MOV 25 
706 
MiW-YORKER. 
benches before them, and yearly growing 
more rather than less so, it is not a wonder 
that faculties have often taken this course 
rather than close their doors altogether. Nor 
are they alone to be blamed for it that after 
a time some of these college* come to give as 
little specially agricultural teaching os would 
be found in a village academy or medical 
school. The outcome would have been quite 
different if fanners’ sons, eager for new light 
on the art of producing and utilizing crops, 
bad crowded to the colleges a* fast as they 
were opened, and were not only eager to get 
knowledge but also prepared to study some¬ 
thing more advanced than the mere rudi¬ 
ments which should have been drilled into 
them in their own village schools. If men 
could have been found to give them thifl new 
light, they would have been procured by trus- 
trees and presidents, so far as means would 
allow; and nobody would have thought of 
teachiug other than those branches closely re¬ 
lated to agriculture, and to the mechanic arts 
also, which have an equal share in the benefits 
of the Congressional act of 1663. 
Agricultural colleges have failed in so many 
cases, and even now though never so well 
equipped attract ofteu but few students, 
simply because there iB so little demand for 
them; and they will not prosper till it is made 
to appear that Ruch special education as Is 
gained there does really make a more success¬ 
ful and prosperous farmer of a man; or till it 
is shown by the experience of those who have 
got this education that it pays no leas than it 
pays for one who would be a oivil engineer to 
pursue a regular course of study in a good 
engineering school, or for tbe would-be physi- 
ciau to go to a medical school. No amount of 
talk and argument about the usefulness to 
the farmer of a Bound knowledge of botany, 
chemistry, veterinary science, eutomology, 
etc., will go so far toward* helping on the 
cause for which the agricultural colleges are 
laboring, or are williug to labor, as the pres¬ 
ence in a neighborhood of a single graduate 
of such a college, who, as his neighbors can 
plainly see, is u smarter and more successful 
farmer than they, because of the well trained 
and well stored rnind which lie brought away 
from the college with his diploma. In many 
places such leaven is quietly working in be¬ 
half of a better agricultural education; but it 
works slowly in the midst of so much indif¬ 
ference, and it will be many years before the 
agricultural college cornea to bo regarded as 
no less essential than other professional 
schools are in relation to their specialties. 
■2liboricwllimxl. 
FORESTRY.—No. 29. 
DK. JOHN A. WARDER. 
Indian H11L 
Plantations of Ben. Per ley Poore near Netv- 
buryport , Essex County, Massachusetts: 
situation and plan—The Premium Dales — 
♦1,000 —Original planting by broadcast 
seeding — Planting acorns—The Nurse 
plants used — Treatment—Present co)idition 
—Other trees: Larches, Chestnuts, Elms, 
White Ash—Caialpas on trial—Druid in¬ 
closure on the summit—Renewed spring at 
base of the hill. • 
While treating of local plantations it is 
eminently proper that the reader’s attention 
should be directed to the northeastern corner 
of the old Bay Btate, where, upon one farm, 
tree-piantiug for the supply of useful woods 
has boon carried on by two generations of 
enterprising men, and where even the fourth 
generation in direct descent has already 
made its appearance to witness the results of 
this ancestral forethought in planting on one 
of the hills of New England, that had been 
cleared by the hardy Puritans centuries ago. 
My readers, many of them, will be familiar 
with the namo of the present proprietor, who 
has been prominently connected with some of 
the most important movements in the agri 
cultural progress of the country, notably as 
the energetic Secretary of the United Btates 
Agricultural Society, as well os in associa¬ 
tions of a more local character. Borne may 
have heard of his tree-plantations and of his 
having received the premium, $1,000, granted 
by the State Society, in 1809, and awarded in 
1609 for the best 10 acres of planted oaks, lu 
vain were search and inquiry made for a re¬ 
port respecting this artificial grove, and the 
oordial invitation of the worthy proprietor 
was most gladly accepted, that the premises 
should be visited to make personal inspection 
of the trees, and if satisfactory, to render a 
report of the facts, and their present status. 
On one of the hills that so pleasantly diver¬ 
sify the surface of that part of the country, 
surrounded on all sides with smiling vules 
uud meadows, with aruble and pasture lands, 
the southern, western and northern slopes of 
this elevation had been withdrawn from the 
dominion of the plow and devoted to wood- 
culture. This good work was begun many 
years ago, in 1831, by the father, Benjamin 
Poore, who, in bis wise endeavors to imitate 
nature prepared a seed bed in the stony soil, 
using the plow and harrow. Upon this the 
seeds of various forest trees were scattered 
broadcast and covered with the harrow. Left 
very much to themselves, the seedliugs grew 
up and now constitute a grove of sightly 
trees, that look like a bit Of natural woodland 
composed of the species belonging to the re¬ 
gion. Were it not for the history no one would 
dream of its being the work of art. 
