Bees liCavinK their llives in December. 
Mr. Severson adds, iu answer io a ques¬ 
tion by the same correspondent, “ Where 
do the bees go to that leave the hive iu De¬ 
cember?” as follows:—“Did you see the 
bees leave the hive at that time of year, or 
did you find the hive destitute of bees, not 
knowing when they left? I feel confident 
that this hive became queenless in the latter 
part of the season, from some cause, and lost 
the bees by degress, instead of all swarming 
out at one time. The inexperienced bee 
keepers frequently find a hive or two, in the 
latter part of the season, with no bees, but 
containing plenty of comb and honey to 
winter a good swarm. Such hives become 
queenless quite late in the season, and. have 
bees enough to protect their stores from rob¬ 
bers until it becomes too cold for flight; 
consequently they are not robbed by other 
colonies—having all their stores left, but no 
bees.” 
“How many Queens I.cnve the Old Hive 
with the Young Swarms?” 
“ First swarms are accompanied, generally, 
with but one queen. But it is a very com¬ 
mon occurrence to see two, three, and some¬ 
times more, queeus with after swarms. After 
being hived, and they remain, all queens are 
killed but one. I do not consider the plu¬ 
rality of queens has anything to do with 
the bees leaving for the woods, for swarms 
frequently go to the woods with but one 
queen.” 
Straw vs. Board Hives. 
1 wish to inquire of Mr. Quinby why he 
transfers his bees from the straw hives to the 
board ones in the spring, as the straw is a 
good non-conductor of heat as well as of 
cold. I wintered five swarms well in hives 
made of boards and covered with two inches 
of straw. Before I saw Mr. Quinby’s article, 
I had thought of making some hives entirely 
of straw, about three inches thick, and leave 
the bees in permanently; but thinking Mr. 
Q. had a good reason for transferring his 
bees from the straw to board hives during 
summer, 1 have deferred making them.— Jay 
Kling, Richland Co., 0. 
seed or plant should be required to give an 
account of the soil which he tilled, and a 
full statement, of bis process. Iu such a 
case, the purchaser lias his own risk to run, 
and, if he deceives himself, the blame is his 
own I 
I know of no. variety of grain that will do 
equally well on all soils, even with the same 
process in cultivation. Change of climate 
will improve or lessen the value of almost 
every kind of vegetation. My father changed 
his residence from Washington Co., N. Y., 
to Otsego Co., in the year 1807. lie carried 
with him a variety of corn which gave an 
excellent crop in Washington, but it proved 
a failure iu Otsego. In Otsego it grew ex¬ 
tremely large, and failed to ripen. The 
change was in longitude, only. 
Wyoming Co., N. Y. Rufus Peet. 
result in proportion to cost. You have a 
good opportunity for experimenting, im¬ 
prove it, and give us the facts in relation 
thereto next fall. 
t A^inxim 
TRANSFERRING BEES FROM OLD TO 
NEW HIVES. 
CHINESE YAM CULTURE. 
PIavtno noticed incidental sketches in the 
Rural New-Yorker (often exaggerated,) 
of this vegetable, 1 Oder to relate my exped¬ 
ience in reference thereto, having no ax to 
grind nor tubers to sell. The remarks of 
Wm. Cruzan, in Rural of April 15, are too 
enthusiastic ; and your own editorial re¬ 
marks too far an extreme the other way. 
Your fault, doubtless, is the same as it was 
with myself, when I first, commenced rais¬ 
ing them. Some tubers were sent to me, 
five years ago, by Prince & Co. of Long 
Island, and not understanding the character- 
isteristics of the plant, it was a failure enr 
lively for three years. For to try to raise 
them from the tubers, as your correspond¬ 
ent slates, is useless —at least for profit and 
market, as you mentioned ; but I beg of you 
not to compare them to artichokes. Yet 1 
will say every family should have enough 
for their own use. Your correspondent says, 
“ they do very well at one year.” I never 
found thorn so. It takes two years’ growth 
to make them fit for family use. I have 
been successful in raising them only in the 
following way, viz.: 
In the first place, send off to get the 
tubers or seed, if you cannot obtain the 
the roots are better. Cut. 
