Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1859 — Farmer's Department. [ARTICLE]

Farmer's Department.

CONDUCTED BY AN AGRICULTURIST. BAD LUCK WITH BEES. The Cause of it Illustrated. Some people never have any good luck with honey bees. Well, what of that? Some people never have good success in anything. Some men have been to California, and returned without having been able to find any gold in that State, and believe to this day, that all the stories they ever heard about gold there are false. But the neighbors know that in that special bump such a fellow is touched with mania. But we are told the bees die, or get cross and sting-the cattle. horses, poultry, and the children. They rob or lay out and won’t work, and after watching them the whole season, never swarm—or, fight and sting like blazes, when they do swarm; and after staying an hour or two, in the top of a tree, or all round the body of the tree, and being whipped in a “gum” or“scap” work a day or two, and cut up the deuce, generally,then all at “wunce” they start out and “gwoff. l ” “I never have no luck with ’em, no how. They never like me nor i ’um.” Now hear how my neighbor manages his bees. Mr. Max is a wiseacre, full of saws, a very knowing man—a man of industry, attentive to farming, knows by the looks of- the new moon how. much it it is going to rain that month, plants in the sign, and docs his work generally as nisi ‘•four fathers” did before him. Mr. Max bo-ght two swarms of bees which he paid for in feheep, “kuze he'd hern it sed that bees never did well when paid for in money.” lie took them home where the broiling heat of summer, would strike with scorching rays directly on the hives, “kaze, il theys put where the first raze of the suu would strikb.’em tliade ginter work airlier the morijin." As if sipping dew, would be making noney! On Friday, earlj’ in June Mr. Max told bis wife, he' rather thought the would swarm pretty soon and yes must’keep a sharp look cut fo.r fear they’ll “gwolf.” Sure enough about eleven o'clock, while he was at work in the liv'd ■. little distance from the .house, his wife call' d to him, in great escilement, to come quick “here bees swurmin.” “Get the l\c-11, wife,” shouted Max, “tis an cislucky d ;-. . I'm r r-J. thee ”1 gwoff.” By the time Mr. Max had :;r--;ved at the' house, the young swarm ln.fi nearly all left the p went hive and were looking round for a convenient place to settle on. But alibis-; interesting moment, wile was fully engage-! in amusing them with the jingle and dong of a cow-bell. Suke had a tin pan hammering on't w itii a spoon. Jim had a small brass kettle which he was pounding with a. sad-iron. Nat had the shovel and tongs. Mr. Max ran to the barn for a string of sleigh bells. Tom, who had been left back to hitch the horses, now came-up with a hoe and clevis, which he was slamming with all his might; Mr. Eck’s, the hired man, now joined the melee, with a double barreled shut gun. which was fired into the thickest of the bees which, as he said, made a hole in them as big as a hogshead. At this juncture, frightened and maddened with the discord dire and horrible din, and treated as hey hid been not only with much mu sic but with lead pills, fire and brimstone, the bees commenced a sort of dizzy, irregular whirl, rapidly ascending till they brought up, seventy feet from the ground, on the uttermost twig of a tall oak, some three feet through, about thirty rods from the house. “I’m feered we'll lose um arter all we’ve did to save ’em” said Mr. M ix despondinirly. “They’s mighty cross” replied Ecks, “they’s stung me like hujas.” “They’ve banged up one of my eyes lather,” answered Tom. “They’re proper tetchy, an itnm i,”said Suke, “three or four of ’em got into my hair.” “Yes,”-said Tom “an’ ’twus well for ye, your hair was all down over your face or ye'd got yer blue eyes bunged up as tight as I haye mine.” “And yer pretty cheeks would have been redder than they'r now,” rejoined Mr. Ecks. “Well John Max what’s to be done!” asked the wife. “Spose we have to cut the tree,” j answered Mr. Mux, but Mr. Ecks suggested I i that they send to one of the neighbors and get a long ladder and he would try to climb ' the tree and cut the branch. This being done, the swarm was pitched off', and when half way down, it burst apart, when many of tfie bees caught, their wings and settled about the body of' the tree just below one of the i largest limbs, but the main part of the swarm fell to the ground, where a bucket of cold water was dashed on them.- This application somewhat cooled their ardor. Those that were not mashed in the fall or d owned with the water, crawled moodily and sullenly up the side of a “gum” which had been placed near them, and after infinite teasing, were driven into it, and at night were taken home and placed near the old ones. Next day was cool, and true to their instincts, the new bees went industriously to work as if nothing had happened, only they were a little cross and stung the team and drove Suke into the house, from which she took a dislike to bees because they never liked her. And ever after, she was afraid of them. But on Tuesday the sun rose, red and clear; and long before noon the bees, of both the old swarms <'ra'> led out r 'n th*' shaded sifio

