never reaches this place, the climate is de¬ 
lightful, winter or summer, and perfectly 
healthy. 
Apples and Pcnrs for Massachusetts. —Mr. 
J. F. C. IItde, Newton, Mass., a practical 
pomologist, cautions farmers against attempt¬ 
ing to grow too great a number of varieties 
of either apples or pears. Of apples he rec¬ 
ommends Williams, Dutch Codlin, Graven- 
stein, Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening and 
Hitbbardston Nonsuch. Roxbury Russet 
might be added if a lute keeping variety 
is desired. For market purposes, he would 
not exceed six sorts of pears. Of one hun¬ 
dred trees half should be Bartlett. Of tho 
other half there should be an equal number 
of Summer Bell, Swan's Orange, Seckel and 
Beurre d’Anjou. 
Apple* Rotting.'— J. B. Petek of Red River 
Co., Texas, asks the cause, and also a pre¬ 
ventive for apples rotting on the trees. I 
will not attempt to give the cause, but as a 
prventive let him bury a few pieces of old 
iron around the roots of the trees affected ; 
and, if he is a mind to, he can drive old nails 
and the like into the roots, and I assure him 
he will have no more trouble with his apples 
rotting. We Imvo tried it and know it to do 
the work.—L., Parke i Vo., Indiana. 
Bricke.lt. Pear, —The Prairie Farmer, and 
its correspondent, D. B. Wier, notice this 
pear as a remarkably hardy and productive 
sort, of which there are only three trees 
known to bo growing, and these large ones, 
bearing full crops. Although not of high 
quality, its hardiness ami heavy crops make 
it vali table. One tree has averaged an annual 
product of $60, bearing 100 bushels in four 
years, and forty one year. 
Hate's Early reach in Canada. —Com¬ 
menced to ripen in St. Catharines about the 
20th of August. The trees were well loaded 
with fruit, but it rotted very badly as it 
began to ripen, so that only a small portion 
of the fruit came to maturity in a perfect 
condition.— Canada Fanner. 
The Thurber Peach. —W. G : We learn 
that there are no trees of this peach for sale 
anywhere. 
it is just about as likely that they smell with 
them as it is that they see with them, which 
some have supposed they did. Invisible and 
subtle particles emanating from odorous 
bodies (often so fine that they elude all at¬ 
tempts to detect them by auy other means) 
coming in contact with tho olfactory nerve 
fibers, produce the sense of smell. These 
atoms are mixed with and Boating in t he air, 
and in order to collect them a considerable 
volume of air must be made to pass over 
their surface—a thing which the wings cer- 
FRUITS FOR CALIFORNIA 
CLIPPING THE WINGS OF BEES 
Tine Sacramento Record says:—For the 
benefit of our readers who are studying the 
question of varieties with a view of planting 
orchards or a few trees, we name tho follow¬ 
ing, which we can recommend as good for 
growing in our State. 
At the recent meeting of the American 
Bee Keepers’ Association at Louisville, Ky., 
Gen. D. L. Adatb, read the following inter¬ 
esting paper on this subject. 
To the novice the wings of a bee appear as 
a dry membrane or tissue of skin stretched 
over a framework of as equally dry and lite- 
less ribs of hard, elastic, homy matter. He 
does not suspect that they have other use 
limn r.nnVil« t.hp hpcs to fly. or that their 
A tube, or, as it is called a “dorsal vessel,” 
lying just beneath the middle line of tho 
hack, and extending from the head to the tip 
of the abdomen, performs that office. The 
blood is received into this tube, aud, as bees 
have no veins proper, it escapes from oil 
parts of the tubes and traverses the body in 
currents, bathing all the organs, even to the 
extremities of tho wings. 
The nervous system of hoes consists of a 
cord, or rather a double cord, commencing 
in a knot in the head, which is their so-called 
brain; from thence it extends .throughout 
the whole length of the body under all the 
internal organs, resting on the “floor” of the 
body-walls. On this cord, at intervals, there, 
are swellings ( ganglia ) from which fine fila¬ 
ments are sent out., which are special nerves 
for the various organs to which they lead ; 
one branch passing to the wings ia distrib¬ 
uted through off parts of them. 
The horny frame upon which the fine mem¬ 
brane Of the wing* is stretchod ia all of it 
composed of hollow tubes of a hard substance 
called chitine (the same substance that con¬ 
stitutes the hard parts of the organs and 
crust, of all insects). Those tubes arc double, 
being one tube inside of another. The inner 
ones arc extensions to the trachea, through 
which the air circulates in breathing; be¬ 
tween which and tho other Isa space through 
which tin- blood circulates, and is brought in 
contact with the air through the thin walls 
of the air tubes, just as the air and blood are 
brought together in the human lungs, and 
with the same effect. 
Thus we see. that the wings, besides being 
organs of flight, are in reality lungs. The 
blood in the wings, however, is not confined 
to those tubes, but circulates like the sap in 
the leaves of plants to all parts of them, and, 
it is likely, is thus also aerated. 
The nervous filaments we have also seen 
pass to the wings. They follow these tubes, 
and ull the line venations, aud terminate in 
every part of the wings in what are called 
nerve filaments (papillae ), which in all ani- 
(See page 3G£>.) 
Apples. -Early Harvest, Early Strawber¬ 
ry, Red June, Red Astrachan, Summer Bell 
flower, Summer Rose and Williams’ Favorite. 
One or two trees of each of these varieties 
will furnish a family with a great quantity 
of fruit for cooking and eating purposes from 
early summer until fall, and the fruit will 
not only contribute largely to the support of 
the family, but to the health of the individ¬ 
uals thereof. 
