non-hatching of eggs is owing to the jarring 
they get by railroad carriage. Other causes 
prevail, and with toy own eggs carefully 
placed under liens—the most persistent set¬ 
ters, not over forty per cent, hatched ; while 
egg's from the same birds and set, by neigh¬ 
bors, ninety-five per cent, hatched. 1 con¬ 
clude that hens selecting their nests and fol¬ 
lowing instinct, have filly-five per cent, ad¬ 
vantage over those which are forced to set 
in a room or selected spot The complaint 
that the eggs are at fault for not hatching, is 
without foundation, generally. Of course 
there may be cases where the eggs are stale; 
yet 1 am satisfied the fault very generally is 
not in the egg, but in our forced method of 
setting the hen and confining her.” 
Unto hi itar Gees by Mtenui. 
H. McGk, Nashville, Tenn., writes:—“ Can 
you give us any information in regard to 
hutching eggs by steam ; we know of no one 
engaged in the enterprise in this country, 
and, therefore, write to you, hoping that you 
may be able to give us some light upon the 
subject. We understand that it is success¬ 
fully done in Paris, but have no authority 
for stating the fact. Please let us hear from 
you soon.” 
Winn those of our readers having any 
knowledge on the above subject, from prac¬ 
tical experience, answer the inquiry through 
the columns of the Rural New-Yorker? 
This is all I can find that seems to have a 
bearing on the spiders in question. Certain¬ 
ly oilier entomologists must have met them, 
as 1 do not consider them so rare; but this 
L know, they must be seen alive in their na¬ 
tive haunts in order to see the brilliancy of 
their yellow and Vermillion green and moiled 
colors. To me they seem more like polished 
sealing wax than metallic. In that particu¬ 
lar they may differ from those of Borneo. I 
shall endeavor to gain further knowledge of 
this tribe of spiders. The sample received 
was of a dull brown color, being dead and 
dry. I wish Mr, E. R. F. had described the 
color of its thorny dorsal covering when 
caught. J. Stauffer. 
Lancaster, Pa., July, 1870. 
are always four or five about, our flowers. 
Under a huge granite door-step, they have 
found a borne, and n portlv old fellow is head 
of the family. At sunset becomes forth for 
att airing, and we always address him in 
dulcet tones. Sometimes n smaller toad sits 
by his side, and they will permit us to stroke 
their knobby backs, and receive the caress 
as contentedly as a kitten. All day they 
sleep under the steps, and all night they 
guard our flowery realm. Should we grudge 
them a strawberry, if their mouths water 
for one ? 
Tlie Black and Red Spotted Lady-Bna 
feeds upon the plant lice. Coccindla is its 
scientific name, and it is often found upon 
currant and gooseberry bushes. We look 
for it there, and bring it carefully to clear 
our fuchsias aud pet roses from these detes¬ 
table nuisances. We have kept several of 
them over the winter in our window garden. 
Their eggs are yellow; the young are of a 
blue-black hue, spotted with red or yellow. 
They should lie sought for by every window 
gardener, and kept carefully, as they are 
death to the aphides. Salt will rout 
The CahbiiBO Worm, 
and if it kills the outer leaves, the cabbages 
will grow .just as well. We scattered fine 
suit over all our cabbages and cauliflowers 
last summer. The worms should die, if the 
cabbages were also sacrificed. For a while 
the latter drooped a little, outside leaves 
withered; then they commenced to grow, 
aud such heads I Peek measures could not 
cover them. But we had put a shovel full 
of saw dust and three tablespoons of salt at 
the base of every root; over that, three inches 
of soil was thrown, then the plants set out. 
Such cabbages, eaten as cold slaw, are our 
daily delight. 8. o. J. 
aturalist 
t Apiarian 
WASHING BEE HIVES, 
GARDEN INSECTS, 
In the Rural New-Yorker of July 16th, 
Erastus Major says, in relation to bee 
hives:—" I always wash mine with salt and 
water. 1 don’t, know a reason for so doing, 
except that my father did it. I should like 
to know if this practice is essential.” I have 
found this to be of the highest importance. 
One reason is that bees arc fond of salt. 
