70 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
3 
Management of Bees. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker — I propose to prepare 
a series of short essays on the culture and management 
of bees, to be published in your valuable paper month- 
ly, or as often as you think best ; not to crowd out other 
matter of more importance. The following subject will 
be taken as basis on which I intend to predicate my re¬ 
marks, to wit: 
“The condition and perfection of the brood combs and 
young broods in a hive of bees determines its success, and 
its profit to its owner.'’ 
In the discussion of this position, some hives and their 
uses may be examined, and bad management corrected, 
and in the course of the remarks I shall make, a new 
bee-hive will be proposed, a hive constructed on seve¬ 
ral entire new principles, differing from any other 
known, to my knowledge. It may be used as a swarm- 
er, or a non-swarmer, as may be most agreeable to its 
owner. As it is so constructed that swarms may be di¬ 
vided off in the appropriate season for swarming j 
young and fruitful queens are raised to replenish and 
keep perfect the young broods—instead of having the 
brood combs vacated in consequence of old and barren 
queens, which is the sure result of all non-swarmers in 
the course of a few years, with which I am acquainted. 
I think I shall be able to send you a model next month, 
with an explanation of its uses. No principle of the 
Vermont bee-hive will be counteracted in this, nor any 
conflicting sentiments with those set forth in my manu¬ 
al on bees, will be advanced. In the course of the re¬ 
marks I shall make, paralyzing bees by the use of fun¬ 
gus, and the practicability of doubling swarms for win¬ 
tering, will be considered and illustrated. And also 
removing swarms or hives of bees after they are too old 
to be profitable by the use of the pruning knife. 
As the perfection of the brood combs and young 
broods in the hives determines its success, the first 
thing to be attended to in the culture of bees, is, to fur¬ 
nish them with a suitable tenement, that will enable the 
bees to perform all their peculiar instinctive duties, and 
at the same time afford the greatest protection from 
their enemies. And here it should be remarked, that a 
box placed under a hive of bees affords the greatest pos¬ 
sible protection to millers, moth-worms, spiders, and 
other vermin, inimical to the bees, as it forms a most 
ready retreat, and most perfect harbor for these insects 
to conceal themselves from the notice of the bees in the 
day time ; moreover if this box is made in the shape of 
the roof of a house with the hive resting on the same, 
I can conceive of no invention that is so well calculated 
to facilitate the entrance of those night intruders; as 
the gable ends of the box afford a ready pathway for 
them when prowling out of their lurking place, and en¬ 
able them to crawl directly up into the hive among the 
combs, and there accomplish their pernicious and dead¬ 
ly purposes. 
A bee-hive that is designed as a swarmer should hold 
one and a half bushels,and be made with two apartments, 
upper and lower, by a horizontal partition, inserted at 
such a distance from the bottom as to leave a space 
which will hold one bushel, for the bees to use as a 
kitchen, as they will use this apartment to perform 
most of their labors and instinctive offices, by prepar¬ 
ing their brood comb and raising the young bees here. 
In the chamber or upper apartment of the hive may be 
inserted drawers, globes or other vessels to suit the 
convenience or fancy of the owner. If rightly managed, 
pure honey only will be deposited in this apartment, as 
the bees will dispose of the pollen of flowers, or bee- 
bread, by storing it in cells in the immediate vicinity of 
the young, where it is wanted to feed the larvae. It 
should here be remarked that a communication from one 
drawer to another should never be made (unless it is done 
to evade a patent right) for the labors of the bees are 
retarded until a sufficient number of bees are hatched 
to fill both drawers before they can make comb in either, 
as a perfect uniformity of heat is required to enable 
bees to make comb, the air in both boxes must be of 
the same temperature—and the communication will fre¬ 
quently deter the bees from depositing any honey in ei¬ 
ther. Moreover it will not be surprising if millers 
should be found on the outside of the boxes in the 
chamber of the hive. 