For autumn varieties of apples we would 
recommend the cultivation of the Alexander, 
Duchess of Oldenberg, Fall Pippin, Graven- 
stein. Maiden's Blush, Jonathan, King, Rhode 
Island, Greuning and Yellow Bellflower. 
For winter varieties we name the Yellow 
Newtown Pippin, the Ben Davis, Bpitzen- 
berg, Rawles’ Janet, Swiuir, White Winter 
I’earmain and American Pippin. 
Pears.— Madeline, Bloodgood, Beurre Clif¬ 
ford, Dearborn’s Seedling, Clapp’s Favor¬ 
ite, Bartlett, Seckel, Duchess d’Augouleme, 
Beurre Bose, Beurre de Anjou, Beurre Clar- 
igau, Beurre Hardy, White Doyenne, Louise 
Bonne de Jersey, Orandaga, Beurre Easter, 
Moyamensing, Glout Moreeau, Winter Nellis 
and Vicar of Winkfield. 
CIGAR BOX. 
tainly accomplish in an eminent degree. It 
is highly probable that the sense of smell is 
lodged in the wings. 
The sense of hearing in bees has never been 
located by naturalists, although that office 
has by Rome been attributed to the antenna* 
also. Is it not more probable that the wings 
exercise it if The impression of sound is pro¬ 
duced on the organs of hearing in ail animals 
by vibrations of elastic bodies (commonly the 
air. A dolicate, thin membrane stretched 
across what is called the drum of the ear 
receives the impression and communicates it, 
by means of an intricate arrangement of 
parts, to the auditory nerve fibers, or papilla. 
What appendage of tho bee would ho more 
suited to receive such impression * than the 
thin, stiff membranes composing the wings. 
But it is not intended in this article to dis¬ 
cuss t hese questions, t only throw them out 
ns suggestions. Whether the wings are the 
organs of smell or hearing or not does not 
materially affect the point I wish to make, 
i, e., that the clipping of a queen’s wings is 
We have seen that they 
POT-PLUNGER 
We give, herewith, an illustration of a 
pot-plunger in use in England. Its handle, as 
will be seen, is like that of an ordinary 
spade, and the base consists of a heavy cast- 
iron dibber, shaped to make a hole to hold a 
pot, leaving a vacuum below for drainage 
purposes and to prevent worms from enter¬ 
ing the pots. This implement is only made 
to suit 48 and (10-sized pots; but it could be 
made to suit any sized pot, and the handle 
might be of any required length, in using 
it, it should be plunged into the ground up 
to the rim, giving it a slight turn round so as 
to throw off any earth adhering to it, then 
withdraw it and insert the pot, as shown in 
our illustration. The weight of the imple¬ 
ment soon makes the desired hole with but 
little exertion on the part of tbe operator, if 
the ground is pliable, and the expedition 
with which the work is performed soon re¬ 
pays the cost of the instrument. For plung¬ 
ing tomatoes, vegetable marrows and cu- 
an injury to her, 
perform the office of lungs, and that a queen 
with clipped wings is in the same condition 
that a man would be with part of his lungs 
gone. Those who have seen human beings 
in that condition need not be told how useless 
they are for the active duties of life. An 
insect like the bee, with a differently distrib¬ 
uted vitality, may uot be injured to the same 
exteut, but that it is injurious no one cer¬ 
tainly can doubt; and if by the mutilat ion 
the sense of smell is destroyed, and the queen 
rendered deaf, her usefulness would eer- 
taiuly be impaired. 
In the act of flying the bee makes another 
use of the trachea. At the moment of ele¬ 
vating its wings it may be observed to in¬ 
crease in size suddenly, which is the effect of 
drawing in through the spiracles a quantity 
of air, which is distributed over the whole 
body, thus rendering it of less specific grav¬ 
ity; the air being further expanded by the 
warmth of tho body acts liko the heated air 
or gas of a balloon, and enables the insect to 
rise easily and sustain a long flight, even 
when loaded with honey and pollen. In the 
act of alighting it expels the air with which 
it has been inflated, and falls suddenly to the 
alighting board of the hive. If the landing 
place is narrow and elevated and it missps 
reaching it, the bee will be sure to fall help¬ 
lessly to the ground, and can only rise again 
by again inflating its body. Bees with 
larger bodies than our honey jbee, the large 
POMOLOGICAL GOSSIP 
Cultivation of Tropical Fruit .—Tho South 
says :—We understand that a company has 
been formed for the cultivation of tropical 
fruit, and is in treaty for a tract of 640 acres 
of land at Biscayue Bay, at the southeastern 
extremity of Florida. This tract was a mili- 
GARDENER’S NOTES, 
Champion of England Peas .—Will some 
of your readers who grow these peas for 
market inform me through your columns 
how many bushels of seed are required per 
acre, when sown in drills, and at what dis¬ 
tance the drills should be apart. Do they 
sow in the fall ?—A. Reader. 
Growing Tomatoes in the Kitchen. —I have 
every year had ripe tomatoes in February— 
growing them in my kitchen from seed sown 
in large boxes in mid summer. 1 train them 
ou trellises, and they are an ornament as 
well as pleasure to the palate.— Mrs. c. S. d. 
White SlUcian Beet.— Can any of your 
readers, who have had experience with this 
beet tell'aught of its merits. It has been rec 
ommended to me but I would like to know 
something more about it.—J. («. Franklin, 
I Horse Radish—1 wish some of your read- 
POT-PLUNGER. 
tary post during the Florida war, and has 
now growing upon it a large number of fruit 
trees viz:—Banana, plantain, cocoanut, 
orange, lime, lemon, bread-fruit, date, guava, 
mango, and others too numerous to mention. 
The capital of the company will be $10,000, 
$7,000 of which is already subscribed. Frost 