The later planting, however, presents a 
more artistic appearance, and the regularity 
of the arrangement shows the work of the 
more systematic planter. The trees consist 
largely of the more valuable species of oaks, 
and all have been produced by the artificial 
planting of the acorns where it was desired 
the future trees should grow. Several experi¬ 
ments were tried, however, before a success¬ 
ful stand was assured. The plan adopted to 
secure regularity and to give the seedlings a 
chance among the natural vegetation, was 
that recommended by a French writer: to 
.place parallel furrows around the hill-side, 
and to drop the acorns into the loosened soil. 
This succeeded admirably at first, and the 
Autumn after the seed was thus sown there 
were thousands of vigorous young seedlings 
in the furrows. But the following Hpring 
there was an early thaw, which filled the 
furrows with molted snow. This soon froze, 
and the ice lifted the young seedlings as if 
they had been pulled by hand, not leaving 
one in a hundred. The plan so eulogized in 
France would not answer in Massachusetts, 
and another proof was thus furnished of the 
necessity for home authorities, rather than to 
follow those of other lands. 
The failure, though discouraging, did not 
dampen the ardor of the young tree-planter, 
who determined to try again, with a modifi¬ 
cation of his tactics. Instead of planting in 
the furrows opened by the plow, lie now set 
the acorns upon the ridge of mellow earth 
which it had turned aside, then, to prevent 
accumulations of water beside the infant 
trees, he cut openings between them, through 
the ridge made by the furrow-slice, which al¬ 
lowed tbe escape of any surplus water that 
might accumulate. This was followed by a 
good stand of little oaks, chestnuts and butter¬ 
nuts. Thinking they needed shelter from the 
sun and wind, he next provided nurse-trees; 
digging up email Balsam Firs from under 
some large trees planted by his father, one 
was placed by each oak on the northwestern 
side M a guardian shelter. The selection was 
mode because this species was abundant and 
near at hand, costing but little. It was soon 
discovered that the evergreens were out¬ 
growing the oaks, and then they were curbed 
by shortening in their branches—a judicious, 
though a rather expensive operation: but 
meanwhile the oaks and other plants con¬ 
tinued to thrive and the nursing plan was 
considered successful; in the course of a few 
years this plantation was entered in competi¬ 
tion for the offered premium and bore off the 
61,000 prize that had been offered. At pre¬ 
sent the grove is thrifty, the trees are getting 
up nicely and by trimming off the laterals 
they are forming clean stems, and beginning 
to beur fruit. 
Mr. Poore has not confined his planting to 
species of oak; there are various other kinds 
of trees scattered here and there over the 
grounds, among which is a considerable group 
of the White Ash, native seedlings set out in 
blocks; though still small they are thrifty and 
promising. Pines, balsams, thujas and other 
evergreens are also to bo seen. Tbe noble 
\V hite Elms preseut a flue appearance on the 
eastern boundary of the plantation, all set out 
by his own hand as a birthday contribution 
to the grove, one for each year of his life. An 
avenue of European Larches of good size and 
healthy appearance proves the adaptation of 
this valuable tree to the soil and climate of 
Essex County, as well as to the correct judg¬ 
ment of the planter. Thoro is also a beautiful 
group of our native chestnuts, which have al¬ 
ready attained useful size and give promise of 
satisfactory money returns in their timber 
products. 
Here, also, were found some plants sent 
from Ohio to occupy a corner and to claim a 
share of the proprietor’s attention. The ca- 
talpus and the Scarlet Oaks seemed rejoicing 
in the post of honor that bad been assigned to 
them near the culminating point of the fa¬ 
mous " Indian Hill,” and close to the Druidi- 
oal inclosure with its labarynthino budges. 