It is not material in what shape a hive is made, ex¬ 
cept as a matter of convenience both to the bees and 
their owner : bees will build their combs in any shape 
adapted to the space they are made to occupy, in the 
most economical and best possible manner, to save 
themselves steps and time. I prefer a wedge form for 
the lower part of a bee-hive on account of its conveni¬ 
ence in wedging the combs to prevent them from falling, 
and also to enable their owner in passing on their rear, 
to let down the bottom board so as to examine the inte¬ 
rior of the hive without being compelled to disturb the 
bees by raising up the hive. No objection should be 
raised against a square hive or even a round one, ad¬ 
mitting the bottom board can be suspended and closed 
at pleasure. As on the management of the bottom 
board, and other ventilating processes, depends the per¬ 
fection of the young broods in the hive, in a great de¬ 
gree, this part of the subject will be considered 
more in detail. The bottom board ventilator, and 
even a proportion of the hive’s mouth, corresponding 
with the number of bees in the hive, should be kept 
closed during the spring months, and at all chilly turns 
of weather during the breeding season, which usually 
lasts from March to October. There would seem to be 
an objection to this practice on account of the return of 
the moths among the combs again after the bees had 
dropped them down upon the bottom board. But when 
it is known that at this season of the year a moth worm 
was never known to make the attempt to return to the 
combs after he was dragged from the place of his con¬ 
cealment in his armor, his activity and ambition being 
at once subdued by the action of the atmosphere and 
rough treatment of the bees, the objection is removed 
at once, for it is but little trouble, and requires but lit¬ 
tle time to let down and clean off the bottom board, oc¬ 
casionally , until the hive is so replenished with young 
bees, as the weather comes in hot, so as to render a 
chill among the young broods impossible. Then the 
bottom board may be suspended three eighths of an inch 
below the edges of the hive, to enable them to keep any 
web from forming or worms from crawling up into the 
hive, as they are able to crawl up only in hot weather, 
at the same time the bees are able to reach this dis¬ 
tance and raise themselves upon the edge of the hive ; 
moreover, in hot weather I have seen bees form a rope 
or ladder, six inches in length, to enable any working 
bee to ascend upon the combs without being compelled 
to crawl up the side of the hive. 
By the use of the bottom board a perfect ventilation 
in the draws is formed in hot weather by the buz of the 
bees in the lower apartments, by forcing more freely, 
good air, softened by animal heat, through the aper¬ 
tures into the draws, which expels the air that is ex¬ 
hausted of its vitality, (or pent heat) and enables the 
bees to prosecute their business in the draws to the best 
possible advantage. (This is what has brought cham¬ 
ber hives into use, and this is what constitutes one 
point of the letters patent in the Vermont bee hive.) 
Truly yours, J. M. WEEKS. 
Salisbury, Vt. Feb. 20, 1841. 
Produce of Three Acres. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker — I will give you the 
product in bushels and by count, of what grew on three 
acres and three rods of ground, in the summer of 1840. 
I will call it three acres, for there were four large apple 
trees on the land that little or nothing would grow un¬ 
der. I will also state the price that the articles have 
generally sold for at home or in New-Haven, 14 miles 
from this. And here let me state that notwithstanding 
all that has been said against the China tree corn and 
the extravagant price that it was sold for by the ear, I 
do think that our friend Thorburn has conferred a fa¬ 
vor upon the agricultural community of America, in the 
article of corn that is worth thousands of dollars. 
The three acres were stalk land in the spring of 
1840, which produced the year before about 50 bushels 
of shelled corn to the acre. There was a light sprink¬ 
ling of manure put on the land, and the rows split run¬ 
ning north and south, about 25 rods long, which was 
all the plowing except where the flax, ruta bagas, and 
peas grew. 
And first, 10 rows of rohan potatoes, product 75 bushels, worth 
33 cents per bushel,. $24 75 
One row of blue kidney, excellent for eating, 8 bush¬ 
els at 37g,. 3 00 
40 rows of China tree corn, 90 bushels as sound as 
ever grew, at 62 , 3 ,. 56 25 
Six bushels of white beans, sold at $1-50,. 9 00 
And here let me state that after my corn came up, 
and was hoed once, there was so much said against 
the China tree corn, I began to think 1 might lose the 
crop, so that I planted it all over with beans between 
the hills, and the product was as above stated. 
