AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
a comparatively dry and warm atmosphere. Later vines 
require thinning, while others have been so kept back as 
to have scarcely “ burst ” into growth. Use sulphur to 
counteract or destroy mildew. 
Insects are now troublesome, unless they have been 
kept in check by following the directions already given. 
Fumigating with tobacco will be found effectual to de¬ 
stroy any which have established themselves. 
Repotting—Many rapid growing plants will now require 
a shif' to pots of a larger size. Keep potting soil at all 
times in readiness 
Seeds of many of the hardy annuals should be sown for 
an early blooming stock to be planted in the open grounds. 
Soil in Pots—Stir often to prevent its crusting. Kec-p 
free from weeds. 
Syringing often will maintain a humid atmosphere, 
which is requisite at this season. Dampening the walls 
and floors has a similar effect. 
Water—Give judiciously according to the wants of 
growing plants. Excess is quite as injurious as too little 
Twice a week will usually be sufficient. Evaporating 
pans filled with water, and placed in different parts of the 
houses or rooms will be beneficial. 
Tine Apiary. 
The period of inactivity in the hive still continues, but 
the first indications of life in nature without, will speedi¬ 
ly awaken the dormant energies of the industrious com¬ 
munity. When the warm beams of the sun begin to give 
promise of approaching Spring, pioneer bees will be seen 
circling away exploring the woods seeking sunny spots 
where the sap is starting from the new stumps, or the blue 
violet is timidly peeping from its covering of snow. It is 
natural for them to improve every mild day, and they 
should therefore be permitted to do so, care being neces¬ 
sary to prevent the inroads of robbers from neighboring 
swarms. This can be done by nearly closing the entrance 
so as to admit of the passage o f one bee at a time. 
The bee is a pattern housekeeper, and will leave no 
offensive material in the hive, if it can be removed. They 
may be observed tugging away at bits of decayed comb, 
dead bees, etc., to get them out of the way. The atten¬ 
tive bee-keeper wilt lighten their labors by sweeping out 
all filth from the shelves on which the hives are set. 
Great care should be continued to allow sufficient ven¬ 
tilation. Bees resemble human beings in this respect as 
in many others, they must have fresh air. Keep the air 
passages free from all obstructions. 
If bees have been housed be in no haste to remove them 
to the open air. If removed during the mild weather, 
occurring in the latter part of this month, you may be put 
to the trouble of returning them again on account of severe 
weather. Watch against all depredations of rats, mice 
and other vermin, as mentioned last month. 
If any weak stocks should need feeding, place the food 
on tops of the hive covering the dishes in which the food 
is placed,mnd giving the bees access by means of holes 
through the hive ; this will prevent its being plundered by 
other swarms. 
United States Agricultural Society- 
The Annum. Meeting of this Association was 
held at Washington, D. C., January 12, 13, and 
14. We have received from two correspondents 
full reports of the proceedings from day to day, 
but we confess to being unable to find that any¬ 
thing, of special interest or practical utility to the 
public, transpired during the entire session, ex¬ 
cept the address of Prof. Henry, a portion of 
which we give on page 49. The object, scope, 
and intentions of the “ Fairs ” of the Society 
were set forth by the President, Gen. Tilghman, 
as follows : 
“ ... .They are intended to elevate the stand¬ 
ard of excellence in agricultural productions and 
processes, and increase the amount of agricultur¬ 
al information in the various parts of the country, 
by carrying into each, successively, articles of a 
superior quality, and in some instances of a dif¬ 
ferent kind from those previously exhibited at the 
local fairs; and, secondly, to disseminate infor¬ 
mation in regard to the improvements and insti¬ 
tutions of each portion of the country among the 
people of the other portions, by inducing indi¬ 
viduals and delegations from remote sections t-o 
congregate in a degree which the local fairs, how¬ 
ever important, do not seem to effect.” 
