[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] TRANSFERRING BEES. last spring, and has been multiplied with success, and queens of pure blood have been sent into almost every part of the Union. More than one hundred of them reached California during the past autumn. It appears that California is the American paradise of bees. They swarm there from five to seven times a year, and the climate is such that they do not pass a single week without gathering honey. We are not surprised that the Italian bee has been propagated so much more quickly in the United States than with us, although we are so much nearer to their native country. It is because the Americans possess two things of which we have but little, they have their pockets full of dollars, and a good dose of German enthusiasm. The same correspondent speaks of the recent commencement of a monthly bee journal published at New-York under favorable auspices. Welcome to our new brother, and may he have numerous readers. We regret exceedingly our want of knowledge of the English language, as we would not willingly lose a word of the novelties it will contain. Bucks Co., Pa. C. W. TAYLOR, ANSWER TO J. E., Belmont Co., O. He wishes to get the bees and combs from a large to a small hive. The proposition of opening the holes in the top, and setting an empty hive over, will not be likely to succeed. The trouble and annoyance that attend the bees in the attempt, will be very likely to interfere with their labors. If the hive they are in is a good one, aside from its size, and the comb new, I would cut it off at the bottom, leaving the proper dimensions. If the bive and combs are old, let them be till they swarm, when that may be put into a suitable hive. Three weeks from the time the first swarm issues, drive out the balance of the bees into a new hive also. If the hive they are in is too large for them to swarm, drive out a swarm at the proper season, set it on one side the old stand, 18 inches. The new one the same distance the other side. If either gets more than half the bees, put it farther off In 3 weeks drive out the old hive, as in the other case. Should it be desired to make the present [For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] hive smaller, the bees should be pacified with tobacco smoke HOW TO KEEP SAP-BUCKETS. first; then with a square make a mark where it is to be cut off. At this season, (April,) when most of the combs are empty, the MESSRS. EDITORS-In the Co. GENT. of April 3d, an inhive may be laid on its side-even without anything over the bottom to confine the bees, and the boards of the hive sawed quiry is raised as to the best manner of keeping sap-buckets off as if it were an empty box. The hive may then be turn- through the summer. In reply will give my experience. ed bottom up, and the combs cut off even with the bottom My buckets are made of cedar; they are light and durable. with a knife, one at a time, the bees brushed back as you Two hoops at the bottom and one at top. When the " sap. proceed. When done, the hive may be returned to the stand, and the bees hardly know that anything has been done. The ping season" is over I collect by buckets to the boiling whole thing is done quietly, simply by the use of smoke. It place," and scald them thoroughly in water. This will preI then is not necessary to smoke them continually, nor a great deal vent their being worm-eaten during the summer. at any time, but an occasional puff will keep them peaceable. stack them 3 and 4 deep bottom up, and put them away in At the beginning a few strong puffs may be required. a good dry place in an out-house. In this way have kept them from year to year, never having lost a single one from St. Johnsville, N. Y. any cause. If your correspondent will pursue this course with his buckets, I will warrant them all right the next spring. Take them out the next spring, tap the hoops a little, scald them out, and you can then tap the trees and your buckets will hold the sap. M. QUINBY. [Translated from the French Bee Journal for the Co. Gent.] An Editor's Experience in Keeping Italian Bees. WHAT IT COST HIM TO INTRODUCE ITALIAN BEES INTO HIS APIARY, Up to this time, March, 1861, (having had the Italian bee one season only,) we are not able to decide the question whether they are more active than our own bce. We find them to be very eager in their searches after honey, great gourmands even, and we frequently see them endeavoring to enter the neighboring hives. If honey be placed at a certain distance from their hive they discover it sooner than the native bee. As to its strength we would judge that in its combats with our native bee it is overcome three times out of four. The day that we received our bees they were in a most attractive good humor, the fatigue of the journey had overcome them, and we believed in good faith that they were endowed with a most exemplary sweetness of disposition. We here affirm to those who do not love bees because they fear their sting, that