170 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
it convenient to take out the combs. Then with a sharp, 
thin knife cut loose the first eomb. loosen from the cross 
sticks, and lay it on a table carefully that has been cov¬ 
ered -with several thicknesses of cloth. Lay over it the 
frame, and trim it to fit. A piece of the second comb may 
be needed to fill it out. Now let an assistant raise the 
frame and comb, while you slip under the splints in about 
three or four places to hold it to the best advantage. Let 
the number of pieces of comb decide the number of 
splints. Bring the other splints that are already tied at 
one end over the upper side, and tie at the other 
end. and it will present the appearance shown in the 
engraving on preceding page, except the center piece— 
which we leave out now—generally. Put this in the 
new hive, and transfer the next in the same way. See 
that the brood is in about the same relative position that 
it was before, and near the center and not scattered, that 
the cluster of bees may cover all. Put the splints over 
as little of the brood as possible. Cut off all the drone 
comb and keep it out entirely, unless it contains honey 
that is necessary for the bees at this season, when it 
should be by itself, to be taken out afterwards. The 
spaces of an inch diameter should be filled by the little 
pieces of worker comb cut off the corners. Spaces less 
than an inch will not do much harm if filled with drone 
comb. It will be likely to satisfy the bees. If there is 
comb enough to fill six or seven of these frames 11x16 
inches it will do well enough till after midsummer, when 
you use surplus boxes. When you have the frames ail in 
place shake the bees that have been driven out directly 
on the top of the frames, when they will immediately 
creep down among the combs. With a goose quill or 
fowl’s wing, sweep the few off the window into the hive, 
and any that may stick around the hive. Put over the 
frames several thicknesses of old newspaper or any old 
c'oth, to keep the bees down. If the hive is not full of 
combs put a board next them just the size of frame for 
the present. If there is no honey smeared or running 
outside the hive to attract robbing bees, and the day is 
warm enough for them to fly, take the new hive to the 
stand at once. Have the entrance as near and as much 
like the old one as possible. Contract it for a short time, 
at least, till the bees find they arc home and quieted. 
Leave no possible opening large enough for robbers to 
get. in beside the regular entrance. If any bees were left 
scattered on the window where they were transferred, it 
may be opened and every one brushed off, when they 
will go directly to the hive. After the first day or two, 
they are no more likely to be attacked by robbing bees 
than if they had not been transferred. If the weather is 
warm, the colony strong and getting honey, they will 
seal the combs to the frames, and join the pieces togeth¬ 
er in a week, when the splints can be removed. If the 
combs are not fast leave the splints until they are. Bees 
seem to renew their industry after being transferred, and 
will smooth up Any mutilation of combs much quicker 
than any one not acquainted with the matter would sup¬ 
pose. Those who suppose that bees transferred to mova¬ 
ble combs will not do enough better to pay for all the 
trouble just described, should just consider some points 
in their natural history. It is so ordered by the Creator 
that every isolated colony will provide all the drones re¬ 
quired, and, in doingso, will rear thousands more than is 
really needed. Nature provides for isolated colonies. 
When a man brings fifty or a hundred into one apiary, one 
ot two colonies with the drone comb that they naturally 
make will furnish enough for all. We have found out 
that eggs laid by a fertile queen in drone cells invariably 
produce drones, that the same eggs laid in worker cells 
produce workers. Now if there are no drone cells, the 
worker cells must receive the eggs, and we get profitable 
producers instead of idle consumers. The gain here we 
consider enough in one season to pay all the expense of 
transferring; and besides this, we are sure to get al> 
straight combs, which the bees do not always build. 
The next best time for transferring is three weeks after 
they swarm. Those who have not the time, or have not 
the energy to do it now, had better determine to do it 
then. I will endeavor to describe a hive before that time, 
as well as surplus boxes. 
- —m aQBn w *<£»-- . , 
Ogden Farm Papers.—No. 39. 
“ Chop un over with a heavy hoe anti dung 
him; dang ’em, that’ll bring ’im round.” This 
is the advice given by some English laborers, 
whose advice their master asked about the 
treatment of a bit of heavy clay land that had 
been packed by carts until it was as hard as a 
thrashing-floor. It was given in rude English, 
hut it is full of good sense, as the proprietor 
found in this case. He reasoned thus: “We’ll 
have a virgin soil in this old clay-pit; we’ll 
chop him over and dung him, and perhaps the 
mangels won’t know the difference.” And they 
did not. He says they only rasped off some 
blue clay from the surface; then chopped out 
the drills after a rain when the ground was soft, 
applied the manure, and planted the seed. As 
the mangels could not bury themselves in Ibis 
hard cla}', they had to sit on the surface (on ex¬ 
hibition), but tlieir roots found their way to the 
manure, and they grew as though they had 
been in virgin land, and they made a fine crop 
of very handsome roots. 
I know that this is contrary to our precon¬ 
ceived notions, and contrary to much that I 
have myself written. At the same time, it 
won’t do to be bigots, whatever we are, and 
there is a lesson in this case which we may as 
well consider. It is a perfectly well authenti¬ 
cated case, and it shows the power of manure, 
when applied to the surface of a very hard clay 
soil, to make as good a crop as it would have 
done had the soil been deeply plowed. How 
deep plowing would have affected the case is 
not known, for the experiment was not tried. 
The presumption is that, had it been possible 
in such a soil, it would not have helped the re-, 
suit, for it would have brought up a perfectly 
crude earth, that had lain for centuries below 
the shallow reach of atmospheric influences. 
