we cluster together. One of us, exposed 
alone at freezing temperature, would soon grow stiff, 
and then die outright. If a half dozen were grouped 
together, they could endure it longer, as they would help 
keep one another warm, but the heat created by these 
few bees, would amount to very little ; we must be in a 
large cluster in order to help one another much. The 
bees of a full colony create heat enough to allow us to 
withstand the coldest weather of this climate, for a 
short time at least; the more there are of us. the warmer 
we are. The colder the weather, the denser we cluster. 
But those on the outside have the worst of it, whatever 
they may do, their backs will be cold, and unless they 
can change places with some of those on the inside, they 
must drop, and expose those next below them to the 
cold air. We understand this, and as soon as those on 
the outside become chilled, they change places with 
others on the inside of the cluster, and so matters are 
equalized. The colder it is, the more we must eat to 
keep up the animal heat, and food must be close at hand, 
and we must change places so that each one can get his 
share. A family of us clustered between the combs, 
generate no little heat, which is confined by the hive, 
consequently the air which surrounds us, provided our 
hive be properly built, is very much milder than that 
outside. If the temperature is such that we can change 
places frequently, we keep in perfect health. Our food 
being honey, is, of course, liquid, and if the tempera¬ 
ture is not too low, much of the watery portion of this 
passes off through the pores of our bodies, and the solid 
portion is evacuated in the dry state. As long as we are 
in health, this natural condition of things continues. 
The bee-keeper can readily know our sanitary state, by 
examining the bottom board of the hive; if he finds 
one single drop of liquid excrement, he may be sure 
that one of us is sick, and if there are several drops, 
there is trouble among us, for the liquid excrement will 
be in proprotion to the amount of disease. My physi¬ 
cians tell me that they know of no other cause of diar¬ 
rhea, than low temperature, and that when the cluster is 
large enough to sufficiently warm the interior of the 
hive, the disease never occurs... .But in extreme cold 
weather 1 yes, there is where we have the most trouble, 
especially if it is long continued. You who have stoves, 
can warm yourselves, but we have to be our own stoves, 
and warm not only ourselves, but the air around us, 
which is constantly getting cool from contact with the 
cold sides of the hive. When it is so cold that the 
evaporation can not take place through the pores of our 
bodies, no matter where the hive may be, then disease 
appears. In the old box hive, in the open air, the sun 
would shine upon it for the most of the day, and the 
little warmth that would strike through the sides, 
together with what we could make ourselves, kept the 
interior warm enough to allow us to change places fre¬ 
quently, and to keep in perfect health_People should 
consider the temperature in shading the hives ; I know 
that fewer bees are lost on the snow when hives have 
the full sun, than when they are shaded In your liv¬ 
ing rooms the air is full of vapor; you do not notice it 
until the outdoor air cools the window glass, so that the 
invisible vapor condenses upon it ; now the same thing 
takes place in a hive. When the external atmosphere is 
very cold, the air of the hive coming in contract with its 
sides, moisture is condensed, and even the combs 
that are not kept warm by the clustering of the bees 
upon them, become so cold, that the moisture that 
our bodies give off to the air of the hive, condenses 
upon them. At first this moisture is in exceedingly 
fine particles, but they increase in size and number, 
and finally run together, and form drops large 
enough to run. A comb kept moist in this way 
will finally mould. If the cold continues, these drops 
freeze upon the outside combs, or fall upon the bottom, 
and freeze there, and if the opening of the hive be small, 
it may freeze there, cutting off all ventilation, as a conse¬ 
quence of which we are all smothered. When the outside 
air is at 50°, we have no trouble, for then tile vapor pass¬ 
es off through the smallest openings, and a very small 
cluster will safely pass the winter at that temperature, 
which would fail in the open air_ If we are housed, 
pray do not make us too warm, and above all, let its bo 
quiet. If we are in a warm place, the least excitement 
among us creates too much heat. I know of an instance, 
in which one of our families was placed in a room, and so 
closed, that not a bee could escape. So long as it was quiet, 
they were comfortable and happy. Bnt some children 
had a frolic in that room, and their noise so excited tho 
bees that, the whole family of them was ruined. If those 
who find it necessary to move hives from a cold to a 
warm situation, would be careful of their movements, 
and not disturb us with the least jar, wo will be all the 
better.Many stupid or indifferent people undertake 
to keep bees, who have not the least idea of what we 
"want, We are always willing to give all the honey we do 
not need for winter, but such people do not know how to 
allow us to give it to them. Pray tell all who do not like 
bees, and all who do not care enough about us. to study 
our ways, and understand our nature, to let us alone. 
