AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
135 
Movement of Bees About to Swarm. 
We have received from a gentleman in Forsyth 
Co., N. C., a lengthy and interesting chapter re¬ 
specting bees and their habits. We have only 
room for the following extract, appropriate to 
the season: “ When the time for swarming 
arrives, which, with us, lasts from about the mid¬ 
dle of June to the 4th of July, I watch the insiders 
every day, and if I discover a bee in great 
haste work its way from comb to comb, I at once 
suspect that there is a swarm pending. These I 
call runners; they lose no time, and are perfectly 
heedless of every obstacle. They press forward 
until they get out of my sight. If this motion 
is repeated by others in pretty quick succession, 
lhnow that there is a swarm pending. It is then 
very interesting to closely observe these insiders. 
The runners increase in numbers from time to 
time ; they at length succeed in arousing the at¬ 
tention of all the insiders, and the entire hive gets 
into apparent confusion—to such a degree that you 
can scarcely recognize a separate bee. Then it 
is time to close your shutter, for the young swarm 
at once pours out at the hole of the hive. I do 
not, generally, remain at the glass during all this 
time ; but as soon as I feel satisfied that a young 
swarm is forthcoming, I close the shutter, and 
prepare my new hive, etc. Very often, at this 
state of things, I call my family, and point out 
to them the hive that I expect to swarm; but, 
as they cannot discover any movement on the 
outside that appears to warrant my assertion, 
they jest me, and say that I have given a false 
alarm. But before they are yet done speaking, 
out pours the young swarm. 
The conclusion drawn from these runners is, 
that they either have been dispatched by the 
queen, to give notice that she wishes to turn out 
with a new colony; and that they do not stop on 
their errand, till they have accomplished their 
purpose, or they have taken it upon themselves 
to arouse the young swarm to leave the old hive. 
Certain it is, that it sometimes requires many 
hours to effect their purpose. Four years since, 
I observed these runners to commence their ope¬ 
rations about noon; they labored diligently all 
the afternoon, but could not effectually arouse 
the whole swarm. On the following day I was 
necessarily from home, and on my return in the 
evening, was much gratified to learn that said 
hive had thrown out a large swarm. 
Hiving Bees from a Chimney or Hollow 
Tree- 
in answer to inquiries from correspondents of 
the American Agriculturist, as to the best way of 
doing this, Mr. Quinby sends the following : 
When a swarm enters a chimney, if a board be 
immediately placed over the top, they will clus¬ 
ter on the under side of it. It may then be turned 
over, and a hive set over them, which they will 
readily enter, and they can be brought to the 
ground. But if they have combs started they will 
not voluntarily leave them, and if they are out of 
reach, it will seldom pay to dislodge them. There 
seems to be no other way but removing a portion 
of the chimney near their locality, and then, quiet¬ 
ing them with a little tobacco smoke while the 
combs are removed. The combs containing brood 
may be put, with the bees on them, as near as 
possible, in a natural position, in a hive bottom 
up—the bees will soon fasten them—when it may 
be turned over. Unless late in the season, but few 
combs containing honey need to be put in. 
They are usually taken from a tree with much 
less trouble. Bring the tree to the ground as 
easily as possible; blow tobacco smoke among 
them to keep them quiet; with an ax or saw 
cut in each side of the bees, and split out a por¬ 
tion of the shell; then remove the combs as in the 
other case. Frequently most of the bees will 
creep away from the combs during the operation, 
and form a cluster. They can be readily taken 
off with a tin dipper, and deposited in the hive 
after all the rest is done. They should stand a 
few hours, that all the scattered bees may get to 
the hive; and be removed to the stand early in 
the morning or at night 
---aKg M— - 
Feeding Working Cattle in Spring. 
To the Editor of ilie American Agriculturist: 
I have a way of feeding cattle when they first 
begin to work in the Spring, which seems to agree 
with them, and so of course it suits me. They 
need grain when they are put to hard work, as 
much as a farmer needs pork or beef, and if they 
don’t get it, then you don't get the work they 
might do if they were treated r '.sonably. But I 
find my cattle appear to feel a good deal as 1 do 
when warm weather comes on. Meat and hearty 
food don’t seem to relish without something 
green along with it. Pork and potatoes will do 
for a “ stand-by,” but I’m always in a great hurry 
for spinage or some garden “ sass ” to help along 
with, and if I can’t get it, my food makes me 
dumpish and stupid. I think it is a good deal so 
with the cattle. They’ll eat the corn or meal, 
but it don’t seem to be exactly the thing for warm 
weather, and I’ve noticed that after eating plenty 
of it, they acted in the afternoon just as I felt 
when I had nothing but hearty food for dinner. 
So I have, for some years past, given them a good 
mess of potatoes, cut up small, to eat with their 
meal. They appear to relish it well, and I think 
it- keeps their blood cool, and makes them more 
cheerful and active before the plough. 