Sanford Corn. 
A CORRESPONDENT of the RURAL NEW- 
Yorker at Norwich, Ontario, writes that he 
procured a half bushel of seed of this corn, 
planted ft May 27 and 28,1870, harvested at 
least sixty bushels shelled corn of the very 
best, quality per acre, and secured about 
double the amount of fodder therefrom than 
the common eight-rowed corn will yield. 
It must have been a very favorable season in 
Canada in 1870 to have produced this result 
with our knowledge of this corn. 
Plaster for Potatoes. 
A Pennsylvania correspondent of the 
Rural New-Yorker asks:—“Would the 
application of plaster, in the hill, at the time 
of planting, he a proper method of using 
it for potatoes?” No; it, is better to apply 
the same amount (a table spoonful) to the 
plants after they have appeared above ground 
—just as soon as they appear. Ashes, mixed 
witli plaster, are also an excellent applica¬ 
tion. _ 
Artificial Fertilizers for Potatoes. 
L. L. Durling asks the Rural New- 
Yorkeii : “ Among artificial fertilizers are 
there any of undoubted utility and which 
would be apt to render a satisfactory return 
for the outlay if used for the potato upon 
ordinary clayey soil, and if so, what ? ” We 
know of nothing better than plaster and 
ashes. We have had no experience with 
what arc called artificial, or commercial fer¬ 
tilizers in the production of potatoes. 
Baugh's superphosphates have been com¬ 
mended for this purpose, but we do not know 
from actual experience that it will pay to 
buy and apply them. On such soils a com¬ 
post of muck, thoroughly decomposed barn¬ 
yard manure and plaster and ashes we know 
to be excellent. If the clay is stiff, the plow¬ 
ing under of coarse manure, three or four 
inches deep (subsoiling eight inches deeper) 
ims a good mechanical effect.. 
A. J. B., in the Rural New-Yorker, 
page 221, asks hoiv he “ can remove bees 
from old hives, and place them in new ones 
and what time Of year is best to do it ?” He 
did not state what kind of hive he used, or 
wished to use. If he still uses box hives, it 
must be done at the swarming season. The 
best time is three weeks after the first swarm 
has issued, as at that time all the brood left 
by the old queen which went with the 
swarm, will have hatched, and the j’oung 
queen present in the hive will not yet have 
laid many eggs. Hence there will lie the 
least possible loss in bees at this period, 
which is an important consideration. 
The process is to blow some smoke under 
the hive, turn it over, and place an empty 
hive directly upon it. Stop all crevices, and 
alarm the bees with a light nip on the side 
of the hive. This will set them to filling 
themselves with honey. After a few moments 
continue rapping and the bees will ascend to 
the upper hive. After five or ten minutes 
they will probably nearly all be up. The 
upper hive may then be set on the old stand 
and the few remaining bees drummed into 
another hive, and shaken out iu front of the 
first, when they will all immediately enter. 
These will commence work precisely as a 
new swarm. A good time of day for this 
operation Is just before dark. 
But there has been such an advance in the 
knowledge of the real principles of intelligent, 
bee-culture that 1 trust no one will desire to 
transfer any colony to a box hive. Aside 
from the inability to handle or examine the 
interior of the hive with any satisfaction, 
there is a great loss of combs in every such 
transfer, which is of manifold importance in 
improved bee-culture. 
I will suppose that A. J. B., wishes to 
change his bees from box hives to movable 
frames, which operation can be best per¬ 
formed at this season, but is practicable at 
almost any time. The preliminary prepara¬ 
tions arc to make ready several pairs of thin 
narrow strips of wood, one-fourth inch square, 
one-half inch longer than the bight of the 
frame to he used, with a notch in each end. 