Such persons, who do not begin right, and who do not 
know enough to stop when they are wrong, but will per¬ 
sistently follow their own way, must not, complain, if we 
do no more for them than we can help, and if. when we 
see them going wrong, we will use the only language 
they will understand—a sting—to remind them that they 
are not treating us properly. 
Do Decs Make Honey from Sugar Syrup ? 
is asked by “M. F. B.,” Smithsburg, Md., to which Mr. 
Quinby replies : “ I would first reply in the negative, yet 
it is converted into honey as much as the juice of apples, 
pears, grapes, and many other juices, that bees obtain 
after the-flowers fail in the fall. The flavor of these juices 
may not suit the human palate as well as the nectar of 
flowers, and will perhaps explain, why honey, st/rained 
from the combs in the body of the hive, after these juices 
have been collected is not of as good flavor as the honey 
extracted while bees are collecting from flowers. Any 
substance containing sugar, will sustain bees. Syrup 
will answer every purpose, and should be consumed by 
them —not left to strain out—as the flavor is inferior to 
that of pure honey. When syrup is fed, it. should be done 
so sparingly, that it will all be consumed by the bees. 
The apiarian who gets the reputation of furnishing tho 
best flavored honey in the market, will sell it most readily. 
--— ■ -* —- 
Science Applied to Farming, 
By Prof. W. O. Atwater, Wesleyan University. 
Hovr Science is Savins Money and Increasing 
the Profits of Farmers. — Experiment Sta¬ 
tions in Europe. — Interesting Results. — 
Their Importance Here. 
American farmers are spending, every year, millions of 
dollars for artificial fertilizers, such as guanos, super¬ 
phosphates, bone-dust, poudrettes, etc. Some of these 
are worth more than they cost, others are very poor, and 
many are fraudulent. And no one can, from their ap¬ 
pearance, distinguish the good from the bad. But a 
chemist, by analyzing a sample, can tell exactly how 
much of valuable materials any fertilizer contains, and 
how much sand, colored earth, or other worthless matter 
has been mixed with it. Our farmers generally buy fer¬ 
tilizers without any intelligent idea of their composition. 
This does not encourage honest dealers to sell good ar¬ 
ticles at fair prices, but it does encourage dishonest men 
in vending poor and adulterated fertilizers. In Europe 
they manage these things better. When a German far¬ 
mer buys a fertilizer, he pays for it, not. by tiic hundred 
weight or ton. but according to its warranted content of 
valuable fertilizing ingredients, such as nitrogen, phos¬ 
phoric acid, or potash. Chemical laboratories are pro¬ 
vided by th« government and by agricultural societies, in 
which both dealers and consumers can have fertilizers 
analyzed at moderate prices. A system somewhat similar 
to this prevails in England, and a few attempts in the 
same direction have been made in the United States. 
The result of this control-system in Germany is that far¬ 
mers there get much better fertilizers than we do, and at 
much lower average prices. Some of our fertilizers are 
as good as any in Germany, and are sold nearly as cheap¬ 
ly. But comparing the average composition and prices 
of standard articles, there and here, we probably pay 
forty or fifty per cent more for the valuable ingredients 
of our fertilizers, than they do. Besides this, our markets 
are flooded with bad fertilizers. Of one well-known 
poudrette, for example, one-half the weight was found to 
be sand, and fragments of brick and coal. Besides some 
organic matter of comparatively little value, a ton con¬ 
tained about $2.50 worth of nitrogen and phosphoric 
acid, yet this stuff has been sold largely throughout the 
Eastern States for $28.00 per ton. Dealers have made a 
regular practice of mixing sand with Peruvian guano, 
and selling it for the genuine article. Waste chemical 
products are disposed of for several times what the valu¬ 
able ingredients in the pure state would cost, if obtained 
elsewhere. Many so-called superphosphates are not guper- 
phosphates at all. That is to say, tho phosphoric acid 
they contain has not been so treated with chemicals, that 
it will dissolve in the water of the soil and thus become 
quickly usgfnl to the plant. 
Such Impositions are also practised in Germany, but 
there they are few, and are speedily detected ; here they 
are numerous, and seldom checked. Years ago the Eng¬ 
lish and German markets were as much beset with 
poor fertilizers, as ours are now. The improvement in 
Germany is due to the same cause that during a century 
past has been raising Prussia from a comparatively In¬ 
significant position, to the first rank among the power* 
