noi 
THE CULTIVATOR 
17 
ly a red variety—the ground covered with manure, 
plowed in, and planted in drills 3^ feet apart—the po¬ 
tatoes cut in 3 pieces, and planted one foot apart in the 
drill. 
Rocher & Miller’s ruta bagas—ground a clover sod, 
mowed last year, plowed about the first of May, well 
harrowed, sheep manure applied at the rate of about 24 
loads to the acre—about the first of June, plowed and 
harrowed—planted 8th of June, in drills 20 inches apart, 
and 8 to 16 inches in the drill—hoed twice, and harves¬ 
ted Nov. 5. J. J. Thomas, Cor. Sec’y. 
Orange County. —The first premiums of the Or¬ 
ange Co. Ag. Society, for Corn and Oats, were awarded 
to F. J. Betts, Esq. of Newburgh—the corn producing 
205^ bushels of ears to the acre, and the oats 77 bushels. 
Of the cultivation of these crops, Mr. Betts, in a letter 
to the editors of the Cultivator, says: 
“ You correctly suppose that my com was 205J bush¬ 
els of ears per acre: but that was the average yield of 
the whole field, containing 4 5-8 acres. 
“ The corn is a crop of Dutton and the large Con¬ 
necticut yellow corn, obtained by planting the two in 
the same hills; the seed thus obtained, produces a very 
handsome ear, which is earlier than the old fashioned 
corn, and yields well, as the product of my field shows. 
The whole crop is very handsome, and scarce an ear 
which is not fit for seed. 
“ The field upon which it grew, was a tough green 
sward, plowed in the early part of February last, (when 
the ground was free from frost,) and manured with fif¬ 
teen wagon loads per acre, of a compost of muck and 
tarn yard manure, in about equal parts; the muck having 
been spread over the surface of the bai’n yard during the 
winter. In planting, the corn was covered with half a 
shovel full of the same compost, instead of earth, and two 
bushels of salt per acre was spread broadcast over the 
field, immediately before planting; the field was then 
cross plowed, and the corn planted about 3^ feet apart; 
it was twice plowed and hoed, and had the cultivator 
run through it once; it was very slightly hilled, and had 
about an average of four stalks left in each hill. 
“ The oats were raised upon a field cultivated the year 
before in the same way, except that about twelve loads 
of manure per acre, were used, instead of fifteen. The 
oats were sowed as early as the ground could be got in 
order for them, at the rate of three bushels per acre.” 
IMPORTATION OF WOOL, &c. 
Messrs. Editors —Among many of your farming 
readers, are wool growers, who have received too favo¬ 
rable an impression respecting the advantages they are 
to receive from the present protective tariff bill. Hav¬ 
ing the full Report from the Secretary of the Treasury, 
communicating the statement of the Commerce of the 
United States for the year ending Sept. 30, 1841, I will 
extract the statement of imports of Wool in that year. 
All wool, not exceeding 8 cents per pound at the country 
or port purchased, was admitted into the United States 
free of duty. I will name the place from whence im¬ 
ported, and the quantity in pounds, and value in dollars: 
Whence Imported . 
Danish West Indies, . 
Dutch West Indies, . 
England, •• • . 
Gibraltar, . 
British West Indies, . 
British N. American Colonies, 
France on the Mediterranean, 
Spain on the Mediterranean, •• 
Italy,.. . 
Austrian Adriatic ports, . 
Turkey,. ‘; . . 
Morocco, .•••■’. 
Texas, . 
Mexico, .. 
New Grenada, . 
Venezuela, .. 
Brazil, ... 
Cisplatine Republic, . 
Argentine Republic, . 
Chili, . 
Peru, .*. 
Africa generally, . 
Patagonia, . 
Pounds . 
Value . 
89,910 
$7,115 
19,099 
1,190 
228,366 
17,158 
72,466 
4,328 
50 
4 
7,160 
674 
213,820 
14,720 
7,894 
570 
194,414 
. 13,301 
44, 664 
3,399 
2,546,289 
186,010 
435, 573 
31,623 
310 
22 
287,129 
21,830 
197 
16 
684 
60 
118,712 
8,228 
660,879 
36,811 
S, 870,799 
631,025 
468,846 
31,124 
21,461 
1,477 
60j G96 
4,706 
65,747 
3,995 
, , 14,409,764-$981,231 
Whole amount of wool admitted duty free, is fourteen 
millions four hundred and nine thousand seven hundred 
and sixty-four pounds, valued at only nine hundred 
eighty-one thousand two hundred and eighty-one dol¬ 
lars, which is about six and a half cents per pound, im¬ 
ported from twenty-three dilferents ports and countries, 
more than one-half of which, from one Republic in 
South America. 
All wool unmanufactured, exceeding eight cents per 
lb. imported in the same year, is only 596,646 lbs., val¬ 
ued at $173,672, which is over thirty cents per lb. value 
at the place from whence exported. 278,415 pounds 
came from England. These are facts that are not without 
interest to the wool grower, and are worthy of reflection. 