No general conclusion against sufficient cultiva¬ 
tion is to be argued from this instance. Land 
that is fertile, for a greater or less depth, is cer¬ 
tainly benefited by being plowed to that depth , 
but there is much hard clay laud that is not 
fertile for any considerable depth, and this I 
think is injured—if not permanently, at least 
for a very long time—by having the little fer¬ 
tility it possesses (always at the very top) cov¬ 
ered over by (or very largely mixed with) the 
crude clay of the subsoil. Willi regard to 
some of the land at Ogden Farm, this is un¬ 
questionably the case. I have several times 
spoken of one section of the farm where we 
brought to the surface ahout/oiw inches of cold, 
blue-clay subsoil, which had never seen the light 
before. We manured it, froze it, thawed it, fal¬ 
lowed it, and did to it everything that promised 
relief, but all to so little purpose that I am con¬ 
fident we have lost in interest, manure, and 
seed over $100 per acre on it. Time has at last 
told on it, and so have the roots of the scanty 
crops it lias grown, but even now the best we 
can say of it is that it lias a fair catch of grass, 
which will need considerable manure to bring 
it to first-rate condition. Had it been plowed 
five inches deep (instead of ten) fire years ago, 
as good a stand of grass could have been had 
the very first year as we now have. It is ques¬ 
tionable how much good, in the long run , the 
deep cultivation may have done. Some, no 
doubt, but in such a soil probably less than 
many would suppose. Now let us see how the 
account stands. There are about eight acres of 
the land which cost, with the linderdraiuing, 
$200 per acre; so the interest account amounts 
to $560. The labor has been about returned in 
crops, certainly not more. Manure and seeds 
can not have cost less than $10 an acre per an¬ 
num, probably much more—and this makes 
$400. Total, $960. Much of the manure lies 
in the land for future use, hut I think my esti¬ 
mate is a fair one—that we have lost $100 an 
acre by too deep plowing. 
Are we to reason from this that deep plowing 
is a mistake? Who can tell? Facts are stub¬ 
born, and this is by no means the only fact 
tending in the same direction. Still, there are 
many authentic instances of the eminent suc¬ 
cess of deep plowing. The character of the 
soil has very much to do witli the question. 
When this is good for a considerable depth, 
it may pay to bring up a little of a mellow sub¬ 
soil to put with it. At the same time, it is very 
likely that what is brought up neutralizes a 
proportionate quantity of manure winch would 
otherwise have gone to the formation of imme¬ 
diate crops. Having started my farming life with 
strong convictions in favor of deep plowing, 
it is not easy to see them gradually set aside, 
and it would even now he unfair to say that 
they are set aside. Nevertheless, I must con¬ 
fess that the older I grow the less I know, and 
the more am I inclined to heed the counsel of 
“Universal Custom”—that best of teachers, if 
we know how rightly to apply its lessons. 
There is room enough left, in all conscience, to 
find fault with the practices of common far¬ 
mers, but they have established some laws that 
it will be best to follow until we can find better 
ones. One of these is, and it is a very import¬ 
ant one, that it pays best to keep the most fer¬ 
tile part of the soil at the top, and to put the 
manure on top of that, especially for grass¬ 
land—and some day we shall know better than 
Ave uoav do the scientific reason why. That 
there is a scientific reason for every right 
or Avrong in farming is totally and entirely cer¬ 
tain. Until Ave know more about it, let us 
“chop un over with a heavy hoe (or plow shal¬ 
low), and dung ’im,” and trust that “that’ll 
bring ’im round—dang ’em.” 
It Avas not without anxiety that I returned to 
the farm after an absence of over three mouths. 
Anj' farmer who has left liis place for such a 
period will appreciate my relief on finding 
everything in substantially as good condition as 
it probably would have been had I stayed at 
home. That is to say, there had been no serious 
mishaps that my presence could have obviated; 
but lieAvill appreciate the further fact that there 
Avas evidence in every department of the effect 
of low pressure. Everything had been run at a 
sort of “ safety ” speed, and lacked the fillip 
that successful farming needs. For instance, 
the stock never looked better, and the feed bills 
could not have been lower consistently Avith 
their being kept in fine condition. But at the 
point of fine condition the economical manager, 
who Avas anxious to keep down expenses Avhile 
keeping up appearances, had stopped. The 
nutriment needed for vigorous health had been 
given: the extra amount needed to keep up a 
vigorous flow of milk liad been Avithheld. The 
consequence was that spigot-saving, in the 
meal-bin bad resulted in rather too much wast¬ 
ing at the hung of interest and general expenses. 
Every dollar spent for grain, beyond what had 
been spent, would probably have resulted 'in 
two dollars profit. However, any farmer Avho 
abandons bis farm and goes across the Atlan¬ 
tic, leaving it in the hands of a hired man, may 
well congratulate himself if, on his return, the 
only ground he finds for complaint is such con¬ 
scientious guarding of his outlays as character¬ 
ized my Avorthy Haubrich. 
I ought not to leave this subject Avltliout say¬ 
ing that, although the product of butter Avas 
less than I had expected, it rarely fell below 
60 lbs. per week from an average of 20 cows, 
several of Avliich aborted last year, and nearly 
all of which arc to calve this spring. 
Aborted ! There’s the rub. Of all the myste¬ 
rious accompaniments of cattle breeding, this 
is the most mysterious aud the most deplor- 
