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Show MANAGEMENT OF BEES. An Iowa Woman's Plain Account of Hor ."Icthoris in the Apiary. Mrs. Henry Lown, an Iowa beekeeper, beekeep-er, gives tbo following straightforward account of how she manages bees in The' American Bee Journal: In the spring I clipped the wings of all queens that were not clipped. Colony Col-ony No. 1 swarms. 1 hive it. No. 1 is queenless. I cut all queen cells out of No. 1. When No. 2 swarms I cage the queen and lay it on top of No. 1. The swarm will find their queen and settle on top of hive No. 1. 1 move the queen cage to the front of tho entrance. Then they will begin going in. When partly in I give them their queen. Then war begins. 1 wet a rag with water and drop a few drops of carbolic acid on the rag. Then I smoke them in and push the rag in at one corner of the entrance. This gives them all the sanle scent and they are peaceable. 1 manage all my colonies in this way. I give them plenty of room. I have twenty-six colonies and work one-half for extracted honey and the rest for comb honey. 1 get the honey if it is to be had. In ten or fifteen days they will build queen cells and swarm out; 1 cago the queen and lay the cage in front of the entrance; then I cut out all queen cells. The swarm then comes back and goes in and begins to work as if nothing had happened. Sometimes they will build queen cells and swarm out the second time. I then cage the queen and cut out queen cells, when they will come back, go in and. give up swarming Sometimes 1 have three or four swarms a day. As fast as they swarm I cut out queen cells, so as to be ready to double np all swai-ms that come. 1 had thirty-four thirty-four swarms the past season and doubled np all but one that I hived. 1 am fifty-four fifty-four years old and do all the work in the apiary myself. As it has benefited me in managing my apiary in this way, 1 want others to be helped by it. 1 found it out by experimenting. V Ammonia In Manure. The prevalent idea that manure contains con-tains much ammonia is pronounced by an English authority as without foundation. founda-tion. It is'explained that the elements of "which ammonia is formed during decomposition, de-composition, viz., nitrogen and hydrogen, hydro-gen, are to be found in manure, but as decomposition is a very slow process the ammonia is very slowly evolved. As it is produced it is in the form of gas, which is dissolved in tbo water existing in the manure, or it combines with the abundant abun-dant carbonic acid evolved during the decomposition de-composition and forms carbonate of ammonia. am-monia. If is very rare that any ammonia Can be diitticfcad fwjiniua fep neaiH x aj lend odut oi manure pile is not caused b'y ammonia, but by compounds com-pounds of snlphur and carbon, the same as" those evolved by d.ecaymgegg3 and rotten cabbages. The"nnunonia of manure ma-nure is very slowly disengaged, requiring requir-ing a year or more before it is all pro-duced pro-duced and evolved, and as the sojl absorbs it freely there is scarcely any danger of any loss of this valuable part of the manure ma-nure as it is commonly used. The pungent pun-gent odor of a horse stable is causetl-by tho escaping of ammonia, nnd farmers lose more of this element of manure in this way in.oiie warm pight from an unclean un-clean horse stable than from their manure ma-nure heaps in a year. A pound of ammonia am-monia in manure is' worth seventeen cents, and a ton of manure produces in all only twelve pounds of 'it, according to the authority quoted. Hot .Water Treatment for Smut. The hot water-treatment for smut in oats consists in immersing the seed that is infected with smut for a few minutes in scalding water. The temperature must be such as to kill the smut spores and the immersion must not be so prolonged pro-longed that the heat will injuro the germ of the. seed. As practiced and recommended recom-mended by the Kansas station, the tern peratur'e of the water must be allowed to vary but little from Vi2 degs., in no case rising higher than 135 degs., nor falling lower than 180 degs. The plan suggested is to provide two kettles over a fire or two boilers on a cook stovo, one containing warm water, say 110-130, the other 132 deg3. The first is for the purpose pur-pose of warming the seed .preparatory to dipping it into the second, otherwise it will be difficult to keep the water in the second vessel at a proper temperature. The seed, is confined in a' wire basket that will allow the hot water to pass in and out readily as the basket is lowered and lifted, which should be done eight or ten times during the immersion, which should be continued fifteen minutes. At the end of that time cold water is dashed over the seed or it is dipped into a vessel of cold water and then spread out to dry Other portions of the seed are treated in the same way. The temperature of 132J3 degs. is maintained by adding hot or cold water as may be required. A Good Rean Crop. Now that improved methods of harvesting har-vesting have relieved the severe back-aching back-aching labor incident to pulling beans. Jthey may be grown on larger scale with less forebodings. They are best grown on level, dry land of heavy texture, but cultivated until it makes a mellow seed bed. Too much growth of top is the danger from heavy manuring with stable manure. Mineral fertilizers are best for this crop, and on a clover ley plowed after the clover has nearly got in blossom the yield is often twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre. It pays better than wheat, but needs frequent alternations with clover to maintain fertility, as the bean crop is an exhaustive one. Ameri can Cultivator. Worthy of Note. Among tomatoes attracting attention is McCollum's Hybrid, an early sort of excellent quality. The grape has increased in Massachu setts faster than any other 6uiall fruit and is largely grown in the northern section near New Hampshire. Grand Rapids is the name given to a forcing lettuce which is recommended by those who ought to know. Everybody is saying a good word for the bush lima bean, |
