present, season, and another is already par¬ 
tially filled, and will he quite tilled if the 
present weather holds a week yet. Mr. 
Scofield puts the weight of these five cases of 
honey at 225 pounds, which is their minimum 
weight. If the sixth one should be filled it 
will give him nearly 31)0 pounds of honey 
from this oue stand. Ho thinks that with 
these frames his yard would have averaged 
four cases, or 180 pounds of honey each. 
One other of these four stands of frames has 
filled four cases. Some colonies refuse to 
work in boxes that go to work immediately 
GREAT OLD OAKS 
can be wheeled upon it into the next row, 
without pausing or operating the sower’ 
though the holes are quickly shut off for 
longer distances. By an ingenious device 
the plow can be instantly freed from all 
obstructions, or will pass fast, roots or rocks 
in its aourno by a slight raising of the han¬ 
dles, without ii'fitde of neod. A now marker 
quickly handled, and perfect upon both level 
and uneven ground, completes the equip¬ 
ment for seed sowing. Mr. ALLEN has also 
been mindful of minor points. The machine 
does not fall over readily, and the arrange¬ 
ment, and shape of plow insure straight and 
narrow rows. There is no waste from uncov¬ 
ered seed, no difficulty in sowing sprouted 
and oliaffy seeds, no clogging and packing, 
and no rattle and wear from cogs, springs, 
cams, brushes, agitators, &c., &o., and yet 
the. machine is complete. 
The hoeing devices are useful. The seed- 
Ing, once done, seldom needs repetition, while 
hoeing is always iti order, and al ways tire¬ 
some and tedious. The subsoil tooth is ar¬ 
ranged for all deep work, and the shovel 
plow for middle hoeing ami for drill opening 
for fertilizers, potatoes, corn, beans, &c., as 
well as for plowing. The other two pairs of 
tempered steel blades arc made to work up 
vern close In the row —one pair for throwing 
t he earth awuy and back again at one pass¬ 
age, leaving the soil in a line, loose and 
nearly level condition ; the other for throw¬ 
ing heavy furrows to or from the crop and 
covering large seeds; their long shear cut¬ 
ting and destroying weeds in their path. At 
the fir nt hoe inf/ {In/ fur the moat important) 
the machine is used as a double-wheel hoc, 
finishing both sides of the row at once at the 
speed of a moderate walk ; the other hoe¬ 
ing can generally be best done by going be¬ 
tween the rows. The change from drill to 
hoc is made by removing oue bolt, and is but 
a moment's work. The marker works with 
the shovel plow, to bo convenient in laying 
oil rows. Complete directions accompany 
each machine. Retail price, packed, $ir>. 
We. are thus minute in description, as the 
merits of the machine are not easily under¬ 
stood by a simple inspection of so small an 
illustration, and vve consider no implement 
we could offer as a premium would be more 
useful and acceptable to our readers, We 
will send this machine to any one sending us 
a club of 20 subscribers. 
The Wadsworth oak, at Oeneseo, N. Y., is 
said to be five centuries old, and twenty- 
seven feet in circumference at the base. The 
massive, slow-growing live oaks of Florida 
are worthy of notice on account of the enor¬ 
mous length of their branches. Bart,ram 
says “ i have stepped fifty paces in a 
straight lino from the trunk of one of these 
trees to the extremity of the limb3.’’ The 
oaks of Europe are among the grandest of 
trees. The Cowtlirope tree is seventy-eight 
BEE FARMING IN BROOME CO., N. Y 
CALKINS' CHAMPION 
in the frames. Mr. Scofield procures his 
queens generally in Massachusetts, Kentucky 
and Ohio ; never breeds “in and in ; ” always 
gets queens of other stock, and never keeps a 
queen but three years. He has raised 100 
queens the present season for his own use and 
to supply others in this section. Mr. Moore 
and Mr. Beard procure some of their queens 
of him. The raising of these 100 queens has 
taken time enough from his bees to have made 
600 pounds of honey. 
These bee keepers all send their honey to 
New York city, where they realize an aver 
age of 25 to 30 cents per pound. Their ex 
traoted honey is all fed back to the bees. 
CALKINS CHAMPION WASHER 
“Man works from sun to sun; but wo¬ 
man’s work is never clone.’’ He who invents 
that which shall lighten the arduous labors 
of the housewife has done much for hu¬ 
manity and posterity. The great problem 
in household economy is the week’s washing. 