Five rows of pumpkins of all kinds, shapes, and co¬ 
lors, from the nut shell squash, to 100 pound loaf¬ 
ers, 200 in number, besides the small ones, princi¬ 
pally sold at New-Haven, from 6| to 17 cents apiece, 
call them 8 cents each,.-•. 16 00 
100 cabbages fit for market, besides scores of small 
ones raised among the pumpkins, at 5 cents each, ■ • 5 00 
Three rows of white flint corn, extra pains taken, 
dung in hill, no beans, product less than China tree, 
6 bushels, at 621,. 3 75 
Six short rows of broom corn, 28 brooms, worth 10 
cents each,. 2 80 
Four bushels of seed, weight over 40 pounds per bush¬ 
el, worth 371,. 1 5° 
22 hills of melons, used in family, say $1-00,. 1 00 
12 quarts of flax seed sowed the 14th of May, product 
3 bushels of perfectly clean seed, worth $1-00 per 
bushel, and judged to be 100 of flax, that is worth 
here $12,. 15 00 
Four bushels and IS quarts of perfect marrowfat green 
peas, as can be raised in this part of the country, 
from half a bushel of seed sown the 14th of May. I 
have sold a part of them at two dollars per bushel, 
the others will sell in the spring. And here I will 
observe I think that I lost half the crop of peas by 
the drouth, they were sowed too late,. 9 12 
125 bushels of ruta baga, sowed in drills 23d of June. 
On account of the drouth the greater part did not 
come up under four weeks, worth 25 cents per 
bushel,.* 31 25 
Three large loads of corn fodder, worth for stock 
three dollars, . 3 
$181 42 
Perhaps some of the readers of the Cultivator may 
think that the prices here put to some of the articles are 
too high, hut it is nothing more than the greater part 
of them have been sold for already, and the others will 
be, or fed out to stock. It is true the rohans, ruta 
bagas, cabbages or pumpkins, are not worth the price 
here put, to make pork or beef, or at the prices those 
articles fetch. I have kept no account of the expense 
of tending those three acres ; and I will only say it was 
well done as every farmer’s work ought to be done. 
The potatoes and China corn, planted 25th and 27th 
of April, I should think that one-half of the main stalks 
of the China corn had two good ears, many three, and 
frequently four. I can say all ripe, not a soft ear in 
the piece, and seldom any moldy or swarthy. I have 
ten bushels of the China ears to sell for seed all gath¬ 
ered two ears from each stalk, no more nor less. And 
I will challenge any farmer in the state of Connecticut, 
to produce more bushels of corn, of any kind, or weight, 
from one acre, than I can next year, life and health 
spared, and extraordinaries excepted. If any of the read¬ 
ers should think that I am only a gardener., with a few 
acres of land, and that in the highest state of cultiva- 
tion, they may know that those three acres are a part 
of my farm of 175, and in no better state than nearly 
100 which is cultivated in wheat, rye, corn, oats, grass¬ 
es, &c. every year. 
You will readily perceive that my occupation is more 
in holding the plow, than in writing for the public 
prints. Yours, CLAUDIUS ALLEN. 
Cheshire, New-Haven co. Conn. Feb. 14, 1841. 
Culture of Indian Corn—Great Crop. 
Messrs. Editors —I send you a statement of Mr. 
Elias Sheldon, as delivered to the committee for 
awarding premiums on agricultural products, of the 
Cultural and Mechanic Art Society of Enfield, Somers, 
Ellington, and East Windsor. S. D. CHAPIN. 
