435 
limb crotches were colonized by the pest. 
They had squatted and foraged and blasted all 
around; the bark was thick and scabbed. I 
deluged and soaked with kerosone the crevices 
and whole outpost* of the tribe. It killed the 
scourge and did not hurt the trees. I tried it a 
year last fall, on the same pest which swarmed 
in downy tufts over the pruning wounds, and 
bark bruises of two small apple trees of about 
an inch in diameter. These were closed in tho 
fall, and so thoroughly that I feared the spring 
would reveal my rashness Id a couple Of ruined 
trees. But though the aphis departed from 
their borders, the trees were not sensibly hurt. 
Now the writer whose note has called out 
this talk, says. “Kerosene, or petroleum, put 
in the fall about the roots of some tree6, to 
keep off, I think, insect pests and ‘varmints’ 
killed the trees." It’s very likely true. The 
root structure aud bark are unlike and more 
tender than the bark of tree trunks and limbs. 
They differ in their duties. The root all 
through is made to drink iu the food or harm 
to which it stretches. The upper bark is more 
like a robe, or shield and shelter. It stands 
frost, storm and drought and saves the vital 
parts beneath. But this kind of cover the 
roots have not, and do not need. What, 
therefore, on tho bark might only make a 
cleansing wash,below is drank up by the root¬ 
lets and kills. What above would not reach 
beyond the scarf skin, below would strike the 
inner fibers of the wood and poison the vital 
currents of the 6ap. 
Something like this result of coal oil, or coal 
tar, about the roots of an apple orchard, was 
some years since seen in this county. The 
field mice and, I think, rabbits, were destruc¬ 
tive. A heavy coating of coal tar was put 
close down to the roots and some ways above. 
The “ varmints" did not fancy the diet, nor 
did the trees. They were about all killed. 
There is another thing which should be al¬ 
ways held in mind by the orchardist. A tree 
will not stand tampering with its vital parts 
half as sturdily iu the fall or wiuter as in the 
spring or growing season. 
yields, early in spring, pollen, propolis, and 
and some say honey. Our early wild flowers 
and fruit-blossoms give the bees something to 
do; and when white clover spangles the fields 
and roadsides, the honey harvest is iu all its 
glory. The basswood or linden blossoms and 
the late Raspberries, Asters, Golden-rods, and 
buckwheat protract the honey season into the 
fall. The bees are the best farm laborers we 
can have, inasmuch as they work for nothing, 
and provide for themselves. 
The chief trouble with beginners in bee-keep¬ 
ing is that they will not go to the slight ex¬ 
pense and small trouble necessary to get in¬ 
formed on the subject. They buy a hive of 
bees, about which they know nothing, except 
that bees can sting, and that honey is nice, and 
then leave it to take care of itself. It is need¬ 
less to saj that this is a very foolish course 
to adopt. What wonder that only failure and 
loss are the results ? It would be the same in 
sheep-raising, dairying, or any other line of 
farming* While, therefore, I advise the far¬ 
mer to make bee-keeninn one of manv lines nf 
SCARLET TURBAN TOMATO. 
Not for its beauty, its quality or its produc¬ 
tiveness do we present a picture of this tomato 
now offered in this country for the first time. 
We know nothing about it beyond the descrip¬ 
tion given of it by its foreign introducers. It is 
QUEEN BEES BY MAIL 
may scrape 
with a hoe aud gash and tear the bark in spring 
but the like in late fall or winter would prove 
fatal to the tree. At any rate, it would then 
resent such treatment as cruelty aud hurt. 
Now let some one else tell what he knows 
about the use of kerosene, about the cures of 
kerosene, raw or mixed with linseed oil, in any 
states of strength aud admixture. 
NEW SCARLET TURBAN TOMATO 
said to be of German origin, particularly early 
and prolific, producing a dozen or more toma¬ 
toes in a cluster. 
fig 61 . 
for hops. Just now, perhaps, the inclination 
sets toward pet stock raising and dairying. 
The latter is commendable. But I contend 
that the wiser plan is to pursue a miscella¬ 
neous, general system of farming, except in 
thos^eases in which some peculiarity of soil 
or hT^tion dictates a specialty. Farmers 
should avoid as much as possible putting all 
into a single venture. They should try all 
honorable expedients to increase their gains, 
and if one source of profit fails, another will 
succeed. Nor should they despise little gains 
for many a “little" helps to build a fortune. 