To do this with the greatest expedition and 
the least labor is the constant study of all 
housekeepers. The principle by which clean¬ 
liness is sought to be attained in rubbing 
clothes on a washboard is by squeezing out 
the water containing the dirt in solution. 
If there is too much friction and too little 
rubbing the result, will be worn clothing and 
not cleanliness. Mr. Calkins, however, has 
invented a machine which acts upon the 
principle of pressure alone to force the solu¬ 
tion of dirt and water out of the clothing. 
As will be seen by the cut, it is composed of 
a cylindrical washboard inclosed in a semi¬ 
circle of small cylinders, by the revolution of 
which the clothes are pressed between them 
and not rubbed. The adjustable spiral 
springs give the pressure and ali tiie rollers 
turn at the same time so that the Clothing is 
pressed between the rollers without any 
scraping. 
The points claimed by the inventor are : 
1. The perfection of its work. It washes 
clean. 
.2. The ease and facility with which it is 
operated. 
3. Its simplicity. It does not need an en¬ 
gineer to run it. There is no complicated 
machinery to get out of order. 
4. It is substantial. It will do heavy work 
as well us light washing, and will cleanse 
THE PLANET, Jr., COMBINED SEED 
DRILL AND WHEEL HOE. 
As every one who has grown vegetables 
or roots in field or gardens knows the diffi¬ 
culties attending both the sowing and the 
hoeing of the crop, this implement, as a pre¬ 
mium, will readily be appreciated. Its oper¬ 
ations are simple, perfect and rapid, being 
the result of long experience in t he const,rue.- 
tructiou and practical use of such imple¬ 
ments. Thu inventor and patentee, S. L. 
Allen of Cinnaminson, N. J., is a practical 
farmer. As seen in the cut, the hopper re¬ 
volves with the carrying wheels, preventing 
all packing or collection of dirt over the holes. 
All the holes in the- brass drum adjust mi¬ 
nutely to the same size at once. Each is 
WHEN TO CUT CIONS 
It is usually understood that cions may be 
out after cold weather sets in any time up to 
spring; but there is certainly some philosophy 
in t he following letter to the Prairie Farmer : 
For many years 1 have practiced cutting 
off clous for grafting in the spring of the 
year and inserting them the same clay, and 
thought it was the safest method to insure 
success in grafting. Usually about three- 
fourths of the cions amputated and inserted 
in the spring lived and thrived well. But I 
fin i the old adago that we are “ never too old 
to learn” is true. Last fall I received a re¬ 
quest- from Mr, P. M. Gideon, a horticulturist 
in Minnesota, to send him a few cions of the 
best apples originated in Maine, and to cut 
them off as soon as the trees had shed their 
leaves—which request 1 complied with, at 
the same time informing him that I thought 
the spring was the best season of the year 
for cutting grafts to insure success. In a few 
days I received in return a package of cions 
of the Wealthy apple, a favorite in that sec¬ 
tion. These cions were covered with damp 
sand in my cellar during the winter and 
grafted on to native trees early in May. Of 
forty-two eions inserted, thirty-seven lived 
and are growing finely—and I now think the 
season named by Mr. G. the best for cutting 
cions. Probably many grafts amputated iu 
the spring are winter-killed or their vitality 
injured by extreme cold the previous winter, 
and are nearly dead when inserted. When 
inserting grafts I usually examine the pith, 
and if found of a brown color, they are 
rejected as dead, but if the pith is of a light 
color they were not injured by frost the 
previous winter. 
COAIHINED HEED DRILL AND WHEEL HOE. 
covered i aside by a shield preventing any dis¬ 
charge until it reaches the bottom, thus in¬ 
suring regular work. The plow working 
between the wheels, opens just at the depth 
set, without any care on the part of the ope¬ 
rator. The covering is done by the tires of 
the carrying wheels, upon which the earth 
is first thrown by the plow (shown in the 
cut, where the rim is removed) and from 
which it is continually returned exactly on 
top of the seed, with regularity and certainty. 
This machine, shows the seed plainly as it 
drops, covers perfectly and the roller follows 
every inequality of surface. The machine 
V7 m4 •• 
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