The elevation is reached by roadways laid 
out on easy grades that gradually bring you 
to the summit after presenting a series of 
lovely views across the country. At this 
point is an inclosuro made by well-trimmed 
hedges of Thuja occidental!*. This is arranged 
for a meeting of the Masonic Order, of which 
body tbe proprietor is a high functionary, 
but the uninitiated might well imagine, in this 
famous plantation of oaks, that he had stum¬ 
bled Into the secret gathering-place of tbe 
ancient Druids themselves. At the north base 
of the hill was a pool of water fringed with 
willows, in a depression that bad long been 
dry. Can this have been the result of clothing 
the elevation with trees'll 
Though not to be commended in all of its 
details, which would have lieen very differ¬ 
ently arranged and carried out by an educated 
forester, yet, as the work of a plain American 
farmer, surrounded by those whose delight 
would appear to be the destruction of our 
timber trees, we are forced to render unqual¬ 
ified commendation to the effort which has 
here been made to restore, if even to a limited 
extent, the sylvan garniture of our land. We 
have learned to plant our woodlands more 
thickly, either with or without special nurae- 
trees, but so closely as to force an upward 
growth to shelter one another from the ele¬ 
ments, to shade the ground as quickly as pos¬ 
sible, and, ahove all, to crowd the plants to 
such a degree as to smother the lateral branch¬ 
es while they are young and thus almost, if not 
absolutely,to obviate tbe necessity for pruning. 
We have found, also, that much of the labor 
required for thinning the plantations can be 
avoided because It will be largely effected by 
natural causes, us a result of the failure of the 
weaklings and the survival of the fittest. 
Would that many others of the numerous 
class of our citizens who are intelligently de¬ 
voted to the noble pursuit of agriculture, 
would imitate the example thus set by the 
worthy secretary of the honorable society he 
has so well served 1 
Trees in Door-Yards, Etc. 
I hui'POhk 1 owe an apology to Dr. Warder 
for what I said in a late Rural in reference 
to tree planting in door-yards. What I ob¬ 
jected to was the indiscriminate crowding of 
trees around a house. In one yard near me, 
only about 100 by 75 feet, there were planted 
10 Soft Maples, 4 Lombardy Poplars, 10 or 13 
Cherries, 1 Weeping Willow and some shrubs, 
and in the center is the house, only about 30 
by 30 feet; and as if this was not enough, just 
east, with only a drjve-way of 12 or 14 feet, is 
a grove of some 200 maples. Now I love trees, 
but not so as to shut out the sun, and some of 
the happiest hours of my life were spent 
among the forests of Northeastern Ohio. By 
all means, let us have groves, but not too 
close to the house. 
Silver Abele. 
By the way, why not say a word in favor 
of the Silver Abele ? It is a striking object, 
with its foliage snow-white below and a beau¬ 
tiful dark green above. It is u rapid grower, 
makes good wood, and has but one fault—it 
suckers badly; but I much prefer to keep down 
the sprouts thau those of the cherry. [This 
tree (Populus 'alba) is a naturalized foreign 
species, sometimes called Downy Poplar, Sil¬ 
ver Poplar, and Dutch Beech. It is supposed 
to be a native of the Holy Land, and some 
think the timber is the Shittim-wood of Scrip¬ 
ture, though that was probably an acacia. 
When grown in dense groves, the Silver Abele 
runs up slenderly, and soon is large enough 
for poles good for fences, corn-crilis, and other 
farm purposes. If cut early in Summer it 
peels very readily, and is light but durable, 
if not brought in contact with the ground. 
Bryant considers it superior to any of the 
native poplars, and Miehaux recommends its 
extensive cultivation as a substitute for the 
Tulip Tree. Ena.] I see a late Rural recom¬ 
mends the Black Locusts. They are good 
trees where tho borers will give them a chance, 
but in this section they are so badly infested 
by borers that they do not thrive. I know 
one grove that has been out many years, and 
is no better now than 20 years ago. "XKNIA.” 
£l)c PLjmimm. 
CHEAP QUEENS ONCE MORE. 
Enough, perhaps, has already been said on 
the subject of "dollar queens,” and were it 
not that a short article appeared in the Rural 
for July 15, which df mauds a little explana¬ 
tion on my part, this would not have been 
written. The great Creator of all things uro- 
nounced his work good when he rested from 
the same, and so it came to pass that it was 
good for bees to multiply and increase by 
natural swarming. In the preparation for 
this, the first work iH tho laying of eggs In the 
drone cells which are already built; or if no 
drone comb is in the hive, some is built, or 
worker comb is cut down and drone comb sub¬ 
stituted for the purpose of producing drones, 
or male bees. Next, large acorn-cup like cells 
are built for a royal cradle for the young 
queen, in which in duo time the reigning queen 
deposits an egg intended for a queen. At 
about the time this egg hatches a copious sup¬ 
ply of food is placed in this large cell for the 
royal larva to feed upon, and as it grows more 
food is given, till it actually llouts in a sea of 
food—so much so that I hav repeatedly seen 
a lump of uneaten food larger than a marrow¬ 
fat pea left in the bottom of the cell after the 
queen had emerged therefrom. Another thing 
which is always noticeable is that this food is 
prepared and queens reared when forage (both 
honey and pollen) is abundant, and at no other 
time do we expect natural swarms. 
