The Farm.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 453, 16 December 1881, Page 23

The Farm.

Cloveb. — A. field of clover should be in the rotation of crops on every farm. Why ? 1. It makes the best of hay, cut early and well cured. 2. The roots and dead leaves ploughed under are equal to a good coating of manure. 3. It is one of the best of cleaning crops. Even the Canadian thistle cannot stand before it. Cut at the proper time ; thistles and all other weeds are prevented from going to seed. The tftcond growth of clover will smother the thistle and other weed roots. This plan cleans better than following, and keeps a crop in the ground all the time. No field goes to waste. Suppose you have six arable fields of ten, twelve, or fifteen acres. Establish a six years' rotation. Manure the field each year. The farm will improve. There will be an end to " running down." Red clover is a long, tap-rooted plant. It will find the elements of fertility that may be in the surface, and store them there for future grain crops. Clover does most good sown alone. Prepare the land in the fall. Sow twelve pounds to the acre at the earliest moment in spring. A fair cutting may be had the first season. The second will give a better, and when the hay is off a second crop may be taken off for seed. Then plough under the old roots and dead leaves. The result will be a good seed bed for any grain you wish to sow. — Rural Canadian. Value of drainage. — As a matter of fact there is very little land in our country that would not be improved by drainage. Many light soils are springy, and the crops are injured in them by stagnant water. Heavy land can never do its best until drained. Vast areas of low-lying but rich land are practically valueless for waut of drains to carry off the redundant moisture which forbids the growth of any but acquatic plants. Many who admit the importance of this improvement are puzzled about the ways and means of effecting it. The Drainage Journal mentions the following plan, which is well worthy of serious consideration : " Some enterprising tile manufacturers select careful farmers who own flat lands and make them something like the following proposition : That the farmer make a careful estimate of his average crops, and the tile manufacturer proposes to furnish vhe tile necessary to drain thoroughly the land designated in ,tbe agreement, the farmer to furnish the labour of putting in the drains at a stipulated price, to be paid out of the excess of crops grown on the land over and above the average y ; eld before agreed upon, and the tile manufacturer agreeing to take the balance of the increase in four or five crops (as agreed), to cover the cost of the tile. On level lands, where the average crop in five years runs low and the land by nature is rich, it is a safe proposition for the tile manufacturer if the farmer honestly performs his part of the contract. On rich level lands, that need drainage and need it badly, it will pay twenty-five per cent, annually on the investment, and in some inatances more." — Ibid. Bke-cui/tt/be. — " Your bees have butchered all the bees of one of my stocks and have taken all its honey," recently said one of our Bowdon bee-keepers to another. This is not a very common occurrence, but it occasionally happens. The bees of weak hives are sometimes over-mastered and killed by robbers more bent on plunder than war. September is a month of fighting and robbing amongst bees. The weather during this month is generally warm enough to induce them to fly abroad ; and, as flowers so late in toe season do not yield much honey bees will have it elsewhere if they can obtain it. Hence their constant attempts to rob other hives, and to enter those not well defended. The fine weather of September, it may safely be said, is spent by bees in seeking and defending hoarded wealth. In this work there is a great loss of hives. Hives are often greatly reduced in strength, and the slain may be seen in heaps near the doors of hives which have been persistently attacked. Artificial feeding is the cause of many destructive battles, and therefore the administration of syrup in mild weather is not unattended with risk. Whatever feeding is necessary in September should be given as speedily as possible, in order that it might be stored up, and the bees settle down into the quiet of winter life. Continuous feeding now would keep the bees in a constant state of excitement, and came them to eat the food given to them instead of storing it up. During the last six or eight weeks bees here have gathered no honey, and have had to live on what was stored up in July. During this time there has been an enormous consumption of honey. Hives that were well filled -with honey and heavy at the beginning of August had lost much of their weight by the beginning of September, and during the last two or three weeks the consumption of honey has been great. An examination of hives, minute and thorough, was suggested in a late issue of this journal. Those who have not examined their hives should do so as soon as they conveniently can, and see that the hives are clean and cosy, also well stored with bees and honey. Many beekeepers in the spring months of the present year found great difficulty in inducing their bees to leave their nests to take artificial food. Both top and bottom feeding failed to entice the bees to leave their combs, the weather was so cold. Proper attention to hives now would prevent the necessity of untimely feeding in spring, and keep the minds of apiarians at rest about their bees during the winter and early spring months. The various modes of feeding are understood, and all are very good. We have boards with tin troughs in them sufficiently large to hold 3 quarts or 61b. of syrup in each, which we use for rapid feeding in autumn. Sach troughs filled with good syrup and placed uader strong hives are emptied in two or three hours ; and they are so constructed with tubes and funnels that they can be filled and refilled from the outside without disturbing the bees or uncovering the hives. The tin troughs in our feeding boards are 11 inches wide and l£ inch deep. For the purpose of storing syrup rapidly large pie dishes and dripping tins with chips of wood in them can be used in hives not full of combs ; and hives full of combs can be raised by ekes to admit the dishes and dripping tins between combs and boards. By-and-bye the weather will be too cold for feeding bees— too cold for them to elaborate and store away food for winter and spring use, too cold for them to nurse a brood if breeding

commences. As soon as feeding is completed the boards of hives should be well scraped and cleaned. If wet they should be dried or changed. If their doors are not already contracted they should be for two purposes — viz., first, to keep mice out, and secondly, to prevent unnecessary loss of heat. If mice find access to hives in winter they are very destructive. The bodies of bees are not eaten, but, after all are beheaded, the mice eat the honey. As bees like to close themselves cosily up in their winters quarters, and keep the cold out by using propolis in small cavities and crevices and in cementing the hives to the boards, we approve of the use of mortar for the latter purpose, for it tends to drive the rain that may Jail on the boards off and outwards. The covering and protection of hives on the approach of winter is of more importance than many beekeepers seem to believe. Protection from both rain and severe frost should be aimed at. Nothing answers better for an inner covering of hives than a good thickness of soft dry hay placed over and around them and pressed close. For an outer covering wheat straw well drawn out and combed with the fingers, and neatly tied, answers and looks well ; indeed, no other kind of covering on hives looks so well. Straw ewers are cheap, characteristic, and, if well made and put on, are ornamental. Roofing felt and other kinds of materials are used for covering hives. In large apiaries substitutes of all kinds are used as covers. The distance for hives which are placad above the ground is a question of very great importance. Our hives in summer are about four inches above the ground ; in winter we like to have them about eight inches above the level. Snow seldom is more than eight inches deep. Hives should be above the snow line in winter in order to be kept dry, for wet boards in frosty weather may become too cold for the bees standing on them. Even if the moisture of boards does not become frozen, it will cause the combs to decay. After hives are covered and secured for winter, very little, if any, attention will be required in the apiary till about the middle of February.— Journal of Horticulture.