REMEDY FOR THE WEEVIL IN WHEAT.-MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEES.

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invested. Indeed, taking the United States alto-sunning. It is well to examine the wheat occagether, it is doubtful whether it does.

sionally, after it is sunned, and if there should be any appearance of the black weevil, fan the wheat all over again, and then sun it well the second time. It is seldom necessary to do this more than once, if the wheat is kept perfectly dry.

The white weevil attacks wheat only in large stacks, in houses when in the straw, and in the chaff after it is threshed. To prevent them then, it will only be necessary not to expose the wheat to them in either of the situations mentioned above. Let the wheat remain in shocks until it is ready to be threshed, fan it immediately after threshing, and then let it be sunned, and put away in a dry place, and securely covered. The white weevil is also common in the middle section of this State, though not so injurious to wheat as the black weevil. Butts Co., Georgia, May 18, 1846. IX.

Mr. Cockrill has had a large experience in both kinds of business-raising cotton and wool; and has a very large capital now invested in both branches, and he is confident that wool-growing in Mississippi would be better than cotton, at present prices. His figures are, that he owns 2,000 acres of first quality of cotton land in Madison County, Mississippi, and with his 135 negroes, he made in 1844, 1,035 bales, not quite 8 bales to the hand, which is more than an average crop, and which will not average over 5 cents a pound, is $20 a bale, exclusive of freight, commissions, and stealings. Besides the land and working hands, there is a large sum invested in teams and implements, and supernumerary negroes, besides a great outlay for medicine, clothing, and provisions, over and above what is produced upon the plantation. In fact, some plantations fall short of 8 bales to the hand, and make no clothing and provisions, but buy everything. I have stated the quantity of land and flocks and hands upon the sheep farm. These 2,000 head of sheep will produce $2,000 worth of wool a year at least, besides all the profit of the other stock mentioned. It is easy to see which capital pays the best interest. Why, then, does he continue the cotton business?-simply, beter of chance, wholly beyond the control of the cause he has not been able to get rid of it. He sold out when the business was much better than it is now, but the purchaser failed, and he had to take back the whole again. If Mr. Cockrill would tell us his experience, it would be far more valuable to your readers than these scraps and items which I have picked up by the way.

I have some more scraps of interesting matter in my notes which I have taken during my travels that I may be able to give you at a future day.

SOLON ROBINSON.

MANAGEMENT OF HONEY BEES.-No. 1. THE art of managing bees in this country is but Very imperfectly understood, so far as profit, health, and productiveness are concerned.

It is generally supposed that bees require little or from the ravages of the bee-moth, it is a mere matno air, and if they prove unproductive, or are lost

owner.

sonal experience in the management of bees for I now propose giving the result of my own persome years, on Long Island; and from the happy marks will not prove wholly void of interest, or effects of my course of procedure, I think my readvantage, to those who are unsuccessful in this branch of amusement and profit.

