186 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
kept cool, and I never have had any honev-comb melt down in hot wea¬ 
ther, in a hive set on the ground. I have oftentimes, when a swarm 
came out, set the hive on the bare ground under the tree where they col¬ 
lected, and there let it remain all summer, securing it from wet, by plac¬ 
ing a piece of board over the hive. In the fall, those hives of bees that 
I design to keep over winter, are put in the bee house, (Apiary.) It is not 
more than twenty-five years since I first saw or heard of the bee enemy, 
the miller, and for 22 years, or since I have practised setting the hives on 
the ground, I have not lost a swarm, nor received any injury from that 
mischievous insect. 
In former times. When the bees swarmed, cow-bells, warming pans, 
fire-shovels and tongs, and any thing else that would make a rattling 
noise, were put in requisition to stop them from going off; and when the 
bees had collected into a bunch, a table" must be placed under the limb, 
and covered with a clean white cloth. But ever since I have kept bees, 
I have rattled nothing to prevent them from absconding, nor set a table 
for them, but whatever the swarm is attached to, I lay it on the ground, 
and then place the hive, as far as I can, over the bees, and it is seldom 
that I ever lose a swarm. The greatest curiosity that I ever witnessed in 
the movement of bees, was several years ago. I had a swarm come off, 
and it gathered on an apple treejimb in two bunches, about three feet 
apart; the limb was cut off and laid on the ground, and a hive fixed partly 
over the largest parcel. The bees, however, seemed not inclined to en¬ 
ter the hive. Some time in the afternoon, I sat down near by, and watch¬ 
ed them, suspecting, they might rise to go off. They were quite settled 
down, and but very little movement among them. Of a sudden there 
were a number of bees, perhaps a hundred, sallied out from the bunch 
where I had set the hive. They crept along.on the limb With a lively 
step, to the other bunch. Instantly there was quite a bustle, and sudden¬ 
ly the queen bee (as it is called) came out from the bunch, preceded by 
an escort or front guard of bees, as it appeared; at the same time, a suf¬ 
ficient number of them filed off to the right and l&ft by an oblique step, as 
a flank guard; her Majesty passed along, slowly and gracefully on the up¬ 
per side of the limb, and the bees in the rear, all followed in close co¬ 
lumn, so the commander in chief was escorted in fine style to the hive, 
passed ip, the followers displayed column, (deployed) entered the hive in 
front, and on the right and left side, and within a few minutes most of the 
bees were in their new habitation, and out of my sight. D. C. 
South Hadley, Oct. 23, 1837. 
DRAINING— (Concluded from page 170.) 
CONSTRUCTION OF DRAINS. 
After the cause of the wetness has been discovered, and the most con¬ 
venient place for discharging the water ascertained, the lines of the drains 
must be fixed, according to the principles already laid down, by means of 
pins, small pits, or plough furrows. If the work is to be done immedi¬ 
ately, pins or small pits will be sufficient marks to direct the workmen; 
but, in case of its being delayed any length of time a furrow should be 
drawn with the plough in the line of each drain, which will shew itself 
two or three years; indeed, to prevent mistakes, from the marks being 
removed or trampled down by cattle, plough furrows are preferable to all 
other marks. 
Open Drains. —In draining bogs or moss, where the drains do not reach 
the hard bottom, ditches are preferable to covered drains, for should 
stones be used when the bottom is very soft, they would sink, whereby 
the drains would become useless: indeed, in all situations where the 
ground will allow it, the principal drains should be open; and when they 
can become the division of fields, which, in many instances, is practicable, 
that should never be neglected. It would be unnecessary to give any 
particular directions for their depth or wideness, as that must depend on 
the quantity of water they are to convey, and on the nature of the soil 
and situation in which they are made: one rule, however, may be gene¬ 
ral, that the width at the bottom should be one-third of that at the top, 
which gives a sufficient slope to the sides, and the fall or declivity should 
be such as the water may run off without stagnation.. In very soft soils, 
a greater degree of slope on the sides may be necessary; and in all cases 
where it is meant to receive surface water only, none of the earth thrown 
out should remain upon the sides, but should be removed to the nearest 
hollows; for when this is not done, their use is in a great measure coun¬ 
teracted. The earth, when left on the sides, prevents the surface water 
from getting into the drain—its weight causes the sides to fall in—makes 
it more difficult to scour or clean it—and adds much to its disagreeable, 
appearance in the middle of a field. In cases where the auger or wells 
are obliged to be resorted to in open drains, they should never be made 
in the bottom, but on one side, with the outlet eight or ten inches above, 
(a3 shewn in plan 4, figure 2.) which will prevent surface or flood water 
depositing any sand or sediment in the boreholes, whereby they might be 
injured. 