They also like water, and a hive washed 
with salt and water seems to them pure and 
sweet. They deem it far more agreeable 
than a dry hive, or one washed without salt. 
When it is a warm, sultry day, an additional 
advantage is, that the practice venders the 
hive cool. Especially is it delighttul to the 
bees, if they have not had access to salt, in 
regard to which many apiarians arc strange¬ 
ly negligent. 
Malt far Bees. 
A supply of salt should be kept where the 
bees Can eat it as t hey need. Our bees are 
so fond of it that I estimate that they con¬ 
sume a gill of fine salt to a hive, every six 
weeks, in the summer season. Although 
they partake of it in small quantities, sail is 
as beneficial to the health of the bee, us to the 
horse or the cow. It is too well known to 
require remark, that water is indispensible, 
not alone as a physical necessity, but also for 
making their bee-bruad and honey-comb. 
Two other necessities are, 
Quiet ft ml CleanllDvaii 
Fear of bees is fanciful and unnecessary 
where they are unmolested. I am in the 
habit, of moving around among our flowers, 
which are immediately in front of the bees 
who often light upon me and buzz about; 
but if not burl, they do not sting. During 
the berry season our pickers annoyed the 
bees, who chased them to the patches, and 
scattered them in every direction, clearing 
the patch of forty berry pickers in as many 
seconds. T explained to the frightened 
pickers that if they injured one bee, it be¬ 
comes known instantly to all and electrifies 
the whole community offices to resentment. 
Their demand "to be let alone" must be 
respected; and with quiet they arc most 
beautiful examples of patience and peaceful 
progression. As Virgil represents in his 
fourth Oeorgic, speaking of enraged bees, 
** illis im modum, Ac." 
“There Is to them rage beyond measure. 
And wounded they dart In poison by stinging, 
And fastened to the veins they leave their hid¬ 
den stings, 
Aud lay down their lives in I lie wound." 
Clean hives keep away pests, and salt lias 
a beneficial effect I think, in this respect. 
With cleanliness and quietude, aud with 
sufficient pure water and Hue salt, bees it is 
safe to assert, will make twice as much honey 
as if deprived of these blessings. 
Galen Oderkirk, 
Newark, N. Y., July, 1870. 
About Plant Lice. 
It does seeitt as if each year brought these 
pests in greater quantities. They increase 
in shoals ! Reamer tells us that a green fly 
Or plant louse, will in five years produce six 
thousand million descendants! So, though 
we destroy thousands, if but a pair arc al¬ 
lowed to live, our gardens will be thickly 
populated. They iasten themselves upon 
the rose twigs, and suck out ils life, making 
it a disgusting object. There is a brown va¬ 
riety which infests the roots of delicate 
plants and exhausts their life. A pet, ver¬ 
bena, or a rare China aster often succumbs 
tci their embraces By taking up tiie plant 
when it commences to droop, and washing 
the root in warm soap stuls, it may be saved; 
but, scalding water should be poured all 
around the place where it stood, for the nits 
arc abundant. Then set out the plant in a 
new place, and shade from the sttn for two 
or three days, until it recovers ils vigor. 
The best remedy for plant lice is to shower 
with a strong decoction of tobacco water— 
used while warm to the hand, not hot. Fre¬ 
quent sliowerings with pufe water will rout 
them. One gallon of water, to which is 
added two ounces of carbonate of ammonia, 
is another remedy much lauded; and if it 
does not kill the lice, it will act as a fertil¬ 
izer of great power upon the roots of the 
plant, making it to bud and blossom glo¬ 
riously. If branches infected with lice are 
dipped Into this solution, the lice will fall 
from them, and can easily be killed. 
A dry, east wiud fosters these insects; 
they seem to swarm under Its influence, 
while a rainy “ spell ” will scatter llieir forces. 
About Rose Hubs. 
The Rose bugs, cl nonien Hits leg to, appear 
about the second week in June, and their 
raid continues from five to six weeks. They 
cover the rose bushes and grape vines, and, 
fls they increase thirty fold, they destroy 
both /hilt and flower, unless war is made 
upon them. They must he carefully picked 
oft' into pails of water, or brushed into 
baskets with a soft, chicken’s or turkey’s 
wing and burned up. It pays to hire a 
small boy to do this; and for a while he will 
think it fun. 