Also prepare a wide board the size of the 
frame, covered with several thicknesses ol 
cloth, and channels cut in crosswise three or 
four inches apart,large enough to admit one 
of the thin strips, the use for which will 
The hive and frames are 
ABOUT FISH CULTURE. 
In these days, nearly every paper we 
chance to take up has some wonderful item 
in regard to fish culture. Some, company 
has hundreds of thousands of fish in its 
ponds; or some man has millions of fish in 
his hatching troughs; or still another lucky 
individual has accumulated a large fortune 
in the business. These exaggerations cause 
many people to believe that there is nothing 
whatever in the ftll; while on the contrary 
they induce a few to rush blindly, and of 
course disastrously, into the business. That 
fish culture is a success admits of no doubt, 
whatever, and the results which have thus 
far been obtained are wonderful enough 
without being distorted by ambitious news- 
pa p e r cor res p‘o n den ts. 
But the questiou is often asked if fish cul¬ 
ture is a success, why then do any fail ? why 
roots; however, 
the roots in two slices, from one-lmlf to one 
inch in length, according to their size, and 
plant in the spring in rows two and ft-balf 
feet one way by six inches apart in the row 
—one piece in a place, and cover three 
inches in depth ; cultivate to keep clear of 
weeds, and the following spring dig up one- 
quarter of the bed, taking up the one-year- 
old roots and cut them into pieces and 
plant a new bed, and thus have a supply of 
two-year-old roots that may be dug each fall 
and placed iu the cellar for winter use. For 
cooking purposes they arc excellent, appar¬ 
ently partaking of the nature of the arrow- 
root as well as the potato. They will keep 
well, without rotting, all winter, if thought 
best, the roots can remain in Die ground all 
winter and lie allowed to grow three or four 
years, and thus grow to an enormous size. 
But most land without plowing for two 
pears will get hard and lull of weeds. 
The greatest objection to its being raised, 
especially for market, ’is that, it takes two 
years to bring it to a good size on rich 
land, besides the great difficulty of digging 
it, as it grows like a. parsnip, inverted, with 
the small end up. No pulling such things! 
The only way is to dig a trench on t he side 
of the row and work the roots over; and 
such digging! Sometimes, as it is said, they 
“ go through to China and clinch on the 
other side.” Readers of the Rural, do not 
think of “ Gardeners supplying the wants of 
cities;" yet, 1 do repeat it, that it. loill pay 
for each person to supply their own house¬ 
hold. And you will give it a place in your 
gardens by following those directions. 
Genesee Co., N. Y. H. C. Adgate. 
do not all succeed V It might just as well 
be asked why does any merchant Jail ? why do 
not all fanners succeed ? The simple truth is 
that, fish culture is an urt, and cau no more 
be successfully pursued without knowledge 
and experience than any other art. What 
would you think if a New York merchant, 
who had never been two weeks on a farm in 
his life, should buy a thousand acres and at¬ 
tempt to run the bum himself the first year? 
Or, suppose a man who had never done any¬ 
thing in his life hut work on a farm should 
attempt to edit a newspaper. Yet precisely 
similar folly is shown in the practice of fish 
culture. A man who lias never read any¬ 
thing upon the subject, except a highly- 
colored account in some paper, and knows 
nothing whatever about Die practice and 
experience of others, will send tor fifty thou¬ 
sand fish eggs, and will he greatly disappoint¬ 
ed if lie does not turn out a bountiful crop. Of 
course the man will fail. It is only nat unit 
that he should. But the worst of it is that 
others, seeing his failure, will not properly 
attribute it to the ignorance and inconi po¬ 
tency of the operator, but will be very likely 
to say that liVi^culture is a humbug. 
