Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1866-06-23
AGRICULTURAL.
HABITS OF BEES.


to send out one or more swarms annu
ally until the locality is fully stocked
with colonies.
2. In hives of this capacity, and will
the locality fully stocked with bees
they will give but an average of aboLt
10 lbs. of surplus in boxes, in com
mon seasons.
3. They will consume go lbs. or more
during the breeding season and Winter,
giving one-seventh to the keeper and
consuming six-sevenths.
4. From one to three weeks time is
lost by them in preparation for swarm
ing, so far as gathering surplus is con-
cerned, aud this in the very heart of the
honey season.
5. La the construction of their cells
and building their comb, they will ar
range for brood and their Winters home
in the center of their hive. In taking
up box hives, the good, clear honey is
found in the top of the center sheets,
aud in the whole body of the side sheets.
And the outside sheets in movable
comb frames are the sheets saved for
surplus.
6. If there is plenty of room in the
hive for all the colony, and ali the stores
| they can gather, they will not be likely
to swarm. Mr.. Qulmby says of the
large hive,-"The swarms will not be
prOportiOnably large when they do is
sue, which is seldom"
Z. The best arrangement for storing
surplus is in boxes of the capacity of
from five to ten or twelve, with glass
sides sufficient for n fair inspection of
the honey. Hdzen, an Rurm Nelo
Yorker.
THE PHoSPHAFRS FOR COWS.
A writer in recent number of that
excellent agricultural paper, the Coun-
try Gentleman, has been feeding bone
dust, mixed with salt, to some of his
cows, with good results, which he as
cribes to the phosphate of lime Such
an inference is legitimate enough, since
the food of mich cows is often deficient
IN those important elements. But it
would probably be more rational to
provide ones cows with food in which
PHOSPHORUS and the other constituents
of milk are present in considerable
quantities. Wheat bran abounds in the
phosphates, and no man should pretend
to keep mich COWS without occasionly
-dntA bAtG OllCnGI TIC bCIbEI- IIedLiuR
them to a mess of it. 1t contains more
of the constituents Of milk than almost
any other kind of feed. The best dairy
men of whom we have knowledge act
upon this theory.
BLACK WARTS or PLUM TREES.
1t Is now 30years since / set out plum
trees in my garden; when they began
to blossom, black warts began to grow,
and in three or four years all were dead.
After that L procured ten trees of a
nurseryman and set them, and when
they began to bear, black warts made
their appearance. Having seen an ac-
count in the Cultivator, that iron turn
iDgs, If applied to the ground round
the tree, would stop their growth, /
tried them. 4 procured a quantity from
machine shop, applied about a quart
to tree, hoeing IT in all round, two feet |
from the tree at the same time, lit
was Spring. removed the black wart
did not see any more, except two or
three which / supposed escaped my no
tice at the time of the application, for
more than II years. The trees, after |
hearing tirst-rate, have mostly gone to |
decay, three only remaining This last |
Autumn 1 discovered few warts on one |
of the remaining trees. The account |
above alluded to said, if few nails were |
driven in the ground it would answer
the same purpose.-D. Fisher, IN BOS- |
ton CuLirdtOr.
MUTTON.
Experience has proved that mutton
for farmers use is cheaper than all 9th
an Tho nf char, 10
than balanced by the fleece that is gen
orally taken from them, and especially |
may this be said of sheep in mild eli |
mates, where the farmer is not compeli- |
ed to fodder but a small portion of the
year.
Another important item is the yearly |
increase. From it, if he desires, the |
farmer can supply his table with mutton
through the year we would, therefore,
advise saving the lambs, and kilt, as far
rs may be necessary, the older sheep.
1t is also a very convenient meat for |
the larder. A farmers family can very
rapidly consume sheep before it will
spoil, while this cannot be done with
beef, or other animals of large size, |
without adopting some method of pres |
ervatiOn. Besides, the time and laber |
employed IN killing and dressing sheep |
is but little compared with what is ne
eessary for large animals. Hence, as a
matter of convenience and economy, we
advise every farmer to keep a flock of
sheep.
That it is a healthy article of food, |
needs neither facts nor arguments to |
prove. We know that pork is the chief
meat of farmers, but when we consider |
the cost of making it. as compared with |
mutton, and the results obtained in the |
profits therefrOm, we think farmers
generally will give mutton the prefer |
ence.
CARE OF HARNESS.
The Rural World saws: Chow little |
care is bestowed upon harnessl How it |
is thrown about anywhere and every |
wherel 1t is not oiled or washed from |
one years end to another. Consequent |
ly the leather soon becomes rotton and |
the harness worthless. Harness is now
very high and it behooves farmers to |
take the best care of it. 1t needs but |
little oiling or greasing-one or two APP |
plications year being enough. But
every two or three weeks it should he |
washed In strong CASTLE soap suds. |
There is enough oil In the soap to keep |
the harness in good order. If oil is APP |
phed-neat's foot is considered the |
best-it should be applied after being |
washed with the CASTLE soap, say a
couple of hours afterwards. Have a
nice snug place to hang your harness. |
And always put it in its place so that |
you can put your hand on it at night