1908. 
683 
BRIEF TALK ON BEES. 
How the Beginner Makes His Start. 
I am very much interested in bees and have been 
trying to raise them. I had some twice, and the moths 
ate them up. Any information will he very acceptable. 
Can one buy the egg and raise them that way? Could 
I send away for them and what do they cost? How are 
they fed during the Winter and how rid them of moths? 
Iligginsville, Mo. m. e. w. 
The only practical way for anyone wishing only a 
few bees is to purchase one or more colonies from 
some one who has them for sale. If you know noth¬ 
ing of the life history of the bee you would better 
buy but one, and be sure you get a strong colony. 
There is no such thing as getting eggs and raising 
bees that way, for while every bee is raised from an 
egg, that egg is laid in a cell of honeycomb in a hive, 
is kept warm by the bees and hatches in three days 
into a small worm or properly larva. These larvre 
are then fed by the nurse bees for six days, during 
which time they have grown from a mere speck into 
a worm that fills the cell, and the bees then cap or 
seal the cells over, and the larva spins itself a cocoon 
inside the cell. A change slowly takes place in the 
shape until about 12 days after being sealed up in 
the cell a perfect bee gnaws the 
capping from the cell, and comes 
out to join the rest of the colony, 
ready for its life work. 
Bees can be bought from people 
who make a business of breeding 
bees for sale, but the express com¬ 
panies charge double or triple rates 
on live bees, and the risk in ship¬ 
ping in hot weather is quite great; 
besides the breeders charge full 
prices for anything they have to 
sell. I have before me quotations 
of from $8 to $12 per colony, 
while in Fall or Winter they 
can sometimes be bought for as 
low as $4 per colony in large 
lots. I do not know the local 
conditions of other States, but $5 
is considered a fair price here if 
anyone wants ito isell, and they 
often sell for less at public sales. 
But they are also often in bad 
condition. If I wanted to make 
a start in bees, knowing what I do 
now, I would advise anyone to go 
to some bee keeper in whom I had 
confidence, tell him what he want¬ 
ed and pay his price if it was 
anything in reason, sooner than 
send away and have bees sent by 
express. 
The life history of the wax moth 
is much the same as that of the 
bee, except that the eggs are laid 
by a moth and the larvae feed on 
the wax of which honeycomb is 
built. They are only little less 
prolific than the bee, and will soon 
ruin a small or queenless colony of 
bees. The only way is to keep 
your colonies strong, and the moths 
will do no harm. The best way is 
to get pure Italian bees, as they 
will not tolerate wax moths under 
any conditions and the moths never 
harm a strong colony of black bees, 
but there is always the danger that 
there may be some present, and lay 
eggs in the supers, so that when 
you take off your surplus they hatch out and spoil 
the honey by eating the comb and spinning their 
cocoons in and all over it. I have seen beautiful 
comb honey ruined often in this way. I would like 
to repeat this, and if you have bees stick it in your 
hat. Keep pure Italians if you can, strong colonies 
anyway, and set the dog on anyone who has any 
other scheme or device to sell for getting rid of wax 
moths. Any normal colony of bees in a hive that is 
large enough and that were in it during the honey 
season will not need any feeding during Winter, as 
they will have sufficient honey in their brood nest to 
carry them through. If it happened to be a late 
swarm, or the hive too small for a very prolific queen, 
they might need feeding in the Fall, but it is impos¬ 
sible for a novice to feed in Winter at all, and un¬ 
certain for an expert. A good colony should have 
at least 25 pounds of sealed honey in the Fall, and 
40 would be still better. Don’t forget when you get 
your bees to get a good book on bee keeping. Get it 
before you get the bees if you can. The cojnbined 
knowledge gained by research of the past is more 
than we could learn in our lifetime, and we can 
have the benefit for a small outlay. j. a. crane. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
the; RURAL NEW-YORKER 
FARM ROTATION FOR NEW ENGLAND. 
Comparison of Rye and Hungarian. 
What rotation of crops would you suggest in starting 
a farm now largely in sod? 
In actual farm practice one is seldom able to carry 
out complete and definite system of rotation. Where 
conditions make it possible, I prefer to plant corn 
for the first crop after plowed sod land. There, is no 
other crop which seems so well able to digest the 
inert plant food. The seed bed can be readily pre¬ 
pared, and corn seems to thrive especially well on sod 
land. I prefer planting potatoes on land the second 
year from sod; this will give the turf a chance to de¬ 
compose ; the soil can be fitted thoroughly, and the 
potatoes can be planted to the proper depth. On 
freshly plowed land I find it almost impossible to cover 
the potatoes uniformly to the full depth desired. 