The Slugs. 
Then there are the slugs—wretched white 
miles—making laccwork, and not of a de¬ 
sirable kind, of all of our beautiful rose 
leaves, utterly destroying their emerald 
beauty, turning them to a dull, rusty, russet 
color. We saw a rose garden last summer; 
in tbe last of June it was of unsurpassed 
beauty—not the trace of a slug—and ils fair 
owner informed us that they were destroyed 
by syriugiug the bushes early in June or late 
in May with a wadi made of ten gallons of 
warm water, one pint of soft soap, aud one 
It utterly routed this most 
A PLEA FOR NATIVE FOWLS 
us relative to the merits of the different 
breeds of fowls, says:—" I have been read¬ 
ing your paper for some time, taking great 
interest in some of the departments, and, in 
fact, more or less interest in all. I have 
sought eagerly for all articles on poultry, 
and have received some very valuable in¬ 
formation as to the best plans of making 
chickens profitable. In all the articles on 
this subject, I have noticed that the writer 
has some particular breed or breeds to 
recommend—some the Iloudan, some Brah¬ 
mas, some Creve-Oteurs, others Polands, &c,, 
&c. These are all, no doubf, very good 
breeds, and will make amide return for any 
special attention they muy receive; blit I 
have a kind that I am willing, yes anxious, 
to place alongside of any of them. 1 did 
not scud to France or any other foreign 
country for them. I did not consult all the 
Onpea la Chickens. 
Chas. C. Muller, writing the German¬ 
town Telegraph upon the subject of gapes 
in chickens, says:—" I have tried many ad¬ 
vertised remedies for prevention of gapes in 
chickens. Last year I lost seventy young 
ones, and I desire to say that fresh water 
daily, with a lump of roll brimstone kept in 
it, will be found a certain preventive.” This 
is certainly a simple remedy, to say the least, 
and the. ingredients arc such as can he pro¬ 
cured readily and at very little cost. Though 
simple, the remedy is worthy of trial. 
SPIDERS FROM SARATOGA CO 
Please find Inclosed an insect or hug which 
excites my curiosity very much. 1 first noticed 
them oil the rose bushes, and now they aro on 
the strawberries. Please state in the Rural 
New-York Bit whether they do any harm and 
what they aro callod. They aro net very numer¬ 
ous.—E. It. Freeman. 
Dysentery lii Fowls. 
James Ryan, Wayne Co., N. Y., writes: 
“ I have lately lost a large number of fowls 
with a disease somewhat resembling dysen¬ 
tery. It causes them to waste away rapidly. 
Is there any remedy for it? if so, what is it ? 
My fowls are kept in a large hennery aud 
are fed principally on oats.” 
Chalk, mixed with boiled rice and milk, 
is the beat remedy; a little alum dissolved 
in their water, so as to make it a little rough, 
will be useful. The food should be dry 
grain ; no food of a laxative tendency should 
be given them. 
ntmstrial 
HARD TIMES, 
1. 2, 3, and 1, copies from species tiRurert in my book ; 
S, copy of the natural size of the one sent me; 0, 
a front view, to show the eyes (much enlarged.) 
Yours of the 33d hist,, containing a 
strange “iusect or bug" which excited the 
curiosity of your correspondent E. It. F., is 
not, strictly speaking, an insect or a bug, 
but a very "curious spider.” The Arachnid®, 
or true spider family, is readily distinguished 
by its form; tbe head and thorax with the 
four pairs of legs, palpi, and clawed man¬ 
dibles and six or eight simple eyes, com¬ 
prises the anterior portion of the creature 1 
the fleshy, oval, round or cylindrical soft 
body, the posterior portion or abdomen. 
The head is not distinct. 
