APRIL 6 
[MOOSE'S BUBAL MEW-¥OBKEB 
ihc Apiarian 
TO MAKE A BEE HOUSE. « 
Bee culture forming one of the topics ' 
discussed in your columns, the results of ( 
actual experience in that line may prove of ] 
interest to those of your readers seeking ( 
facts rather than theory. In this latitude 
the moth or miller proves very destructive; j 
many e xperiments have been made to coun¬ 
teract the evil, yet few, if any, are found . 
effectual. My experience for the past seven ‘ 
years warrants the belief that the object . 
has been attained by the construction of a 
bee house moro particularly designed to , 
obviate the trouble and danger attending 
the hiving of new swarms. 
As this is the season when the bees are in 
a dormant condition, and easily removed, a 
description of my bee house may prove of 
value, especially to amateurs, or those who 
would gladly keep the inseots were it not 
for the danger from their stings and trouble 
of hiving thorn. 
Four locust posts, seven feet long, squared 
for four feet of the length, and set three 
feet in the ground, so as to form an oblong 
square four feet wide by eight feet in length, 
will form the frame of the house. On tlxe 
top of these posts are spiked two scantling, 
two by four inches, to form the support for 
a comb roof, which should project twelve 
inches all round. At the hight or ten inches 
from the ground fit in a floor in form of a 
double inclined plane, or inverted V, giving 
it about the same slope as the roof, allowing 
each side of the floor to project one Inch 
outside of the posts, to afford a place for 
the bees to alight on before entering the 
house. I/me up and ceil on the iusido of 
the posts, and weatherboard on the outside, 
and the work is done. Place a mo\able 
glass sash in one end, to observe the work¬ 
ing of the bees, and over that a light wood 
door. Leave a spaco of half an inch between 
the floor and lower weather-board on each 
side, to give entrance and exit to the bees. 
This house is amply large for four hives 
of bees. I use a box hive 14 inches square 
in the main body, with npaoe on top for two 
boxes 11 by 5 inches each, and a frame 14 by 
14 square, and 3 inches high, attached to 
the bottom. In this frame is fitted a double 
inclined plane with a half inch space be¬ 
tween it and the side of the hive, beyond 
which it projects a half inch. These hives 
are suspended by cleats about four inches 
above the floor of the house, which should 
be planed smoothly on the upper side to 
allow dead hoes, vermin or dirt to roll 
outside. 
My bees have not swarmed for seven years, 
but the colonies are very Btroug, and the 
annual yield of surplus honey, from the 
boxes, Is increasing. Large combs now cov¬ 
er the outside of the hives, which if not re¬ 
moved early in the fall, the honey therein 
contained will be removed to the interior of 
the hive by the bees for winter supply. 
During the past seven years I have not 
found the miller at work In the hives, 
though occasionally found in the house, or 
alighting on the board outside. The dark¬ 
ness inside of the house probably prc\ cuts 
the pest from finding its way into the hive. 
1 am satisfied with the test. 
The primary object in view, in the con¬ 
struction of the house, was to prevent 
swarming of the new colonies, which lias 
proven a success, owing, it is presumed, to 
the absence or that degree of heat necessa¬ 
ry to hatch t he eggs deposited by the queen. 
If, in addition to that, freedom from the 
ravages of the moth has been secured, two 
great evils have been removed, and ama¬ 
teurs, or private families wishing a supply 
of honey without cost, can attain it by 
adopting my method, ■which they are at 
liberty to do. Of course those who raise 
bees for profit are not likely to adopt it. 
I will only add that the house may be 
highly ornamented, so as to add to the beau¬ 
ty of yards or flower gardens. Mine stands 
in a front door yard, covered with flowering 
vines and roses. ^ x * 
Gallipolis, O. 
—- - - 
“BEE HIVES.” 