Hungarian is one of these crops which is generally 
grown without reference to any particular rotation. It 
is quite properly called a “catch crop.” If for any 
reason the hay crop proves to be a failure, or shorter 
than was expected, the ground may immediately be 
fitted after cutting the hay, and Hungarian seed may 
be sown about the first of July. I prefer not to seed 
land to grass with Hungarian, because unless the 
conditions are almost ideal, so far as moisture and 
soil texture are concerned, the grass seed is likely to 
fail. Hungarian is a gross feeder and will take all 
the moisture and plant food it needs without consider¬ 
ing the needs of the grass crop. If oats and peas are 
given a definite place in the crop system, they will 
also, of course, be seeded in the early Spring, and if 
cut at the proper time for hay they will be removed 
from the ground by the middle of July. If this 
ground is plowed at once and rolled—unless it is a 
clay soil—and harrowed about six times until the 
middle of August, the grass and clover seed may be 
sown at that time with the chances very much in 
favor of securing a good stand of grass. 
If I were going to recommend a definite rotation 
I would possibly plant as follows: First year, corn; 
second year, potatoes on part, oats and peas on part; 
third year, rye following potatoes, grass and clover 
seed following oats and peas. I have found rye one 
of the most valuable crops in New England. I sow it 
on corn ground after the corn crop is removed or 
before. I put it on potato ground if it may be as late 
as October, and if one wishes to seed with grass and 
clover it can be put on in the Spring. If the smooth¬ 
ing harrow is used thoroughly, a seed bed may be 
fitted for the grass which will be almost ideal. The 
rye will not be injured by this fitting, but will be 
rather improved. I have at the present time a field 
of rye on which grass and clover seed were sown 
in April, and the seeding is almost ideal. If Hun¬ 
garian is grown, that is really one of the millets, but 
I would advise leaving it out of the system of rota¬ 
tion, and would make only occasional use of it if at 
all. L. A. CLINTON. 
Connecticut. _ 
A FLAT IRON LOSES HEAT. 
Changes Induced by Rust. 
A woman complains that after 20 years’ use her flat¬ 
irons no longer hold heat, but cool very rapidly. 4 would 
like to know whether irons do undergo any change as a 
result of long use, which would cause rapid cooling. 
A. T. 
The only change which can occur in flatirons with 
use, which could in any way affect their ability to 
retain heat, is that due to rusting of the sides and 
upper surface. It is a well-established fact that 
polished metal surfaces retain heat materially better 
than a rough surface does, when the heat is lost by 
radiation as would be the case from 
the upper and side surfaces when 
in use. When the flatiron becomes 
much pitted by rusting the amount 
of surface which is exposed from 
which radiation can take place is 
materially increased, and on this 
account the irons cool faster and of 
course heat more slowly when on 
the stove, and will have a some¬ 
what lower temperature when taken 
from the stove. It will be readily 
understood that if a body being 
heated on the stove loses heat 10 
per cent more rapidly than another 
body of the same form and weight, 
the body which loses heat most 
rapidly would have a temperature 
when on the stove somewhat lower 
than the body which could lose heat 
less rapidly, so that rusty flatirons 
might be somewhat less efficient 
than brightly polished ones, first, 
because they would have a some¬ 
what lower temperature when taken 
from the stove, and second, be¬ 
cause they would lose heat 
faster by radiation because of the 
rough surface. 
It may be well to state in this 
connection that a heavy iron, with 
the smoothest surface, holds more 
heat, because of its greater weight, 
than a light iron does. The factor 
which makes the greatest difference 
in the length of time a flatiron will 
retain heat when in use is the 
amount of moisture contained in the 
article, which exhausts the heat 
rapidly and in proportion to the 
amount of water which must be 
evaporated. To illustrate: It re¬ 
quires 9G6 units of heat to evap¬ 
orate a pound of water after its 
temperature has been raised to the 
boiling point. A five-pound flatiron 
leaving the stove at a temperature 
of 400 degrees F. and cooling down 
to 220 degrees, which is eight de¬ 
grees above boiling heat, could give 
only about 108 heat units, and probably not more than 
100 of these units could be transferred to the pieces 
being ironed, so that approximately the heat carried by 
10 irons would be required to evaporate a pound of 
water from the garments being ironed. Unnecessary 
moisture, therefore, carried by the clothes which 
are being ironed has perhaps more to do than any¬ 
thing else in determining the length of time irons 
will remain sufficiently warm for good service. 
F. H. KING. 
MICHIGAN ORCHARDS.—I would like to say to the 
Hope Farm man that I was born and lived my first 20 
years in the edge of the Michigan pine land in Gratiot 
County, and some of the land that 20 years ago was 
called useless is to-day bearing good crops, especially 
fruit. One of the best peach orchards I know of is located 
in Sevilie township, Gratiot County, and I can remember 
when most of the land was nothing but pine stumps and 
sand. I fully believe that any land properly handled can 
be made to produce paying crops. c. t. s. 
De Ruyter, N. Y. 
France continues to increase its consumption of liquors, 
which has risen from 2.4 liters per capita annually in 
1831 to 8.7 liters in 1900. This is greater than the con¬ 
sumption in the British Isles, which continues to lessen, 
the annual consumption now being five liters per capita. 
Norway has changed from 10 liters per capita in 1833 to 
3.1 in 1900, and northern Europe generally is showing a 
growth of temperance sentiment. 
CLUSTER OF CHESAPEAKE STRAWBERRIES. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 2G0. 
, See Ruralisms, Page 586. 