It is remarkable that among all the lists 
of spiders, some thirty-five genera, I cannot 
find the genus to which the spider sent me 
can lie referred 
The farmer who owns his land, is free 
from debt and lias tolerable improvements, 
cannot comprehend the full meaning of the 
term “ hard times.” Hence farming is the 
best and surest vocation for the mass of the 
people; as a general result it does not lead 
to wealth and luxury, but it may certainly 
insure competence and even abundance. To 
the jaded, unfortunate, unsuccessful business 
man there is no prospect that looks so en¬ 
ticing as that of a beautiful farm, well im¬ 
proved, fully stocked and carefully tilled. It 
is a haven of rest, where the corroding care 
and life-sapping anxiety of a city business 
are unknown; a domain over which he is 
king, and where he may enforce his will un¬ 
disputed by any one. The truo pleasure of 
the farmer’s vocation consists in his intimate 
relation to nature, and his possession ol all 
tbe rational enjoyments of life. 
Why, then, do we have the complaint 
From so large a mass of the farmers that 
" times are hard ?” The answer is, they are 
in debt. Debt is a curse that entails far 
greater hardship than the fiat which pro¬ 
nounced the doom of man to till the soil and 
his bread by the sweat of Ids brow. 
pint of flue salt, 
disagreeable pest, which commences life as 
a white mite, and turns into a. nasty, green 
worm. Air slaked lime, freely scattered 
over the bushes while ivet with dew, has 
had a good effect upon our roses. 
Caterpillars 
are most destructive insects. If every moth 
could be destroyed in their season much in¬ 
jury would ho avoided; every kind which 
flies—and there are said to be five hundred va¬ 
rieties of mollis and butterflies—will lay from 
two hundred to five hundred eggs to each 
female; and at this ratio the different species 
would produce one hundred and fifty thou¬ 
sand caterpillars. Now multiply this num¬ 
ber by hundreds of thousands, and imagine 
the product! These caterpillars feed upon 
all kinds of fruit, cabbages, etc., etc., and 
wheu satisfied, they retire under a leaf be¬ 
neath a fence, or in some crack or fissure, 
and spin a tuft of silky fiber; in this they 
hang their hindmost feet; then a loop is spun 
to sustain the head, a band is spun over the 
back, and thus their winding sheet is formed. 
Most caterpillars spin a cocoou in the shape 
of the letter U around the body. The chry¬ 
salis state lasts from eleven to thirteen days 
in summer; later in the season it continues 
all winter, aud in the spring myriads of 
moths come torth. Place a lighted kerosene 
lamp near a window, shut the sashes, and 
behold the crowds which come to bask in 
its rays! Open the window aud your lamp 
will he covered with them. If a fire is 
lighted in an open space near an orchard, 
after dark, thousands of moths will seek de¬ 
struction in its blaze. Every owner of 
cherry, plum, peach, pear, and apple trees 
should try this simple remedy twice a week, 
throughout moth season. 
Earwigs 
feed upon dahlias, pinks, carnations, aud 
many other flowers. They eat at night, aud 
lie concealed in the daytime. They can be 
easily destroyed by placing cabbage leaves 
or small flower pots near the plants, and 
looking under them every morning. Toads 
are excellent garden scavengers. They arc 
accused of eating strawberries, but we doubt 
it. They are special pets of ours. There 
BEE NOTES AND QUERIES 
“How Shall I Treat Bee Robbers?” 
So asks Mrs. Sarah Ridley, adding, “ My 
bees rob each other like the mischief. Can’t 
some of your readers having experience, tell 
me how to stop it ?” 
Feeding Bees in Mummer. 
Silas G. Thompson writes:— T often see 
directions for feeding bees in winter; but 
when forage is scarce is there anything we 
can give bees to enable them to lay tip their 
own stores for winter in summer? If so, I 
should he glad to know what it is.” 
King Birds amt Itccs. 
George A. Russ, Hartford, Vt., writes 
the New England Farmer “ Experience 
leaches me that king birds do destroy bees. 
I have killed several of them lately, and on 
opening their stomachs found in cacti from 
six to a dozen bees. I have also watched 
them and seen them catch bees when flying 
about.” _ 
Wliul Kiad of Hive and Bees. 
G. M. Barnwell writes:—“ Will James 
Duncan of East Tennessee give some defi¬ 
nite description of the hive (see page 10, 
Rural New-Yorker, July 3.) used, the 
kind of bees most profitable, and the man¬ 
ner and treatment in Ills neighborhood? I 
wish to engage in the business.” 