these never sting. We moreover can add, as the German gardener wrote last year to the "Society of Acclimation" at Paris, "that the Italian bee shows itself attached to its master to such a degree that there is no necessity for using a bee hat or masque in approaching its hive." But we shall take good care how we propagate the story as did the aforesaid gardener, that the Italian bee goes to work two hours before our native bee-that is to say, a long time before daylight in the morning. We are of opinion that if the French public were to encounter Italian bees foraging for honey by the aid of lanterns, they would occasion numerous inconveniences to their owners. This, of course, is often the case in Germany. Having told your correspondent C. F. S. how to keep his sap-buckets, I want him to tell me how to prevent hens from eating their eggs? If there is any remedy short of cutting their heads off, should like to know. J. F. BABCOCK. P. S. Very little maple sugar made in this vicinity, on account of depth of snow. Winter wheat is looking well. [For the Country Gentleman andCultivator.] KEEPING DUCKS---INQUIRIES. MESSRS. EDITORS--I wish this season to raise a dozen ducks for profit, but there is no brook or spring on the premises, and I dont want to have them wander off to some distance from the house in search of water. How can I fix a place for them in the yard? I suppose setting a tub in the ground would be a good plan, but we haven't any tubs to spare. A flour barrel of course would leak. It would be too much expense and trouble to dig out a little pit, and line it with cement. If I had a tub, trough or some such thing, I should have to fill it from the well once in a while. Will you or some of your correspondents please tell me what is the best and easiest way to fix it, as the ducks cannot be kept at home without some access to water? Is raising ducks to sell profitable? I wish some one would answer "A. A. U.'s" inquiry in current volume, page 173, of your paper, about a disease of fowls in which they lose their neck feathers. I have a rooster Many persons have sought to obtain these bees of us, and that has lost a good many feathers from his neck, and strange when we have told them the price, they have exclaimed in looking red skin shows. The rest of his skin seems very astonishment. But it cost us 440 francs to import 9 colonies, dry and scurfy. He is dull and very lean. His plumage is or about 50 francs each, (about $10 U. S. currency.) This is very shabby and homely, while before, that is last fall, he not dear, for we know of others who have had great difficulty was a very handsome spangled rooster. He has been just so in saving one colony out of three. We may here mention 4 or 5 months. His appetite is good enough, and he is only M. Abbe Vochelet, de l'Eure, who procured a couple of a year old. What is the trouble with him? He isn't lousy. colonies last year, and they cost him 70 francs each ($14)| In cleaning out the hen-house the other day, I got a numWhoever desires a novelty, has got to pay for it. We will do what we can to multiply these bees, so as to be able to furnish them at a reasonable price the coming autumn, otherwise our friends will have to import them and take their chance as we did. ber of hen lice on me. Oh, what bothersome things they are! You have to take everything off immediately and search thoroughly for the little rascals, or you will learn how a lousy hen feels. I might tell you how I made keeping a few hens and selling their eggs profitable, even when I had One of our New-York correspondents, Mr. ERRICK PARM-to buy all the grain to feed them with, but perhaps you don't LY, writes us that the Italian bee arrived in the United States care anything about it. [Let us have it.] G. M. Conn. thing like wool speculating; you never know anywhere near where you are to land. BUCKINGHAM. Duncan's Falls, O.. March 3, 1862. We can endorse all our correspondent says in favor of Prof. Cochran's Farm Account Books. They were noticed in this paper when first issued, some years ago, and we kept them for sale as long as we could procure them. If to be had at all, now, it must be by applying to Prof. C.'s widow, Mrs. E. Cochran, Detroit, Mich. The price of the three books was $2. [For the Country Gentleman. and Cultivator.] COCHRAN'S FARM ACCOUNT BOOK. EDS. Co. GENT.