The first desideratum is the dimensions of the hive. There is a certain size, of which hives must be made, in order to ensure success in its greatest degree. If we make them too small, the REMEDY FOR THE WEEVIL IN WHEAT. unfavorable winter, and from the ravages of the bees are more liable to perish from the effects of an As no person has answered the inquiries of your bee-moth, in consequence of the weak condition of correspondent, Mr. Lewis, Vol. 4, page 377 of the the stock. If we construct them too large, the bees Agriculturist, relative to the prevention of weevil will require two years to fill the hives, and increase in wheat, I feel that I should not act liberally to by swarming is much lessened, and in some cases withhold some facts from him and the public, entirely prevented for a series of years. Now, in which have come under my own observation. As order to illustrate this position, I will observe that I am largely indebted to the Agriculturist, and its hives are used in this country from 8 by 12 inches, able correspondents, for much valuable information to 12 by 18 inches. If we use the smaller size, the on agricultural subjects, I am willing to contribute quantity of bees that the dimensions of the hive admy mite to the common stock, pro bono publico. mit of wintering over, is too small to do well, as In the middle part of Georgia, the black weevil it has been thoroughly tested, that strong stocks infests the wheat more or less every year, unless winter better, and consume less honey than weaker precautions are taken to prevent them. Sunning ones! This may appear strange to the uninitiated, the wheat three days, spread thin on a scaffold, will yet it is true, for the reason that the bees are less prevent them effectually. Put the wheat up while exposed, in strong stocks, to the various winter it is warm from the heat of the sun. It is best to changes of weather, to which our climate is subturn the hogsheads or boxes, in which it is kept, ject. A few warm days in winter will put the over a bark fire, and heat them, so as to destroy all whole of a small stock in motion, whereas a strong the eggs of the weevil about them. If the boxes one is much less affected; and when once aroused are too large to handle or turn over, place a stove, from their lethargy, they consume double the or a small oven in them, in which make a bark fire, quantity of honey that they do when in a state of so as to heat them, taking care to prevent accidents quietude. But setting this matter entirely out of from the fire. Some persons put lime, ashes, salt, the question, there is yet a good reason for having the leaves of the pride of India, and many other larger hives. Bees in their natural state throw off, substances, to prevent the weevil from injuring generally at first, swarms of a size that nature wheat; but my experience is decidedly in favor of teaches them are best adapted to prove prosperous;

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DOMESTIC FISH-PONDS.-NO. 2..

of winter weather, and also to be in better condition to resist the approaches of the bee-moth, than an extended surface would admit of.

Well, in regard to my large hives, I saw the fallacy of such dimensions, and conceived the idea of cutting them off in April last, while occupied with bees, which operation I performed personally with a common handsaw, the modus operandi of which I will give in a succeeding chapter, as well as of some other difficult and perilous performances. I say perilous, for, when a thousand bees dart with furious ire at one's hands or face, a small displacement of any part of his shield, by accident, would be worse for him than the charging of the Mexican batteries, as did the indomitable Capt. May and his valiant dragoons!

and it matters not how large you furnish hives, where they swarm, which is seldom in very large hives, the quantity of bees is not in proportion to the size of the hive, but in accordance with the laws of nature. Now, to come to the point with as few words as possible, I have found, from practical demonstration, that hives one foot square in the clear, conform more to the natural requirements of bees than any other. It is a consideration with apiarians who make a business of the sale of bees, to make their hives much less than this, as thereby they increase their profits. I have an instance of the deplorable effects of this, in the case of a neighbor, who went to great expense in building bee houses, which he filled with " patent hives," from a well-known apiarian of New York, on the principle of 8 by 10, or somewhere about this size, at After cutting these hives off, I found that they an enormous cost, and now, where are they? contained but a very few more bees than hives of From six hives procured several years ago, he has 12 by 12, of last year's swarms, and these stocks in only one now remaining, and when I last saw that hives of that size, actually swarmed this season one," solitary and alone," throwing out an occa- first. This result, with various other proofs, rensional pale sickly bee, in quest of food, while the dered it conclusive to my mind, that hives very near air of my premises was literally "vocal with square are best, and that 12 by 12 inches in the music," and the furious dashing whiz that resound-clear, when managed on my plan, is as near correct ed about my ears as I approached them, giving as can be. indications of power, vigor, and prosperity-I say, In my next I shall treat of the position of the when I saw this great difference from positions apiary-ventilation of hives the bee-moth; how only a few rods distant, I grieved that darkness guarded against, and the fallacy of the "patent should yet hover over the apiaries of thousands hive" system, as adapted and recommended by some who seem indifferent to their success, or rather con- of our apiarians. T. B. MINER. sider success as a matter of chance rather than of Ravenswood, Long Island, June 1st, 1846. science.

Having spoken of the effects of too small hives, I will now give my experience in too large ones.