POULTRY NOTES 
I have frequently met with 
them in my botanical rambles. I have three 
different species figured, and this differs 
from all of them. 
They differ from the vagabond or hunting 
spiders that leap upon their prey, as they do 
from those who entrap their prey with nets. 
I have noticed these on a single thread, 
stretched from one bush to another, upon 
which they would pass hack and forth. 
They are very highly colored on their pos¬ 
terior portions, which are variously shaped, 
beset with conic, projecting points and eleva¬ 
tions, as it of some extraneous substance, 
apparently polished, of a waxy appearance, 
which I suspected was an egg-bag; but on 
opening one, discovered only a dark fluid 
within a kind of rigid shell. I have searched 
in vain for a description of this class of 
native spiders. 
In Mr Low’s “ Sarawak" it is said that 
“ the spiders, so disgusting in their appear¬ 
ance in many other countries, are, in Bor¬ 
neo, of quite a different nature, and are the 
most beautiful of the insect tribe. They 
have a skin of a shell-like texture, furnished 
with curious processes; in some long, in 
others short; in some few, in others numer¬ 
ous ; hut are found of this description only 
in thick woods and shady places. Their 
colors are of every line, brilliant and mctalic 
as the feathers of the humming-bird, but arc 
unlike the bright colors of the beetle, totally 
dependent on the life of the insect which 
they beautify, so that it is impossible to pre¬ 
serve them.” 
cerns our readers, we make the following 
extracts: 
C. F. T., Linesville, Pa., Avrites:—“I re¬ 
ceived twelve eggs from Lock port, N. Y., 
packed in diy sawdust alone, set them under 
a common hen, and she brought off eleven 
chickens.” 
T. C. R. f Williamsport, Pa., Avrites:—“I 
received from Painesvillc, O., fitteen eggs, 
packed first in paper, second in sawdust— 
plenty of it —and then the lid ot the box 
nailed on with four nails. Set them under 
a lien which brought off ten chicks; two of 
the fifteen eggs Avere broken by the lien.” 
L. A. S., Lockport, H. Y., Avrites “ I have 
tried several methods of packing eggs for 
hatching, during the last three months, and 
have succeeded best with those packed in 
dry maple sawdust—each egg completely 
surrounded with the dust, and sufficiently 
pressed to hold the egg in its place, the lid 
screwed on, (not nailed,) and a handle 
screwed to that. Willi all this care, eggs are 
reported broken occasionally, aud the handle 
earn 
War prices and Avar currency afflicted a 
large portion of farmers with a greed of gain, 
which they indulged by plunging in debt. 
They Avere not content Avith securing good 
homes, fitting them up in comfort and lay¬ 
ing something by for a rainy day, but they 
grew lustful for broad acres and luxuries 
which can only be enjoyed in cities, and arc 
but burdens to country life, and now that 
reverse cuts short expected income, the pres¬ 
sure of debt is felt, and the cry is “ hard 
times.” 
If we could teach only one precept with 
force to farmers, it would be this:—Make 
yourselves independent. Owe no man any¬ 
thing. Make your business snug and safe 
instead of expansive and risky. Then you 
can sit bv vonr own heartli-sidcs, and if 
Whirl in Propolis iuo.de off 
A. F. G., Alton, Ill., asks: — “What is 
propolis, or bee glue, made of? Where do 
the bees get it ?” That is a natural inouiiy 
for an inquiring mind to ask. We believe 
the best aparians think it is a resinous sub¬ 
stance gathered from trees and shrubs, and 
that the bees gather it as they do pollen, 
and cany it in the cavities of their legs. 
We have seen it asserted that the bees which 
gather it do noL apply it. Perhaps some of 
the intelligent correspondents of this de¬ 
partment can give information on this sub¬ 
ject. 
-- 
Flandern. —C. 8. "Pouter. In Ruual New- 
Yorker of July 18th, asks for the address of iho 
apiarian Flanders. The Editor of the Ohio 
Farmer sends us this laconic answer:—“Gone 
to-1 Owfutf mo $50 for advertising 1 Sloped 
Work is essential to success in any business; 
tint brains, calculation, are equally important. 
The successful men are ttie thinkers always— 
not ttie men avIio can do the “ biggest day’s 
work." 