-I notice in the last Co. GENT. a long article on farm accounts, and as it is a subject in which every farmer is interested, and as the first of April is approaching, the best time of the year to commence, I wish to introduce to your readers a sett of books gotten up expressly for the purpose, by the late Prof. COCHRAN of Detroit, Mich. It is nine years next month since I jumped, as it were, out of a city on to a farm. From that date to this, I have kept an account of most every[For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.1 thing connected with it; and of all the books I have seen COAL TAR FOR FENCE POSTS. or could make, there has none seemed so well suited for MESSRS. EDITORS-In Co. GENT., vol. 19th, page 221, a farmer as the sett mentioned above. No doubt some is an article by B. W. ROGERS, in relation to the preservaof your readers have seen it, and appreciate it. Five tion of fence posts, &c., in which he recommends the use minutes every evening, one evening at the end of every of coal tar and rosin in equal parts. I believe that the month, and one day at the end of the year, will give you rosin is superfluous. Inclosed you will find a chip which was taken from a fence post set five years ago, smeared with coal tar alone; it was taken out about three or four inches below the surface, where a post usually commences to decay. The adjoining post, split from the same log, (and I should think the two lay side and side,) set at the same time, but not coal-tarred, has decayed so that you can kick into it more than an inch. This in my estimation, proves the efficiency of coal tar. In applying the The time table is about as perfect one as can be arrang-tar, I think that the timber should be well seasoned; heat ed, as under head of remarks you can write down what the tar, letting it boil a few minutes, then apply hot. An your labor is at each day, as the table will show the time old paint brush is the best thing that I have ever used for and place. It will do just as well for a farmer of a thou- | putting it on. Cover the whole surface of the post that sand acres, as for one of a hundred; no matter whether is to remain in the ground, and from eight to ten inches he keeps one hand or twenty, except in the latter case it of that above. After it has dried, which is usually in one would be necessary for him to sew a few leaves into the or two weeks, tar again as before, and as soon as dry the Ledger. The Ledger has paper ruled especially for posts are ready to set. If Mr. Rogers will try the experipoultry and for farm produce. ment, I think he will find that coal tar alone will be as efficient as though rosin were mixed with it. an account of everything-a balance sheet at the end of every month, and at the end of the year a general statement of what you have lost or gained, whether on field A. or B., dairy or cattle, hogs or sheep; and then you will know how to lay the ropes for another year. This sett of books consists of a day-book and ledger, and an explanatory book accompanying them, In the last part of the day-book is a time table, made as follows: [See table above.] In The explanatory book will teach any one in a few hour's time, so that they will have no trouble whatever. this way also many of our farmer boys would learn how to keep books, which in after life would prove useful to them. I have been often amused in looking over my books, as at first I thought of stock, horses were the most profitable to raise, whereas in the series of years I have lost money at it, and find that these insignificant sheep (as some designate them,) have never failed every year to pay a good interest above both feed and care, whether wool was thirty or sixty cents a pound. So of wheat, between the midge, rust and frost, it only held its own, while potatoes are as sure as sheep. Buying and feeding hogs is some Huron County, O. YOUNG FARMER. [For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] DOMESTIC TEA. Before I close I will give you the name of a leaf that makes as good tea as the average you get from China, for you may know that a good deal of that brought from China is not gathered from the Tea plant, but from wild herbs. Pick the common blackberry, while young and green, and the red raspberry leaves--dry, and mix half and half. This makes a very good tea in taste and flavor. Try it. S. W. JEWETT. [For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] POUDRETTE FACTORY. EDS. Co. GENT.-I am very glad your correspondent J. M. C. has again called the attention of farmers to the manufacture of home-made poudrette, (as per Co. Gent. March 27.) I am not at all particular whether a brick vault or a wooden box is used in saving the fecal matters of the privy. The main object is to get the farmers to attend to this matter, and in the most economical way. For with J. M. C. "I think that this source of procuring a valuable manure is not sufficiently appreciated by our farmers, and this has been one source of waste on the farm that should be guarded against." Therefore I hope to be excused if I offer a "few more last words upon this subject, which by the way some may think a very stale one. "But evil to him that evil thinketh." In my communication in your issue of the 6th March, I quoted somewhat from Prof. S. W. Johnson's report, 1857, to the Connecticut State Agricultural Society. In this I quote from his Report of 1859. This I do, for 1 know of no one else who handles this matter quite as well as he does. He says: "James Smith of Deanston, the illustrious originator of thorough drainage,' is said to have asserted that the waste of one man for a year suffices to manure