We find in the Ri:kal of March 2d an ar¬ 
ticle from the peu of J. E. Moore, with the 
above caption. It seems that friend Moore 
is considerably exercised over that hive we 
described in the Rural New-Yorker some 
time since. Iu the first place, he quotes 
from our former article, endeavoring to 
show that we had not tested, or ever seen 
in use, hives upon which we had passed 
judgment. In the first lino of friend 
Moore's quotation from our article, the 
word ” neither” should have been published 
“ either.” It was so written in the original 
manuscript, and should have been published 
so. The hive we mentioned some time ago, 
that we were satisfied combined more ad¬ 
vantages, with fewer objections, than any 
one yet devised, was not the one we gave a 
description of, and friend Moore knew it 
when he penned his article!—at least, any 
one possessing a grain of common souse 
must have known it, even though ho had 
only casually read our article. Perhaps his 
statement that we described a hive that was 
in use some fifteen years ago, may seem 
plausible to some; but the facts iu the case 
are that we did not describe the Lang - 
strotj i hive; nor was tile two-story Lan'G- 
rttsoth hive in use at that time, by a con¬ 
siderable. We hope Mr. M. will keep his 
assertions moro within the hounds of truth 
and propriety in tho future. We doubt not 
tail that Mr. M. thought he was perpetrat¬ 
ing a nice joke when he copied from our ar¬ 
ticle, placing some of our own words in 
italics, thereby endeavoring to distort our 
meaning; but we leave it to your readers 
whether such measures aro either fair or 
honorable. 
Wo, too, prefer a hive that will give us 
more perfect control over our little yellow 
pets, and have a hive of our own invention 
that will give it. But wo nem'r claimed 
t hat the hive we described was the best one 
In use, as friend Moore very well knows. 
What we did say was that It was the best 
hivo wo had yet tested. Wo assure your 
readers that it is a good one, as is amply 
proven by many of our best apiarians, who 
have had it iu use. Wo think that wo aro 
entitled to our own opinions and prefer¬ 
ences, as well as friend Moore, and if wo 
prefer to use the two-story hive, why should 
ho object? Wo think wo can give as many 
instances whore those who have used the 
two-story hivo, have made bee-making a 
success, as ho can of those who have used 
tho one-story hivo. We should not have 
made any reply to his article, only some of 
our correspondents wished to ascertain the 
truthfulness of his assertions, that they 
might know to a certainty whether we had 
endeavored to mislead them or not.— Her¬ 
bert A. Burch. 
(&nt ontological. 
She (Hardener. 
FORCING CUCUMBERS. 
Probably few of the readers of the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker are aware of the extent 
to which cucumbers are forced for market. 
It is not wholly confined to our larger cities, 
but in the small inland towns and villages 
this vegetable Is extensively cultivated. 
My experience in forcing cucumbers oc¬ 
curred in a village several huudred miles 
from New York, where 1 had an eighth of 
an acre of frames tilled with this vegetable, 
while a neighbor had six span roof houses 
devoted entirely to Its culture. Believing 
that some of your readers may bo interested 
in this branch of gardening, I will give them 
the practical details of mv operations and 
success, although I shall take a different 
standpoint from some of tho gardeners 
around Now York. Still, I will eudeavor 
to show the why and wherefore, which I 
think many authors have failed to do. For 
instance, all say that tho watering must be 
done with tepid water iu cold weather; but 
in tho books that have come under my ob¬ 
servation not one has stated the manner in 
which this tepid water is to bo obtained. 
The size of sash usually employed is 8x6, 
but I like 4x5 better, for the following rea¬ 
sons:—1st, they aro not so liable to settle 
iu tho center in case of a heavy fall of snow; 
3d, three feet is farther than a man can 
reach to trim the vines; 3d, in using this 
size sash I can make my straw mats 5xOH; 
foot; then the straw will lie lengthwise the 
sash, the same as shingles on a roof, thereby 
permitting the rain and snow to pass off 
more readily than it will crosswise of the 
straw; and it can also be swept off more 
easily. My frames were mado out of two- 
inch plank, tho back, or top, 18 inches in 
hight; the bottom, or front, twelve inches, 
with two strips across the frame Oh which 
the sash rested. 
ANGOUMOI’S GRAIN MOTH. 
Inclosed you will find specimens of sev¬ 
eral kinds of wheat, rubbed from heads 
winch grew in the vicinity of Cluunbors- 
burg, Pa., and harvested in tho summer of 
187b The heads were of good size, well 
filled, and tho wheat, when shelled, appa¬ 
rently of good quality; but, upon a closer 
examination, about nine grains out of every 
ton were found to contain a small grub 
which, iu the latter part Of September, cl¬ 
early part of October, came out iu the form 
of a small moth, specimens of which you 
will find inclosed. (For living ones putthis 
wheat in some wtinn place fora t ime.) IN hat 
is the name, habits, &c., of this insect?— 
w. 8. 