Again, there is a hiveful of bees of all ages, 
from the nurse bees which prepare this food 
to the aged veteran with wings tattered and 
torn with the lnbore of the field. Thus, with 
prosperity on every side, the highest queens 
of the highest type are raised. Now if such 
queens as the above were reared and sold for 
a " dollar,” or one dozen of them for $9, the 
cheap queen controversy would have had no 
existence. In the course of time, it was ascer¬ 
tained that by removing the queen from the 
hive the bees could convert the larva hatch¬ 
ing from an egg intended for a worker bee 
into a queen by building a queen cell over a 
worker cell and supplying the same with royal 
jelly, the food of the queen larva. Thus 
queens without number could be reared atthe 
pleasure of the apiarist, either during the sea¬ 
son of natural swarming or at any other time 
of the year when there were eggs and larvae 
in the hive. All went well for a time, but 
after a while It began to be whispered by our 
moBt pratical apiarists that such queens were 
tending toward depreciating the quality of 
our bees; so it was proposed that, as a remedy, 
all queens should be reared as nearly as possi¬ 
ble under the same conditions as those reared 
by natural Bwarming. Others claimed that 
such talk was nonsense, and still continued on 
as before. At about thiB time i was greatly 
excited over the bee question, and so to ac¬ 
complish the most in tho least time, I took to 
rearing queens "artificially,” as this process 
was termed at that time. All seemed to go 
well the first season, und I was about to decide 
against our practical bee men, and say such 
queens were as good as any, although I inva¬ 
riably found that such queens were much 
smalier than those reared in natural swarm¬ 
ing, and after the queen emerged from tho 
cell not a bit of food remained, but the cell 
was licked as dry as any drone or worker ever 
licked its own cell. 
The next season queens were reared the 
same way, although I saw quite a perceptible 
difference in the working qualities of my bees, 
but I was not fully convinced of my mistake 
till through the next Winter and Spring over 
two-thirds of my queens reared the season 
previous, died of old age, while queens roared 
by natural swarming lived from three to five 
years. Fully convinced that such queens 
were not as good as any, I have as far as 
possible since that time had all my queens 
reared from cells produced during natural 
swarming. 
Soon after this it was proposed by a cer¬ 
tain man, prominent before the bee-keeping 
world, that queens should be sent out as soon 
as laying without any guarantee of any sort, 
and that the price be one dollar. Heretofore 
none but tested queens had been sold, and as 
the price had been from three to ten dollars 
each, fair queens had beeu the rule, for at 
these prices pains could be taken to rear queens 
as good as possible by any process except nat¬ 
ural swarming. As tbe public had demanded 
this for tested queens but few of a low grade 
as to prolificneesand short life were sent out. 
Many opposed this untested dollar queen busi¬ 
ness, hut as the jjeople demanded something 
"cheap” tbe business grew to large propor¬ 
tions. Those receiving queens which were 
dead were not satisfied with no guarantee, 
and demanded that such loss should he made 
good. Thus one claim after another was 
made till we have to day queens advertised at 
90c. each, or nine dollars a dozen, safe arrival 
guaranteed. As a result of all this we soon 
hear our prominent "dollar queen” man telling 
that the way to rear good "dollar queens” 
was to take a comb containing eggs from 
your best colony, place it in an empty hive, 
then set it in the place of another colony and 
the returning bees from the field will raise 
good queens. Thus these old bees, long un¬ 
used to preparing food for feeding larvm, sre 
forced to do the beat they can at queen roar 
ing, iu season or out of season, to meet this 
increasing demand for cheap queens. 
Another crying " Headquarters for Dollar 
Queens” nays about Aug. 30th, " now is the 
time to rear good queens cheaply.” Upon 
inquiry it is found that small nucleus boxes 
5x6 inches square are used with a little handful 
of bees which are compelled to rear queens at a 
time when the bees should be preparing for 
their Wiuter repose. Is it any wonder that 
a party writes, "out of nine dollar queens 
purchased, seven did not live six months and 
only one of them a year)” Another says: 
" I am disgusted with this dollar queen busi¬ 
ness; five out of six purchased this season, 
died of old age.” In this controversy about 
cheap queens, talk about the dishonesty of the 
parties bus had a prominent place, as if there 
was not room for dishonesty outside of the 
queen business. Tbe question is not as re¬ 
gards honesty or dishonesty, but it is re- 