half an acre of land, and in Flanders we are told that the manure from such a source is valued at $9.00 per annum. "We shall err on the safe side if we assume the agricultural value of the exuviæ of each inhabitant to be $5 per year. It is easy then to understand that on an ordinary sized farm which supports a family of five to ten persons an annual loss of material may occur to the amount of from $25 to $50. "I fully believe that the night soil produced by a family of ten adults may be made to yield here, as it certainly does in Flanders, a clear profit of $100. "This is certainly no unimportant item in agricultural practice, and our best farmers are bestowing upon it the regard it deserves.” ་ The farmer who clears out his privy vault, but once a year, the contents of which are treated as nine-tenths of our farmers manage this matter, will be sadly disappointed if he expects to raise from it the value of five dollars from each adult member of his family. For, as says the Professor, “When urine and fæces are mixed together at a summer temperature, they almost immediately begin to decompose; the ammonia-yielding substances they contain, at once yield ammonia, which passes off into the air, and their sulphates are dissipated as sulphuretted hydrogen. This process goes on with great rapidity, and only requires a few days to complete itself. Thus the waste of nearly all the ammonia, the most costly ingredient, is inevitable, if the night soil be left to itself a few days in warm weather. It thus happens that the contents of necessaries left to themselves, as is the case ninety-nine times out of a hundred, are liable to, nay must, undergo great loss of fertilizing matters. As a result of these deteriorating processes the night soil as found in necessaries is greatly inferior in quantity, and vastly so in quality, to the original urine and fæces. This is evident from the analysis of the poudrettes which are manufactured from it. "During the present year I have had opportunity to examine a specimen of night soil taken from a large quantity collected in the village of New Caanan, and fairly representing the average quality of this substance as found at the beginning of winter in ordinary privies. I am indebted to Edwin Hoyt, Esq., of New Canaan, for this sample." The Professor gives the analysis, "as taken from the heap," in contrast with the original unadulterated article. But it is unnecessary here to give the figures. The result of the analysis, however, showing there was but half the original amount of ammonia in the fæces, and but one seventh as much as in that of urine. Beside much loss of other valuable constituents of the mass. "The night soil collected then in villages and cities may (as in this case) undergo a loss of 80 to 90 per cent. in quantity, and a large additional deterioration in quality.' This fact thus demonstrated by analytical figures that cannot be called in question, explains why many practical men place so little value on this fertilizer, because when left to itself, and only removed from the vaults once a year, it amounts to little more than a noisome slop, chiefly made up in fact, as well as in appearance, of paper, cobs and sticks. I have thus freely quoted from Prof. Johnson, for he has put the matter in a language that "a child might understand," and a question here presents itself, "how can the farmer make the most of these deposits?" The Professor recommends a similar plan to that I described in my letter in the Co. GENT. of the 6th March, viz.: Provide a sufficient quantity of well dried pulverized muck, (a good loam will answer,) which in the summer season should be daily applied in quantity sufficient to absorb the liquid portion. The whole mass in warm weather should be daily mixed by the use of a hoe, which come out (from the quantity of muck used) should " clean." "As the mass accumulates it may be removeda cleanly, decent job." The contents may be piled up under cover, or what I think a better way, it should be spread in some outbuilding, dried, sifted, and put up in barrels or boxes for use when wanted, or the dried material may be used several times over, so says the Rev. H. Moule, pages 110 and 111 Patent Office Report 1860. One more extract and I close. The Professor says"This programme makes indeed a good deal of work, muck to be hauled, and somebody must fork over the stuff every day; but it will pay; there is no doubt of that. The work will not be offensive, the compost will be rich, the privy itself will be a place not to be ab horred !" L. BARTLETT. [For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] A Good and Cheap Farm Gate. EDITORS CO. GENTLEMAN-I have noticed that you have described almost every kind of farm gate except the kind I make; and as mine is the cheapest and simplest I ever heard of, I will describe it. I take a stout chestnut rail with one straight flat side, and cut it off to the right length to reach from the ground to the top of the post it is to hang