The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-12-23
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
To KEEP A GATE Posi- FROM SAG
GING.-Various contrivances are adopted
for this purpose. Stones are rammed
into the hole; fat stones placed against
the inner fence, etc. The simplest,
easiest and best way is thus explained:
The hole is dug like ditch, say six or
seven feet long in the direction in which
the gate hangs. Set in the post about
the middle of the oblong hole. Place a
piece of timber about three feet long,
| firmly against the bottom, from the gate.
| Fill in the earth and pound it hard End
solid, especially around the horizontal
stick of timber. When the hole is about
two-thirds filed, place another similar
timber on the other side, and beat the
earth about it as with the other. Fill
the hole, hang the gate, and it will never
sag. 1t cannot. There is no pressure
you will ever put on the gate, that will
| push the lower outside timber endwise
through the solid soil, nor crowd the
other endwise in the opposite direction.
| Sometimes poor way is adopted OF plac-
| ing the short timber across the post, but
| this is far inferior to the mode we have
described. Red cedar would do well for
the buried timber, but as it is always
from the air, any hard wood will an
| swer.
SULPHURIc ACID AND WEEDs.-A cor.
respondent of the Journal of Horticulture
(Eng.) writes: Take an old backing
bottle, with wire around it to carry it
by, and a stick to dip with. The stick
should not be pointed, notched round for
an inch or two at the end, the better to
hold the liquor. Just one drop in the
heart of plantain is sufficient to cause
death, and the notched stick will contain
at one dip enough to destroy three or
four plants. If the acid is good, the
work of death can both be seen and heard.
for the vital Kisses, and it burns up the
| plantain in moment.
| A row of plantains foot wide sprang
up on lawn here, where an iron fence
formerly ran. The plantains were killed
in an hour, and have never appeared
again. 1t is three years since, and it is
| impossible to recognize the line of the
fence; it completely burns the roots
out. / have tried it on large dandelions
with the same result. One of the young
men there amused himself by hunting out
the longest thistles he could find to ex
pertinent on. The vitriol completely
killed them by eating the roots out.
One drop will do. Care is required that
| it does not touch the skin, boots or
clothes; it is not safe in the hands of
children, but man or woman, with ten
minutes practice, can kill plantains
more quickly than any lad can eat goose
berries.
PREVENTION OF SwARMING.-L. l.,
Langstroth, writes the following in re-
gard to bees swarming, to the Practical
Farmer:
1. Many persons supposin beesg that
swarm only for want of room, aim TO pre-
vent it by furnishing an abundance of
room, either in the main hive or in the
surplus storage room-Or after they have
partially filled it with comb; and in Mex
leo, where bees are often kept in flour bar
rels, have seen them swarm when the
barrels were not filled with comb.
have repeatedly had swarms from old
gums holding over two bushels, and few
days ago a swarm issued from stock of
Italian bees, to which over two bushels of
storage room for surplus honey had been
given-two hives being placed over the
whole stock. The bees had filled the sec
ond story, and were busily at work in the
third. 1t is very evident, therefore, that
ample storage room cannot always be re-
lied on for preventing swarming.
2. Many devices have been cOntrived
for preventing swarm by contracting
the entrance to the hive so as to prevent
the queen from leaving, while free egress
is allowed the workers. At one time
looked upon what l called my non
swarmer with considerable favor; but
longer experience has convinced me that
it will not answer. 1t is true that if the
entrance is made five and thirty-seconds
of an inch high, the queen can not get
out, the bees after swarming will return
to the hive. But such accuracy of adj
justment is difficult to obtain, and the
bees are seldom reconciled to the sqneez-
ing necessary to enter the hive, by which
many of them have their pollen rubbed
off. The whole colony is also thrown
into great excitement every day, when
the drones attempt to take their flight !;
and the entrance must be enlarged daily
early in the morning or late in the after
noon, to allow the bees to carry out dead
drones and imperfect brood which they
have been dragging for hours about the
contracted passage.
3. Clipping the wings of the queen to
prevent swarming is an old device, but
one which with the ordinary arrange
ments of hives can never be relied on. A
queen without wings feels perfectly COM
petent to accompany the swarm, and will
hop off the alighting- board and in most
cases be lost in the grass. The bees re-
turn to the parent stock to await the
development of the young queens and
will then swarm, often three or four
times.
4. From some experiments which ]
have tried this season, l think can eff
fectually prevent swarming, without in
the least interfering with the natural in
stincts ofthe bees.
The hives in which swarming is to be
prevented should have all their alighting
boards resting on a large board placed on
the ground, and the wings of the queen
should be clipped, so that if she leaves
she may easily climb back to the hive
when attracted by the hum of her re-
turning colony. She will not be disposed
to leave often; and the bees will prob
| ably aid her in destroying the ma
turing queens. Of this, however,
shall be more certain after an enlarged
course of observations If the bees should
prevent the destruction of the young
queens, and the old one should be killed,
then the whole plan would fail. Of this,
however, have little fear.
Household Helps-
To REMOVE DANDRUEF.-Into quart
of water put an ounce of -four of sui
phur and shake frequently for several
hours; then pour off the clear liquid,
and with this saturate the head every
n,ornino In a few weeks every trace Of