Although we had but little over half a million of lbs. 
of fine wool, paying ad valorem duties, imported last year, 
our own wool has been a drug in market. Then where 
is the competition? Is it not in the fourteen and a half 
millions of coarse wool admitted duty free? If this 
wool is manufactured in the United States, and put upon 
our backs, does it not take the place of so many yards of 
cloth that might be manufactured from our wool? Some 
say that it is very coarse, and is only used among the ne¬ 
groes; but that is a mistake. We have machinery in Ver¬ 
mont, that manufactures large quantities of this wool in¬ 
to cloth—a very good article—and is worn by the whites 
of this state. Another will tell you that one of the glo¬ 
rious acts of the last Congress, was to lay a duty on all 
cheap wools. Well we will admit that on unmanufac¬ 
tured wool, the value whereof, at the last port or place 
from whence exported to the United States, shall be se¬ 
ven cents or under, per pound, there shall be levied a 
duty of five per centum ad valorem; that is, if sixteen 
pounds of wool shall cost in South America, one dollar, 
including all costs and charges except insurance; then on 
this sixteen pounds of wool is levied five cents, or about 
three and a half mills per pound. 
These young Republics of South America, and many 
other countries which grow this cheap wool, are yet in 
their infancy in sheep husbandry. We shall undoubted¬ 
ly receive greater and increasing supplies for many years 
to come, from these ports. On account of the small duty 
levied, they will be obliged to accept a trifle less for 
their wool, which they will be better able to do as they 
improve in the art of sheep husbandry. 
It is the “ scarcity of gold that makes it dear.” The 
same adage may apply to wool. If our markets are flood¬ 
ed with the raw material, there will be no need of the 
manufacturer paying from forty to sixty cents per pound. 
Such improved inventions have been introduced in ma¬ 
chinery, that cloths can be manufactured from these 
coarse wools, such as the laboring man need not be a- 
shamed of. 
If wool remains near the low ebb that it has now ar¬ 
rived at, the prospects of a ready market for the wheat 
of the western farmers with our New England farmers 
and mechanics, as heretofore, cannot be so great nor flat¬ 
tering; for we shall be obliged to consume more brown 
bread, and endeavor to raise some wheat, which we can 
do almost wholly within ourselves. 
Weybridge, Vt. 1842. S. W. Jewett. 
STRAW BEE HIVES.—(Fig. 8.) 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker— This cut (see fig. 8,) is 
a perspective drawing of my sixth class of Bee Hives. 
This is a swarming hive, made of straw, in sections, with 
an absorbing cap placed over the top, and a canal bot¬ 
tom board underneath, represented here as standing on a 
frame, made like a common table frame, 18 inches high, 
before the leaf is put on. The 3d section, marked 3, 
which may always be used as a chamber in the summer 
season for boxes, globes,tumblers, &c. is taken off in Oc¬ 
tober, and the absorbing cap marked A, supplies its place 
for wintering the bees, and is again removed early in 
the spring, to give place for the third section; which 
may be used as a chamber, or it may be filled with ho¬ 
ney, as most agreeable to the owner. Hives, made of 
boards, possessing principles (in some respects,) similar 
to this, have been used, long since, in Europe and here; 
but the true principles of ventilation, as well as the ex¬ 
halations of the bees, were not well understood, and the 
hives have gone out of use in all cases, after a trial of 
them a few years. Even the great French Apiarian 
who invented it, lost his whole stock except one hive, 
by its use, and this he gave to his son: but the son 
would use none of them. This gentlemen, M. De Gelieu, 
wrote an excellent treatise on bees, which I wish was 
more generally read. But to the hive; the sections 
should be made as near alike as can be. Each section 
should hold a little more than half a bushel. The straw 
is confined to the top board by sewing the strands of 
straw with strings made of bark, basket stuff, or coarse 
twine, until the section is finished. Then the section is 
turned top down, and wood pins are drove down through 
every strand to the top board, and cut off level with the 
bottom. These pins should be within 4 or 5 inches of 
each other, all around the section, so as to strengthen the 
hive by keeping the straw perfectly in place, and pre¬ 
vent the hive from settling out of good shape in any 
place, when brought into use. The top board of each 
section should have at least 12 two inch holes made by a 
center bit, to facilitate uniformity of animal, or rather 
insect heat, in all the sections, to promote the growth 
and bring to perfection the young broods in the summer, 
and likewise afford the most favorable opportunity for 
the vapor of the bees, caused by their breath and exhala¬ 
tions, to rise into the cap, and there become absorbed by 
the straw, and dissipated by the surrounding atmosphere, 
which greatly prevents the accumulation of frost and ice 
m the hive: thus preventing the death of the bees by 
freezing. 
I am aware that some objections may be urged against 
the use of straw hives, especially as they afford a ready 
harbor for moths and other insects, inimical to bees; but 
this objection no longer exists, for it is now well known 
that the eggs of moths will not germinate where white¬ 
wash is used. It is believed that the caustic nature of 
lime destroys the principle of life in the eggs of all in¬ 
sects; and straw hives that are well made, are easily 
whitewashed. 