In 1842 I had a few hives made 12 by 18 inches, in the clear. (In speaking of the size of hives, I refer to the body of the hive for the dwelling of the stock, without any regard to what are termed supers for storifying.) I found that it took the bees two seasons to fill them, and when filled they did not swarm at all some seasons, for this reason, that however great the quantity of the bees in the summer and fall there is in a hive, they dwindle away before spring, to a certain quantity, and thus leave a vacant space of some six inches, or more, at the bottom of the hive, to fill up with the increase of spring, while smaller hives are full, and are throwing off swarms in profusion. Not only does this retard swarming, but the queen bee, in whose power all swarming lies, surveys the space of her tenement, and if she finds that the whole room can be occupied by her vassals, she will either lay the foundation of no new queens, or when they are brought into existence, she will destroy them as fast as they appear, and no swarm is ever thrown off without a queen; hence, large hives are not only unproductive as regards increase of swarms, but there will not as much honey be stored in the supers in hives 15 or 18 inches deep, as in those of less depth, for the reason of the greater obstruction to which the workers are liable in ascending to the supers; this being the case, it would naturally suggest to our minds that broad and shallow hives would do better than those that are about square, such as I consider best. This would be the case so far as storifying honey is concerned, but it is important that the bees should be kept as compact as possible, to secure them against the sudden changes

DOMESTIC FISH-PONDS.-No. 2. Modes of Stocking the Ponds with Fish.-The ponds may be stocked from the nearest rivers, lakes, or ponds. If the fish are to be brought from a great distance in tubs or casks, the water must be changed every four or five hours, and always kept more or less in motion, particularly for trout. By adding ice, however, the time of changing the water may be prolonged. The fish, if possible, should be taken in nets, and be put instantly into the tubs for transportation; but if they be caught with lines, care should be observed not to wound them more than can be helped in extricating them from the hook.

It has been recommended to stock a pond by collecting ripe spawn and carrying it in water mixed with grass, and speedily placing it in the shallow and sandy part of the pond, in order that it may receive the influence of the heat and light of the sun; but how far this mode would succeed in bringing the spawn of the white fish and of the Mackanaw trout from the Great Lakes to the waters near the seaboard, nothing short of an actual experiment can determine. In attempting to introduce these fishes into Lake George, Champlain, Winnipisiogee, or other waters of great depth, or to introduce tench and carp from Europe into artificial ponds in the United States, the surest mode of success, it is thought, would be, to select with care, a small number of each kind of fish, just before their spawning season arrives, and convey them as speedily as possible, in large cisterns or tanks, paying particular attention to regulate the temperature of the water, and change it as often as circumstances may require. That the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), originally from the central

DOMESTIC FISH-PONDS.-No. 2.

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part of Europe, can be introduced into this country, abounded in its waters, as well as the smaller fishes is proved beyond a doubt, as Capt. Henry Robinson, common to all our lakes. In the Skaneateles, only late master of one of the Havre packets, of New-three miles distant, were found the perch and the burgh, N. Y., imported from France in 1831 and 1832, salmon trout, both strangers to the Otisco. A six or seven dozen of these fish, and put them into dozen perch of medium size were caught with some ponds on his estate, where they have bred hooks, put in a barrel of water, and transported freely every year since. They were brought in from one lake to the other without difficulty. The small parcels of two or three dozen each, about third year from their removal, the Otisco seemed to two-thirds of which perished on their passage. be filled with them; and I have frequently heard it For a few years past he has put from one to two remarked, that in that, and the succeeding year, the dozen, every spring, into the Hudson, near his re- perch, both for size and number, exceeded that of sidence, and they have multiplied so fast, that the any year since in these respects. . . . A quanfishermen frequently take them in their nets. It is tity of pickerel were the same season introduced in stated that, in Mr. Robinson's ponds, which are the same way; but they have not multiplied. small, they acquire a length of three or four inches Indeed, we have never heard of a fish of this kind the first year; but owing to the limited space in being taken in the Otisco." which they have to move, they do not ordinarily attain a length of more than ten or twelve inches. In the Hudson, however, they considerably exceed that size. They breed twice a year-the middle of May and of July.