These are laudable objects, and if properly fol¬ 
lowed, would all be very well. How sad have 
been the failures hitherto, we have shown from 
year to year. In subsequent discussions with re¬ 
ference to the location of the next Show, there 
seemed to be a general concurrence in the opin¬ 
ion, that the main point to be considered was 
“ where would the most money be likely to be 
made.” After a strong effort on the part of gentle¬ 
men from the West, it was finally 
“Resolved, as the sense of this meeting, that the region 
of the great Northwest and valley of the Mississippi is en¬ 
titled to the holding of the next exhibition of the United 
States Agricultural Society in its midst, and it recom¬ 
mends that the said exhibition be held in that region, 
provided the inducements offered by it are equally advantage, 
ous with those offered by any other place or section of the 
country .” 
OFFICERS ELECTED FOR 1859. 
President —General Tench Tilghman, Maryland. 
For Vice Presidents— Ezekiel Holmes, Me.; II. F. 
French, N. H.; F. Holbrook, Vt.; John Brooks, Mass. ; 
E. Dyer, K. I.; II. A. Dyer, Conn.; B. P. Johnson, N. Y. 
J. II. Frazee, N. J.; A. Clemens, Pa.; John Jones, Del.; 
A. Kimmell, Md. ; W. A. Spence, Va. ; H. K. Burgwyn., 
N. C.; F. VV. Allston, S. C.; R. Peters, Ga.; N. B. Cloud, 
Ala.; N. N. Harrison, Miss.; J. D. B. De Bow, La.; F. 
G. Cary, 0,; W. L. Underwood, Ky.; D. P. Holloway, 
Ltd.; D. S. Curtis, Wis.; J. A. Kennicott, Ill.; J. R. Bar¬ 
ret, Mo.; II. Ledyard, Mich.; S. A. Mallory, Fla.; Thos. 
Affleck, Texas ; Legrand Byinglon, Iowa ; A. W. Mc¬ 
Kee, Cal.; II. M. Rich, Minn.; W. W. Corcoran, D. C.; 
M. H. Otero, New-Mexico ; J. II. Lane, Oregon; L. S. 
Stevens, Washington Territory ; W. T. Brown, Nebras¬ 
ka ; W. F. M. Army, Kansas; Sylvester Mowray, Arizona; 
A. G. Fuller, Dacotah. 
Executive Committee —H. Wager, N. Y.; J. McGowan, 
Pa.; Josiah Ware, Va.; F. Smyth, N. II.: J. Merryman, 
Md.; II. Capro.n, Ill.; J. M. Cannon, Iowa. 
Treasurer —B. B. French, D . C. 
Secretary—Ben Parley Poore, Mass. (Washington, 
D. C.) 
- <1 — I H - V 4i)- CgT» i > Cr»- 
“The Advisory Board of Agriculturists 
of the Patent Office.” 
Under this specious name a sort of select co¬ 
terie of persons, privately summoned from vari¬ 
ous parts of the country, assembled at Washing¬ 
ton during the past month. So far as we can 
learn, this secret gathering consisted mainly of 
individuals who could be moulded to the purposes 
and to do the bidding of the “ Agricultural Clerk-” 
To make all sure on this point they were in¬ 
formed that they would be paid $25 each, and 
five cents per mile each way in going to and return¬ 
ing from Washington. They went—they saw—and 
Browne conquered—if we may judge from the re¬ 
sults of the council, which seemed to be a sort of 
indorsement of the operations of the “ seed clerk.” 
The whole affair was a sham, so far as any prac¬ 
tical good to the country is concerned. We will 
copy here a “ notice ” of the affair, as given by 
a daily paper at the head-quarters, the Washing¬ 
ton Stales: 
“ In another column of this paper we insert the 
introductory proceedings of the Agricultural Con¬ 
gress, which the Secretary of the Interior has 
assumed the prerogative of convening at the Fe¬ 
deral Capital. We had intended to furnish our 
own report of this august assemblage, but its de¬ 
liberations are conducted in secrecy. The mo¬ 
tive of such an arrangement is not intelligible, 
except upon the hypothesis that it is designed to 
screen the ignorance of members from the 
contemptuous criticism of the farmers of the 
'country. 