Much may be said in praise of the common straw hive. 
They are greater non-conductors of heat and cold, than 
any wood hives, and are much better for wintering bees 
in than any wood swarmers; the absorbing qualities of 
the straw prevents frost and ice from being formed in so 
great quantities in the hive in the winter, and their lia¬ 
bility to harbor mice is completely obviated by the use of 
the canal bottom board, a description of which has already 
been given in the Cultivator, and answers all the expec¬ 
tations I then anticipated, and more than I expected at 
that time. In trying the experiment last winter, I found 
in Avarm turns of weather my bees sallied out of my 
hives, and many were lost by falling on the ground, and 
never returned; but not so with any of my hives that 
rested on the canal bottom boards. It is found that the 
light enters the hive in so indirect a manner, thatall there 
is in the interior of the hive is but twilight, and the bees 
remain perfectly quiet until they are so affected by the 
warm atmosphere that they sally out into air, so warm as 
to enable them to return to their hive without loss of ma¬ 
ny of their companions. But to the hive again. When 
the hive is made in sections like this, it needs no sticks, 
as each section is only six inches deep besides the top 
board, and 18 or 20 inches in diameter. In new coun¬ 
tries, where lumber is scarce and expensive, the top board 
may be made of bark pealed from large trees, pressed 
and dried, and the strands may be made of prairie grass. 
In constructing hives of any sort, the builder’s attention 
should be directed to two points which are believed to be 
of the highest importance to the apiary. First. Bees 
should not be compelled to take any unnecessary steps af¬ 
ter they enter the hive, to relieve themselves of their 
burthen. How can a man do business to advantage with 
a heavy load, and grope in darkness, wandering through 
a dense crowd, winding his way to the fourth story by 
the sense of touch only,constantly meeting others stronger 
than himself returning, and pushing him back? Second. 
The hive should be so constructed as to enable the apia¬ 
rian to preserve the young broods from a chill in cold 
turns of weather in the spring months, which has been 
considered one principal cause of complaint among bee 
masters, that their bees do not swarm. As I have once 
published an article of some length on this subject, I 
will only remark here, that the prineipal cause of this 
complaint this year, has originated from causes perfectly 
new to nae; a fact that I never discovered until this season, 
1842. It is this: blossoms this season, have yielded so lit¬ 
tle pollen, that the bees were unable to supply the young 
with a suflicient quantity of new bread to hasten along the 
young broods so as to produce swarms, until the sea¬ 
son was too far advanced for the bees to form new colo¬ 
nies with safety. It is now believed that bees never feed 
their young with old bread, at any time when they can 
traverse the fields. But as a full illustration of this sub¬ 
ject will require an article too long for this place, I only 
remark that as this hive is subtended, it is used different 
from other hives. 
When the combs in the first and second section, get 
loaded with bread and the cocoons of young bees, so as 
to interrupt in the least, the perfecting the young, the 
hive is raised up from the bottom board, and the 3d sec¬ 
tion is placed where the first section stood; as this is 
done early in the spring, the bees will replenish them¬ 
selves vvitli new brood comb. This may be done as often 
as desirable, at the same time the section coming on top 
may be emptied of its contents and used as a chamber for 
boxes, or as a receptacle for honey. I have four more 
classes of hh'^es, which I intend to bring before the, pub¬ 
lic in due time, making ten classes in all, most of which 
may be converted into non-swarmers when desirable, 
and reversed to swarmers again at pleasure. 
Respectfully yours, John M. Weeks. 
West Farms, near Middlebury, Vt. Oct. 8, 1842. 
TO WESTERN EMIGRANTS. 
Another “ Trip to Mill.”— Fatal effects of venturing to 
cross an unsettled Prairie in a stormy night. 
Editors of the Cultivator— How often I have 
been asked by my eastern friends, rvhether my account 
of the “first trip to mill,’’ published in your paper in 
June, 1841, was “founded on fact.” These inquiries 
show how little you that dwell in cities and densely popu¬ 
lated places, knoAV of the hardships and perils of life that 
the pioneer endures. “How little do we know how to 
appreciate trifles until placed in a trying situation.” 
In that article, I spoke of the danger of life to the 
teamster, who. attempted the perilous passage of the prai¬ 
rie in a cold winter night. I also spoke of the beautiful 
weather of November, usual to this region. Just such 
weather was the first part of the present month, but what 
a change suddenly came over the face of nature—a change 
that brought desolation into the cabin of an afllicted emi¬ 
grant. 
Fhe reader of the narrative I am about to give, will 
undoubtedly say that there was a great lack of prudence 
and forethought in the emigrant, and it is upon that point 
that I wish him to be advised, and not attempt to buy his 
knowledge with an experiment that may cost him his life. 
The 16th of November was a delightful sunny day. “I 
think,” says Mr. W., (one of my neighbors, for he only 
Ih'ed a dozen niiles off,) to his wife, “ that I will go to 
mill to-day, it is so pleasant.” “ I wish then you would 