66

Change of Residence of Fish from Salt Water to Fresh.-The introduction of salt-water fish into fresh ponds or lakes, has often been attempted both in Europe and in America, and in a few instances has been attended with success. In the London The common perch (Perca fluviatilis) of Europe Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and is so very tenacious of life, that it could readily be Art," for 1826, several species of fish are mentionimported into the United States, as it has been ed, as having been transported from salt water into known to survive a journey of nearly sixty miles, fresh, and that their flavor had been improved by when merely packed in wet straw! the change. The sole became twice as thick as a fish of the same size from the sea. The plaice also increased materially in thickness-in some cases, appearing three times as thick as when grown in salt water. The barse likewise turned much thicker, and improved in delicacy. The mullet almost ceased to increase in length, but enlarged in breadth, and presented a much deeper layer of fat.

The successful removal of several species of fish from one body of water to another, in this country, is known with certainty, as may be seen by perusing a paper by the late Dr. Mitchill, in the third volume of the "Medical Repository." He states that, in 1790, Uriah Mitchill, high sheriff of Queen's county, N. Y., and himself, went in a wagon to Ronkonkoma Pond, in Suffolk county, a In the same journal last mentioned, for the year distance of about forty miles. "The object of our 1824, we learn that the smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) journey," he says, "was to transport alive, some had been kept four years by Mr. Meynell, of of the yellow perch (Perca flavescens) with which Yarm, in Yorkshire, in a fresh-water pond, having this body of water abounds, to Success Pond, in no communication with the sea, and there "grew the town of North Hempstead. We took about well, and bred as freely, as under other circumthree dozen of those which had been wounded stances." In the "Philosophical Transactions," most superficially by the hook, and we were so for 1771, we find the following extract in a note, fortunate as to dismiss all of them but two into by Daines Barrington, then Vice President of the Success Pond, in a condition vigorous enough to Royal Society, to a letter from John Reinhold swim away. We were enabled to do this by filling Foster, "On the Management of Carp in Polish a very large churn with the water of Ronkonkoma Prussia."- "I have been informed by Sir Francis Pond, and putting so few fishes into it that there Barnard (the late Governor of New England), that was no necessity of changing it on the road, and in a large pool which he rented not far from Bosafterwards driving steadily on a walk the whole ton, and which had not the least communication distance, without stopping to refresh either man or with the sea, several of these fish (American smelt, horse. In two years, these fishes multiplied so Osmerus viridescens ?) originally introduced from fast, and became so numerous, that they might be salt water, had lived many years, and were, to all caught with the hook in any part of the water, appearance, very healthy." As Governor Barnard's which is about a mile in circumference." Another residence was not far from Jamaica Pond, in Roxinstance is recorded in the fortieth volume of Silli- bury, Mass., there can be but little doubt that the man's "American Journal of Science and Arts," by" large pool" mentioned in the above-named note, a correspondent from Otisco, N. Y. "About 15 referred to that body of water. Dr. D. H. Storer, years since," says the writer," Mr. Robert Kinyon, in reporting to the Boston Society of Natural Histhen living in the village of Amber, on the east tory, in 1840, on some smelts taken from this pond, shore of Otisco Lake, in Onondaga county, deter-said, "The specimens, you perceive, are considemined to make an effort to introduce into its waters, yellow perch from the Skaneateles, in the waters of which they abound; pickerel, from the cluster of lakes or ponds that constitute the extreme northern sources of the Tioughuioga branch of the Susquehannah river, in some of which this fish is very plentiful. Neither of these fishes had been seen in the Otisco; but suckers, an occasional white fish from the lakes, and the delicious speckled trout

rably smaller than those purchased in our market all that I have seen from this pond, for the last year, are smaller than those commonly met with. From the quantities yearly taken, however, they must have increased considerably in number, and their flesh has lost nothing of its sweetness or flavor, as I have repeatedly had opportunities of testing."