to; put a band on the lower end, and an iron pin in it, say seven-eighths or one inch in diameter; then lay it down and lay on the boards, enough to make it four feet high, (beginning say four inches from bottom,) and scribe on each side of the boards, saw in and chip out with a chisel until you let them down flush; then nail them, and nail on an inch strip to hold all fast; put an inch board on each side at the latch, and bolt them, and then brace on with three inch carriage bolts, taking about eight, costing two cents each, and the gate is done. A good man can make half a dozen a day. To hang them, put a rock at the bottom of the post, and drill a hole two inches deep in it for the foot, and either put in pin and band, or round the top of the rail, and spike on the top of your post a plank projecting over with a hole in it. The three links and hook I consider the best fastening. I think it a good plan to plant a tree near the post, that it may grow into a gate post by the time the present one decays. I have 16 gates of this kind on my place, and think them a great saving of money where time is worth seven shillings a day. I intend to keep making until I am rid of the old bars. JOHN HINCHMAN. P. S. Some of my gates have an iron eye at the top for the top pin to play in, and some have neither brace nor tie rod, and yet they do not sag. If big post sags, a wedge of stone or wood between foot rock and post brings all up right, J. H. Cheese for the English Market. mated at 257 lbs., or of cheese at 514 lbs., at the rate of 24 lbs. to 28 gallons of milk. Aiton sets the yield much A cheese-dealer in New-York, who ships large quanti-higher, saying that "thousands of the best Ayrshire cows, ties to England, writes to a dairyman of Herkimer county as follows: : "The cheese for the English market should be colored, but not too deeply-not darker than straw color, and not over salted, which was the great error committed some years ago the great desideratum being that the quality of the cheese should be rich; and the cheese should be well pressed, avoiding that porous character, which we are glad to say is now much less frequent than it used to be a few years ago, but which is still occasionally complained of by English consumers. [For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] when in prime condition and well fed, produce 1000 gallons of milk per annum." One of the four cows originally imported into this country by John P. Cushing, Esq., of Massachusetts, gave in one year 3864 quarts, beer measure, or about 966 gallons, at 10 lbs. to the gallon, being an average of over 104 beer quarts a day for the whole year. This and some other yields of Ayrshires in this country being not so large as those stated by Aiton, Mr. Flint suggests that our climate is less favorable to the production of milk than the moister one of Great Britain. At page 31, vol. 17 of Co. GENT., we find an account of a cow belonging to a farmer in Maine, which with only ordinary feed, gave a produce from April to January of 250 lbs. of butter and 45 lbs. new milk cheese, besides raising a calf; and appended to the account the editorial remark that a whole dairy of such cows would be very the profits of the best; and that consequently, to make generally enough poor milkers to eat up a good share of dairying profitable, we must discriminate more closely, and keep only paying cows. At page 97, same vol., we find that Mr. SHATTUCK'S dairy, consisting of 30 cows, or 22 full grown cows and 8 heifers, yielded in butter at the rate of 191 lbs. per cow, or calling the 8 heifers equal to 5 cows, at the rate of 212 lbs. per cow. The Average Yield of Milk and Butter per Cow. MESSES. EDITORS-I presume that there are many of your readers who, as well as myself, might adopt the lan-profitable, though in herds of ten or more cows there are guage of J. W. PROCTOR, of Essex, Mass., and say in regard to several articles on the above subject, which appeared in your volumes of last year, what he has said in regard to one of them. "I have been much interested," says Mr. PROCTOR, "in Mr. Wattles' statement of his Dairy Products for several years past." I also was much interested in that communication, as also in several others which treat of the same subject, and of others closely connected with it; and thinking that the statements made in the course of last year would go far towards determining pretty satisfactorily what might be considered a fair milk and also a fair butter yield per cow-or at least, an average yield of these two dairy products-I concluded to collate all the statements bearing upon these points with the view of obtaining conclusions which might be considered final, or at least sufficiently satisfactory on these points, which had not yet been settled beyond all question in my own mind, nor, so far as I could judge from inquiries and conversations, in the minds of any of my neighbors. As there may be several who would like very much to have these points settled and