GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE PEACH TREE. - HAULING FUEL. 
62 
ship in a storm, without a pilot—without a helm, 
and being suddenly supplied with both, would not 
sooner dispel the fears of the affrighted mariners, 
than would the appearance of the lost queen tran- 
quilize the commotions of the agitated swarm. 
Without a queen their ruin is certain, but instinct 
teaches them never to leave without her. 
This is but one instance in a thousand of the 
manifestation of reason in their acts. The know¬ 
ledge displayed by them, when attacked by the 
moth is remarkable. On the first lodgment of this 
pest, they use propolis to cemenf them in, and 
when the worms show themselves, they are dragged 
down, and ejected from the hives. I once saw 
several bees at work upon a very large moth worm, 
and on examination, I found they had disjointed 
every leg, and then they left it. It remained alive 
twenty-four hours without the least power of loco¬ 
motion. When, by accident, a leaf of comb be¬ 
comes detached, no human knowledge could devise 
better means of remedy. Pillars are constructed to 
support the detached parts, till they can be firmly 
fastened, when they remove them. On placing a 
piece of comb filled with honey upon the floor of 
the chamber of one of my hives, for the purpose of 
feeding, in the month of May, I found on the 
second day, that the bees had by some means raised 
this piece of comb about half an inch, and had con¬ 
structed several pillars to support it. The reason 
of their raising it, was because it covered some of 
the centre holes that communicated with the cham¬ 
ber of the hive. 
A rather singular circumstance occurred this last 
summer, with one of my stocks of bees, showing a 
judgment and reason, worthy of particular notice. 
One of my stocks that had lost its queen during the 
early part of the season, while there were no larvae 
in the hive from which a new one could be formed, 
was suffered to remove in consequence of my ab¬ 
sence, in its position, till it had become entirely de¬ 
populated. On returning, I found the moths had 
taken possession, and the bees of the adjoining hive 
being aware of this, commenced building a wall of 
propolis along the entire entrance next adjoining 
this infected hive, to prevent any incursions of the 
enemy on that side. The bottom boards were 
hung about the same level, and only a few inches 
apart. This wall was not fully finished, but it 
shows a reason and knowledge of adapting means 
to ends far beyond the ordinary tribes of insects. 
But a very remarkable instance of sagacity oc¬ 
curred a few years ago, under my own eye. I had 
a few hives made, originally, with holes of ingress 
and egress, about two inches from the bottom 
board, say half an inch wide, and three inches long. 
When I commenced suspending the bottoms, I shut 
up the aforesaid hole, to one of my hives by a strip 
of shingle, with a nail driven through one end, 
so as to admit of being raised up, and shut down, 
like the operation of a wooden button • with this 
difference, the shutter turned on a pivot at the end, 
while a button turns on the centre. With an 
opening around the entire bottom of the hive, I 
supposed this upper entrance would not benefit the 
bees; yet at times, I raised the shutter till it got 
so loose that it would fall of its own gravity. In 
this way, it was up one day, and down the next, 
.for some weeks, till one morning I beheld about a 
hundred bees at work upon it while up, and the hole 
open, and during the day, they glued it to the hive 
with propolis, so as to require a considerable effort 
to remove it! Being satisfied that the bees wished 
to have it remain in that position, I did not disturb 
it thereafter. 
Various other acts showing that bees possess the 
faculty of reason, in an eminent degree, have come 
under my observation, but the above are all that my 
limits will permit of being narrated. 
T. B. Miner. 
Ravenswood , L. I., Feb. 1848, 
ON THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE 
PEACH TREE. 
The peach tree, as a standard, in this country, 
appears to be short lived and irregular in bearing. 
The cause of this, I attribute to the want of training, 
thinning the fruit, and pruning the more fibrous roots. 
1 would recommend the planting, by all means, of 
maiden plants, worked on plum stocks, which are 
much hardier, and have a greater tendency to luxu¬ 
riance. The holes should be dug out from four to 
six feet square, with a substratum of lime rubbish, 
firmly beaten down, and covered with a prepared 
soil not deeper than one foot. The ground about 
the tree should not be cropped, but should be cov¬ 
ered with rotten dung, and decayed leaves, during 
winter, which should be carefully forked in early 
the following spring, and hoed and kept clear from 
weeds during summer. 
Planting peach trees in a kitchen garden, is a bad 
practice, although generally prevalent. The vege¬ 
tables so grown, seldom attain a proper size and 
flavor, without injuring the fruit above them. 
I would also recommend training the trees to a 
hoop placed inside, and the shoots made to repre¬ 
sent an inverted umbrella. The general pruning to 
be done after the buds break, and then with the 
thumb, displace all superfluous shoots, leaving only 
those wanted for bearing the next season. The fruits 
also should be thinned, which makes them larger, 
earlier, and finer flavored. Wm. Whedden. 
New Rochelle, N. Y., Dec. 14th , 1847. 
HAULING FUEL. 
The advantages of using dry wood for fuel, in¬ 
stead of green, must be obvious to every observing 
mind. Green wood, cut in winter, in lengths of four 
feet, and split fine enough for convenient handling, 
may be drawn together and piled up, near the site 
where it grows, so as to be well exposed to the sun 
and air, with the tops of the piles secured against 
storms, by a covering of boards, where, in a few 
months, it will become sufficiently dry for use. 
In treating wood in this manner, there is fre¬ 
quently a gain in hauling of 20 to 25 per cent, by 
reason of the loss of weight in drying, as well as 
its improved condition for the fire. It was estimat¬ 
ed by Count Rumford, that an average cord of green 
wood contains more than two hogsheads of water ; 
and the waste of heat in evaporating this quantity 
of water, would raise thirteen and a half hogs"- 
heads of water to a boiling point. The buye-- of 
wood may learn from these facts the advantages of 
dry wood over green, as an article of fuel: and the 
seller, who has the wood to draw, may learn how 
to economize labor, by drying his wood, and thus 
disposing of one' fourth of its weight 