There is no class of men with better ad¬ 
vantages for pursuing fish culture success¬ 
fully than farmers, and if any one of them 
should think, of engaging in it, the proper 
course to pursue is this:—Let him first ob¬ 
tain all the works relatin'* to the subject 
(and there are only two of any practical 
use—both, 1 believe, for sale at the office of 
the Rural New-Yorker.) After studying 
these well, and deciding that his land and 
water are adapted to the purpose, let him 
get ready to try the experiment of hatch¬ 
ing a few eggs, before making any ponds 
or going to any other expense. A small 
hatching trough, with some temporary shel¬ 
ter, will cost very little; theu let him obtain 
a few thousand impregnated eggs and leant 
on them, lie need not expect, to succeed as 
well as those who have made the business a 
study for years. He is only serving bis ap¬ 
prenticeship. The theory can lie learned 
very well from books; but manual dexterity 
can be acquired by practice only. 
If his euccess is encouraging, he can try 
on a somewhat larger scale the next season ; 
or if lie finds that lie is not adapted to the 
business, he can stop where he is, and there 
is no harm done. But lie must not think 
that he can succeed in this or any other 
business without some brains, and a good 
deal of faithful, patient labor. c. 
arsmatt 
arm ^1:000100 
NOTES FOR HORSEMEN. 
DEEP vs. SHALLOW PLOWING. 
I have experimented upon the soil where 
I now live. 
Oats for Colts. 
Frederick H. Wood asks, “ Should oats 
be given a young colt four to twelve months 
old; are not shorts better?” Weneverknew 
oats to injure any animal, provided they 
were not fed iu excess. 
I have plowed land, «n my 
present farm, from four to twelve inches 
deep, and I write whereof I know! If my 
soil be plowed deep in the fall ami fitted by 
the cultivator and harrow in the spring, it 
has given a far larger crop than I have been 
able to obtain from shallow plowed land of 
the same quality, when plowed in the spring, 
and otherwise fitted with all due care. My 
soil is a clayey loam. 
I have, also, carefully tested the results of 
different operations for wheat. Our soil is, 
almost invariably, quite retentive of water 
in the spring and fall. It is often unfavor¬ 
ably affected in regard to wheat. I have not 
been favored by first-rate crops of wheat 
except where I have blind-ditched and then 
plowed to a moderate depth, say six inches, 
with the furrow plow, and by the subsoil 
plows opened to the depth of fifteen inches. 
In my case, the ground has not hardened 
after being subsoiled where blind-ditched. 
It is very greatly improved. In the ease to 
which I am now referring, I tilled a field of 
four acres of a uniform quality. One acre 
was ditched ; the other three were not, The 
acre ditched was subsoiled. Upon the im¬ 
proved aero I raised nearly twice the wheat 
to the area that I obtained from the rest of 
the field! Here is a reliable test. Every 
crop, for six years, has given an equally fa¬ 
vorable result. 
Now, I do not allow myself to conclude 
that my experience should be accepted as a 
rule in any other section, or, even in my own 
section, on a different quality of land! Allow 
me to suggest that experiment, and only 
experiment, should be accepted as forming a 
rule of action iu agriculture. 
If men who strongly contend for their 
theories and require every body else to give 
unquestioning assent, would set apart, a suit- 
aide extent of ground to fairly test t he ques¬ 
tion of deep or shallow plowing; if they 
would confine their remarks to their own 
soil, they might confer great benefit upon 
others and perhaps save themselves from 
mortification. 
I will here give the statement of a man by 
the name of Cheney. He lives in the town 
of Perry. He said he subsoilod one acre of 
ground in Walworth county, Wisconsin. He 
raised over one hundred bushels of shelled 
corn upon that acre, whereas the usual crop 
did not exceed fifty bushels! Mr. Cheney 
is a Baptist Minister! 
It. seems to me to be altogether wrong for 
any man to recommend any process in agri¬ 
culture, unless he has effectualty proved it 
to be valuable. No man should allow him¬ 
self to recommend any kind of seed or plant, 
unless he has fully proved its value. In 
every case, the originator of any variety of 
presently be seen 
of course ready. 