Tilts insect is the well known destructive 
Angoumoi’s Grain Moth —Bn tali# CCTMlel* 
la. Its common name Is derived from a 
province in France, where it was discovered 
more than a century ago, doing immense 
injury to wheat and other grain. The date 
of its introduction into this country is un¬ 
known; and Harris States that it was 
known to be in Virginia ns early as 1708, It 
not only attacks wheat while in tlm field, 
but after it is stored; also corn in the crib, 
hut particularly when grain is kept in a 
warm room. It is one of the most destruc¬ 
tive insects known, and farmers should be 
on their guard lest they unwittingly aid in 
its dissemination and propagation. 
The moth is quite small, the wings ex¬ 
panding scarcely more than a half an inch. 
The body and fore wings are of a brownish 
gray; the hind wings are of a drill lead color, 
surrounded by a black fringe. 
The best method of destroying this in¬ 
sect, when in stored grain, is probably by 
fumigating with gas from burning charcoal. 
The store-room should be made tight and 
the grain placed in such a position that, the 
gas shall reach every port ion. The fumes 
of burning charcoal will neither injure the 
grain, as it imparts no bad flavor to it, nor 
impair its power of vegetating. Heating 
the grain is also resorted to in France to 
destroy this insect. Farmers must be con¬ 
stantly on their guard when receiving seeds 
from seedstores in any of our cities, or 
abroad, because noxious Insects are con¬ 
stantly being introduced and disseminated 
through these channels. 
-—— 
Study Insects.— Let those who send us 
insects for identification study their habits, 
toll us on what und when they aro found, 
what birds or insects prey upon them, and 
all the detail of information acquired. 
Preparing the Hot-Beds.— Never ex¬ 
cavate, but always build your beds above 
the ground, for the reason that cucumbers 
require a large amount of water; and if a 
pit is dug, that which is applied to tho 
plants will settle under the beds, causing 
the manure to rot and the heat to subside. 
Always use fresh stable manure -that which 
has not fermented. If so vend frames are 
to be used, draw tho manure to whore the 
beds aro to be made, making a long wiurow, 
care being taken to prevent excessive heat. 
The manure should not remain over four 
days in the rows without being shaken up 
with a fork. Lay out the lied one foot larger 
in every way than the frame. Shake tho 
manure carefully, and beat down firmly 
and evenly with the back of a fork, but 
never tread on it with the feet. I should 
as soon think of walking over tho sash as 
over the manure in my hot-beds. Some 
may think this of minor importance; but 
having tried both plans, I have become sat¬ 
isfied that a hot-bed made in this way will 
retain heat longer and give better satisfac¬ 
tion. The depth of tho bed should be at 
least two feen when finished, if made early 
in the season, although there Is little to bo 
gained in making them before the 15th of 
i February, for one must have the light and 
heat of the sun to raise cucumbers success¬ 
fully. As soon as the beds are prepared, 
place the frame and sash on them, and as 
the heat rises given little ventilation. It 
should remain thirty-six hours or moro be¬ 
fore the soil Is put on, which should consist 
of one-tliird well rotted manure and two- 
thirds of sandy loam, well mixed together; 
the soil should be eight inches deep. 
Plant the seed iu four-inch pots, putting 
five or six iu each; then plunge them into 
one cud of the frame. When the plants be¬ 
gin to grow, bank up around them every 
three or four (lavs: tills will cause new 
roots to shoot out from tho covered stems. 
When the plants have grown six inches 
long, take them from the pots and trans¬ 
plant into the frame. I usually place two 
plants in tlm center Of each end sash and 
one in each of the others; lay the plants 
down, covering the stem up to the loaves. 
Choose a warm day for transplanting, as 
the plants are very tender and should be 
carefully protected while being carried from 
frame to frame. After the vines have grown 
eighteen inches, they should be layered 
again—that is, six or eight iiir-lms of the vine 
covered with soil. As the vines advance, 
the leaves will touch the glass; tho sash 
may then be raised by placing a stone or a 
block of wood under each corner. 
1 usually sow, at the same time I plant 
my cucumber seed, some Silesia lettuce, also 
some olive-shaped radishes. As soon as 
large enough these are transplanted in the 
bed, leaving a vacant place a foot square in 
the center of each sash for the euoumbers. 