of their scalps, in a noisy, disturbed and threatning posture, indicating anything but good humor. Now and then a bee, heavily laden, would come to the new swarm, dance around the bench, now hissing hot, as if doubtful of scorching his feet, then suddenly dive in. A while after dinner Mr. Max. Tom and Ecks sat resting themselves in the refreshing shade of an apple-tree, a few paces from the bees, watching their movements. All at once a loud roar in the midst of the new swarm, indicated that they had been holding a public meeting, in which they had been debating ami passing resolutions—a public meeting, which was now breaking up with enthusiastic cheering. In a moment thev came pouring, like water, out of the hive, and before cow-bell, tin-pan or musket could be brought effectually to bear on them, they were sailing high up over the tops of trees, and in a line for off. Three or four flakes of comb, cups filled with honey, bee-bread, and young larvae, were left behind them in the hive. “Well, ’ said Mr. Max, after his unfeigned surprise had somewhat abated, “I did not spect nothing no better on ’em when they swarmed out on Friday. Friday's onlucky day for bees anyhow, as I've always hear’n;” and then, after a thoughtful pause, he added. by way of consolation. -It’s not our faultwe done all we could to save 'em, anyhow.’’ “I never though bee were very profitable.” replied Mr. Ecks. “N w and then a feller can do something with ’em, but on the whole . they cost more nor they come to.” . At night, when Mr. Max came in from work, “Pappa,” said Suke, “Mr. Peek’s folks sais, that widow Fable told them the reason our bees went off, was kaze, EsqNott, that you bought ’em of, didn't put any mourning on his scaps, four years ago, when his grand-daughter, Diana, died.’-" “That 'counts fo-’t,” responded Mr. Mrx. . “Woml.T sum j of the hadn’t<told !me that afore 1 bought ’em. Old Nott will ■ never sv, ..-idle me again in this way. Here is me andTom, and Mr. Ecks and the team lost our day’s work Friday for them are bees. I'll sell 'em first chance I can get my money back.." 5 tol'r-u in Jan. “mother said she woitlua t hud Suke battered up her thilver spo in ow c 'uip- a, for a i the bees were ion n r say nything, Jimmy,” repin. I >uiie, her blue ey-s contrasting brilliintly with her red c!.. eh-, “M..t!,er said -yus m-. ‘ s;p >;led th--hrass k -ttle h immerin r -.viili t’m if “ “Fl! t. !! E Nolt .a’ this swimlie. fira time I se ■ bi sighed Mp. M ix. iii .1 tool: t'l. 1 bees -do not i irtake of thy su I'er-1 ition. "laey khew nothing of the death, of Mr. Nott's gruud daugl-ter, and i; had no more influence on t.heitn than that of the goddess Diana of the Epli -si ms, as v >u might easily see if you were not as stupid aa donkey. They began to wiork well after all your abuse of them, and were reluctantly forced to leave their comb and young brood, as you would have found to your cost if vou had attempted to drive them, simply because the heat was .so intolerable they could not 'Stay there and live. With them, it was only a choice between death and a better location. Their instinct readily cecided that. The reason tlnw chose the high branch of a lofty' oak to settle upon at first, was, not because it was Friday, but because you assailed them with that direful clatter and hostile shotting. You confused them. You. made them angry. Finally you frightened them with the siilphurious smoke of gunpowder, and their instinct led them to ascend out of your reach, for a secure place to alight. Even then they showed no disposition to laave their native home fora distant land. You compelled them to leave by placing them where they could not comfortably live. Not one swarm in five hundred will ever go away from the place where they are reared, it treated with common prudence and common sense. Bees are readily provoked and easily frightened. They ought to be aipproached without excitement or violence, and without unnecessary noise. Time of Cutting Wheat.-—Hundreds of bushels of wheat were lost the past season by not cutting in time. In wet seasons like the past, spring wheat wants watching daily. When trie head of the wheat is saturated with rain, and the scorching sun pouring <lown upon it, three days will ruin it if not watched and cut down. It wants cuttingthe very day it is out of the milk. Go into the field, squeeze the kernels between your lingers, and if the milk is not visible, cut it down immediately. In a good season, it is well to let it stand until it is in a doughey state, such that you can but just squeeze the sides together. All wheat wants cutting in the doughey state. Cabbages.—To secure true solid heads on those stalks th.-.t manifest a disposition to grow to what is known “ns long shanks,” take a penknifeand stab it through the middle: insert a small piece of wood to keep the incision open, which will check the growth. A Goon Law. —By a lawj>f Prussia, every child be’ween the ages of seven and fourteen, is required to go to school arid learn to read and write. In 1845 there were but two persons in a hundred who could neither read nor write. 2,228,000 children of the 2,900,000 between seven and fourteen years, attended scliool. In the standing army of 126,900 but two soldiers are unable to read, in case of her taking part in the war, Prussia can bring into the field 300,000, in one sense the best eduentod military force in the •verb'