Take the box hive into a warm room, with 
all the windows darkened but one, invert it 
and loosen the combs at the sides with a long, 
thin knife, and cut off the cross-sticks with a 
sharp saw. Then split and remove two or 
three aides of the hive, leaving the combs 
Btomling upright. Cut loose a comb at the 
top of the hive, brush the bees back, and lay 
the comb on the transferring board. Lay an 
empty frame upon it, cut to fit, and keep in 
place in the frame with the above mentioned 
strips, one on each side, and fusioned togeth¬ 
er at the ends with flue wire or strings. 
Then put in place in the new hive. 
The next comb must be taken out in the 
same way, only the bees should be brushed 
on the comb just put in the new hive. Care 
must be taken to keep the brood comb to¬ 
gether, in the center of the hive, and in the 
same order as before as nearly as possible. 
Drone comb should be mostly rejected. 
When all is done, brflsli all the bees into the 
hive—which should stand before the window 
—and set on the old stand. See that no 
honey drips and runs out to attract robbers. 
Keep the entrance closed, if such be the case, 
until it is all removed. 
The more quiet and gentle all motions of 
the operator during the work, the less will 
the bees lie disposed to sling. 
April, 1871. M. Quinby. 
To Cure a Wen. 
A correspondent of tlie N. C. Home¬ 
stead says he has had good success iu re¬ 
moving wens by this simple method:—“Take 
equal pai ls of soft soap and slaked lime, well 
mixed Lance the wen at the time of mak¬ 
ing the application, or two or three days 
after. We have cured with one application, 
but if the wen is of long standing, it will take 
two or three applications.” 
CalliiM on n Colt. 
For the benefit of L. T. B. of Birchard- 
ville, Pa., who inquires for a remedy for cal¬ 
lus on a colt, and all Rural readers inter¬ 
ested, I send the following recipe, which is a 
sure thing:—One ounce bitter sweet; one do. 
skunk’s cabbage; one do. blood root. Steep 
and mix with lard; make an ointment and 
apply once or twice a day. 1 have removed 
several calluses with the above remedy 
without a single failure.—S. S. Gardner, 
Watertown , N. T. 
ABOUT YAMS. 
Some of your correspondents complain 
that yams grow too large at the bottom, and 
are, therefore, hard to dig. The reason is, 
that in growing down they meet hard pan 
or rock, and spread instead of growing far¬ 
ther down. The way to plant the yam is to 
dig a hole into which you can put a half 
flour barrel, throw t he stones on one side 
and the earth on the other; then fill in the 
fine soil level with the surface, place three 
yam heads iu a triangle, say six or eight 
inches apart, on the top of the soil; then 
cover them, and over all pile the stones, if 
any, making quite a mound In a week or 
two vines like hops will appear from the sets; 
these must have a pole to run up,say twelve 
to fifteen feet. When the young yams tie- 
gin to form, second vines will appear. The 
whole growth takes near twelve months, in 
Jamaica. To dig them requires time and 
patience, as they are very apt to rot if 
wounded. Should the skin be broken, dry 
wood ashes should be applied to the wound. 
For sets, the tops of the old yams arc used, 
as it requires much time to raise them from 
the small seed yams produced on the vines. 
In Jamaica they have, beside the whole or 
seed yam, “ the Afibu," and u the Negro” 
Yams, very diffbrent, and somewhat inferior 
kinds. I have known single yams of ilie 
“Negro” variety to weigh seventy-five 
pounds, and from ten to twenty pounds 
weight is common. The flesh is white; that 
of the Affou yellow. t. b. t. 
STEAMING CORN STALKS. 
To Prevent Horses Klcklnu. 