fixed in their minds, or in some form of record for future reference and guidance, and as the statements made in the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN for 1861, seem sufficiently numerous and sufficiently trustworthy for the purpose of obtaining such fixed and final conclusions, I have been induced to present to your readers the results of my investigations in as brief and as serviceable a form as possible. in regard to the large dairy of Z. PRATT, Esq., consisting Small Dairy" of 6 cows, from which, after reserving about In deducing inferences from the facts about to be pass-cow are called equal to 3 cows. ed under review, it should be remembered that the produce of a cow, whether in milk or butter, must depend very much upon the breed, the size, the food and several other circumstances which must be taken into account, and for which allowance must be made, in forming an opinion as to what might be reasonably expected from any particular cow, or as to whether any particular cow is a good, average or poor milker. butter yield of the dairy of Mr. ALBERT YALE, and whoAt page 162, same vol., we have an account of the ever will turn to his statement and observe the several As manifestations therein given of a superior and unusually judicious management, especially as to plastering his mea dows and pastures, frequent salting of his cows, cutting hay earlier than usual, and a few other points, will not be surprised when he learns that, after such superior management, Mr. YALE gets a yield of 255 lbs. of butter per cow-that being the average of 10 cows for one year. AGRICOLA. [For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.] To Keep Bugs off Squash or Cucumber Plants. cloth, and set them over the hills. When not in use pack Before proceeding to collect into one view and collate the several statements to be found in Vols. 17 and 18 of the COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, being the vols. for 1861, it may serve a good purpose, for some one at least, to state what Mr. FLINT in his "Milch Cows and Dairy Farming,"the highest authority on the subject-says in regard to the average and maximum yields of Ayrshire cows. a specimen of maximum or very large yields, Mr. F. says, "The Ayrshire cow has been known to produce over ten imperial gallons of good milk a day." As to average yields it is said, "Youatt estimates the daily yield of an Ayrshire cow, for the first two or three months after calv- BARN-YARD MANURE FOR WIRE WORMS.-A Wayne ing, at five gallons a day, on an average; for the next Co. correspondent of the Rural New-Yorker, says that three months, at three gallons; and for the next four" common barn-yard manure in the hill will prevent the months, at one gallon and a half. This would be 850 gallons as the annual average of a cow; but allowing for some unproductive cows, he estimates the average of a dairy at 600 gallons per annum for each cow." Reckoning that 3 gallons of the Ayrshire cow's milk will yield 14 lbs. of butter, the annual produce in butter is esti SUBSCRIBER. wire worm from destroying young corn." We have observed that corn, hill-manured suffered less from worms than that without, but supposed it mostly due to the more rapid growth of the corn. It will pay well in any event to try the experiment-pay in earlier corn and a surer and heavier crop. The following Table gives the Capacity of the several Sizes of Rams, and the Dimensions of the Pipes to be used in connection with them. Weight of Pipes, (if of Lead.) Discharge. Thus the reason is quite apparent why your correspondent, Messrs. Editors, "has seen nothing in opposition to the general adoption of the ram." A deficiency in fall or A correspondent of the GENTLEMAN of April 17th, re-in supply of water, a leak in the discharge pipe, or of too marks that "much has been said in favor of the ram and little or nothing as yet in opposition to its use; adding that "he knows instances where it has failed and been thrown aside." No doubt of it. He desires to know how he can prevent its stopping, a source of great annoyance. In answer to his inquiries, I send you Douglas's statement concerning the quantity of water furnished by spring or brook, size of drive and discharge pipes, &c. It is of general interest to all who do or may use a ram for raising water. It is as follows: [See Table at the head of this page.] I judge from the statement of your correspondent, that there may be a lack of water to work a ram of that size. His strainer on the supply or drive pipe, may be too coarse or too fine, or omitted entirely; there may be a leakage in the discharge pipe; or the stroke of the valve may be too long. Any one of these difficulties or a combination of two or more of them, would account for the stoppage. Greater head or fall than named in the table, will demand heavier pipes used both for driving and discharging. Mr. Douglas says, "where the fall is great a small ram should be used. A brook or spring furnishing 7 gallons a