Among other instances in which fish from the sea have been made to reside in fresh water, may

be mentioned the successful introduction of the Panama, at which point the Cordillera has a less European cod, a few years since, into the lakes of elevation than is suited to its nature and wants. Scotland, where, it is said, they propagate freely, The point nearest to the equator at which Andes but, unfortunately, deteriorate in flavor. I have sheep were originally noticed, is said to be Rio recently been told that the American cod (Morrhua Bamba, situated in latitude 1° 38' S., about ninety americana) was introduced from the sea, at Hamp-miles southwest of Quito, and not far from the ton, a year or two ago, into Lake Winnipissiogee, snow-capped mountains of Chimborazo. The town in New Hampshire, where they have already begun stands 11,670 feet above the level of the sea, to to multiply, and it is thought will succeed well. which elevation the temperature of the air corresIt will also be seen by referring to vol. 3, p. 259, ponds. In this tropical region, and consequently of the American Agriculturist, that Mr. R. L. Pell, on a spot where excessive heats might be expected of Ulster county, N. Y., was attempting to "fresh- during the month of August, the two Ulloas rewaterize" some American shad (Alosa præstabilis) marked that, towards evening, the thermometer which he had caught in the Hudson, in front of his regularly fell two or three degrees below the freezfarm, and speedily placed in one of his ponds. ing point, and next morning rose eight or twelve These fish are said still to exist in their confined above it, which would indicate that, at certain habitation, and have begun to breed; but how far elevations, no land is exempt from the dominion of the experiment will prove available, in point of frost. profit, yet remains to be known.

New York, June 10, 1846. D'JAY BROWNE.

THE ALPACA.-No. 2.

ON no two points, according to our informant, do the early writers on Peru so perfectly agree, as in the number of species of the Andes sheep, and the purposes to which the Incas applied them. They state, as already observed in our last No., that there were four kinds, two tame and two wild-a fact too well established to admit of a doubt; and, as our avowed object in laying these sketches before the public, is to throw light, and elicit the inquiry, whether the rearing of the alpaca is applicable to the soil, climate, and rural industry of the United States, we shall not enter into these nice distinctions, but regard them as coming within the sphere of the practical zoologist, rather than under any effort of ours.

This

Although, from the point above mentioned, across the equator, the climate becomes milder, and vegetation more abundant, it has been remarked that the wild species do not pass the line, but continue stationary there a phenomenon for which some Peruvian writers have endeavored to account, by alleging, that the ycho or ichu plant, a coarse grass, and the favorite food of both the tame and wild species, does not extend further towards the north. It has been remarked by physiologists, that the size of animals is usually adapted to the nature of the country which they are born to inhabit. is not the case in the present instance; and whether we consider the great extent of the Andes mountains, their stupendous forms, the immense elevation of their summits, or the severity of the climate prevailing upon them, the more shall we be astonished at the diminutive size and delicate frame of the quadrupeds dwelling in those secluded recesses. The woolly natives, nevertheless, possess a hardiness of constitution, and a peculiarity of structure, admirably well adapted to the nature of their birth-place. There, during half the year, snow and hail fall incessantly, whilst in the higher regions, as before noticed, nearly every night the thermometer falls below the freezing point, and the peaks, consequently, are perpetually covered with an accumulation of ice. The wet season succeeds, when flashes of lightning traverse the clouds in rapid succession; the thunder rolls through the firmament in rumbling and prolonged peals, followed not by showers, but by torrents of rain, which, after collecting, fall headlong from the rocks, or pour into the crags and chasms, leaving the slopes bare of soil, and spreading desolation wherever they pass, till at length the stream is lost in some lake, or serves to swell the head waters of a river.