Shoulder Drains. —Any surface water or partial springs in moss and 
marshy ground, on which the large drains have no effect, and where 
stones cannot be used on account of the Softness of the soil, is most cf- 
f eclually removed by means of shoulder drains. The mothod of making 
them, is by digging a trench from fourteen to sixteen inches wide, the sides 
perpendicular to the depth of two or three feet, and then by taking out 
the last spit with a spade, the breadth of which is three inches at the bot¬ 
tom, and tour or five at tile upper part. A shoulder is left on each side, 
on which the sod that was first taken up is carefully laid with the grass 
side downwards, or if it is not strong enough, others must be cut in the 
vicinity, and the remaining space filled with the loose earth a few inches 
above the level of the surface of the adjacent ground. (See plan 4, figure 
1 ) Drains of this description, when properly executed and moles kept 
out of them, will operate for-a great number of years. 
Covered Drains. —In every instance where covered drains are used, 
their dimensions depend on the depth, the quantity of water they have to 
carry, and the kind of materials they are filled with. When the depth 
does not exceed five feet, two feet wide at top will be sufficient; but 
whenever it is more, the width shoutd be increased four inches for every 
foot in depth, and the width at the bottom should be twenty inches, which 
will give a sufficient space to build a substantial conduit. When this is 
not attended to,-arid the bottom of the drain is made so narrow that the 
stones of which the sides of the conduit are formed are obliged to be set 
on their edges, and the covers laid on them in this insecure state, they, 
in many instances, fall down before the drain is half finished, causing it to 
burst in a very few years, and often forming springs in the driest part of 
the field. 
In digging drains, there are several circumstances which, if -attended 
to, will greatly facilitate'the execution of the operations, such as having 
the stones laid down by the upper side of the lines of the drains before the 
work is commenced, to be ready in case the sides should slip or fall-in, 
which often happens in mixed soils, as, when this precaution is not at¬ 
tended to, the expense is not only considerably increased, but the work 
is done in a less accurate manner. Particular care must also be taken 
that the bottoms of the drains are made with a regular descent, so that the 
water runs from the one end to the other without standing dead; and 
where bore-holes or wells are necessary, they must be made before the 
conduit is laid, in order that the sand may be remo'ved which the water 
may throw up from the stratum below, and would otherwise be deposited 
in the bottom of the drain, which would thereby be rendered useless.* 
The dimensions of the conduit depends upon the quantity of water it has 
to carry; thus, in an outlet drain, it requires to be larger than in a cross 
drain, which-has only the water collected in itself to discharge. In gene¬ 
ral cases, therefore, the conduit in an outlet should be made from nine to 
twelve inches square, and, in cross drains, from four to six inches square. 
When the bottom of the drain is very soft, it must be laid with flag stones, 
to prevent the materials from sinking; and the stones forming the side 
walls of " the conduit must all be laid on their flat beds, and covered 
with strong covers well joined together and packed at their ends; the 
space above, in clayey soils, must be filled with stones, broken to the 
size of a man’s clenched hand, to within twelve inches of the surfarce of 
the ground, which remaining space must be filled with porous earth. Be¬ 
fore the earth is put into the drains, the stones must be covered with 
straw ; rushes, or turf with the green side downwards, to prevent the 
loose particles from subsiding into the crevices among the stones. In 
cases where all the water comes from bore-holes, or rises in the bottom 
of the drain, eighteen inches of small stones above the covers is sufficient; 
but when it comes from the sides of the drain, it is necessary to fill the 
drain above the covers with some kind of porous substance, six inches 
higher than where'the water breaks out; the neglect of this precaution is 
the reason why so many drains have so little effect in drying land. Figure 
3, plan 4, represents a covered drain filled agreeable to the above princi¬ 
ples, and which is well adapted in all cases when the drains are of a con¬ 
siderable length and- depth, and have a great quantity of water to dis¬ 
charge. 
In making covered drains, particular attention must be paid that they 
are not carried into the outlet at right, angles^ as their ends should be 
turned down in the direction the water is to run a short space before they 
join it. to prevent the w'ater in the outlet depositing any sand or sludge 
in their mouths, which will be the case if this is not attended to; indeed 
it often happens, on almost every estate, that the drains are stopped and 
rendered useless from this precaution being neglected The mouths of 
the drains ought also to be well built and secured with iron gratings, to 
prevent vermin from getting into them; and it must be examined from 
time to time, to see that it is in proper repair, and the outlet kept a suffi¬ 
cient depth, so that the water coming from the drains may run away free¬ 
ly, otherwise it will remain stagnant in them, to the great injury of the 
land. To obviate this, it is advisable that a person should be appointed 
on every estate, under the superintendence of the factor or land-steward, 
to go through every field that has been drained, at least once a year, to 
"This is often the case; for example, in draining Runnaby meadow, the 
drain B was completely filled with sand to the same level with the surface of 
the ground, within twenty-four hours after the bore-holes were made, which 
not only surprised many who went to see- the operations, but even the pro¬ 
prietor believed that the drainage of that part of the field could not be accom¬ 
plished; however, by persevering in removing the sand, and the strength of 
he springs diminishing in a few weeks, that part of the field was first dry. 