A correspondent of the Rock River 
Farmer says:—“ Having a horse that would 
kick everything to pieces in the stable, that 
he could reach, and having found a remedy 
for it, after trying many things, such as fet¬ 
tering, whipping, hanging, haugiug chains 
behind for him to kick against, &c., I send 
it to 3 r ou. It is simply fastening a short 
trace-chain, about two feet, long, by a strap, 
to each hind foot, and let him do his own 
whipping if he cannot stand still without it, 
and he will not need to have boards nailed 
to his stall every day.” 
The members of the Adams Township, 
0., Farmers’ Club have been giving their 
experience in preparing and feeding corn 
stalks to cattle as follows - 
Mr. Granger said that he had fed cut corn 
stalks for two winters and that bis cattle 
would eat tlic-m up clean if the stalks were 
cut small and properly prepared. He could 
cut in a day with a power cutter sufficient 
to last liisstock for three weeks. Ilia method 
of preparing it was to put the cut stalks into 
a large box, and steam it by pouring hot 
water upon the stalks. Such fodder could 
be easily fed out , and hence it was a saving 
of time as well as of hay. 
Mr. Thompson explained a similar method 
pursued by a nephew of his in the East who 
liad figured up Die cost and fouud that he 
could feed his stock in this way for two-thirds 
less expense than by the usual way. His 
cutting apparatus was elevated, and the stalks 
were confined in a large 1>qx, into which lie 
poured hoi. water, and closing it, steamed 
the fodder over night. 
Mr. Teneyck thought the stalks should 
first he carefully cleaned of the smut which 
forms upon them, as that excrescence liad 
been found injurious to cattle. 
Mr, Ketcham stated that several cattle in 
his neighborhood had died from eating stalks 
on which smut had formed. 
Mr. Gardtnter estimated the cost of a 
power for cutting at about $100, and said 
that it could be used for sawing wood, and 
thus answer two important purposes. 
Mr. Thompson urged the using of all the 
coarse fodder on the farm possible as the 
hay, etc., were in demand in the city. 
INQUIRIES ANSWERED. 
IIow Close Should Hives be Touetlier? 
P. J. Severson writes the Rural New- 
Yorkeii, in answer to a correspondent in 
Rural of April 23d, page 251: — “Each 
colony should occupy its own bench or 
stand. No two swarms should occupy the 
same bench. If there is more than one, 
when you operate with one swarm the other 
often becomes irritated, and will trouble you 
more than the swarm you are operating 
with. Sheds for protection will do well 
enough for winter; but in summer they 
should be kept in Dig open air and protected 
from tlie extreme heat, when necessary, by 
coverings for each hive. 
“ When placed on separate stands, leave 
three or four feet between stands; also paint 
the front side of your hives different colors, 
and place no two hives of the same color 
next each other. This is to avoid the loss of 
young queens when they take their excur¬ 
sions to meet the drones. If the hives are 
similar in shape and color, the queens, on 
their return, frequently enter the wrong hive 
and are killed.” 
A correspondent of the Bcienunu 
American says:—“ Allow me, having had a 
great deal of experience in managing horses, 
to add another bit of advice to nervous 
horsemen. Whenever they notice their 
horse directing his ear to any point what¬ 
ever, or indicating tlie slightest disposition 
to become afraid, let them, Justead of pull¬ 
ing the rein to bring the horse toward the 
object causing its nervousness, pull it on tlie 
other side. This will iustantly divert tlie 
attention of the horse from the object whic i 
is exciting his suspicion, and iu ninety-nme 
cases out of a hundred the horse will pay uo 
more attention to the object, from which he 
will fly away if forcibly driven to it by pull¬ 
ing on the wrong rein.” 
FIELD NOTES, 
Manure for Potatoes. 
L. M. Darling, Pittsburgh, Pa., writes: 
“Among tlie many commercial fertilizers 
which are the best for potatoes, upon lime¬ 
stone soil, somewhat stony, and of moderate 
fertility ?” Ashes, bone, poudrette and 
guano are all excellent; but it would be im¬ 
possible to guess which would give the best 