Bee-keepiug well deserves a place among the 
industries of the farm. As it is wise to keep 
poultry to pick up the waste graiu and stray 
seeds, so it is wise to keep bees to gather the 
nectar of clover, orchard blossoms and wild 
flowers, that would otherwise go to waste. It 
costs but little more to make a start in bee¬ 
keeping than it does to make a start in poul¬ 
try-keeping, aud, season for season, I will 
match the bees against the chickens, with large 
odds in favor of the bees. Bee-keeping used to 
be a very crude affair. It was carried on with 
gums or straw hives, inside of which every¬ 
thing was fast fixed and all a realm of mys¬ 
tery. The bees were left pretty much to them, 
selves until the closeof thebouey season, when 
they were wickedly smothered with brimstone 
fumes; and the colony being thus extermin¬ 
ated, its stores were appropriated to the use 
and luxury of the owner. 
Now we have the movable frame hive, which 
gives us access to the interior of the colony, 
perfect control over it, and liberty to take the 
surplus honey without kdliug the bees. With 
this form of hive, the loss of swarms by their 
going off to the woods can be prevented, 
queeus can be given to the stocks that become 
destitute or them, aud weak colonies can be 
strengthened by giving them comb, bees, or 
honey. Another modem improvement in api¬ 
culture is the importation aud breeding of su¬ 
perior bees. Bees, like larger stock, deterior¬ 
ate h>.- ?*'-and-in breeding and may be improved 
by crosses. There are interior and superior 
Each fruit contains but very 
few seeds aud these lie near the skin, so that 
the rest of the tomato is, so to say. seedless. 
We shall try this among our novelties to be 
tested next summer and give our readers the 
result. Meauvbile the accompanying cut 
may serve to familiarize them with its ap¬ 
pearance. 
FIG CULTURE AT THE NORTH 
UGLY BULLS, THE CAUSE AND REMEDY 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
It is getting to be a frequent occurrence for 
some one to be injured by a bull. One of my 
neighbors was knocked over not long since, 
and would have been killed but for the attacks 
of several young bulls upon the old one who 
was trying to gore his owuer. The bulls were 
all ruuuing loose in the yard and the old one 
was fed meal in a tub. While the neighbor 
was trying to turn the tub over so as to put 
meal into it, the bull, impatient for the meal, 
began to gore him. This bull had hooked a 
hired man before and was inclined to assert his 
rights to the mastery of the barn-yard. Such 
an animal should never be allowed to run 
loose. It is always daugerous. He should 
have been confined in a stall and both his food 
aud water taken to him. If necessary to keep 
him quiet, a slipping noose with a stout rope 
should have been put around bis neck. Tying 
by the ring in a bull's nose is not safe if the 
bull is inclined to be ugly. The slipping noose 
will never be lightened but once, as one lesson 
will teach the bull that he is iu subjection to 
that rope. Tbis is the first lesson to teach any 
bull—that he must yield to his master. This 
leBson should be taught when the bull is a calf, 
KielTer’s Hybrid Pear. 
There appear to be various opinions as to 
the quality of Kieffer’s pear, which Is owing 
probably to tho unripe state iu which it has 
been gathered aud eateu. I have had the 
pleasure of eatiug it for two or three seasons 
und found it of very good quality, especially 
those of the past season, anil from what I have 
seen of it, I am inclined to think it wiil prove 
an acquisition for the market as well us for 
home use. New fruits geuerally improve with 
the age of the tree It is too soon to give a 
deckled opinion us to the full merits and value 
of ibis pear; it requires eight or tea years of 
trial and experience of new Pears aud Apples 
before they can be fully recommended for gen¬ 
eral cultivation. Chas. Downing. 
A FEW MIXED THOUGHTS TO BEE 
KEEPERS. 
J. G. BINGHAM. 
Bee-keeping, though pursued by some as a 
special business and by others as a pleasant 
pastime, is essentially one of the economies of 
the farm, and in the Old World a farm would 
hardly be thought completely stocked without 
a few hives. In this country bee-keeping by 
ordinary farmers la the exception rather than 
the rule. Indeed, it is looked upon by not a 
few as a sort of weakness, a species of hobby¬ 
riding, when a farmer takes to keeping bees. 