Jonathan. 
Crop and Fruit Prospects in Maryland. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
The Spring has been uncommonly propitious 
to wheat. It escaped the very frequent injury of 
being thrown out and root killed by Spring freez¬ 
ing and thawing, and the warm, wet weather 
has pushed the young plants forward so rapidly 
as to bid defiance to the fly. A week ago we 
began to fear that the growth of the straw would 
be too rapid, but happily, a cold northwesterly 
wind set in, and blew for a week, chilling the 
air to the freezing point, and thoroughly drying 
the surface of the ground. No change could 
have been more desirable for the advantage of 
wheat. To-day we have a southerly wind, with 
rain, but the thermometer stands only at 42°. 
This is grand weather; and there seems to be 
good reason to hope that the Goon Being intends 
to give us a bountiful crop, which we much need 
here. Our fear now is, of the red weevil. I do 
not know whether you have this pest in Nevv- 
York, as well as Midge and Canada Thistle, but 
last year it destroyed most of the wheat in this 
neighborhood. Fortunately, the sphere of opera¬ 
tion of this destroyer is not large. 
We have great promise of fruit. The peach 
trees are in blossom, but the fruit does not ap¬ 
pear to have been injured by the recent cold. 
Though it is not true that dry cold will not kill 
blossoms, it requires a very severe degree of it to 
do so. Snow and sleet are the common destroy¬ 
ers. Should I have such peaches as I had last 
year, it would be worth your while to come from 
New-York to partake of them. Some beautiful 
late Crawfords, that measured eleven inches and 
a half in circumference, and almost bursted with 
their syrupy juice, would have made fine pictures 
for the Agriculturist. This variety, however, is 
a shy bearer, and most of the peaches rot before 
maturity. They are invaluable for a family, but 
scarcely worth raising for market. They may do 
better elsewhere. 
Did you ever hear of a peach tree that bore 
three several kinds of peaches in a year, one crop 
coming to maturity after another 1 Maryland. 
Falston, Harford Co., Md., April 11, 1859. 
[We do not remember to have heard of triple¬ 
crop peach trees, but in our last volume we pub¬ 
lished well-authenticated accounts of apple trees 
which disported themselves in this way. Our 
brother Editor will accept our thanks for his kind 
invitation to come and see, and, of course, eat, 
some of those peaches at his farm retreat. The 
spirit (and appetite) will be willing, at least.— Ed.] 
*-**»-<- —ana— -►—cs- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Early and Late Seasons—The Present 
Season. 
Nothing is more common than to hear people 
observe, “ this season is one, two, or three weeks 
later than usual;” or, it is “ one, two, or three 
weeks more forward than I ever knew it.” But 
ask them for the data on which they make these 
assertions, and you will generally find that they 
have none to give—it is mere guess, or a matter 
of feeling on their part. 
In order to ascertain whether a season is earlier 
or later, the same plants, shrubs, trees, &c., in the 
same localities and under the same circumstances, 
should be observed from year to year, otherwise 
the observations made will be very inaccurate. 
For example : April 3d, this year, I noticed a 
horse-chestnut just beginning to burst its leaf buds. 
On the 14th some of its leaves were about three 
inches long. Yet other horse-chestnuts, standing 
not over 30 to 100 feet from this tree, on the same 
kind of soil, and with the same exposure, are from 
one to two weeks later in leafing out. Now, had 
my observations been based one year on the ear¬ 
liest leafing tree, and the second year on the latest, 
I should have said the latter season was two 
weeks later than the former, although the seasons 
were really exactly the same. 
Again: certain trees will be one or two weeks 
earlier in leafing or blooming, in two different 
seasons, while other trees may be later, merely 
showing, that although the first part of the Spring 
was more advanced than usual, the middle part 
of it was not, and the close of it was even later ! 
This is the case, in some respects, this year. I 
observed the crocus in full bloom on the 6th 
March ; the syringa and other early shrubs began 
to leaf on the 11th, and the weeping willow on 
the 17th. In the Spring of 1853, the willow be¬ 
gan to leaf on the 24th March, and in 1858 on the 
30th, and yet in these years my peach trees came 
into bloom on the 17th of April, while on this 
day of writing (the 18th), not a single bloom 
can I find on a tree, nor is there any appearance 
that any will be out for five or seven days yet to 
come, although the early shrubs and willows are 
seven days earlier in leafing than they were in 
1853, and thirteen days earlier than last year. 
The apricot is three days later this year than last 
in bursting its first blossoms, but the full bloom 
of the trees is about the same time respectively. 
I might mention a greater difference in some 
other shrubs and trees, in different seasons; but 
the above is sufficient to show the importance of 
looking at the same things from year to year, in the 
same locality, if one would make reliable compari¬ 
sons. Wherr living at Kingsbridge, just north of 
