1851 
THE CULTIVATOR 
373 
mond, Ontario county, $20—2. E. F. Carter, lie Ray, Jefferson co., 
$10—3. C. W. Eelis, Westmoreland, Oneida co., $5—4. W.P. Ott- 
ley, Phelps, Trans. 
Best six dairies, from a county, not less than three cheeses from each 
—Moses Eames, Rutland, Jefferson county, $30. Gardner Towne, 
Rutland, E. F.,Carter, Le Ray, George Webb, Pamela, M. Bryant, 
Watertown, P. Hardy, Le Roy—Dairymen. 
Less than one year old —Best 100 lbs. George Hammill, Rome, 
Oneida county, $15—2. Charles Benjamin, Rushford, Allegany coun¬ 
ty, $10—3. Almon Benjamin, Centreville, Allegany,- $5—4. E> & H. 
Colvin, Hamburg, Erie, Trans. 
Bees—Robbing. 
In September and October bees are very apt to rob 
each other, and many families are destroyed in this way. 
The remedy is to lower the hives down and give but 
one passage way, and that not over two inches long for 
the strongest families, and to be contracted according to 
the strength of families down to a compass that will only 
admit a few bees to pass in and out at the same time. 
This is the 'preventive remedy. The populous hives, well 
filled with honey will require but little protection, but 
those hives that have been left weak by too much swarm¬ 
ing, or from any other cause, are in danger. Whenever 
an unusual bustle is noticed around a hive, with dead 
bees on the ground in front, and the occupants of the 
hive around in squads on the alighting board, with strong¬ 
er bees held as prisioners, you may know that there is 
danger. Numbers of bees will be slowly flying around 
on a level with the entrance, as if seeking for an unguard¬ 
ed passage, making a louder noise than usual. At twi¬ 
light, when all other hives are quiet, bees will be seen to 
leave a robbed hive and fly away to their houses. This 
is the most sure test. In such a case, close the hive en¬ 
tirely for a day, but give the bees air. You may then 
open the passage way a very little, so as to allow a single 
bee to pass. Leave it thus for a day or two when it may 
be enlarged if no further trouble is apprehended. T. B. 
Miner. Clinton, Oneida county . N. Y. 
American Plows. 
Eds. Cultivator —Gentlemen; In one of the inter¬ 
esting letters from London, of Mr. Johnson, Sec. of the 
N. Y. State Ag. Society, published in the September 
number of the Cultivator, we find the following para¬ 
graphs; 
“ I became acquainted at our trial of plows [in the 
neighborhood of London] with Count de Gourcy, a dis¬ 
tinguished French gentleman, who is one of the most in¬ 
telligent agriculturist I ever met with. 
u He spoke in very high terms of our plows. He had 
seen three of them in operation in France, which had 
been sent over by some American gentleman who had 
purchased Ramboullet sheep; but his name he did not 
recollect. They were, he said, so light, so simple in their 
construction,so easily operated by the peasantry of France, 
and so cheap, that he preferred them altogether to any 
other plows. He expressed himself highly gratified with 
the performance of our plows at the trial—said they had 
accomplished all that was desired.” 
The gentleman referred to above, and of whose name 
Col. Johnson was ignorant, is John A. Taintor, Esq., of 
Hartford, Conn., to whom the breeders of the United 
States are greatly indebted, not only for his importation 
of Rambouillet sheep, but of very superior sheep from 
other distinguished flocks in France and Germany. The 
plows that Count de Gourcy so highly commends, were 
of our manufacture, and selected from our establishment 
by Mr, Taintor, about two years ago. We have repeated¬ 
ly sent plows and other agricultural implements to Eu¬ 
rope, and all have been highly approved of there—even 
in Old England herself. We mention this merely in de¬ 
fence of the sneers against American plows &c., which 
from the time they appeared at the Crystal Palace, up 
to the day of trial, it pleased the English press to throw 
out against them. After the trial the English editors 
changed their tone, and acknowledged the superiority 
of American implements in the handsomest manner. This 
was very manly on their part; and as interested parties, 
and in common with our fellow exhibitors, we feel quite 
obliged for their amende honorable. 
Had we supposed that a “ trial of plows” was to be 
made, we should have sent some to the Crystal Palace 
fitted for it; as it was, being completely unprepared for 
this, our plows worked to great disadvantage. Yery 
resp’y. yours, A. B. Allen &.Co. New-York, Sept. 15. 
Special Manures for Potatoes. 
Eds. Cultivator — I suppose all things concerning 
the potato, its culture, productiveness, &c., are interest¬ 
ing, to a portion at least, of your patrons. And it is 
upon that supposition that I venture to lay before them 
an experiment which I have been trying the past summer. 
The soil is a light loam; the kind ofpotatoe, White Mer¬ 
cer; the time of planting, the second week in May; the 
manures used, Patagonia guano, ce prepared guano,” by 
Kentish & Co., of New-York, and bones ground and dis¬ 
solved with sulphuric acid, (as per Prof. Norton’s recom¬ 
mendation in the Cultivator.) One . row was planted 
without any manure, bone being on either side, then the 
different kinds of guano, alternately, with the bone. The 
quantity of Patagonia guano per acre, used, 600 lbs.; of 
prepared do., 800 lbs.; of bone, 8 bushels. No other 
manure was used. The land planted was quite reduced. 
The result was as follows; the weights of the merchanta¬ 
ble, and of the small potatoes, are given separately, with 
the total weight, the cost, &c. 
lbs. oz. 
large. 
lbs. oz. 
small. 
lbs. oz. Cost pr. 
total. acre. 
3 hills without any manure,... 
..10 
0 8 
1 8 
$0 00 
do bone by the side,. 
..28 
0 8 
3 0 
8 00 
Pat. guano, 6 hills,. 
... 4 4 
1 8 
5 12 
12 00 
Prepared guano, 6 hills,. 
... 3 0 
2 0 
5 0 
9 50 
Bone by the side, do .. 
... 5 8 
3 0 
8 8 
8 00 
By the above table, it may readily be seen which ma¬ 
nure causes the greatest product, and which furnishes 
that unanswerable argument, cheapness, which none can 
resist. The bone prepared for use, costs in the above 
but two-thirds as much as the guano, while the product 
is nearly three-fourths greater. The bone was ground in 
this place, of which about one and a half bushels were 
put in a half-hogshead; then one-third, (by weight,) as 
much acid as bone, diluted with twice its bulk of water. 
Stir well together, and in two or three days you have as 
active a manure as can be produced. There was a sur¬ 
prising luxuriance in the tops of the rows where the bone 
was put, remarked by all who saw them. 
I think it excels as a top-dressing. From the slight 
opportunity which I have had of judging, I should say 
$5 per acre would double the crop of grass on the light 