minute, with a fall of 8 or 10 feet, No. 4 should be used. If only three or four feet fall, then use No. 5. Douglas states that "the ram may be used where but 18 inches of fall can be had, yet more is better." To enable any person to make his own calculation as to what fall is sufficient to supply a ram to raise a given amount of water where wanted, it may be safely calculated that about one-seventh part of the water can be raised and discharged, say 10 times as high as the fall applied, and so on in the same proportion as the fall or rise varies." Mr. D. adds, “if a ram be placed under a head of 5 feet, of 7 gallons drawn from the spring or brook, one gallon may be raised 25 feet, or half a gallon 50 feet. Or with 10 feet fall, of 14 gallons drawn from the spring, one may can be raised 100 feet, and so on in like proportion." Prof. Loomis says, "the power expended in working a ram is the product of the quantity of water used, multiplied by the height through which it falls before it acts on the machine. The useful effect produced is the product of the quantity of water raised, multiplied by the height to which it is elevated. In experiments carefully made for the purpose, the expense was found to be to the useful effect as 50 to 32; that is to say, the machine employed usefully nearly two-thirds of its force. The valve may be made to close from 40 to 100 times a minute, according to the range of motion allowed it, and the pressure of the water." An English writer on the hydraulic ram says "it is an exceedingly useful machine for elevating water to a considerable height. It is simple in construction and has no parts liable to get out of order, and will work continnously for years without repairs, after being once put in operation, all that is required being a small stream of water with a few feet of fall, it being dependent for its operation on the momentum of the falling stream, which is confined in a supply pipe." long a stroke in the movement of the valve, which in Douglas's rams is so made as to be adjusted to a longer be productive of evil. So it is if a man builds his mill or shorter stroke-any one, I say, of these defects, may where the fall is insufficient, or the supply of water is too small, his case would be a failure, but this would be no argument against the use of water power for driving machinery. So of the ram. When the requisite conditions are all complied with, the ram will work with as much certainty as does the machinery in a mill driven by waterpower, where there is a good fall and water plenty. GEORGE [For the Country Gentleman and Cultivator.j The Culture and Removal of the White Pine. Of all American Evergreens, none are more beautiful or of more early and rapid growth to maturity than the pine; hence the value of the pine becomes enhanced to those who would attain an early maturity in shrubbery for the adornment of a rural home and its surroundings. It is best to remove the pine from the mountains where they usually grow, at as early an age as practicable-say when the plant is 6 or 8 inches in height, at which time you will place them in your garden in rows three feet apart, and a space of two feet between each plant in the row. Be careful that each plant has a ball of earth attached to its roots as large as a quart cup. You will now, during the growing season, be careful to you would your garden vegetables. work them as Your trees may now remain from two to four years in your nursery, as may best suit your convenience. The most desirable size for transplanting is when the tree has attained the height of three or four feet, at which time it will have become perfectly acclimated to your soil. The best time I find for removal to be from the 20th of March to the 15th of April, the winds having to a great degree abated. In removing your pines from the nursery, be careful to prepare a hole from three to four feet in diameter, and loosening the bottom six or eight inches below the roots of the tree. Never set the tree deeper than it grew in the nursery. Be careful in removing, to dig sufficiently far from the body to avoid injuring or bruising the small fibrous roots, as these are necessary to the life and growth of the tree. Take up all the earth you can, which will adhere to the roots in removing from its bed, placing, if necessary, a broad plank or sheet under the roots in lifting the tree, to prevent the dislocating of the earth from the roots. Set in carefully, and tramp with the feet until all is firm and compact. If the season is very dry, water occasionally, and if the tree is large, three stakes may be driven diagonally, to which fasten the body, to prevent the winds from loosening the earth at the roots. Be careful not to place them in clumps in your landscape grounds, nearer each other than 14 or 16 feet, or you would avoid a second removal. I have adopted the above plan in the cultivation of the pine, having grown many hundreds of them, and scarcely lost a tree. ISAAC P. SHELBY. Fayette Co., Ky. |