“ The land on which I raised my crop of Indian corn 
the season past, had been under cultivation a number 
of years, and is what is denominated ‘ old field.’ It 
had the previous year been sown to rye, the stubble of 
which was turned in sometime in the month of Februa¬ 
ry, 1840. Nothing more was done to the land until 
about the 1st of May, when I carted upon the piece at 
the rate of 25 cart loads of manure to the acre, from my 
barn-yard. It was spread, and the cultivator passed 
over it so as to cover the manure. The land was fur¬ 
rowed each way with the plow at about three feet dis¬ 
tance. The hills were made where the furrows inter¬ 
sected each other. A part of the piece was manured 
in the hill with well rotted manure, and a part with plas¬ 
ter of Paris. The corn was planted on the 17th day of 
May last, dropping into each hill four kernels of corn. 
The corn was carefully hoed twice, and at each hoeing 
the cultivator was used by passing it between the rows 
each way. At the second hoeing unleached ashes were 
dropped about the hills of corn at the rate of half a pint 
to a hill. The third hoeing was omitted, but the culti¬ 
vator was used as before by passing each way between 
the rows. The produce was at the rate of one hundred 
and ninety bushels of ears of corn weighing forty-five 
and a half pounds per bushel, and two cart loads of 
pumpkins per acre. ELIAS SHELDON.” 
Somers, Conn. Jan. 30,1841. 
Winter Butter. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —There is scarcely one 
operation of the dairy more important to the farmer, 
than the manufacture of good butter ; and in the winter 
time, experienced dairy-women are frequently disap¬ 
pointed in their endeavors to procure it. 
The plan now used in my family with perfect and in- 
variable success, was adopted from seeing its practical 
operation in the winter of 1825, in the family of Dr. 
Jones, of Halifax county, Virginia. Mr. Fessenden 
published an account of it in the first edition of his 
“ Complete Farmer,” in 1834 ; but having seen many 
plans recommended in agricultural journals during the 
present winter for making good butter, of rather an 
equivocal character to my mind, I feel persuaded that 
the method now in use by my family would prove a 
great saving in labor and cream, wherever adopted. 
The process is simply this : As soon as your milk is 
brought in, strain it into tin pans or pails, of a suitable 
size, and set them upon hot coals, or where convenient, 
upon a cooking stove, and allow the milk to heat gra¬ 
dually until the temperature is nearly up to boiling heat 
—from 130° to 150° Fahrenheit will answer. Then set 
them away and allow them to stand forty-eight hours. 
By this time the cream will rise in a thick leathery 
coat, and in quantity and quality that will surprise any 
one who has never before made the experiment. Take 
it off and churn it by stirring with a wooden paddle, 
which is our method, or in any other convenient man¬ 
ner, and the butter will be produced immediately, and 
of the finest quality and flavor. The cream is perfect¬ 
ly separated from the milk by this method,—perfectly 
sweet, and there is never any disappointment in the 
speedy manufacture of the very finest quality of but¬ 
ter ; and it gives more butter from the same milk than 
we have ever been able to obtain in any other w r ay. 
Cream may be rendered oily by heating, and butter 
entirely spoilt in flavor by heat, at a much lower tem¬ 
perature than I have suggested ; but new milk will bear 
heat to any degree short of boiling, without the least 
injury to the cream which subsequently rises. 
It has made my heart ache to see an industrious wo¬ 
man stand three or four hours over a churn, to be re¬ 
warded in the end, perhaps, by an indifferent turn-out 
of ill-looking butter of a doubtful flavor, and I trust I 
may be excused for urging the trial of this method upon 
every one who may not already have become familiar 
with it. The quantity and quality of the butter will be 
increased, and the labor of producing it most essential¬ 
ly diminished. Respectfully your friend, 
WILLIAM S. WAIT. 
N. B. For the convenience of heating milk in vessels 
adapted to that purpose, it may be well to state the fact 
for the benefit of those who may not already be ac¬ 
quainted with it, that all the cream will rise from milk 
as speedily and effectually when set away in a deep pan 
or pail, as in a shallow vessel,—and the process of 
skimming rendered more easy and convenient. 
Greenville. III. Feb. 3 1841 
