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THE WISCOI



     THE BEE KEEPER.

     Trhe   y-A    Gk*  of well-settled Fatb.
     1. All stocks of bees should be kept stronj
  in numbers. A well-garrisoned city may defj
  assault.
    2. A moderate increase of swarms will keel
  them strong, and secure the largest yield oa
  honey. As the calves are raised, at the cost
  of butter and cheese, so bees are multiplied at
  the expense of honey.
    8. Bees filled with honey are not inclined tc
  sting. As the robber's knife is stayed by your
  purse, so bees are bribed with proffered sweets.
    4. In natural swarming, bees fill themselves
  with honey.  Emigrants to a new country
  carry their treasures along, as capital to begin
  with.
    6. Bees, alarmed with smoke, or otherwise,
 instinctively seize upon their stores. The
 house-holder, at the cry of fire, secures what
 he can.
   6. There should be no communication be-
 tween occupied hives, allowing the bees of one
 to pass directly into the other.  "No house is
 large enough for two families."
   7. A swarm of bees, destitute of a queen,
 fast dwindles away, and, unless supplied with
 one, soon perishes, either by robbers or moths.
 A country without a government, a fatm with-
 out an owner.
   8. Swarms having combs insufficiently pro-
 tected by bees, furnish a retreat for millers and
 food for worms. Unguarded treasures invite
 thieves.
   9. An excess of drones should be avoided
 by discouraging the construction of the cells
 that produce them. Drones are the " dead
 heads" of the hive-the useless males in the
 farmer's herds.
   10. The building of drone comb may, to a
 great extent, be prevented; first, by securing
 the construction of new combs, in hives con-
 taining young queens; and second, by placing
 frames to be filled irk other hives, near the cen-
 tre. "' An ounce of prevention is better than
 a pound of cure."
   11. Queens are most economically reared in
small swarms. Who would employ ten men to
do what one could do better?
  12. Small swarms, if united in the fall, win-
ter more safely, and consume less honey."
-In union there is strength."
  13. Bees of colonies containing fertile and
unfertile queens, should not be put together
without first " breaking them up," i. e., induc-
ing them to fill with honey, and destroying the
unfertile queen.
  14. Natural swarming, always uncertain and
perplexing, exposes the bee-keeper to much
loss of time and money; while artificial swarm-
ing. securing at all times the presence of a
worker-layer queen, dow away with all watch-
ing, nd loss by flight to the woods, is both
mire and economical.-K5y to Bee Keeping.



NiSIN FARMER.

                ]ee Gevernment.
    Undoubtedly the Great Cruator and Wise
  Law-giver has instituted a got'ersst for the
  bees; yet the swarm requires no leader, nor
F the colony a sovereign  The administration is
  not committed to any one individual. To each
  member of the community, whether worker,
f drone, or queen, is assigned a specific duty,
L task, or function; and the disposition and de-
t sire to labor in its vocation is implanted into
  each, so that in their several spheres all oo-op-
: erate for the general good-the welfare of the
* commonwealth. The queen-the mother bee
-is, indeed, of the first and highest import-
I ance to the colony; but she is not its sover-
eign, nor in any aspect its guide, leader, or
* governor. Impelled by the instincts of her
nature, she performs her duties in the family,
like every other bee, in accordance with her
faculties and to the extent of her ability.
Nevertheless, she occupies, on the whole, a
subordinate station. The supreme power re-
sides in the masses. Decision and action em-
anate from them as a body. Their will deter-
mines; their wishes rule. Though ordinarily
shey tenderip nourish and cherish, protect and
defend the queens, drones, and brood; yet
when the prosperity or preservation of the
.colony demands it,' they imprison, mutilate,
expel, or destroy either. From their arbitra-
ment there is no appeal; their decree is abso-
lute and subject to no reversal; and their
power cannot be resisted.-Baldenstein.



    THE POULTERER.

            Plea for the Chickens.
  If any cold-blooded philosopher doubts that
domestic fowls have cold toes in cold weather;
or if any careless keeper of poultry is in the
habit of practically ignoring the existence of
his chickens and turkeys, except when they
come upon the table, we beg to assure them
both th* they are in serious error. Fowls
need protection and care just as really as hors-
es and cattle, and he who neglects to provide
shelter and food is guilty of both cruelty and
bad economy. It is impossible that they should
either fatten readily or lay eggs plentifully un-
less kept warm and supplied with an abund-
ance of Appropriate food. The rudest kind of
a shed for roosts are better than nothing. A
little pains for a few nights will get them wont-
ed, and then if well fed with grain, meat and
vegetables, they will reward you with plump-
erroasts, and morefrequent and merrier cackle.



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