It is astonishing that the temperature of the air on mountains so peculiarly situated, and exposed to THE ALPACA OR PACO OF CUVIER.-FIG. 55. the full blaze of a vertical sun, should be so much Geographical Distribution.-The Alpaca (Camelus chilled as almost to present the desolate aspect of paco, of Linnæus; Auchenia glama v. alpaca, of the arctic regions; and yet such are the tracts of Cuvier) in its natural habitat, in common with its land upon which the Andes sheep abound and congener the llama, abounds on the Andes, where thrive-the flocks, more especially those of alpacas, its absence or presence is observed, as the summits being still, comparatively speaking, considerable in of these vast mountains become elevated or de- the vicinity of Rio Bamba, where the inhabitants pressed. Thus it ranges considerably below the evince a great aptitude for woollen manufactures, line of perpetual snow, from Chili to New Granada and carry on a trade in the raw material of alpaca (but not Mexico), without reaching the isthmus of and vicuña wools the women knit stockings,

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Pursuing their researches, the Spaniards ascertained that, at the period of their arrival, llama and alpaca flocks on the coast were kept as far as the fortieth degree of south latitude, and inland as far as the territory of the Araucanos, in which space they occupied the middle declivities of the Andes, facing the west, wherever population was concentrated. Alonso de Ovalle, a Jesuit, and a native of The most valuable breeds are said to come from Chili, in his "Historica Relacion del Reyno de Chili" (Rome, 1646), says that in the capital of Santiago, llamas formerly had been used to carry wheat, wine, and other articles, and also to bring water from the river to the houses.

the central provinces; and here it may not be irrelevant to observe that there are two varieties of alpacas, differing in size, figure, and fleece. The breed called coyás is the most diminutive, and is esteemed for the smallness of bone and symmetry Along the extended range above named, the tame of form. It is chiefly confined to the Cusco range breeds were left to browse. The sheltered part of of mountains, more particularly to that part of it a hill, the bottom of a dale, or the furzy heath, intervening between the ancient city of the Incas were their favorite haunts. There they picked up and Haumanga. It is thought to be a remnant of their scanty and scattered food, under the lower the old royal flocks, or those once owned by the boundary of the snow, ascending as it disappeared priests of the sun, who are represented as having from the surface. Sometimes they fed on the the choicest breeds. That territory was besides the mosses which fringe the rocks, and plants growing principal theatre of agricultural operations, the seat on the hillocks, or would descend the slopes and of power, and the centre of Peruvian civilisation, enter the ichuales (pastures of the ichu plant); It was from this breed that the beautiful white and while in the higher and more secluded regions, brown alpaca (fig. 56) owned by Mr. Cross, late of reaching nearly to the summits of the lofty chain, the Surrey Zoological Gardens, was obtained. as well as on both sides of the double line which it assumes in Peru, there dwelt the vicuña and guanaco in a wild state, and far from the abode of man, hunted only for their flesh and skins.

The comparatively small size of Peruvian sheep, | as well as of the vegetable forms by which they are surrounded, clearly indicates that the climate of the Andes is not favorable either to animal or vegetable growth. It has also been remarked, that there the human species is subject to the same rule; man decreasing in bulk and stature in proportion as he dwells near the mountain summits.

THE ALPACA OF MR. CROSS.-FIG. 56.

This specimen was originally brought from Lima, where it had been a pet; and the perforations in its ears, in which ornamental rings had been placed, were still visible. Its graceful attitudes, gentle disposition, and playful manners, were particularly attractive. Ladies frequently caressed it as if it had been a child. Although kept in the unwholesome atmosphere of a crowded city, pent up in a close room, and unavoidably fed on unsuitable diet, it nevertheless attained the usual age; thus affording as satisfactory an example of hardihood as could

Here, at an elevation of from 8,000 to 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, the Peruvian tends his alpacas and llamas, allowing them to range at the foot of the snowy cliffs called punas, or to wander on the paramos, or heaths, where they derive subsistence from the moss and lichens growing on the rocks, or crop the strong grasses and tender shrubs which spring up upon the flats, favored by moisture. On these commons the animals may be said to shift for themselves, exposed to all the rigor of the elements, and receiving no food from the hand of man. The shepherd only visits them occasionally; yet such are their gregarious habits, that be wished.