It will be observed by reference to the list of 
delegates, that it contains no name of conspicu¬ 
ous reputation in the agricultural community, un¬ 
less the inevitable Wilder and the ubiquitous 
Poore are to be regarded as celebrities in that 
department of human achievement. Take Vir¬ 
ginia for example ; neither Ruffin, nor Cocke, 
nor Seddon, nor any other eminent agriculturist 
from that State, is present to redeem the Conven¬ 
tion from ridicule. But Mr. W. W, Corcoran is 
there, in all the glory of conscious millions, and 
with that authoritative aspect which awes the 
vulgar multitude into reluctant admiration. If 
the problem were to devise the readiest expedi¬ 
ent for depleting the public treasury by the exac¬ 
tion of usurious interest, we could imagine no 
more suggestive representative than Crresus 
Corcoran. Wha4 possible light he may shed on 
the mysteries of agricultural science, is more 
than we can conjecture, seeing that his only ex¬ 
ploit in this province is the successful cultivation 
of grass on the numerous lots in the city, which 
he has dressed out for speculative prices. How¬ 
ever, according to the maxim of the King of 
Brobdignag, this service may be thought to en¬ 
title him to the gratitude of mankind. 
What with Wilder’s impartial presidency and 
Corcoran’s luminous intellect, some people may 
anticipate splendid results of this Agricultural 
Congress. When we add the stimulus of 5 cents 
mileage and $25 for personal expenses, which 
the Secretary of the Interior generously allows 
out of, the public treasury, we may expect the 
members to exert themselves with the most pro¬ 
ductive industry. Nor should we omit the con¬ 
tributions of the statistical Browne from our cal¬ 
culations—from Browne historically known as D. 
Jay —of Browne who, like another Xerxes, has 
exhausted empires in his travels, and has en¬ 
riched this favored land with the accumulated 
treasures of his researches in “furrin parts ”—of 
Browne who, after years of laborious apprentice¬ 
ship in the subordinate position of clerk to a De¬ 
partment, cherishes the commendable ambition 
of creating a Bureau of Agriculture, and himself 
presiding over its operations—of Browne who, 
having distributed seed enough to nourish a forest 
of canaries, is at last impatient to reap the har¬ 
vest of reward in his own personal promotion. 
After all, however, we would be pleased if 
some one of the notabilities associated with Mr. 
D. J. Browne in this laudable (?) enterprise would 
indicate the particular clause of the Constitution 
which authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to ap¬ 
propriate money from the public treasury in the 
shape of contributions to an Agricultural Congress 1 
Whence does he derive the power of creating 
any such anomalous body I It is a fungus on the 
political system. It is one of these unhealthy 
developements which betray a constitutional dis¬ 
order.’ 
Larger Yield of Rye. 
A. J. Horton, of Southold, Suffolk Co., L. I., 
referring to Mr. Ilyerson’s account of a “ Large 
Yield of Lye,” in Jan. No. p. 7, says he can beat 
that. He gathered 76£ bushels of rye from If 
acres, or 43 and 47 bushels per acre. The soil 
was a heavy loam. The sward was broken up 
in the Spring of 1856, and cropped with corn. 
This was followed in 1857 by potatoes, 25 loads 
of barnyard manure having been plowed under 
in the Spring. On Sept. 26, he sowed 1£ bushels 
per acre of common rye, without further manur¬ 
ing, and harvested the above product in 1858. 
This will do for Suffolk Co., L. I. Yfho speaks 
next ? 
In Sweden, a man who is seen four times 
drunk is deprived of a vote at elections. A good 
law for any country. 