I always get two crops of radishes before tho 
vines begin to run, and as soon as this oc¬ 
curs tho bed should be cleaned, and all dead 
leaves removed and the ground worked over 
with a hoe or rake. 
Watering, — I know of no vegetable that 
requires as much water as the cucumber; 
and when one intends to grow it extensive¬ 
ly, this should receive careful attention. I 
use the common watering pot; though if 
one has a force pump and hose, the water¬ 
ing can be done more rapidly, and at less 
expense. I speak now of watering in tho 
summer, when the water docs not require 
warming. Always water iu t he afternoon, 
commencing at about four o’clock; close the 
sashes after watering; the plants will then 
be dry by morning, which is the usual time 
for picking the cucumbers. 
Tepid Water. — Make a bed t lie same as 
for a frame; on this place two boards cross¬ 
wise; place a hogshead on the boards, then 
cover the whole with fresh manure. As the 
heat subsides remove tho old, covering with 
fresh manure as before. 1 use a large sheet- 
iron funnel in the top, and a large faucet to 
draw the water as wanted. 
Ventilating.— This is a very important 
point, and requires a great deal of judg¬ 
ment as well as practical experience, before 
one can bo a successful grower of this vege¬ 
table. At a time of year when snow storms 
are frequent, and the beds have to be cov¬ 
ered with mats two or three dayR in succes¬ 
sion, the vines become tender, and 1 have 
often had to keep two men busy raising and 
lowering tho sashes. When the sun was 
shining bright, the sashes were raised: when 
in a cloud, they were lowered; but this sel¬ 
dom occurred. 1 usually give a little ven¬ 
tilation at nine o'clock in the morning, in¬ 
creasing as the day grows warmer, though 
cucumbers will stand a temperature from 
80 to 110°. As 1 said before, we gain very 
lit t le by making liot-bcds too early, because 
uoarly all of the flowers will be males, and 
it is important that we give ventilation for 
the purpose of scattering tho pollen from 
flower to flower. If the weather does not 
permit of this, it may sometimes bo advis¬ 
able to scatter the pollen by hand, that is, 
by cutting off the staminate flowers and 
shaking them over the pistillate, although 
this is seldom necessary. 
Insects,—The insects most troublesome 
to cucumber vines grown in frames are the 
green fly (Aphis) and the common cucumber 
or square bug (C'Ol’cits trixlls). The former 
can readily be destroyed by fumigating with 
tobacco; but the latter is not so easily got 
rid of, and the most effectual method is 
hand picking and crushing. By being con¬ 
stantly on the alert, the first bugs that 
crawl into the frames may be killed and 
thereby prevent an increase in number. 
Fearing that some may think that raising 
cucumbers for market would not bo a very 
profitable business, I may state tlint l'rorn 
tho one hundred and thirty sash, we picked 
and sold eleven thousand cucumbers. The 
largest numbor cut from one sash, in one 
day, was twenty-two. Tho average price 
through May was six dollars per dozen; tin' 
total receipts for the season were 8800. Of 
course the profits would depend somewhat 
upon t he price paid formauure. Near New 
York, where it is worth from five to six dol¬ 
lars a cord, tho profits would be less than 
where it is only one dollar for a two-horse 
wagon load, the price paid by me. n. c. f. 
Hggieitk (Information. 
HYGIENIC NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Remedy for Rheumatism Wanted,— 
C. L., Waterloo, N. Y., a boy 12 years old, 
does not go to school, because he has the 
rheumatism. He writes:—” 1 have hud It 
near three years, and It is so louosomo in 
the house all day long, that if any of your 
numerous readers will inform me what will 
cure it, I shall be very much pleased.” 
Relief for Sick Headache. — James 
Lord, Erie, Pa., writes the Scientific Amer¬ 
ican that he has found relief for the sick 
headache by the use of a bath of hot water, 
softened with carbonate of soda, taking the 
bath iu a sitting position, and remaining in 
ten to fifteen minutes. 
Cure for Caked Breasts,—At the first 
symptom of soreness, take a dose of salts, 
or some other physio; it operates like a 
charm. The trouble is occasioned by taking 
cold and being bilious. Bathe the breast in 
hot vinegar, but not too much, as it dries 
up the milk.— Experience. 
